SPRING; April

Friday -- Morning

Jiyoo woke up the next morning sweating and with an intense stomach ache. Her eyes burned from the acidic liquid that leaked from her pores. She wipes her face down on the pillow before blinking a few times to clear up her vision. The pain didn't stop her from taking a moment to observe her surroundings afterwards.

The last thing Jiyoo remembered yesterday was going to give Yugyeom his medicine before she’d out. There were small snippets that she remembered; The sidewalk moving under her despite not being able to move her legs, an ache in her shoulder as if she’d thrown a baseball a thousand times, and Jungkook almost walking out on her. Putting them together was almost useless since they had no correlation whatsoever.

Being so lost in thought, Jiyoo was unaware of the movement behind her. She felt a pair of arms wrap around her and immediately recognized a familiar scent: Jungkook’s scent.

Letting out an inaudible gasp, she holds a hand to as she just stares at the sleeping boy in front of her. Jungkook was fast asleep and sporting his usual look in the morning with his wild bedhead and- eye bags?

Jungkook wasn't normally known for having eye bags and the sight of it makes Jiyoo frown. Was he getting enough sleep? Before she could worry about Jungkook any more, Jiyoo felt a twist in her stomach, much worse than the pain that jolted her awake. Clawing at Jungkook’s arms, the latter yanked his arms back in confusion as Jiyoo dashed out to the bathroom. Jungkook was disoriented and rubbed his eyes frustratedly after being woken up.

He pulls his blanket up to his chin and burrows himself into his bed, feeling sleep drag him down. Jungkook would've slept too, if it wasn't for the sound of Jiyoo throwing up and screaming from the bathroom.

Only then did he remember that she was supposed to be in his arms.

“Jiyoo!” Jungkook yelps, falling out of his bed as his legs tangled in the blanket. “Jiyoo, are you okay?”

He skids to a stop in front of the bathroom after hearing her small cries. Looking at what happened, he takes a quick step inside before freezing up.

“D-Don't come in.” Jiyoo gulps for air, her face hovering above the toilet bowl as she continued to gag.

Jungkook didn't care that she was throwing up. The sight of a small smudge of red near her chin was the thing that made Jungkook freeze. There was red on Jiyoo’s face, red smeared on the toilet seat as Jiyoo frantically tried to keep her body steady and red swirling inside the toilet too.

It looked like blood. And that was never a good thing.

He still enters the bathroom despite Jiyoo telling him not to. Picking up a rubber band that was on the counter near the sink, Jungkook goes down on one knee and begins to tie Jiyoo’s hair up for her. His hand feels a small trickle of wetness here and there, but nothing was worse than the panic that shook his entire being.

Jungkook made sure to stay with Jiyoo as she cried about throwing up, patting her back every time she gagged and holding up her hair if she leaned too close to the toilet. Eventually Jiyoo had thrown up everything in her stomach and was leaning against the wall exhausted. She looked miserable, but content and Jungkook knew what came next.

A shower.

“I'll grab you clothes, so you can take a shower first.” He hushes, patting Jiyoo’s head as she huffs.

“T-Thank you…”

Quickly washing his hands, Jungkook makes sure to grab Jiyoo a towel before he closed the door to grab her clothes. On the way to his room, he saw his father waiting off to the side in his cooking apron.

“Morning.” Jungkook mumbles, eyes searching his room for something Jiyoo could use as clothes.

He was too scatterbrained to remember the events prior to him grabbing clothes to Jiyoo. It was only after Jungkook’s father starts heading back downstairs that Jungkook remembered that Jiyoo was practically throwing up her guts.

“Dad!” Jungkook calls out, “Jiyoo was-”

“Throwing up, I know.” Jungkook’s father finishes. Jungkook gives him a weird look and his father just rolls his eyes. “It would've been hard to not hear all of that.”

Jungkook didn't hear the shower start running yet, so he left Jiyoo’s clothes on the floor near the bathroom door. He headed downstairs after his father and took a seat on one of the stools looking into the kitchen.

“Shouldn't we call a doctor or something?” Jungkook presses, not liking how nonchalant his father was acting. “She was throwing up blood.”

