Pairing: OT7-ish, Jikook (or maybe even Vkook) if you squint and close both eyes and wish on stars
Warnings: unhealthy amounts of perfectionism, sadness, sad Kookie
Word Count: 1200
Please don't read this if the mention of mental health issues might trigger you!! I'll put up a nice, cutesy drabble for you very soon~

There are dark shadows under his eyes, purplish against his sickly pale skin.
Oh Jungkook, Jin mutters, gently patting his head, soothing.
It's not the first time this has happened, not the last it will.

But he is golden, he has to be, he can't leave the others hanging today, not ever. So he puts on his bunny-smile like he hasn't got a care in the world. After all, that's what makes him who he is.
He may be beaten on the inside, used up and aching from the nightmares in his bones, haunting him and hollowing the very light out of his existence, but he's shiny on the outside; his brave face is, and he knows that's what the fans want to see, they always do.

Who is he to deny them?

It's like this with him, growing up too fast and surpassing expectations, making it harder and harder for himself to be BTS's Golden Maknae when all he ever wants to be is Jeon Jungkook. Just a boy, someone who can love; who can lose his heart somewhere along the way but find it again, put it back together, make mistakes and learn from them; a child. He hasn't been a child for so long, he isn't even sure he remembers what it felt like to be one.

Was he happy when he was five and collecting tiny pink petals from the sidewalk; was swinging higher and higher with every pass really such a big deal back then? For him to laugh and smile like there's no tomorrow, like there's only now and him and the world, ready to be explored.
Briefly, he wonders what it would feel like to be like that again, to smile a real smile, not the artificial one seeping into his skin every time he fakes it, more of an automatic mechanism than anything else.

Would the fans still like him?

But it's stupid to think about that, so stupid, because he can never go back for sure, so why bother dreaming? Dreams lead to nothing, after all.

The truth is, he's alone in this. Sure, he has his hyungs, but they weren't quite as young back when they became trainees, none of them was. Jungkook doesn't want to burden them, because this isn't easy on any of the members, but things get too much so often. He finds himself waking up with fear in his blood, a fear so much older than him. If sleep even bothers coming around, that is, and the others never ask, but they know anyway. How could they not? Playing video games until three in the morning just to avoid going to bed is pretty far from normal, and they've caught him doing exactly that more times than they can count.

Jungkook overhears Namjoon talking to their manager more than once, asking him to loosen their schedules, please, this