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Dishabiliophobia - fear of undressing in front of someone
Costume changes were Jimin's least favourite part of their concerts. He dreaded the halt in performing and the brief chats to the fans because he knew what would follow would be the worst part of the night. Or the worst part of his night, anyway. The casual saunter off stage morphing into a hurried sprint once they reached the stairs to go backstage. The rush through the halls and to their shared dressing room. The yelling and flurried movement of the stylists. The throwing of clothes to individual members. The primping and prodding of their faces and hair and occasionally their clothes. Jimin could handle all of that. He could handle the rush, the loudness, the efficient hands pushing him to and fro.
What he couldn't handle was the orders to strip and change quickly in to their new clothes. The insistent hands tugging at his sweaty clothes. The feel of the cold air on his bare skin as he reluctantly peeled his shirt off. The feel of the eyes of his bandmates on him; the eyes of their stylists, their managers. The sting he felt behind his eyes lasted long after he'd slipped into his fresh stage outfit. Back on stage, after the first change, he just couldn't get back into the same mood he'd been in before. He'd still smile widely and perform to the best of his ability and the fans would be none the wiser, but he didn't feel as upbeat inside. He thought he hid it well. But what Jimin failed to notice was the eyes which would follow him before, during and after each and every change. Basically, for the entire concert. Those curious eyes followed the nervous fiddling of his fingers as they had their makeup touched up. They observed the way his eyes scanned the room nervously before he removed his sweaty shirt. They noticed the way his body curled in on itself when he finally tugged the damp material off his equally as sticky skin. They tracked Jimin for the remainder of their performances and any subsequent costume changes.
Taehyung knew there was something the matter.
That night he shared a hotel room with Jimin and Hoseok. Taehyung couldn't help but notice the way Jimin kept his clothes on when they keyed in to their room, whereas he and Hoseok stripped off to their underwear and fought for the first shower. He noticed the way Jimin didn't vie with them, but rather sat quietly on the only unclaimed bed and began removing his toiletries, laying them out orderly on the crisp linen. Once he had finished that, he awkwardly fiddled with his hands. Placing them in his lap before taking up his phone and scrolling through aimlessly. Even though it all happened within a matter of seconds with Hoseok’s voice still chirping in the background, Taehyung noticed. Taehyung still observed the way Jimin was perched awkwardly on the edge of his bed, as if he didn’t want to get too comfortable but also didn’t plan on getting up any time soon. He saw the way Jimin’s t-shirt clung to his collarbones with sweat, and although he was obviously overheated the elder made no move to take his bomber jacket off. He hadn’t even removed his shoes. Taehyung knew Jimin wasn’t going to fight himself or Hoseok for the first or even second shower, and that he’d be last. That he’d continue to sit on the edge of his bed uncomfortably, sweat, dirty clothes and all, while the others took their sweet time.
Taehyung didn’t want Jimin to have to experience that.
While Jimin was still distracted, Taehyung quietly shushed Hoseok and whispered to him his idea; the elders face becoming sombre at losing his right to shower first. However, when he took a glance at Jimin, still teetering on the edge of the bed fully clothed and obviously uncomfortable, he gave a soft smile and nodded at Taehyung.
“Thanks, hyung, you’re next,” Taehyung whispered, giving his hyung a pat on the shoulder to which he shrugged.
Taehyung padded over to Jimin, placing a gentle hand on the crown of his head.
“You’re up, Jiminie-hyung.”
Jimin startled at the touch but didn’t move away. With a crease of confusion in his brow, he glanced to where Hoseok was lying on his own bed, doing some kind of weird cool down stretching while he sung trot music under his breath. Returning his eyes to Taehyung, Jimin looked even more puzzled. (Taehyung didn’t blame him. Fans called him weird but Hoseok was on a whole new level that the fans rarely got to see.)
“What about you and Hobi-hyung?” the boy questioned, eyes wide as a doe’s.
