Ngl i was a little inspired by jimin for this lmao. As i'm writing this the news came out yesterday so now my sickfic brain is whirring and i'm ready to get back into business..... until uni work takes over lmao. Who knows when y'all will be reading this lmao. 

Beomgyu was no stranger to tummy pains. He'd always get the odd pain in his stomach, it would grumble uncomfortably for a while, but before he knew it, it was gone. While his hypochondriac brain would start telling him he's dying the moment he felt the ache, his anxieties soon faded along with the pain. 

He was just one of those people, he figured. He had a sensitive stomach. However this did not end well for him. 

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There once was a shepherd boy who was bored as he sat on the hillside watching the village sheep. To amuse himself he took a great breath and sang out, "Wolf! Wolf! The Wolf is chasing the sheep!"

The villagers came running up the hill to help the boy drive the wolf away. But when they arrived at the top of the hill, they found no wolf. The boy laughed at the sight of their angry faces.

"Don't cry 'wolf', shepherd boy," said the villagers, "when there's no wolf!" They went grumbling back down the hill.

Later, the boy sang out again, "Wolf! Wolf! The wolf is chasing the sheep!" To his naughty delight, he watched the villagers run up the hill to help him drive the wolf away.

When the villagers saw no wolf they sternly said, "Save your frightened song for when there is really something wrong! Don't cry 'wolf' when there is NO wolf!"

But the boy just grinned and watched them go grumbling down the hill once more.

Later, he saw a REAL wolf prowling about his flock. Alarmed, he leaped to his feet and sang out as loudly as he could, "Wolf! Wolf!"

But the villagers thought he was trying to fool them again, and so they didn't come.

At sunset, everyone wondered why the shepherd boy hadn't returned to the village with their sheep. They went up the hill to find the boy. They found him weeping.

"There really was a wolf here! The flock has scattered! I cried out, "Wolf!" Why didn't you come?"

An old man tried to comfort the boy as they walked back to the village.

"We'll help you look for the lost sheep in the morning," he said, putting his arm around the youth, "Nobody believes a liar...even when he is telling the truth!"

For some reason this fable was in his head this day. He had a distinct memory of being curled in his mothers arms as she read him this story. He remembered looking up with a bright smile, giggling at the silliness of the story. 

He scratched his head, wondering why on this particular day this story was now in his head. He couldn't think of anything that could have possibly triggered this story to come to his head, nothing that reminded him of it. He shrugged it off, just his brain bringing up old memories for no real reason. 

As he trudged into the kitchen that morning, his stomach started to hurt again. It grumbled angrily. There it is again. He thinks, as he starts up the coffee machine. He brushed it off as the usual stomach ache. It will go away in a few minutes, i'm probably just hungry.

He looked up to where the cereal box was sneakily stashed away on top of the cabinet. Of course, all the boys were tall, but for beomgyu it still took him reaching up and going on his toes some to get the box. Soobin and hyuka would hide the box up there only to laugh at him and taehyun when they had to reach up for it. 

However, on this morning, as beomgyu reached up for the box, a sharp pain radiated from his stomach, seemingly travelling outwards and through his whole body. He yelled out a little, stumbling to the floor. 

He caught himself before he fell all the way, but it startled him, so he stayed in a crouch on the floor, panting. That wasn't like his normal stomach ache. Still, his anxiety didn't stay for long. It's probably just some trapped wind or something. It'll go away in a few minutes. 

He composes himself, standing back up. He goes to grab the cereal box, easily grabbing it with no pain this time. See? it's fine. 

He goes about his morning, lazily munching on cereal and sipping coffee while the others trudge around, going about their own morning routines.

He looks down, expecting the bowl to be empty, now his stomach felt full, but to his surprise, it was still full. He frowned, swirling it around with his spoon. He pouted, but shrugged, emptying it into the food bin. I must just be full from last nights dinner. 

His feet drag as he plods to his room, picking out a few random clothes to change into for dance practice. Yeonjun also plodded in, grabbing his phone and holding it up high with a mischievous smile. 

"hey!-" Beomgyu whined, reaching up to grab it, but he was quickly cut off, as the pain came again, enough to knock him down to the floor again. Yeonjuns playful expression quickly faded, and he threw beomgyus phone back on his bed again. 

"You ok? What happened?" Yeonjun holds out a hand to offer to help him up, but beomgyu brushes his hand away, getting up himself. 

