[AN: The plot of this story will deviate from the actual BTS timeline. The order of things might have changed. I apologize in advance for the feels. Please forgive me.]

It was roughly now 8:30 at night. The fansign had taken the majority of the afternoon and night. the boys had gone to the dorms to take showers and dress in less flashy clothing and headed straight to the hospital. Covering their faces with masks and mundane clothing, they arrived without a hitch and went to their Maknae's room. 
When they get there, they noticed that the nice nurse from before was in the room again. She still hasn't (and probably will never) figure out who they really were. She looks to be nearing retirement age, gray hair and wrinkled skin, but strong arms and a kind face. 
"Oh, you're back, dearies." She said as they walked through the the door. She was sitting in the seat that Suga previously sat on and was brushing the Maknae's bangs in a soothing manner much like how the other members were doing a few hours prior. She gave his bangs one last sweep and brushed her hand across his forehead. The nurse then stood up and allowed for the members to crowd around their little brother. 
"He had another nightmare sometime after you left. He seemed pretty disoriented still, and he kept asking for his hyungs, but I managed to calm him down. His fever just broke, though, so that's a good sign. He should be able to leave tomorrow morning if everything goes well, though I suggest for him not to be doing anything strenuous."
"Alright." Jin said, bowing respectfully. "Thank you for taking care of our brother while we were gone."
"It's no problem." the nurse replied, smiling. Then she motioned to him to come with her to the side of the room, very seriously.
"I didn't want to say this in front of the others, since they're younger, but," she pursed her lips. "when he woke up, I left him for a few moments. When I got back, he'd started crying again-"
"Again?!" Jin questioned alarmingly.
"Oh, yes." the old woman said "He was crying in his nightmare as well. Anyways, when I got back, he was very distressed. Something must have happened. He kept muttering things and crying. It was horrible."
"Oh..." Jin, too pursed his lips and looked back at the others who were back to cuddling with the maknae to see if any of them had noticed his short absence (which nobody did). His eyebrows had scrunched together, worridly, and wondered what had possibly happened. "What was he saying?"
"He was stuttering appologies. Crying out... In his sleep, that is. When he woke up, he said that you left him..." the old woman said while looking over as well, concered for the young boy. She always coddled the younger patients a bit more than the grown ups. They reminded her of her own grandchildren. This Jungkook was respectful (in the few moments when he was concious) and seemed to be a very nice boy.
Jin sighed, shoulders slumping a bit. "Alright. Thank you very much for telling me this discretely. You were right. This would have made the others very worried." Which was very hypocritical of him since his inner 'eomma' instincts were screaming at the top of their lungs with worry for his youngest.
"Well," he said, addressing the old woman. "it's getting very late. You should be heading home soon, you've worked so hard. You've been here since we were, weren't you? Is your shift almost over?" he asked.
"Oh, don't worry, dearie." the woman waved her hand, dissmissingly. "My shift ended hours ago. I was just so worried, I couldn't bring myself to leave him alone."
"Oh. I'm so sorry to keep you here." He said, bowing again. "Thank you for taking care of Jungkookie for us. But please, you should go home and rest. Well take care of him, don't worry. " he assured the woman. 
The nurse smiled kindly. "I don't doubt it." And with that, she gave Jin's shoulder a comforting pat and hobbled over to the coat rack, removing her jacket from the hook and walking out the door. 

 It was one hell of a day for everyone. With Jungkook's absence, the fansign was strained and very empty. There was something missing in the boys' usual atmosphere. The liveliness of V and Jimin's antics were half-hearted. The sweetness of Suga and J-hope's agyeo was dulled. Even the simple chides of Rap Mon and Jin were somewhat lacking their usual playful banter. It was painfully obvious to both them and the audience. In fact, PD made it very clear that they were expected to do better next time, though they expressed that they understood why they weren't 100% today.
Who could blame them? It was their first time without their precious maknae beside them.
