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They were all back stage waiting for their queue. Jimin and J-hope were discussing with the staff workers about their dance performance for their part of the intro, Boy Meets Evil. The others were doing their separate things like singing their parts or running over their choreography. Jungkook was getting ready to go over the small stunt for their MAMA performance intro. In all honesty, he wasn't too thrilled to be hanging from that height by just a few wires. It wasn't that he was scared, he just found it to be so uncomfortable being in that position for more than a minute. It made his hips sore when he was shooting for Blood, Sweat, and Tears. Then again, he doesn't want to be a bother to the hyungs, he knows that they're all doing their best for this performance and he wants to do his best too.
"Are you ready Jungkook-ssi?" the staff worker asked him directly in a reassuring manner. He seems to have noticed Jungkook’s deep trance through his thoughts. "The harness is set, we'll start lifting you up a few times just for you to get used to your pose"
Jungkook was lightly tugging on the harness as the other workers were helping him with his clothes he would have to put on top of. After he adjusted his over-sized hoodie to not interfere with the harness in any way, he proceeded to go out to the stage to where the others were doing their own things.
"oh, Junkookie! Do you need to hold my hand to make you less nervous?" Taehyung joked while yelling across one edge of the stage. He was practicing his vocals with Jin who was covering his ears in an annoyed yet playful manner. Jungkook rolled his eyes walking toward them.
"Are you scared? You're gonna be pretty high off the ground" He continued with a decreased volume as Jungkook inches closer to them
"Oh please, the height doesn’t scare me" He looks up to where he'll be hanging while scratching the back of his neck. "It's just uncomfortable hanging with my position and all"
Jin wrinkled his nose while looking at Jungkook with uncertainty. " But it's alright, it doesn't hurt that bad," He added quickly with a chuckle to reassure his worried hyung "You can’t expect to be comfortable with just some wires holding up... Unless you're a young guy like me" he glanced at Jin giving him an evil grin.
"Ya! Do you want to get slapped?" Jin got up raising his hand but Jungkook was already running away to the other side of the stage laughing and blowing kisses to his eldest hyung before he could get hit
"Aish, that kid" Jin sighed putting his hands on his hips. Taehyung was just laughing but immediately stopped when he saw a swift hand coming his way.
Jungkook met up with the other staff to prepare for his stunt. He was unconsciously hopping up and down with excitement while the staff hook up the wires from the stage ceiling to Jungkook's harness. He suddenly heard a voice calling to him from behind and turned his head.
Jimin and J-hope were waving to him yelling out good luck cheers as if he was going away for months.
"You can do it Kookie! just don't look down!" Jimin yelled while pumping up his fists. He had a black blind fold around his neck and Jungkook could only assume that he was going to do his dance break with J-hope right after he's done with his stunt. Jungkook gave them a bright bunny smile with two thumbs up.
J-hope gave a smile, their maknae is too cute for words. “You think he'll be all right?" he looks at Jimin who seem to be twisting a small piece of his hair while he asked.
"He's not golden maknae for nothing" he gave Jimin's back a few pats. "C'mon let's go over the dance one more time before trying it with music"
After everything was set and ready to go, the staff backed up speaking into their walkie talkies allowing the crew controlling the wires to start pulling Jungkook up. Jungkook took a small sharp breath in when he was suddenly hoisted up slowly from the ground but immediately calmed himself to not cause any trouble. In all honesty he found it pretty amusing to think that he's on a sitting position while there’s no chair under him.
The other members directed their attention to the boy but then averted their gazes back to their own works after seeing him kicking his legs cheerfully as he goes higher and higher.
Jungkook was humming a tune nonchalantly looking around. He noticed that there was a lot more creaking from the hook machines to his own liking. As much as he doesn’t want to complain he looks down to the staff " Are you sure this is working properly? There’s a lot of weird noises coming from above" he said loud enough for the worker below.
The one crew worker grunted as he reassured Jungkook not to worry. Everything was going smoothly. Yoongi and Namjoon were talking to one of the directors, Taehyung was chasing Jimin for some silly reason around while Jin and J-hope were taking their water break. Everything was fine.
Jungkook was given the queue to lay back after he reached a certain height. Ahg,I can already feel my hips getting sore. Hopefully this is a onetime thing today... He thought while scrunching his nose. He hears the intro of the song play and takes a deep breath stabilizing his body to not move.
It's been almost a minute and Jungkook could hear some of his hyungs fooling around. What he couldn't hear was the high pitch creaking of one of the wires holding up his upper body. Not too long after he did feel a vibration coming from that same wire.
"Ah, I think somethings wrong with the wires" Jungkook yelled over the music trying not to show panic in his voice. The staff worker looked up showing some annoyance in his face. Jungkook couldn't see him but he could definitely tell that he was tired of him just from the tone of his voice.
