Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was their first concert back in Seoul.

The first song was a hit. Performed perfectly. Every step, every note, every word trained and practiced and rehearsed to absolute perfection.

Then the second song.

Third.

Fourth.

Muscle memory kicked in while Zoey felt like she’s stuck in a dream.

Heat reigned within her. Sweat dripping down her face and neck. She felt tired and exhausted, like she’s been dancing for days straight. She doesn’t even feel the words and lines exiting her mouth.

Every step felt like she’s walking on clouds – as if she’d slip and fall any second now.

But she powered through – like always. Her head was pounding. It hurt like it’s split open – She’d need another ibuprofen soon. The maknae has been feeling a bit under the weather for the past two days, but she couldn’t just call out of rehearsal so close to their concert.

Since this morning, she felt even worse. A few hours ago she was even sporting a fever, which must have gotten worse by now. Step after step. The song washed over her like a wave. Finish pose. Done. Zoey looked up from the last position and saw Rumi and Mira starting to walk towards the front of the stage. She moved to catch up.

‘That didn’t look weird, right? Noone noticed. I was only 2 steps behind. Keep walking, don’t make that face. Smile. Wave.’

She heard Rumi talking to the fans. Zoey didn’t listen – couldn’t. She was too preoccupied with staying on her feet. The singing hurt her already inflamed throat. She knows what Rumi said anyway, they had rehearsed it often enough.

“Good evening, Seoul! We’re so exited to be back home after our world tour. I hope you’re looking forward to this spectacular night just as much as we are! The next song is really special to us. We wrote it together after our very first tour and it’ll always remind us of all the incredible things we were able to experience together. Let’s go girls!”

Only just over an hour longer.

Their next song started. She tried to keep track with the words and steps-

‘Fuck.’ She stumbled.

Her foot caught on her other leg for a fraction of a second – enough to miss two steps before syncing up with the others again.

‘Don’t frown. Smile. Keep going.’ Her rap sequence was coming up. The lights from above blinded her and made her feel even hotter. She knew the lyrics by heart – wrote them herself many years ago-

She skipped over a line accidently. Zoey had to pause awkwardly to fill the space of it in the rhythm. Zoey was dancing in the front during her solo. Her head was empty. The words of the song the only thing going through it. She danced over it like the others. They have all been trained in professionalism – to keep going, no matter what. To make everything look like it's intented.

She didn’t feel Rumi’s and Mira’s eyes on her back.

Zoey missed another step and missed her singing cue by a hair.

‘Come on Zoey, get it together. Keep going’

She didn’t see Rumi’s head tilting to the side just enough to catch her face in a turn. Didn’t see her subtly tugging on Mira’s jacket in passing. Just like the rest of the stadium didn’t.

Mira wasn’t so subtle – she never was. At least not, when her loved ones are worrying her. She turned her head to look. Just two seconds. Just enough to catch Zoey’s eye.

‘Please don’t look. Don’t look at me.’ Zoey smiled back. Like she always does.

They keep dancing. Her head feels numb. Her smile falls. The song was coming to an end. Rumi’s high note still lay ahead. The dancing part was finished – they were supposed to trail after Rumi to the front for the finish pose-

Two steps forward. One stumbling step back.

The world swam. She tried to wipe the sweat off of her forehead.

“Zoey, ‘you okay?” Bobby’s voice rang through her headset.

‘That’s weird. He only does that in emergencies-‘

The world blurred.

It tilted.

It crashed.

Darkness filled her sight for just a moment. Then she’s back. She still hears Rumi’s note, right before it cuts off. Her limbs feel heavy and tingly. Footsteps coming towards her – the slight vibration hits right through her skull. The audience got quiet. Some screamed. Some whispered. Some backed away. She breaths once, twice and then there are hands on her.

She wanted to get up, to smile, to wave them off and keep going, but she felt that she couldn’t. Her limbs did not move, no matter how much she tried. It was as if they were being held down by rope. Her senses felt like she’s underwater. Her hearing was muffled and her eyesight blurred.

