Chapter 15: Expired Brie.

It was the morning of their flight to Beijing to attend the BTV Spring Festival. Got7 had to wake up super early, one thing Youngjae hated more than cucumbers. And at this exact moment. as Jaebum was shaking the light out of him in order to wake him up, he was ready to eat a huge bag of cucumbers if it only meant he could sleep for a little longer. Although their schedule wasn't packed as usual, Youngjae was still being woken up at dawn for some reason.

"Hyung, I thought the flight was at noon." - Youngjae whined getting up from his bed lazily.

"It is." - Jaebum casually answered, getting Youngjae a towel and some clothes and then pushing him towards the bathroom.

"Then why in the world are we up at five in the morning?" - Youngjae continued to whine. What is up with this weird leader?

"You'll see later. Now quickly take a shower and get ready." - Jaebum said after Youngjae was forcefully pushed into the bathroom.

"What is wrong with him." - Youngjae mumbled stripping to take a morning shower. But the shower water was cold, which was unusual. From the moment he woke up this morning, Youngjae knew it wasn't his day today. Now even the shower water was mocking Youngjae, just like: "I'm going to be a jerk to you and be unusually cold. Enjoy, Choi Youngjae!"

"Stupid water." - Youngjae cussed the shower water under his breath, while still washing his hair. Luckily he didn't get much damaged hair from bleaching it last year during the Stop Stop It era, which Youngjae was always thankful for. So Youngjae tried his best not to pay attention to the ice cold water and think about his amazing hair instead. It didn't work, though. Now Youngjae was not only pissed about some sudden schedule that Got7 had at dawn, but he was also really cold, which only pissed him off more.

When Youngjae got out of the shower, the cold winter breeze hit him, as their apartment was pretty cold in the mornings. Youngjae quickly ran to his room, that he hated so much for being way too hot.

"Sorry for hating you so much." - Youngjae mumbled entering the warm room. He was at the moment extremely happy for his room's faulty air condition and ty heating system of their dorm.

"Are you done?" - Jaebum asked, looking up from the book he was reading.

"No, let me do my hair first." - Youngjae muttered, having a hard time finding his hair dryer, that he also shared with 7 other men, including Got7's manager.

"Okay, dry your hair fast." - Jaebum said, returning back to his book.

"Where are we going anyway? Manager hyung didn't say anything yesterday. Why all of a sudden are we getting up so early?" - Youngjae asked, while still looking for the red hair dryer, they've been using for as long as Youngjae could remember. There even was a rumor about Jaebum and Jinyoung using it during their JJProject days and maybe even before that. Seems like a century passed since Youngjae asked Jaebum a question and started looking for the damn hair dryer, but he never got an answer, neither did he find the red magical blowing machine. It's as if the shower, hair dryer and Jaebum had a talk this morning about teasing Youngjae and trying to piss him off. He could just see the three of them talking and laughing evilly like: "Youngjae's been too happy lately, let's annoy him so much that he has a mental breakdown."

"Youngjae, what the hell are you doing?" - Jaebum asked, after a long silence.

"Weren't you going to dry your hair?" - Jaebum was a bit annoyed at how slow Youngjae was at times.

"I was. But I can't find the hair dryer." - Youngjae said through his teeth. He didn't need Jaebum's anger on top of all of this.

"Maybe it isn't here. Why aren't you looking elsewhere?" - Jaebum asked Youngjae. Youngjae was so stupid sometimes it kind of amazed Jaebum. Jaebum got up quickly from his reading spot and went into the bathroom, bringing back the red old hair dryer.

"But I put it on the desk last night after I used it." - Youngjae tried to explain, so he wouldn't so small brained.

"I used to this morning. It was on the bathroom sink." - Jaebum quickly said and plugged in the machine. Jaebum gestured Youngjae to come over to him and sit down.

"Are you going to dry my hair?" - Youngjae asked, a bit confused, but still he walked over to Jaebum and sat down, as he was told.

"Yeah. It seems like it will take a hundred years for you to dry your own hair if your hair drying skills are anything like your stuff finding skills." - Jaebum sassily answered, skillfully grabbing a section of Youngjae's silky hair and drying it using the red thing.

"That's mean." - Youngjae said, but Jaebum didn't hear him due to the loud noise the hair drying process was making.

It didn't even take Jaebum full 10 minutes to completely dry Youngjae's hair. Youngjae's wet hair became dry and smooth in a blink of an eye. After finishing his job pridefully Jaebum pushed Youngjae towards thheir wardrobe.

