note: age-gap between jungkook and jimin is four years (here), ie. jungkook is 15, jimin is 19.
the rest of the boys are aged according to jimin- tae is 19, joon is 20, hobi is 20, yoongi is 21, jin is 22.

enjoy!

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requested by jnopejdope

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"aw my child, take care okay?" eunmi sighs, stroking the younger son's hair as she leans down to place a kiss on his temple, "take your medicines in time."

jungkook nods weakly, having his eyes closed. warm sighs escape tiredly from his lips, being the only sign that tells he's still alive. the mother glances back at her husband as if questioning if she really has to leave the boy alone in this state.

"it's fine honey," jaehyun chuckles, "it's just a fever, it'll go away eventually."

"yeah, uncle is right. you two should go now, or you'll miss your flight." namjoon says with a smile, "we're all here to look after jungkook."

"i know, that's a relief." eunmi smiles softly, patting the boy's cheek as she stands up, her eyes rotating towards her son again, "please make sure he eats properly, jiminie will take some time to come back."

"yes, don't worry, they'll take care." jaehyun says before, patting his wife's back, sighing at her overdramatic state since last night that jungkook had been feeling sick after accidentally getting wet in the rain on his way back from his boxing practice.

the boys' eyes follow the couple's figure walking out of the room, talking about something that interests their business trip to the states. however their attention comes back into the room on hearing a breathy sigh from the youngest boy's lips. jin sits on the bed next to him, placing his hand on jungkook's forehead and glances at the others.

"his temperature hasn't gone down since last night." he sighs, stroking the boy's hair who lets out a faint groan, moving a little in his place as he blinks his open slowly.

"hyungie..."

"yes kook?" the eldest says, holding jungkook's hand.

"my... my head hurts... hyungie- where..."

"it'll be alright, don't worry, bud." jin assures, "i'll make you something to eat first, then you can take your medicines okay?"

"hyungie..." jungkook breathes, shaking his head subtly, making jin frown while taehyung gasps, realising that the boy could be referring to jimin.

"jimin?" hoseok asks, voicing taehyung's thoughts before he did it himself, "he'll be home by evening, jungkookie. don't worry."

those words probably didn't convince jungkook enough for the rest of the afternoon was spent with frequent mumbles of his brother's name, and often crying or whining in his bed on not finding jimin whenever he opened his eyes from a short nap.

the boys were worried, ringing several times to jimin who was in the bus with his teammates and coach, on the way back to seoul after winning their soccer finals in daegu, telling him how the younger brother wasn't eating or taking his medicines, and only wanted jimin nearby.

even keeping aera away from jungkook to avoid getting her sick was a difficult task. from the moment she came back from school, taehyung was the one to keep her accompanied by some game or the other, telling her stories and introducing missions like let kookie sleep.

__

"we'll be stopping here for twenty minutes. if anyone wants to get some refreshments or use the restroom, you can do that now." the coach announces, earning a disheartened sigh from the captain of the team.

he looks at his phone, clicking his tongue as they're already an hour late due to the traffic, and now this refreshment break would take away more from his already running time. he takes a deep breath, standing up and grabs his bag, before turning to his friend.

"i don't have time for this. tell mr han that my dad took me from here." jimin says.

the other boy chuckles nonchalantly, giving a thumbs up to his friend and nods towards the gate of the bus, "bye, captain."

jimin laughs a little, bumping fists with him and steps away, "you're the best, mark. thanks man."

"the lunch is on you the whole week!"

"we'll see!"

the loose navy blue colored jersey hangs loose with seoul international university imprinted in a curve and jimin's name below it with the number 13. with every step he runs towards the train station the fabric jumps almost as keen as the owner himself to get home and see how jungkook is doing. from what jin's voice said, jimin concluded it wasn't a pleasant scene and jungkook really needed him.

in a span of fifteen minutes his eyes locate the sign of the train on a dark green billboard at the top right of the signal, indicating half a mile more towards the left.

laboured breaths and beads of sweat trickle down jimin's forehead and locks, damping his blonde bangs as he reaches inside the station, feet only coming to a stop when the ticket counter is a few feet away.

"seoul..." he pants, keeping his focus on the digital board that displays the notices and announcements. "please make it fast." his voice husks out, making the counter lady snap out of her admiration bubble.

"here," she looks down in embarrassment, sliding the single ticket and takes the bills jimin placed on the window instead of his card.

"the change- sir?"

