Chapter Text
Slowly and carefully, Yoongi helped Jin down to the lobby where they met the others. Some people from the staff were talking with their manager, they seemed to go over some things. The conversation looked important.
It was with even slower and even more careful steps, Yoongi and Jin went up to them. Their Hyungnim eyed them for a second while he kept listening to the young women they knew as Chija. She was very sweet, very professional but most of all a perfectionist. She wanted everything to go as planned, and she wasn’t satisfied until things were perfect, that was why their Hyungnim liked her so much. They were very similar in that aspect; but that was the only thing they had in common.
She stopped talking and was now scanning Jin from top to toe. It was obvious that she was concerned. Their Hyungnim looked at him too, and he didn’t like what he saw. He looked more bothered than angry, though. The concern could be seen in his eyes too, he was realizing something he didn’t like.
“Hyungnim”, Jin spoke quietly, unable to look at the man’s face. “May…”, he pressed his hands together nervously, trying to find the courage. “May…”
“Hyungnim”, Yoongi spoke up when he noticed Jin was unable to. “May we speak with you?”
The man crossed his arms and changed his standing position before giving them a nod. He didn’t seem to be in a too bad mood.
Yoongi turned to Jin and Jin swallowed hard, but didn’t say anything. Everything was too hot, and still he was freezing, and his head was spinning badly.
“If you want to say something, say it now instead of wasting our time!” the man looked stressed, sounded uneasy. It was as if he suspected where this was going.
“I’m sorry, Hyungnim…”, Jin finally spoke. “… For my errors back in Melbourne, and I’m sor…”
“I don’t need your apologies boy, just do better”, the man interrupted him. “If that’s all you want to say, then we’re done here.”
Jin bit his lower lip and took a step back.
“He looks sick”, Chija spoke up, and turned her gaze to their manager, waiting for a reaction.
Jin’s heart was beating harder, and his eyes were darting everywhere, or anywhere, not to have to face the two in front of him. The nervosity was not making him feel less sick.
“How sick are you?” the man asked.
“I’m sor… I mean”, Jin interrupted himself, remembering that ‘I’m sorry’ wasn’t a phrase his Hyungnim wanted to hear. “I won’t be… be able to p-perform to-today.”
The man’s eyes narrowed, and his frustration grew, but he wasn’t blind. He could tell that Jin could barely stand on his feet. It was unfortunate, but they couldn’t do anything about it.
Jin held his breath and heard how the man cursed to himself. He wished he hadn’t disappointed his Hyungnim like this. He wished he’d been stronger.
The man scanned him again, to really make sure Jin was as sick as he seemed to be.
“Alright”, he then said and rubbed his own chin, thinking.
Both Jin and Yoongi looked a bit surprised, because they hadn’t expected him to be this understanding. Normally if they ever dared to admit they were sick, he would tell them to pull it through.
“Do you need medicine? We’ll go buy you some”, Chija asked, although she didn’t sound as sweet as she usually would. They knew she was stressing out internally because her perfect plan wasn’t perfect anymore. She still kept a bright smile in her round, pale face. She was young, small and petit. Even Yoongi was a whole head taller than her.
“Thank you, Noona, but no”, Jin answer with a slight bow; only that movement made it spin worse. “We have everything already, I’ve taken an aspirin th-this morning.”
She gave him a nod in understanding. “I hope you’ll feel better soon, Seokjin-ah.”
Jin smiled a little. “Thank you, Noona.”
“Okay, well, you’ll stay in your room”, their Hyungnim said.
Jin had wanted to go with them to at least cheer on his team members, but he wasn’t going to argue about it. “Yes, Hyungnim”, he said instead and saw how the man picked up his phone to check the time. They had to leave.
Yoongi put a gentle hand on his Hyung’s back. “You’ll be fine.”
