“I’M HERE!! DON’T GO!”

             Jungkook stops banging on the window as the door slides open. He shoots Jin a grateful smile as he shuffles past him and plops down in the middle of the back row, beside a resting Yoongi. He looks up to see Namjoon and Hoseok eying him with identical expressions of disapproval from the front seats.

             “I’m sorry,” Jungkook says, desperate to break the tense silence.

             “Oh, you’re sorry?” Namjoon echoes sarcastically.

             “Sweetie, this trip isn’t all about you,” Jin scolds gently, “You need to consider the rest of us.”

             “I’m sorry,” Jungkook emphasizes, more sincerely this time, “It was an accident, we overslept.”

             Jimin smirks, “Awfully nice of you to join us, Sleeping Beauty.”

             Suddenly, Yoongi’s eyes fly open, “Present!” He yells reflexively.

             Jungkook cracks a smile at the stunned boy beside him, “No, hyung, they meant me. I’m Sleeping Beauty.”

             Slowly, Yoongi’s gaze focuses on Jungkook, and he snorts, “Yeah right, you wish.” He flicks the center of Jungkook’s forehead and turns around to go back to sleep.

             Jungkook chuckles good naturedly, rubbing at the spot. He drops the smile when he sees the group still giving him a stern look, “It wasn’t on purpose. We didn’t mean to.”

            “Ah yes, ‘we’,” Namjoon’s eyes flit around the car, “It appears your roommate is missing yet again.”

            “Maybe we should do a type of buddy system,” Jin suggests.

             Hoseok visibly brightens, “Buddy system? Like with hand-holding?”

             Jimin immediately stretches his arms out in front of him, purposefully placing his hands out of Hoseok’s reach. Hoseok begins to claw his way around the chair, giggling all the while. But before he can pounce, there’s a soft knock at Jin’s window. A deep voice calls out, “Hello? Please let me in.”

             Jin opens the door once more, and Taehyung grins at everyone in the car, “Good morning guys! I’m so sorry for being late, Kookie and I overslept.”

             “What took you so long?” Jimin manages to ask while keeping a pouting Hoseok back with his foot.

             Taehyung flushes, “Oh, I’m so sorry about that. I wanted to get coffee for Kookie. I was worried. I mean, h-he was so sleepy this morning, I figured he might want a pick-me-up.”

             Jin and Namjoon are now smiling at the pair, Jimin and Hoseok are clutching each other’s shirts and fanboyying to the max. Even Yoongi cracks an eye open and smiles faintly. But all Jungkook heard was-“Hold up. You have coffee?”

             Taehyung procures the small cardboard cup from a brown paper bag, handing it to Jungkook. Jungkook has hearts twinkling in his eyes as he accepts the drink. He takes a sacred sip and immediately his face crumples into the most sour expression Taehyung had ever seen. He swallows with great difficulty, “Is this some kind of sick joke?”

             “Hm?” Taehyung asks innocently.

             “That was like 90% sugar,” Jungkook utters, balking at the taste.

             “Oh!” Taehyung smiles, taking back the cup, “Silly me! That one is mine.”

             “You use that much sugar? My god, what are you?”

             “Awake!” Taehyung replies teasingly. Jimin lets out an amused laugh at the retort and Jungkook shoots the elder a half-hearted glare. He looks back to find a new cup in his hands, “Here is yours. It has nothing added to it. I grabbed some sugar and milk for you, so add as much as you want.”

             Jungkook takes a sip without adding anything, lips slowly curling up into a smile, “Thank you.”

             Taehyung absolutely beams at that. In a soft voice he asks, “Yah, does this mean you’re not mad at me?”

             Jungkook hesitates, “Not for now, no,” Taehyung does a happy dance, stunted from being in the backseat of a moving vehicle. Jungkook chuckles, “Hey, I said for now didn’t I? If my shoulder starts hurting, you’re dead.”

             Taehyung freezes instantaneously, eyes wide and arm mid-fist-bump. Jungkook snort-giggles.

             “I’m thinking of adding in another dance number,” Namjoon announced, when they were settled in the space. They were sprawled on the ground in a somewhat-semi-circle formation.

             Taehyung’s eyes crinkle up as he grins that slightly-too-wide smile of his. Jin and Yoongi smile softly, both excited, but the former nervous about his lack of coordination and the latter still shaking off the drowsiness from his nap in the car. Jimin and Jungkook smirk to each other, already dramatically arguing via lip-syching as to who gets to be in the center. Hoseok lurches forward, “Really?”

             “Yeah,” Namjoon smiles at the enthusiastic response, “It’s called Fire.” (author’s note: (   ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) )

             “’Fire’?” Taehyung asks in awe, his eyes lighting up no pun intended.