"thank you, keep the change!" jimin shouts as he's already sprinting his way towards the train that just stopped in front of the first platform, not minding the old ladies and office men giving him displeased glances for shouting and running in a public place like this.

"aish!" he breathes deeply, clutching his knees as he stands inside the train, taking time to cool himself down after practically running an almost-marathon.

diverting his attention from breathing, his phone vibrates in his pocket, making him sigh as he answers on seeing jin's name popping on the screen again, "yes hyung? ah... no, they were taking a lot of time, so i took the train."

"no, it's fine. i'll come. is jungkook okay?"

"hmm, yeah no, mark will handle that. it'll take about an hour at least."

"yeah, don't worry hyung." jimin assures with a soft smile before hanging up. he cracks his neck, adjusting the bag hanging loosely on his shoulder and stands straight, looking around for a seat in an otherwise crowded coach.

spotting one empty seat as a man stands up to get off on his station, jimin walks towards the seat, almost flopping himself down, but stops at another presence. he smiles at the girl, gesturing his hand towards the seat, "you can sit, i'm fine." he says, earning a thankful smile from the girl as she bows lightly, sitting with her bag on her lap.

having his headphones on and eyes pinned on the screen of his phone another episode of his favourite web series kept playing, the time and distance didn't feel that long. the moment an electronic voice announced the next station being seoul, he sighed deeply pausing the episode and kept the phone in his pocket. his eyes wander back to the girl, seeing her head almost dropping while she's dozing off next to a man whose gaze doesn't look that innocent.

"hey" jimin taps her shoulder, making the man flinch and withdraw his hand from almost being on her thigh.

"huh yes?" the girl blinks a few times, looking at jimin who glances at the older man and then at back at her.

he smiles and holds his hand out, "i'm jimin, the one you beat at taekwondo one-on-one? your kick still hurts, dude."

"wha-"

"it's fine if you don't remember, i mean you won lot of matches." he chuckles, glancing at the man who gulps thickly, "seriously you're so good. i came to see the last match this friday. the man must be hurting really bad."

"i don-"

"anyways, i'll get going now. i've to get down here. but again, you're amazing, i'm teaching my sister to fight like you." he says before taking a step back as he waves at her, chuckling at her confused state. his eyes meet the man who is already up on his feet, looking around and goes to sit a few seats away from the girl.

turning on his heels, jimin walks out as the gate slides open, heading out of the station, already calling for an uber.

"jimin sir!" jimin looks around, seeing a man from his dad's office there, waving at him.

"assistant jay, how are you here?" he asks.

"mr min told me to pick you up from here." the man answers, motioning his hand towards the car as jimin nods, letting him carry the bag and takes the back seat.

__

"ah don't cry, baby," jin pats the little girl's back, hugging her small body as she's sitting on his lap, wailing from the moment she realised that something is wrong with jungkook that the boys weren't letting her go near him. the most jin did was to take her in the room, but not letting her approach the ill boy, trying his best to avoid the flu for aera.

"oppa..." the kid sobs.

"yes, princess." the eldest says softly, "everything is okay hm? kookie's just sleeping for a while. we should let him rest right?"

"ri-ri missing koo..." she cries.

jin sighs, glancing at yoongi who smiles, shaking his head and stands up from the couch, holding his arms out for aera to come to him, "shall we go out and get some snacks for riri and kookie?"

"no! i wan' koo!"

"my goodness aera, what is that?" yoongi gasps, sitting beside jin and points at her face, making her stop crying for a moment as her teary eyes stare at him in confusion. "there's something on your face."

"what?" she asks in a hoarse voice, touching her cheeks, and turns to hoseok, "my face?"

the boy chuckles, shrugging as yoongi continues, "yeah, what is this?" he touches her cheeks, wipping the tears off and shows him his hand.

"water..." aera gasps, touching her face again and looks at the tears that got on her hands, "oppa, riri got water on face!"

"there's water on riri's face?" jin says, chuckling at the girl who nods, cupping his face and leans closer.

"oppa has no water."

"because oppa wasn't crying."

aera stays still for a moment, then nods slowly, "me no crying. riri don't want water on face."

"good girl," yoongi praises, "now do you wanna go out?"

"no, koo..." she pouts

"i'm home!" jimin's voice echoes, making aera gasp before breaking into a giggle, already jumping on her feet to run to jimin and give him a hug.

"oppa!"

jimin smiles at her, letting go of his bag and pats her head, "hey, princess." he says shortly, eyes rummaging through the living room and stops at the older boys, "where's kook?"

