for ladykirana [♫]

It’s not a big deal.

“It’s not,” Sujin insists when Yumi narrows her eyes suspiciously. “It’s just—nothing. It’s nothing! Just—I’m being dumb.”

“I dunno,” Yumi hums doubtfully. “Sounds pretty sketchy. Why don’t you tell Suga?”

Sujin shakes her head immediately. “No! I don’t wanna bother him. I’m probably just being paranoid.”

Yumi snorts. “He’ll just beat the guy up, problem solved.”

“That’s exactly what I’m trying to avoid!” Sujin levels a dry look at her best friend. “Anyway, I’m sure it’s nothing. In fact, why are we even talking about it? We were talking about books, how did we get so off-topic?”

Yumi rolls her eyes and sighs long-sufferingly, leaning back on her elbows and enjoying the warm breeze. “Don’t ask me, you brought it up. But I still think you should talk to Suga. Or maybe Jungkook?”

Sujin bites her lip with a frown but rejects Yumi’s suggestion. “He’d just tell Yoongi if he can’t convince me to do it. It’s fine! I’ll just ignore him.”

“If you’re sure.” Yumi sighs and shrugs. “So aside from that, the job’s good?”

“Yeah, I like working at the library!” Sujin smiles. “The sorting and shelving is pretty mindless, but I’ve added so many books to my to-read list!”

“I need to read more,” Yumi groans, dropping her head back. “Or exercise. Hey, why don’t we take a self-defense class?”

“Well, I’d like to...” Sujin hesitates. “Do you know of any around here? How much would it cost? Would my parents even let me?”

“Why wouldn’t they let you? It’s important!”

“Yeah, but I dunno...” Sujin shrugs. “They’ll probably think it’s unnecessary.”

“How is self-defense unnecessary? It’s so necessary! Pretty much everyone did taekwondo, why didn’t we!?”

“I dunno, ask our parents!”

“Ugh!”

“Thank you, good work today! I’m off!” Sujin smiles and waves at her fellow coworkers before exiting the library on a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon. Unlike weekdays, when her hours are after school until closing at night, she works from morning to early afternoon on the weekends, so Yoongi doesn’t walk her to and from work—at her own insistence. If he had his way, he would accompany her everywhere, but she insisted she would be safe on her own in the day time.

He’s such a worrywart, honestly, Sujin thinks affectionately, striding jauntily down the busy main streets. Unlike last week, she didn’t see anyone following her after work yesterday, so she’s feeling much more relaxed today. She practically skips past the cafes and boutiques, stopping occasionally when something catches her eye.

With a suddenness reminiscent of jolting awake from half-sleep, she realizes there is a heavy set of footsteps trailing her. Her muscles stiffen, but she forces herself to maintain her casual pace, stopping in front of a small clothing store to study the posing mannequins, allowing herself to strain her peripheral vision and barely glimpsing the reflection of her stalker in the window.

Cold sweat breaks out along her hairline and she gulps, scolding herself when she fails to suppress a shiver wholly at odds with the summer heat. Clearing , she straightens and faces forward, walking as normally as she can while digging into her purse for her phone. There’s only one person she thinks of at a time like this. She immediately taps Yoongi’s number and waits impatiently as it rings, chewing on her lip as her eyes dart around suspiciously.

He picks up after one ring and skips the greeting, as usual. “Done with work?”

“Mm-hmm.” She ducks into a grocery store, unable to stop herself from glancing over her shoulder at her stalker, several paces behind her and glaring as she darts out of his view. “Um, what are you doing?”

There’s a rustle of paper; he clears his throat and lies, “Nothing.”

She raises her eyebrows in amusement as she ventures deeper into the store, checking behind her to see if the creep will follow her. “You’re lying.”

He groans. “Fine. I was...studying.”

Sujin giggles at his disgruntlement even as pride surges through her. “Really? You're studying?”

“Not anymore.”

“No, no, don’t stop! Oh, I shouldn’t have called, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. Why’d you call?”

“Um...” She hesitates, her eyes alighting on a display of cookies, and she’s struck with an idea. “Can I...um, can I go over? To your house?”

“Today? Right now?” He sounds surprised, as he should be, given that she usually confirms her visits to his house days in advance, and today included no such plans.

