Work Text:
~after one of their Korean concerts
~protective maknae
~past experience with gangs
~extremely bulky & sporty JK
⚠️ mentions of blood, gangs, & cracking bones ⚠️
~•*•~
Third POV
The concert had been going quite well. Nothing went wrong. The fans were louder than ever and the group used that for energy. In fact, they all agreed it was one of their best performances by far.
The group was still on a high from all the adrenaline as they left the stage.
"That was amazing," Jimin laughed.
"I missed ARMY so much!" Taehyung exclaimed.
"Yah, I know! I was so handsome," Jin boasted.
"Nah, you're just old," Jungkook retorted.
Everyone laughed at their maknae's words.
"YAH! I'm your hyung!"
Jungkook just giggled and ran as Seokjin chased after him.
Time skip
Somehow they evaded their security because they were all walking out of the venue together without them when some group of boys walked passed the band. There were only three of them but they seemed to recognize BTS, specifically the youngest.
"Oh my gosh! It's Jungkook of BTS!" one of them shouted.
"No way!" another boy shouted, pushing the boy out of the way to see.
"Jungkookie!" a third boy yelled.
BTS turned around at the sound of their maknae's name. Jungkook bowed to them.
"Hello," he said respectfully as BTS tried to walk away but the boys followed.
"We're huge fans! You're so talented and amazing, oh my gosh. Your voice is heavenly!"
Jungkook chuckled uncomfortably, "Thank you."
Jimin grabbed his hand as a comforting gesture. However, Jungkook noticed something... off about the boys. They seemed like more than just fans and not in a good way.
"I'm still shocked you picked BigHit of all places," the boy who spoke first of the boys said. "You had the big three practically begging for you."
That made everyone stop in their tracks. Jungkook narrowed his eyes. He didn't really like the sound of where this was headed. Apparently, neither did his hyungs because all at once they started to move forward before Jungkook shook his head.
I can handle it.
Besides... if it went where he thought, JK may be the only one who'd be able to handle it.
"Well, BigHit was the company that fascinated me the most. Look where that got me. Selling out stadiums, venues, and world tours," Jungkook stated with less friendliness than before. "I think I made the right choice."
"I think you'd do so much better solo," the second guy said as if the rest of BTS weren't there. "I mean, alone you have the most stable voice and the strongest dance moves."
The other members shifted uncomfortably on their feet. They were very aware that Jungkook could probably go anywhere he wanted with his amazing talents which is why they always tried to show appreciation towards him choosing their company. Meanwhile, Jungkook started to get furious. He clenched his jaw as he moved his tongue to the side of his cheek as he let go of Jimin's hand to cross his arms.
"You think so?" Jungkook said almost as a threat. "I'm flattered. It was very nice talking to you, but we should be going."
The members were proud of how he was handling this situation. They made a note to let him know after this ordeal was over.
"Oh, please stay!" the third guy said.
"Yes! Oh, we should talk about how amazing your solo songs are. You should release a solo album," the second guy said.
"I bet it'll be better than anything your hyungs can put out. Besides, you're a vocalist and rapper!" the first guy exclaimed while Jungkook's friendliness completely chipped away with those backhanded compliments.
"Oh, my, yes. You're hyungs are not as good as you," the third guy laughed. "They really don't deserve you."
The hyungs silently agreed, but they were shocked anyone would say this to their faces. Let alone JK's. They glanced at said person, and they could tell he was pissed. Oh no. A pissed JK is not a good JK. Jin tried to calm him down by rubbing his nape but the maknae shrugged him off, staring down the boys.
"I agree," the two others said in unison.
Without warning one of the guys lunged forward toward Jungkook's hyungs. The maknae didn't know what exactly happened. One minute he saw the guy going towards his hyungs, then the next he was holding one guy by the collar of his shirt, glaring at him with a dark protectiveness. His glare alone held the other two back. Almost daring the guys to come closer. He didn't notice his hyungs' eyes became wide as saucers.
"Look, you three," JK growled dangerously low. "I'm going to give you the next few seconds to walk away."
The hyungs eyes grew even wider. They had no idea their maknae could even sound remotely dangerous. They had never seen this side of him before. The second and third guys looked scared for a second.
"Why? What are you going to do?" the first guy asked as if it was a challenge.
The second guy started to see the tension and the consequences that could potentially come out of this, "I don't think this is a good idea..."
"What's he gonna do? His reputation could easily be tarnished if he hurts us," the former guy smirked.
