Requested by Tannu2003

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Jungkook was already in BTS by the time he had entered highschool. Thankfully he was managing the two very well despite his busy schedule with the band. His hyungs knew how important it was for him to study so they would always encourage him to get his homework done or study for tests whenever they had downtime. He turned out to be an honors student every semester and his hyungs couldn't have been more proud of him. They told him they didn't expect him to get straight A's, they figured that was impossible, but he always wanted to prove himself to them and got them anyway. They always would tell him "That's our golden maknae!" and the young singer felt like he always had to live up to that title no matter what.

He'd been studying a lot for an exam he had on Monday morning. On Sunday they had the day off so he studied in his room all day. His hyungs would have to come in and remind him to get something to eat or tell him it was okay to take a break and come out and hang out but Jungkook was super nervous about this exam so he didn't want to waste any time getting ready for it.

Monday morning he went in feeling confident. What he didn't expect once he saw the exam was for it to be on subjects he hadn't even known to study. He thought he'd studied all the material but this proved false when he found himself going through a handful of questions he didn't know the answers to. Two hours later when he finished he knew he wasn't going to get an A, but he figured at most maybe a B- or C. He still thought he did somewhat of a decent job. He went home and told his hyungs how hard the exam was and they started joking about how he "better not have failed." He knew they were being lighthearted about it but it still made him feel a bit disappointed.

The next morning while the teacher was handing the graded exams back, his classmate Sion was sitting next to him. Sion was the maknae of another band. Jungkook didn't know too much about the band but him and Sion seemed to get along well throughout the year. When Sion got his exam back, he gasped and immediately looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"Is it that bad?" Jungkook asked curiously. Sion showed him his test and Jungkook was surprised to see his friend had gotten a 42 on it. A total F. Jungkook got nervous when he realized Sion always pulled even higher grades than himself so he figured he was doomed.

"My hyungs are going to kill me!" Sion cried.

"They'll be mad?" Jungkook asked curiously.

"They'll be pissed! They're going to ground me forever and hate me or throw me out a window or something!" Sion cried. The teacher then handed Jungkook his exam back and his heart dropped when he saw that he got a 36 on it.

Sion peeked over, "Oh..man..that sucks for you too, huh?"

"I don't get it! I studied so hard!" Jungkook let out an angry groan as he folded up the exam. The teacher then explained that anyone who failed the exam had to come back with it signed by a guardian tomorrow. Sion and Jungkook both let out an annoyed sigh.

"Good luck, I'm sure your hyungs will be pissed too," Sion mentioned.

Jungkook hadn't even considered how his hyungs would react to an F. He'd never gotten one before.

"Maybe.." Jungkook pouted. He hated the idea of it.

"Yeah, I mean who knows maybe they'll even throw you out a window or something too! You'll probably be grounded for a long time, considering they expected more out of you, I'm guessing. That's what my own hyungs always say. Or maybe they'll just scream at you and smack you or something. Sometimes my hyungs make me skip meals if I've disappointed them," Sion said. Sion saw the downcast gaze on Jungkook's face and patted his back, "But hey, I'm sure they won't hate you forever. Maybe just for now!"

The bell rang and everyone got up to leave for the day. Jungkook stayed in his seat for a moment and gulped his anxiety down.

Hyungies will hate me? Mad? Grounded?  Smacked?! Throwing me out a window?! No meals? Disappointed in me?

Jungkook wiped the anxious tears that he felt slide down his cheeks as he got up from his desk. He took his test and hid it in his backpack. Jin always picked him up from school and he wasn't ready to show his hyung. He wasn't ready to show any of them. He could see his hands shaking thinking about how he's supposed to come in with that exam signed tomorrow.

When he hopped in the car, Jin greeted him happily and rubbed his back, "Maknae! How was school?"

The youngest shrugged his shoulders and avoided eye contact as he stared out the window instead. Jin gently grabbed his shoulder, "Hey everything okay? You seem upset?" Jin asked concerned. He could see it written all of his maknae's face that he seemed sad.

"I'm fine."

"You sure? Did something happen? 'Cause you can tell hyung," Jin gestured.

"Nothing happened. I'm fine. It was just a long day. I'm just tired." Jungkook still wouldn't look at his hyung.

