Chapter Text
It wasn’t anything new- actually it was quite a familiar environment. All seven members of BTS sitting in a group, interviewer, questions in hand behind the camera that pointed their way obnoxiously. So why did this seem so foreign and uncomfortable to all of them? Yoongi shifted his weight in his seat wretchedly as he carefully observed his brothers around him. His mind was hazy but he looked determined. Just as he was about to straighten his posture once more, a voice spoke,
“Okay,” the interviewer sighed, “Are you guys ready?”
Every eye in the room fell onto one person in particular. The baby, the golden maknae of BTS, Jeon Jungkook. He knew the question was for him as none of the others lost their stares towards him. His hands were in his lap where his gaze also fell. His breathing was slightly elevated and you could tell he was deep in thought. There was a long, pregnant pause in the room until he lifted his head and released his bottom lip from between his teeth, taking a long laboured breath,
“I’m ready,” Jungkook looked into the camera and back at the interviewer who nodded, indicating he could start, “Hi, my name is Jeon Jungkook. I’m a young man from South Korea, and the maknae of BTS. On Thursday, May 2nd I was shot- a victim of the Visual Star Expo shooting. This is our story.”
Eight weeks. Well, eight weeks, four days, twelve hours, three minutes, and seventeen seconds. That’s how long it’s been since the members of BTS have collectively had a day off. No projects colliding into each others schedules, just each other. They had just landed at LAX about an hour ago, during the beautifully still morning of 4am. Touring was something each of them enjoyed for various reasons, but any one of them would admit, it was a lot of hard work with rarely any down time.
Jin was very excited to spend time with all his brothers before their first show the following day. He had planned on making it special seeing as they wouldn’t have another day like this in who knows how long. He wanted to catch up with everyone; make sure they were happy, healthy and ready to put on great performances for the North American leg of the tour. After unloading all of their luggage into their hotel rooms, he suggested everyone sleep until at least the sun came up so they could officially start their first day in Los Angeles. Some of the members were reluctant, but with how early it was there wasn’t much else they could do other than lounge about the hotel.
Jungkook laid restlessly in his bed, staring up at the ceiling with absolute excitement trickling through his veins. How could this be any more perfect? His one day off in so long and it happened to be the day that the Visual Star Expo was being held at a large stadium just down the street. He had only dreamed of going ever since hearing about it during his first trip to LA back in 2014. His passion for photo taking, film editing and production made his longing to attend such an event an all time high. And now he was going to be able to experience it! A lingering smile crept up on his face at the though of how much knowledge he’d accumulate- not even worried about the English language barrier. His ceaseless desire to check the clock every five minutes was taking away some of his giddiness. Signing, he rolled onto his stomach, placing his pillow over his head before sleep and all it’s glory whisked him away and into the night.
A loud knock on his door shook Jungkook out of his slumber and into a befuddled mess of tangled sheets.
“Jungkook-ah, time to get up!” He recognized the voice immediately as his eldest brother, Jin.
Sighing, Jungkook reached a hand to the bedside table beside him- five missed calls, eight unread texts, 3:30pm…
Jungkook gasped, the expo started at 4:00 and he hadn’t even showered, gotten ready or called for a driver to pick him up and escort him. Fumbling to unravel himself from the sheets, he shot a holler in the direction of the front door,
“I’m up, Hyung!”
“Hurry to my room once you’re dressed, Kook-ah!” Jin bellowed from the other side of the door, his voice fading towards the end.
Not in a particularly graceful manner, Jungkook scurried around the room as fast as he could, laying out clothes, showering, brushing his teeth and calling for a car. He nearly fell over trying to talk on the phone while putting his socks on. Checking the time after hanging up with the Uber company, he grinned, still having ten minutes to spare. That would mean he’d still have time to see his hyungs before heading out. Powering down the hall, he knocked only once before being greeted by Taehyung,
“Kookie! It’s about time!”
Jungkook merely rolled his eyes with a smile as he stepped inside, not surprised to see everyone else already gathered.
“Hey look who finally showed up,” Namjoon teased, ruffling the kid’s hair as he sat down beside him.
“Did you sleep well?” Jimin inquired.
“Yeah, did you?” Jungkook responded, gaze facing downwards with the distraction of his phone.
“Yah, you should look at your Hyung when he’s talking to you, Kook,” Yoongi scolded, composedly; Jungkook immediately pocketing his phone.
“Sorry Yoongi hyung, but I was just checking to see if my Uber was here yet,” he explained to the older.
“Uber? Where do you think you’re going?” Hoseok inquired.
“Visual Star Expo!” Jungkook began, “I’ve been wanting to go for years! It explains tons of cool tips and tricks on the behind the scenes of photo and film editing as well as production. I’m totally excited because I know there’s a lot I can learn! I’m leaving in like five minut-“
“So you’re telling us that we have one day to spend fully as a family without interruptions and you’re choosing that over us?”
Jungkook immediately hushed down, the feeling of the room shifting cold and stiffly. He hadn’t even thought about the fact that all of them were free, he just really wanted to go to the Expo and excitement overtook his every other thought.
“That’s pretty selfish, Jungkook. I’m really disappointed,” Jin scoffed, voice becoming noticeably more guilt-ridden. He hadn’t meant to sound so cold towards his maknae, but today had been important to him and the others so the news that once again not all of them would be together caught him off guard. Everyone else simply sat in silence, eye darting between the oldest and youngest, waiting for the silence to be cut by one of them.
Jungkook was shocked at how stern Jin was being- more so how he was trying to guilt trip him. Jin knew how passionate Jungkook was when it came to photos and videos; why was it so important for him to miss attending something just to blow the day away doing nothing? He couldn’t think of one thing that could be more important or productive for him than this expo. Feeling the betrayal of being scolded in front of all his other hyungs over something he cared about tipped him the wrong way; he stood and turned towards the door. As his hand grazed against the door knob, another audible scoff shattered the silence,
“Wow, so you’re really going?”
“Yeah,” Jungkook said disrespectfully, “Cause it’s important to me. And because I’m an adult who makes his own decisions.”
“So your hyungs aren’t important to you then?” Jin spat back, anger growing over the lack of respect in his maknae’s word choice.
“You guys are important to me, don’t say stupid shit-“
“Jungkook!” Namjoon rose from his seat, but Jungkook ignored him, continuing,
“I hang out with you guys all the time! What’s the difference if it’s not all together at the same time? This thing comes once a year and it happens to be on a day off, so yeah, I’m going. If you even cared about me then you’d just let me go without all this extra bullshit.”
Jin, pausing momentarily to process how disrespectful the maknae’s vocabulary was, swallowed, before making dominant eye contact with his youngest,
“I can’t believe you. I’ve raised you wrong. I don’t think I’ve ever been more disappointed in you, Jeon Jungkook. Go. Just get out of here.”
Without skipping a beat Jungkook swung the door open, satisfaction and relief soaring through him as he slammed it behind him.