"Jungkook-ssi, everything is fine don't worry. But if it bothers you that much we'll lower you"
Jungkook quickly rejected the offer feeling guilty to have bothered him. The wires are probably just adjusting to his weight, of course. Right? He contemplated on the different options to calm himself down but before he could think of another ridiculous reason to why this is happening, he felt a slight drop now being slanted in mid-air. Okay, this isn’t normal. He was having none of it.
"Excuse me! something isn’t right!" He tried to yell over the music that was now playing Jimin and J-Hope’s part. He assumed the staff was ignoring because he had no reply from his ear piece. He wasn't slanting enough for anyone to notice and he definitely wasn't going to get anyone to hear him over this music. Before he knows it, the wire holding up his upper body snapped and recoils toward Jungkook’s face. Luckily Jungkook's reflexes were quick and used his arms to block the wire from hitting his face. He let out a hiss after blocking it and felt a burn to his forearms. His body was slanted in an uncomfortable position with only the one wire on the other side of his torso and two wires holding up his hips. it wasn't until a sudden stop of the music did he hear yells of his name with panic. He was too scared to look to who was yelling but he knew well enough that it was his hyungs.
~*~
"I'm really looking forward to this dance! It’s so thrilling even though I’m being blind folded" Jimin said practically inhaling his water bottle after. J-hope leans on Namjoon doing the same. "Though I’m really worried about getting the footwork right, what if I’m facing the other way and I don’t even know it!"
"Then that would be one hell of a performance" Taehyung teased earning an empty water bottle being thrown at him.
Yoongi was scrolling through his phone when he noticed the intro playing and Jungkook getting ready for his part. He looked up with a smirk, "Jungkook looks cool, doesn't he?"
"How is he not nervous!? I'd be shaking like crazy up there!" J-hope said shuddering at the thought.
"Because he's not you" Namjoon said smirking. J-hope did a quick glare but couldn't deny it. He would lose his shit up there.
The intro stopped playing and the beginning of Boy meets evil part.1 started playing. J-hope noticed Jungkook saying something trying to look at the staff, but he couldn't make up the words. he didn't realize that he was staring at the boy longer than he intended and that gained glances from the others. Soon enough he sees Jungkook quickly falling into a small slant and could see the maknae's body tense up. He gasped loud enough for the other members to hear him.
"Is that supposed to happen? It looks really uncomfortable..." Jin questions with worry in his voice not letting his eyes move away from Jungkook. Before he could get an answer, he saw the wire snap. He saw it fall towards the maknae's face. And he saw how the Jungkook blocked the heavy wires coming toward him in great speed. He stood up yelling Jungkook’s name not realizing the other members doing the same. Oh god.
~*~
Jungkook was trying his best not to panic but that only failed after he felt warm liquid dripping from his forearms. He hears a man trying to calm him down from his earpiece and repeatedly warning Jungkook to not move, like he was going to flail around in panic. Jungkook was irritated enough besides being scared out of his mind. Of course he wasn't going to move around like crazy, he was far from the ground for Christ sake! He just closed his eyes trying to focus on breathing.
It seems that the staff was trying to lower Jungkook, but they were having trouble doing so with the machines rejecting their commands. There were just sparks and creaks coming from the machines that held him up. Namjoon quickly alerted the manager and the others were running towards Jungkook’s side of the stage to only be stopped by some guards.
"What the hell are you doing!" Jimin growled trying to get through. The guards informed them that it's too dangerous to go near there. One of the machine parts or wires could fall and harm them as the first wire that snapped hit the ground hard missing one of the staff members by a few inches. The 5 members protested but then heard a yell from above.
"Jungkook! Don't panic, they'll get you down all right!" Jin yelled to him giving up on the guards and tried to calm down the youngest. His tone was unsure but hopeful. Trying to regain his composure he see's red liquid dropping from Jungkook’s arms.
"I-is that-" J-hope couldn’t finish his sentence watching full of grimace and worry. He raised one hand to brush his hair with nervousness while yelling, "Don't worry kookie! You're fine! You'll be fine!" He sounded as if he was trying to comfort himself.
Jimin looked as if he was going to cry but he held it in keeping in mind that his maknae was in a dangerous situation, he must stay strong and make sure Jungkook is safe. Even if he wasn't allowed to do anything.
Jungkook was starting to feel the remaining wire holding his torso vibrate and just when he could tell the frantic staff what was happening the wire snapped. Jungkook yelled as his whole upper body fell and until he was swinging helplessly upside down. He felt the blood rush to his head as he gave up on trying to not panic because that worked out just perfectly earlier didn’t it? His arms were dangling, and he could now see people running around. It seems that they're still trying to lower the device which is clearly not working. Jungkook was in a state of panic as it was getting harder and harder to breathe. For some reason out of this whole mess he could hear Jimin and the other members yelling things towards him to calm him down. "H-hyungs!" he tried to call them as if they were going to fix everything once they heard him.
