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“Jiminnie-ah.” Jungkook shook the sleeping boy softly, seeing if he’d wake up peacefully.
“Jiminnie,” he repeated. Guess not.
“Jiminnie!” Jungkook hissed louder, shaking the boy a little bit harder.
Bangtan’s maknae shuffled, pulling the stuffed lion plushie he was cuddling with closer to his chest and hugging it tighter. The chestnut-haired boy was still sleeping in a curled up position, his body barely making it halfway down the twin bed because of all of his encircled limbs bunched up near the top of the bed. After Jungkook jostled him a third time, he started mumbling something entirely incoherent, flipping his body over—bringing the stuffed lion with him—to look directly at his hyung, who decided to crouch down so he could be eye level with the maknae’s bed.
“Jiminnie-ah,” Jungkook whispered, not an iota of annoyance present in his voice from having to wake up the younger boy.
“Hmm,” the boy finally responded, his firmly shut beautiful ochre eyes finally starting to open and make eye contact with his hyung. He was ethereal.
“Our schedules start in an hour, you should get up now so you can get ready and have time to eat,” Jungkook softly said, concern laced in his words.
Jimin laid there for a few moments, eyes blank and blinking occasionally while processing the words that had just left Jungkook’s mouth. Once they had registered, he smiled slightly and started to unfurl himself to sit up.
“Okay, hyung,” he mumbled back.
The younger boy’s chestnut-colored hair was wildly sticking out all over the place, and Jungkook couldn’t resist:
“You look too cute with bedhead hair,” he cooed while reaching out to pinch the younger boy’s cheeks. He face looked even more adorable, cheeks stretching out like little pancakes.
“Hyung,” Jimin protested, lightly swatting away Jungkook’s arm.
“Okay, okay,” Jungkook yielded, standing up and backing away to let Jimin get off his bed and go to the bathroom.
Jimin swung his legs off the edge of the bed and slowly brought himself to his feet. Realizing he still had his stuffed lion in his hand, he softly placed him square in the center of the bed near the pillows. The maknae then turned around, walking up to Jungkook and lightly hugging the older around his torso while he buried his head into Jungkook’s chest and his hopelessly strewn-about hair poked into Jungkook’s face.
“Thank you, Jungkookie-hyung,” Jimin said before letting go to head to the bathroom.
Jungkook just stood there, a slight blush spreading across his face. He loved it when Jiminnie hugged him, even fleetingly like that. Jimin was the soul of Bangtan, the happy center that supported all of his hyungs throughout their ever-busier days. Even five seconds after waking up, Jiminnie loved his hyungs, and he wasn’t afraid to show it with hugs and piggyback rides and genuine concern when things were down. What he lacked in wisdom and age he made up for with an naturally pure heart.
Snapping out of his musings, Jungkook remembered that Jimin needed to get ready as quickly as possible so that he would have time to eat before they left. The maknae had been skipping meals lately—until Jungkook noticed. After that, he ensured that Jiminnie was getting every single meal and that he was actually eating food. The maknae was not going to be skipping meals, not on his watch.
Jungkook made his way over to the maknae’s closet, assembling an outfit that he thought might be acceptable. It didn’t take long, Jimin hadn’t done laundry lately so he was running low on clothes. Waiting for the younger boy, Jungkook pulled out his phone and started playing Piano Tiles on his bed. It didn’t take long for the water to stop—Jimin must have been listening when he said they only had an hour before schedules—and seconds later Jimin stepped out to grab some clothing.
“I got an outfit all ready for you, Jiminnie-ah,” Jungkook mumbled absentmindedly, still in the middle of his Piano Tiles game.
“Thanks, hyung~” Jimin sing-songed back, grabbing the clothes and disappearing back into the bathroom. Several moments later, he reappeared.
“Umm, hyung.”
“Yeah?” Jungkook replied, still fully concentrated on Piano Tiles.
“I know how much you like white T-shirts, but you didn’t have to choose one for me to wear…”
Jungkook paused mid-game and looked up at the maknae. Oh crap, he actually did choose a white v-neck T-shirt for the younger boy.
“Uh, I wasn’t really thinking to be honest,” Jungkook admitted. “You look good in it, though.”
“Better than you even,” Jimin retorted, giggling afterwards. “Maybe I should give you some tips?”
“Hey, respect your hyung!” The younger boy just started laughing at his hyung, disappearing back into the bathroom to dry his hair.
“I guess I just get to match my favorite hyung today!” Jimin yelled from the bathroom before reappearing moments later.
“Jiminnie~” Jungkook hummed back. “Let’s go eat breakfast.” The younger boy eagerly nodded, following his hyung to the kitchen.
