a/n: i haven’t put a read more on this yet bc i’m really tired but i’ll do it once i rest a bit! thank you so much to the anons who requested this concept, it was really fun to write something without any emeto or snz, just some good ol’ fashioned hurt/comfort lol.
summary: jimin gets sick during touring season and it definitely isn’t easy. luckily, he has his members there to make it just a bit better.
Going overseas is definitely a fun experience even if it’s only for work. Getting to experience the culture of so many different countries is always an exciting time, and even during their busy touring schedule, the members still try to enjoy their work-vacation as much as possible.
That’s why it’s such a bummer when Jimin ends up getting sick overseas.
To be fair, getting sick at any point in time is pretty awful since the members are basically always working, but it’s even worse when they are currently touring. Not only are they still expected to perform to the best of their abilities no matter their physical or mental condition, but going from city to city every night is sure to take a toll on even a healthy person.
One thing that the members failed to take into consideration is the fact that they definitely won’t have access to the same level of comfort as they do back home. Of course, that’s usually not that big of an issue. After all, they always begin their tours prepared to take on injuries and illness, though they hold out hope that the season will pass without any major incidents.
That isn’t the case for Jimin, however. This time around, all of the members managed to go illness and injury free except for Jimin who started feeling a bit “off” a few days ago. He confided in Hoseok that he might not be at his best the next day because of how tired he was, but that he would still try as hard as possible to give a great performance.
“I’m just really tired, Hobi-hyung,” Jimin said, keeping his eyes closed while he spoke with Hoseok late at night. His head was beginning to hurt a bit and the lights in the hotel room were only making it worse. “I’ll probably be better tomorrow, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do my best.”
Hoseok assured him that it was alright, of course, and he reminded Jimin not to push himself if he wasn’t feeling too great. “It’s better to take it easy and then do your best another day,” he advised. “Don’t run yourself into the ground, okay?”
As sweet as Hoseok’s advice was, it is pretty much impossible not to run yourself into the ground when on a world tour, performing for upwards of two hours day after day.
The next morning, Jimin doesn’t feel any better. In fact, he feels worse. Much worse.
The small headache that was beginning to form yesterday is now a pounding migraine. Even though he is under layers of blankets, he still feels like he is freezing. And, to top it all off, his entire body is aching.
Normally, he would only feel this way if he injured himself or pushed himself way beyond his limits, but that wasn’t the case this time. Jimin is getting sick and he knows it, much to his dismay. Luckily, today is one of their very rare off-days during the touring schedule, so he at least has some time to rest and hope to feel better the next day.
The first member to bring up how bad he looks (though it can’t possibly be worse than he feels) is Taehyung. “Are you feeling okay, hyung?” he asks as he makes himself a light breakfast. The thought of breakfast right now makes Jimin’s stomach turn.
He shakes his head miserably and sits down in one of the chairs, resting his head on the table. The cold metal against his cheek only makes him feel like he is going to freeze, but he doesn’t have the energy to keep his head up right now so this will have to do. “Not really,” he answers honestly. There’s no use in hiding it when it’s so obvious, anyway. Plus he needs to get better as soon as possible so he can perform well again. “I think I’m getting sick,” he admits. “Can you feel if I have a fever?”
It isn’t a complete shock to Taehyung that Jimin is so sick because of his disheveled appearance, but it does come as a bit of a surprise that he is so willing to admit that he isn’t feeling well. It must be because he wants to get better as soon as possible, Taehyung thinks.
As per Jimin’s request, Taehyung places the back of his palm against Jimin’s forehead, feeling for any signs of a fever. Almost immediately, he feels the heat radiating off of the older member’s face and he pulls his hand away. “Yeah, you’re burning up, hyung. You definitely have a fever.”
It isn’t much of a surprise to Jimin, either, so he simply groans and turns his head to the other side as though that will make his pounding headache go away. At this point, he’s sure he has a migraine. It isn’t as bad as it could be, but it definitely isn’t pleasant by any means. All he wants to do is take some medicine and sleep it off, but he knows how much work he has to do today.
“I’m sure you’ll be allowed to skip rehearsals,” Taehyung assures, sitting down next to Jimin and rubbing his back in a circular motion. He knows how much Jimin craves physical affection when he’s sick.
“Who’s skipping rehearsals?” another voice asks. Jimin isn’t exactly in the mood to look up and check to see who is speaking, so Taehyung does it for him. It’s Jin, who was in the process of throwing away a banana peel when he overheard the members’ conversation. It would be funny if Taehyung wasn’t so concerned about Jimin right now.
