Only Your Scent Completes Me

Prompt: Picking Up The Pieces

There were days that Jinyoung regretted becoming an idol. It wasn't the grueling dance practices, or the harsh MCs on certain variety shows, or the pressure of the netizens that got to him.

It's the days when Jaebum stumbled back into the dorm later than all the rest of them, looking much older than how a male in his early twenties should look like. His shoulders slumped, as if he was carrying the weight of the entire world on them.

Well, to be fair, he was carrying the lives of six other males on his shoulder. Or at least, that's what Jaebum would think.

Jinyoung knew.

He was well acquainted with the way Jaebum's mind worked. They had been together for about 7 years already. While it was true that the elder had a quick temper and was fast to anger, when it came to serious stuff, Jaebum was more likely to bottle it up and keep it to himself. Even more so now that he was the leader of GOT7.

And it hurt so much for s to watch.

Every time Jaebum's back disappeared out the door to attend yet another meeting with the management, the hyung line would exchange glances with one another and the maknae line made sure to keep their volume down when their leader returned.

People who didn't know Im Jaebum would say that he's emotionally stunted. But Jaebum honestly wasn't.

He cared too much. Felt too much. Loved too much. He took on members' pain as his own and added his own happiness to theirs. The saying that ‘Friendship doubles our joy and divides our grief'? Jaebum was the living epitome of it.

Jinyoung felt that it was a rather one-sided relationship. Jaebum kept giving and giving to GOT7, every part of his heart and soul to the point that if the leader was gone for a day, there was a gaping abyss felt by all the other members.

Cue the recent concert in Seoul when the members were a nervous wreck without their leader there to lead them.

And it was taking its toll on Jaebum.

There were dark eye bags under his eyes. His smile was obviously dimmer in their current reality show that they were filming. The way he caught up with sleep whenever he could. In the waiting room before their performance, waiting for the photoshoots to be set up, on car rides. Jinyoung knew that Jaebum was never one to sleep on the go, and to see the elder this tired to do such an uncharacteristic action hurt his heart.

It's after one particularly tiring day when everything seemed to go wrong. For some reason, none of their alarm clocks rang, or rather none of them woke up to their alarms. Which resulted in a mad rush and them arriving an hour late for their first schedule. Thankfully, the set had been experiencing some technical problems which placed them somewhat back on track.

And then came the prank. Yet another show wanted to conduct a patience test for Jaebum. Jinyoung had protested, with help of Mark since they were the first to be informed. He knew that Jaebum's nerves were already stretched thin, and the patience test might just be the tipping point for him. Their protests were ignored. ‘This would be a good time for the fans to see how much Jaebum has matured.' He said.

‘You don't see how this ‘maturity' is affecting him.' Jinyoung thought viciously before hastily erasing that thought. JYP PD-nim was a good boss and a fatherly figure and he didn't deserve that hostility. It was just at times he forgot that Jaebum was still a young male in his prime who should be living a carefree life instead of having such heavy responsibilities on his shoulders.

The prank involved the idea of their filmed footage being erased by accident, and so they would have to film it again. The members would act