Jin nodded. He knew he would, but it didn’t make him less guilty that he let down not only Hyungnim, but himself and his team members too, but especially Army. Perhaps they wouldn’t notice he wasn’t there, in a way he wished it, so they wouldn’t feel disappointed, but the thought also hurt. He wanted to be loved by their fans too.
Jin saw them leave, and he was soon by himself in the big lobby that reminded him of the ballroom in the animated movie ‘Anastasia’. It would take him a lot of time and effort to get back to his hotel room, so he better start walking.
His head kept spinning and his body felt heavy and hot. Great, he thought, he’d only taken two steps and he was already exhausted. It was good he didn’t go with them to the concert.
“Hoseok-ah”, Namjoon whispered when they took a seat in the van “Are you going to be okay? You’re limping when you’re walking.” He was worried about his friend, and he was worried for the performance too. Luckily, himself and Taehyung were good enough.
“Yeah, I can do it”, Hobi assured. He didn’t want to let Army down. It was bad enough that they were going to miss out of one member already. And besides, he wouldn’t want to miss this opportunity for anything in the world. He really felt bad for Jin, because it hurt just imagining having to stay behind.
“Are you sure?”
“I am, don’t worry about it”, Hobi said and shot him a smile. “How about you? Are you okay?”
“Yeah”, Namjoon nodded.
Jimin looked at them both where they were sitting in the two seats in front of him. He was still annoyed, and he hadn’t given up on his plan just yet. If his Hyungs didn’t want to do anything about this, he would do it himself. But before he made any rash moves, he wanted to talk with Taehyung.
Taehyung wasn’t much in a talking mood though, and every time Jimin tried to get his attention, he put his hands over his ears. His head was too chaos. He needed no one to disturb him.
“Taehyu…”
“Leave him alone!” Namjoon snapped at Jimin when Jimin tried to talk to Taehyung for the twentieth time, at least. They were now standing at the entrance to the TV studio. Their interview was over and went well, and they were now on their way to the Best Buy Theatre. There was where they were going to perform in front of about three thousand people. It was exciting, but they weren’t really happy none of them. Normally, they used to be able to forget what’s painful in life, and just get up on stage and feel the euphoria and joy. Today felt different. They all missed their Jin-Hyung.
Jimin looked at Namjoon, pouting. The leader did not appreciate it, not a bit.
“You better change that attitude damn fast; you hear me?” he spoke sharply with a warning finger up in Jimin’s face. The stress was rushing through his body. “I’m getting fed up with you.”
Tears welled up in Jimin’s eyes and he swallowed not to start crying. All the emotions were too raw and intense.
Namjoon soften a bit, because he knew they were all sensitive and on edge at the moment.
“Just behave yourself, okay?” he muttered. He couldn’t lie to himself, he too felt like crying, but he wouldn’t let the tears fall.
Jimin wouldn’t let his tears fall either. It was important to stay strong.
And his strength really got tested when they arrived at the theatre just to be told that the concert was going to be cancelled.
“Threats have been made”, Chija explained, because their manager was too busy scolding someone on his phone.
“What?” the members basically said in union.
“Towards Namjoon-ah”, she said and got eye contact with the leader. Namjoon looked more confused than anything, he couldn’t fully grasp what it was she was saying.
“Wh-what?” Jimin squeaked, he was the only who managed to say anything. The others were too much in shock.
“Pictures have been spreading on social media”, she said. “Showing people with handguns, threatening you guys, especially Namjoon-ah. They know you’re their leader.”
“Where? What social media? On Twitter?” Yoongi asked, he was getting pissed but Chija didn’t want to answer that.
“It doesn’t matter”, she said. “We’re taking care of it, but it’s not safe for you to stay here.”
They looked at each other. It was difficult to believe it. Why would anyone want to shoot them? What have they done wrong? They just wanted to spread their music to the world. Spread hope, love and happiness. Was this really the price they had to pay to become bigger?
Yoongi was feeling how his anger grew stronger. “No”, he said. “If we don’t go up on that stage, they will win!”
Chija looked at him without saying anything.