“Only if you’re not busy! I just...wanted to see you,” she admits in a tiny voice, her cheeks burning. He coughs. “And! And...I wanted to bake cookies.”

“Well, I ain’t sayin’ no to cookies,” he chuckles. “Though I don’t have any ingredients.”

“I know, I’m buying them right now.”

“‘Kay. I’ll pick you up at the station.”

“Okay, see you soon!”

He hangs up wordlessly, as usual, and Sujin eagerly runs around for cookie ingredients. When she’s done, she exits the store apprehensively, but a sweeping look tells her the stalker is gone now, and she makes her way to the subway feeling just a bit lighter.

Several weeks later finds Sujin leaving the library after work on an overcast Sunday afternoon. She waves goodbye and walks down the street, hugging herself as the chilly wind blows around her.

Looks like it might rain, she thinks, glancing at the sky. She also tosses a look over her shoulder, hoping her irregular stalker won’t appear today, because she’s frankly stressed out enough at this point.

Unfortunately, she only makes it a block before someone harshly yanks her around a corner and throws her into the wall. She yelps in pain when her head makes hard contact with the wall and whimpers when the rough hand on her arm only tightens.

She forces her eyes up, and she’s finally face to face with her stalker.

He sneers at her, his fingers bruising her skin. “Where the is BTS?”

She blinks away stray tears, feeling a roiling mess of confusion and fear. “U-um, what?”

“BTS!” he shouts in her face, leaning in close. She’s properly intimidated. “Where is BTS?”

“Not...here?” she manages, completely lost. Why is he following her around if he wants BTS?

“Haven’t you told them about me?” he snarls, glowering.

She shakes her head frantically.

“Why the not! , I’ve been followin’ you all this time for nothin’? Stupid !”

bobs. Finally, she croaks, “Y-you...w-wanted me t-to tell them?”

“Why the else would I—you were s’posed to go cryin’ to Suga weeks ago! !” He flings her arm away, and she cradles it against her chest before it can hit the wall, her breath coming in shallow pants.

Her eyes dart left and right, but she knows she’s not fast enough to run away. It doesn’t sound like he actually has anything against her; hopefully that means he won’t waste his time hurting her.

He swears to himself and then crowds her against the wall. She cringes as far away from him as she can, which isn’t very far.

“Alright, here’s what yer gonna do. Yer gonna tell BTS to meet us here next week, all of them, or we’ll break you. Got that?”

Sujin stares at him with wide, fearful eyes, breathing quickly, but doesn’t move. Apparently satisfied, he leans back and smirks at her before leaving.

As soon as he’s out of sight, she collapses against the wall, chest heaving with gasping sobs.

“I...won’t,” she hiccups to herself. “I won’t.”

A few days later, Jungkook corners her at her locker during lunch.

“Yumi-noona’s in the bathroom,” he opens by way of greeting.

“Oh, okay, thanks for letting me know.”

“Sure. By the way, she’s really worried about you.”

Sujin frowns at him as she rifles through her locker. “She is? Why?”

“She said you’ve been acting weird all week.”

“Hm.”

“And she said she saw a big bruise on your arm?” He leans forward, trying to catch a glimpse.

“Oh, really?” Sujin replies, sounding completely unnatural. She winces at herself and makes sure her sleeve is covering her injured arm completely.

He eyes her closely. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain stalker, would it?”

Sujin almost knocks her head into the locker as she turns to gape at him. “How do you know about that?”

He shrugs. “Yumi-noona, obviously.”

Sujin sighs in resignation. “It’s...it’s—”

“Don’t lie.”

“I haven’t even said anything yet!”

“You have your guilty face on.”

She self-consciously rearranges her features. “I do not!”

“Noona, please. A stalker is a serious issue, okay?”

She bites her lip.

“Hyung is worried too. And...he’s kinda angry about it.”

Oh no. “Which hyung?” she asks innocently, but he just looks at her. She sighs and buries her face in her hands. “He’s angry with me?”

“Well...kinda.” When she groans, he hurries to amend his words. “I mean! Not...well, actually...y’know what, you should really just ask him about it. Really, Noona, don’t be stubborn about this. In fact, why haven’t you talked to him yet?”