Taehyung smiled affectionately and stroked the elder’s sweaty hair, running his fingers through the strands. It was funny; with their new concept, their hair was often styled to look wet and messy, some sort of mysterious-boy-in-the-rain concept or something, Taehyung could never be sure. Taehyung thought that right now, though, after a long, sweaty concert and equally as long and hot ride home, Jimin’s hair looked like he was ready for the opening song again. Even though it was flatter and much wetter than usual, Taehyung thought it looked perfect.
“We’ll go after.” Taehyung explained. “You first.”
Jimin looked at him with an expression Taehyung could only describe as thankfulness. Extreme thankfulness. He leaned into Taehyung’s touch, closing his eyes briefly – Taehyung swore he heard him sigh (but Jimin would never admit to it if you asked him) – before he rose from the bed, scooping up his toiletries from where they lay on the bed.
“Thank you.” Jimin mumbled shyly.
He made a small bowing motion with his head before closing the bathroom door softly behind him. It was only a few moments later that Taehyung heard the water begin to strike against the tiled walls of the shower.
Hoseok sent a not so subtle pssst across the room at Taehyung which broke the younger out of his intense staring contest with the bathroom door. Taehyung cocked an eyebrow in question and to his annoyance, Hoseok mimicked the action right back.
“What?” Taehyung hissed under his breath. He didn’t want Jimin to overhear them talking about him or rather, what Taehyung had concluded about him from watching so closely.
“So why’d you want to give Jiminie first shower?” Hoseok mirrored his hushed tone.
“It’s a long story,” he warned.
“We’ve got until he gets out of the shower so hurry up.” Hoseok patted the space on the bed next to him.
Taehyung crossed the room briskly to sit where his hyung had suggested, in close proximity so Jimin had a lesser change of hearing their voices. Even at a whisper and over the sound of the shower, Jimin could still pick up sounds if he tried hard enough. It’d happened before; they’d learned the hard way.
Taehyung took a deep breath before he leaned in close and explained to Hoseok every unsure shift he had noticed in Jimin’s behaviour from the night’s concert to his awkwardness just prior. Hoseok looked stumped at first, but slowly he started to nod along, humming quietly in agreement. When he was finished, Taehyung sighed and asked the penultimate question: “Well, what should we do?”
Hoseok chewed on his lower lip in deep thought before he snapped his fingers, a bright smile stretching his lips into a soft heart-shape.
“I’ve got it!”
Taehyung mentally sighed. Hoseok wasn’t known for his good plans, but rather the extravagant, over-the-top ones that never quite worked out properly. Like the time they’d planned a Harry Potter movie marathon for their day off. The whole group had gathered into their common room; even Yoongi and Namjoon who usually only acknowledged day’s off as a chance to work the whole day through without leaving the studio for practice. It had gone well at first – Philosopher’s Stone playing smoothly with the subtitles in check, everyone sitting comfortably although there was limited space and bowls of popcorn filled to the brim. Chamber of Secrets didn’t fare so well, with Seokjin dozing off on Yoongi’s shoulder within the first ten minutes and Jeongguk beginning a tickle war with Jimin which had them rolling around on the floor in a spilled bowl of popcorn with increasing volume. Halfway through, Namjoon decided they should change it to a horror movie marathon, claiming it would ‘keep them all awake’. (Taehyung was 99% sure it was just because he wanted Seokjin to cuddle up to him instead of Yoongi. It worked). This development, however, had Hoseok jumping and squealing freakishly loud whenever something mildly thrilling happened on the screen. They’d all had the bear the brunt of that decision and even Namjoon, who’d gotten his much-wanted affection from Seokjin, couldn’t bring himself to say it had been a good change of plan. All in all, Hoseok’s plans were notorious for flying then flopping. Taehyung hated to asked, but he knew he had to know the specifics before he let the elder run off on his own. He only hoped this one would work.
“What is it?” Taehyung braced himself, gritting his teeth.
“I’ll text Jeongguk,” Hoseok replied simply, already reaching for his phone and began tapping away at the screen.
Taehyung watched in bewilderment because what? Apparently his confusion was visible in his expression, because Hoseok continued.