"Quickly find something to wear. Make sure it's dark, so it won't attract much attention and warm, it seems to be really cold outside." - Jaebum ordered.

"Hyung, where are we going?" - Youngjae asked again, picking out his favorite hoodie and a pair of denim jeans.

"On our second date." - Jaebum replied, scannig Youngjae's outfit.

"I already rented the cafe next to the apartment from 6 to 9 AM." - Jaebum said, meeting Youngjae's intense gaze.

"Don't worry. I didn't spend much money, as they normally open at around 10 AM." - Jaebum answered, reading Youngjae's mind. He still didn't get why Youngjae got so worried and angry whenever Jaebum spent money on him. Jaebum made enough money to sometimes spend it on things and people he loved, so why worry about it? Money is nothing compared to the happiness Youngjae and Jaebum were feeling in return.

"You could've told me that, you know. We could've split the money." - Youngjae said, sighing and putting on his boots.

"It's okay. You can pay for the drinks." - Jaebum smiled at his already stressed boyfriend.

When they arrived at the coffee shop, the place was romantically lit with light in a pink shade. There were pose pedals lying all over the place and the floor looked so pretty, that Youngjae didn't have the heart to step on them and ruin the very beautiful red carpet made from flowers.

"When did you become so romantic, hyung?" - Youngjae asked, half truly amazed at Jaebum's romantic mind and half teasing Jaebum's cheesiness.

"The moment I fell for you, maybe?" - Jaebum said and laughed at his own cringe-worthy comment. Youngjae also frowned feeling the second hand embarrassment.

"Hyung, stop being weird. What are you going to do next? Give me a bouquet of flowers?" - Youngjae laughed. Jaebum laughed and acted disappointed, as if he really did bring flowers to give to Youngjae.

The two sat down at a special arranged table, that was covered with a pink cover with hearts all over it.

"Since I couldn't prepare for our first date, I made sure the second one was extra awesome. So I told the staff to decorate the place for this date. But it seems like they overdid it a bit." - Jaebum said, scanning a Disney princess' dream place.

"I bet they thought you would bring a girl." - Youngjae mumbled in a low tone, a bit disappointed in himself.

"Youngjae, are you actually sulking because of nonexistent girl?" - Jaebum asked, ridiculed by Youngjae's naive and innocent personality.

"I'm sulking because of society views and norms." - Youngjae bitterly answered, sipping his lemonade.

"Well stop it, 'cause you should be happy. It's 2jae's second date!" - Jaebum excitedly said, trying to lift the mood.

"2jae?" - Youngjae raised his eyebrows and smirked.

"That's our couple name our fans made up." - Jaebum explained, feeling a bit shy for using a fan term. Did he just admit to having a fan account about Youngjae? Did he just reveal his darkest secret about looking through Youngjae's fan sites and looking at his pictures? Will Youngjae think he's creepy? Will Youngjae laugh about it?

"How do you know that?" - Youngja asked, still smirking. Jaebum started to panic. What the was he supposed to say? "Oh you know, from Tumblr, where I have 2 blogs about you and our relationship. Plus you might want to know, yes I do save the good pictures of us."?

"Umm... Oh you know... I think, I think a fan told me a while ago at fan signing event." - Jaebum said, trying to sound as natural as possible. He tried to read Youngjae's expression. Was Youngjae bying Jaebum's fake reason?

"That's cool. " - Youngjae muttered, turning back to his drink.

"By the way, why suddenly did you decide to have a date today? Why not any other day?" - Youngjae wondered. This question has been on his mind ever since Jaebum told him they would be going on a date.

"We are busy these few weeks. We have a fan meeting coming up in a week, and then after we have to prepare for our Japanese tour, after that we have a comeback, which we have to prepare for. So I thought we should have a date while we're pretty free." - Jaebum explained, knowing every detail of their schedule by heat, a thing that was required to be a good leader.

"You're so thoughtful." - Youngjae said, half joking, half respectful and serious. Soon enough, the cheese cake they ordered arrived and silence fell upon them as they both started to eat the delicious desert.

"Wait, you know what I just remembered? How you had to buy Jackson cheesecakes for a month so he would teach you the right pronunciations when we were doing a concert in China." - Jaebum spoke up and laughed, remembering the good old days.

"Oh yeah! We had to perform that song... What was it? "Black" something?" - Youngjae said vaguely remembering the memory.

""Black Sweater" I think it was." - Jaebum said.