It was way past normal visiting hours (around 10:50) and the hospital was only open for the nurses and other night-shift doctors. Even so, all the members of Bangtang were in the rather spacious hospital room of 197. Knowing that none of them would be able to sleep soundly without their maknae with them, the boys opted to stay overnight in Jungkook's room.
At first, when they initially got into the room, the boys started to cosset the youngest with affectionate pets of the hair and holding of hands. Then, the physical and emotional exhaustion hit them and they were soon passed out in various positions around the maknae. 
Everything was going well, untill Jungkook started having the nightmare again.
Taehyung woke up first, being the one who'd crawled back into the maknae's bed and felt him shaking. Waking up to a quivering Jungkook, he quickly woke the other members.
 "What do I do?" Taehyung whispered anxiously, holding a whimpering Jungkook against his chest.
"Try to calm him down." Jin suggested gently, remembering the nurse's words.
Everyone started to gently comfort the maknae as they did before, softly petting his hair or squeezing his hand in solace.
"Hyungs, I'm so sorry. I'll do better. I promise! Please don't leave!"
Over and over and over, again and again. Jungkook kept whimpering words of that meaning or another. It was absolutely heartbreaking for the elders to listen to, much less bare. 
Everyone was freely crying in the dark room. The sun had long since sunk under the vast Seoul skyline. The only thing that gave light was the soft moonbeams from the open window and the harsh LED lights of the heart rate monitor, which was gradually becoming faster and faster. 
The members, anxious for their maknae, began whispering their comforting words once more, in hopes that their soft phrases would reach the youngest. 
But his dream was too real and too harsh. Their snickers and hatred seeped through Jungkook's subconscious and muddled with reality. 
"Freak."
"Kookie"
"Useless."
"Brave."
"We always hated you."
"We love you."
"Such a brat."
"Such a good maknae."
"You're nothing."
"You're safe."
"You're a nuisance."
"You're okay."
But was he okay, though? The elders thought as they wrapped their arms tighter around the sobbing maknae. What would he possibly be seeing? What monsters could cause him so much pain?
In their worry, their soft-spoken whispers turned into hysterical cries, their arms pulling tighter around their youngest brother, refusing to be separated. 
They stayed like that for who knew how long, too scared to move. Jungkook's breathing and heart rate had evened out a few moments ago and nobody was going to risk anything. 
A hum escaped Jungkook's lips and the other members took a sharp breath, fearful of whether or not another nightmare was to come. But to their releif, an adorable yawn soon followed and soon, the maknae's doe eyes were pearing bleerily through his long lashes. 
"Jungkookie-ah? Can you hear me?" V asked, worry painted on his face and he broke the silence at last. 
The question was hung in an anxious quiet throughout the room followed by a gut-wrenching wail.
In the next moment, Jungkook has flung himself into the arms of his nearest hyung (who happened to be V) and fixed himself securely to his body, shivering all the while. 
"Kookie?" Jimin asked worriedly, watching in concern. It was (safe to say) unsettling to see the golden Maknae cry. It just didn't happen. He never was one of those cutesy, feeble-type maknaes. He was strong and fearless. Seeing him this way felt wrong. Unnerving.
 Jungkook didn't hear him, or, rather, if he did, he didn't respond verbally. Instead, he dug his face even further into Taehyung's worn striped shirt and continued to cry.
The others decided to just continue to comfort him as they did only a few minutes ago, figuring that the Maknae was too worked up to talk to at the moment.

30 minutes later, Jungkook had calmed down considerably. He was still latched onto V with his other hyungs around him, but he wasn't shaking as hard and his tears had diminished to small sniffles every now and then.
"Feeling better, Kookie?" Jin asked.
The golden Maknae made a movement with his mouth, trying to talk, but then thought better of it and just nodded his head.
Rap Monster, noticing this, went to his bedside table and poured him a glass of water.
Nodding his head in thanks, he drank the water ravenously, successfully quenching his thirst and soothing his dry throat. Namjoon took the empty glass and placed it next to the water pitcher on the little table.