“It’s simple.” Taehyung found that hard to believe. “I text Jeongguk, tell him the main points of Jiminie’s, uh, problem?”
Hoseok chewed on his lip sheepishly, not quite sure how to address all that Taehyung had told him. It was obvious Jimin was uncomfortable without clothes on in front of the others but Hoseok wasn’t sure what to call it. Was he afraid just like Hoseok had gotten that time when he’d had a snake draped around him during their trip to Kota Kinabalu? He imagined it was something within the same ballpark.
“Anyway, Jeongguk will tell Namjoon, Namjoon will text Seokjin-hyung and he’ll tell Yoongi-hyung and then we can all help!”
Hoseok clapped his hands proudly, setting his phone down beside him and Taehyung saw he and Jeongguk had already sent multiple messages back and forth, supposedly setting up the beginning of Hoseok’s plan.
“You think that’ll work?” Taehyung asked skeptically.
Just as he uttered the words, Hoseok’s phone buzzed with a new message and he reached for it, smiling when he read it.
“I know it’ll work.”
Hoseok turned the phone to show Taehyung, a message from ‘Syubsyub-hyung ^^’ lighting up the screen.
‘Mission keep Jiminie comfortable is a go!!’
***
The next night, they had another concert scheduled and by the glances the other members (excluding Jimin) had been throwing Taehyung’s way, he could tell they were ready to execute their plan.
Through numerous chain texts from Taehyung to Hoseok to Jeongguk and so on, as well as said glances, the 6 members were able to formulate a plan that was relatively simple and bound to work. Of course, they had to wait until the costume change to execute it, which meant they were all aware (for the first time, for most of them) of the way Jimin’s mood dropped during the fan chat; immediately preceding the change. When it was time, they rushed as per usual through the corridors. Though they were different from last nights, they followed a speedy noona who quickly led them to their shared dressing room. It was then that they took action.
Taehyung started by staying close to Jimin as his clothes were thrown at him, their respective stylists prodding at stray hairs and touching up faults in their makeup. Hoseok subtly made his way across the room; walking backward as if he were just being pushed by the never ending flow of people in and out of the room and those moving within. Soon, Jeongguk and Yoongi were close, too, with their backs to Jimin much like Hoseok. Namjoon and Seokjin joined just as Jimin’s eyes began to skitter nervously around the room. He was met with a view of solid backs, some clothed, others bare and Jeongguk’s rippling muscle as he removed his sweaty shirt and pulled the fresh one over his head. Jimin looked away to Taehyung, who winked at him before turning his back to him too, changing into his own clothes.
Jimin stared for a few seconds, stunned at what his bandmates and best friends had done for him – were doing for him – without him realising. They stood in a loose semi-circle again a wall; effectively shielding Jimin from the view of the stylists, managers and anyone else who happened to walk in. Hell, even they couldn’t see him. Jimin felt a warmness settle in the pit of his stomach as he pulled his shirt over his head, feeling more at ease than he had in a long time. There were no eyes on him, no hands grasping for him and he changed quicker and more care-free than he could ever remember doing so. Taehyung glanced over his shoulder once he was done changing and smiled when he saw Jimin was done too.
“You okay?”
Jimin felt a familiar stinging behind his eyes as he nodded, though it quickly disappeared as they returned to the stage and with a smile so wide his face began to ache. He wasn’t hiding anything from his bandmates or the fans anymore, and felt a sense of freedom wash over him as he performed with a spring in his step that the other members noticed. They smiled along with him.
***
Months later, once the tour had ended and they’d flown back home to Korea for some much-needed time off, Seokjin sat down with Jimin to talk to him about his ‘problem’, as they’d been referring to it. He told him he wanted to understand more, and that he’d listen to anything he had to say. Jimin felt tears well up in his eyes at the care Seokjin showed him and agreed to explain as best he could. Seokjin patted his knee throughout and murmured reassuring words once he’d finished. He promised Jimin that together, as a group, they would help Jimin overcome his fear. Until then though, he vowed they’d do anything they could to keep their Jiminie comfortable.