The Missing Piece

Chapter 18

Jungkook was having a hard time sleeping. Not usually a problem for him, but the last couple of weeks, every so often, he just couldn't drift off.

Namjoon's strong arms circled his waist and the delicious scent of his skin permeated Jungkook's senses. It calmed him, it pleased him. It should have lulled him off to sleep, but it didn't.

Jungkook sighed. He worried for a moment that the noise might rouse his mate, but Namjoon was already in a deep sleep that he wouldn't easily be shaken from. Even with his mouth slightly agape, and a light snore starting, Jungkook thought he'd never seen anything so beautiful. He kissed him gently on the shoulder as he slipped away. Sat on the edge of the bed, he quickly found his sweats and a t shirt and pulled them on, thinking he might go and watch a little bit of television until he got weary. Honestly, sleep in a makeup chair, in a room full of people, no problem. But try to drift off at night...? Apparently not.

Once he'd shut the door and started to walk down the hall, he became aware of a blue light glowing against the far wall of the living room. Someone must be up. Or someone's left the TV on, he thought, progressing forward.

"Hey." He said, his voice cracking with sleep.

Narae and Taehyung twisted round to see who it was, and they both smiled at him broadly. "Hey." They replied together.

"You're on the same sofa!" Chuckled Jungkook, pretending to be scandalised. He knew better than anyone what a stickler for the rules their older soulmates could be. Narae and Taehyung grinned sheepishly back at him then twisted back around.

"Couldn't sleep?" Narae asked, as Jungkook took a seat on the sofa opposite theirs, glancing at the TV to see what was on. The volume was on mute and it was an American show he didn't recognise. Jungkook shook his head, yawning.

"Us either. We're not really watching this. Just something to keep us company." Taehyung told him, turning the TV off in favour of a side lamp which gave the three of them a faint glow in the darkness.

"Shall I make us some green tea? Maybe it will send us off to sleep." Narae offered, rising and moving carefully past Taehyung.

"Yes! Maybe some snacks too." Taehyung replied, his smiling eyes followed her out of the room.

"She looks a little better." Jungkook muttered, almost to himself. Interestingly, the two of them had only had a conversation this morning about how off colour she had seemed lately. But he was right, and Taehyung nodded his agreement, Narae was a little brighter than she had been that day, even in the darkness.

"Maybe the guys are helping a bit more?" Taehyung shrugged, not really hiding the acidity in his voice.

Narae came skidding back in, her arms full of bags from their snack pantry. "The water is boiling." She told them cheerfully, dropping her haul on the coffee table and then sitting down cross legged in front of it. Taehyung and Jungkook grinned then dropped onto the floor with her, pulling bags of what they wanted and beginning to eat with gusto.

"Aren't you hungry?" Jungkook asked, realising that Narae was just watching them eat.

"No one is ever as hungry as you guys are. It is the middle of the night after all!" She deflected raising her eyebrows. They both shrugged and continued chowing down.

Narae made them the tea and the three sat back, resting their backs against the sofas and chatting as the night darkened further around them. Jungkook had forgotten about getting back to bed. He was having too much fun with their little night-time rendezvous to worry. When they were alone like this – although he didn't really know what he meant by alone – he felt his and Taehyung's natural jocularity returning to them in ways he hadn't thought would be possible again.