“We shouldn’t give the haters what they want!” Yoongi’s voice was sharp but his Noona answered him with more silence. He kicked the chair next to him when he saw how she walked away.
“Easy, Hyung”, Namjoon said and put a calming hand on his shoulder. “We talk with Hyungnim after he’s finished with his call, okay?”
Jungkook was watching Namjoon with big worry. It wasn’t like they haven’t been threatened before, but never like this, never by handguns. He was scared; he didn’t want his Hyung to get hurt. None of his Hyungs.
Anxiety was crawling under his skin. The heaviness in his heart was getting more than just uncomfortable. Jungkook could feel the panic rushing through his body. It felt like he needed to get away, but he knew he had to stay.
He eyed Hobi while his right hand went behind his back and under his blue t-shirt. He needed to pinch the pain away. It was a bad thing to do, but what option did he have?
Pinch and scratch and iiiih, it didn’t help. The panic was growing. It was heating up his body and made him too hot.
“Jungkook-ah, Taehyung-ah, are you two okay?” Namjoon asked, and Jungkook quickly got his hand out from his t-shirt.
“Y-y-yes, Hyung”, he said, and shot a quick gaze at Hobi again. He dropped it when he noticed that the rapper was looking at him.
Namjoon went up to Taehyung when the boy wasn’t reacting. “How are you?” he asked.
“Hyung, are we cursed?”
Namjoon supressed a sigh and was surprised when Taehyung attacked him with a hug.
“Are we?”
“No, we’re not, don’t worry”, the leader said and hugged his dongsaeng back. “It’s like Yoongi-Hyung said, these haters can’t stop us, not now, not ever.”
Unfortunately, they seemed to have stopped them today, because their manager said the exact same thing Chija had said.
“It’s not safe for you here, we won’t risk it.”
“But Hyungnim…”
“Did you hear me, boy?” the man interrupted Yoongi. “Or do I have to make it clearer for you?”
Yoongi took a step back and hung his head in defeat. “No, Hyungnim, sorry”, he said through clenched teeth. He hated how the man made him feel so nervous and weak.
Jimin looked at his Hyungnim with angry eyes. The hatred only grew stronger, but the fear too. He wanted to do something to piss off the man, but he realized he didn’t dare. The plan he’d had, which Yoongi had forbidden him to go through with, made him feel ridiculous. How stupid he was to believe he would ever dare to cross his manager on purpose. Now he really wanted to talk to Taehyung more than before…
He got his chance when they were back at the hotel that evening. The concert, just like their manager had decided, got cancelled, and they only sang one song for Army, apologized to them and wished them a good night.
It was really sad, and although they had, in a way, felt too tired for today’s event, they still hadn’t wished for their show to be called off. They knew it was the right thing to do though, because they should always take threats seriously, and protect themselves and each other from any harm.
Yoongi had found the threatening pictures and showed them. It had become much more real to them when they saw it all. They had been even more worried for Namjoon, because it was clear the haters were targeting him.
Hobi decided to stay with him tonight. Their leader needed the comfort, they all needed the comfort.
“We can watch a movie together”, he said and put an arm around Namjoon’s neck. “And we can order Panda Express.”
Jungkook joined them too, while Yoongi went to his room to check on Jin. Jin was feeling a bit better; that was a relief. He was going to heal properly and hopefully be up in a couple of days…
So while they were busy comforting each other, Jimin and Taehyung were left alone in their hotel room.
That’s perfect.
“Can we finish watching Seraph of the End?” Taehyung asked and Jimin almost nodded before he remembered:
“No, we should wait for Jungkook, he probably wants to finish it with us.”
“Oh, of course.”
“We can start on something new”, Jimin suggested, and Taehyung took a seat on one of the three beds. The room was very beige, white and goldish. He looked out through the window. The night was just like in Seoul – never dark. Never quiet. Never asleep.
“But I would really like to talk to you first”, he heard Jimin say. Talk? He thought a bit concerned. Jimin had wanted to talk with him all day, but he didn’t like to talk, he was too tired.
