The adrenaline that is constantly coursing through his veins while he performs wears off quickly once Jungkook exits the stage, leaving him a sweaty and exhausted mess.

He wasn’t sure why it was worse this time around. Maybe it was the fact he was running on two hours sleep, or maybe it was the seemingly never-ending schedule but Jungkook was at least 103% certain he was dead right now.

The cordinoona was on him in seconds, towels and makeup wipes ready. He pressed the towel given to him to his forehead almost robotically, letting his noona start to clean his face. His breathing was nowhere near as heavy as it was but he couldn’t seem to breathe with his mouth closed.

“You look very pale, Jungkook-ssi,” the noona commented cautiously as she removed the rest of his eye makeup. Her gaze was concerned but Jungkook was too tired to care. He was too damn tired. “Get some sleep, okay?”

He nodded absentmindedly, his eyes fixed on nothing in particular. He kept focusing his sight, in and out, watching a small pot of concealer go from fuzzy to clear.

“Jungkookie?” A deep voice brought the youngest member out of his little trance. Taehyung appeared in his line of vision, head cocked to the side. His hair was still damp with sweat and his face was bare (Jungkook liked it best like that).

“Hyung,” Jungkook mumbled, his reply hardly audible. Taehyung’s face was set into a worried pout as he pulled the boy from his seat, letting Jungkook’s body lean heavily on his chest. “Tired.”

The older boy’s chuckle sounded relieved. “I can tell. Lets go to the car, shall we?” Jungkook nodded once, repositioning himself so he was standing next to Taehyung. His arm was resting on Taehyung’s shoulder and his head lying on top of his arm. Taehyung wrapped a supportive arm around his dongsaeng’s waist and slowly began leading him towards the car.

Taehyung hyung is a better friend that I could ever ask for, Jungkook mused as the two followed the other members. Taehyung was fun and loud and the best one to go to whenever Jungkook was feeling particularly mischievous. Jungkook knew he could always rely on his hyung to cheer him up if he was upset over anything.

But he knew the other boy was so much more than his 4D personality. In some ways, he felt the two of them were on the same wavelength. In Jungkook’s mind, he needed to stay perfect at everything, to live up to his title of Golden Maknae. Everytime he messed up, he felt like he was failing his hyungs, his managers and his fans. There was a constant need to perform and he knew Taehyung was the same. Having known the boy for so long now he knew that, sometimes, Taehyung just wanted to think and to have a break from always having to keep up with his appearance of the group’s ‘Alien’.

Taehyung was his best friend and it was times like these, when Taehyung would clip Jungkook’s seatbelt in for him and let the younger boy cling to him like a koala, his head falling into the crook of Taehyung’s neck, that he realised he relied him more than he ever thought he would when the two first met.