Jin had prepared a large breakfast for them, so even though all of the other band members had already eaten there was still plenty of food left. Mountains, really. Jungkook was the inhuman member who ate most of it anyways, but he made sure to scoop extra food onto Jimin’s plate. The maknae needed to eat plenty to make up for all of the lost meals. Jungkook was not going to let him starve himself—absolutely not. Even when Jiminnie finished his first plate of food, Jungkook made sure to add seconds.
After breakfast, they all piled into the car to head to the studio. Today’s schedule was busy: a photoshoot and a fansign. It wasn’t too bad, though; they had done it (and more) before.
“Youngest three in the back,” Yoongi instructed, taking shotgun for himself.
“Jimin, you should go in the middle,” Jungkook advised.
“Whyyyy, I hate the middle,” Jimin pouted.
He almost considered giving into the adorable maknae until he realized that the maknae was already sandwiched between him and Taehyung.
“Umm, Jiminnie,” motioning to the top of shorter boy’s head.
“Fine, he grumbled, sliding into the seat after Taehyung.
“You’re so small,” Jungkook teased as Jimin easily folded himself up to fit in the middle seat.
“Hyung,” the younger boy whined before resting his head on Jungkook’s shoulder in the car to fall back asleep on the way to the photoshoot. Jungkook started to play with his chestnut brown hair while the younger’s breath got lighter, falling asleep in the car on the way to the studio.
➈➄➈➆
The photoshoot was over quickly. The boys were going to be paired together, so naturally Jimin insisted on doing his shots with Kookie-hyung. The two stood with their backs to each other, black conductor hats loosely placed on their heads, overcoats hanging off their shoulders while they tucked their hands in the pockets of their dark slacks—all while staring into the camera with muted, dreamy expressions.
“Preliminary photos are here, boys,” one of their managers informed them in the waiting area, setting a laptop on the coffee table for the two boys to look at.
“Wow, Jiminnie-ah, you’re so short,” Jungkook teased yet again, looking at how their heads were not even close to level despite his slouching.
“Aish, why do you always call me short, hyung?”
“Because I love you,” Jungkook teased, pulling the younger boy into a backhug on his lap.
“Hyung! Let me change first…”
“Fine.”
The boy disappeared into the changing room and came out wearing the same white T-shirt Jungkook had picked out for him earlier—the look on his face seemed more uncomfortable than before, though.
“What’s wrong, Jiminnie-ah?” Jungkook asked.
“Nothing…” the younger boy replied, voice quiet and soft.
“Jiminnie,” his own voice raising an octave in concern.
“I’m cold,” he admitted, eyes looking down and away.
“Oh.”
“And I want to wear your hoodie, hyung.”
“Oh.” Jungkook grabbed his hoodie from the side of his chair and threw it over toward the maknae, who hummed as he pulled it on over his head. The blue hoodie overwhelmed the smaller boy’s frame, fabric covering up his body all the way down to the bottom of his shorts. The sleeves drooped down past his hands—yet Jiminnie couldn’t look happier, sitting down on one of the comfy chairs outside the changing rooms and bringing his feet up on the chair so that he could pull the bottom of the hoodie over his knees.
Too cute.
“Oh my god, Jiminnie, you know that hoodie is too big for you,” Jin commented, returning to the changing rooms from the set.
“I know but it’s so warm and it smells like Kookie-hyung,” Jimin contently chimed back, snuggling farther into the fabric while pulling the hood up over his head.
Too cute.
The rest of the boys trickled into the waiting area outside of the changing rooms until they were assembled and ready for their fansign nearby. The seven of them collectively traveled there, ducking into the building where the fansign was taking place. Jungkook ensured that Jimin was safe, waiting for the younger and pulling him into a protective side-hug as they walked in. They sat next to each other in the line of seven. As they waited for the first fans to be let in, Jungkook looked through the costume items that had been provided for them today, finding a set of black cat ears that he fitted over the younger’s ears. In return, Jimin found the brown cat ears and put them over his hyung’s head.
Once the fans started streaming in, they greeted Jimin first as they headed to Jungkook and the rest of the hyungs afterwards. There wasn’t much time to interact with the other Bangtan members—that was until Jimin spent too long talking to one fan. Jungkook started to pester him, teasing the other boy from behind with silly faces and playing with his cat ears while the younger attentively listened to the fan and scribbled an answer to her question. Jungkook glanced down at the question written on the card and instantly froze up when he read Jimin’s answer.
‘Who’s your favorite hyung,’ the question read.
‘Kookie-hyung,’ Jimin wrote underneath it in messy Korean, a large heart drawn right next to it.
Cheeks starting to feel red with embarrassment, Jungkook ran back to his seat and prepared to interact with the fan who Jiminnie had just finished with. Jimin shot him a short glance and tugged on his brown cat ears while the older signed for that fan.