Jimin looked down at his best friend. Taehyung looked so small and fragile. And so very, very sad.
“Tae? I know you don’t want to talk, but I really need us to”, he said and took a seat next to him. “Please.”
Taehyung looked at him with a frown but then shrugged.
“Oh, okay”, he murmured and Jimin wrapped his arm around him.
“TaeTae, how are you?”
“I’m okay”, Taehyung said a bit sceptical about how this conversation started. “But I’m sad for those horrible threats and for disappointing Army.”
“Me too”, Jimin agreed and his arm fell from his friend. He started inspecting his nails while feeling his heartbeat raise. This was feeling too awkward, as if they didn’t even know each other anymore.
“Anything else you wanted?” Taehyung suddenly spoke up after almost a minute in complete silence.
“About yesterday”, Jimin said. “Are you hurting a lot?”
“Um…”, Taehyung thought about it, not because the answer was complicated, because he was hurting quite a lot, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to share that information. “… I’ll survive…”
“Are you bruised a lot?”
Taehyung furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Jimin with suspicion. He didn’t like these questions. “I don’t know”, he answered.
“You haven’t checked?” Jimin looked surprised and Taehyung scoffed.
“Why should I?” he asked “It won’t change anything.”
“It might.”
Taehyung tilted his head in confusion. “How?”
“If it’s bad bruising, we can report it to Bang PD.”
“What?” Taehyung was confused. “Wasn’t Seokjin-Hyung going to do that?”
“He doesn’t want to”, Jimin muttered, obviously very disappointed by their Hyung’s decision. Taehyung was a bit sad about it too, because he had hoped Bang PD could tell their manager to not hit so hard from now on. But what did that have to do with his… oh… the penny dropped…
“Wait, you mean you want me to show them my bruises instead?” he asked and Jimin nodded eagerly. It was clear to the younger that Jimin was getting his hopes up.
“Yeah, we can take pictures and send it to them, and tell them that our manager crossed the line this time.”
“Pictures?” Taehyung didn’t like that, because pictures could be passed around, and they could leak too, which meant that someone he didn’t want to see could see how bad behaved he was. They were idols, they were supposed to be good role models.
“Yeah”, Jimin said. “You know, photographs, and…”
“Why doesn’t Seokjin-Hyung want to report him?” Taehyung interrupted him and Jimin’s whole demeaner changed. His shoulders dropped, just like his hopeful smile. From looking positive and eager, he was now looking dejected.
“Well, it doesn’t matter.”
“Jimin-ah”, Taehyung whined, he didn’t want his best friend to treat him like their Hyungs. “Tell me.”
“He just doesn’t understand.”
“Why doesn’t he want to report our manager?” Taehyung was more stubborn than normally.
“Because…” Jimin started to squirm, while staring at his nails again.
“Because what?”
Jimin sighed and drop his hands on his laps. “Because he doesn’t want to disrespect him”, he muttered. “Hyung got really upset when he heard our plan.”
“Does he believe we could make a difference?” Taehyung asked curiously and Jimin shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know.”
“Does he believe there should be a difference?”
“I… I don’t know.” Jimin honestly had no idea what Jin thought, and he wondered why Taehyung thought that information was important. Perhaps it was the paranoia speaking, but Jimin suddenly started to worry that Taehyung would agree with Jin and say that it would be disrespectful to report their manager. He didn’t want to hear that and quickly said:
“But both Yoongi-Hyung and Hobi-Hyung were in on it! They don’t think it’s disrespectful!”
“Why don’t we take pictures of Hobi?” Taehyung asked and Jimin squeezed both his hands and his eyes.
“Aigoo”, he muttered, because the truth to that question might get Taehyung wrong ideas.
“Jimin-ah?”
Jimin let out a heavy sigh; he knew he couldn’t lie to his best friend. “I guess he didn’t believe his bruises were bad enough.”