“Jimin-hyung,” Taehyung explains. The other members should be brought up to speed with what’s happening, so it would be a good idea to tell Jin first so that he can inform the rest of the members. “He’s really sick and he even has a fever. I don’t think he’ll be able to make it to rehearsals today.”
“I guess that’s a good idea,” Jin says, thinking it over for a moment. “Rehearsals are the only thing on our schedule for today, so he should use that time to rest.” Taehyung nods in agreement, continuing to look at his miserable hyung. The sight makes his heart ache. “What are his symptoms?” Jin asks curiously.
Taehyung thinks back to what Jimin told him earlier. “Well, he has a fever,” he begins, “and he’s completely exhausted. It doesn’t sound like much, but it must be pretty bad if he’s feeling so out of it.”
“Migraine,” Jimin mumbles so quietly that Taehyung almost misses it.
“And he has a migraine,” he adds since Jimin keeps bringing it up. It must be really affecting him, so he should probably take some medicine for it soon. Well, that and all of his other symptoms that seem to be intensifying by the minute.
“I’ll get him some medicine and let the others know what’s going on,” Jin says with a determined nod. Although he is a lively and carefree eldest hyung, he always takes these kinds of situations very seriously. The last thing he wants is for any of his dongsaengs to be feeling poorly. “Be right back.”
Taehyung assumes that’s his cue to stay with Jimin and keep him company while Jin brings the rest of the group up to speed, so that’s exactly what he does. It only takes a short while for Jin to come back and when he does, he is followed by the rest of the members.
By now, Jimin has started to doze off a little even though he’s in a rather uncomfortable position. It seems like whatever illness he managed to catch doesn’t care much about his comfort.
“Jin-hyung told us Jimin’s feeling really sick,” Namjoon says, looking a bit like a deer in the headlights. He wants to help him, of course, but he isn’t quite sure how so it’s definitely a stressful situation for him. “How’s he doing?”
Taehyung looks up from Jimin’s resting form and notices all of the members’ worried faces. Jin and Hoseok seem a bit more serious, Yoongi’s expression is soft with sympathy, and Namjoon and Jungkook look completely panicked. It’s not hard to understand why.
“I think he’s resting a bit now,” Taehyung explains, having been the one to look after Jimin for the majority of the day. “He’s actually been like this all morning. I think he might be sleeping, so let’s try to keep it down a little just in case—“
“‘m not sleeping,” a quiet voice says in a mumble. It’s Jimin, of course, who is protesting about falling asleep despite having done exactly that. “‘m just resting my eyes. Head hurts.”
Taking that into consideration, Jin makes sure to lower his voice so he doesn’t make Jimin’s migraine any worse. “I brought some medicine for you to take,” he says. “It’s some painkillers and fever reducers. Jungkook brought some water for you. Do you think you can try taking it?”
With seemingly a lot of effort, Jimin lifts his head up off of the table, staring blearily at the other members. He definitely looks out of it, and the paleness of his skin in contrast with the flush of his cheeks does nothing to help his disheveled appearance. “I dunno,” he says. “‘m kinda nauseous.”
Jin furrows his eyebrows in sympathy. He definitely doesn’t want to give Jimin any medicine if he isn’t going to be able to keep it down. “Do you think you’re going to throw up if you try to take it?”
He seems to consider this for a moment which worries Jin, but he eventually shakes his head and reaches his hand out for Jin to hand him the pills, which he does. He takes them with a few gulps of water and immediately rests his head on the table once more.
“I wish you could just stay in bed and rest, hyung,” Jungkook says sympathetically. He always gets very concerned whenever one of his hyungs isn’t feeling well. “If we were back home, you could just rest in the dorms and we could go out and get you all of the medicine you need with no problems.”
“And his comfort foods,” Yoongi adds with a hint of a smile on his face. Whenever Jimin is sick, he always has an array of go-to Korean foods that are light enough to not upset his stomach but are still tasty enough for him to enjoy when he’s sick. Overseas, he doesn’t really have the comfort of that.
“We’ll be back home soon enough, Jiminie-hyung,” Taehyung promises. He doesn’t mention the fact that he will have to make it through several full-length concerts before then, but that’s not really something any of the members want to worry about right now.
“At least you have us,” Namjoon says suddenly, which causes Jimin to perk up a little out of curiosity. “I mean, you might not have your comfortable bed or the food you like to eat when you’re sick, but you still have us and we’ll be here for you no matter what. You know that, right?”
Instead of answering verbally, Jimin just puts his head back down on the table. For a moment, Namjoon doesn’t think he is going to respond at all. He isn’t too great at comforting the members, so maybe he said something that upset Jimin even more.
That thought is pushed out of his mind, however, when Jimin responds with a soft “thank you guys” followed by a sniffle that doesn’t seem to be related to his illness.