“Or it was the medicine that Jinyoung gave her yesterday.” Jungkook’s father says in response.

Jungkook’s nose scrunches up after hearing Jinyoung’s name. He didn't have anything against the boy, but after hearing his name, Jungkook immediately thought of Yugyeom and felt his insides twist.

Before he'd gone back upstairs to wait for Jiyoo, he noticed that his father was making an alarming amount of food for three people. The sheer amount of pancakes looked as though he could feed a family of ten- or at least six more people that tended to come over recently.

“Morning uncle!” Taehyung calls, already running into the kitchen before the others.

He sits on the stool next to Jungkook and pats him on the back a bit. Taehyung’s eyes wandered around the kitchen as if he were searching for something- or someone.

“Jungkook!”

“Jiyoo!” Taehyung says with delight, though his smiley expression fell after seeing her choice of attire.

Or lack of it.

Jiyoo only had a towel wrapped around her body, the dark blue material reaching mid thigh like a dress. With hair that was still dripping wet and skin that was moist around her face and legs, anyone could tell she’d just hopped out of the shower. Her eyes were frantic as shot off about the dilemma she was facing. Jungkook couldn’t understand her fast paced speaking, but he definitely didn’t want her explaining it here in front of the others.

“Okay, okay! Explain it to me on the way.” Jungkook says quickly.

He grabs her shoulders and directs her back towards the stairs, giving her gentle, but hurried nudges so that she’d pick up the pace. Luckily he’d managed to have her already halfway up the steps when he’d seen the others come inside. He didn’t know how he was going to deal with Taehyung, though Jungkook figured he’d deal with that problem when he got there.

Taking Jiyoo into his room, he plops her down on the bed and shuts the door. Jungkook looked at her worriedly as she fiddled her thumbs impatiently.

“So, what happened-”

“My period stopped.”

It took a moment for Jungkook to process what she’d said, mostly because she still said it in a rapid fire tone of voice. Tilting his chin a bit, Jungkook doesn’t really know what to say. The worry was washed away and only Jiyoo was anxious about the ‘problem’.

“Err… Isn’t that a good thing though?” Jungkook thinks aloud, watching as Jiyoo shakes her head.

“But I had it yesterday. And it was a lot yesterday too.” She mumbles, playing with the ends of her hair as water dripped down onto the floor.

Jungkook smiles softly seeing Jiyoo all worked up. He was worried too, but it didn’t sound like as big of a problem as Jiyoo made it out to be. Ruffling her hair a bit, he laughs when she pouts at him for treating her like a kid.

“It’s not funny.” Jiyoo grumbles, “This is serious business.”

To which Jungkook just smiled even wider at how cute she looked.

Their time together was interrupted when they heard squawking just outside Jungkook’s room. The door wasn’t locked, but Jungkook wasn’t going to take chances since Jiyoo was still in a towel. Jiyoo and Jungkook looked at one another and nod, already knowing what to do. Jungkook went up to the door and held it in place, while Jiyoo went under Jungkook’s blanket, covering her body from being seen. Once the two were in place, Jungkook opened the door quickly and slipped out, not letting outside eyes see even a glimpse of Jiyoo.

Surprisingly, nobody was pressed against Jungkook’s door like what he’d expected. Instead, it was only a few of the others crowded around the bathroom. Taehyung and Hoseok were making the most amount of noise while Jimin kept checking down the stairs, as if he were trying to hide whatever it was they were doing.

Jungkook snuck over quietly and let out an angry shout, “Yah!”

Taehyung, Hoseok and Jimin jump out of their skins, faces paling as they were caught red handed with Jiyoo’s clothes. Hoseok was holding onto Jungkook’s shirt while Jimin had what appeared to be Jiyoo’s underwear balled up in his fists. Taehyung wasn’t holding anything, but instead was using Jiyoo’s bra as a strap on hat. One of the cups were pressed against the crown of his head while the other covered his ear. Taehyung stared at Jungkook with wide eyes, laughing sheepishly without an explanation.