"My stomach hurt when i reached up. I'm fine now though." He mumbled, taking his phone and putting it in his hoodie pocket. Yeonjun scowled, but soon shrugged, turning to leave the room. 

"Its probably just one of your usual stomach aches." 

-------------

Beomgyu sat in silence on the car ride to the agency building. He had his earphones in, but nothing playing through them. He just wanted an excuse to not have to talk too much. He didn't feel good. 

A dull ache was starting to build from the same place where he would feel the twinge when he stretched up. He was starting to feel like this was something more than his usual stomach aches. Those were higher up, but this was much lower down, and to the side. 

The others clearly noticed he was much quieter today than usual. Beomgyu was never good at hiding his emotions. He was able to hide them for the camera, but when just around the others, he could never hide his thoughts. They saw how his eyes looked sadly out the window, instead of looking around with his usual brightness. But of course, no one mentioned anything. 

Once they arrive and hop out of the car, Soobin gently pats his back and gives him a smile of encouragement. Beomgyu nods and accepts the encouragement, but he still can't bring himself to smile. 

He can feel the others glancing at him constantly as he organises his things at the side of the room, taking several sips of water with false hope it might help. Taehyun couldn't stay quiet anymore, and decides to speak up. He walks over to Beomgyu.

"Are you ok hyung? you're very quiet."

Beomgyu just nods with a hum, trying to sound sure of himself. 

They all gather in the centre and start warming up together. Beomgyu does his best to push through the pain, but he clearly winces when he reaches up to stretch. Their choreographer frowns.

"Are you ok beomgyu?" 

"y-yeah i think i just pulled a muscle or something." He mumbles, his hand gently resting on his lower stomach.

"Come sit out for a bit. Try gently stretching and join in again when you're ready."  

He trudges over to the front of the room and sits in front of the mirror and watches the others, keeping a secure hand on his stomach the whole time. After a few minutes, their choreographer asks him how he's doing, and he lies, saying he's fine. 

He gets up and joins them, going through the dance again, however they get to a certain part in the choreography where they reach up, and this sends him crumpling to the floor again. They can all tell something is wrong. 

"Is you're tummy still hurting?" Hyuka asks quietly, crouching next to beomgyu. Beomgyu sat up, his face scrunching up from the pain. 

"How long has it been hurting?" Their choreographer asks, but beomgyu can't bring himself to answer. 

"The same thing happened earlier. I was playing around but then he reached up and fell like this. It must have been there since this morning." Yeonjun answers. 

"It might be a pulled muscle. Taehyun, can you go get a heating pad? That might make it better." Taehyun nods, jogging to the first aid room, while the others sit with beomgyu, who was now more composed, and able to answer questions. Soobin gently rubs his shoulder for comfort. 

"Have you taken any painkillers for it?" beomgyu shakes his head quietly. 

"It was just twinges before, i didn't think of taking any. It wasn't until we got in the car here that it started to hurt more." His voice shakes a little. Taehyun soon comes back with the heating pad, already turned on and warm. He helps him place it gently on his tummy, and he slowly scoots back to his place, leaning against the mirrors. 

The others continue on, and beomgyu starts to feel a little more hopeful as the heat soothes the pain, along with the painkillers he was given. After 30 minutes or so, he's ready to get up and join them again. 

It hurt. A lot.

But he didn't want to keep going back and forth, getting up to dance, being in pain, sitting back down again, that he forced a brave face as much as possible. Tried to look like he wasn't in agony at least. 

Despite his best efforts to hide it, the others could tell he was still in pain, and they were getting worried. Beomgyu is known to push himself too far. All of them do, but beomgyu especially often hides his true feelings to try and live up to his name as the mood maker of the group. 

The choreographer calls a break and they all walk over to the sides of the room and sip on some water. Beomgyu is sweating a lot more than the others and is clearly shaky. Yeonjun doesn't want to pry, saying he's clearly in pain, cause he knows beomgyu will continue to deny it, so instead he just reminds him gently. "Don't push yourself too far if you can't do it." 

Beomgyu just nods, using his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead. 

They all gather in the centre of the room, getting in their positions to practice again, but its got to a point where beomgyu can't hide it anymore. On top of the pain, he's now nauseous. He places a shaky hand over his tummy and takes a shaky breath, tears brewing in his eyes. Something really isn't right. 

"Are you ok beomgyu? you don't look good." Soobin says, a gentle hand on his shoulder. Beomgyu shakes his head. 

