Growing Up Maknae ~Jungkook Fanfic~

Chapter Four

Jungkook spent most of his free time in the practice room, making sure he had each step down, each line leaving him with ease whether being rapped or sang, his breathing even throughout. He spent day and night, every hour he could, practicing the same dance over and over.

It was on the fourth night of this that Jimin, who was observant in his own way, came into the practice room. "You're going to burn yourself out before we're even debuted." Jimin chuckled, setting a few water bottles down for them to use. "Mind if I practice? Sometimes it's more fun that way."

Jungkook merely nodded, quickly cracking open the bottle and practically drowning it in seconds. Although he was more comfortable with the members he still kept his speaking to a minimal. In some aspects he wished he wasn't the youngest of the group, always expected to treat the others with respect. He was only fifteen, after all.

Speaking of which, he was beginning to get frustrated at the fact. Of course he wanted to make it big while still young, but the older members tended to speak of things Jungkook had yet to, and probably wouldn't have, the opportunity to do. The teenage years, where people would get ice cream after school, have dinner with their families, write cheesy love notes to pretty girls. He wouldn't be able to do that.

And the more he thought of it, the more he danced. The more he sang. He wanted to make sure his wasted teeny popper years would be worthwhile.

"You okay?" Jimin spoke up, Jungkook nodded as he put the music on for the tenth time that night, Jimin shrugging it off in order to practice as well. 

Another hour passed, no words spoken outside those exchanged for practice purposes, but there was only so much practicing his body could take.

The maknae slipped his back along the mirror, pouring water from a different bottle into his hands and rubbing it on his hair and face, his body sweaty, staining his white clothes. 

"See, you're going to burn out." Jimin knelt down in front of him, handing him a towel with a cheeky smile, "Please don't. We need you, you know. We all need each other. We're a big family here!" 

"I know, that's why I'm practicing. Good enough won't cut it." 

"You know," Jimin paused, taking a seat cross legged, leaning back on his elbows. "When we found out about you we were all pretty curious. Why would someone recruited by such big agencies chose the one nearing bankruptcy?"

Jungkook rubbed his face with the towel, before using it on his hair and looking at him, "I have my reasons."

"Oh, it's a secret? Okay," the older didn't push the subject. Not yet, at least, standing and stretching with a yawn. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm ready for bed. It's nearing midnight, you know? You may be a teenager but you still have a limited amount of energy."

"I know." He stood as well, walking to catch up with Jimin's head start, "I'll sleep after a shower."

"You sure love midnight showers," Jimin teased.

"I don't like smelling gross."

"Picky." He pretended to write it down on his hand, like a pen to a pad of paper, "The maknae doesn't like smelling gross. Got it."

Jungkook scuffed, but smiled nonetheless as they headed back up to where they slept, stealing the bathroom for his warm shower before crawling into bed near one am.

...

"Jungkook," a soft, warm voice whispered as the sun poured through their small bedroom window, "It's morning. Time to get up and smell the flowers or whatever they say."

"Mmmm?" Jungkook rolled over in his bed, hugging his blankets closer to him, "five more minutes."

"We have to go out," the voice chuckled, "we have vocal practice and then we're all going to eat our weight in ice cream."

"That doesn't sound good for Jimin's diet." 

"I'm glad when he's sleeping he still has the decency to keep my body in check," a voice came from the other side of the room before it grew closer, "Come on, Jungkook, time to get up!"

"Don't wanna."

"Is this what the stubborn teenage years bring? It's been so long since I've experienced the dreaded desire to sleep in." The original soft voice laughed, sort of sounding like a set of windshield wipers. "Come on, sleepy head."

After another minute, the maknae began to rub his eyes, the faces of two dorky boys in glasses greeted his view. "Seokjin hyung, Jimin hyung, good morning." He smiled the best he could, fending off the sun with his hand.

"You better hurry up or you'll be late for practice. You don't want that, now do you?"

He shook his head, checking the time on the clock before springing out of bed and quickly grabbing whatever clothes were on the floor, running to the bathroom to shower and change. The two older boys were laughing at the scene, shaking their heads at the sight of the usually early bird running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

"Don't hurt yourself!" Hoseok called from the living room, having heard the exchange of conversation since it was such a small space, "Like, that boy looked like he was about to give himself whiplash from getting up so fast."

"I'm sure he wouldn't do anything that stupid." Yoongi snorted, "That's Namjoon territory." 

"ExCuSE ME," A voice came from the kitchen, tripping on the way In, "I'm not stupid! I am clumsy!"

"That's an understatement," Yoongi snorted, "Maybe Hosoek should be ensuring you're kept safe instead of everyone else. That sounds like a full time job in itself."

"This is bullying." Namjoon groaned, walking back to help clean up the kitchen. 

"This is the reason the maknae is scared of you guys," Hoseok added, shaking his head with a smile, "Poor kid. Hey, Jimin, ever find out what he's doing those late nights?"

"I bet he's sneaking off to see a cute girl. He's a pretty looking guy, after all," Taehyung smile.

"Nah, he's been practicing."

"Explained why he's tired," Seokjin chimed in, "Good to see he's taking this seriously."

"But still, there's no reason he should be burning himself out this quickly," Jimin pointed out.

"Working hard and burning yourself out are two very different things," Yoongi got up to put his shoes on.

"Still, I'm worried about him."

"You're always worried about someone. Cheer up, Jimin," Seokjin lifted his head with a reassuring smile, "We're all as worried about each other and getting out into the world as you are, trust me. But right now we need to focus on being able to compete in a world full of idols, and if he's going to use his time to practice until he drops then that's what he's going to do. All we can do is make sure he's eating, sleeping, and getting water in him. The rest is up to him."

"And you need to focus on you. It's not like you're on a strict diet of literally air and exercise or anything."

"Yoongi, be nice," Seokjin scolded.

"I am, but it's true. If anyone's going to end up collapsing, it's Jimin. You got to keep watch of yourself. Eat enough, drink enough, focus on you."

"Sure," Jimin sighed, "I'll get on that." 

"After eating your weight in ice cream, right?" Taehyung grinned up at him.

"You're a bad influence." 

"We all need bad influences in our lives once in awhile," Taehyung grinned, "And I'll be yours."

JImin went to go say something before a head peeked out of the bathroom, hair still dripping wet and a towel around his waist. "Did someone say ice cream?"

.......

So this is certainly a filler chapter. I haven't written this since 2016! Oh my goodness. I have a totally new direction I want to push this story than when I had started writing it all those months ago. In fact, I sort of forgot I even had this story on here, until the sudden spike in popularity! I'm glad you guys have stumbled upon it and enjoyed it! Your comments and favourites have definitely inspired me to write more often! 

I'm not sure when I'll update next, but I promise it will be a better, more lengthy chapter than this one!