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck. What the fuck is happening’ Pink hair came into view, then purple. Long strands, that tickled her face. The hands tilted her face upwards and pressed against her skin. It felt nice – their fingers were cool and soothing. Her eyes couldn’t focus while her lungs struggled to get in enough air – had she been this out of breath the entire time?

“I don’t feel so good.” She said before closing her eyes again. Her head keeps pounding. One of the arms went under her neck while another hooked underneath her knees. Zoey was lifted. The next thing she felt was a chest she leaned against before the person – Mira? – took off running. Rumi right behind them. The atmosphere became colder the instant they made it backstage - it also got louder again. A million voices speaking over each other. Bobby's voice was somewhere in the mix. Zoey wanted to calm him down, but couldn't find the power to move her lips. She heard a voice announce the ending of the concert over the speakers.

‘The fans will hate me for this.’

The maknae was put on something soft – a couch, or a mattress? She couldn’t think straight. Mira squatted down in front of her and pressed her palm to her cheek. The taller woman whispered something she couldn’t make out. More people came near her that gently guided Mira out of the way. They took off Zoey's jacket and started checking on her. Zoey was getting cold very quickly. How is that possible after being so hot for the whole day?

She didn’t know. She also couldn’t care. Exhaustion pulled on her and dragged her under into a troublesome sleep. Zoey thinks she can feel a hand on hers before passing out. She grabbed it tight before her grip losened.

Chapter Text

You want to know what one of the best things about concerts are for the girls? The gigantic carb loading beforehand. It feels like all cheat-days of the year combined into one huge food party.

"Yeah, okay. Performing at a concert with you both is absolutely fantastic. But this? Yeah, this is the life." Rumi sighed before taking another piece of kimbap and already reaching for the next.

"Hey, we are so better than food, what are you even saying?" Mira jokingly adds while trying to shove Rumi off her seat on the couch in their changing room. It's so much more convenient, now that they all share a single room.

The two women keep teasing each other, when they hear the soft click from the bathroom door getting opened.

Mira spots Zoey coming back from her bathroom break and scoots over to make room for her on the couch. "Finally! We thought you're gonna be in there forever, are you alright? We already started eating, but we left you your favourites."

"You've been gone pretty long - we should hurry if we want to get the concert started on time. We still have to freshen up our makeup aswell." Rumi checks her phone to look at the time. "I don't think you've eating anything yet today - Sit down and eat, you'll need the energy."

Zoey creeps around the couch to flop down on it and smiles "It's alright, I actually did eat a bit at home. Sorry, I think I'm just too nervous to get anything down right now."

Mira raises her left eyebrow "You? Too nervous of a concert? Since when?"

"What?" the maknae giggles lowly. "Am I not allowed to be nervous and excited? It's fine, really - I'll drink a protein shake for now. Maybe I'll eat a bite in the first break, it'll be alright." Zoey grabs for a glass of soda and sits back down with a forced smile. Mira notices a thin sheet of sweat going across her slightly flushed face. She doesn't comment on it though. If something would be actually wrong with Zoey, enough to worry about it, she'd say so. They all had off days sometimes.

"Don't forget the breaks are pretty short." Rumi laughs. "Don't choke on anything when you're speed-eating later. If you die tonight, I'll say 'I told you so'." she lightly punched the younger women's shoulder in a joking matter and turned back to her own food.

Zoey settled back onto her seat after the light shove and laughed along. Rumi and Mira start chatting about the concert and choreography once more, while Zoey leans back onto the couch and watches silently. Mira can hear soft giggles and comments here and there and catalogues her behaviour under "sit down with her to talk later" for now.

After all, they still had a concert to get through for now.

It was their first concert back in Seoul after their newest world tour.

The first song was a hit - they had to start off strong to set the mood. Mira planned the choreography for months to make it extra demanding and special. It was performed perfectly. Every step, every note, every word trained and practiced and rehearsed to absolute perfection. Rumi absolutely killed her lines and harmonies. It's what she'd trained for.

Then the second song. The fans are so loud and active today.