After the fansign ended, the boys all made their way back to the dorm to chill for a bit—except for Jimin, who insisted on going to the studio to work on choreography. Hours passed in the dorm until Namjoon piped up about someone going to the studio to check in on the hard-working maknae. Yoongi—who wanted to work on lyrics—and Jungkook volunteered to go.
When Yoongi and Jungkook got there, they found Jimin in the practice room, struggling with one particular part of the new choreo that they were assigned. It was really tough even for Jungkook and Hobi, so the raven-haired boy wasn’t surprised that the maknae was having trouble with it. Waving Jimin over after his latest attempt, Jungkook handed over an ice water bottle.
“How’s it going, Jiminnie-ah?”
“I just can’t get it right, hyung,” he pouted. “It’s really hard.”
“I know, it was hard for me too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Jungkook replied, smiling slightly. “Here, let me show you what helped me,” he continued waving the maknae to the center of the practice room. Adjusting Jimin’s body to the position just before the moves he was having the most trouble with, Jungkook showed the younger exactly how to change his motions so that he wouldn’t be tripping over his feet. Returning back to the recording room where Yoongi was, Jungkook watched the maknae through the windows peering into the practice room when Yoongi, not looking up from his messy notebook, spoke up to him.
“I think he’ll get it now, Kookie.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You’re a better teacher than you think you are,” Yoongi softly said.
Jungkook had never really thought about it, to be honest. He just wanted to help all of Bangtan improve just like they helped him. Especially Jimin.
“You know, Jungkook—"
“Yeah?”
“He really looks up to you,” Yoongi said, putting his pen down. “He idolizes you because you can pick things up so quickly, but you never get impatient with him when it takes him longer to learn choreo or hit notes right.”
“H-he said that to you?”
“Not in those words,” Yoongi replied. “But that was the general sentiment.”
Jungkook looked up toward the younger boy, who was just getting to the part he struggled with most. Leaning forward, his breathing halted as he waited to see whether the maknae would get it—he did, and the older sighed a breath of relief. As soon as he finished the rest of the choreo, the chestnut-haired boy celebrated, bouncing all over the practice room before stumbling down near one of the walls and slumping against one of the mirror walls in the back. His head languidly cocked to one side as his eyes started fluttering shut.
“I think he’s tired,” Jungkook whispered.
“No shit, Sherlock.”
“I think I’ll take him home.”
“That’s a good idea,” Yoongi replied as Jungkook got up to go help the maknae back home. “See you later, Kook-ah.”
“Bye Yoongi-hyung.”
Jungkook stepped into the practice room and made his way to the maknae, whose chest was softly raising and falling with shallow breaths. Already asleep—he must have been practicing so hard. Not wanting to wake the younger, Jungkook scooped up the younger boy bridal style and hauled the smaller boy to the car so they could go home. Jungkook carefully placed the maknae on one of the seats in the back of the car and then sidled on next to him, letting the younger boy sleepily readjust his head onto Jungkook’s shoulder for the second time that day.
Once they got home, Jungkook brought the maknae to his room, shushing Taehyung when he tried to loudly greet them. The taller boy lightly placed Jimin on his bed, who immediately shifted from the lack of contact. Was that a whine? Jungkook ignored it and went to go change himself.
After brushing his teeth and showering, Jungkook walked back into their shared bedroom to hear soft sniffling coming from Jimin’s bed. Rushing over to the maknae’s bed, Jungkook crouched down and looked at the younger boy in the eye, caressing the younger boy’s cheek consolingly.
“What’s wrong, Jiminnie?” he quietly asked.
“N-nightm-mare,” the maknae hiccupped back.
“Jiminnie,” Jungkook replied, pulling the younger boy into a hug. Jimin wrapped his arms around Jungkook’s upper body while burrowing himself into the larger boy’s shoulder.
“Do you want to talk about, Minnie?”
Pulling back, the maknae started to speak up: “I was on stage alone and none of you were there and I couldn’t move and they all hated me and—“
“Jiminnie, we’ll always be here for you.”
The boy just kept sniffling, no response leaving his lips.
“Always.”
“Jungkookie…”
“Yes?”
“Can you sleep with me tonight?” the maknae asked, glassy eyes looking directly at Jungkook’s darker ones.
The pragmatic half of his brain was screaming no—the bed was too small, his back was going to hurt so badly tomorrow.
Everything else said yes.
“Yes.”
Jungkook hopped onto Jimin’s bed, cozying up near the smaller boy, who instinctively cuddled up into the older’s embrace. Jungkook felt it was only natural to wrap his arms around the younger boy as they simultaneously drifted off into a deep sleep.