Why Don't We Sickfics

Heatstroke

(contains: a bit of Jachary)

"Take seventeen, action!" the director called, and Zach held back a sigh.

They were in the process of shooting the What Am I music video, and were set up in a beautiful beachfront house. It was wonderful, really-- but it was also extremely hot. The air conditioning unit was broken, and they hadn't planned to set up any fans. So Zach had to lie underneath the grand piano, covered in blankets, in a house that was nearing 110° F.

They were shooting this scene multiple times. It was the longest scene-- it was the opening scene, after all. The camera would pan from Zach "sleeping" on the ground to Jonah playing the piano, then Jonah would get up and take a cup of coffee labeled with their main music video sponsor, Lavazza.

Zach lay still in discomfort as the director kept ordering more takes. It was all, "Jonah, you're not being dreamy enough as you look out the window," and "Jonah, the cup has to be at the perfect angle towards the camera so that it glints off the sunlight," and "Jonah, you're standing up too quickly."

While the older boy got correction after correction, Zach was drenched in a puddle of his own sweat. The boys' stylist thought it would be a good idea for Zach to wear a sweater and a scarf while he was laying in the sleeping bag. While the sweater was great for the breezy beach nights, it was absolutely annihilating him this afternoon. He felt like he was baking in an oven.

They shot the scene over and over, and eventually Zach drifted off into sleep, no longer pretending for the camera.

~~~~~~

"Zach!"

He awoke to being shaken roughly by one of the crew members. "Get up! It's time for the next scene."

"Mm?" he mumbled. "Oh yeah. Can I go to the bathroom first?"

The crew member sighed. "Fine. But hurry up, we're already running behind schedule. The first shots took way too long to get right."

Zach slipped out of the sleeping bag. Although it was hot, it was still slightly cooler than it was inside the sleeping bag. He gently shook his sweater, hoping some of the sweat that drenched it would evaporate.

"Are you ready yet?" Jack asked, walking past in a bathing suit. "We're about to go on the paddleboards."

"Oh! Yeah. One sec."

Zach popped into the bathroom, doing his business and returning a few moments later. The wardrobe department quickly got him changed and sent him straight out on the beach.

"Can I get some water?" he asked the director. After sweating out probably all the liquid left in his body, he was parched.

But the director shook his head. "You're holding up the shoot. Suck it up, we have to finish this scene before the sun goes down."

Zach nodded, quickly getting onto the boat that was going to bring them farther from the beach.

The band stood at the deck on the boat, feeling the salty ocean breeze. It was so hot that the breeze wasn't even cool, it was still warm.

Jack reached his arm out, putting it around Zach's shoulder. "This is such a cool video shoot."

Zach nodded. "Would you say it's better than IDBITC?"

Jack frowned. "Tough one. This is great because of the beach, but it's way too hot. At the same time, we had to drop into the splits for Club. I think that means Lavender won't have any siblings coming soon." he chuckled.

The younger boy laughed. "Yeah. I'm so glad I'm out of that sweater."

Jack chuckled, rubbing Zach's shoulder. "Nah, you look good in the sweater."