May 28th, 2015.

Taehyung had been partnered up with Jungkook for their new sub-unit, the Hyung line was doing their own project; it left Jimin in the dorm alone to rest up before their group comeback at the end of the year. He told himself that it was only six more months, then everything would just go back to normal. It would just be the seven of them arguing over who got what line and practicing dances late at night; until then it was dorm duties and video games. It wasn’t until Jimin was on his twelfth episode of a drama when his phone rang. Taehyung’s name flashed on the screen.

“Hello?”

“Jimin? Me and Jungkook were heading to the restaurant by the studio, want to come? Seokjin said that they weren’t going to be back until late tonight.”

“I’ll meet you in ten.”

Jimin got ready in a grey hoodie and sweatpants and jogged to the family restaurant that was always open. When he stepped inside, he saw the two already laughing over a bowl of soup and ramyun. Tea was flying out of Taehyung’s nose and hitting Jungkook who tsk’ed in fiend annoyance. The youngest looked up and waved Jimin over to a seat beside him.

“What did you do today? You didn’t finish that old show that has it’s re-runs every Sunday night do you?”

Jimin mocked a surprised look. “I did not, I’m only on episode twelve. I’ve got at least some control.” Jungkook looked away as he ordered himself something to eat and watched the two younger laugh over a slip up that Taehyung had made during their practice earlier. All Jimin could do was watch, he knew it was futile to try and get into the conversation; his attempt earlier in the week got him a ‘you should’ve been there hyung, Jungkook’s voice cracked twice!’, making him feel left out and lonely.  

They paid for their food before making their way back to the dorms, “Jimin-ah, I’m tired. Can you do my laundry for me?”. Jimin gave Taehyung a nod before watching the puff of brown hair disappear to his shared room with Yoongi and Hoseok. Jungkook threw a bottle of juice from the fridge, to which the elder caught without a doubt. 

“You should hear the song we’re working on, hyung’s harmonies have gotten better.”

“I’ll listen to the final product when it’s done, just like a faithful fan.” He watched as Jungkook smile before disappearing to their shared room. Turning his attention to the pile of laundry in the bathroom, Jimin decided to just do everyone’s while he was at it. It was nearing two in the morning after he had hung the last t-shirt when he heard the front door click open. He saw four tired faces that gave him a small smile before brushing up and going to their respected rooms. Finishing up cleaning after the others, he slowly crept inside his room and saw Jungkook snoring softly away in the bed beside him. Snapping a photo, Jimin uploaded it to the fan cafe with a small caption, cooing at how adorable the maknae was for working so hard for their sub-unit debut. 

Jealousy had no doubt constantly found it’s way into Jimin’s mind but he would shake the unjust feeling aside when he saw their faces walk in the dorm everyday. One day, after this, maybe Namjoon would tell him that he had a project for him as well. Until then he would wait until his name was called. 

June 2nd, 2015.

“Jimin? We brought some meat and vegetables, could you make some soup tonight?” 

“I’ll get it started, it should be done in an hour.” Jimin took the groceries from Jungkook’s hand while giving Namjoon a thumbs up. Lately, the feeling of being used was found constantly in Jimin’s conscience while he made meals, washed dishes, and cleaned the dorms. It hurt the most when Jungkook and Taehyung had an interview on Music Bank that had Jungkook expressing how “I didn’t to be in a sub-unit with Jimin, Taehyung is enough.”; Jimin had made dinner and went to sleep without waiting for the others to come home. It hurt; but there wasn’t any signs of guilt when the seven of them got together for dinner; none of them noticed how small Jimin was feeling.

June 25th, 2015.

It was halfway through promotions that the two youngest were participating in. Meetings made the four eldest members barely home. Jimin was tired of being a maid at the dorm, he didn’t sign up for this. He had talked to their manager earlier this morning on the phone and it left Jimin feeling restless; more so than their debut stage.

“Jimin, don’t worry. After the promotions are over it will go back to normal. Many groups have sub-units these days.”

“But I’ve been stuck at home for the past month already. I’ve lost count on how many dramas I’ve finished already.”

“Stop complaining, do you know how many people would be honoured to be part of this group? Are you taking this for granted?”

Fear was building on top of the loneliness and he decided that he had been tortured for too long. After the award show at the end of the month, he would talk to Namjoon.

June 30th, 2015

“Congratulations Bangtan Sonyeondan!” The MC announced to the mic as the seven of them went to the stage to accept the award for Best Worldwide Act. “Bangtan who has worked so hard this year with many promotions, how did you manage to get everything in control?”

