The next day, Thursday, Jimin took the last of his medication. Running out hadn't been a surprise — he'd known exactly how many days he had left — but it was a worry. His foster mum was supposed to come to visit after work on Friday and bring him more, he'd told her that was when he would need more, but... but he hadn't made sure she wrote it in her planner, he had been too busy being angry to stress its importance. It wouldn't have been the first time she forgot his medication.

Friday morning Jimin woke up feeling anxious, and then later in the day it got the more anxious he became. It wasn't very logical. His foster mum got off work at five and the drive to the camp was at least two hours, so there was no way she'd be there any earlier than seven. It made no sense to be more anxious at three in the afternoon than he had been at nine in the morning.

It did, however, make sense for his anxiety to go up as seven passed and then eight. It should have been relaxing, laying in the curve of Hoseok's arm while they watched a movie, but all Jimin could do was chew on his lip and tap nervous rhythms with his fingertips on the arm Hoseok had wrapped around him as he waited for his foster mum to come or not come. It was getting late.

Hoseok sighed and paused the movie. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Jimin said just a little too quickly. He'd known the question was coming.

"Nothing, huh?" Hoseok asked as he took hold of Jimin's tapping fingers and stilled them. "Jimin..."

Jimin scowled and shoved Hoseok's hand away. "Don't."

Hoseok sat up, releasing Jimin. "If you don't tell me what's wrong, I can't help."

"I didn't ask for your help," Jimin grumbled, turning his face away from Hoseok.

Jimin didn't want Hoseok's help because he knew Hoseok would just advise him to do what was sensible. To go to the office and have them call his foster mum or something. He knew that was the most logical solution, but he didn't want to go to the office. And what if they wanted him to talk to her on the phone? He didn't like phones.

"Fine, I'll back off," Hoseok said as he stood. He tapped the iPad against Jimin's elbow until he took it. "Finish watching the movie on your own if you like."

Jimin did finish the movie, or at least he held the iPad in front of him while it played. How could he enjoy it without Hoseok's arm wrapped around him?

When ten came around, time for bed, Jimin had given up on his foster mum coming that night. His bedtime routine felt wrong, incomplete, without taking his medication. It took him a long time to get to sleep.

~

Jimin woke up feeling okay but wasn't surprised when, halfway through his morning shower, he started feeling twitchy and slightly nauseated. He'd missed a dose of his medication a few times before, so he was quite familiar with the sudden and extreme withdrawal symptoms. Ugh.

"Coming to breakfast?" Hoseok asked with a smile as Jimin stepped out of the bathroom.

"No," Jimin said, his voice taking on that tone that always got him accused of sulking. He flopped face down on his bed.

Hoseok sighed. "Jimin, you really need to tell me what's wrong."

"No I don't," Jimin said into his blanket. "I don't have to do anything I don't want to."

Jimin felt Hoseok sit down on the end of his bed. "Okay, let me change that to should. You should tell me what's wrong. Did I do something?"

"No," Jimin grumbled. "Go away."

As soon as Hoseok's weight lifted off the bed, Jimin regretted his words. He didn't mean it, he just... Doing things about his problems was hard. He'd rather just wait until they inevitably resolved themselves.

"Want me to bring you back some breakfast?" Hoseok asked a couple of minutes later.

"No," Jimin said again. "Wait, yes. Toast."

"What do you want on it?"

"Just toast," Jimin said, and then realized he had an opportunity to excuse his behaviour without lying or giving too much truth away. "I feel nauseous. Dry toast or crackers help."

Jimin heard Hoseok approach, felt him lean against the side of the bed next to Jimin's head. "Do you need to go to the nurse?"

"Toast, please. Thank you."

"Pfft." Hoseok ruffled a hand through Jimin's hair, getting a muffled grumble in response. "I'll be back soon. Feel better."

The cabin door shut behind Hoseok and Jimin rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. His foster mum would probably come today. It seemed likely, even if she had forgotten he needed his medication. It was the weekend, and even the person had said his foster mum would be here on the weekend. Of course, Sunday was also the weekend.

When Hoseok returned with the toast Jimin sat up and rubbed a hand over his eyes. The movement made him dizzy. Without bothering with thanks, he took a piece of toast and ate.

The food helped with nausea, but it didn't stop Jimin's head feeling foggy every time he moved or the low-level anxiety that had him making repetitive chh sounds with his mouth before he caught himself and stopped. He funnelled the tension into tapping instead, a slightly more acceptable tic.

The tension between them was obvious as Hoseok hovered around Jimin's bed or sat on his own fiddling with his phone, sending Jimin frequent glances. He hadn't asked again if Jimin was okay. Not when Jimin got grumpy with him every time he tried to get him to talk about it.