She sighs again, closing her locker and leaning back against it. “I just...didn’t wanna bother him about it. Well, I—I mean, I wasn’t even sure the guy was a stalker! He wasn’t always there, so I thought maybe, maybe he just walked the same way I did. At the same time.” Her mind flashes to the violent encounter just a few days ago, and she shudders involuntarily.

“Noona.” Jungkook stares at her seriously. “Please, just talk to Hyung. For both your sakes.”

She hesitates, but she knows this whole thing has grown too big for her to handle alone. And honestly, she does want to tell Yoongi. Because she’s terrified, of what happened and of what will happen, and Yoongi always seems to know exactly what to say and do to make her feel safe.

“Okay,” she finally agrees.

The thing is, Yoongi is the most intimidating when he’s angry. It’s not that he glares at her, or insults her, or acts rude or violent in any way at all; it’s that he retreats into himself, creates a distance between them that stabs at her, and it’s very difficult to bridge that gap and make herself vulnerable to his judgment.

Which is why she finds herself fidgeting restlessly as he walks her home from work on Friday, unable to speak more than a couple syllables at a time for fear of blurting out all of her thoughts in an incoherent mess. She wants to explain everything as quickly and painlessly as possible, and then wait for his reaction.

Finally, he growls, sounding exasperated, “Alright, what is it? Just tell me.”

Okay, Sujin, you can do this! It’s Yoongi. There’s no reason to be afraid. She forces herself to speak. “I...I know I’ve been, um, a little—a little weird lately—”

“Understatement,” he snorts.

“—and I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure before, I didn’t wanna, y’know, what if it was a false alarm? But...it wasn’t, he really was following me, and it turns out—”

“Wait, slow down—”

“—he expected me to tell you but I didn’t, and I—I was so scared, but I just—I really don’t want you to fight again!”

She finally inhales and inches her eyes up to meet his.

He looks confused. And increasingly furious. He stops, pulling her away from the middle of the sidewalk and gripping her shoulders firmly. “Tell me again. Slowly.”

She slowly, haltingly explains how she had noticed a suspicious person following her after work one weekend, how she had wanted to tell him but wanted to be sure first, how he finally confronted her and asked her to give him a message. With each word, his face grows stormier and her voice quieter.

Finally, her whisper dies off and she bites her lip until it turns white, waiting nervously for his response. Her eyes flick restlessly from his face to his chest to their feet and back again, but he doesn’t speak.

“Yoon...gi?” she prompts cautiously, wincing when she looks at his face again.

“How exactly did he...ask you?” he growls pointedly. “Did he hurt you?”

She unwittingly glances at her injured wrist; he’s watching her closely enough to notice it. Immediately, he releases her shoulders and catches her hand, carefully pushing her sleeve up and inhaling sharply at the yellowing bruise.

When he looks back up at her, his eyes drilling into hers, his expression is dark with anger and disappointment and she can see him trembling with restraint, but his hands on her are as gentle as ever. “Why didn’t you tell me right away?” he demands to know in a quiet, dangerous voice. “You didn’t trust me to help you?”

Her breath catches and her hands automatically reach up to clutch his arms, as if afraid he’ll disappear. “I do trust you! Yoongi, I—I trust you more than anyone, more than myself, sometimes. I—” She feels frustrated tears in her eyes. “I just wasn’t sure before so I didn’t wanna bother you when I know you’re dealing with so much, and—and I knew you would be angry and, well, maybe unreasonable, and I don’t want you to fight again. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

His jaw clenches tight. “Sujin—”

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, looking down. “I know I should’ve just told you—I know but—I always bring you trouble, Yoongi. You always help me, and I know you don’t mind, because you’re a good person, but I do. I feel like I use you to solve my problems and I don’t want that!”

He sighs heavily and bundles her into his chest. “Goddammit, Sujin,” he sighs, squeezing her in his safe embrace. “I swear you’re gonna worry me to death.”

She sniffles and tries to crowd deeper into his chest. “Are you still mad at me?” she asks in a tiny voice.

He shakes his head. “I wasn’t mad at you. I was mad you didn’t rely on me.”

She thinks for second. “So...you were mad at me.”

He huffs a laugh into her hair. “Fine, I was mad at you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. You had your reasons. They were ty reasons, but you had ‘em.”

She smacks him indignantly, though it’s more of a weak pat. “They were legitimate reasons!”