"in his room." jin says, "i'll get some food for you both, he hasn't eaten anything since morning."

jimin nods as yoongi gestures his hand upstairs, "you should go to him, he was crying earlier."

"yeah i'll see." jimin smiles at him, then realises aera has been jumping near his legs, opening his arms and looking up at him, waiting for her hug. "hey my baby, were you crying or what?" he says, carrying her in his arms, giving her a proper hug along with a kiss.

"i miss koo" aera says, "let's go see him."

"uh kookie needs to rest. he's not well y'know. and if riri goes to him right now, riri will catch the flu and be sick."

"no, whyyyy?"

"because you'll be sick, princess. stay here with the other oppas." he says, placing her on her feet as jin comes out of the kitchen holding a tray with food and medicines. "be a good girl, yeah?"

with that said he's already heading up the steps as jin gestures yoongi to feed aera as well if she's hungry. the latter nods in assurance, carrying the little girl in his arms who pouts, staring at the elders' ascending figures.

"let's go, we'll go to starbucks and get some tasty-tasty frappuccino for riri and then play in the park alright?" yoongi says, patting her back. the girl sniffles softly, glancing at him and shakes her head, pointing her hand towards the staircase.

"oppa..."

"kookie needs jimin oppa right now, so let him be okay?" he explains, rubbing aera's back and smiles at her.

"yes, we'll have a lot of fun aera. joonie and hobi oppa will join us too." taehyung grins, holding her hand.

"okay" she nods briefly after glancing one last time upstairs.

__

"hyungie..." jungkook mumbles, tears filling his eyes as he opens them after being woken up from a nap, feeling stinging aches all through his body and heat burning up his skin despite the shivering he's experiencing.

"yes buddy," jimin smiles softly, "i'm here."

the boy blinks a few times, recognising the voice too well to mistake it for anyone else in the world. he stirs in his place, shifting to the side, letting out sob from his quivering, chapped lips. jimin sighs in empathy, leaning in instantly to take the younger brother in his embrace.

"it's okay, you'll be fine."

"hyungie..."

"i'm not going anywhere, kook. relax." he whispers, stroking the boy's hair, "did you miss me that much?"

"mmm" jungkook nods slowly, "it h-hurts hyung..."

"i know, let's eat something first and then take your meds, alright?" jimin says, taking the tray of food from the eldest who smiles at the brothers' interaction.

jimin helps the brother sit up against the cushioned headboard of the bed, taking the bowl of soup in his hand, holding the spoonful of the warm liquid in front of his mouth. he tastes it first, analysing the temperature before feeding it to jungkook, who ends up coughing right after the first time.

"here, drink this." jin says, helping the boy take a sip of water from the glass and rubs his back.

"no..." jungkook pulls his head back when jimin holds another spoonful of the soup in front of his mouth.

"yes you have to, if wanna get better." the elder brother says, "you're a strong boy jungkook, plus it's your favourite right? jinnie hyung cooked it for you."

"i feel like i'll throw up" jungkook says with discomfort, "-don't wanna eat."

"how will you recover if you don't eat? come on, just a little bit hm?" jimin smiles softly as he brings the soup closer to jungkook's mouth, "y'know when you were younger and didn't want to eat, mom would make you sit like this and start from me, like one bite for jiminie hyungie." he says, feeding the first spoonful and takes another, "second for riri," then another, "third for dad. fourth for mom, and the last one," he smiles, taking another spoonful of the soup near the boy's mouth, "-is for kookie."

jin smiles fondly, remembering the way of feeding his own brother, taehyung when the boy was much younger and wouldn't eat. he shakes his head, patting jungkook's head as he took the soup without more tantrums.

"jinnie hyung," the boy mumbles.

"right," jimin chuckles, feeding more of the soup to the kid, "for jinnie hyung, yoongi hyung, hobi hyung, joonie hyung and...?"

"taetae" jungkook smiles.

"good," jimin smiles, showing the almost empty bowl to the boy, "see? it's almost finished. now take a last one, for... uhm who's left?"

"one more for ri," jungkook suggests.

"alright, another one for riri and, there, it's finished. see? it wasn't even that hard." jimin says, earning a silent nod from jungkook.

jin hands him the tablets and a glass of water, holding with the boy so he won't drop it accidentally. after taking the medicines successfully, jungkook sighs deeply, glancing at jimin and lays down, "how was your match?" he asks.

jimin smiles widely at him, raising his eyebrows as he replies with, "guess who won again?"