“D-Don’t ‘yah’ us! You’re younger!” Hoseok stutters, though he does nothing to hide the obvious flush on his face due to how they were caught.

“I-It’s not what it looks like!” Jimin squeaks.

The two were panicking more than Jungkook was despite how he was the one that didn’t like boys hanging around Jiyoo and anything related to Jiyoo. Taehyung on the other hand was strangely calm, twiddling his fingers without a care in the world as Hoseok and Jimin frantically tried explaining themselves.

Apparently Jimin and Hoseok had stumbled into a sticky situation after they saw Taehyung head upstairs. They were curious and walked up the steps together, finding Taehyung squatted down outside the bathroom. Jimin thought that he had a stomach ache and immediately went over to him to see if he was alright. Hoseok on the other hand was more interested in what was in Taehyung’s hands.

Jimin was the first to scream. Since he thought Taehyung was hurt, he was thrown off guard as when Taehyung decided to use Jiyoo’s bra as a hat. His gummy smile while he did it only made Jimin even more embarrassed, slapping the latter to cut it out before they were found out.

While those two were distracted, Hoseok grabbed Jungkook’s shirt and pulled it up. A pair of shorts and underwear fell out, right into Jimin’s open hands.

And that was when Jungkook had decided to come outside.

“If that’s all that happened, then don’t overreact.” Jungkook rolls his eyes.

He’s slightly disappointed that Jimin was in on Taehyung and Hoseok’s little charades and it was visible on his face. Jimin dropped Jiyoo’s underwear and ran downstairs, not turning back to save whatever was left of his pride. Hoseok followed shortly after, gently placing Jungkook’s shirt down before speeding off.

Taehyung was the only one that stayed. He had a wide grin on his face as Jungkook just watched him with judging eyes.

“Is Jiyoo in your room?” Taehyung asks curiously.

He peered behind Jungkook as the latter bent down to pick up the rest of Jiyoo’s clothes. Jungkook made sure to keep himself in between Taehyung in his room in case he had any funny ideas. There was no point in lying and Jungkook nodded his head to answer Taehyung’s question.

Taehyung smiles and immediately tries to walk around Jungkook to go there. Of course, Jungkook wasn’t going to let that happen. He grabs the latter by his shoulders and pushes him towards the stairs. Since Taehyung wasn’t prepared for the first step, he stumbled down a few more steps, frantically trying to catch his balance before he fell. Jungkook took advantage of the moment and swiped Jiyoo’s bra off Taehyung’s head, heading back to his room so that Jiyoo could get dressed.

When Taehyung had pulled himself together, Jungkook was already closing the door to his room.

“What happened outside?” Jiyoo asks, curious as to why the clothes in her hands were all crumpled.

Jungkook shakes his head, “Usual stuff. Here,” He hands Jiyoo her clothes and opens the door to step back outside. “Come down when you’re done.

Jiyoo nods and waits for the door to close before hopping out of the bed to get dressed. She felt a bad since her wet hair made the upper part of Jungkook’s bed a little wet, so she left the blanket at the foot of the bed to let everything else dry. Jiyoo made sure to change quickly since the door wasn’t locked. She could’ve just locked it, but since she’d already begun to change, it was just easier to change from there.

Smoothing out her shirt after putting it on, she made sure everything was in check before heading downstairs.

The rest of the guys were all around the table already eating. Jiyoo saw an empty seat and went to sit there, only to stop in her tracks after seeing a new face in the space next to it.

“Hello.” The person said, waving at Jiyoo before going back to eating her food.

Jiyoo’s reaction was delayed as she stared at the woman blankly. She eventually waves towards the stranger and looks at Jungkook who was seated on the far end of the table away from the open seat. He shrugs his shoulders and even rolled his eyes before getting slapped in the arm by Seokjin, who’d sat next to him. Since there still was only one open seat, Jiyoo had no choice but to sit there.

It wasn’t too bad since she was in between Jimin and the woman. The only downfall was that Jiyoo had no idea why she was here. Jungkook’s father didn’t explain anything either and they all ate while making small conversations here and there. Jimin was acting a bit weird and Jiyoo didn’t know why he seemed so squeamish to sit next to her. While Jiyoo was busy eating her pancakes in silence, she noticed someone dropped a strawberry on her plate.