“Your definition of legitimate is unreliable.”

Yoongi had insisted on accompanying her to work on Saturday, even though the trouble wouldn’t come until after, and she knew he would grow bored and restless during her long shift. He couldn’t be persuaded otherwise, so she had agreed.

“It’s eight hours, Yoongi. What will you even do?” Sujin asks as they approached the library.

He shrugs. “Read. Nap. That’s plenty.”

She looks at him in surprise. “Do you like to read? I didn’t know that.”

“Eh. Depends on the book. I’ll find something.” He nudges her with his shoulder before pulling the door open for her. “Don’t worry about me.”

She smiles and thanks him for the door. “I always worry about you.”

“That’s my line.”

She waves, he nods, and they go their separate ways. A couple hours into work, she passes by him while shelving and giggles when she finds him snoozing on top of an open book. She watches him for a minute, wishing she had a blanket for him, before returning to work.

“Is that your boyfriend?” one of her coworkers asks her, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“N-no!” She blushes red. “We’re—we’re just friends!”

Her coworker hums in response, clearly unconvinced.

Half an hour before the end of her shift, Yoongi finds her deep into some shelves, startling her out of her shelving daze, and tells her he’ll wait for her outside.

She’s distracted for the next thirty minutes, wondering what Yoongi is doing, wishing she could leave earlier. As soon as the clock strikes five, she’s out the door, calling hasty goodbyes to her coworkers.

“Done?”

Surprised by the suddenness of his voice, Sujin spins haphazardly and knocks into the wall, to her eternal mortification. “Ow! Um. Hi.”

He snickers at her stumble, then laughs at her embarrassed face.

“Don’t laugh!” she whines timidly. “Yoongi!”

“Sorry, sorry.” He grins at her, utterly unapologetic; she buries her hand into the collar of her shirt.

“You’re mean.”

He laughs again, and embarrassed though she is, she can still appreciate the beauty of his laughter.

When his mirth dies down, she asks, “Were you bored?”

“Nah. I scoped out the area, think I saw some guys gathering over there.” He gestures towards the little alley where the stalker had confronted Sujin. “Didn’t recognize them, but that’s nothing new.”

Sujin tugs his arm worriedly. “Yoongi? Please don’t fight or get hurt.”

He gazes softly at her. “Don’t worry. I won’t do anything reckless. Just trust me.” He slides an arm around her waist and guides her down the street, towards the alley.

She’s confused and more than a little scared, but Yoongi’s presence is solid, comforting as always; she feels like everything will somehow turn out fine.

They stop a few feet from the entrance of the alley, and Yoongi leans down to whisper in her ear.

“Got it?” he pulls back and asks, searching her face.

She nods hesitantly. Before he can move away, she grabs his hand with both of hers and squeezes. “Be careful, okay?”

He squeezes back before smirking wordlessly and stalking into the alley.

Sujin huddles by the edge of the wall, peeking cautiously around the corner and clutching her phone at the ready. She watches Yoongi face off against a group of sneering boys, eleven by her count, and greet them nonchalantly.

“What is he doing?” she whispers furiously to herself. “What is he—what!?”

One of the boys—she recognizes him as the stalker—swaggers forward, spitting off to the side. “Where’s the rest of you?”

Yoongi shrugs. “Dunno. Busy, probably.”

The stalker’s face contorts into an ugly snarl. “in’ . I told her to bring all o’ you.”

She can’t see his face, but Yoongi’s entire body stiffens visibly. She holds her breath, praying for him to stay calm.

“So,” she hears him speak, deceptively pleasant, “you’re the bastard who was stalking her?”

“Waste of my in’ time,” the guy scoffs, rolling his eyes.

The next few seconds happen so quickly that Sujin almost misses it with a blink. With absolutely no warning whatsoever, Yoongi tenses and slugs the guy in the face with a loud and sickening crunch. The guy crumples unceremoniously to the ground, and Yoongi is back to standing with his hands in his pockets, as if nothing had happened.

Sujin gasps involuntarily, shocked by the sudden violence. “I told him not to fight!” she whimpers to herself as she fumbles with her phone to call the police.

“You bastard!” one of the gangsters yells, shaking off the shock and launching himself at Yoongi, spurring everyone into action.