"I- I feel sick." He mumbles, his voice shaking. The others share a look of worry. 

"I think maybe you should go home..." Yeonjun says, weary of beomgyus reaction. To his surprise, he doesn't protest. He just whimpers and starts to cry. 

Kai noticed his legs shaking, and carefully guided him down to sit on the floor. 

Beomgyu just sobs quietly, hiding his head in his hands. Each sob and gasp makes his stomach hurt more. He wants to stop but he just feels so miserable. 

"Its ok beomgyu..." Soobin carefully rubs his back. Yeonjun feels his forehead with the back of his hand and brushes his hair back. 

Beomgyu tries his best to take deep breaths, but they're shaky, and he can't breathe deep enough before he ends up with a stabbing pain again, so his breaths stay shallow. 

Their choreographer joins them after having been stood aside making a phone call. "I've arranged for all of you to go home. We can't send beomgyu home alone, and i think it'd be pointless keeping all of you here." 

They all nod, sitting worriedly around beomgyu. When their ride arrives, they carefully help beomgyu stand up, soobin on one side and yeonjun on the other, and they walk slowly beside him to the car. Taehyun and kai gather their bags, bowing to the choreographer before leaving the room and following close behind. 

The car journey stays quiet yet again, but the air is much more tense. They can all hear beomgyus shallow, shaky breaths. They can see how pale his complexion has turned. Beomgyu is seriously sick. 

The turns and bumps of the car journey don't help beomgyus nausea. 

As soon as they arrive, he's hobbling out of the car to the nearest bush. He gags a few times, but doesn't bring up much. He hadn't eaten much at all that day anyway. Soobin just pats his back anxiously, and helps him up once he's done. 

Beomgyu is sent straight to his room, given a glass of water and a bucket, and the others sit in the living room to talk. 

"What do you think it is?" Taehyun asks, biting at his fingers nervously.

"If its a tummy bug, its a bad one." Soobin replies, with a pout. Yeonjun scratches at his neck. 

"I'm... a little nervous to suggest this but, he said the pain was low down right? he was always holding this part of his tummy." Yeonjun demonstrates. The others all turn pale. 

"Appendicitis?"

-------------------------------------

No matter how grateful beomgyu was for the others care, nothing made it better. He was still in pain. It only seemed to be getting worse. He couldn't sleep properly, only drift in and out of hazy consciousness, finding himself even more drenched in sweat each time. 

By this point, yeonjun had already been phoning their doctor desperately for advice, but their doctor didn't seem to understand how bad it was. After a blunt hanging-up, yeonjun turned to the others. 

"We're taking him to hospital." 

No one protested. 

Soobin went to try and "wake him up" and get him to hobble to the car, but when he entered his room, he paused. He'd never seen beomgyu so pale. Beomgyu certainly isn't the most pale among them, but now he looked almost green. His forehead glistened with a thick layer of sweat, his hair also soaked, as if he'd just had a shower or something. 

Something told him he wasn't going to be able to get beomgyu to even stand up. 

Just as he was about to interrupt yeonjuns call for a car to call an ambulance, the universe gave him another reason to do so. Beomgyu leaned over the edge of the bed, not aware enough to think to grab for the bucket, and vomited onto the floor. Soobin only had to squint for a second, then he was sure he saw right. There was blood. All he did was shout. 

"CALL AN AMBULANCE"

-------------------------------------------

Taehyun flung the door open as soon as he saw the flashing blue lights shine in through their window. He called them in, and they all quickly lead the paramedics to beomgyus room. 

Beomgyu was hardly conscious. He could only mumble nonsense and whine and whimper in pain. 

The paramedics got to work, checking all his vitals. He had a nearing dangerously high fever, his heartrate was incredibly high. It wasn't looking good. 

After feeling around his stomach and seeing how he yelled out when they even gently touched his lower right abdomen, they were sure they had a diagnosis. 

After confirming to the others he needed to be taken to hospital right away, they couldn't hold back their tears. Despite the fact they already knew that would be the prognosis, they still had a shred of hope that they might be able to give him something and make him better then and there. 

Taehyun offers to help them bring the stretcher into the house, while the other paramedic stays with beomgyu. They give him a painkiller to make him more comfortable, but it also makes him even more out of it. He hardly responds to them now. 

