Author's Note: ATTENTION READERS, this is update #2 of three total.

Please see the previous chapter for the 'newest' chapter overall. This will just be a spoiler if you haven't read chapter 26 yet, so please do so first.

For those that have, happy reading and you will have one more update tomorrow evening.

Jimin sighed and opened the door. He knew that Namjoon wanted to have a serious ‘talk’ with everyone. Seokjin had more than hinted it would be what he described as the ‘leader talk’. Even further interrogation from Hoseok in the car had revealed that these so called talks were more like overly critical lectures on things they needed to be better at and habits they should break and new house rules that always started out being done but ended up being forgotten and never done again. Seokjin spoke of how draining and overall trivial the talks were. Even Yoongi had rolled his eyes at the mentions of the talk, but perhaps that was just the hyung’s opinions. If Jimin were being honest, he felt it had more to do with the whole age difference culture. Seokjin, Yoongi and Hoseok were all older in age than Namjoon, and it was almost always annoying to ‘technically’ be the elder and end up getting talked down to by the younger. So maybe this talk wasn’t going to be draining at all? Maybe it was going to be refreshing and invigorating-exactly what Jimin needed after his minor victory with Joohyung’s friends.

Jimin stepped through the door and took one look at the room before internally sighing and shaking his head. Nope, they were right. It looked like an intervention hall with the way everyone was sprawled around in a circle with Namjoon in the middle. He looked rather annoyed and mostly authoritative. It was possibly the most adult-like Namjoon had ever seemed to Jimin. He looked like a father about to scold his kids rather than a band leader having a chat with his mates. Jimin felt apprehensive as the room’s attention diverted to him, all alone and awkward in front of the door. He was the very last one. Even Taehyung was present and paying attention, no wandering spacy look in sight. Even Jeongguk had his phone away and sat enraptured with Namjoon’s feet on the floor. Jimin gulped and attempted a placating smile.

“So nice to see everyone was waiting for me. I feel like the person that made a special guest appearance on a TV show.” Jimin attempted to be playful. Namjoon was not amused.

“I guess you are since it seems to always be a surprise whenever you show up for anything. Not going to vanish or disappear on us again huh? No other people or prior commitments right? I’d hate to inconvenience you or something.” The sarcasm was dripping ooey and gooey onto the floor. Jimin gulped and kept his mouth shut. No, attempting civility was not on today’s agenda apparently. And Jimin was no more wanting to be torn to shreds than the next person, so wisely, he took his place on the couch next to Seokjin and Hoseok and placed his attention on Namjoon. When Namjoon felt he was free to begin, he shook his head.

“Now that we have everyone, I have some announcements to make. Our ever amazing and secretive coordinating manager has managed to come together with Bang PD-nim, the board of advisors, and myself to finally determine the style for our group.” Namjoon waited with baited breath, staring into each members eyes for a solid three seconds. There was no change in expression on any of the elders face, but Taehyung and Jimin showed slight variations of anticipation. Jeongguk-in his own way-maintained an emotion similar to this. Namjoon inwardly sighed. He shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up. Now he has all the more reason not to feel sorry for them.
 

“Urban hip hop!” Again, nothing. He was slightly more annoyed.

“Woo.” Yoongi responds, seeing the conflicted look on Namjoon’s face. Namjoon’s scowl set in deeper.

“Really? That’s all you want to say?” Namjoon complained. Seokjin shrugged his shoulders.

“Were the heads in such conflict over what our concept should be that this was a nerve-wracking decision?” Namjoon turned to the eldest and narrowed his eyes.

“Uh...yeah...kinda.” Seokjin rolled his eyes.

“I think you’re being just a hair bit dramatic but sorry, we’ll try and be more grateful. We appreciate all of the thought and energy you all put into picking it. Wahhhhh! OMG MAN! I can’t believe it, urban hip hop!” Hoseok jumped up and swung his arms around, yelling his praises. Namjoon scowled further.

“This isn’t exactly making me feel better.” Jimin tried offering up his sincerest impressions.

“Do they really think we’ll be able to pull it off?” Jimin asked. Namjoon’s scowl softened just a bit.

“Are you stupid? Urban hip hop is probably the only one we can pull off. I doubt Namjoon even knows how to do anything else.” Yoongi responded, scratching the back of his head. Namjoon rolled his eyes and elected to ignore him.

“Jimin brings up a good point, one that the dance instructor also brought up, along with the general manager. Are we-a group of immature kids with barely enough heart and drive to get up for rehearsal in the morning-capable of working our butts hard enough, pushing the limits far enough, and putting enough heart into our work to be able to pull off the american hustle urban hip hop vibe that sold so well in the early 2000s? I don’t really know to be quite honest. I barely ever see it now.” Jimin’s innocent question turned into a lecture that no one could stop.