“Hurry up, please!” Sujin mutters impatiently to herself as her phone rings, worrying her lip as she watches Yoongi dodge a flurry of punches and kicks, wincing every time he nearly gets hit.

It feels like a lifetime, but within a few minutes of the call, she hears police sirens wailing in the distance. The gangsters freeze, glancing around warily, before frantically trying to run away, shoving and tripping over each other as Yoongi snickers and casually sticks out his foot to trip a few of the boys who manage to untangle themselves and try to escape. A couple scramble to their feet and stumble away just as a police cruiser jerks to a stop by the curb. Two officers jump out.

One of them beelines towards Sujin, asking, “Hello, are you the one who called?”

“Yes,” she answers, briefly glancing at the other officer who nods at her in greeting on his way into the alley. She hears Yoongi greet him before her attention is stolen by the officer in front of her asking her to reiterate her situation.

“Um, yes, so several weeks ago...”

Later, when the remaining boys have been stuffed into the cruiser and shipped off, Yoongi and Sujin finally continue walking home. The sun has begun to sink in the sky, casting a muted orange light across the sky.

She frowns severely at him. “I think we have very different definitions of reckless. You said you would be careful.” Her eyes flit over his body in search of injury.

He scoffs. “I was! I didn’t even fight back.”

“You punched him first!”

“That wasn’t reckless, that was revenge.” He gently knocks his shoulder against hers, grinning conspiratorially.

Sujin sighs, her eyes locking on his hand. “I ask you not to fight or get hurt and then you go and do both.”

“What? I’m fine.”

She stops, glares at him, and carefully grabs his hand, showing him his bruised knuckles.

He rolls his eyes. “That doesn’t even hurt! It doesn’t count.”

“It’s bruised!” She tenderly brushes each of his fingers, gasping when they twitch under her touch. “You’re determined to worry me to death.”

“Hey, don’t steal my line!”

She chuckles a little helplessly, still clutching his hand, before finally meeting his gaze. “I...don’t like needing to be saved—”

“I was helping! Everyone needs help sometimes—”

“I know! I know. You always help me. Thank you, Yoongi.”

His uninjured hand carefully pushes her sleeve up, revealing her own bruise. “It’s better than they deserved, honestly,” he growls, ghosting his thumb across her delicate wrist.

“It’s fine. It doesn’t even hurt anymore.” She smiles up at him. “I’m just...glad it’s over.”

He pins her with a steely look. “Next time something happens to you, you’re telling me right away.”

She pouts, offended. “What do you mean, ‘next time’? Just because—”

“Right. Away.”

“Fine,” she mutters reluctantly, glaring at his triumphant grin, but she doesn’t let go of his hand the whole way home.

notes: here you are ladykirana!!! i'm SO sorry for the wait, but i hope you like it!!! i had the hardest time coming up with a crisis important and relevant enough; in the end it's this, haha. i'm not altogether happy with it, i think it's fairly contrived?? but i can't really think of anything better...........

to everyone else who has requested, i'm even sorrier, BUT i assure you all i am presently working my way through the requests, and they will be up asap! (not sure how soon asap is presently, i do have a LOT of writing + other stuff on my plate right now, but i'm doing my best!)

if you haven't yet noticed, i am indeed closing requests! i was planning to keep them open all summer, but it's obvious i'm way too busy to be accepting any more requests (not that i've had any in the past couple months!) so i'll just finish the current ones and try to focus on jin's story. i have so much writing to do, outside of AFF as well, and a whooooole bunch of side projects that are crucial to my employability lolol SO! i am pretty slammed this summer. hahahahahahahah STRESS

i meant to update immediately after the bbmas, but clearly that wasn't meant to be. still so proud of our boys for winning top social artist and soooo happy about how much they spoiled us during this year's festa, hahaha. also so incredibly jealous of k-armys like. so. jelly.

i feel like i had more to say, but i can't think of anything right now, so without further ado! the songs for this chapter is "wine" by suran which i loooooooooooooove because i love suran!!!! and i lovelovelove suga as a producer,  i think the songs he's produced have all been really good and really distinctively his, i can totally see him being a renowned music producer after he gets too old to be an active idol ;) i will say that my favorite part of the song is probably the first like 3 secs idk why i just love the syncopated beats

skyblaze208, OUT!

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