The group was in the middle of a five-hour dance practice that had even the golden maknae showing signs of exhaustion. Sure, their previous choreographer had put them through the ringer multiple times before but this new guy was making their old practices seem like cake walks. At least concerts won’t seem nearly as bad, Hoseok thought as they finished their last song before break. He was a little concerned for Yoongi who was looking paler than usual and knowing his eating and sleeping habits was probably another two hours away from passing out. Thankfully, they only had an hour left before they could go home and sleep and eat, and maybe shower if they could drag themselves out of bed long enough to stand for a minute in the water.

“Alright, take a quick break, everyone, good work.” The Choreographer said, causing everyone to groan from relief and aching muscles as they eased down to the floor. Hoseok watched as Jungkook went to grab his water bottle from the side of the room, only to be pursued by Choreographer Lee. The two appeared to talk for a minute, and Hoseok found himself a little confused because it looked as though Lee-nim was frustrated...or maybe angry?...With Jungkook. The older man was demonstrating a move that Hoseok was pretty sure he had watched Jungkook perform perfectly just a couple minutes ago, far better than Namjoon or Seokjin-not for lack of effort on their part-but there was no reason for him to be on Jungkook. The kid had been getting rapidly better with the new instructor that was for certain, Jungkook had always been good at dancing, but Hoseok was worried he’d have to start putting more hours in for practice at the rate the maknae was going.

He watched as Jungkook mimicked the move perfectly only to have the choreographer shake his head in disapproval and make the boy do it again. And again. And again. Finally, Hoseok watched as Lee-nim grabbed Jungkook’s arm, he wasn’t sure how roughly because although the grip looked uncomfortable, Jungkook barely seemed fazed, merely blinking with blank eyes that held none of the emotion or passion they had a couple months ago. Hoseok felt panic flutter in his stomach, something wasn’t right. He turned and grabbed Namjoon by his shoulder, pulling him away from his conversation with Seokjin.

“Namjoon, does something seem off to you between Jungkook and Choreographer-nim?” Hoseok asked, voice low to avoid alerting the others.

“Not particularly, no. Why?” Namjoon replied, a little confused, but still concerned. He was responsible for the well-being of his team, and nothing bothered him more than not knowing when one of s was having trouble.

“Look,” Hoseok told him, motioning him to see what was going on, but by the time they had turned their heads, Choreographer-nim was walking away from Jungkook and back over to the sound box.

“Okay, everyone back up and ready to go.” He said as a warning before music came trickling in the room.

After that, Hoseok wasn’t sure if he just hadn’t been aware before but he noticed that Jungkook was corrected more than anyone else. Every time the choreographer corrected one member, the next to be corrected was almost always Jungkook. He knew that the boy strived for perfection, as did everyone in the group, but it was obviously an unattainable goal, no one could be perfect, it was impossible, but the way Jungkook was corrected made Hoseok think maybe that’s what the choreographer was going for. Even more unnerving was the way Jungkook never argued the point, even if he had done exactly what was asked of him. Instead, the boy would nod, rarely even speaking a word other than to mouth the lyrics of the song.

By the time practice had ended, Hoseok felt anxious, acting even more jittery than normal. As soon as the group was in the hallway, he grabbed Namjoon, motioning the others to continue on.

“Joon, something's not right, did you see how hard he was on Jungkook? He’s not like that with any of the other members, just Jungkook, and I don’t like it.” Hoseok told him firmly, at the very least the issue needed to be addressed, and though Hoseok wasn’t worried about Namjoon brushing him off for lying, he was a little concerned that the leader would think he was exaggerating as Hoseok often had a tendency to do.

“I agree hyung, but first let me just talk with Choreographer-nim, maybe this is just a misunderstanding,” Namjoon replied, concern in his own voice, as the dancer sighed in relief. “You go on with the others I’ll meet up with you guys at the dorms later.

“Thank you Namjoon-ah, I know it may not seem like a big deal but I’m worried about Kookie,” Hoseok said, feeling his heart clench at the thought of the boy being hurt. They had all practically raised him, they were family, and to think of something or someone hurting the boy was almost too much to bear.

“I understand, I am too, but let’s not make too big a deal out of this until we know for sure what’s going on.” He replied, and Hoseok nodded in agreement before saying goodbye and hurrying to catch up with the rest of the group.