"hyungie?"

"yep!"

jungkook gasps, smiling as much as he can at his brother, "where's the trophy?"

"i forgot to get it from the coach..." jimin says, glancing at him and then at jin, "he took it from the stadium, and then i had to rush in the middle while returning..."

"aish!" jin shakes his head, "it's okay, you can take it later. see jungkook, your brother forgot about the trophy he worked so hard for, you know why?"

jungkook stares at him, slowly shaking his head, making jin smile as he takes a seat near the brothers, "because he was worried about you and wanted to get here as soon as possible. no trophy values more than you and aera for him."

jimin smiles softly, looking down at his lap, listening to his hyung, realizing how true each word of it was. he glances up, feeling a warm hand, too warm to be normal which also reminded him of how high the younger boy's fever actually is.

"thank you hyung," jungkook says, "i love you."

jimin smiles at him, ruffling his hair as he leans down bumping his head against jungkook's gently, making th boy grin lightly.

"hyungie loves you more." the elder says, "now take some rest. i want you all well and fit by tomorrow."

"not that fast," jungkook shakes his head.

"this is not a good way of skipping school and practices, champ."

"then how about a holiday?"

"we'll think about it. but focus on getting better right now."

jungkook nods, almost closing his eyes as he lets out yawn which stops midway and his eyes open in a snap, "ri was crying, hyung. i heard her." he says to the elders, facing jin, "why was she crying?"

"ah nothing, she just wanted to go to you." jin chuckles.

"oh why didn't you bring her to me then? she must be upset."

"yeah she is, but we can't bring her here. she'll catch the flu as well. little kids get sick easily if not been taken care of." jin says, "so don't worry about aera, yoongi and the others are with her."

jungkook smiles softly, nodding his head against jin's warm hand as the elder gets up, taking the tray and leaves the room quietly. the youngest lays quietly, closing his eyes as jimin's hand pats in a gentle rhythm over the layer of blanket on him, helping him fall asleep faster.

"hyungie..." he mumbles, nuzzling against his pillow as he slowly drifts off to sleep, making jimin smile softly.

"get well soon kook,"

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"oppa" aera calls, following the elder boy like a little duckling as he rummages from one drawer to another, looking for the thermometer.

"yes princess, go have your dinner. oppa's coming in a bit, alright?" jimin smiles briefly, patting her head and turns to the eldest, "hyung, it's not here. i think i misplaced it."

"did you see with kook's meds?"

"yeah- oh! no, i'll check it." jimin nods, jogging back upstairs.

"oppa..." aera pouts, having tears pooling her eyes and tiny fists clenched by her side. she sniffles faintly, rubbing her eyes as her brain runs about all the times during the whole day that jungkook didn't meet her and jimin didn't even bother looking at her. both being too busy with each other to find time for their baby sister.

the child says nothing, grabbing her teddy, she heads upstairs to the room yoongi's staying in, as her shared one with jungkook has been occupied since last night. opening the door quietly, her eyes round eyes scan the room, letting out streams of tears on seeing yoongi laying on his bed with the laptop on, typing something on it.

with a sob leaving the girl's mouth, yoongi looks up from the screen, frowning at the crying girl. he closes the laptop and puts it aside, sitting straight as aera climbs on the bed, straight away crashing against his chest while crying.

"hey, what happened?"

she says nothing, just continues crying for an unknown reason for yoongi who rubs her back, making her sit properly on his lap, "ah who made my princess cry?"

"chimin o-oppa don't lo-ove riri..." aera cries, hugging the elder boy whose expression displays the confusion in his head.

"jimin doesn't love you?" he asks for confirmation and sighs, seeing the kid nodding between soft sniffles and sobs, "it's not like that baby, jiminie oppa loves riri a lot. what made you think like that?"

"he only going to kookie, and- and staying with him, not riri. i miss oppa..."

"my baby, stop crying first." yoongi says, pulling her closer as he lifts her up a little, resting his back against the headboard, placing aera's head on his shoulder while gently patting her back, "kookie is not feeling well, that's why jiminie oppa has to take care of him. only then kookie will get better and be able to play with riri. you want him to get well right?"

"mm-hmm" aera nods slowly, "but- but they forgetting me... koo didn't see me and they don't give me huggie."

"i'm so sorry for that, love. kookie cannot give you a hug right now, or else you'll get sick too. and jiminie might've forgotten between taking care of kookie. but don't worry, count all your huggies and kissies, and they'll give it to you later."