Jimin wasn't sure how much of the mounting anxiety was because he hadn't taken his medication and how much of it was because time was ticking away and his foster mum still hadn't shown up. He felt sicker and sicker as the day wore on, and more and more like a helpless child.

In some ways Jimin was ahead of his peers — his grades were very good, and he would have skipped a year more than once if others hadn't thought it would have been bad for his social development. In other ways, though... There was part of Jimin's mind that had never developed beyond the little kid stage. He wasn't sure if it ever would. That part of him came out at times like this.

It was dark by now and Jimin was crying into his pillow as quietly as he could. He didn't want Hoseok to know. Of course, with the two of them in the same small room and Hoseok watching Jiminso closely, it would have been hard for him to miss. Hoseok's footsteps approached and the bed dipped next to Jimin's head, and Jimin knew he'd been caught.

"I really think you should go to the nurse, Jimin," Hoseok said. "If it's this bad."

Jimin made a sound of annoyance and punched out at Hoseok weakly, not intending to hurt, just to express himself.

Hoseok took Jimin's hand when it stilled against his thigh, stroked the back of his palm firmly as Jimin liked. "You want a hug?"

The part of Jimin that was angry, angry at his own vulnerability, wanted to shout at Hoseok and push him away, but the scared little boy part needed this. He wrapped his arms around Hoseok's thigh as best he could in place of answering, then clung to Hoseok when he lay down next to him.

This wasn't all anxiety or nausea. The medication did more than keep him calm and reduce his stimming. It steadied his emotions. Without them, especially when they were dropped quickly, Jimin felt like he was lost in a storm of hurt, no shelter in sight. Hoseok's hand was in his hair now, though, and the other was stroking soothing lines down his back. It both helped and made Jimin cry harder.

"Jimin, come on," Hoseok said into the top of Jimin's head. "We really need to get you to the nurse. I know you don't want to, but-"

"I'm not sick," Jimin said into Hoseok's shirt, half whine, half sob.

"You said you were feeling sick earlier."

"Feeling sick," Jimin stressed. "Not sick."

Hoseok rubbed at Jimin's scalp with his fingertips. "Okay. Why are you feeling sick?"

Jimin did his best to steady his breathing before speaking. "Because I ran out of medication." Jimin had to pause to calm down before continuing. "My foster mum was supposed to bring me more, but she forgot."

Hoseok sighed, causing an unpleasant tickle to brush against Jimin's ear. "Okay, then you need to call her."

"No, I don't want to go to the office." Jimin twisted his hands in Hoseok's shirt. "I don't want to."

"Jimin, hey, I have a phone." Hoseok stroked his hand down the side of Jimin's face but stopped when Jimin grimaced away from the touch. "Do you know her number?"

"I don't like phones," Jimin mumbled, knowing he just sounded petulant.

"If you give me her number, I can call her."

Jimin pushed himself out of Hoseok's embrace and rubbed at his teary eyes. "Okay."

Hoseok went to get his phone and Jimin recited the number. He could remember the phone number and address of every house he'd ever lived in, plus any mobile numbers he'd been given.

There were a few moments of silence while Hoseok held the phone to his ear, and then Jimin heard the sound of his foster mum's voice, quiet and indistinct, on the other end of the line.

"Oh, hey, my name's Hoseok," Hoseok said. "I'm sharing a cabin with Jimin."

A pause.

"Well, not really. He said you were supposed to bring him his medication but forgot? He missed his dose last night and he's feeling a bit unwell and upset." Hoseok nodded along to whatever Jimin's foster mum was saying on the other end of the line, though clearly, she couldn't see him. "Okay, tomorrow morning. I'll tell him that. Yeah, of course. It's no problem. See you then."

As Hoseok hung up the phone, Jimin crawled halfway into his lap and lean back against his chest.

Hoseok wrapped his arms around Jimin, holding him securely. "She'll bring it tomorrow morning. The pharmacies will all be shut tonight."

"It's too late to drive now anyway," Jimin murmured, his crying mostly stopped. "You shouldn't drive tired. It's dangerous."

"Mm, that's very true." Hoseok ran his hands up and down Jimin's arms. "What can I do to make you feel better? Food? Movie? Game?"

"Movie."

"Okay, a movie it is."

Jimin felt a little better, a little more stable, now that a clear plan of action had been made. Unknowns scared him. He still felt nauseated and dizzy, but at least he felt safe, laying there with his head on Hoseok's shoulder as they watched some mindless shooty movie. Things weren't okay yet, but they would be.