"Thank you, Hyung." Jungkook said.
The leader waved away his words of thanks nonchalantly while Suga ruffled his hair affectionately, grimacing at the silky locks that were drenched with sweat.
"Aish, kid." He commented lightly "You're sweating more than you were at dance practice."
He brushed the remaining two or three strands of hair off of his forehead and, at the same time, felt for his temperature. Jungkook, still a bit sleepy, unconsciously leaned his head towards the hand. Suga frowned a bit, noticing the slightly high heat emanating from the younger's forehead, but wasn't as concerned as he was that morning.
"Speaking of dance practice," J-Hope cut in with a serious tone. "why didn't you ever tell me that you were doing so much after our INTENSE dance practices?" He asked expectantly, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.
Jungkook looked at J-Hope with comically wide eyes.
"Don't think that we wouldn't figure it out, Kookie. We're your hyungs, we know everything about you." Rap Mon said, not in a harsh, snobbish way, but softly while still remaining firm and concerned.
Jungkook remained silent and bowed his head down, turning his head towards V's body and away from everyone else. His bangs covered his eyes and his arms were still secured around the second youngest.
"Jungkookie-ah, we know that you've been doing way too much work as of late." Jimin said, petting his hair. "Like doing extra dance practices with Hopie-Hyung and work outs with me."
"And singing practices with me." V and Jin chorused together.
"And rapping lessons with me." The Bangtang leader added.
"And producing lessons with me." Suga finished with a slight frown.
Jungkook started to shake again, knowing that his delicate plan of perfection was slowly unraveling before him.
'Oh God. They're mad at me, I can tell. I'm such a horrible person. What kind of maknae upsets his hyungs so much? Oh God, they must hate me now.'
Jin, who noticed his trembling, went up to Jungkook and gently brushed the side of his face.
"Kookie-ah." He cooed "I promise that we're not mad at you-"
"Speak for yourself. I don't want him doing this. I'm mad." Suga interrupted suddenly, straight forward as always.
Jungkook hunched his shoulders inward and continued to shake.
Jin glared at Suga. Although he, too, was very upset at the Maknae for his disregard for his health, now wasn't the best time to reprimand him for it.
"Well, either way, Jungkook. I'm not going to be mad at you. I just need to understand why you thought that this was so good for you."
'Easy,' the maknae thought to himself. 'I wanted-no-needed to be better. The best. To keep my name as the golden maknae and to not be replaced.'
How easy and practical it sounded in his head; however, with all that has happened, his subconscious mind doubting and mixing with his conscious self, he wasn't sure how to tell his hyungs he used to tell everything to anymore. A rational part of him said that he was being silly: 'You're such an idiot. They're your same hyungs. It was just a stupid dream! The fact that they're here means that they care, right?!'
But it wasn't a stupid dream. It wasn't a silly, childish dream of mystical creatures and rainbows and butterflies, where everything had a happily ever after with a magical ride into the sunset. This nightmare was harsh and cold and real. And no matter how much Jungkook would inwardly try to deny it, he was deeply effected by it.
"Jungkookie?" J-Hope asked cautiously.
The golden Maknae seemed to push his face further into V's abdomen, facing farther away from the rest of the members.
V looked at them in a helpless manner as if to ask for what to do.
The others in turn looked at V to do something about the maknae that was currently clinging to him like a lost puppy.
V sighed, a deep noise rumbling from his diaphragm and through his chest. To Jungkook, the almost purr-like noise was comforting and relaxing and he loosened his shoulders, just barely, but it was enough.
"Jungkookie-ah?" V said, hunching over to better see the maknae and brushed a hand through his bangs, exposing the youngest' squeezed-shut eyes and tears. "Please don't cry. You'll look ugly if you cry." He tried to lighten the mood with some humor. "What's Bangtang going to do without one of their visuals?!"
It wasn't very funny, but it was enough to get the maknae to stop shaking.
The other members, noticing this, chipped in as well.
"Who's going to do song covers with me?" Rap Mon said.