Third. Mira starts reading some of the fan signs the people brought today. She finds one with a turtle pun she's absolutely going to tell Zoey about later.

Fourth. Rumi makes a mental note about a couple of lights at the front of the stage that keep bothering her, to get them changed throughout the break.

The fourth song is coming to a close and they all freeze in the finishing pose for two seconds. Rumi is in the middle with Mira on her right and Zoey on her left. Both leaning on her with their inner hand around her back or on her shoulder. Ever since the reveal of her "tattoos" she decided to wear lighter and more open clothing to battle against the heat and sweat that always builds up while performing. She's glad she's finally able to leave think jackets or long sleeves with turtlenecks behind for the most part. The croptop she's wearing tonight also has a wider neckline, which has the side effect of sharing skin contact with her other group members. That's when she first noticed it.

Just like Mira, Zoey leans on Rumi from the back, with one arm on her left shoulder casually and the rest of her body pressed flush against her. Whereas Mira keeps a bit of respectful distance - especially since she knows Rumi's still somewhat awkward about too much body contact after having to distance herself from them for so long -, Zoey practically hangs off of her. Rumi takes barely a step to the side to keep her balance.

But it's not just her weight.

It's the heat coming off of the smaller woman.

Don't get her wrong - dancing is exhausting. Especially under the stage lights and with the length of the concert, all three of them would be sweaty, flushed zombies afterwards. But it's only been the fourth song and with the kind of stamina all of them train to keep up, Zoey shouldn't be this out of it yet.

But they're in the middle of the concert. The break is still many songs away, so Rumi puts a pin in it for later. She'll have an eye on her though.

Rumi concentrates on her next part. They all move toward the front of the stage. Rumi can't see Zoey lagging a few steps behind, she doesn't have the time before addressing the audience. But Mira does. Mira notices.

They rehearsed twice on this stage in the past couple of days and Zoey's never been behind on this part. They all count the same rhythm in their head after their last pose to make it as simultaneously as possible - she's never been late. Mira's head twitches towards Zoey for a second before looking straight ahead again after she catches up.

They both interact with the fans for a bit, while Rumi speaks.

“Good evening, Seoul! We’re so exited to be back home after our world tour. I hope you’re looking forward to this spectacular night just as much as we are! The next song is really special to us. We wrote it together after our very first tour and it’ll always remind us of all the incredible things we were able to experience together. Let’s go girls!” Rumi hypes up their next song as they all move into position and their track starts in the background.

The next time Mira subtly looks over was when Zoey stumbles in the middle of the choreo. What's going on with her today? She never stumbles over her choreo this bad. But she catches up again and they all fall into sync once more. One more thing for the "sit down with her to talk later" thing.

When Zoey switches places with Rumi for her rap sequence and misses a line, Rumi catches Mira's eyes in a turn. Just a second. Not longer. Never longer. It can't be too obvious. But the skipped line was instantly picked up on by many hardcore fans - Rumi can tell by their faces and slight whispers, before they return to singing along.

Rumi and Mira noticed the sluggish movements of Zoey. The way her feet almost dragged across the floor a bit. The way she breathed in the wrong places in their song, as if she was already out of breath. They kept watching her as often as possible throughout their routine.

She missed another step later on. And started her harmony just a tad too late.

Rumi's in the front again. In a turn, she tilted her head back a bit more than necessary to really look at Zoey this time. She was instantly worried. This didn't look like the Zoey from the changing room. The maknae was incredibly pale and overly sweaty. Her eyes were glassy and seemed like she didn't look at something but through. She turned back around for the next move.

They started spreading in different directions for each of their solo parts. Rumi moves past Mira and subtly catches the arm of her jacket to tug on it. Mira's eyes move up to hers while Rumi slightly nods her head in Zoey's direction for a second.

Mira falls into the next part of their choreo and snaps her head towards Zoey aswell. She managed to catch a quick look of her and frowned. Their younger group member did not look okay. She seemed like she'd pass out any second even though she smiled back at her. What are they going to do? Call an early break? How are they going to alert anyone backstage to call for it? For now, they continued on with their song.