“What? But if that’s so…”, Taehyung wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. He thought hard. “… no”, he then shook his head, because there was something that didn’t add up. “He must be more bruised than I am, and if his bruises aren’t enough to get Bang PD to scold our manager, then mine…”
“Perhaps your bruises are worse still!” Jimin interrupted Taehyung this time, as if he was scared that if Taehyung were to finish that sentence, he would’ve made up his mind forever.
“I can’t imagine that”, the younger answered pretty confident.
“Of course you can’t, you haven’t seen yours yet”, Jimin said, visibly annoyed.
“I don’t want to see them”, Taehyung murmured and rubbed his arm to calm the uncomfortable feeling that was surrounding him.
“So let me see them.”
“No!” Taehyung flew up from the bed as if he was worried Jimin was going to physically force him to show them.
“Why not?” Jimin said and stood up as well, a bit surprised at the outburst.
“Because it’s embarrassing, you should know that already!” Taehyung was getting frustrated. “I don’t think you would like it either, would you? Would you really like to show people how badly behaved you’ve been?”
“But you didn’t get those bruises because you behaved badly”, Jimin said with his hands spreading out in a gesture.
“I hid in the bathroom.”
“That’s not your fault”, Jimin assured but Taehyung frowned.
“That’s only you who think that”, he said but his friend shook his head in disagreement.
“No, not at all!”
“So why did Namjoon-Hyung slap me then?”
“He’s a jerk!” Jimin’s annoyance was back. It wasn’t because of Taehyung though, but because of their stupid leader. Why did he have to break his promise and hit Taehyung?
A deep breath. Jimin wanted to calm down. He knew he needed to.
“Please, Taehyungie”, he said. “If we can show BigHit that the man punished Jin-Hyung too harshly, so much so he couldn’t perform, they will get angry with him.”
“But we prove that to them, because Seokjin-Hyung doesn’t want to show them”, Taehyung pointed out.
“But we can show yours!”
Taehyung looked at Jimin as if he thought he was stupid. “And what have my bruises to do with his punishment?” he asked, because it didn’t make sense in his head.
It made a lot of sense in Jimin’s head. “They are all connected”, he answered but Taehyung still couldn’t see it.
“How?”
“How? Our manager punished you because you tried to stop him from punishing Jin-Hyung”, Jimin answered as if he thought it was obvious, but Taehyung still couldn’t see how that made sense.
“And again”, he said. “What have my bruises to do with Hyungnim punishing Seokjin-Hyung too harshly?”
“Because he punished Jin-Hyung because he thought that…”
“Wait, Jimin-ah”, Taehyung interrupted him harshly. “Listen, okay?”
“Okay”, Jimin said more out of surprise at Taehyung’s sharp tone than anything else.
“You want to prove to BigHit that Hyungnim punished Seokjin-Hyung too harshly by showing them my bruises? Do you hear how nuts that sounds?”
Jimin thought about it, and he must admit it wasn’t sounding as good as it had in his head. “Yeah, well but… I…”, he hesitated for a second, scratching his nose, while trying to come up with something that would make it sound better. “… but if we explain it to them.”
“If we explain what? That I was punished because I tried to stop Hyungnim from punishing Seokjin-Hyung, you mean?” Taehyung asked and pointed a finger at his own chest to emphasize the ‘I’. “You must know what they will take from that information!”
“But we tell them that you tried to stop them because he was going too far”, Jimin was as always too stubborn, and Taehyung was losing his patience.
“And we still can’t prove he did because Seokjin-Hyung won’t show his bruises to them”, he tried to explain as calmly as he possibly could. “Do you really think they would take our word for it?”
“They might investigate it”, Jimin pointed out. He was really grasping onto the little hope he had. He could tell Taehyung wasn’t buying it. “I mean, Hyungnim will have to tell them that Jin-Hyung couldn’t perform today!”
“Because of sickness!” Taehyung’s harsh tone was back, but this time, Jimin wasn’t backing off.