"He's not going down, why isn't he going down!" Taehyung says looking at Jimin. He noticed Jimin’s wide eyes looking at Jungkook while trying not to cry and the quiet whispers he was saying to himself "He's going to be fine, he's going to be fine..." Taehyung put his arm over Jimin's tensed shoulders and looked up to Jungkook. Suddenly the horror struck all of them as they saw their helpless maknae fall to an upside-down position, legs bending slightly as if he was trying to upright himself which is clearly not working. Jin yelled loudly and Yoongi slapped both hands into his mouth while uttering curses under his panicked state.
"Kookie I'm going to need you to breathe! don't kick around, they're going to get something to catch you! You'll land safely okay?" Namjoon reassured, right behind the other members who turned to look at their leader. But it was far too late for Jungkook, he was breathing rapidly when he noticed that his upside-down position is making his pants which was attached to the hooks slip. Great, the last thing I need is lifelong embarrassment while falling to my doom! He lifted his arms painfully grabbing on to both hooks pulling himself up slightly so that his pants would stay in place. "I’m trying not to slip off!" He yelled using the little energy he had just so the know to work faster. His breathing was still quick, and it was getting hard to see. He started seeing black spots in front of his line of vision. No no no, not now Jungkook, you do that? and you'll die He kept reminding himself.
The crew workers gathered up right under Jungkook setting up a large inflatable cushion. Thank god they did because even though the cushion was halfway finished from fully inflating, the hooks holding Jungkook’s waist snapped not being able to support his weight and he plummeted down head first.
Jimin screamed as Taehyung removed his arm around Jimin’s shoulder to clutch his own chest with both arms yelling Jungkook’s name. Jin screeched as well while J-hope Yoongi and Namjoon cussed loudly while yelling Jungkook, watching the boy fall.
Jungkook couldn’t even register what just happened. One moment he was holding so tightly to the remaining hooks holding him up, he thought his popping veins were going to burst, and in the next moment he was falling. His vision was already blurry enough as his breathing was tiring him and the beating pulses from his head was making him dizzy. He could practically hear his heart beat over his frantic breathing. After that it's just black. Pitch black.
The next moment was abrupt as he felt hands shaking his shoulders.
"Jungkook-ssi? Junkook-ssi I need you to wake up for me, can you do that sweetie?" A sweet voice coming from a woman as she was trying to wake Jungkook up. Jungkook opened his eyes slightly regretting it while doing so as he saw the bright lights right above him. His breathing was very hoarse, and he felt something covering his mouth and nose. He was so tired, and his body hurt everywhere. What's even going on? Why are people touching him so much? He doesn't know and frankly, he doesn't want to know. He's just really tired. Sleep was the best and only option right now. Despite hearing his hyungs...wait what? He turns his head over slightly ignoring the pain looking at his hyungs over his side either crying or about to cry. But why do they look so upset? Jungkook hopes that him falling asleep wouldn’t upset them even more so he closes his eye once more ignoring the hands trying to shake him awake or the louder cries from the other members.
~*~
As they saw Jungkook fall from that height, the members rushed over to the other staff ignoring the other crew trying to keep them back. Jungkook slightly turned falling more on his back rather than his head but it was still rough as they heard the loud thud the body made against the large cushion. As they got closer they were praying for a joyous maknae getting up to brush himself off with bright smile. Instead, they get a limp body being dragged from his landing spot and onto the floor.
"Jungkook!" The second youngest ran over to the limp body's side resting his hand over its shoulder. He was a mess with his tears and tried calming the youngest down rubbing his shoulder as Jungkook he breathed harshly. The staff medic came rushing over as she placed an oxygen mask over Jungkook’s face. the other medic tried to escort the crying member away but ended up getting 5 more around Jungkook.
"Oh fuc- Oh god" Jimin says as he turns over Jungkook’s arm only to see it covered in red. There was a large gash that was slashed across and J-hope tried his best not to gag over the blood that stuck to Jimin’s hands.
"Step back, let the staff take care of him. We'll only be getting in their way" Yoongi said clearly lying to himself. He wanted to be right next to Jungkook with his arms around him tightly, but he knew it would just make things worse. Namjoon had to pry Jimin and Taehyung away from Jungkook’s body glancing over to the woman tending to him. She nodded equivalent to a thank you and Namjoon just gave a look equivalent to "Please just help him".
"Jeongguki!?" Jimin yelled as he saw him move his head slightly. The others quickly turn their heads to see Jungkook’s eyes slightly opened looking at them, brows furrowed. Jin spoke before the others could even think of what to say. "Jungkook-ah stay awake for us all right? You're going to be fine your hyungs are right here" He said in a gentle caring voice trying to cover an ugly sob. He gets no reaction.
