Work Text:
Rumi knew something was wrong from the moment she woke up.
Her stomach hurt and when she went to the bathroom to do her morning skincare, she quickly found herself bound to the toilet for an embarrassingly long amount of time.
She was definitely sick but, since it wasn't affecting her voice, she decided to keep that to herself.
After all, not only was the specificity of her illness a bit embarrassing, but the band had a concert that evening. She was not about to burden her already-stressed bandmates by informing them that she'd apparently contracted a stomach virus.
She'd grinned and bore through far worse before, anyways. The sudden switch to Takedown during the Idol Awards was the most obvious example that came to mind, but she'd been sick on tour a number of times as well.
She'd be fine.
...She was not fine.
They were in the middle of Golden when she was suddenly hit with a horrible wave of nausea, nearly making her stop mid-dance due to the sudden, unbearable churning in her stomach.
Still, she pretended like it was alright. She didn't want to burden the other girls. She couldn't.
She was about to hit the high note in the chorus when her body decided that enough was enough, and she suddenly lurched forward, vomiting violently onto the stage.
Within seconds, her microphone was shut off, as were the stage lights. Her anxiety over the situation was so high that she barely processed as she was brought backstage.
Before she knew it, she was in her dressing room, hunched over a wastebin as her stomach purged itself painfully. She could faintly hear Zoey helping Bobby calm down in the doorway as Mira sat by her side, holding her hair back.
"Why didn't you tell us you were sick?" Mira gently chastised. Rumi couldn't respond as she was too busy throwing up.
Zoey came and sat beside her, putting the back of her hand to the frontwoman's forehead, then quickly retracted it upon feeling the high temperature.
"She's burning up" Zoey told the choreographer. Mira sighed sympathetically.
"Shit, okay" she muttered. "I'll text Bobby to cancel the next few shows"
"I'm so sorry" Rumi whimpered, her stomach finally letting up enough to let her breathe. She was crying now, embarrassed and ashamed. Zoey reached over and brushed away the woman's tears.
"Don't you dare apologize" the rapper soothed. "Everyone gets sick. It's not your fault"
"Please just tell us next time, Rumi" Mira chimed in, taking the bin and setting it aside. "We can't help if we don't know"
"I thought I could just handle it myself" Rumi sobbed, her voice scratchy from the acidic feeling in her throat. "I was wrong..."
"Hey, it's okay" Zoey said gently. "Let's just focus on getting you home and in bed, okay?"
"Thanks" Rumi muttered with a small nod, exhaustedly leaning against Mira. The two girls helped up the sick woman and did all the explaining to Bobby for her.
She was extremely grateful to have them.