Two Weeks Ago

The Effects Set In

"Are you okay?"

Jin groaned. He felt light-headed. Yoongi kept his hand firmly around his shoulder.

"Do you feel well enough to go lie down?"

"No..."

Yoongi didn't ask any more questions after that. He kept rubbing circles on Jin's back as the latter continued to throw up. He didn't scrunch his nose or be impatient.

When Jin leaned back again, he caught him in his lap. Yoongi glanced at Jin in concern.

"I feel like trash."

"Yeah..." Yoongi nodded. He felt a pang of sadness go through him when Jin sniffed and whimpered, his arms wrapping around his midsection. "Let's get you back to your room."

The bin was dragged next to Jin's bed as soon as Jin had made himself cozy in his covers again. He squeezed his eyes shut, in part to wish his embarrassment away and also to make himself a bit more comfortable. Yoongi didn't utter a single complaint, but Jin imagined that he must be feeling annoyed.

Yoongi settled beside him again within a matter of moments. He pressed his chin on Jin's shoulder as he back-hugged him.

"I'm really awkward I know, but if you need anything, call me again."

"Yeah," Jin said. "I'm sorry if-"

"It's all good, don't worry."

-------

Yoongi woke up around six-thirty. As soon as he sat up, Jin started whimpering.

"Wha-what's wrong, hyung?"

Jin wasn't fully awake, he realized. His voice was covered with a thick layer of sleep.

"Yoonie... don't..."

"Okay."

Yoongi flopped back down beside Jin and wrapped his arms around him again. The eldest immediately settled down, his breathing starting to even out again. Yoongi smiled despite himself. He had been planning on making breakfast so the others couldn't spill cereal everywhere but staying with Jin was alright as well. Jin must be feeling pretty terrible if he wanted someone to stay beside him.

It was a sudden realization, maybe because Yoongi had never bothered to notice it before. Jin had lost weight. Maybe the others had noticed, but he hadn't. Jin's waist was skinnier, his hip bones jutting out painfully underneath the rapper's hands.

"You need to gain weight hyung," Yoongi muttered. He hoped Jin didn't hear.

And he didn't.

Jin didn't because he was dead to the world, sleeping soundly in Yoongi's arms.

-------

"Everything was okay last night?" Jimin asked.

Yoongi nodded. He stole a glance back to Jin, who was sitting on the couch and laughing at something Namjoon had said.

"He was alright for the most part, yeah."

Jimin sighed in relief. "That's... comforting."

-------

Jin seemed okay for the morning. He ate his breakfast happily with the others and agreed to go to vocal practice with them. Hoseok tried to protest and told Jin to rest, but nobody listened to him. Jin said he was feeling fine.

Vocal practice was fun. The members hadn't practiced in a long time and the first half hour was interesting to hear, to say the least. They weren't in tune and a few of them were singing the wrong words. Unlike usual, they didn't get disappointed at each other when the mistakes happened. For once, practice was relaxing and stress-free. Jin enjoyed it. He wished all practices were like this.

It was like the calm before the storm. The happiness before the heartbreak. The weekend before finals.

Jin had another appointment the week after. He was not looking forward to that. For the time being, he tried to immerse himself in Yoongi's comical impression of Jimin on stage and Hoseok's booming laughter. He tried to enjoy himself.

--------

Things started to crack that evening.

"Dinner's ready!"

They had their meal together. Usually, there wasn't a single day when they were all together at mealtimes, because someone was always busy at the studios or someone was eating in their rooms. But things had changed now. Now they tried their best to share the time. Jin found it a bit embarrassing that they had dropped everything to be with him. It also didn't help that he felt exhausted and sick. Jin had put on an extra hoodie to keep himself warm, even though it wasn't cold at all.

Hoseok and Namjoon had made the meal.

"This actually isn't bad," Jimin said.

"What? You thought that it would be bad?" Namjoon asked.

"No, of course not!" Taehyung said. "I was pleasantly surprised."

"I thought you two didn't know how to follow a recipe," Yoongi said.

They laughed. Hoseok and Namjoon laughed along too.

"You underestimate us too much," Hoseok said. "I'm dumb, but I'm not that dumb-"

Jin carefully stood up. He couldn't eat anymore. He nearly toppled over as he stood up. His knees were wobbly and his legs shook. He put his hand on the table to balance himself.

"What?" Jungkook asked. "Hyung?"

Jin couldn't answer him. He stumbled away to the bathroom.

The others sighed in worry.

-------

Jin kind of... changed slowly. That first month after the first chemotherapy sessions were difficult for him. He had to adjust to all the new side effects that he struggled to. Taehyung made Namjoon and Jungkook sit down and learn how to knit. Twenty-three YouTube tutorials later, they emerged with a messy piece of knitted material that they promptly plopped on Jin's head. His hair wasn't as thick and fluffy as before, it was starting to thin, and he was starting to get self-conscious. Yoongi hated the "hat" that they had made, but Jin appreciated their efforts and tried to wear it regularly (it did fall off easily though).

But most concerningly, he got weaker. There were days when he couldn't lift himself out of his bed. Forget any kind of practice or work. Jin told his parents about his condition. His mom called him every single night to ask him how he was doing. His diagnosis spread like wildfire across his entire family, and before Jin knew it, he was having to do online conferences with his aunts and third cousins. It was a bit stifling, especially when he didn't have the mindset to socialize.

The others tried their best to look out for him. They took him to the doctor if anything serious happened.

But things were going to get a lot worse before they got better.

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1040 words