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As trainees, BTS had been complete for a few months now. There were six members, Taehyung being the youngest. Although he was only a few months younger than Jimin, he absolutely loved being considered the maknae of the group. He was spoiled by all of his hyungs and got his way more often than not simply for being the maknae.
And then Jungkook showed up.
A giant, doe-eyed 15 year old boy stood at their door too shy to introduce himself. The staff member who brought him introduced him and told them that he was a trainee the company had decided to put in BTS.
The members were excited to have a new member, but made the company promise that there wouldn't be any more surprise members. Seven felt like enough. The only one not entirely thrilled was Taehyung because this meant he wasn't the maknae anymore which was something he had taken great pride in. He didn't introduce himself to Jungkook as the others gave him a tour around the dorm. All he did was go to his room and sulk in his bed, telling himself how angry he was about this situation. I'm supposed to be the youngest. I didn't ask for him. I didn't ask for a little brother. I don't want to be a hyung. That's not my job.
Jin opened Taehyung's door, "And you'll be sharing a room with Taehyung." The oldest gestured for the new maknae to start unpacking and get comfortable. Taehyung shot up in bed. "Me?! Why do I have to share it?! Why can't he share with one of you?!"
"Because you two are the youngest," Jin replied. Taehyung tried fighting him on it but the oldest warned him about his attitude. Jungkook stood there biting his nails, not meaning to feel like an intruder.
"I'm sorry," Jungkook told Taehyung.
"It's nothing to be sorry for," Jin interjected, "He's just being cranky for some reason. Now I'll leave you two to bond now. Let us know if you need anything."
Once Jin left, Taehyung immediately started listing rules about not touching his stuff, staying quiet, etc. Jungkook sat on the spare bed that had been propped in the corner for a while now and nodded at all of the directions. He could sense that Taehyung wasn't giving him the same warm welcome that the rest of them had yet he couldn't figure out why. He was too shy to mention it.
Dinner that night was awkward. The members kept trying to ask Jungkook questions in order to get to know him more but Taehyung kept interrupting and turning the conversation to be about him instead. Namjoon had to warn him multiple times to stop doing that, and Taehyung got mad.
"Well why does the whole conversation have to be about him?" Taehyung gestured to Jungkook. The maknae felt his face flush red with embarrassment. He wasn't purposely trying to steal anyone's attention.
"He's new. We're trying to get to know him but that's proving difficult when you won't zip your mouth. Not everything has to be about you, Tae," Hobi replied. He rolled his eyes. He knew Taehyung was acting out on purpose.
"Not everything has to be about him either," Taehyung complained.
"There's nothing wrong with us asking him questions." Yoongi sipped his drink, unbothered by Taehyung's behavior. He could ignore it pretty easily, not caring if Taehyung got offended by it or not.
Without warning Taehyung got up and left the dinner table, stomping off to his room.
"I'll go see what's up." Hobi got up and chased after his dongsaeng.
Jungkook lowered his gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry if I did something to make him mad."
"You didn't do anything wrong," Yoongi replied. "He gets moody. You're fine." The rest of them continued on with dinner.
In Taehyung's room, Hobi sat next to him on the bed.
"What's your issue, Tae?" Hobi raised an eyebrow. "I get you have mood swings but you've been pissy ever since Jungkook showed up."
Taehyung raised his arms in the air. "Why is Jungkook even here? We were supposed to be a band of six."
"Well, clearly we were supposed to be a band of seven. What's your problem with him?" Hobi asked.
"I just don't think we need another member."
"You're going to have to get over it because by the sounds of it, he's here to stay. Not to mention he's been a really nice kid ever since he showed up, why are you so against having him? I bet you two could be the best of friends if you'd lighten up and give him a chance."
"I don't need more friends," Taehyung frowned, "I have plenty already."
"I feel like there's something you're not telling me. You're usually very kind to every new person you meet. Why the hostility towards him?"
"Because.." Taehyung shrugged and got quiet.
"Because....?" Hobi leaned forward and nudged Taehyung, waiting for him to elaborate.
Taehyung mumbled under his breath something Hobi couldn't hear. The dance leader told him to repeat himself.
"Because!" Taehyung screamed. "He's going to replace me! I've been the groups maknae for months and then he comes along and now he's the maknae...so I already know he's going to replace me."
