Jungkook was bored. Hoseok had left for work about an hour after Taehyung had. He'd already missed two hours of work to have his and Jungkook's "ice cream social" as he had put it and Jungkook refused to let him miss anymore. Jungkook had danced around to TWICE before getting tired and deciding on TV time. When cartoons nor any adult show held his attention, Jungkook tried comic books. He got through them all in about an hour and ended up sitting upside down on the couch. After a long period of time spent in that position, Jungkook finally decided on his favorite activity: coloring. He grabbed a circus animal coloring book he had yet to start coloring in off the coloring book stack on his desk and an adult coloring book from his nightstand drawer and placed himself and his coloring supplies on the dining room table. He had a system. Adult coloring book sitting just above his open and ready children's coloring book, ready to be a cover up for when his Hyungs got home and his crayons and colored pencils in a box a few inches from the books right side. Everything was ready just in case someone were to come in in a matter of seconds. Jungkook selected a bright red and began coloring the circus tent.
Jungkook had been thinking. Sometimes it was dangerous to say that, other times, it was on the border. Hoseok's talk from that morning had rooted a new idea in his head. He had decided that he wanted Taehyung back. And he wanted him back now. He had been planning it out in his head. Once Taehyung went to his room after dinner, Jungkook would excuse himself and enter the older's room and hopefully have a talk about what was going on between the two. Jungkook just didn't know how to initiate the conversation. How he should say he didn't like being ignored. How he should say he was so alone. How he should say he misses Taehyung more than anything.
Jungkook turned the page and was met with a seal balancing on a beach ball. He chose a purple and started with the tip of the seal's nose and set aside a yellow for the ball.
"Taehyung. We need to talk." Jungkook said as he colored. He nodded deciding that was definitely a good start.
"Lately, you've been ignoring me. You haven't said barely anything to me and I don't like it." Jungkook shook his head. "We haven't talked much recently and it's upsetting me." Jungkook tried, this time being satisfied. "I don't like being on my own like I used to. It has a tang I never noticed until now that doesn't sit well with me." Jungkook switched to the yellow pencil. "I support you and your job choice, I just think you should have time for yourself too. Lately, you've hulled yourself up in your room and no one sees you for hours on end. When I can't sleep late at night and wander the house, nearly every night I'll see your lamp light through the crack under your door. You should care for yourself too. It's like you said to me when I worked too much. You need to loosen the load. I hope you'll listen to me and that we can have fun again soon." Jungkook nodded triumphantly. Even though that wasn't all that was going through his head, he decided it was all that needed to be said. The rest would only be a bother to Taehyung and discourage him from returning to his normal self. Jungkook wanted Taehyung back more than anything.
Jungkook set his pencil down and leaned back in the chair, letting out a sigh. "I miss you, Hyung."
The sound of the front door being unlocked sent Jungkook bolting into a straight position on his chair. He grabbed the children's coloring book, slapped it shut, grabbed the adult one and flipped to a half finished page and set it on top of the other one, hiding it completely.
Yoongi and Jimin came in promptly at 5:45 discussing an incident in the restaurant at lunch and a few other business related subjects and greeted Jungkook warmly as they made their way back to Yoongi's room.
Jungkook smiled to himself proudly at the fact he had successfully hidden his coloring book. He didn't know that he possessed such a skill. It was one of those plans that had still been sitting on the drawing board and had never been tested. He was lucky it worked.
The next to come into the house was Seokjin who went almost immediately to the kitchen after changing out of his formal work clothes. Jungkook smiled as Seokjin passed by him and the older waved excitedly. Cooking was one of Seokjin's favorite activities. He could do it at anytime for any reason. Stressful work day? Turn on that stove! Had a fight with someone you care about? Preheat the oven! Nothing going your way? Chop that celery! Not to mention it was an art form that you could enjoy with more than just your eyes. Your taste was also a major component in enjoying the art in front of you. Seokjin's favorite thing after cooking was to see how his friends liked or disliked the dish. From expressions on their faces to satisfied noises while eating, anything expressing their opinion on the food made Seokjin smile. Just the thought of seeing their reactions made a tiny smile appear on Seokjin's work worn face.
Seokjin took out premade marinara sauce and mini pepperoni and shredded mozzarella out of the fridge while a curious Jungkook wandered around the counter to view what Seokjin was up to.
"Jin Hyung?"
"Yes, Jungkook?" Seokjin said, grabbing a loaf of baguette bread from one of the cabinets above their heads.
"What are you making?"
"I was thinking Baguette Pizzas. Does that sound good?"
"That sounds amazing! Anything I can help you with?" Jungkook said excitedly.
"No, I think I've got it. Thank you though, Jungkook." Seokjin smiled and ruffled Jungkook's hair, causing the younger to let out a sound of delight and then hop back to his seat at the dining table.