             Namjoon nods. Jimin chuckles, “Is it called that because we’re so lit?”

            “Actually, it was inspired by my mixtape,” Jungkook jokingly corrects.

            “Ha ha, very clever,” Jimin comments dryly. Jungkook raises his fist menacingly, and Jimin nearly falls over as he immediately scuttles backwards, raising two fingers to form a cross in defense. Jungkook flashes a triumphant smile, and that’s what I thought, .

            “Oh! Is it because we’re so hot?” Hoseok wiggles his eyebrows and bursts out laughing with Taehyung.

            Namjoon widens his eyes, “Hoseok…if you cause one more explosion I swear I’ll-“

            “Yeah, yeah, I know I know,” Hoseok waves a hand dismissively, “You’ve made it all very clear,” he begins absolutely buzzing with anticipation, “Now let’s talk about the dance!”

            “Okay,” Namjoon says with an amused chuckle, “So we have this space for the whole day. That gives us plenty of time to learn it, that is, if everybody can focus and cooperate,” he scans the group with a warning in his eyes, indiscreetly pausing to give Jimin, Jungkook, and Hoseok a look as he does so, the three of which roll their eyes at each other and look back to listen as Namjoon continues, “Before we learn the dance though, we have to review the dances we’ve already prepared. Then, later tonight we have to go to the performance space for maintenance reasons. Setting up lights, testing the speakers, checking our spacing on the stage, stuff like that. Then tomorrow morning we’ll have a dress rehearsal, and tomorrow night we kick off the first show. Our schedule is tight. We don’t have a lot of time. Absolutely no slacking off, we’re here to work. Is that understood?”

            “Yes,” they say together.

            “Alright,” Namjoon grins, “Now let’s get this show on the road!”

            Everybody gets up, Hoseok immediately rushing to Namjoon with countless questions about the dance. Taehyung saunters over to Jungkook, “Psst, how’s your shoulder?” he whispers.

            Jungkook’s eyes flicker over to Jin to make sure he’s out of earshot. Luckily (for Jungkook), Yoongi and Jimin are already whining to Jin about when they’ll get to have lunch. Taehyung is worrying his lip between his teeth when Jungkook looks back to answer softly, “I think it will be fine, don’t worry.”

            Taehyung smiles at that, though his eyes still seem to hold a hint of concern. Jungkook is worried that Taehyung will continue to ask and internally groans, but thankfully the weirdo goes off to play with Jimin’s hair, giggling and dodging as Jimin blindly begins reaching out for whomever dares to mess with his mane. Jungkook laughs at the sight.

            They go through with the warm up, followed by a rigorous session of stretching led by Hoseok. Jungkook feels fine. Or at least he does until they actually start the rehearsal.

            About halfway through the first dance, he lands on his feet a little off and sudden pain devours his left leg. He gasps in surprise, but thankfully the music is loud enough that nobody hears. Rookie mistake, but I’ll be fine.

            Only, he isn’t. By the time they’ve made it up to the fourth dance, the pain is blinding and Jungkook doesn’t think he can continue. He watches Namjoon, still panting, walk over to the stereo to set up the next song.

            “Yah, Namjoon-sshi?”

            Namjoon looks to Jungkook immediately, eyes already wide in alarm. Jungkook rarely includes honorifics. “What’s wrong?”

            Jungkook manages to walk to Namjoon, resting a hand against the mirrored wall of the dance studio to take the pressure off of his leg for a bit, “I need to take a break. Please? My leg hurts. It’s a lot of pain, my leg is burning.”

            Instantaneously, Namjoon’s face falls, “Okay, nice pun. I get it. The dance is Fire so your leg is burning up. Very clever, but we need to move on,” Namjoon makes sure nobody is listening and leans in closer, “I was planning to place you in the center for this one part towards the beginning. It’s going to be so dope.” (author’s note: (   ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) get it?)

            Jungkook is desperate, “It’s not a joke. Namjoon-sshi please?”

            Namjoon nods and Jungkook attempts to discreetly limp to the side of the room stacked with their jackets and bags.

            “Are you feeling okay?”

            Jungkook nearly jumps out of his skin he’s so startled. Stupid ing Taehyung with his stupid ing hawk-like vision. “I’m fine,” Jungkook lies.

            Taehyung follows him anyway. Jungkook would fight him off if he were in better physical condition. He winces as he eases himself down, and begrudgingly utters a quick, “Thanks,” when Taehyung sees him struggling and helps him into a comfortable position, smiling brightly.