Jungkook stopped sniffling.
"Who's going to eat lamb skewers with me when I accidentally buy too many?" Suga chided with a smirk.
Jungkook cracked the tiniest of smiles.
"Yeah," J-Hope added, "who's going to keep up with my dancing? Certainly not those two-" he gestured towards Rap Monster and Jin "double left-footed hyungs, am I right?"
Instead of having the same effect as the previous statements, Jungkook suddenly scrunched his face and started to cry again.
"What? No! Don't cry, Jungkook!" Hoseok cried out, alarmed. "Was it something I said?!"
'Great job, Jungkook.' He bitterly thought to himself. 'You've gone and made your hyungs worry for you again.'
"Jungkookie-ah?" V whispered while continuing to try and coax the maknae out from his stomach. "Is something wrong?"
The young boy took a breath. "I-it's not true." He stuttered with a stuffy voice.
"Come on, Kookie," He heard Jimin say to his back, "we all know that that isn't true. You're one of the best dancers in Bangtang!"
"B-but it doesn't matter, does it?" Jungkook spat miserably, peaking out of V's chest to face his hyungs.
"What do you mean by that?" Suga interrogated.
"Even-" Jungkook paused to clear the burning at the back of his throat from crying, "even if I was one of the best. It wouldn't matter. You still have Jimin-Hyung and Hopie-Hyung. Y-You don't need me to be Bangtang. I'm just the placeholder. A position. The maknae. When someone else comes that is better, you-you won't need me anymore." With another sniffle, Jungkook's mask shattered and he broke down in tears once more, burrowing himself back into the safety of his hyung's chest.
Taehyung, seeing the distress on his only dongsang's face, rubbed small circles into his back.
The rest of Bangtang looked on in shock. They'd never heard the maknae say something so....so.....depressing. In the whole time they've known him, they've labeled Jungkook as the effortlessly flawless maknae. Oh, how wrong they were.
"Oh Jungkookie-ah," Jin cooed. "Was that what you thought this whole time?"
Jungkook shook his head
To be honest, he himself didn't even know when he started to loose his confidence. When the want to improve for himself turned into a need. When all the compliments stopped being endearing and started taunting his every action.
"Come on, Jungkook-ah." Rap Monster said. "Don't think that way. You're the Golden Maknae, remember? You can do anything."
Golden Maknae. A title that he was always expected to be, but in his eyes could never reach.
Jungkook's eyes started to water again and he mumbled something into V's shirt.
"What was that, Jungkook?" Jin gently asked. "I couldn't hear you."
"Imf mot."
"What?”
Jungkook swallowed. "I'm not." He softly murmured.
"Not what?"
"Hyung," Jimin softly put in, "I think he's talking about being the golden Maknae."
"Is that what you were saying, Jungkook?" Jin asked.
At first, the maknae did nothing. But after a few moments of hesitation, he subtlety nodded.
"Oh, Jungkookie-ah," V cooed as he held him close. "Why would you ever think that? You're so talented at everything!"
"No I'm not!" Jungkook screamed, clutching onto V, but gaining the courage to face his hyungs once more. What a sight he was. Red rimmed eyes, tear stained cheeks, quivering lip, hair askew, and trembling form. He looked absolutely miserable.
"I-I'm not good at everything. I'm not the 'golden Maknae' that everyone thinks I am. I don't know where you even got that name from! I'm not talented, I'm not special, and I certainly cannot do everything-" he choked back another sob.
"I can't rap like Namjoon-Hyung can. I can't write songs or produce like Yoongi-Hyung. I can't sing ballads like Seokjin-Hyung. I can't sing low notes like Tae-Hyung or high notes like Jimin-Hyung! I can't act cute enough to do agyeo but I can't act cool enough to do tsundere. I can't dance like Hopie-Hyung. God, I can't even get the stupid dance for Fire right, and I-"
At this point, Jungkook was just a rambling mess. His entire form shook in anxiety and his hands had let go of Taehyung at some point and found themselves in his hair pulling tightly, as his hyungs could only watch in tear-stricken horror.
