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The lights in the green room were bright, and not for the first time Seokjin wished they came with a dimmer; granted most of the group were old hat at falling asleep in unconventional places, but it was always easier to usher the boys off to sleep when the environment was a little more conducive to relaxing rest.
They had a good four hours until they had to be ready to go on stage, and Seokjin was absolutely going to take advantage of this unprecedented amount of free time; most of the boys were already passed out. Hoseok curled around Yoongi on a stack of coats in the corner of the room with Yoongi’s head resting just under Hoseok’s chin, his hand fisted in his bandmates' shirt, and Seokjin was once more struck with gratitude at how smoothly he had gotten the spitfire to sleep.
Did Yoongi love sleeping? Yes. Did he enjoy being told to go to sleep? No.
But Hoseok’s beckoning hand and slight pout had won him over, and it hadn’t taken long before both of them had nodded off.
Taehyung was curled up on the end off one of the couches, his feet tangled with Namjoon who had taken over the other end, and both of them were letting out little snores; the sound so commonplace in their home that somewhere along the line it had turned from an irritant to a comfort.
Seokjin moved forward and gently lifted Taehyung’s arm from where it was hanging over the side of the couch, placing it closer to his chest, then draped a blanket that he had found had sitting in a closet in the back of the room over the both of them. Shooting the sleeping duo one more soft look, he continued his round of the room.
Jimin was flat on his stomach in the middle of the carpet, starfished out and looking perfectly comfortable and, well, if it worked for him it worked for Seokjin, so he just draped another spare blanket over the kid and let him be, his wander continuing until he caught sight of his actual target.
Jeon Jungkook was sat squashed into a corner, his eyes glued to the game in his hands, and his disinterest in the enforced group naptime clear in his continued refusal to acknowledge his hyungs oncoming presence.
He whined and shot Seokjin a glare as the game was gently, but firmly, taken out of his hands and placed on the floor, kicking one foot out in protest and yanking his hand back from where Seokjin had taken it into his own.
“Hyung, you didn’t even let me save it.”
Seokjin raised an eyebrow, ignoring the clear petulance in the tone directed at him, he chose instead to examine his youngest, noting the pinched look around his eyes and the flush on his cheeks. This kid needed sleep, a lot more than he was going to get in this room, but something was better than nothing, and this was going to happen, despite Jungkook’s deep and vocal opposition.
Seokjin reached forward again, palm cupping Jungkook’s face, hiding a smile as the kid leaned into it, despite himself. Softly, he said, “I asked you three times to turn it off Kook, I’m sorry that you didn’t get to save it, but you can play your way through again, just like you did this time.”
Seokjin stood back up, one hand going out, waiting for Jungkook to place his own in it so he could haul him to his feet, “Now however, it’s time for sleeping, come on love.”
Jungkook’s jaw clenched in defiance, and his arms crossed over his chest, “I’m not tired Hyung, it’s not fair that you’re trying to make me go to sleep when I’m not tired.”
There where a few people in the room, besides for Seokjin and the boys, and he knew the looks he felt boring into his back were mostly concerned ones; the staff where all amazing, and most of them had been with the company since before the band’s debut. They all knew, had learned over time, that if Seokjin needed the extra help, he would ask for it.
“Baby,” Seokjin’s face and voice were filled with kind understanding, but that didn’t stop Jungkook’s look from darkening, and Seokjin had the experience to recognize a storm blowing in when he saw one, “I know you think you’re not tired, and, if you come over to the sofa with me and close your eyes and find that nothing happens, I’ll give you your game back with full permission to play until it’s time to finish getting ready.”
Jungkook’s eyes narrowed and his lips pinched into a line; his hyung was playing at something here, he knew that. Kim Seokjin didn’t back down, not when he had made a decision, and only a fool would think otherwise, yet, despite what he’d been trying to convince himself of, the ability to process rational thought was not something that Jungkook found himself able to smoothly do when his head felt like it was filled with cotton and his vision stuttered every time he blinked.
A nap really didn’t sound that bad, but he had a point to prove here, something to win, and he wouldn’t back down. No matter how much he ached to do exactly that.
Foot kicking against the floor again, Jungkook shook his head, “No, that isn’t fair either, I’m telling you that I’m not tired and you’re not listening to me. You never listen to me!”
Nodding, Seokjin took a moment, the end of Jungkook’s sentence had been high and desperate, and there was a very fine line that he was going to have to walk here, one that he was honestly to exhausted himself to traipse but one that he would have to push himself to balance on regardless.
Seokjin hunched back down, eye level with Jungkook now, both of them looking at each other and just waiting. Corner of his lip twitching into the beginning of an understanding smile, Seokjin broke the silence, “Kook, I’m sorry that you think I don’t listen to you, and that is definitely something that I want to talk to you about more, I never want you to feel like your opinions and thoughts aren’t important to me, but right now baby, hyung is telling you that it is time for bed.”
