as you can probably imagine, getting sick in a family of eight people spreads like a zombie virus. usually, it's jungkook who gets sick first, because of the sheer amount of people at his high school coupled with the fact that no one ever wants to miss a day. after that, it spreads to the college kids pretty easily because they're dumb and never stay away from him, then seokjin because he always feels the need to take care of the others, then yoongi because he sleeps in the same room as seokjin, and then (only on rare occasions), aimee, who always quarantines herself in her room of the others get sick. in this family, once someone's sick, it's every man for themselves.

one monday morning, seokjin wakes up with a sore throat, a pounding headache, and as he soon finds out, a fever of 39 degrees. when he first opens his eyes, he's legitimately sure he's dying, so he rasps yoongi's name.

"yoongi," he calls. his dongsaeng refuses to budge. out of the entire family, yoongi is the deepest sleeper by a long shot. while aimee gets woken up by people just walking outside of her bedroom door, seokjin's sure yoongi could sleep through a tornado and never wake up. seokjin sighs and coughs as loud as he can, "yoongi."

finally, his brother rolls over and blinks his eyes open. "you sound like death," he complains.

"i think i'm sick," seokjin explains in what is barely a whisper. yoongi shuffles out of bed and slaps a hand onto seokjin's forehead.

he whistles. "oh yeah, you're definitely sick. i'll get you some medicine. tell your boss or noona or whatever, and get some rest. hoseok will make breakfast today."

"thank you," seokjin slumps down into his mattress, and yoongi sleepily drags his feet out the door. seokjin takes out his cell phone, trying not to cough all over the screen. still delirious, it's a chore to call in sick, and then afterwards, call his sister. it's a habit now, whenever one of the two eldest is sick, they call the other. maybe it's because they work in the same building, but seokjin knows there's more to it. as the first two adopted and the oldest, seokjin and aimee are extremely close. it wouldn't feel right just texting her.

"yes?" aimee picks up the phone on the first ring. "what's up, jin?"

"i'm sick," he informs her. "i won't be going into work today."

"do you need me to come home early?" he can sense the worry in her voice. sometimes, aimee can be a little too overprotective of her brothers.

"i'm 23, noona, i'll be fine," he rolls his eyes even though she can't see him.

"oh, alright," there's a sigh from aimee's end of the line. "feel better, jinnie. get some rest."

"'kay. bye, noona! i love you."

"love you. call me if you need anything."

she hangs up right as taehyung, hoseok, yoongi, namjoon, and jimin burst in, carrying a bowl of soup and medicine.

"are you okay?" hoseok asks, setting the bowl down on seokjin's bedside table. his eyebrows knit together in concern.

"you're just like aimee-noona," seokjin complains in between coughs. "i'll be okay." hoseok's concerned expression turns into a glare.

taehyung waves a coup