But then their voices got louder and harsher and more real than ever before. Jungkook wasn't in a hospital bed anymore; he was at the BigHit practice floor as his hyungs spat and mocked at him, then left him one by one...
Jungkook tried, he tried so hard to do something, anything to keep him grounded. To keep him there. Because God damn it he wasn't on the practice floor. He was in a hospital bed. His hyungs didn't leave him, they were here with him. They weren't degrading him, they were supporting him. Right here, right now.
Yes, they were busy when he first woke up, but that made it all the more meaningful. Because yes, they were busy; and yet, they found-no-they made the time to come see him. To be with him. And if the pitch black room was anything to go by, then they also fought their way to see him too.
He realized another thing as he broke down.
It was night. 'Yeah, no duh, idiot.' The still rational part of him said. But if that was true, then that mean that it was at least 24 hours since he was admitted to the hospital. If that was true, which it most likely was, then that meant that the company didn't want him to overwork himself. The company wanted him to rest and get better, not head straight back to work and just be a nameless money-maker. A person who was nothing more than their source of income. They cared, and they proved it here.
So did his hyungs. They could've all gone home after visiting hours and not had a single backlash from the media, but they stayed anyways. Because they cared.
They proved themselves to Jungkook, so he owed it to them to stay strong.
And so he tried to keep himself from slipping, spurting apologies and other mutterings of self deprecation. His hands into his own hair and pulling hard, the pain just barely keeping him grounded to reality as the rushing in his ears was deafening and the utter silence that hung around the room had never been quite so loud.

The members of Bangtang could only stare in terror.
It was like the to a horribly cheesy and cliché action movie where the girl was being held prisoner by the villain(usually dangling over a large cliff) as the hero battled a hundred soldiers to save her. It was like that, but so much worse. It was worse because they were there, yet they couldn't help at all. They were there but all they could do was be witnesses in an invisible battle of inner demons that only Jungkook himself could fight. They were there, yet all they could do, was be there for the ride.
They watched, in a revolted fascination as the maknae slowly became less and less aware, less there, and let go of V to wrap his hands around his head and pull tightly on the locks to keep himself sane.
The mutterings started again, getting less comprehensive and more like a jumble of anxious ramblings and self hatred. Then came the apologies, one after another, in rapid succession. They, too, were slurred together in a mess of words and cries. Jungkook rocked back and forth on his bed, bringing his knees up to his chest and shoulders scrunched inwardly. His hands still wound in his hair and tugging mercilessly, yet he was still drowning in fear. And his eyes were still glassy and red. And his jaw was still clenched. And his arms were still tense. And his hands were still pulling. And oh, God, that much hurt so much because if he didn't stop soon, he would probably pull out his own hair.
Suga was the first to react, reaching out and pulling the maknae into his chest and maneuvering his hands softly atop Jungkook's and gently guided the quivering hands out of his abused scalp. He wrapped his arms around the Maknae's head, cradling him while resting his chin on the youngest's hair part.
V was second, snapping out of his stupor to change places and bury himself into Jungkook's abdomen.
The others followed in quick succession. J-Hope (who was right next to Suga on Jungkook's right) attached himself to the youngest's side, adjacent to Taehyung. Jin(who was at the foot of the bed) walked around to Jungkook's left, near V and across from Suga, and started to softly pet the maknae's hair. Jimin, (who was next to V and hovering below Jin) gently reached over and joined the giant hug. All their bodies were stretched or contorted in uncomfortable positions, with half their bodies leaning over the bed railings, but they didn't care. All that was important was their precious maknae. However, Namjoon (who had also been at the foot of the bed) noticed their slight discomfort and used the bed controls to lower the railings before also joining the group hug by Suga and J-Hope. Jin mouthed a "Thank you" to Rap Mon before focusing on the problem at hand.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Jungkook stuttered as his hyungs surrounded him. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't say sorry. You have nothing to apologize for." Jimin muttered as he squeezed tighter. It made him sick to his stomach to hear the maknae apologizing when in reality it was him who needed to apologize; for not noticing how different he'd been acting recently, for always doing fan service when he could sometimes see that Jungkook really wasn't comfortable with it, but put up with it for the cameras, for failing to recognize how much turmoil his maknae was in....the list kept growing. It was guilt, worry, and regret all churning inside him at once. So he just held on to his treasured littlest brother as tightly as he dared.