Growling, Jungkook shoved the third guy, who he had by the collar, so he stumbled and fell to the ground.
"You don't wanna know what I'm capable of," he replied dangerously, his eyes darkening even more.
His hyungs began to panic. They'd never seen him so angry. This time Hoseok tried to calm him down by rubbing his back and grabbing his arm, but he too got shrugged off. The second and third guys now had no problem showcasing their terror.
"Please, you're just a baby you'd never hurt us," the same guy laughed.
"I'm fucking twenty-three years old."
The second guy now looked really anxious, having a good feeling something was gonna happen. The hyungs also looked anxious.
"You're still a baby in our eyes. You're hyungs are just old."
"Really? Anything else you wanna say?" Jungkook challenged.
Jungkook moved so he was face-to-face with the guy. The guy muttered things the others couldn't hear, each thing getting Jungkook angrier by the second, but the younger knew it wasn't good to initiate anything. It would get BTS into a scandal, media using his initiations against him.
"Yeah! They kinda deserve going to the military. It's you who should get exempt. I mean, like, c'mon."
The first guy (who kept making all the comments) made a move to kick Jungkook's knee. Without thinking, Jungkook's martial arts training kicked into full gear in defense. Dropping down, he swept his leg in a full circle, easily knocking the three onto their backs. They grunted in pain. Jungkook picked the guy up as if he were a bagg of chips, making the guy look him straight in his pissed-off eyes.
"I would take that back."
"I don't regret saying it. It's true," the guy smirked and whistled.
A bunch of boys came from all sides, suddenly surrounding the group. Jungkook let the guy go immediately. Gang members. Shit. How were they gonna get out of this?
I knew it...
Before anyone could say or do anything, one of the members punched Jungkook right on the head, making his hyungs gasp in horror and continuously asking if their maknae was okay. Jungkook, however, looked unfazed and murderous, shrugging off their concerns, and too focused on the situation at hand. Just as the youngest went to confront the guy and the hyungs were about to try to make peace, someone knocked the wind out of Jimin. Jungkook whipped around and gasped.
"Hyung!"
"Jimin!"
Jungkook snapped around and made his way toward the gang as Taehyung helped his fellow 95er who was having trouble breathing. Namjoon protected Jimin and Taehyung while Yoongi protected Jin and Hoseok, who were helping the 95ers, by standing in front of them.
"What the fuck?"
"He deserved it," someone said.
They all nodded with shared, smug smirks. Their next target was Namjoon, and Jungkook definitely noticed this.
"Oh no, you don't. You bastards," Jungkook snarled with a voice none of the members have ever heard before, moving in front of Namjoon before they could even try.
They stood in silence for a beat before the gang went to make the first move. They knocked Jungkook's leg, but he- because of his dance and gym training- stood his ground as if nothing happened. Jungkook quickly lunged at the gang and used a mix of a boxing punch and martial arts kick to knock them back. The hyungs froze. Their maknae was fighting a gang! They didn't know how to stop him.
"Jungkook! Stop!" Jin shouted desperately from Jimin's side, who was still on the ground just starting to breathe properly.
"Maknae it's not worth it!" Namjoon shouted.
Jungkook only saw red and heard nothing. Along with fighting, the gang kept making nasty comments about his hyungs, fueling his already burning fire. The gang tried to punch him but he either looked absolutely unfazed or knew it was coming and dodged effortlessly. JK was using technically perfect boxing punches and taekwondo kicks while also using every defense mechanism he knew. Noticing their moves left no impression on him, the gang began to look nervous and even scared. Jungkook kept landing powerfully painful punches and kicks with sickening cracks following. Slowly, the gang members started backing off, not wanting to be a victim of Jungkook's insanely powerful fighting skills. He ended the fight by taking the leader of the gang and flipping him over his back with an echoing crack, making the leader groan in pain.
"Get out of here or I'm reporting you to authorities," he demanded knowing full well one of his hyungs probably had their phone out to call them. "All of you!"
The gang looked extremely terrified and scrambled to their feet (some had a harder time than others), as Jungkook nearly beat all of them to the ground, and ran or limped as fast as possible. Jungkook still had that murderous look on his face, slowly wiping the blood from his nose and breathing heavily. Jungkook was silently trying to get his anger regulated.
No one made a move. Everyone was still processing what just happened. Jungkook intentionally made no eye contact with anybody. He was quite certain he'd get a scolding for being so reckless. Hell... he didn't even know he was still capable to withstand a full gang. It's been years...