Looking up, she saw that the woman had a small smile on her plate and a bowl of strawberries in her hand. To be polite, Jiyoo smiles back and eats the strawberry without giving it much thought. After a couple more bites of her pancake, the woman dropped another thing on her plate: A blueberry.

Jiyoo liked blueberries and ate the blueberry too, going back to her pancakes after thanking her with the slight bow of her head. This continued for a couple minutes until the woman had dropped a bean sprout on Jiyoo’s plate.

Giving the woman a surprised look, Jiyoo looks back between the bean sprout and the woman before slowly picking it up with her fork and putting it in . She sneaks a quick peek at the woman who was still smiling at her and Jiyoo tries to smile too, feeling the corners of her lips pull up despite how Jiyoo wanted to spit out the bean sprout.

After chewing the bean sprout for about five minutes, Jiyoo managed to swallow it down. She took big gulps of her milk and hurried to finish her pancakes before the woman could give her any more surprises.

“I’m done.” Jiyoo huffs, picking up her plate immediately after speaking and taking it to the kitchen.

Jungkook stood up once Jiyoo had, “Me too.” He took his plate to the kitchen and dumped it in the sink along with Jiyoo’s plate. “Are you alright?”

Jiyoo nods, trying to look calm despite how she could feel eyes on her from the dining room table. “Who is that lady?”

“That’s Jinyoung’s sister, I think.” Jungkook huffs, not looking pleased about the situation either. “She’s a doctor that’s supposed to give you a check up today.”

Nodding her head, Jiyoo lets out a small noise of understanding. Before they could step back out into the dining room, Jiyoo stops as her eyebrows scrunch together. “Who’s Jinyoung?”

Jungkook opens his mouth to reply, but his inner desires took over and a chortle came out instead. Deep down, he was pleased that Jiyoo didn’t remember what happened yesterday, or she was at least treating the situation calmly. The fact that she didn’t know Jinyoung’s name was hilarious and Jungkook puts his hands on her shoulders before guiding her to the living room with a smile.

Jinyoung’s sister took Jiyoo upstairs to examine her after she’d finished her breakfast. Since Jiyoo and Jinyoung’s sister were the only girls, the rest of the guys stayed outside.

Jiyoo went through the usual procedures: Checking her eyes, tongue and ears, along with how flexible she was and if she was eating enough. Everything seemed to be in order. She’d even explained why Jiyoo threw up this morning due to her brother’s medicine to get the Xedidrin out of her system. Jinyoung’s sister assured her that her brother’s medicine was completely safe. The reason why it looked like Jiyoo was throwing up blood was because the medicine’s coloring pigments were strong in the warmer toned colors.

“You’re looking good for someone that got their period late.” Jinyoung’s sister comments, scribbling something down on her clipboard.

“Is that a... Bad thing?” Jiyoo says unsurely.

Jinyoung’s sister laughs, “Oh dear, no it’s not. I’m just surprised none of those boys have gone after you yet with how strong your pheromones are.”

Jiyoo lets out a sigh, remembering how much trouble her pheromones had caused her. Too bad for her that Jinyoung’s sister was thinking of something completely different than her being a bother. She could see the way that the other boys looked at Jiyoo; They were looks of affection and love.

“Oh!”

Jinyoung’s sister spun around on her heel and handed Jiyoo a small drawstring bag. “I’m sure you know how these things work. Be safe!”

She leaves Jiyoo alone, heading out to talk to Jungkook’s father while the rest of the guys piled into Jungkook’s room. They spoke quietly amongst one another, but a few of the guys could hear snippets of their conversation still.

“So how is she?” Jungkook’s father asked, watching as Jinyoung’s sister sighed.

“She’s fine physically. Just a bit of a push over.”

Jinyoung’s sister wasn’t here to just examine Jiyoo physically, but emotionally as well.