Jungkook sniffed. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Because he was still drifting in and out of his own reality, still jerking at his hair.
"Don't do that, Jungkook-ah." Suga said in his ear, using his own hands to unwind the maknae's from Jungkook's strained bangs once more. "You can do this, maknae. I know you can, kid."
"You're so strong, Jungkook." Namjoon said, "you can beat this."
"Come on, Kookie-ah!" V whispered, "You have to."
"Don't listen to them, Jungkookie-ah." Hoseok added encouragingly.
Jin watched the interaction lovingly, continuing to mutter in his own words of consolation. No matter what endeavors they would face in the future, he knew that they'd face those problems together. They wouldn't be separating anytime soon. 'Besides,' he thought to himself, 'they're too familiar to each other. They're practically conjoined at the hip. Even if they were given a choice, they wouldn't choose to leave each other for a second more than they have to.'
The mutterings stopped abruptly, as did the rocking, and the maknae suddenly looked up with a gaze of clarity and awareness that had been absent from his glossed over eyes for some time. "Hyungs?"
"Yes, Kookie?" Jin responded, relieved that the youngest was finally cognizant of his surroundings.
"You guys care about me, right?" He said, barely above a whisper.
"Of course we do, Jungkook." Rap Mon replied without hesitation. "What made you think that?"
"Is this because you think we're mad at you?" Jin softly questioned.
"Well," Jungkook looked up meekly. "aren't you?"
"Jungkookie-ah," J-Hope pouted slightly, "we're not mad at you."
"B-but Suga-Hyung said-"
Yoongi winced. "Aish, kid, you're going to put me in an early grave." Suga interrupted. "I'm not mad at you for this, I never was. I was just upset that you were overworking yourself. You're hurting your health, it's not good for you. I'm sorry you thought I was mad at you. I-....okay?" He finished lamely. Because he wasn't the sentimental, philosophical one, that was Namjoon. He wasn't the best with this mushy gushy stuff, so he just hugged Jungkook closer and hoped that their silent exchange was enough to convey the message. And through some miracle, Jungkook understood, and he nuzzled his head closer into the embrace.

It was around an hour after the event (2:37am) and the members had long ago detached themselves from the sick maknae; instead, they were sitting in chairs that they'd pulled from the neighboring bedsides. At one point, V had the lights to the room before dimming them because the moonlight wasn't enough to but the fluorescent lights were too harsh. ("Ok, but don't turn them on all the wa-AHHH- MY EYES, V, what the hell?!!") Taehyung simply huffed before dimming the lights and flopping back onto the bed with Jungkook. Since none of them could could go to sleep, they just decided to watch a movie from the leader's phone. ("Why the heck is it so cracked? You just bought a new one!" "....sorry") It was an animated film (because no one could take a horror film at the moment and everyone needed a little break from reality), so it wasn't that long. At first, Jungkook was just as rowdy as usual, having little footsie fights with Taehyung under the blankets and goofy faces with Jimin. But towards the end of the film, Jungkook had gone quiet once more.
As the end credits scrolled down too fast for anyone to read, Jungkook voiced his thoughts.
"What's going to happen now?"
"What do you mean, Jungkookie?" J-Hope asked.
"What's going to happen now that I'm sick?" Jungkook clarified.
"BigHit has issued an official statement saying that you were just sick with a fever and would be absent from all events for an 'indefinite period of time'." Namjoon filled in. "And yes, is also counts private practices. You will be resting. No secret practicing, no work, and absolutely no public appearances until you are 100% better."