Hobi pulled Taehyung into a hug, somewhat taken back by Taehyung's assumption. "That's what this is about? You're being hostile to him because he's the youngest now instead of you? Taehyung it doesn't matter how old you are, or how old he is, nobody is going to replace you. You're Kim Taehyung. There's only one of you."
Taehyung shrugged in Hobi's arms. "I wanted to be the youngest."
Hobi was rubbing his back. "I'm sorry to say this but honestly you're just going to have to get over it. So we got one more little guy, that doesn't mean hyungs are going to love you any less. We still have just as much love to give, and even more now with a new member. Plus, you get to be a hyung now. Don't you find that at least a little bit exciting?"
Taehyung shook his head no. "I don't want to be a hyung. I didn't ask to have a little brother."
"Well neither did the rest of us and yet look at our maknae line now." Hobi couldn't help but laugh. "You're telling me you don't already feel the slightest bit of protectiveness over him?"
"Why would I feel that? I don't care what happens to him," Taehyung replied.
"You say that now but I think soon enough you'll understand what I'm saying. You're going to end up caring about him a lot whether you mean to or not, and then I'll be sitting here saying I told you so." Hobi smiled at Taehyung. He knew he was right even if Taehyung wasn't going to agree.
"No I won't," Taehyung said.
"We'll see what happens. In the meantime, be friendlier. That's an order."
Taehyung rolled his eyes and continued to tell Hobi that he'd never care about Jungkook as he watched his hyung leave the bedroom while ignoring his statements. He spent the rest of the night away from the others until Jungkook came in ready for bed. He curled up in his bed on the other side of the room.
"Goodnight, hyung," Jungkook whispered after the lights went out.
"I'm not your hyung. You can just call me Taehyung."
"Okay. Sorry. Goodnight Taehyung."
The two fell asleep quickly but Taehyung was woken up in the middle of the night by Jungkook breathing really loudly. He took his pillow and threw it across the room at him, hitting him in the face even though it was dark.
Jungkook shot awake. "Huh?"
"Will you shut up? I'm trying to sleep and you're over there breathing louder than a damn earthquake."
"I'm sorry. I have breathing problems at night."
"Well why don't you just stop, then?" Taehyung yelled angrily.
"I can't help it, it's a medical condition I was born with."
"I meant stop breathing altogether. That will solve the problem."
"Oh." Was all Taehyung heard Jungkook say. He lay there waiting for some kind of snarky response from the youngest but never got one. All he heard was his new maknae start quietly crying into his pillow. Taehyung covered his own face with his pillow, angry that now he really wasn't going to get any sleep.
Jungkook didn't understand why Taehyung was being so mean, he desperately wanted the boy to like him and enjoy his company. As nice as everyone else had been, he was starting to wonder if maybe this band wasn't going to be the best fit for him and he wasn't sure what to do. He was too afraid to talk to any of the managers about it so for now all he could do was curl up and cry himself back to sleep and hope he didn't upset Taehyung any more than he already had.
The next day the members were hard at work during dance practice. Taehyung did his best to avoid Jungkook but noticed the youngest was constantly following him around and trying to talk to him. Taehyung had enough and turned and screamed in Jungkook's face to go away and leave him alone. This resulted in a scolding from both Namjoon and Jimin once Taehyung made Jungkook cry.
Unfortunately that's how it was for a while. Taehyung was constantly being mean and rude to Jungkook day in and day out, even when the others were constantly telling him to knock it off. He ended up making it well known to everyone that he didn't want Jungkook in the band, and one night even said it straight to the youngest's face. As hurtful as Taehyung was being, Jungkook still really wanted his hyungs approval and tried desperately to get him to like him. He'd always be as nice and helpful as possible, he'd tried to hang around Taehyung much to the olders annoyance. Jin tried reassuring Jungkook that even though Taehyung was coming off as a total jerk who didn't care, he was sure Taehyung really did care about him whether he wanted to admit it yet or not.
And then that night came.
The night the members were leaving dance practice late at night and one of the dance instructors had ordered Jungkook to stay behind and practice, not caring how tired the maknae already was. The others commanded Taehyung to stay with him so they could walk home together because the rest of them planned to head out. Taehyung put up a fight about it but Yoongi scolded him into listening.
Taehyung sat against the wall as he watched Jungkook get constantly berated and screamed at by the dance instructor. Something he hadn't seen before.
And something he realized he didn't enjoy seeing.