"later?" aera lifts her head up, rubbing her eyes as she's not crying anymore and looks at yoongi with her head tilted at an angle and round eyes depicting confusion.

"yes, oppas need to make up for not spending time with riri, right?"

"yeah" she nods again, "how many?"

"let's count," yoongi smiles as she sits facing him again, holding out her hands to count, "one for when jiminie oppa came back."

"one" aera puts up her index finger, glancing at the elder with a smile.

"one for when he couldn't join riri's tea party."

"two,"

"another for when he couldn't eat with riri."

"three," aera nods, sticking up the ring finger too and jumps in her place, too excited to count more of her pending hugs from jimin, "and four! when oppa not playing with riri! and five! and six! seven! eight! nine! ten!"

"alright, that's a lot." yoongi chuckles, "now kisses?"

"yes!"

after a while of counting all the hugs and kisses from the brothers, aera had fallen asleep with yoongi who just smiled at her little body cuddled against his chest, looking comfortable than ever. switching off the lights, he lays down himself, placing a kiss on his little girl's forehead.

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next day

"fifteen kisses?" jimin looks surprised, keeping his coffee aside as the others chuckle in response.

"yeah, she counted with me last night. the number of hugs and kisses you need to give her to compensate for not paying attention to her yesterday."

"aish!" jimin chuckles, shaking his head as he glances at jungkook who joined them for breakfast today, saying he felt a lot better and the fever was gone too. "i guess we have a lot to work on."

"yeah, i think i heard her crying almost every two hours yesterday." jungkook says.

"yesterday was a long day." namjoon nods with a smile, "good thing is jungkook is feeling better now."

"yep! i was missing my gaming buddy." taehyung grins, throwing his arm around the younger boy's neck, making him smile as he looks up at taehyung's taller figure.

"oppa..." a small voice erupts from the back, making the boys turn around, breaking into instant smiles on seeing the five-year-old who descends down the stairs with slow movements, having her tiny fist rubbing the left eye and the other hand sliding lazily on the handrail with each step towards the bottom.

"hey princess, good morning." jimin's eyes reduce to crescents as he smiles at the little girl.

"mmmo'ning..." she mumbles, extending her arms out for jimin, making her peach colored, bunny themed t-shirt lift up, showing the similar colored loose underwear. the brother carries her in his arms, brushing her hair out of her face and places a kiss on her cheek, heading back to the dining table where the rest of the boys are sitting.

"hi aera, i heard you crying yesterday, i'm sorry we couldn't meet." jungkook says, "but y'know i'm fine now, so we can play today and watch avengers."

"koo" aera says with a pout as soon as her eyes find the boy's face. leaning forward, her the tears become more evident in her eyes as she climbs on the table.

"hey, we don't stand there." jimin says, putting her down on her feet, which she doesn't mind and runs to jungkook, hugging him from the side. the boy smiles in response, leaning down and brings her between his legs, hugging her back properly,

"i miss you." she mumbles against his shirt.

"i missed you more." he says, "now tell me how many huggies and kissies do i need to give you?"

"oh! uhm... ten? no, fifty!"

"that's a lot." hoseok laughs, shaking his head.

"no, it's okay." jungkook grins.

"and what about jiminie oppa's?" yoongi adds, nodding towards the said brother, earning a nod from the girl.

"hundred!"

"hundred?" jimin gasps, "oppa will get tired giving so many hugs to riri."

"no!" aera declares, "oppa will give hundred huggies to riri!"

"alright, let's have our breakfast first?" he says.

aera nods as an answer, going back to jimin as he makes her sit with him, knowing she won't leave him for a while. he smiles when aera giggles, looking up at him, and leans down placing a soft kiss on her lips, making her laugh and squeal happily.

"oppa loves riri and kookie equally, not more and certainly not less. both of you are my babies and mean everything to me." he says, bumping his head against his sister's.

"yes," aera nods as if she understood the meaning behind jimin's words, making the boys laugh amusedly.

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a/n- heyyy how are you all? did you guys miss meeeeee????

what do you think about the chapter? how was it?

what was your favourite part of the chapter? pls share and let me know, it feels great to hear your thoughts. 🤗❤️✨

yk i lost the original picture at the top, so i had go and make it again. if you compare it with the picture from the last chapter, you'll know the slight difference. 😅 but anyways, i made it again for this book.

please vote if you liked the chapter, comment and... well, yeah that's all. or you can share if you want ;) take care! another update on 28th, which is day after tomorrow!

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