Fools || Jikook

Prologue

Jimin could still remember how Jungkook had been like, back then. He could still remember the cute little boy who looked so lost and insecure at the beginning that it was almost hard to witness, what made everyone want to protect the young boy who was too far away from his parents for his age. He could still remember the shy boy who needed weeks to really talk to even one of them and even more time to look like he was actually some kind of comfortable doing so, but was still too shy to ask them when he needed any help. He had even been too shy to ask one of his Hyungs if they could lend him some water when he had forgotten to bring it to the practice room one time, causing him to break down after hours of dancing.

Jimin could still remember how he'd caught the black haired male sitting in the kitchen and eating all alone in the middle of the night after always refusing to eat with the others by saying he wasn't hungry in the evening. When Jimin had asked him unyieldingly why, the other one had reluctantly confessed that he always did this, waiting for the other members to be asleep before eating or showering because he didn't want to bother them.

Jimin could remember it all, Jungkooks quiet voice, his always nervous eyes, his trembling hands at their first song recording, his almost-break down after their debut stage or the times when he'd missed his family so much that he was on the verge of crying. He remembered how much they had to practice before they could take him to their first interview because he was so nervous, so afraid of screwing up or getting his Hyungs into trouble in some kind of way that he almost couldn't talk. And he also remembered how long it took him to open up to anyone and that Jimin himself had been the first one Jungkook began to trust.

But since then a lot of time had passed and the shy kid had slowly disappeared and got replaced by another, more mature, confident, sometimes crazy and weird but often still calm young man.

Of course they'd all grown up. They'd all gotten used to living like this by now. They'd learned how to deal with all the attention, with cameras, fans, with always being in the spotlight, always being surrounded by people, with receiving a lot of love from people they didn't know but who knew hella lot about them - which was still somehow scary - but also with receiving hate and criticism, with having to be careful of every step they took and everything they said because all of it could be used against them. Even Taehyung, the crazy, loud and weird "alien" of their group had changed a lot and wasn't all that hyper anymore. In contrary: he's gotten a lot quieter and mature.

But with Jungkook it was somehow different. He was the youngest and he was the one who had spent the most important years of his youth with his band members. They'd seen him grow up and go through puberty and difficult phases every young adult had to deal with, but despite every other young boy, he'd always had to hide them. They'd all witnessed him developing from a child to an adult in one of the most difficult ways, far away from home and always under the pressure of having to be perfect.

But not only mentally but also physically did Jungkook change a lot. He's gotten a lot taller than Jimin by now and his face wasn't squishy and cute anymore but all sharp lines. And because he was working out so much, his body consisted of only muscles which could now be perfectly seen moving under the white shirt while sweat practically glued the thin fabric to the dancer's skin.

The boy moved his body in perfect sync to the music, movements smooth and without any failure and face stiff with concentration, attempting to do it perfectly like he always did. Only when Jungkook finally stopped after the song ended and looked directly at Jimin did he notice that he'd been staring at the younger one again.

Jimin almost looked away hastily but he managed to stay calm and smile like always, giving Jungkook a thumps up.

"That was perfect. You're really almost as good as Hobi-Hyung by now. " he said and got a tiny smile back from Jungkook, who was still trying to catch his breath and muttered a breathless "Thanks. " before turning away to get some water.