The dance instructor kept getting in Jungkook's face screaming about how he was behind, lacking, missing steps, etc. He could see how nervous Jungkook was by how bright red his cheeks turned. He was fidgety and sweaty and kept taking nervous steps backwards whenever the instructor would get in his face. It got so bad to the point that Taehyung couldn't bite his tongue and keep quiet anymore. He shot to his feet and walked over.
"Alright, enough already!" he screamed. "It's the middle of the night and we've been practicing all day, obviously he's not going to be doing his best right now!"
The instructor yelled at Taehyung to mind his own business, but Taehyung felt as though he couldn't do that. He grabbed Jungkook's arm and started dragging him towards the door. "We're leaving." Jungkook let himself be dragged by Taehyung as the instructor continued to scream at him, going ignored.
Once they got outside Taehyung linked arms with Jungkook and started leading the way back to the dorm. Jungkook was busy hyperventilating and wiping his tears.
"Is he always like that when you trained with him?" Taehyung asked curiously. The youngest had never said anything about the dance instructor being so mean to him. Jungkook shrugged without saying anything.
"How come you haven't said anything before?" Taehyung asked.
"Like you'd care," Jungkook mumbled.
Taehyung kept quiet after that, not sure how to reply. He knew he wasn't the nicest person in the world to the boy but seeing someone else not be the nicest person in the world to him struck a nerve within him he didn't even know he had.
When they got home Jungkook asked Taehyung to not say anything about it to their hyungs, he didn't want to worry them with his troubles or stress them out any more than they already were. He said he'd keep quiet about it. This time when they went to bed Taehyung wasn't mad that he could hear Jungkook crying quietly to himself again. He actually felt his own heart hurting for him. He didn't know what to do or say to try and comfort him. After being mean to the youngest for so long he felt awkward about trying to be nice, and was still feeling a bit prideful about putting up a tough front.
While Jungkook cried over the events of the night, his sadness started jumping all over the place, first being sad about what happened at work to then being sad about everything going on with Taehyung. He found a lot of his self worth in others loving him, and feeling like he had two people in his life who clearly were showing signs of hatred had him really questioning himself as a person and if he was worthy of love at all. He didn't understand how all the rest of the hyungs could love him so much if Taehyung couldn't, which then led him to wonder if the rest of them were putting up a front and lying for the sake of the band working out.
He didn't know that the sound of his own crying from across the room had created silent tears that were now streaming down Taehyung's cheeks in his own bed. They had both cried themselves to sleep that night.
Another day of intense practice came and went, and once again the instructor had told Jungkook he needed to stay late to practice. Namjoon spoke up and mentioned that Jungkook needed to rest, but the instructor told Namjoon it wasn't his place to decide things like that. The hyungs compromised on who would stay after with the maknae and were all surprised when Taehyung actually volunteered to do it.
"I could use some extra practice too," was Taehyung's excuse. Jungkook looked to Taehyung and gave him a soft smile.
As soon as the rest of the members were out of the studio the dance instructor immediately got to being as mean to Jungkook as he was the last time. Taehyung could feel his blood boiling as he watched the youngest keep his gaze to the floor while constantly spitting out "I'm sorry's" and "I'll try harder." Taehyung already knew Jungkook was trying his hardest. Jungkook's heart was racing a mile a minute and he didn't know what to do except brace the constant scoldings. He was extremely embarrassed about being belittled like this in front of Taehyung a second time.
Taehyung felt his cheeks going red and hot with anger at how insanely terrible the instructor was being towards Jungkook. And when it got physical, Taehyung completely lost it.
The instructor was in the middle of screaming at the youngest, who wasn't replying because he was too busy crying and trying to catch his breath again. The instructor screamed at Jungkook to not be rude and to speak when spoken to, and when Jungkook still was too terrified to find the right words, he felt his instructors hands come down on him so quickly and harshly he couldn't even comprehend what was happening as he felt his body drop to the ground and curl up into a ball.
As soon as Taehyung saw the instructor start laying hits and punches on Jungkook and his body drop, he shot to his feet and ran at them.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?! You can't put your damn hands on him you asshole!" Taehyung screamed as he approached the man and pushed him away. "What the fuck is wrong with you?! He's a damn kid!"
Jungkook got to his hands and knees and quickly crawled away from them, desperate for some sense of protection or escape. He watched from his place against the wall, in complete awe as he realized something he thought he'd never experience.