He shook his head and finished the stride to the car, leaving the hyungs to still process. He hoped he could calm down before they talked.
"What the fuck just happened?" Yoongi finally broke the silence as they all watched Jungkook walk away.
"I don't even know..." the leader trailed off.
"I didn't even know our Kookie was capable of that," Jin muttered.
"Me neither..." the others agreed.
They all followed Jungkook's path.
Once they made it to the hotel, the hyungs immediately jumped out, going to Jungkook's floor and room.
Taehyung, knocking, "Jungkook-ah?"
Jungkook had just gotten out the first aid kit and was cleaning all the blood off himself when Tae knocked. He sighed, looking at his bruised knuckles. He figured he wasn't gonna have a lot of time to himself before his hyungs wanted to talk to him. He had a brief flashback to his childhood before going over to the door and unlocking it.
"It's open," Jungkook said monotonously, dragging himself back to the table where the aid kit was.
The hyungs shuffled in before turning the corner to find Jungkook wrapping his knuckles like it was a common thing for him. Unintentionally for Jungkook, his muscle memory kicked in. Let's just say, he was used to taking care of injuries using only a first aid kit and whatever was around.
"Yah, are you okay?!" Jin asked immediately the moment he saw JK's kit.
The oldest started fussing over him, Yoongi and Hoseok close behind. Jin began to help wrap JK's knuckles.
"Hyung! I got it," Jungkook snapped, gently moving his oldest hyung's hand out of the way. "I got it."
Jin backed off immediately while Yoongi and Hoseok stopped their strides.
He may be a little pissed off, but that didn't mean he was gonna be a jerk about it. Besides, the hyungs weren't the problem. Something these experiences taught him was how to be calm while pissed as well as how to not lash out in anger. Lots of self-control was learned. He never thought he'd be grateful for those experiences.
He finished wrapping his left knuckle with a deep sigh, rubbing his eyes. This was not how he wanted to spend the end of the night.
The hyungs, however, looked intensely worried. Hoseok, Yoongi, and Jin took a step back, not wanting to anger him. Their maknae had just gotten into a fight, and now he was acting as though this was an everyday occurrence for him.
"What the hell was that back there, Jungkookie?" Hoseok asked quietly, breaking the silence.
Putting everything away and putting the kit back where he found it to buy himself time, he sighed for the third time in the past five minutes, "Are you okay Jimin?" he asked, completely ignoring Hoseok.
Jimin looked confused before realizing, "Huh? What? I'm fine, Kookie! You're the one who got in the fight! Please answer Hobi-hyung's question."
Jimin put a hand to Jungkook's face as he talked. Jungkook just sighed again.
"That was something I didn't want you to witness..."
The other two of the maknae line looked confused while the hyung line looked worried.
"What do you mean, Kookie?" Jimin asked, wrapping his arms around Jungkook's shoulders from behind.
Jungkook leaned into his hyung's arms, grateful for the comfort, "I- well... back before my trainee days, my neighborhood wasn't the best place to be... I'd come across some... not-so-great people and got into a lot of gang fights."
Jin and Namjoon shared similar expressions.
"You did this when you were twelve and younger?" Namjoon gaped.
Jungkook nodded slowly, like an old man who was tired. The hyungs gasped.
"How could any adult let this slide?" Taehyung scolded no one in particular.
The youngest shrugged, "It always happened at school and/or when no adult was watching."
"Aish," everyone replied breathlessly.
"You weren't hurt, were you?" Jin asked tentatively.
"Of course not..." Jungkook sighed, taking him and Jimin to the couch, the others following closely behind. "At least, not to a broken bone extent."
"Aish," Yoongi cursed. "Kid, what the fuck did you even do?"
Hoseok and Taehyung went on either side of Jungkook, also giving him hugs or physical affection while Jungkook was in Jimin's lap. The other hyungs stayed standing in front of Jungkook or kneeling in front of him in Yoongi's case.
"I got into a lot of fights when I was younger," Jungkook explained slowly, squeezing his Hobi-hyung's hand. "I never initiated them. I just protected my friends."
Namjoon chuckled, "Of course, you would, maknae."
The rest smiled at that. It was true. Their maknae would never start something; however, if you messed with someone he cared about, he would immediately fight tooth and nail for them.
Jungkook let out a small laugh, "I guess so. I never got in trouble or caught. We had a lot of gangs in our neighborhood, so my parents put me in taekwondo to protect myself. I took some boxing lessons too. Unintentionally, I became a really strong fighter at some point. So much so all the usual gangs wouldn't mess with my friends if I was there."
