Before you disappear

Chapter 11

"Come on, JK. You need to wake up."

Jungkook took a deep breath and shook his shoulder, trying to get rid of the hand that was shaking him. "Just a few more minutes."

"No, we don't have that. It's after 3, man." Tae shook him again, and then grabbed his legs and pulled him off the bed.

With a thump, Jungkook fell onto the floor. Wearily, he opened his eyes and looked up at his friend. "Was that really necessary?"

"Yes." Tae grinned. "We need to get to the venue, so you have to wake up. It was either this, or throwing water in your face."

Jungkook rubbed his eyes. "I'm awake, I'm awake." He pushed himself off the floor and sat on the edge of the bed. "What time is it?"

"After 3. We'll be going to the venue in 10 minutes, so wash up," Tae said as he pulled Jungkook up from the bed and pushed him towards the bathroom.

Ten minutes later, Jungkook and Tae joined the other bandmembers in the van that had been parked behind their hotel. Noises arose as they entered the van and Jungkook turned away to avoid a few light flashes blinding him.

"They already found us?" he asked more to himself.

"They're ARMY," Jimin stated, as Jungkook sat next to him. "With what we've witnessed so far in how they find out about us and our locations, I'm pretty sure they have magical abilities."

Hobi, sitting on the row behind them, chuckled. "The M in ARMY stands for magical?"

Jimin shrugged. "Who knows?" He glanced at Jungkook, noticing how pale he looked. "Did you sleep well?"

Jungkook didn't miss the worried tone in his friend's voice. He nodded. "I'll make sure to sleep a bit better tonight," he promised as he leaned his head against the headrest and closed his eyes.

The drive from the hotel to the venue took only a few minutes, but Jungkook managed to doze off anyway.

RM, who was sitting in the row before Jungkook, Jimin and Tae, turned to look at him. "JK?"

Jimin looked from JK to RM and shook his head, clenching his jaw in worry. RM held up his hand to calm him down, then placed his hand on Jungkook's knee, softly squeezing it. "JK," he said again, this time raising his voice. "Come on, buddy."

"Huh?" Jungkook opened his eyes and sat upright. Both RM and Jimin were watching him. "What?"

RM waited until the youngest looked at him, before speaking. "You fell asleep again."

"Oh." Jungkook's mouth remained slightly ajar as he tried to make sense of what had happened. He knew the venue was close by. Perhaps he was more tired than he thought. He shook his hand and tapped his hands against his cheeks. "I'm okay. Come, let's go."

Tae had already exited the van, so Jungkook used the open space to leave the van before Jimin or RM could say anything else. He didn't like to see them worried about him, so he decided right then and there that he would stay awake and somehow find the energy to get through rehearsals without falling asleep. The concert didn't worry him as much; ARMY always managed to give him more than enough energy to get through the 2 and a half hour dance routines.

As he walked through the corridors towards the backstage area, a smile crept on his face as he remembered the last concert. There had been a few girls on the first row, shouting his name. One of them had caught his eye. She'd been beautiful, but she seemed more interested whenever Jimin came close.

Of course Jungkook knew that most of ARMY loved each member, but it was still weird as they seemed to know everything about him and he knew nothing about them.

An arm wrapped around Jungkook's shoulder and pulled him out of his thoughts. "How are you feeling?" Jin asked, tapping against his shoulder.

"I'm fine," Jungkook said. "You needn't worry about me. I've got this."

"I know you do, bro. But I also know you can push yourself to the limits. Just making sure that limit isn't in sight right now. You are after all the main vocalist."

As if Jungkook didn't know that. He already felt the pressure of that day in and day out and usually he was fine with it. But today...

Jungkook took Jin's arm off his shoulder. "I'm fine," he emphasized.

"Hey, no disrespecting the oldest member!" Jin scolded him playfully and then ruffled his hair, making the youngest laugh.

As they entered the backstage area, Jungkook noticed a few staff members sitting at a round table. He greeted them by bowing toward them, and Jin did the same.

All the members were handed their sound gear and microphone, and two staff members assisted in making sure their sound gear was attached properly.

"As soon as you're ready, you can go straight towards the main stage so we can do a sound check," one of the staff members said.

Jungkook jumped up and down. "I'm ready," he said, clapping his hands. "Let's go!"

Without waiting for the other members, he walked out of the backstage area towards the main stage.

Jimin raised an eyebrow as he watched him leave the room. He then looked at Tae, who shrugged and started going after Jungkook.

Once all the members reached the main stage, Jungkook looked at the see through curtain and took his position.

"Ready?" a voice asked in his ear.

Jungkook felt a little lightheaded. He clenched his jaw, determined to push the fatigue away. "Ready," he answered in his microphone.

Light beams appeared on the other side of the see through curtain and the intro music to their first song started playing. 

***

Author's note

Jungkook's trying hard to be fine... but is he?