Jungkook sighed and rolled over in his bed, he'd been trying to get to sleep for the past hour but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't seem to fall asleep.
Why can't I sleep? He thought to himself
But the truth was he knew exactly why he couldn't sleep. He missed Taehyung. Don't get him wrong he was extremely proud of the older boy and was happy that his acting career was going well but that didn't stop him from missing his hyung with all his heart when he was away filming. During the day, he would push all thoughts about missing Taehyung to the back of his mind and instead focus completely on practicing and trying to pretend like he was doing fine. It seemed to work and no one ever questioned him about it but when, after a long day in the practice room, he would fall into bed all of those thoughts would come flooding into his mind and he would spend hours lying awake unable to sleep without Taehyung there to hold him and sing to him.
The other members weren't stupid and it didn't take them long to noticed that their usually happy and energetic maknae now barely talked unless someone asked him a question. And they didn't miss the circles under the young boy eyes that seemed to get bigger and darker every day and took more and more concealer to cover. But they all thought it was just stress over their comeback which was approaching very quickly. None of them noticed that Jungkook had started eating less or that he was spending more time practicing than any of them rest of them sometimes staying up till four or five in the morning.
Jungkook knew it wasn't healthy but he couldn't help it if he didn't do something to take his mind of Taehyung the thoughts that swarmed his head at night would consume him. He knew that if he spent too much time doing nothing the horrible feeling of missing Taehyung would overcome him and he would break.
So here he is lying awake staring at the ceiling willing his body to sleep, to let him escape from reality for even just a few hours, but no matter how much he wanted it, sleep evaded him. The thoughts in his head teased him letting him nearly drift off and then ripping him harshly away from the warm, comforting clutches of sleep and thrusting him back into harsh reality, filling his body with an empty feeling of longing, and pain.
He was still wide awake two hours later when his alarm went off and the other occupants of the dorm started waking up one by one and getting ready for the day. Jungkook was so lost in thoughts that morning that he didn't notice the other members whispering together and when Jin walked over to him and gently shook his shoulder he nearly jumped out of his skin in fright.
"It's just me Jungkookie-ah," the older boy said with a small smile.
"Sorry hyung I was lost in thought" he apologized not returning the smile.
"That's alright, I was just coming to tell you that Jimin and I are going out for a walk and we want you to come with us" Jin explained.
Jungkook nodded not able to find it in himself to argue and got up to grab his shoes.
"Where are we going hyung?" He asked as he pulled them on.
"We're just going to walk around a little bit, get some fresh air" Jin replied and Jungkook nodded again.
Jin called Jimin over and the three of them left quickly.
After about ten minutes of walking the ended up at the top of some old stairs and Jimin said something to Jin that Jungkook couldn't hear. The older boy nodded and gestured for Jungkook to go on ahead. He did so without hesitation figuring that Jin had some sort of reason. It was only when he got to the bottom of the stairs that Jungkook realized that they were in an underground train station, one that wasn't very popular judging by the fact that there were only a few groups of people milling around. The dark haired boy looked over his shoulder at his hyungs in confusion only to see them talking to a young girl, obviously a fan, and not paying him any attention. He sighed quietly and turned just in time to see a train pull up and people start to file off.
Jungkook was watching the people pile off the train without much interest until something caught his eye or rather someone, a very familiar someone. A very familiar someone who happened to the reason for his lack of sleep. Jungkook pinched himself.
Ow, that hurt was his first thought as he rubbed his arm.
His second thought was oh my god! This isn't a dream! He's actually right there.
He'd barely thought that before his body took over and he was hurtling across the floor to throw himself at Taehyung. The older let out a sound of surprise and took a small step back to regain his balance stiffening slightly before he seemed to realize who it was and then he was hugging Jungkook back tightly holding the younger as though he was never going to let him go.
"I missed you" Jungkook murmured past a large lump in his throat and wasn't at all surprised to find that he was crying.
"I missed you too" Taehyung replied reaching up and gently stroking Jungkook's hair and using his other hand to rub soothing circles on the younger's back to calm him down.
"It's okay, I'm here now," the older boy said reassuringly "it's okay"
He kept repeating those two words until Jungkook was no longer crying just breathing slightly unevenly but still clinging onto Taehyung as though he was his lifeline.
When Jungkook had calmed down fully Taehyung gently pulled away from him explaining quietly that Jin was motioning that they needed to go. Jungkook nodded and the two boys turned and headed towards the stairs Taehyung keeping one hand on Jungkook's back to reassure the younger that he was still there.
