danger

31: exercise

♡

"...ga-ah!"

Minjun pushed onward, exhausting his inflamed muscles. Keep up with Jungkook. An easy enough task, right? You won't think as much if you saw the state of the red-faced teenager, sweat sprinkling down his face like rain on a glass window.

A biting pain throbbed through his stomach with each lunge, sprinting after the athletic expert with diminishing hope of truly catching up. The balls of his feet had undergone trauma against the hall's flooring, his arms were more or less comatose from the endless pumping.

"One more lap, boys!"

Minjun almost scowled at the sound of their leader. Alternatively, he sucked in a deep breath despite the pang it made in his chest and pushed his senseless legs somewhat faster. Jungkook had slowed considerably. Minjun told himself that it was because the gangster had become worn, but realistically, he knew that it was to support him.

Each time the boy slowed to a walk, Namjoon yelled at him, nailing his adrenaline with dread.

"Well done," Jimin said with merriment, "have a break."

Minjun didn't hesitate to take the offer, crumpling onto the ground by Jimin's feet almost as soon as he and Jungkook stopped. Seokjin aided him, delivering a water bottle and a watered cloth to the panting teenager. Minjun took shallow breaths. He frowned at the way his chest clenched in pain when he inhaled too much air, his lungs punishing him for exercising.

Minjun pouted, "don't make me do that ever again."

"It will get easier," Seokjin petted the boy's sweat-drenched hair, "don't get too comfortable."

The younger murmured, rolling onto his side. He weakly drank from the bottle, half of the water dribbling down his cheek onto the floor as a consequence of his numb arm. He heard the clanking and scraping as his friends moved equipment around the room, packing away the running track guidelines and bringing out miscellaneous items.

Taehyung crept over and kneeled beside Minjun's still body, "got your breath back?" As Minjun went to reply, a theme of chesty coughs fell out of his mouth in the gangster's direction. Taehyung laughed.

"Five more minutes then, buddy."

Minjun was a fool to believe that the fourth day would be easier. He was just as much as a fool to think such things each day since the first, but every time was the same. He would chase Jungkook around the room in tormenting circles, compensate himself with a break, then abuse his muscles following instructions from his leader.

Today was no different, willing himself not to cry or get mad as he held a medicine ball close to his chest. His target was the rebounder on the floor just before him, but Minjun thought that his arms would surely snap if he was to let them leave his torso.

He was waiting bravely for Namjoon to blow his whistle and order his men to rotate in the circuit, for Minjun to be allowed to give the horrifyingly heavy ball to the next person and hope he gets a more relaxed exercise next.

A dizzy sensation washed over Minjun's skull as the medicine ball was taken off of him and he looked up in astonishment at Yoongi.

"Kid," he grumbled, "time to move on."

Minjun hadn't even heard the ear-piercing whistle, but appreciatively clambered away from the arsonist on bambi-like legs. After almost falling to the floor a mere three times, Minjun made it to the next station. Battle ropes, the pair of them sitting on the ground by his feet, waiting to be collected.

He was about to suck it up and grasp them when an authoritative voice called out, "if you feel nauseous, sit it out." He turned to look at Namjoon, bearing a concerned smile on his face. His eyes swept out to see the other members surrounding them, each of them effortlessly working on their station. Some, mainly Hoseok, incorporated dancing to their workout, which was the first awareness to Minjun that there had been music playing the entire time.

"I'm fine," he huffed. The leader raised an eyebrow but Minjun brushed him off, sweeping up the ends of the battle ropes and walking further away from the wall.

What felt like lava gushed through the veins in his arms, the moment he began swaying them up and down. He picked up his pace nonetheless, still feeling Namjoon's eyes on him, ignoring the numbingly agonising soreness everywhere.

Just like before, his head felt weightless with unease. It felt as if it sailed in foolish directions, when in fact he was gawking straight ahead at the root of the battle ropes.

An irritated gasp made him slow his pace, "you haven't touched your water bottle!"

Namjoon yanked the ropes out of his fragile hands, replacing them with the once-frozen bottle of water, all the while bearing a threatening scowl, "do you want to pass out?"

Minjun was about to say that, no, he wasn't going to pass out, but it would have been profoundly hypocritical of him, as the next moment he found himself curled up against the polished wooden floor at Namjoon's feet. The water bottle rolled away, disturbing Seokjin who immediately called off the circuit training as he saw Namjoon scooping the teenager up.

"What happened?" Jimin asked, sipping at his water.

Their leader sighed, "I noticed he was unstable, came to observe him, scolded him for not drinking any water during today's session, and now he's out of it."

"He's caused too many problems for himself recently," Seokjin frowned, "are we doing something wrong?"

A snort sounded, "you mean like kidnapping him and forcing him to train at our level?" Yoongi was instantly silenced by the six penetrating glares.

"Whatever-" Namjoon passed the sleeping body to Jungkook- "we should go and put him to bed, Hoseok maybe an IV?" The medic ran ahead, preparing himself beside the middlemost bed in their bedroom for the teenager to get treated. Having had collapsed from dehydration and exhaustion, he'd need fluids to uphold his condition.

Minjun was patted down with a rag to clear up some of the sweat covering his body before Jungkook lowered him into the bed. Taehyung pulled a fan out, despite it being the last week of February, and located it over Minjun for a time, to cool him down.

"It's all set up," Hoseok pulled off his latex gloves and placed Minjun's arm underneath the bedsheet, "goodnight, Minjun."

Hoseok pressed an insignificant kiss against the boy's temple as he stood up, not thinking much of it. The sign of affection didn't go overlooked by the rest of Bangtan, who in turn gave the dormant beauty a minute kiss on either his cheek or forehead.

If Minjun had been awake, his face would have been redder than blood, but he wouldn't have minded.