Work Text:
Korea rubbed absentmindedly at his chest as he sat in front of his computer poking around in his inbox. It felt strangely tight and if he breathed too deep, he felt a dull pang spread across his body. It was an unpleasant feeling but he'd spent the last few days running around and working himself practically to the ground. Perhaps he’d strained something or other. It wasn’t a big deal and Korea was sure that in a few days he wouldn’t even remember his chest hurting.
______
“Meeting adjourned for the day,” Germany called out to the relief of all the nations present. “We resume at 8 AM tomorrow; please be on time so we can start promptly.”
Germany shot a stern look towards Prussia who was yawning before moving onto Italy who was shuffling in his seat and trying to hide the doodles on his notes, clearly ready to be anywhere but there.
Korea just smiled to himself. No meeting ever started on time so aiming for a five minute late start was the best thing anyone could hope for. He was always on time of course because punctuality originated in -
“Yong Soo!”
Korea turned to see Hong Kong yelling at him from across the room along with China, Macau, Taiwan and Vietnam. “We’re getting food. Let’s go!” said Hong Kong, nodding in the direction of the door.
“Just a second!” Korea called back as he quickly grabbed his papers and shoved them into his bag and then rushed over to fling himself against China to annoy him. China squawked in surprise and almost fell on Taiwan who was on his other side.
“Yong Soo! Stop acting so childish!” he scolded as he straitened his suit. Taiwan just rolled her eyes at both of them and headed out the door with Macau and Hong Kong and Vietnam following close behind. However, Korea was far to pleased with himself to care about bothering her.
“Well let’s go too. Or we’ll be left behind. Unless you want to go out on a date with just -”
China turned red at his words and started spluttering incoherently, and Korea smiled to himself before headed to the door leaving China no choice but to fall in step with him as they all left the building.
The group ended up having dinner in a small restaurant discussing the day’s meeting, talking politics and enjoying their limited free time before having to return to the hotel convention center. Korea managed to seat himself next to China and between that piece of good luck and the light atmosphere that he barely noticed that his chest seemed a bit sore. And if he found it a bit hard to catch his breath - well between Macau getting a drink spilled on him and Taiwan hurling a piece of garnish at China; Korea had had a hard time not laughing himself sick.
Eventually dinner was finished, and they all headed back to the hotel together. Wanting to give China a proper goodnight before everyone headed in separate directions, Korea sidled as close as he could to the other before leaping at him in an attempt grab onto him and swing him around. Unfortunately, China saw him just as he leapt and bringing his arm around, he managed to jam his elbow strait into Korea’s ribcage.
Normally Korea would just wince a little and laugh off the blow and try again at a later time. Instead, he felt a sharp pain rip through his chest and he went strait down, crashing hard onto the pavement before grabbing at his shirt. It hurt to breath. Every time he tried to inhale it was like someone was stabbing him between the ribs in his right lung and it was impossible for him to catch his breath. Between his coughing and struggling for air, Korea was partially aware of raised voices though he thought he might have heard China say something about not hitting him that hard.
Someone grabbed him by his shoulders and forced him to uncurl while someone else clutched at his hands and dragged them away from where he was clawing at himself.
“Calm down and breathe!” a voice commanded from above his head. Korea tried to obey but it wasn’t easy. He cracked his eyes open to see five faces staring anxiously at him. It appeared as though Hong Kong had dragged him into his lap and China was by his side, gripping his hands tightly.
“What’s wrong?” China asked, refusing to let Korea pull his hands loose. “Do you want to go to a hospital?”
“No!” Korea managed to gasp out. “I’m fine. My chest just hurt for a second that’s all.”
“That was way longer than a second Yong Soo,” Taiwan said sharply, looking down at him as he tried to extricate himself from all the hands grabbing onto him.
“I’m fine,” he repeated with more force. Now with his breathing under control Korea was starting to get embarrassed. “I probably just swallowed wrong or something. Let me up. I just need some sleep or something. ”
There was a mutual exchange of unconvinced expressions but Korea was not about to let anyone drag him to a hospital over something as simple as a cough.
In the end they allowed him go back to his room alone with strict instructions to call someone if he started to cough again. Korea promised that he would before locking himself in his room and collapsing onto the bed, not bothering to change. He inhaled deeply just to see what would happened and immediately he was forced to exhale as again, the sharp pain ran through his chest.