Taehyung was fighting for him. Taehyung was protecting him.
He watched as Taehyung and the dance instructor screamed at the top of their lungs at each other. Taehyung was screaming that nobody in the world is allowed to put their hands on or hurt Jungkook, while the instructor fought back that Taehyung had no say in anything and couldn't tell him how to handle "his clients."
"I'm telling hyungs and we'll get you fired!" Taehyung screamed and shoved the instructor again. The man raised his arm and slapped Taehyung so hard across the face that the singer stumbled backwards and fell onto his back.
"Hyung!" Jungkook screamed as he stood up and ran to him. He helped Taehyung stand back on his feet and they both backed away as the man advanced towards them again with his hands in the air. Taehyung protectively kept pushing Jungkook behind him and pushing him backwards a little bit, so that any hits that came would land on him instead as they attempted to back their way out of the room. They finally escaped and ran outside, making their way down the sidewalk a bit before coming to a stop trying to catch their breath.
Taehyung looked at Jungkook and finally realized the injuries on his maknae's face. A swollen bleeding lip and some bruising under his eye. He grabbed him and led him to a bench, having him sit down. He kneeled in front of him as he grabbed Jungkook's puffy cheeks in his hands. "Are you alright?"
"Are you?" Jungkook asked sadly. Taehyung had a slight bruise on his cheek.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." He took his sleeve and wiped the blood off Jungkook's mouth. "Hyungs won't let him get away with this. Has he hit you like this before?"
Jungkook shook his head. "I don't know why he did that. It was the first time."
"Well his first and last, I'll make damn sure of that."
The two silently stared into each other's eyes for a moment before Taehyung grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug, rubbing his back. "Let's just get you home and then tell hyungs what happened. And don't even ask me not to say anything, because I am."
Jungkook nodded and let himself be led home as Taehyung kept his arm wrapped around his shoulders. As soon as they walked in the door the hyungs ran to them when they saw how bad of shape they were in.
"What the hell happened?!" Jimin screamed as he ran and pulled them both into a hug.
"Hyungs! The instructor! He was so mean and screaming and then he started hitting Jungkookie and-"
Yoongi interrupted him. "Hitting him?!" he screamed.
"And did you just call him..Jungkookie?" Jin smiled.
"Me? What? No I said Jungkook." Taehyung flashed an embarrassed smile then got back to the matter at hand. "And he just kept trying to hit him and I was trying to stop him and then he hit me too and I told him he needs to be fired!"
The hyungs held them both even tighter.
"Oh he will be fired, I can promise you that," Jimin said angrily. The hyungs were absolutely livid that this happened, but also extremely surprised that Taehyung actually seemed to care so much.
Hobi and Jimin immediately made their way back to the building and found the instructor. The first thing they did was give him a good piece of their mind, laying the same injuries on him that he'd laid on Jungkook and Taehyung. After painting his face black and blue they dragged him to the CEO of the company who still happened to be in the building and told him what happened. The CEO immediately had the man arrested. He tried getting Jimin and Hobi in trouble but they claimed it was simply self defense after lying and claiming to also be attacked by the man, luckily for them the police believed them over the instructor.
They made their way back to the dorm to find that everyone had already gotten Taehyung and Jungkook settled into bed after some medical treatment and some nice relaxing tea. Jungkook had fallen asleep rather quickly, and to everyone's surprise Taehyung decided to curl up in his bed with him and hold him tightly. Taehyung was still slightly awake when Hobi walked into the room to say goodnight. He sat on the edge of the bed and couldn't help but smile at the scene before him. Taehyung cuddling Jungkook to sleep.
"Yeah, yeah. I already know what you're going to say," Taehyung said.
"Who? Me? What would I possibly have to say to you?" Hobi laughed.
"Just go ahead and say it , hyung. You were right anyway. I do care about him. I care a lot in fact." Taehyung couldn't ignore it anymore. He could easily tell that Jungkook had never shown up to replace him, all of the others still treated him just how they had before. If anything Jungkook had really grown on him and he realized he greatly enjoyed having him around and he was a really great little brother. Taehyung realized how insanely protective he had felt back in the studio and realized he had instinctively turned into this little guys hyung whether he meant to or not.
Hobi leaned down and playfully tickled Taehyung, both of them laughing together.
"I'm not going to say I was right," Hobi giggled, "I guess I will just say.....I told you so."
[The End]