Jungkook hiccupped, throat hitching, and Seokjin knew that sound as a precursor for a full-fledged breakdown, and shit, this needed to be nipped in the bud. Turning his head, he caught eyes with one of the staff members and motioned to the folded cloth on a chair next to the overfull table, mouthing, ‘would you mind bringing me that blanket Noona?’ and nodding back gratefully when she smiled and gave him a thumbs up.
Two seconds later the thin blanket was placed in his hand and he turned back to his current task. His baby was winding himself up, face fully flushed now and breath coming in rapid, stuttering gasps, and it wouldn’t be long now till they hit the point of no return.
Not that they would hit it. This was hardly the first time that Seokjin had had to deal with an exhaustion fueled break down, and he highly doubted it would be the last.
Setting the blanket to the side, Seokjin leaned forward and grabbed both of Jungkook’s hands, giving them a tug that pulled both himself and Jungkook up at the same time, then, once he had the both of them vertical, Seokjin let go of one hand just long enough to bend and grab the blanket, before he was gripping Jungkook by both thighs and hoisting him up till Jungkook’s legs were wrapped around his waist and his arms were automatically gripping around Seokjin’s neck.
Jungkook was heavy, Seokjin would never deny that, he was, without a doubt, much, much more difficult to lift and move around than any of the others, Namjoon included, but Seokjin had been prepared for that and he braced himself against the drag of the pull.
Knowledge of that fact didn’t stop his brain from summoning nostalgia dipped memories of a smaller Jungkook, one that was slim and thin and tiny, that would climb onto Seokjin’s lap and burrow into his neck and sometimes cry really quietly when his homesickness took over.
Seokjin loved this Jungkook and memory Jungkook with the same amount of ferocity, and while tiny, past Jungkook would always have a special place in his heart, he would not trade his current version for the world.
Besides, not even two days ago, Jungkook had wiggled his way into his lap, and wrapped his limbs around him, and had looked him straight in the face and had said, “I love you Hyung,” before dropping his head onto Seokjin’s chest and staying there for the rest of the evening until his empty stomach had forced him to move.
Seokjin felt his heart swell when his current armload nuzzled its nose into his neck, making himself comfortable, even while protesting the scenery change, and that was his Jungkookie, always a fighter.
Seokjin wouldn’t have him any other way.
Maknae and blanket in hand, Seokjin made his way to one of the remaining double seaters in the room, choosing the one farthest from any other sleeping individuals, and passing by a stack of pillows, the top one of which Seokjin grabbed.
Jungkook’s words where coming out slurred against his chest, and Seokjin could just make out the varying repetitions of, “Hyung, I told you, not tired, I don’t wanna,” and one very long and drawn out, “Noooooo,” that made Seokjin bite his lip to keep the laughter in.
Without much fuss, Seokjin tossed his new pillow onto the sofa and sat down, pulling Jungkook with him until both of them were as stretched out as they could be, Seokjin filling the role of mattress and cuddle buddy all in one.
Jungkook’s hair was tickling his nose, and Seokjin passed a hand over it, pushing the strands down and trailing the soothing touch down Jungkook’s back until he had worked out a rhythm that seemed to work in the fight against the kids rapid breathing and slowly calming hiccups.
There was a rumble in Seokjin’s chest as he started humming, and Jungkook couldn’t help himself from pressing further into the sound, the feel, as it all worked to pull him closer to sleep and farther from his earlier protests.
Never one to give in without a last shot, Jungkook lifted his head slightly, red rimmed eyes forcing themselves open as he tried to focus on his hyung’s face, “M’not,’ there was a pause as Jungkook furrowed his brows, confused as to why his voice refused to come out as anything other than a warble, “m’gna sleep, but cuz, cuz I wan, K?”
Seokjin, hand still traveling its up and down path, stopping every once in a while to smooth out a wrinkle in the blanket that he had managed to haphazardly throw over themselves, just nodded, whole entire being overfilled with fondness, and said, “Sure baby, that sound good.”
Choosing to believe that his point had been made and that he had won, Jungkook allowed his head to drop again, pushing himself further and closer to his hyung until he felt that they were as melded as two separate people could possibly be, before sighing out, “G’night, love you,” and passing out.
Sleep rapidly overtaking him now that he had accomplished his goal, Seokjin breathed out his own exhaustion laced, “I love you too Kookie,” before giving into the darkness building behind his eyelids himself.
There was just enough awake in him to acknowledge the added pressure of someone else climbing onto the small sofa and curling themselves around his feet, and while he couldn’t be sure, Seokjin was willing to bet a whole lotta money on that person being Jimin, which was absolutely fine, the more the merrier as long as all of the more where sleeping.
One hand stretching down, Seokjin patted the head of mystery hair and smiled as the hand was caught in small fingers, definitely Jimin then, and held onto tightly. The little fingers squeezed, and Seokjin squeezed back, and then, relaxing as the body on top of him breathed out slow and even breaths, and the hand holding his relaxed their grip, Seokjin allowed himself to finally, finally, go to sleep.