"This whole thing is stupid," thought Korea dully. “It's not something national so maybe it's something wrong with me?” But he couldn't think of any reason for why he would be suffering chest pains. He was too healthy for it to be related to his physical body.
He shifted around on the bed, trying to get comfortable. Maybe when he got back home he would see a doctor or something.
______
Korea was back in front of him computer again trying to get work done, ignoring some emails and reading others. Clicking on one from Hong Kong, he couldn’t help but feel slightly touched and irritated as he got to the bottom. Hong Kong had added a post script asking him if he’d gone to a doctor yet. He hadn’t but it wasn’t as though he was putting if it off; he was just busy. He was his own nation after all and that came with a lot of work.
However, he had noticed that he seemed out of breath more frequently than was normal for him. Korea decided to wait a bit longer and see if he felt better and if he didn’t, then he would get himself off to a doctor for sure.
______
“Yong Soo, would you please walk faster? We’re going to be late and then we’ll miss the opening sales,” said China sounding irritated and looking back to where Korea was lagging behind him.
Korea sighed but sped up, winding his way through the packed sidewalks of Seoul. The only time China could ever move faster than him was when it came to limited editions and sale events. Otherwise Korea ran circles around him and they both had plenty of memories of China chasing his younger self around the imperial palace to prove it.
They were only a few blocks further when Korea started to feel out of breath. “Except that’s impossible” he thought furiously. The idea that walking briskly down the sidewalk would cause him to breath hard was ridiculous! But Korea could feel his chest starting to tighten and the air no longer felt light and dry but wet and heavy. He inhaled as deeply as he could in a struggle to get more oxygen but as before, breathing deeply caused sharp pains to knife through his chest.
He was running out of air. He couldn’t get enough; his brain was starting to scream warnings at him. Grabbing desperately as his chest, he tried to call out to his brother who was once again walking ahead of him and not looking back. But his voice came out as a weak gasp, inaudible over the noise of the cars and other people all around them.
Standing was becoming too difficult and Korea stumbled over to the guard rail next to the road and collapsed against it with relief. Everything felt too tight and he fumbled with his jacket before yanking if off with a final burst of energy. But removing it didn’t bring the relief he desperately needed and he collapsed onto the sidewalk and gulped for what little air he could get.
It was perfectly possible that he would die on the sidewalk, but death was nothing new to a nation. The real fear was whether or not this problem was him or if it was something affecting his country. Would he die and wake up to an international crisis? Were the lingering pains he’d been suffering over the last few months signs of war or disease or something worse?
It was with a fading sense of awareness that he felt someone grab him from behind and haul him into a sitting position before pulling his head back onto a shoulder. The position allowed for his windpipe to open up a little and he found himself surrounded by warm arms and a familiar smell calming him down. It was a scent that he’d known his entire life, reminding him of good food, comforting touches and constant nagging.
“Yong Soo. Try to relax and breathe as carefully as you can. Don’t breath too hard or deep or you’re going to pass out.”
Korea nodded into China’s neck and tried to ignore everything else, shutting out the loud babble of the crowd that had gathered around them and the sound of a siren getting closer and closer.
_______
China sat in a chair in the ward of the emergency center and tried to ignore his feelings of discomfort. He hated hospitals, no matter how good their intentions were. Instead he messed around with his cell phone and waited for the nurses to bring Korea back. They’d rushed him off to get a chest x-ray and he had to struggle with a translator and try to explain exactly what had happened. It was slow going since the translator’s English was hesitant and China’s Korean was roughly 2000 years out of date. But eventually the message was conveyed that Korea had a foreign object in his lung and the doctors needed to perform an emergency bronchoscopy immediately. They wanted him to wait in the recovery room until the procedure was finished.
And so China waited and wondered what the doctors and nurses would think if they knew that they were treating their own country.
Much later the door swung open again and the nurses wheeled Korea in on a gurney. He was unconscious but he no longer wore the oxygen mask that had been placed on him earlier. The nurses were also smiling as they wheeled him in and China allowed himself to relax a little. Another person, the doctor judging by the lab coat over the scrubs followed at the head of the gurney. He didn’t say anything to him though; he just held up a tiny vial for China to see.
China stared hard at the vial, his eyes going wide before looking back to the doctor in shock. The doctor began to laugh and nurses joined in and China shook his head before burying his face in his hands.
______
Back in Korea’s apartment, China was storming around and lecturing his brother who was sulking on the couch and avoiding his gaze.