"Hmm..well...do you want to stop somewhere and get some food? Hyung will buy you ice cream or something!" Jin asked, he was trying to sound enthusiastic to help raise his dongsaengs spirits. Jungkook felt like any kind of reward was the last thing he deserved, "No thank you. Can we please just go home?"

Jin gave him one last concerned glance before driving them home. When they got home his hyungs all greeted him and hugged him saying they missed him while he was at school. Taehyung also asked if he was okay as he could tell he seemed a bit off.

"I'm just tired," Jungkook lied and retreated to his room. Jin mentioned that Jungkook seemed sad getting in the car but he couldn't get an answer out of him. They decided to leave him alone for the time being.

"Teenagers are always moody," Yoongi laughed.

Jungkook found himself crying into his pillow. He had worked up a lot of thoughts about how much his hyungs were going to hate him after finding out he got an F. He was spiraling himself into a panic attack when he thought of every bad scenario that could possibly happen once his hyungs found out. He frantically wiped his tears when Namjoon came in mentioning it was time for dinner.

"I'm not hungry," Jungkook whispered to Namjoon.

"How are you not hungry? You haven't eaten anything since you got home."

"I'm just not hungry."

"Are you sick?"

"I don't know, maybe," Jungkook lied. He sure as hell wasn't about to tell Namjoon why he didn't feel like eating.

"Do you want me to get you some medicine?"

"No," Jungkook sighed, "I just want to sleep," he lied. Namjoon gave up after that and headed back to the kitchen. The members missed Jungkook eating at the table with them and saved him a bunch of food. They all went to check on him afterwards but he appeared to already be asleep so they left him alone.

However the maknae had only pretended to be asleep when he heard them coming to check on him. He was too upset and scared about facing them so after they had disappeared he did the only thing he could think to do.

Escape.

When his hyungs were all occupied he had snuck out of his room and out the door. It was freezing and dark out but he didn't care. He didn't think to bring anything with him he just wanted to run. The thought of his hyungs hating him was ripping his chest apart. He didn't know where to go so he just picked a direction and ran. He cried as he ran, both from heartbreak and from the freezing air stinging his eyes. He slowed to a walking pace when it was becoming too hard to breathe from how cold it was. He wondered how long it would take his hyungs to notice he was missing. He hoped he would have enough time to disappear if he was lucky. They'll hate me once they find out anyway, they wont even want me in the band. I'm not a golden maknae anymore.

He didn't have a destination so he just walked on blindly. Wherever he ended up would be better than home right now.

It only took about 20 minutes for his hyungs to notice he was missing. Taehyung went in to check on him again and was surprised to see him not in his room.

"Where is Kookie?" Taehyung asked his hyungs.

"He was sleeping," Jimin mentioned.

"I know that. He's not in his room."
The rest of them double checked his room and started looking around the house and panic set in when he was nowhere to be found. They yelled for him throughout the house saying that if he was playing a prank and hiding, it wasn't funny anymore.

"Could he have gone somewhere?" Yoongi asked.

"He never goes off on his own though. Especially not at night. Plus its freezing out!" Hobi pouted.

They went to see if Jungkook's jacket was still in his closet and were confused when it was. They knew that meant if he was outside somewhere, he had to be freezing.

"What if he's outside?!" Taehyung screamed in worry.

"Why the hell would he do that? Why would he leave unannounced?" Namjoon asked. The hyungs were all increasingly worried and Jin told everyone to immediately get their coats on and get outside to start looking for him. When he wasn't turning up outside anywhere they decided to split up. Jin and Yoongi hopped in the car to look around the neighborhood while the other members split up in teams and marched off in different directions to look for their missing maknae.

Jin and Yoongi were driving around and parked within the city to check inside some restaurants and shopping centers. Both of their hearts were pounding with anxiety when everyone said they haven't seen the kid. They sat back in the car and Jin grabbed Jungkook's jacket that they brought just incase and started hugging it while on the verge of tears.

"What if we don't find him Yoongi? What if he's lost out here somewhere?" Jin said while letting some tears slip out, "I don't understand why he would run away!"