They climbed up the stairs and joined Jin and Jimin who were waiting for them at the top.
"Sorry for interrupting you but we need to go back now we've been gone for almost thirty minutes and I told the others that we wouldn't be out for more than an hour" Jin explained apologetically.
"It's alright hyung," Taehyung said with a smile.
Jin returned the smile and pulled Taehyung in for a quick hug murmuring a quiet welcome back and Jimin did the same. Jungkook was just standing there a mixture of shock and exhaustion causing him to sway just slightly, it was barely noticeable but Taehyung knew Jungkook better than anybody and could sense his moods by just looking at him.
"Let's go," he said and they started walking to the dorm, Taehyung placing a hand on Jungkook's shoulder to keep him steady.
They got back to the dorm quickly and Taehyung said a hasty hello to the others before pulling Jungkook into their room and gently pushing the younger boy onto their bed.
"You haven't been sleeping" Taehyung was straight to the point and Jungkook sighed leaning back against the headboard.
"I can't" he replied in a small voice pulling his knees up to his chest and curling his arms around them.
Taehyung immediately clambered up beside the other boy and wrapped his arms around him letting Jungkook rest his head on Taehyung's chest and listen to the steady beat of his heart.
"Why?" Taehyung asked simply.
"I missed you" Jungkook's voice wavered slightly as he spoke " I missed you so much that sometimes it hurt to breath"
Taehyung tightened his arms around Jungkook and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.
"You've been practicing too much haven't you?" Taehyung's voice was slightly muffled by Jungkook's hair.
"It was the only way to get the thoughts to stop" he explained.
"What thoughts?" Taehyung asked gently.
"The thoughts that would fill my head every night and stop me from sleeping. The thoughts that would fill me with longing and pain. The thoughts of you, of you not being here, to hold me and sing me to sleep." The large lump in Jungkook's throat stopped him from being able to say anything else.
Taehyung almost started crying at how broken Jungkook sounded but he forced the tears back not wanting to upset the boy further instead he started singing softly, it was something he often did when they were curled up together after a long day of practicing and it never failed in lulling the younger boy into sleep. Sure enough not long after he started singing Jungkook's breathing evened out and he relaxed fully into Taehyung's arms cuddling close out of habit.
Taehyung smiled down at the beautiful boy curled up on his lap.
What did I do to deserve you? He thought to himself still singing quietly.
The only thing bothering him was just how light the other boy was. Jungkook had never been particularly heavy, but now? Now he seemed to hardly weigh anything and Taehyung was worried. Worried because he knew that Jungkook probably hadn't been eating properly since he had left for filming nearly three weeks ago. Worried because he knew that Jungkook had been spending almost all of those three weeks practicing and not getting enough sleep.
The brown haired boy sighed and absentmindedly started running his fingers through Jungkook's hair in a calming rhythm. He realized with some surprise that he had stopped singing and quickly started again the words flowing off his tongue softly and Jungkook mumbled something in his sleep and shifted slightly so that his head was resting on Taehyung's shoulder with his face pressed into the older boy's neck. They stayed like that, with Taehyung singing softly and Jungkook curled up on his lap, for god knows how long until Taehyung felt his eyes drift shut and he slipped into sleep.
He never told Jungkook that it was the first time he'd been able to fall asleep properly for nearly three weeks but he didn't need to, Jungkook took one look at the dark circles under his eyes the next morning when they were eating breakfast and he knew. He knew that Taehyung had been going through the same thing as him and he knew that Taehyung understood the empty feeling of loneliness that had threatened to consume him while the other boy had been gone.
The other members weren't stupid and it didn't take them long to notice that their maknae was once again his bubbly, happy self who chatted away to his hyungs when they were in the dorm. And they didn't miss that the dark circles under his eyes slowly started to fade until they were hardly noticeable. They all knew now that it was because of a certain brown haired, square smiled ball of sunshine called Kim Taehyung.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Sehnsucht is a noun translated as "longing", "pining", "yearning", or "craving", or in a wider sense a type of "intensely missing". However, Sehnsucht is difficult to translate adequately and describes a deep emotional state. Its meaning is somewhat similar to the Portuguese word saudade, or the Romanian word dor. Sehnsucht is a compound word, originating from an ardent longing or yearning (das Sehnen) and a long or lingering illness (das Siechtum)
This is loosely based on the post in the media but I changed some things (by the way in this story they are in Korea while in the post i'm pretty sure they were in Norway)