Seokjin's smile still sat on his face as he spread marinara on the slices of baguette. Jungkook was his biggest fan and he couldn't be more happy with that. Jungkook always had something pleasant to say and when something wasn't good, he would voice it instead of holding it back like Namjoon and the others would. Seokjin always did something special to Jungkook's meal in return for those comments that he loved so much. Like for instance, what he was doing to Jungkook's piece of baguette pizza. He had designed a smiley face out of the mini pepperonis. I guess you could say Seokjin lived off of praise.
Jungkook grabbed an orange colored pencil and began to color a part of the paisley print on the page of his coloring book. He couldn't stop looking up at the door every few seconds. He was anxious about Taehyung coming home and with every passing minute his anxiousness rose.
"Jungkook, do you think you can put your coloring stuff in your room and then get the guys for me? Dinner's almost ready." Seokjin asked as the timer on the oven went down to two minutes.
"Sure!" Jungkook said as he closed his coloring book, careful to hide the children's one underneath all the stuff.
He carried it all to his room which had every light out and put the stacks contents in their respective places. He turned and frowned at the dark room. He still didn't like the dark.
Jungkook came out of his own hallway and turned down the Hyung's. Without knocking, he opened Namjoon's door and approached the older's desk where he found Namjoon editing a song with a title of 'BTS Cypher 4'.
"Who's BTS?" Jungkook asked, leaning on Namjoon's chair, making the older jump a little.
Namjoon lowered his head phones from his ears, "It's the group Yoongs, Hobi and I are forming."
Jungkook nodded, "From what I've heard, you guys are going to do great." Jungkook patted Namjoon's shoulder. "Jin said to come for dinner."
"Thanks. I'll be right there. I'm just adding this extra touch. I think you'll like it, Number one fan." Namjoon winked.
"I know I will, Hyung!" Jungkook said as exited the room, "Oh, also, if you need vocals, Jimin has an amazing voice." Jungkook winked.
Jungkook kicked one of Hoseok's socks down the hallway that had been left there from the last laundry run as he made his way to Yoongi's room.
Instead of just opening the door like he did to Namjoon, Jungkook knocked, a bit louder than usual. You never randomly open the door when the people inside are in a relationship. Jungkook learned that the hard way.
"What do you want?" Yoongi called.
"He means to say, who is it?" Jimin followed with a few seconds later.
"It's Jungkook! I just wanted to tell you two it's time for dinner!"
"Thank you, Jungkookie! We're coming!" Jimin answered and the soft squeak of the floorboards in the other room let the younger know they were moving.
Jungkook turned and made his way back to the dining room where he found all the food set out and Namjoon and Seokjin already sitting at the table.
"Where's Hoseok?" Jungkook asked as he leaned on the chair at the head of the table.
"He called and said he wouldn't be home until late." Seokjin gestured to the younger's seat. "Why don't you sit down?"
Jungkook nodded and rounded the table. Before he could pull his chair out from under the table, his face became claimed by excitement at the dish in front of him.
"Jin Hyung! This is amazing! I love it!" Jungkook said excitedly as he finally sat down and patted the smiley face where the top of his head should be.
"Thank you, Jungkook. I'm glad you like it." Seokjin gleamed.
Seokjin's gleam quickly vanished as he heard a clink of silverware from Namjoon's seat. "Namjoon! Manners!"
"But. But. Food." Namjoon gestured to the pizza on his plate, his face a mix of disappointment and impatience.
Jungkook was this close to giggling there on the spot as the two fought when a loud bang erupted from the foyer. Seokjin and Namjoon quit arguing over manners as an angry looking Taehyung walked into the dining room and threw his bag off his shoulder and onto the floor next to his chair. Yoongi and Jimin came out a minute or two later and quickly sat down.
It was like Taehyung had a shadow over him. It was unnaturally dark where Taehyung was sitting. It was obvious something had happened but no one was willing to disturb the epitome of anger. They had even conversed over who should say something and Taehyung just kept eating. Once Taehyung had finished eating, instead of staying and talking with the others, he went straight to his room. No trace of a goodbye or good night leaving his mouth.
Jungkook gulped and looked down at his unfinished pizza. He had to admit. He wasn't expecting Taehyung to be in this bad of a mood. He also had to admit that he was in every way scared. Anything could go wrong. Anything could make Taehyung's current mood cause him to explode. He was risking his head at this point. Yet, here he was, excusing himself from the table and approaching the older's room. His door was closed and you could see the golden stream of light from his desk lamp coming out under it. He wanted to back away. He wanted to go to the living room and pretend nothing happened. But instead, he knocked on the doors painted surface and awaited an answer.
Said answer never came. So, Jungkook opened the door.
Word Count: 1994
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