At the end of it, Rumi moved back to the front for her high note. Mira caught her own breath while trailing behind her. Can they just call a break themselves without confirmation from backstage? Is it even possible after just five songs? What are the fans going to think? But on the other hand, isn't their health more important-

A crash.

Just behind her and off to the other side of the stage. She turned.

And froze.

Zoey's on the ground - she didn't even see her go down. She doesn't waste time and runs. Rumi's high note has just cut off rapidly - she's the last to notice as she's much further in the front.

Fans in the first couple of rows have taken a few shocked steps back, others are screaming and yelling, many more are talking with each other. It all seems so loud and chaotic, but at the same time everything Mira hears is her knees hitting the ground next to Zoey. Rumi coming down right after her.

"Zoey? ZOEY?" Their mics must have already been turned off, otherwise everyone in the stadium would have loudly heard Mira's yell. She carefully placed her hands on Zoeys cheeks to tilt her face up. Zoey's eyes were almost fully shut, though they could see slight movement from under the eyelids. Sweat made her black hair stuck to her pale, almost green-toned face. She was so hot to the touch - a definite fever.

Her breathing was fast and shallow, as if her lungs were fighting to get enough air in.

The maknae's mouth partly opened and they heard her mumbling something. But with Zoey being halfway delirious right now, they couldn't make out much more besides "... don't... good ...".

Rumi and Mira share a panicked look with each other. A voice comes through their in-ears. "Girls, get Zoey off the stage." It's Bobby.

Mira instantly jumps to action. She slides one of her arms under Zoey's neck and the other under her knees to swiftly pick her up in one go. Rumi nudges her head to rest on Mira's shoulder.

"Come through the right-hand side entrance to the backstage area and get to the greenroom. You can put her on the couch - I've already got someone bring emergency services there. Go, go go." They run.

As soon as they're through the entrance, things get hectic. "Go, run. EMS will get here in two minutes. I've already had the table moved from the couch to get more space. They'll cut off the concert." Bobby says it, right as they hear a voice come into the backstage area from the speakers in the stadium.

"We're sorry to announce that, for an unforeseen medical emergency, today's concert has to be cut short. We ask the audience to slowly move towards the entrances and apologize for the circumstances. Thank you for coming and we hope to welcome you back at the next HUNTR/X concert!"

Mira moved past the crewmembers into the green room and gently placed Zoey down on the couch, while Rumi stays behind to talk to Bobby.

She squatted down in front of Zoey's face and uses her fingers to push her sweaty hair away from her face. The maknae seems unable to rest and starts squirming around. Mira's palm finds the other's cheek again to try to calm her.

"Hey Zoey, don't worry, we're all here for you. You're save, we've got you. Just rest for now, okay? You'll be alright, I promise."

The EMS finally arrived at the scene to take over. They started taking of her jacket and carried out some tests.

Zoey has a high fever, too low of a blood pressure and a high pulse that probably resulted in her fainting. They'll take her into the hospital to treat and observe her. At some point they could tell Zoey's body getting limb after she fully passed out. They loaded her up to get into the ambulance.

Mira and Rumi trailed behind and watched. They would drive after them in their own ride as soon as she's inside.

Mira seemed shell-shocked as she watched one of her best friends get ready for an ambulance ride, completely unconscious.

"They said, it might just be the flu..." Rumi took her hand. She wasn't sure if she wanted to calm Mira or herself.

"How did we not notice?" was the only thing on Mira's mind. They didn't speak after that. They waited on their driver to come pick them up. They had to be there for Zoey now.

Chapter Text

The world was blurry when Zoey opened her eyes. And bright. Really bright. What time was it?

She blinked a couple of times to get her eyes to focus when she noticed a splotch of purple to her left. Another blink made her realize who that splotch was: Rumi.

“Hey there. Welcome back to the land of the living.” Rumi winked and reached for her left hand. Rumi’s voice alerted the third person in the room. Mira walked into her field of view from the right. She had leaned against the window frame and looked at the city beneath her hospital room. She came up to Zoey’s right side and sat down in a chair like Rumi had done hours before.

