Chapter Text
Morning comes in the form of a phone ringing. Namjoon groans in unison with Jimin and Jin who’re also light sleepers as he answers the phone.
“‘Lo?” Namjoon croaks.
“Namjoon-ah! Good morning. How are you all, has Jungkook come out of his room?” Sejin’s cheery but worried voice fills Namjoon’s ears. The boy smiles slightly at their manager’s concern and looks down at Jungkook who is sleeping soundly with his head tucked into a groggy Jin’s chest, Taehyung still sleeping and hugging the boy from behind.
“We’re… Managing. I think we might go crazy here soon though. The 95z have been pulling pranks every chance they get, Hobi-hyung’s been itching to go to the dance studio so much that he’s literally constantly buzzing.” Namjoon chuckles as he swears he feels Hoseok buzzing in his sleep even.
“Well,I called just in time then. Pd-nim wants you guys to come today.” Sejin’s words shock the leader, and from the looks of it, it seems Jimin and Jin heard as well.
“Hyung… Are you sure?” Namjoon is uneasy about this, but it has been a week and he’s been itching to get back to work.
“Yes! Well… I mean no. Namjoon… Have you checked twitter recently?” Sejin sounds excited. Namjoon looks at the two awake members with a raised brow as Jimin untangles himself from Yoongi to get his phone. Namjoon remembers he’s on the phone and shakes his head along with telling Sejin he hasn’t.
“I think that you should. You’d be supri-” Sejin was suddenly cut off as Jimin’s excited ‘HYUNG!!’ echoes throughout the house. This wakes Yoongi and Hoseok who look down at Jungkook immediately. The maknae had a nightmare around 2am during the night, screaming for his hyungs and scaring the living shit out of everyone. It had taken three people to wake him and then an hour to calm him back down and even then it was hard for everyone to fall back asleep, Namjoon finally nodding off around 4 hours ago.
Jimin comes barreling into the room, managing to trip and fall flat on his face. Hoseok tries to ask if he’s okay but can’t seem to stop laughing. Taehyung began to stir and sleepily gazed at his platonic soulmate pick himself up off the ground before rushing to the bed.
“Hyungs, TaeTae look!!” Jimin squeals, shoving the phone in their faces, screen entirely to bright for people who’d just woken up. Namjoon blinks to adjust his eyes, the view clearing only to see-
The hashtags.
There was #JungkookHatesArmy at number 4, #JeonJungkookIsOverParty at number 5.
But at number 3 there was #WeLoveYouJungkook
Number 2 was #WereSorryJungkook
And at number 1, trending #ItsNotYourFaultKookie
Namjoon’s eyes felt like they were gonna bulge out of his head as he looked to see the rest of the hyung line mirroring his expression. Taehyung had joined Jimin and the two were scrolling through the hashtag, smiling at posts and saving ones to show Jungkook when he woke.
“I see the news has reached you lot? There’s a reason this is all happening, I’ll send you the link in a second okay? Make sure Jungkook sees this all when he wakes okay? And come around 2, all of you. The plan today is to refresh your memories on the comeback choreo and to talk our comeback plans, easy day. Practice won’t be too strenuous, we’ll save that for next week.” Sejin rattles off the schedule to Namjoon who nods and hangs up, looking up to see Jin Hoseok and Yoongi on the eldests’ phone, Jimin and Taehyung still on Jimin’s. Then he looks back down to see Jungkook still asleep. The youngests’ head has rolled to be tucked into Jin’s side as the oldest massages his nape while scrolling with the other two oldest. Namjoon smiles softly, at Jungkook’s sleeping form, before he checks the link Sejin sent him.
“Everyone come here. Sejin sent me a link for us to watch.” And all the boys immediately moved to crowd around Namjoon on the bed as the leader pressed play.
The video was titled ‘Justice for Kookie: The Truth’ and began with a girl who looked to be his age looking apolegetic.
“ Jungkook oppa- Well I guess not oppa since I’m older haha… Jungkook I-…. I want to apologize. I was apart of the group who started this whole drama. I was friends with Mimi and she’d been planning this for a while, but we assumed she was joking. We weren’t at the airport with her, we’d only heard when we had to bail her out and she told us she was going to take her life and it was because of you. We were blinded. We thought- She told us a different story from what happened. We were told that you told her to kill herself. But after being shown this video last night, I see the truth.” And the screen switches to another video, a clip from a fan of Jungkook that day. First the camera is shaky and trying to focus but hey hear the fan screaming that she’ll kill herself, seeing blurry versions of themselves freeze and look a Jungkook. The six boys watch as their maknae is seen in a low quality version, running to the girl and grabbing her hands very gently, a sweet bunny toothed smile on his face.