"Jungkook can you keep your eyes open for us? Jungkook" Yoongi added after Jin. Jungkook looked like he was in war against his eyelids because he was trying so hard to lift them open but lost. Jimin turned to Namjoon's chest not wanting to see anymore while seeing Jungkook being lifted off on a stretcher.
As they took him away to a separate room to get medical attention it was later announced that the staff would not contact the hospital since they were able to properly tend to his wounds and injuries but also just to avoid any publicity/controversy. The 6 other members who were sitting in their practice room backstage were outraged by that notion. Surely Jungkook’s health was more important than having the public find out about this. They were not allowed to go to his side so they all sat lost in their thoughts. The atmosphere was heavy, and sobs could be heard from Jimin who just finished washing the blood away from his hands. The members already discussed the situation with their manager who will contact Band PD to call for an investigation over the Mnet staff’s negligence towards BTS. For now, they wait in silence until Taehyung spoke out of now here.
“I shouldn’t have teased him...” The others looked abruptly at him. “I kept teasing him. Did he get scared? Did it go wrong because of me?” He felt a large lump in his throat choking back a sob.
“It wasn’t your fault. It was none of our faults.” Jin says while pulling Taehyung to his chest for a hug.
“It was the fucking staff’s fault for not checking before the kid was pulled up in the air. It’s ridiculous” Yoongi growled not removing his gaze on the floor.
Namjoon scanned the room for each member while adding, “Either way Jungkook will be fine. He’s a strong guy. He handled the situation pretty well up there too.”
“And I thought God of destruction was your title...” J-hope weakly chimed in successfully brightening the mood slightly with his cruel joke.
Namjoon pouted crossing his arms childishly earning a few laughs form the others. Before he could protest, the door opened and some of the staff were helping escort Jungkook to the nearest couch. He had a little limp and bandages wrapped around his forearms, still showing stains of red through the white. He whole body was in pain from the landing but luckily, he didn’t break anything. Jimin quickly rushed to his side as he laid on the couch still a little light headed. Yoongi glared at the staff as they left the room until they were completely gone.
“Jungkook!! How are you feeling? Are you still in pain? Where does it hurt?” Jimin barley gave Jungkook time to respond.
“I’m fine Hyung, I’m just a little sore” He looked up at the others and quickly looked back down with guilt. “I’m... I’m sorry I messed up this rehearsal... I didn’t mean to ruin it...” The others look at each other, mouth slightly open in shock.
“Jesus Jeongukki...You didn’t ruin anything! You couldn’t control what was happening. We’re just glad you’re safe” J-hope patted Jungkook’s head with his bright smile.
“You scared the crap out of us. I thought you were a goner” Yoongi added. Jin elbowed his side lecturing him. Jungkook laid his head back on the arm of the couch smiling as the two bickered. Taehyung was combing through the younger’s hair as Jimin laid his head on Jungkook’s lap smiling with relief.
Namjoon looked at Jungkook with an upset frown. It didn’t take long for Jungkook to notice his leader face which lead him to ask, “What’s wrong?”
Namjoon looked down for a moment but then looked directly at Jungkook with a stern face. “They were asking if you were still willing to perform the intro at the MAMA”
“Are you kidding me? After what just happened they’re still considering it?” Yoongi’s face with filled with anger.
“They said that they’re able to fix the problems the machine had and add more safety precautions to make sure it won’t happen again.” Namjoon looked at Jungkook hoping he would say no.
Jungkook hesitated at first but then looked at the members with determination
“I want to do it again” before he could continue Taehyung interjected, “After all that you still want to do it? Are you crazy!”
“That’s stupid” Yoongi crossed his arms. “It’s too dangerous, don’t tell me you weren’t scared during that disaster.
“Of course, I was scared!” Jungkook looked at Yoongi with glassy eyes and Yoongi flinched uncomfortably. “Even though it happened I don’t want to just stop... This is a big thing for all of us, I want to do put everything I have even if it means doing that stunt again” He felt Jimin’s hand squeeze his own while feeling tears drip from his eyes. “I was terrified... I thought it was the end for me but either way, I’m not doing it because I have to, I’m doing it because I want to...” Jungkook let out a small hiccup while letting tears roll down his face.
J-hope used his thumb to wipe a stray tear from Jungkook’s face. “Aigoo, our maknae is so brave... We know you were scared, we just want you to be safe kookie.”
“I know hyung...Thank you. But I’m fine now. After some sleep I’ll be in tip top shape.” He flexed his sore muscles with a laugh and right after his members jumped him for a big hug. They were careful not to hurt him but Jungkook didn’t care, he was so happy to have his hyungs wrap around him like a protective blanket.