They carefully lift him onto the stretcher, and wheel him away into the ambulance. Yeonjun offers to go with them in the back, but no one else is allowed. The others have to get a lift there. 

------------------------------------

Once they arrived, it was very quickly confirmed with an ultrasound, that it was appendicitis, and beomgyus appendix was on the very verge of rupturing. He needed surgery. And in this case, yeonjun was now the one to sign the documents.

He felt a strange sort of pressure. Like he shouldn't be the one signing these documents. He knew it should be his parents, but also, beomgyu's life was on the line. If he didn't get the surgery, it's almost guaranteed that the worst would happen. And with that thought, he didn't have to deliberate any further. He signed his name down. Beomgyu would be getting the surgery. 

Beomgyu wasn't coherent enough to understand what was happening as he was wheeled away to another room, and asked to count down from 10 while a mask was held over his mouth and nose.

The others soon came and joined yeonjun in the waiting room. They all sat nervously, legs bouncing, nails bitten. Yeonjun scratched his head with a sigh, breaking the painful silence. 

"When will a statement be put out? Have they put one out yet?"

Soobin shakes his head. "They won't put one out until the surgery is over. We need to make sure he's definitely ok first." 

Yeonjun looks down at his fingers, nails picking at nails. He can't help but feel like he made a mistake now. What if the surgery goes wrong? It'll be his fault for signing that document. 

Soobin places a supportive hand on his knee. "Don't worry hyung. He'll be fine." 

-----------------------------

Its funny how anaesthesia works. It's almost as if it knows everyone around will need some cheering up.

All four of them can't help but giggle at beomgyus antics. His usual chaotic-ness has been turned up to 100. Despite his sluggish slurred words, he's still just as crazy. It took a lot of restraint for them to keep their phones in their pockets. Eventually, yeonjun couldn't resist. He could use it to blackmail him later. 

They all had to shush him every two seconds when he didn't realise how loud he was being, only for him to give them a harsh glare that made them all giggle. 

Taehyun even got a random business card out of his pocket and made it disappear to see his reaction, and they weren't disappointed, as his mouth hung agape and his eyes stared wide, followed by a "where did it go?!" filled with pure astonishment. He was very suspicious of taehyun for a while after that. 

It was rather entertaining. 

-------------------------------------

Beomgyu grumpily took another spoonful of the sludge, "chewing" it a few times before swallowing. Truth be told, he hated this boring, tasteless sludge. He didn't like being in hospital. 

He didn't like being alone. 

The others were only allowed to visit once a day, only for an hour, two if they were lucky, and if there was a nice nurse on call that day. 

He got very bored alone in his hospital room. The others had bought his laptop, and his phone and his Switch. He had plenty to do, in theory. While he usually treasures his alone time while in the dorms, he felt empty without hearing their yelling and antics all day every day. 

Besides, he found it hard to enjoy playing games or watching random videos when he was in pain. Even though the painkillers they gave him regularly through the IV made him feel better, it still hurt. The only thing that made the pain go away completely was when the others came to visit. They were the only real painkillers for him. 

He twiddled the spoon in his bowl of grey sludge, in a daze, until he got a small nudge from a nurse. 

"You need to eat beomgyu. It'll make you feel better." 

He nods with a soft hum, and swallowed down another spoonful of tasteless sludge. He wanted to complain, but he couldn't. Not to a nurse. He was much more shy with people he wasn't familiar with. 

Later on in the day, he sat with a blank expression, watching the TV. He saw yeonjun MCing on inkigayo. Yeonjun couldn't come today because of it. He wanted to be happy for his hyung, he wanted to be happy to see him, but he couldn't help but feel sad that he couldn't come see him. He wished he could have gotten out of MCing today, so he could come see him. He switched off the TV with a sigh, and then swung his legs off the side of the bed to get his laptop. 

He reached down, but yelped as a sharp pain shot from his incision outwards. Just at that moment, soobin and hyuka came in. Soobin immediately ran over. 

"beomgyu-ya! You need to stay in bed! what were you doing?" Soobin helps him back into the bed and pulls the covers up. Beomgyu sniffles and bites his lip as he looks away, making soobin stop in his tracks. "Hey... whats wrong?" 

He sniffs, and hurriedly wipes away tears. He doesn't want to cry. His throat still hurts from the intubation. Crying only makes it hurt more. "I just wanted my laptop..." He mumbles. 