“Good morning. You gave us quite the scare last night, Zoey. How are you feeling?”

Like I was hit by a truck full of demons, Zoey thought.

The more she woke up, the more she remembered what happened last night. They couldn’t finish the concert because of her.

Zoey struggled to sit up against the pillows, before Rumi and Mira lent her some hands and helped her up.

Her left hand slipped out of Rumi’s to rub at her eye while she took notice of her surroundings. Her fingers came up to the edge of a bandage on her head. She definitely wasn’t in her bedroom. Considering the number of medical supplies and machines, she imagined she’s at the hospital – a private room, judging by the lack of other beds.

She must be all over the news and social media already with how last night went. Zoey starts looking around for her phone.

“Where’s my phone? What are they saying about me?”

Rumi and Mira gave each other a meaningful glance over Zoey’s head. Rumi takes hold of Zoeys left hand again while Mira leaves her seat to sit down on the bed facing the younger woman. She lets her right hand rest on the maknae’s upper arm to catch her attention.

“Zoey… I asked you how you were feeling. We worried about you. We didn’t even know you were feeling sick and out of nowhere you collapsed on us on stage. What happened last night?”

Zoey stopped looking for her phone to actually look at Mira and Rumi for the first time. “I feel fine. I was just kind of out of it for the past few days… I’m sorry I messed up the concert…” She sighed and sunk back into the pillows. “The fans must be so disappointed.”

“I don’t care what the fans think right now. I’m worried about you. We both are. Since when do you not tell us, when you’re feeling sick anymore?” Rumi questioned. Her thumb started a stroking motion on Zoey’s fingers.

By now it’s almost 8:00 am and the sun outside of the hospital started to rise higher in the sky and bathe the room in a golden light. Rumi still remembers the rest of the night quiet vividly. After Zoey was loaded into the ambulance, she and Mira were escorted to their car and were brought to the hospital Zoey was going to. They sat in the waiting area while doctors kept checking on the woman’s health.

The paramedics were correct: It was just the flu. Combined with a middle ear infection that caused the dizziness. Both things were being treated the second Zoey got admitted. What the doctors were starting to be more concerned about was the head wound.

See, when she collapsed on stage she went down without catching herself with her hands. Her head and shoulders took the brunt of the fall and especially the head injury gave concerns for a possible concussion.

Thankfully, after 2 hours, the doctors were able to give the all-clear on that account and the right medication was already starting to work against the flu and infection. Her fever was starting to go down to a more normal temperature, and all Rumi and Mira had to do was wait for her to wake up.

Bobby – the angle – was able to grab some of their clothes from the penthouse so they could wait by her bedside more comfortably.

Neither of the two slept for even a second that night.

And now Zoey seemed to be more concerned over her media presence than her own health.

“I’ve just been feeling a bit sick for some days now… It wasn’t anything serious – I thought I could still pull through this last concert… I’m sorry.” The maknae’s eyes fell to her lap.

Mira slowly pulled her hand back from Zoey’s arms. “Well… You got lucky. It’s nothing too serious – just the flu and an ear infection you’re going to have to suffer through for a couple of days. And you definitely got lucky with hitting your head on the floor. You avoided concussing yourself – might get a cool scar though.” She tried lifting the mood with a small smirk.

The hospital room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Zoey felt like she had to say something. But what can you say after failing at your job as hard as she did last night?

She could only imagine what the people online were already posting about her.

'So unprofessional.'

'I payed a lot of money, just to get sent home early.'

'If she can’t power through one concert with a cold, maybe she chose the wrong job.'

'She doesn’t seem like she cares about her fans at all-'

“Hey. Tell us what’s going on in that head.” Mira picked up Zoeys other hand again and gave her a comforting squeeze.

The younger woman first looked at Mira and then at Rumi before letting her eyes rest on her hands that were still intertwined by both her best friend’s own.