Yoongi was silent while he scanned outside the car when he suddenly saw the shape of a figure that seemed familiar sitting on a park bench under a street lamp. "Wait! Is that him?!" Yoongi asked excitedly. They both got out and ran to find their maknae sitting on the bench curled up with his knees to his chest and crying. He was shivering badly and his face was pale, even under the dark street light they could tell his lips were turning blue. Jin immediately took Jungkook's jacket and wrapped it around his maknae, "What the hell are you doing out here Kookie you're freezing to death! Get in the car!" Jin cried.

"I..I...can't.." Jungkook cried. He'd rather have frozen to death than have his hyungs mad at him.

"What do you mean you can't? Bunny what's wrong? What the hell were you thinking running away at night like this?! Do you know how worried we were?!" Yoongi yelled at him but when he saw Jungkook start crying harder he lightened up. He sat down next to him on the bench and wrapped him in a hug, "What's going on? Talk to hyungs."

"I'm...sorry.." Jungkook sniffled and wiped some of his tears as he shivered. He watched his breath dissipate in the air.

"Why are you sorry? For running away? Why did you do it in the first place?" Yoongi asked. Jin stood there shivering too, "Can we please discuss this in the car before we all freeze to death? Why don't we go home and warm up and then we can talk about it?"

"I can't go home," Jungkook said nervously.

"What do you mean by that?" Jin asked confused.

"I'm sorry!" Jungkook cried out loud and buried his face back into his knees. Yoongi leaned over and pulled Jungkook's face up by his chin to look him in the eye, "What happened?"

Jungkook didn't want to tell his hyungs or admit anything but he was already feeling so incredibly depressed that he figured he may as well just drop the ball on them while he was in the shitty mood already, "I..I failed my exam hyungs...I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

"You've got to be kidding me," Jin scoffed.

"I'm sorry hyung! I studied hard I did! I don't know what happened!" Jungkook cried.

"Oh no no, bunny. That's not what I meant. I meant you have to be kidding me over the fact that you're so upset about getting an F that you'd run away?" Jin and Yoongi were extremely confused wondering why their maknae would ever think he'd have to run from them over something like that.

"I was scared," The maknae finally admitted.

"Of what?" Yoongi asked softly.

"Disappointing you all. Getting screamed at or getting kicked out of the band. You all hating me. Getting smacked maybe? Not being able to eat or being grounded or something."

Jin and Yoongi looked at eachother in shock and then back at Jungkook. "Who the hell told you anything like that would ever happen over an F on an exam? You really think we'd ever do anything like that to you? We know you studied hard. Jungkook who made you think like that because I know damn will it was never any of us?" Yoongi asked.

"S..Sion.." Jungkook whimpered.

"Your friend from school?" Jin asked. The maknae nodded.

"Oh bunny, I don't know how he made you think we'd ever do something like that to you but you must know it's not true. We'd never treat you like that or be bad to you over something that really doesn't even matter all that much," Yoongi cooed while he pulled Jungkook into a tighter hug.

"We love you no matter what Kook-ah, you know that," Jin added. Jungkook started bawling his eyes out after what his hyungs said. He felt his anxiety flood out of him as his heart filled with the love from his hyungs. He kind of felt stupid afterwards, like he should have known from the start how much his hyungs loved him. Yoongi gestured to the car and mentioned that they really needed to head home. Jin took Jungkook's hand and walked him back with them. Yoongi texted the others that they had found Jungkook and were headed back home with him. When they all arrived home the other hyungs bombarded their maknae with questions. Jin answered and explained what had happened and they all felt terrible that Jungkook had felt so bad, reminding him that he had no reason to. The youngest took the exam out and mentioned that it needed to be signed by someone. He watched Jin sign it with a little note under his signature that read "At least he tried hard : ) "

Everyone got in their pajamas and Jungkook curled up in bed. Yoongi made him some tea to help warm him up a bit and after drinking it Yoongi could see that his maknae was still reeling from being a bit upset so he curled up in bed with him. Jin decided to join them and soon the youngest was curled up and warm between his two oldest hyungs. Jungkook started crying again but he wasn't sad. He was crying over how grateful he felt for having such loving hyungs. Yoongi rubbed his back and he quickly drifted off to sleep.

With a smile on his face.

[The End]