“I hate to sound like a broken record, but you all already know the drill. I’m trying to mediate, I really am. They don’t see all the things I do. They don’t see Jimin and V sneaking off in the night to go practice their choreography. They don’t see Suga and J-hope getting up 2 hours early on a saturday to work on music. They don’t see me writing lyrics every free moment of time I have in between our schedule. And they don’t see even when Jungkook practices fixing his facial expressions in the mirror at night.” At this, Jeongguk turned a warm pink. He pressed himself further into Seokjin’s calf to try and hide his blush, but everyone-and by everyone we really mean Taehyung and Seokjin-cooed. Taehyung tried to pinch him and get his attention, but Jeongguk was still ignoring him. Annoyance flared in his chest. How was Jeongguk still mad at him?

“But not seeing improvement after all the extra work we do won’t make the managers happy. What do they care if we sacrifice an extra three hours of sleep when we can barely stay in formation during dance rehearsal? Why should it matter if we made ten new tracks but each and every one of them are terrible? Do you all see what I’m trying to get at?” Seokjin sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“That we’ll never be good enough for bighit standard?” Hoseok offered. Namjoon gave him a disinterested look.

“I’m not amused.” Namjoon responded.

“Really? I thought it was pretty funny.” Yoongi countered. Namjoon gave him his own frown as well.

“Again, not amused. Can you please be serious for just a few moments. I promise it won’t hurt.” Seokjin sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“Just get on with it already.”

    “If we’re going to pick this image, we have to work even harder than we did before. All eyes, ears, and minds have to be in for this to work. Our choreography needs to indicate effortless swag and intensity. Our music needs to bop and rock and pop with just the right amount of charm. We will have to work harder than ever before for our debut. We can’t settle for ‘good’ we need to be the best.” Namjoon made sure to pointedly look at Jimin. His gaze wasn’t harsh, but it was one of acknowledgment. Right now, he thought Jimin was the weakest link in the group. Perhaps, he was right. Jimin did seem to cause the most issues for them. If only they knew about what was really going on. Then Namjoon’s opinion would be more sour than it already was.

“Can I be confident in telling the managers and PD-nim that we are up for the challenge?” Namjoon asked to the group. Seokjin was the first to answer.

“We will always, always be ready. Even if I have to spend the next year dancing my toes off, I promise I will not hold this group back.” Jimin jerked his head up in astonishment. Seokjin thought Namjoon was talking to him?

“Even if I write till my fingers bleed, they’ll get every last drop of musical inspiration out of me. I’ve already reconciled with selling my soul to the PD-devil.” Yoongi added.

“I’ll spend every second we have till debut chugging out dance after dance until those bastards are satisfied. It’s not perfect until they say so.” Hoseok had a determined gleam in his eye. Why were all of their hyungs rising up like this. What happened to the dull and rather grim aura around the group? Jimin turned to Taehyung and was almost shocked to see the same look on his face. Even Jeongguk looked fierce. What was it that he was missing? Namjoon had just basically called them all lazy and untalented. Yet they were acting like this was a pep talk. Was Jimin missing the point? Had he heard it wrong somehow?

    “I don’t know what, but I’ll do anything to improve. I’m making this debut.” Even Taehyung was in on it. Jimin turned back to Namjoon and found him staring at him. Suddenly the spotlight was on him. He panicked. What was he supposed to do? Should he give his own hoo-rah? Is that what they were expecting? They were all waiting, waiting for something from him. Jimin replayed the words in his head. Everything Namjoon said, then the bandmates responses. He thought fervently about it, and started to realize where he went wrong. Namjoon was testing them. He was seeing if their resolve would waver. A little criticism, that’s all it was. A little, but just enough to see if any of them would crack. And Jimin was cracking. He was that easy to convince, well, not anymore.

    “I-I don’t want to disappoint anyone. I’ll do what I have to.” Jimin gave. He wasn’t sure if that was the proper response, but it was the only thing that felt right to say. And it was the truth after all, he really didn’t want to disappoint any of them. It was enough based on the almost relieved look in his leader's face.

“I’m glad. I don’t want to disappoint anyone as well. I know I have my own things to work on, so as long as I can, I will do my best. Not just for myself, but for all of you. We’re a team, so we should start acting like it.” Jimin felt warm. It was like a small victory for himself.

“That was touching and all, but we’re still not done are we?” Yoongi interrupted. Namjoon’s warm expression melted into one of seriousness.

“You must know me too well hyung. I was just about to get to that. Actually, this involves mostly you Jimin.” Jimin’s head snapped up at the mention of his name. Namjoon’s wa