"And you can't lie and say that you're feeling better. We'll know if you're telling the truth or not." Jin pipped up while ruffling the younger's hair.
"Who says I'm going to be lying?" Jungkook said with a smirk. "If anything, I'm going to drag this out as long as I can."
"And why is that?" Jimin questioned the maknae.
"So Yoongi-Hyung can buy me lamb skewers." He joked simply, flashing a cheeky, white-toothed grin.
A moment passed before the the room of 197 burst out in laughter.
"You, brat." Suga said, all bark and no bite, trying fruitlessly to conceal his laughter with something between a chortle and a snort. He attempted to suppress his quirking lips, but ended up looking very (as he would later deem it) "not swag". He reached over and punched the youngest in the arm, not enough to leave a mark, but hard enough to let him feel it.
Jungkook froze for a second, flashing back to his dream. 'Brat.' The room turned for an instant, threatening to transport him back to his horrid dream-practice room, but he took a breath. 'It was a dream. It wasn't real. He doesn't mean it.' He changed to himself like a mantra. It took a second or too, but he finally snapped himself out of it and continued the playful banter onwards as the cracked phone screen transitioned to the next movie.

As it had turned out, the company had cancelled all appearances and practices the next day for all of the members. They were given strict orders to 'recuperate' and 'take care of your maknae'. Jin had used this rare opportunity to make "a proper breakfast" with no power bar or energy brink in sight. Jungkook, who'd been released from the hospital early in the morning, had eaten a bowl of rice porridge to save himself the possibility of puking. After everyone had their morning meal, the group promptly fell back asleep together on Jin's bed (because it was the largest [courtesy of being the eldest]) for the majority of the day.
They'd woken up at around 1:26, and were left to their own devices for their not-so noon-time meal. Jin, Rap Monster, and V got fried chicken from their favorite delivery place and enjoyed it with in the dining room table. J-Hope and Jimin got bimbbap and were eating it in the living room, watching more movies. And finally, despite the displeasure he voiced yesterday (or rather today) Suga had surprised Jungkook with his favorite lamb skewers and they were both enjoying them in Jungkook's room sitting cross-legged on the floor with the radio playing in the background.
The band came back together for dinner and enjoyed a donbuki, a Japanese style hot pot (since Jin was expanding on his cooking skills and wanted to try his hand in Japanese cuisine). That night was filled with laughter all around the table.

A few days after that, Fire MV dropped and the response was amazing. So many fans had voiced their support and amazement for the new song through social media, reaction videos, and voting. Not only that, but they also gave well wishes to Jungkook's speedy recovery and expressed their understanding of their brief hiatus. In fact, many netizens praised the company for handling the situation with such consideration for the band, giving them breaks instead of forcing them to head back to work.
However, only one of them was really sick. So, after a couple days of inactivity, the company regretfully required the remaining members to start practicing and re-coordinating the dance and vocals for their live performances. A couple days after, Jungkook had claimed that he was feeling much better and had gone out to practice and film the choreography for the Save ME MV, but had nearly collapsed from exhaustion on the way back. Even though his hyungs had cleared him the morning of, they still gave him a good scolding for not telling them sooner that he was feeling tired. Too afraid to do more filming with a still sick Jungkook, the company just decided on releasing the choreography as the MV itself as something simple (after all, they'd already done 2 MVs for the Young Forever special album). The response was also good; although, there was some confusion among ARMYs on the simplicity of the MV because Bangtang's MVs were usually very complex and filled with hidden messages. Compared to their previous MVs, Save ME was definitely a low par one, but the ARMYs accepted it without much complaint.
Jungkook was practically recovered by week 2-3. The first few days back at the dorms, he'd gotten nightmares, always waking up screaming or crying or both at the same time. Whenever that happened, everyone would stop what they were doing and pile onto Taehyung's bed. (Jungkook had temporarily switched beds with V's bottom bunk because of one particularly bad nightmare where he'd somehow fallen off the top bunk and gotten a nasty bruise along his right side) Even the workaholic, sleepaholic Suga had hastily rushed out of his room (or office, it depended on the day) and to the maknae's room where he found some other members already there. By the end of the week, with the constant support of his hyungs, Jungkook's night terrors had stopped by the end of the first week.