“Why can’t you chew your food properly?” China yelled. Korea glared at him indignantly from his couch. “I do chew my food!”
“How do you explain this then?” China demanded and held a vial with a little bean sprout inside for Korea to see. The plant was about three centimeters in length, the long root emerging from the small seed and curling off.
“I don’t know! I must have swallowed it wrong or something,” said Korea, annoyed about the fuss that China was throwing.
“Swallowed it? You inhaled it! Which wouldn’t have happened if you ate slower and chewed more carefully,” China snapped while he paced in front of the couch.
Korea groaned and flopped back onto the cushions. He didn’t want to argue with China over this. He was tired and it wasn’t as though he inhaled a mung bean on purpose. Who knew that bean sprouts could germinate inside the lungs? Certainly not him, before today that is.
“Well, maybe this means that I’ll have really good year for agriculture or something?” he said half hopeful, half exasperated. “That would be nice.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works.” China said, his temper starting to fade. “At least not in my experience. But I can’t precisely say since I’ve never-”
“Alright, you’ve made your point. Now you’re just rubbing it in.” Korea pouted at China who looked completely unimpressed. But he didn’t press the issue any more. Instead he went over to sit on the couch side rest, looking distastefully at the little plant in the vial.
“I think you should throw it away,” said China. “I can’t believe they let you keep it.”
“No way,” replied Korea, holding out his hand for the vial which China handed over with relief. “It’s awesome! I’m going to name it and keep it; maybe donate it to the Seodaemun Museum or something. I’ll bet they would love it!”
“How wonderful,” China muttered under his breath.
“No really! Think about it. It’s authentically Korean. It originated in me! Forget the museum, I should see if I can get my boss to make it a national treasure!” Korea gushed, getting more and more excited as he thought about it.
“Chocking up a plant doesn’t mean it’s a national treasure. Otherwise there would be quite a few disgusting national treasures out there depending upon the specific nation” China pointed out wryly but he smiled in spite of himself. Korea couldn’t help but laugh as well because it was certainly true.
“Well I suppose it’s up to you. Please don’t make a blog for it,” China added quickly.
“I hadn’t even thought abou-” Korea yawned and shook his head to clear it. “About that. But that could be fun.”
China tilted his head, looking surprised. “Are you still tired? You slept for hours.”
“The doctor must have really sedated me or something. And I haven’t been sleeping all that well recently. I’ve been waking up out of breath and um...” Korea trailed off looking a little sheepish.
“And you didn’t bother to go see a doctor,” China finished for him, shaking his head at his lack of responsibility.
Korea mumbled something under his breath and shuffled a little.
“Well it’s not important anymore,” said China, rapping his knuckles on the couch. “Get some rest and you’ll feel better. I’ll stay for a little while longer.”
“Really?” Korea perked up a little. He hadn’t expected China to put off returning home over something as insignificant as a bean but he wasn’t about to complain.
“Yes, I suppose I will. To cook and make sure you don’t end up dead on the floor or something worse. After all, with your luck you’d manage to to kill yourself a spoon or -”
Korea decided that he’d had enough lecturing for the day. After all he’d been the one with a metal tube shoved down his throat. Reaching up, he grabbed onto the hem of China’s shirt and yanked him sideways onto the couch, barely managing to avoid flailing arms before all his weight crashed onto him.
“What are you doing?!” China squawked, trying to extricate himself from Korea’s tight grip and utterly failing because he refused to loosen his arms.
Korea beamed at him. “Chinese throw pillow.”
China paused for a moment before all the fight went out of him and he collapsed in exasperation.
“How hysterical,” he remarked dryly before dragging himself off of the couch and vanishing into the bedroom, leaving Korea to briefly wonder if he’d gone too far in bothering him. But he relaxed again when China came back carrying a fluffy blanket and a book he’d been reading. Making room for him, Korea let the other sit down before nabbing his blanket and tucking himself in. Then he scooted back up and rolled into a more comfortable position that allowed him to wrap his arms around China’s waist and bury his face into his stomach. China sighed a little and shifted so he could get some proper breathing space but otherwise didn’t protest the contact and after a moment, he took his book out and propped it against the side rest and started to read, letting his other hand rest lightly on Korea’s head.
“You know, I don’t feel sorry for you at all,” China spoke into the silence but Korea smiled in spite of the snippy words and clung on tighter because if the fingers running through his hair and the promise of a longer stay were anything to go by, China was definitely feeling something.