"You know your willingness to learn and improve yourself no matter any hardships still impresses to this day." - Jaebum commented, munching on the remains of the cheese cake.

"But looking back at what happened, Jackson hyung was so unfair. He had me buying him cheese cakes everyday for a whole month. And then at the end of the month, he made me buy him 2 cheese cakes and 10 packets of cheese he loved, which are quite expensive, I might add." - Youngjae complained, thinking of the sneaky member.

"But you knew that would happen when you agreed, didn't you?" - Jaebum asked, to which Youngjae nodded.

"Then why did you agree?"

"I really wanted to learn the right pronunciations. I didn't want to be unprepared and wrong." - Youngjae simply answered. Youngjae's devotion to learning, education, practice and getting better has never failed to amaze Jaebum. It was pretty mind blowing how hardworking Youngjae was. Whether it was a new song they had to learn, a new choreography or even a new language, Youngjae picked up on it moments later, if he wanted to. It was Bambam and him who were always the fastest to memorize lyrics to a new song, or the new dance moves.

"Then why don't you just learn chinese? It won't take you as long as it would take a normal person." - Jaebum suggested.

"It's so much work, though, hyung. If I learn a new language, while doing all of the things we're doing, I won't have time to sleep." - Youngjae whined again, making Jaebum laugh. Besides Youngjae's committed and dedicated personality that took Jaebum's breath away, it was also his laziness and love for sleep that Jaebum also adored.

Youngjae and Jaebum sat there talking about everything and anything for a while, they talked for so long that it started to seem that they were running out if things to talk about.

"Why does lemonade taste so good, when lemon itself tastes so bad?" - Youngjae suddenly asked, looking at this 4th glass of the light yellow beverage.

"Probably 'cause they added sugar and water to it." - Jaebum answered, not amused by Youngjae's randomness.

"What o'clock is it, hyung? Shouldn't we go back to the dorm?" - Youngjae asked.

"It's almost 9. We should probably head to the dorm." - Jaebum said, getting up. Jaebum grabbed both of their jackets and then gently put Youngjae's jacket on his shoulders. Youngjae smiled at him and went over to the cash register to pay for their drinks and cake. After they were done, they went back to the dorm. Almost everyone, expect for Jackson and Bambam who arrived a bit late the day before from their vacation in Thailand, were up and doing random stuff they wanted to do, while waiting for their flight to China. Strangely enough, no one asked anything, as if they were instructed not to. Not even one question about where they were and why they were absent for a few hours.

Youngjae visited the kitchen to drink a class of water, where he spotted a white soft looking thing. Youngjae walked over to it and touched it, after he smelled his finger and tried tasting it. It was without a doubt brie, a type of soft cheese that Jackson loved a lot. The guys must've had it for breakfast. Youngjae cut a fairly big piece of it and ate it. Damn, cheese is good.

"Jaebum hyung!" - Youngjae called, trying to share the tasty snack with his boyfriend. Jaebum jogged over to the kitchen and he ate a bit bigger piece, enjoying himself greatly.

"But doesn't it taste a big weird?" - Youngjae asked, while putting a small piece into his mouth again.

"I guess it does. But doesn't it always?" - Jaebum answered unaware of the trouble they just had gotten themselves into.

"Also, aren't you lactose intolerant? Is it okay for you to eat cheese?" - Jaebum asked, worried about Youngjae's health once again.

"No? What makes you say that?" - Youngjae confusedly inquired.

"Didn't you have a really had diarrhea after you had that one yogurt?" - Jaebum said, clearly remembering Youngjae's struggles because of one cup of innocent yogurt with a cherry flavor a few months ago.

"Hyung, stop talking about gross stuff while we're eating!" - Youngjae complained.

"Anyway, I don't think it was because of my lactose intolerance, but because it was an expired yogurt." - Youngjae answered, putting another small piece of cheese into his mouth. Jaebum did the same, grinning because of the delicious but pretty weird taste of the soft cheese. 

It seemed like not much time had passed but Got7 was already in Beijing, preparing for a small performance at a spring festival. Youngjae's stomach was aching as he got on the plane and it hasn't stopped ever since. And it turned out that Jaebum's stomach has been also aching for a while, as he admitted to it on the way to their hotel. And right then, Jaebum understood they both were pretty much ed, but Jaebum still prayed for the best, as he didn't want anything bad happening to his precious ray of sunshine and also it would mean that their appearance at this chinese event would be cancelled. So Jaebum just tried to pray the pain away.