The test during breakfast was to see if Jiyoo would still eat vegetables despite her dislike for them. By isolating her from Jungkook, it was evident that she was capable of eating them. Whether Jungkook was a bad influence on her or not wasn’t decided yet and Jinyoung’s sister wanted to decide against it after seeing how much he cared for her.

Jungkook’s father makes sure to mention that Jiyoo and Jungkook’s fight was what led up to the mishap at Yugyeom’s house. After talking to Namjoon, Jungkook’s father found out that Jiyoo and Jungkook were fighting, along with some of the other things that had happened in school when Jiyoo wasn’t being protected like usual.

Jinyoung’s sister explained the problem about how Jungkook’s compassion for Jiyoo was a blessing and a curse; Being too nice to her sheltered her from the real world, not only hurting her in the process, but affecting the others around her as well. Then again, if Jungkook left her be, it was also possible for Jiyoo to revert back to how she was before they’d become friends. Both were things that Jungkook’s father would rather avoid.

“And you understood all of that from just one meal?” Jungkook’s dad chuckles, though his voice is bitter after hearing how severe the problem really was.

“It’s just the possibilities sir.” Jinyoung’s sister says curtly, “I would just make sure that she slowly integrates with the rest of society before she ends up being pushed out of it. Also, this applies towards the rest of those boys as well..”

Their eyes slowly peer off to the side to watch as Namjoon and Suga remain outside of Jungkook’s room, listening in on the conversation with heavy hearts. It wasn’t their fault that Jiyoo’s pheromones were a problem, but they couldn’t help but feel like they contributed to it.

“Did it go good?” Jungkook asked, feeling relieved as he heads back into his room.

“Yup. She said that the blood was just medicine coloring too.” Jiyoo yawns.

She pulls out her phone and checks the time, only to see that the date was Friday and that they had school. It was already 9:39 AM and they were late.

“Wait.. Why is everyone here if we have school?” Jiyoo questions, feeling her fingers start to tingle after realizing that they were all technically skipping school. Jiyoo didn’t like missing class and the situation looked pretty bad considering all seven boys skipped school with her.

“There’s no need for that.” Jungkook’s father says, “I have to go to the school and explain why you were sick.”

He looks at the other boys before sighing. “They’re the ones that are missing school.”

“We graduated already, so it’s fine.” Seokjin shrugs.

The reason why Seokjin had stayed back was because he didn’t trust Jinyoung’s judgement to give Jiyoo homemade medicine. The kid was still in high school after all and son of a doctor or not, he didn’t even have a degree of any sort pertaining to medicine. Since he’d stayed back, Namjoon decided that missing a day of school was fine. That’s how everyone ended up at Jungkook’s house that morning.

Of course, Jungkook wasn’t going to go to school either if Jiyoo couldn’t go. It was almost a given.

Jinyoung’s sister and Jungkook’s father talked for a bit more while the boys crowded around Jiyoo to ask what she’d gotten from Jinyoung’s sister. Jiyoo was curious herself and opened the bag, spilling its contents onto the bed.

There was a pad inside, with a tampon and what looked like pain reliever medicines- Along with a .

Jiyoo’s eyes widen and she’s immediately pushed to the side by Jungkook, who grabs it and throws it out his window. There are displeased grumbles here and there amongst some of the guys, but Jungkook didn’t care.

There would be none of that in his house, around Jiyoo or anywhere that pertained to any of them.

Flustered by his own actions, Jungkook is deep in thought and doesn’t realize Taehyung’s attempt to talk to Jiyoo.

“Is your stomach better now?” Taehyung asks, his voice quiet.

Before Jiyoo could answer, Taehyung lifted up Jiyoo’s shirt to reveal her s and bra. Her pheromones flared up almost instantly and the entire room can tell from the addicting scent in the air. Jiyoo yelps, pushing Taehyung away and frantically smoothing her shirt down back into place. Luckily she’d changed into all of the clothes that Jungkook gave her instead of just the shirt. Usually she slept without a bra at night since it got uncomfortable.

“Taehyung!” Jimin shrieks, his reaction much more panicked than Jiyoo’s. “You can’t just do that!”

“Sorry!” Taehyung says quickly.