“Aigooo!! Our maknae is quite the charmer!” Hoseok grabs his heart, the others chuckling as they hear Jungkook tell the girl very clearly “I’m here. Please don’t take your life.” He sounds breathless, but happy to tell her. They notice that while he was talking to the girl, three others were sneaking from the sides. They then see how the sasaeng smiles something sinister, and proceeds to grab at Jungkook’s hair, pulling him to her height. The other girls begin grabbing and scratching at other parts of him and Namjoon winces as her sees a girl bang her fist against Jungkook’s head, the maknae swaying. They then see a fuming Jin, Jimin and Sejin walk up to the crowd, Sejin separating them while Jin effortlessly plucks Jungkook from it, handing his backpack off to Sejin and tossing the maknae over his shoulder. They then walk from the crowd and to the car and you can see Jungkook struggle, before freezing and relaxing, and then the clip ends, switching back to the girl. The hyungs are angry at seeing their maknae attacked, but they continue to watch quietly.
“ As you can see and hear, Jungkook did nothing wrong. Mimi was… Psychotic. Her letter was untrue. She came from a great loving home, she had us great friends… She-She’s always had this weird obsession with Jungkook and she wanted to have him to herself. She’d always say how she was going to get him and lock him away and that if she didn’t have him that she’d kill him or herself. We found it very uncomfortable, but she always said she was joking and- That doesn’t matter. We shouldn’t have tried to brush it off like that.” She pauses, tearing up.
“Damn straight you shouldn’t have.” Jimin huffs, taking his smacks and ‘Watch your mouth!’s head on.
“ Jungkook, ARMY,listen. It’s not his fault. Jungkook did nothing wrong. I won’t say I’m glad Mimi is gone, but… This needs to end. I’m a fan of BTS, and I can just… You know Jungkook-ah,you have a very innocent and expressive face. And the thought of destroying that sweet innocent, of destroying the chemistry between you boys, it breaks my heart. I am deeply sorry Jungkook. I have turned myself in, along with my other friends, so don’t worry about charges, though I think you’d have too big of a heart to even realize you should- And this is the last thing I’m saying for a while. Stop attacking Jungkook, leave BTS alone. They ARE HARMLESS. I need to make sure this gets through people’s heads and this video circulates. So I’ll say it again. I am a confirmed source, Jungkook did nothing wrong ARMY. I’m not the only one who had some apologizing to do. Please trend the hashtags #ItsNotYourFaultKookie and #WereSorryJungkook. Thank you and goodbye. I’m deeply sorry Jungkook, no need for forgiveness.” And with a 90 degree bow, the video ends.
“That was… Wow…” Hoseok breathed. It was silent for a few minutes before they heard Jungkook begin to stir.
Jungkook fluttered his eyes open, only to be met with Taehyung’s eyes in crescents and his boxy grin.
“Mornin’ Kookie!” Taehyung coos, ruffling the lost boy’s hair. Jungkook blinks at Taehyung a few times, before silently sitting up.
“Why m’ I in Jin-hyung’s bed?” Jungkook questions. Wasn’t he in his room crying? He’d dreamt he came out the room but-
“Jungkookie look at this!!” Jimin couldn’t contain his excitement and handed Jungkook the phone. Jungkook’s heart fell and his breathing picked up as he shook his head.
“Hy-un- please don’t make me read them. I- I don’t want t-” Jungkook seemed to tear up at the phone being handed to him. Jin shushed him, startled.
“No Jungkook it’s good I promise! Hyungs would never make you look at something that’d hurt you.” Namjoon comforted. Jungkook looked at him, calming back down before he hesitantly grabbed the phone, eyes bulging at all the supportive messages he received. He couldn’t stop scrolling and his hyungs watched on silently. After a minute, Namjoon handed him his phone and let Jungkook watch the video.
By the end, Jungkook was sobbing, only this time it sounded like relief instead of broken. He sighs and falls forward into Taehyung’s waiting arms, body too weak with relief to hold himself up as he continues to sob. The other six found themselves crying as well, pulling Jungkook and Taehyung into a group hug.