"We'll be fine. I actually feel pretty okay." - Jaebum tried to cheer the struggling main vocalist up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll take the painkillers and I should be fine." - Youngjae assured and swallowed the pills.

"I will be fine." - Youngjae repeated. Got7 spent the few remaining hours on hair, make up and clothes that they were going to be wearing for only a few minutes just to walk a red carpet. All while getting his hair and make up done, Youngjae's stomach ache continued, that was so painful that at some point Youngjae thought he was going to actually see the heavens.

"Okay, guys, if you all are done, we will be going to the venue." - their manager announced. Got7 got into the van and made their way to the place the event was being held at. When the car started, Jaebum and Youngjae both wanted to just die. It hurt so much and on top of all that, they were dizzy and weak. It seemed as if Earth was spinning a bit too fast. Youngjae even at some point yelled out something like: "Please stop rotating so ing fast.", which confused everyone, expect Jaebum. As soon as they arrived, Jaebum and Youngjae almost fought to be the first one to get out of the van, after they got out of the vehicle they both started to violently vomit, to the point where their stomachs were empty and they were just standing there gagging to their death. When they were finally done, Youngjae just sat there for a bit, trying to gain back his consciousness and ability to stand up and do stuff. Jaebum got up sooner and asked their manager for a gastric pill. But Youngjae knew he couldn't sit there for any longer. They had to go and move on, as many people's jobs and maybe even their salary. Plus if Got7 canceled their performance, it would mean the whole program would have to change, which would be an inconvinience for everyone. But the scariest thing would be disappointing their fans who waited for them for a really long time. So Youngjae had to be okay, he had to control this pain no matter how hard it was going to be.

"You know what they say, The show must go on." - Youngjae got up from the ground and joked. Yugyeom who was really worried about his almost real brother quickly hit him for his bad pun with a terrible timing.

"Okay then if you're fine Youngjae we'll now rehearse first and then we have the red carpet event." - their manager spoke, worried about Youngjae's well being. Youngjae smiled and nodded. He wasn't going to let this small stupid stomach ache ruin their fans' amazing experience. Who was Youngjae to ruin a thing millions of people were anticipating for months? Who was Youngjae to ruin a performance Got7 practiced with all their heart and energy every single night?

During their rehearsal, Youngjae's condition got worse. But he still made sure to put his heart into the performance. It was fairly better as it was only the rehearsal performance and he didn't have to sing, but still he kind of wanted to just collapse and die. Every small part of his body hurt like hell, and Youngjae possibly even had a fever. No one, maybe expect Jaebum, understood his pain although it seemed like they really wanted to. Jaebum on the other hand felt a bit better after throwing up and letting all of the he ate out, along with the weird tasting cheese he ate with Youngjae earlier. However it seems that Youngjae had it much worse than him, as his facial expressions gave everything out. No matter how hard Youngjae tried to act cool and be his usual weird self, he still couldn't hide the extreme pain from his face.

"Youngjae, are you fine?" - one of the staff asked, giving him a water bottle. Youngjae smiled as wide as he could and nodded.

"Jaebum, are you fine?" - she proceeded to ask, also handing him water. Jaebum also just nodded, gratefully taking the bottle and drinking it. 

"Okay, can you guys perform in a few moments?" - she asked again, to which they both just nodded.

It was finally the time they changed into their fancy clothes and step on the red carpet and smile and wave and talk and do millions of other things they were obligated to do as idols.

Youngjae tried his best not to show anything that would indicate that he was in agony. He smiled and waved and just tried his best to distract himself and the fans from his horrible stomach pain. But right after the stupid red carpet there was still the performance they had to do. Got7 quickly changed their clothes and got ready to perform. As they still had a few minutes, they stood there for a while testing their microphones and their earpiece, Youngjae on the other hand just sat down, almost giving up. Noticing his pained expression Got7's manager came up to him and sat down next to him, while patting his back.

"Youngjae, can you perform?" - he asked.

"Sure, hyung. I just need some water." - Youngjae said, faking a smile. Yugyeom, who was standing next to Youngjae quickly handed him a bottle of water, worry and distress obvious on his young face.

"Youngjae, you know, it's fine if you really can't or don't want to." - Jinyoung worriedly said.

"Yeah, it's okay if we cancel the performance. It's just one show." - Jaebum agreed with Jinyoung, as he also sat down next to him and held him in his arms for a bit to ease his pain the only way he knew how to.

"No I'm fine. I'll perform." - Youngjae insisted, standing up and straightening his figure.

"I'm okay." - Youngjae stated confidently and went to the stage they were supposed to perform on.

