Us, Against The World | Taekook

13. Falling.

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"Congratulations!!!!!" The six members shouted in unison, their voices echoing through the room as Jungkook approached them, clutching his middle school graduation certificate like it was a golden ticket.

Jungkook burst into giggles, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment and joy, as Hoseok, Taehyung, and Jimin suddenly lunged at him. “No—oh nooo!” he whined, laughing uncontrollably, as the three hyungs hoisted him off the ground.

"Congratulations and celebrations!" the trio sang loudly and off-key, swinging Jungkook in the air like he’d just won an Olympic gold medal, rather than simply graduating middle school.

“Hyung! Put me down!” Jungkook cried, though his grin betrayed how much he was enjoying the attention. His legs kicked aimlessly in the air, and his certificate flapped in his hand like a flag of surrender.

“Not until we properly celebrate!” Hoseok declared, spinning in a circle with Jungkook still in their grasp.

“Wow, our little Kookie is growing up!” Jimin added, his voice mockingly sentimental.

“Middle school graduate Jeon Jungkook!” Taehyung proclaimed dramatically, pretending to wipe away a fake tear.

Jin stood to the side, shaking his head with an amused smile. “You’d think he just won a Nobel Prize with how you guys are acting.”

Namjoon chuckled, clapping politely from the sidelines. “Don’t drop him! We need him to survive high school too.”

The room erupted into laughter as the trio finally put Jungkook down, leaving him slightly disheveled but still grinning from ear to ear.

“You guys are the worst,” Jungkook mumbled, trying to fix his hair while cradling his certificate.

“Worst?!” Hoseok gasped, pretending to be offended. “We just gave you the celebration of a lifetime!”

“And you loved every second of it,” Taehyung teased, ruffling Jungkook’s hair.

Jungkook bit back a smile, looking at all his hyungs.

The room erupted into more cheers, and Jungkook realize that this over the top celebration was their way of showing just how proud they were of him.

Jungkook couldn’t help but feel a twinge of embarrassment as his hyungs’ loud cheering filled the air. His classmates were all watching some smiling, some giggling and it made his ears burn. He was trying to suppress the feeling when a familiar voice called out, “Jungkookie!”

He turned toward the sound and saw one of his classmates waving at him. He quickly nodded and excused himself from his chaotic hyungs. “I’ll be right back,” he told them before jogging over to his group of friends.

“What’s up?” he asked, slightly breathless, looking between them.

The girl who had called him smiled. “Those guys... they’re your bandmates?”

Jungkook nodded, managing a small grin. “Yeah...”

“They seem fun,” she said with a laugh, though the teasing note in her voice made him scratch the back of his head awkwardly.

One of the boys in the group then asked, “Your parents didn’t come? You said they were planning to.”

The smile faded from Jungkook’s face. He lowered his head, his grip tightening slightly on the edges of his certificate. “Busan to Seoul is expensive,” he mumbled after a moment. “They couldn’t make it. They’ll come in a couple of months for something else important.”