"You should have waited for us to get here or a nurse or something. You'll hurt yourself! are your stitches ok?" Soobin continues to flap around him, when beomgyu cuts him off.

"Do you know how boring it is in here soobin? I'll die of boredom before i ever die of burst stitches." 

Soobin just stops in his tracks for a while, before sighing, and mumbling an apology. He places beomgyus laptop on the table attached to the bed and pats beomgyu on the shoulder. 

Beomgyu opens up his laptop, and goes to twitter. He feels a splash of warmth in his chest as he sees the hashtags fans had started in support of him. He smiled as he scrolled through messages of support, people who had been through the same, cute fanart of him in a hospital bed surrounded by all the members. If only that was closer to reality. It wasn't quite as cute and fun as it was in this fanart fantasy. Still, it made him smile. That's all that matters. 

He quickly tweets out a thank you and ensures the fans that he's doing ok and recovering well, and then shuts his laptop so he could be a bit more social. 

At that moment soobin's phone starts ringing, and its yeonjun. 

"hello... yes, hyung.... we're with beomgyu right now. Shall we go on facetime? then you two can talk." Soobin presses a few buttons, and then holds the phone up to beomgyu. He takes it from it, and smiles. He can talk to yeonjun. 

"How are you feeling today beomgyu?" Yeonjun asks. He's still backstage at inkigayo. 

"A little better, thanks, hyung." Beomgyu responds shyly. 

"The company put a statement out. Did you see it?" 

Beomgyu nods, "yeah, I saw all the fans responses just now. It made me feel better."

"Good! I'm sorry i couldn't come visit you today, i'll come tomorrow i promise. I'll make up for it. Hopefully they'll let me stay another hour" 

Beomgyu nods. 

"Make sure you take care of yourself! We need you to recover fast so we can get back into schedules and so the fans don't worry. Don't go pushing yourself to do things before your ready. That'll only make things slower. Ok?" 

Beomgyu chuckles and rolls his eyes playfully. "Yes, hyung." 

"ok, i gotta go, i'll see you tomorrow!" 

They both wave their goodbyes, and then the call ends. Beomgyu sheepishly hands the phone back to soobin.

Soobin and hyuka stay for a little while longer, chatting and laughing with beomgyu. Hyuka whips out one of his treasured plushies to keep beomgyu company while they're gone. Although beomgyu laughs at the playful gesture, he appreciates it. It smells like home, and that brings him some comfort. Some relief of the overwhelmingly-clean smell of the hospital. 

When he closes his eyes and buries his face in the soft, squishy plushie, he's home again.

-------------------------------

Finally, the day came for beomgyu to actually come home. He was glad to come home to a clean room, freshly washed bedsheets. Although he was home, he was still under strict bed rest for a few more days. 

Still, bed rest at home was much better than bed rest in the hospital. He had his hyung around more, and they could watch movies together in beomgyus room, joining him in his bed, all squashed together in a loving cuddle, watching the drama on the small laptop screen. Even through the odd pang of pain that he'd get, they'd pause the show and stroke his hair back, rub his shoulder and help him through it. 

It was so much nicer. He'd never been so glad to have the four of them next to him. 

omgggggggg finally lmaoooooo its been a while ay? i'm terribly sorry, i've been suuuuuper busy with uni work, and also i just kinda struggled with this for a while. Generally haven't had as much inspiration to write as much. It's hard to be motivated to write fanfics when you're always writing for uni too lmao. I'm sorry this has taken so long tho. 

I have no guarantees as to when the next one will be out, could be weeks, could be months, who knows. But nonetheless i hope you're all still here reading, and you'll come back next time. 

What did y'all think of thursdays child? i looove it i bought the album to add to my collection lol. My favourite track is probably thursdays child has far to go. Closely followed by trust fund baby cause i'm a sucker for the ballads lol. 

I'm praying so hard that txt come here to the uk for tour when they add more dates. I'm so desperate to see them live i think i'd actually cry i love them so much lol. 

anyway, enough rambling, i need to get to starting the next chapter lol. Requests are still open! i need taehyun and hyuka requests the most, yeonjun and beomgyu too. I already have 3 soobin requests so maybe just prioritise the others for now. Also just be aware it may be a whiiile until they get written lol. I apologise. Going into third year of uni will definitely be even more busy, what with a dissertation to write. Anyway, hopefully i'll get to write some more now i have some more of the spirit of sickfics back in me lol. 

see ya in the next one!!!