“That he created!” he spoke, equally harsh.
“And still we can’t prove it as long as Seokjin-Hyung doesn’t want them to know.”
“Why do you make it so complicated?” Jimin couldn’t at all understand his friend right now, it was as if Taehyung didn’t even want it to work. “Huh? Why?”
“Because you’re living in a fantasy world right now!” Taehyung answered, but then let out a miserable sigh when he saw the heartbreak in his friend’s eyes. “Jimin-ah, please”, he literally begged. “If we tell them that Hyungnim punished us, they will want to know why, what are we supposed to answer?”
“That you got stuck in the bathroom, so it wasn’t Jin-Hyung’s fault”, Jimin said weakly and sad.
“And they will want to know why he punished Seokjin-Hyung for something I did, and what do we answer then?” Taehyung’s voice was almost as weak and sad.
“That we lied…”, Jimin realized what he said and quickly tried to recover it. “… b-but only to protect you! Because we all knew Hyungnim would hurt you, because he hurt you before.”
“That would be a lie”, Taehyung said, because although he’d been spanked by his manager in the past, it hadn’t been too harshly, he hadn’t ended up too hurt. Their Hyungnim had only done it to teach him better. It was discipline and nothing like what he did to Jin last night.
“He hurt me before”, Jimin said, while trying to push away the memory. “So we can tell them that we didn’t want him to hurt you too.”
“And they would ask why we would want Seokjin-Hyung hurt”, Taehyung pointed out, which lead to a tired sigh from Jimin.
“But we had to put the blame on someone!”
“You know that that is the only thing they will hear”, Taehyung said. The frustration was quickly back. “When we tell them that, they will forget everything else.”
“What?”
“We lied, Jimin-ah!!” Taehyung shouted out the words, because it seemed like Jimin wouldn’t understand it otherwise. He was too thick-headed to understand anything. “We lied to our manager.”
“To protect ourselves.”
“We can still not prove it!!”
“With your bruises, we can!!” Jimin shouted back.
“Okay, okay.” Taehyung sighed in defeat; yet again, Jimin’s stubbornness won him the battle.
He unbuttoned and unzipped his white shorts and pulled them down together with his underwear.
Jimin pulled up his phone from his pocket and squatted down to see the damage. His hope faded when he only saw a few slightly purple marks which seemed even more fainted through the camera lens.
“He… he didn’t go hard on you?” he had to ask, because he hadn’t expected this at all.
“It hurt really bad, it did”, Taehyung admitted while his cheeks started to burn hot. “But he was tired after punishing the others, so… yeah…”
Jimin should feel grateful for that, and he would’ve normally, but right now, he couldn’t stop but feel disappointed. He really thought that they finally had the proof they needed.
“I see…”, he murmured and stood up. “Well… it’s not enough…”
“I’m sorry for that”, Taehyung said and pulled up his boxers and shorts. He was relieved that Hobi hadn’t stormed into their shared room, while he was standing here half naked. And especially not with Jimin on his knees.
“No, don’t be”, Jimin said. “Let’s just forget about it and watch something.”
Taehyung watched him, he looked so very down, and it made him sad too, but there was nothing he could do.
“Let’s watch a zombie series”, Jimin said and Taehyung nodded.
“Okay.”
They curled up in the gigantic bed that was supposed to be three. It was warm and cosy. None of them could concentrate on the series though, too occupied with their own thoughts.
Jimin chewed on his finger. The hopelessness won. He wasn’t going to continue fighting anymore. The only thing he wanted right now was for everything bad to disappear, and that he could forget about it all.
He wasn’t the only one who wanted to forget about everything that happened so far on this tour. All seven of them wanted to move on, and never look back again…
But still, Jimin wasn't fully satisfied. Not at all, actually. He decided that he was going to forget it all for now, but he knew that he wasn't going to stop forget forever, and he also knew that he wasn't going to stop until he found a way to get that bastard out of their lives…