“I feel like I failed everyone…” came the quiet whisper.

“You only failed yourself Zoey… nobody else. Your body was giving you warning signs and you ignored them. Taking care of our bodies and minds is as much part of our job as the singing and dancing. We all need healthy and strong bodies to perform. You can’t ever stop taking care of yourself Zoey. We’re your unnies, we’re supposed to care for and protect you and last night we felt like we failed you in our roles. We just heard you crash and by the time I turned around, you were on the ground. You weren’t moving- I thought- ... I-…” Rumi’s voice stopped there and her mouth shut closed. She gave Zoeys hand another squeeze while her eyes became glassy and teary-eyed.

Even after years of demon training and -fighting, Zoey never saw Rumi this worried about her before.

“I’m sorry. I never wanted to scare or upset you. I just thought I could push through it and then relax at home… I didn’t think the night would end like this and I was only starting to feel this terrible once we were already on stage.”

A tiny cough slipped out of Zoey throat after talking too much. Before she even stopped, she saw a glass of water come into a view. Attached to it was a hand that led her eyes back onto Mira’s face. She took the glass into her own hand and drank from it before handing it back.

“Just promise us to never do that again, please? We can make do without a couple of concerts. We can’t make do without you.” Came as a gentle reminder from her right side.

“Plus, Bobby would probably just tie you down to your bed if he just so much as sees a snotty nose from now on. He’s already spent the whole night talking to every doctor who would listen to ask them about your medicine, what kind of nutrients, smoothies, and fruits would be best for you right now, and whatever else he might come up with. Expect him to go into full-on papa-bear mode for a while.” Rumi’s laugh rings through the room.

Zoey sinks back into her pillows while continuing to listen to Rumi’s and Mira’s point of view from last night. Not long into their story she felt her eyes get heavier and heavier.

“- and that’s when Mira just picked you up, like you weigh nothing, and sprinted at top speed to the backstage entrance-

Oh…

Are you getting tired?” Rumi noticed the maknae’s head starting to drift to the side.

“Nope, I’m wide awake…”

Mira grabbed the upper edge of the blanket that slid down when Zoey sat up from the bed and pulled it back into the right position.

“Stop fighting sleep like a toddler.” Even half asleep Zoey could hear the eyeroll in that line.

“We’ll be here when you wake up. Take a nap, it’s fine.”

Though her body still felt weak, sick, sticky and too hot, she was able to drift into a deep sleep, knowing her friends will protect and take care of her. She could always take care of social media some other time.

@Huntrx_fan23: Image attached

Omg, zoey just broke down. Hope she’s okay

                @zoeylver: That fall looked nasty af 😣 Heard she’s in the hospital.

                @kpop_4life: rumi and mira were freaking out, love how overprotective they are 😫 🤭

                               @miras_muscles: The way Mira just picked.her.up???? When’s it my turn??? 😩 💦 💦

@loveme56: Image attached

Seems like zoeys awake and well. Rumi and mira are still with her. How sweet is that??? 🥹 Still sad the concert was cut short tho 😭 I hope I can see them next time. Get well soon zoey, love you!! 💕 💕

                @idol_fan#: I hope the fans get their money back. Wtf, I would be mad as hell if I went to a concert with sick performers and had to go home early. Other jobs wouldn’t allow you to just go home for a bit of a cold either.

                               @int!defendr123: Pretty sure you couldn’t do other jobs while fucking passed out on the floor either. 🤔 Zoey literally put her health on the line for their fanbase. Back off.

                               @fellow_fan1990: don’t feed the troll, lol. Ragebait. Huntrix is already giving out free tickets for their next Soul show for all fans who had tickets for last night, wtf are you even on about dude, be fr.

                               @mel_ody: would like to see you perform with a fever. 😘

@star.lght25: Can you imagine being sick and having Rumi and Mira as your private nurses?? 😩 Ugh, I love them so much. ❤️ ❤️ So glad Zoey’s doing better already

@lov_4_evr1: We love you Zoey! Get well soon, we are all rooting for you!! ❤️ ❤️