But then came the preformance. M Countdown Stage was featuring BTS as their debate artist minus a slightly sick, but very distraught Jungkook. The nightmares had returned with a vengeance, haunting his dreams like ghosts in a graveyard and with the lack of sleep, Jungkook's health had taken a drop. His hyungs were also very worried for their makane's sudden decrease of health. They were extremely concerned with his mood swings as well, one second he would be the goofy little brother that he was, then next, he was moping around the dorms. Many of his hyungs chalked them up to being too cooped up in the dorms. Jungkook was a very active person and not being able to move around and get out of the dorms must have made him more irritable and upset. In reality, Jungkook was just scared. It was his nightmare come to life; his hyungs were going to preform without him. He'd always been the one to run away from his fears, so he supposed that this was life's way of forcing him to face them.... That didn't mean that it would make it any easier, though.
The day of the preformance came, and as expected, Bangtang preformed well. But it was just well. Not great. Not amazingly. Not exceptionally. Just well. Good enough to please, but not enough to dazzle. They weren't necessarily going to receive many critiques, but they certainly weren't going to receive sublime rating for this show. But while it was passable in the eyes of any non fan, all the ARMYs could see that there was definitely something, or rather, someone, missing. They lacked the emotion, the mirth, the usual lively and loving characteristic that was usually present in their live performances. Any fan could see it.
On one side, Jungkook was teasing his hyungs about their subpar performance. It was done so in a comical way, so as to not upset anyone. For example, as soon as the members got back to the dorms, Jungkook said, "Jimin-hyung looked extra short without me today", which prompted Jimin to chase Jungkook around the dorms flinging anything within reach (one thing just so happened to be Jin's favorite pink pillow, which resulted in the both of them getting scolded by the band's resident mother).
On the other hand, Jungkook was relieved. Their performance showed Jungkook that he was needed and valued as not just a placeholder or position, but as a true member of the band.
And so, more days went by. The nightmares had faded and haven't returned since those nights. Jungkook started practicing with the others and was reintegrated into the fast-paced life of idoldom and had completely recovered. Along with the support of his hyungs and hard work, he learned all the new choreography in record time. And just in time too, because their second appearance was due in just two days.

It was just before their second live performance of Fire and the first live performance with Jungkook that everything felt real. The past few weeks had been a struggle for not only Jungkook, but for the others as well. They learned to not only be there for one another, but to also handle difficult situations together. After this, they felt so much more closer to each other than ever before. For nearly three years, they've grown closer to one another than many people will over the course of a lifetime. They've gone through struggles and elations alike, but they had done so as a single entity, a cohesive group. So as the stage staff directed them to enter the stage, and the lights dimming to mask their appearance, and the unmistakable first few beats rang out, they knew that everything would be alright.

This completes my 'short' story! Thank you so much for all of you who read this and/or commented your support and praise. I especially want to thank all the subscribers (oh my god I'm screaming on the inside because I've never thought that I'd have anyone read much less subscribe to anything of mine!!) You've been so understanding of everything and have never said anything mean. I'm so sorry for such a late update (I was camping and had to ask my dad to borrow his phone (it was the only one with signal) but it wouldn't let me edit the story). I just got back home from the airport. I apologize for the month long wait, and hope that this long chapter has made it up to you guys. Please comment what you thought about this and whether or not I should add an epilogue to this, just to tie up some loose ends. I don't think it'd be that long, just a paragraph or two. If even one of you does this, I probably will. I'll also try to edit any mistakes out of my previous chapters to make things flow nicely and to even out any inconsistencies that I see. 

Once again, thank you so much for everything! I cannot even put into words how much I appreciate your support. Thank you.