Begin (JJK) BTS 2026 series Book 3 (COMPLETED)

No Awards

Jungkook stands in front of a sea of photographers shouting his name, and behind their wall of flashing lights, a roar of a crowd of fans are crying out to him. He smiles, shyly, but privately, he's eating up all of the attention. It's always a mood elevator to have hundreds of people screaming for you, cheering you on. It's the one thing that makes him feel good about being here at the Golden Disc Awards without a nomination, and without his entire group. Jin is home with his wife and Taehyung has still not returned his calls or messages. 

Riding in the Limo from the dorm to the awards ceremony, he felt a little uncomfortable looking at the faces of his Hyungs, knowing they probably were all thinking just how wrong it feels to be apart. Yoongi seemed to be in his own private agony, shifting uncomfortably in the back seat and leaning his head against the car window, starring out at the passing buildings with a moody pout. He noticed Jimin watching him closely, and he's almost certain that Namjoon knows what's going on with him by the way he was avoiding making eye contact with any of them. Only Hoseok seemed the same, and he was busy on his phone reading everything ARMY were saying leading up to their appearance. ARMY are excited to see them even if they aren't nominated. Their new producer, Moon, is nominated for one of her songs with the JYP artist N-Force, and it will give them all a chance to talk about the Comeback album with press as they pose for pictures. They leave the red carpet photo op too soon for Jungkook, who was enjoying the glow. It feels too long since they were on tour and able to feel this flood of interest from strangers. He reluctantly follows the other members inside the auditorium.

The members take their seats at a large round table near the front of the stage and Jungkook looks around at the other artists seated nearby, waving politely to some old friends and acquaintances, paying a little extra attention to a few of the new girl groups who, fortunately, are seated close to their table. The Hyungs always tease him about being shy in front of pretty girls but since get left the military, that shyness has been replaced by a knowing confidence that's served him well. He turns back to see Jimin and Yoongi whispering about something and whatever is going on, he's aware it has something to do with the new producer. Jungkook guesses that Yoongi might take some exception to the fact that she is nominated with N-Force, a rapper who he seems to hate all of the sudden. The mere mention of his name causes a slew of insults to tumble from his lips unprovoked. His jealousy is not well masked.

He's almost positive now that he has something still going on with this producer. He seemed ready, reluctantly, but ready, to just have her be the producer, and not his girlfriend, but the way he is acting now, he realizes that is not what ended up happening. He met her, briefly, a few days before when he visited Namjoon and Hoseok in the studio. Although she is pretty, she is also young, and, that usually means, complicated. It's not clean cut and easy with a girl that much younger, it's messy and angsty, and full of drama in his experience. He never enjoyed more than a few dates with a girl like that in the past because girls his own age, or even older, just seemed more confident, less needy. The push pull, the expectations of young love usually gets in the way of your work. What's worse is that now that Moon is their producer, anything she's going through with Yoongi will impact all of their work, and risk the Comeback album. He watches Yoongi rise from his chair, looking around the room, and he realizes by the way he's scanning the tables quickly that he's looking for her, trying to find where she is, and maybe see if she is with N-Force. 

It's definitely out of character for Yoongi to be making such a brooding scene over a girl. Years ago, when they were just kids, and he fell for his brother's girlfriend, he kept most of that angst to himself and just wrote song after song about it. The other members probably didn't even know. Jungkook had only known about it because he guessed what was happening, and he kept asking questions, sensing that deep down, Yoongi probably needed to confide in someone, to have someone to share his secret burden. He was proud at the time that it had been him he turned to, above all the other members, because he knew he was so private with his feelings. Now he seems to be ready to let everyone in the room see just how miserable and love sick he is, and it disappoints Jungkook to see him so openly pining for this girl. He watches Jimin pull Yoongi's arm down to sit and he drops back into the chair, almost unconscious of the movement as he stares, mouth agape.