Jiyoo slides behind Jungkook as the latter moves in front of her. He grabs Taehyung by the collar and shakes him a bit. Taehyung on the other hand is giggling with a small smile on his face. He continues to try and go around Jungkook to get to Jiyoo, clearly not apologetic about what he’d done.

“Go away.” Jungkook grunts, having a hard time pushing Taehyung back the more time passes by. Nobody bothered to help him and Jungkook was feeling more irritated by the second.

“Jungkook, I’m going to head out for a bit.” Jungkook’s father says, popping into the room for a bit and seeing the situation. He raises an eyebrow and Jungkook immediately lets go of Taehyung’s shirt. “No fighting while I’m gone. Jiyoo is in charge.”

Namjoon looks almost offended as his leadership abilities were doubted, but the sly smile on Jungkook’s father’s face says otherwise. He looks towards Jiyoo, fully knowing what happened earlier after confirming it by stepping in for a moment. Jiyoo’s face was flushed red from her nose to her ears, facial expression still baffled that Jungkook’s father put her in charge. “Show ‘em who’s in charge kiddo.”

It was a chance for Jiyoo to fix her bad habit of following whatever everyone else said to do and Jungkook’s father took it. It might’ve been a bit much for her to handle on her own, but since she wasn’t fighting with Jungkook anymore, it couldn’t be too bad. He leaves quickly and the sound of the front door closing and locking was heard because the house was so quiet. Nobody said anything and just stared at one another. Jimin’s eyes were wide, but he was still far away from Taehyung even as the latter continued to misbehave. Seokjin and Namjoon stood back as well, along with Suga and Hoseok. They were all wary of what was going on.

Jungkook managed to catch an irritated scorn from Suga’s way before the latter walked off. He wasn’t alone either. Jimin left too, though it looked as though he was running away rather than going after Suga. Only Seokjin, Namjoon and Hoseok were left out of the onlookers.

“Jiyoo-yah,” Taehyung whined, “Why can’t I just hug you just once?”

He continued to whine and pout the more Jungkook blocked his way. Jiyoo could tell that a lot of unnecessary anger was being directed towards Taehyung and felt a bit bad. She knew that it was her fault that the majority of the guys were acting weird. They couldn’t help it; Pheromones are an instinct that they can’t control.

Pushing Jungkook to the side, Jiyoo does something that he would have never expected her to do in his entire life. She walked right up to Taehyung, wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him.

It was a real hug too, not just a pity hug. Her face was buried into his chest and it looked as though Taehyung was in heaven. He held her close and her hair with one hand, rubbing his cheek into the crown of Jiyoo’s head as he cooed at how cute she was. After she’d pulled away, Taehyung was able to see the flush on her face still, but there was a mischievous smile amidst her embarrassment.

“Okay no more now.” Jiyoo says, returning to Jungkook’s side even as Taehyung follows her. Taehyung tugs on her shirt sleeve with a puppy dog expression on his face. “What’s wrong?”

“Again.” Taehyung pouted, not liking that his hug with Jiyoo came to an end so soon.

“No can do.” Jiyoo shakes her head.

Her fingers lace together in between Jungkook’s, giving him a subtle squeeze that Taehyung was unaware of despite his unwavering staring at Jiyoo and Jungkook’s intimate contact. Jungkook feel like he knows what’s going to happen next and instead of being jealous, a small smirk appears on his face. It scared Taehyung who was unaware of Jiyoo and Jungkook’s inner telepathic ability from being friends for so long.

“But Taehyung-” Jiyoo tilts her head confusedly, smile still evident on her face. “You said just once.”

Jungkook chortles as Taehyung’s jaw dropped. Before Taehyung could complain anymore, Jiyoo was out of there. She pulled Jungkook along as she ran down the hall, giggling the entire way down the steps with a laughing Jungkook by her side.

A/N: I've stayed at a hotel for the past five days and I'm sad that it's time to go tomorrow (and I have work tomorrow ugh) 

It also seems like this story isn't getting as much feedback as usual hrmmm.. Let me know if there's anything I can do to improve this story (besides updating more because I'm not a damn super human) zzz