Taehyung spoke next with a slightly humorous tone, "Did you kick their asses like you did tonight?"
Jungkook giggled and scratched his neck nervously, "Uhm... tonight doesn't scratch the surface..."
Everyone gasped and started talking.
"What? What do you mean?"
"'Doesn't scratch the surface?' So what was tonight?! A warm-up?"
"So this was NOTHING?!"
Jungkook laughed quietly, "I used to get into a lot of fights to the point I had to learn first aid on my own. Some involved weapons. I never got hurt. Just a few bruises, maybe a cut... I taught myself how to disarm and dodge people without having a weapon myself. I was known as the Deadly Kookie. Once everyone had a taste of my medicine, people purposely started fights with my friends to see how deadly I actually was. To see the lengths I'd go."
"Aish, baby, you can't keep giving me heart attacks like this," Jin fussed half-jokingly.
Jungkook just chuckled along with the others.
"Why did you keep fighting if you knew they were trying to wind you up?" Yoongi asked curiously.
"I tried to make them stop or ignore them without causing a fight, but sometimes it got to the point where I had no choice but to intervene."
The hyungs nodded, understanding.
"What was the worst infliction you did on someone?" Namjoon asked apprehensively, not sure he wanted to know.
Jungkook bit his lip as he remembered his worst encounter, "Let's just say they ended up in the hospital... and a life sentence in prison."
The hyungs shared a worried glance.
"What did you do if you don't mind me asking?" Hoseok quietly asked.
Jungkook sighed, "I broke the person's spine... but to be fair... they shattered my friend's arm and his leg because he stole something of theirs. I hadn't gotten angry like that before and suddenly my vision was red. The next thing I knew, I slammed the person as hard as I could on the ground. I can still hear the cracking of their spine..."
"Oh my gosh..." Taehyung and Jimin gasped.
The others looked just as shocked.
"Why did they have a life sentence in prison?" Yoongi asked, the only one to have the guts to ask.
Jungkook bit his lip again, "Well, they inflicted a lot of injuries on my friend but they also managed to nearly kill an innocent bystander with their gun. They got expelled on the spot."
His hyungs gasped even more.
"Later, I heard they murdered my friend..."
"Oh my gosh... that's terrible!" Jin cried, moving Hoseok out of the way to hug his maknae.
Jungkook just laughed, already over the memory, "Yeah. It wasn't the greatest experience but it happened. I've never been that angry since, though, tonight comes close. I dealt really painful damage to the person. No one ever tried to mess with me or my friends after that."
"I don't blame them... you were terrifying tonight," Jimin laughed lightly.
The hyungs made verbal indications and physical gestures of agreement.
"Have you ever dealt with a full gang like tonight?" Taehyung wondered.
Jungkook laughed, "When I said I dealt with gangs, I meant the entire group. So, yes. I dealt with full gangs all the time. I only had major issues with certain people within the gangs, but they always walked with their gang members. So, naturally, I had to handle them too."
The hyungs' eyes widened.
"Remind me to never get you seriously mad..." Jin laughed nervously, letting go of Jungkook to ruffle his hair.
The others agreed with some low whistles while Jungkook just laughed. It was silent for a moment before the maknae broke the silence.
"You're not mad are you?" he asked timidly, shrinking into himself a little.
He looked completely different from earlier. Jimin and Taehyung hugged him even tighter.
"Of course not!" Namjoon exclaimed, kneeling in front of Jungkook. "We're more worried. You gave us a scare. We had no idea you were capable of such things."
Jungkook nodded, "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to frighten or scare you... I-I just knew what it was going to lead to..."
"We understand, but to see you like that..." Namjoon began to explain, "it was like you weren't even our Jungkook anymore."
Jungkook scratched his neck, "I guess my instincts jumped in. I hope you aren't scared of me..."
"Of course not! We just know not to mess too much with you," Hoseok laughed.
"And to stop when you say stop," Taehyung added humorously but also seriously.
Everyone laughed.
"Okay, now that we've got that done. I think we need to address the elephant in the room," Yoongi began.
Everyone looked confused, eyebrows raised.
"Are we not gonna talk about how badass Jungkook was?" Yoongi finished.
Everyone laughed, Yoongi joining in. Jungkook was glad nothing bad happened. At least his hyungs knew he'd protect them no matter what.