“I told you it’d be okay. Hyungs and ARMY have your back. Pretty cool to be so loved, huh?” Jin says after a few minutes of snifflinf. Jungkook has his face buried in Taehyung’s chest still, trembling from the immense relief he feels. The boy nods.
“Y-Yeah… T-ank hyungs.” Comes the muffled reply. The six hum and continue to hug each other.
It’s okay. Better days are coming. The hardest part is over.
EPILOGUE OF SORTS
Jungkook flops on to the ground with the other members, exhausted after the billionth runthrough of their comeback choreography. Comeback was in a day and they had everything set. Despite the situation, they somehow still had a stuffed venue to perform at. They won’t question such a blessing though, only being motivated to work their hardest.
“Okay boys! Do you think we should call it a day!” Sejin claps his hands together. Yoongi cranes his neck up, panting harshly.
“We should’ve called it a day 3 days ago when we made it through all those runthroughs without mistakes! I WANT TO BE BACK HOME! MY MOM SAYS I’M SMALL ENOUGH TO PASS AS 13, ISN’T THERE A CHILD LABOR LAW ON THIS OR SOMETHING?” The small man bemoans, the others laughing at his dramatics. They’re exhausted beyond belief, but they all know they’d rather be here doing what they love than stuck at home, afraid to step out.
The boys eventually get up, packing their things, before walking out to the van. Jungkook is at the front of the line, excited to shower and get some takeout. In his haste to get to the car, he doesn’t notice the girls following him until they’re right in his face.
“JEON JUNGKOOK YOU MONSTER! HOW CAN YOU HAPPILY RUN TO THE CAR KNOWING YOU KILLED SOMEONE! SCUM LIKE YOU DESERVES TO DIE,NOT MIMI!!” The girls shout at him. Jungkook freezes. The first time he stepped out of the house, he had a panic attack, fearing going out and being told he was a murderer. He was a wreck the whole ride to the studio, even having Sejin pull over so he could throw up out of sheer nerves. It had been very hard for his hyungs to convince him it was okay and he’s been very cautious of being out, especially around crowds.
Just this morning, he had to be assured six times that he’s be fine and even then, he was still tense until he was in a building with security locks. It’s just that he was so tired and he hadn’t even noticed that he strayed from his hyungs and they’re back there and he-
“YAH! JUNGKOOK IS NO MURDERER! THAT WAS CLEARED UP WEEKS AGO, DO YOU LIVE UNDER A ROCK!” Three girls enter from across the street, moving to stand in front of Jungkook. The one who called out to them steps up to the two.
“If you’re gonna call someone out, have your facts straight. If you want to get to Jungkook oppa, you go through us.” The girl crosses her arms. The other two don’t look convinced as they step up to them.
“We’re not scared of you.” One of the girls snorts. Jungkook is then moved behind five other figures, being pulled into someone’s arms. He struggles before the figure shushes him, deep voice being revealed to be Namjoon’s. He relaxes, struggling to catch his breath.
“You scared of us then? If not, you should probably fear the guards here and police as you are harassing not just a group of idols, but three innocent girls?” Yoongi crosses his arms as Sejin comes out with two bodyguards. The girls then cower, before taking off, no words even said.
It’s silent for a few seconds before the group bursts out laughing.
“W-wait….! We didn’t e-even get t-to the guards I’m-!!!” Jimin giggles, collapsing into Jin.
“Yah, they looked so scared! I think the leader was gonna cry!” Taehyung cackles. The group laughs for a bit more, before the girls turn to them sobered up,they walk around the boys to Jungkook. The boy didn’t laugh with them, just Jungshook in Namjoon’s arms. He flinches when they stop in front of him, before relaxing and staring at them.
“Jungkook-ssi, we’re here for you. ARMY is here and BTS is here. We won’t let anyone hurt you! Relax okay?” The girls smile at him. Jungkook continues to look shocked before he fully relaxes.
“Right. Because it isn’t my fault.” He beams at the girls who eagerly nod. Jungkook lets out a shaky breath he hadn’t known he was holding. He looks around and it seems the streetlights make halos form around everyone’s heads. They love him. They wouldn’t lie. He has his family, he’s safe. And-
It’s not his fault .