Got7 finally finished "If You Do" and were ready to exit the stage. Youngjae couldn't wait the moment they get off the stage and find a place to lay down. But at the moment, while they were still on stage, he had to keep his cool face and be okay and politely respond to fans with a smile and small wave. But even though his efforts, he still couldn't bring himself to even stand properly. All through their performance, Youngjae had this hellish feeling inside him, like he wanted to actually just lay down and die. Youngjae couldn't stand still, let alone do complicated dance moves. But he carried on doing them, trying not to mess anything up and miss a single note. Also on then did he notice how hard their choreography actually was and how complicated the moves all were. Youngjae's head was literally pounding and his body ached with his every step.

"Why in the world is this happening to me?" - Youngjae thought, while singing his part in "If You Do".

"God, what the is this? Why are you doing this to me?" - he kept thinking all through the song. Also why the their songs were so damn long? And how the did he manage to do all of these complicated stuff before?

As soon as they got off stage, their manager called him over. But Youngjae kind of just collapsed on the lift, not having the energy to walk anymore. He wanted to vomit, but didn't have anything to let out anymore, so he just sat there miserably, trying to calm down his nerves and stop the pounding in his head.

"Hyung, I can't move." - Youngjae managed to let out from his mouth. It was the first true statement Youngjae made since he got there. Two people came over to Youngjae right away and lifted him up and stayed by his side, supporting him and helping his move to their dressing room. Youngjae changed into his normal clothes with the small bit of energy he had, plus the maknaes really helped him with it, which Youngjae was really thankful for. When they started to move outside, to their car to go to the hospital, the previous people came in and helped him move again. Without the two random strangers. Youngjae wouldn't have the strength to get out from that damned venue. As soon as they were sat in the van, Youngjae let out a huge sigh and closed his eyes, finally defeated by his sickness. Jaebum put his hand on his forehead to check if he had a fever, as he was sat next to him. Youngjae clung into his side, using Jaebum's chest as a pillow. Jaebum also warmly accepted him and put his hands over him in a protective and caring way.

"Jae, you have a fever." - Jaebum mumbled, looking at the small person sleeping on his chest, while hugging him tightly. Youngjae didn't respond but just continued to sleep.

When they arrived at the hospital, Youngjae was so tired and worn out that they had to use a wheel chair. A few minutes after Youngjae and Jaebum's check up, it was revealed that they had eaten an expired food earlier, and got food poisoning. And Youngjae had it worse as he was lactose intolerant. So his intolerance towards lactose mixed up with expired food and caused his dizziness, headache and nausea. While the doctor was bringing a list of medicine they had to take, Got7 decided to figure out what expired food Youngjae and Jaebum had eaten earlier.

"I think it was that brie we had this morning." - Jaebum mumbled, sat on a hospitable bed.

"Wait, the one that was on the kitchen counter?" - Yugyeom shouted, almost losing his mind. Youngjae frowned and gestured him to be quiet as his head was still aching and Yugyeom's loud voice only made it worse.

"Wait, Kim Yugyeom, why was the brie on kitchen counter? Didn't I tell you to throw it out?" - Jinyoung demanded, glaring at the maknae.

"You did, but I was playing a game and I completely forgot about it.." - Yugyeom whispered, his sadness taking over everyone.

"It's okay, Gyeomie. Don't blame yourself. None of this is your fault. We're fine now." - Youngjae said and smiled, holding Yugyeom's hand tightly.

"Yeah, we're really okay. So don't blame our giant maknae." - Jaebum said cheerfully, trying to break the tension in the room. Yugyeom still held his head down, still disappointed in himself, as he was the main source of the main vocalist and leader's agony. Seeing that, Jinyoung couldn't hold his anger any longer, he went and hugged Yugyeom, assuring him that everything was fine.

It turned out that Youngjae and Jaebum had to stay the night and get some treatment. But they couldn't possible stay as they had a schedule a few days later in Shanghai. Still the doctors insisted them on at least spending one night and rest properly, which convinced their already scared to death manager. So they stayed in one of the fanciest rooms in the hospital while everyone else left to spend the night at the hotel. Honestly, for both of them hospital for some reason was so much better than a hotel room. It was soothing for some reason as it calmed down their nerves and helped them fall asleep.

"Youngjae?" - Jaebum called out before going to sleep.

'"Huh, hyung?" - Youngjae answered about to fall asleep.

"Does this make this out third date?" - Jaebum asked, causing Youngjae to laugh.