            Taehyung sits beside him. Jungkook is beginning to wonder if this kid is part shadow. “Is it your shoulder?”

            Jungkook sighs in defeat, guess I have to fess up. “My leg hurts a lot. I landed on it a little strangely earlier and I think I might have pulled a muscle or something.”

            “You’re hurt??”

            Jungkook looks up to see Hoseok and Jimin watching him. He sighs, great, this is just great.

            “But it’s dance practice!” Hoseok whines, stomping his foot, “You’re supposed to lead in so many parts. I need you!” (author’s note: (   ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) lmao last one I promise)

            Jimin scowls, “I’m right here Hoseok. Nobody will miss him, the ?”

            “Can I help?” Hoseok is suddenly kneeling next to him, on the opposite side of Taehyung. His hands hover over Jungkook’s leg, unsure of what to do.

            Jungkook snorts, “It’s the other one, dummy.”

            Hoseok makes a mocking facial expression, scrunching up his nose and sticking out his tongue. Jungkook laughs, “Wow, real mature.”

            “I could give you a massage?” Taehyung offers softly. His long fingers are suddenly working magic on Jungkook’s thigh. And it feels good. Lord almighty, have mercy on me.

            “That will most definitely absolutely not ever be necessary, thank you,” Jungkook insists, then swats him away.

            “I’ll help you get back to the hotel room then,” Taehyung offers with a smile.

            “I was going to stay and watch,” Jungkook declines, “I can learn Fire by observing the moves. When I feel better I’ll join back in.”

            “You can’t be serious?” Taehyung laughs incredulously. But Jungkook’s expression is unwavering.

            “Kookie, you’re injured! You need to rest,” Hoseok insists.

            “Kookie is what?” Mother Hen Jin suddenly appears, elbowing through to get to Jungkook, frantically feeling for his temperature and checking for any visible bumps or bruises. Yoongi gravitates over to check out the commotion, Namjoon following.

           Oh, while we’re at it, should I go call the President? Or has he already heard the ing news? “It’s no big deal, I hurt my leg while dancing.”

           “Then you’re not dancing,” Jin says simply. When Jungkook opens his mouth, he continues, “No objections whatsoever. You will dance when you feel better, I’m not allowing you to risk making it any worse than it is. You’ll go back to the hotel and rest for at least a few hours, doctor’s orders.”

          “I’ll drive you,” Namjoon says. Jin looks over his shoulder, and Namjoon nods in agreement with his plan, “The rest of you stay here to practice, I’ll be back shortly.”

          “I’ll stay with him,” Taehyung speaks up, “He needs help.”

          “He needs rest,” Namjoon corrects him, “And you need to practice. Let’s go Jungkook.”

          Jungkook nods to the others. He gets to his feet, albeit slowly, and begins to make his way to the door, leaning against the wall all the while.

          But after just a few steps, his leg seizes up and he stumbles. Strong arms catch him by the waist, helping him to narrowly avoid falling.

          Jungkook isn’t even surprised to see that it’s Taehyung at this point. The whole ‘being part shadow’ theory is becoming more and more likely. “Thanks,” Jungkook deadpans, sighing before he adds, “Again.”

         “Anytime,” Taehyung smiles gently, then turns to Namjoon to reiterate, “I won’t leave him.”

         Namjoon sighs, “Fine. We have to get going though, so hurry.”

         Taehyung tightens his grip on Jungkook's waist victoriously. There's a delighted squeal from somewhere behind them. Jungkook doesn't even have to turn around. "Shut the up, Jimin."

         Beside him, Taehyung laughs, escorting him out.

Author's note: Happy Weekend guys! Lmao I'm so sorry for the bad puns, I might delete them like tonight or tomorrow LOL please do let me know if you hate them, I can't decide. This update was a lot longer than I usually do, and that's because the next two weeks I'm going to have a bunch of hard tests and as of right now I'm thinking I won't update next week-so this is to make up for that, I'm really sorry if I'm not able to update :((. Please be patient with me, and I wish you all luck on any tests you may have coming up as well <33333

ALSO HOLY YO FIRE IS SO IN GOOD !!!! I think the reason they called it fire is because of what they did to me 

 in loving memory of my ovaries 

They could not withstand Jungkooka and Taehyung's new looks, nor Suga and Rapmon's voices-which are both MUCH lower than I remember but I mean maybe that's just me? I can't stop watching/listening I am so in love

WHOO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT ???? what type of ery is THIS ??? Since when did the maknae become a DADDY ?? 

*clears throat* right, so moving on lol. Subscribe for more, comment to let me know how it's going :), and have a good weekend !! Take care, I love you all <3 <3 <3