Hoseok took the mic and gave his signature smile. “Ahh thank you! Although we lately had our sub-unit debut, it was our Jiminnie that always boosted our energy when we got home.” The said boy graced a smile on his face after winking at the camera.

“Speaking of which, Jimin, you haven’t been in many of the groups promotions. You’ve gained some weight no?”

Jimin suddenly gulped as the question came as a surprise. He was already worried to death everyday at what the fans would think about his slowly melting abs. This guy wasn’t cutting him any slack. “I, uhm, no. Maybe a bit.” He tried to laugh it off but the worried glance Taehyung gave told him that his reaction wasn’t as convincing as he hoped it was.

“Moving on. Namjoon, the ‘Hyung Line’ of Bangtan has been working on their own project. Can you tell us more about it?” The leader took the mic and began to explain their upcoming debut and it felt like a punch to Jimin’s stomach when he realized that they were all involved in something but him. The rest of the night was a blur to Jimin as he just wished to go back to their dorm and crawl in his bed; it was ironic, a few weeks ago he would’ve been over the moon to just hang about with everyone somewhere that didn’t smell like laundry and kimchi jjigae. 

On the ride home, everyone had either fell asleep or had headphones in. Jimin was looking out the window before he felt Taehyung tap his shoulder. 

“Are you alright?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? We won an award and everything is going well.”

“The guy from earlier. The interview.”

“It’s alright. I have been gaining a few pounds but everything will go back to normal. I hope.” The last part almost went unheard if it weren’t for Taehyung’s sharp hearing. 

“Want to come to practice tomorrow with Jungkook and I?”

Jimin’s eyebrow arched. “I’ll pass, he didn’t want to be with me anyways. Plus, you’re all he needs.”

“If it’s about that interview, I talked to him about it. He wasn’t thinking. C’mon you’ve been stuck at the dorm so much lately.”

“At least someone noticed, and I would believe you if he wasn’t avoiding me so much.”

“Stop being so heartless, he didn’t mean it.”

“I’m being heartless? Why are you helping him so much, don’t you know how I’ve been feeling?”

“He’s barely nineteen. Give him a break.”

“And who’s going to give me one?”

“Take one then, no one is begging for you to stay.” Jimin’s eyes widened and Taehyung felt a pang of guilt hit him in the stomach. Before he could add anything else, Jimin had already put his headphones in and closed his eyes. The rest of the ride home was silent. 

The next day, Jimin went to the recording room that Namjoon was composing in. The elder had left the dorms early but Jimin couldn’t sleep, not after what happened. He found the pink haired boy with his back facing the door, after knocking lightly he watched as Namjoon take his headphones off to turn and face him.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be home resting?” Resting, Jimin thought. Maybe if I didn’t feel so suffocated I would be resting.

“About that, Hyung, is there anything I can work on? Anything.”

Namjoon turned back to face the computer before giving a sigh. “Jimin-ah, we’ve all been busy, I can’t possibly also watch over you too when I’ve got the two youngest running around to different music shows.”

“I was thinking maybe I could do a cover?”

“I’m fine with the idea, it’s just that the recording rooms are all full for a few weeks. You can put in your name for the queue.”

“Never mind. What about our next album? I don’t have anything to do anyways, why don’t I try to do some composing too?”

“Jimin, why don’t you just go home.” He couldn’t have seen the hurt look on Jimin’s face. Not even when he turned around, because all Namjoon was faced with was a empty doorway when he turned back around.

July 5th, 2015

For the past few days, the dorms had been silent when everyone was home. Everyone was either too tired or busy with their schedules and Jimin could only watch as their busy lives were just passing him by; it made him want to pull his hair out. It was evening when Taehyung came up behind him in the kitchen. 

“I’m sorry for what happened the other night.”

“I’m sorry for expressing myself.”

“Jimin, I’m serious. Are you still mad at me?”

Jimin wasn’t the type to keep grudges nor was he petty. But he couldn’t help but feel bitter about everything. “I wouldn’t say I’m mad at you, more so everyone in general.”

“Why? What have we even done?”

“Kim Taehyung,” the younger straightened his back, Jimin never called him by his full name unless he was really concerned. “I spent over a month waiting for something to happen. Anything. But I was just faced with your tired faces and dirty laundry.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You’re not sorry. If you were, you would've done something for me. I’m not asking for much, but sometimes I just want to have my best friend with me when they aren’t busy.”

“What choice did I have? It was either a sub-unit between you or Jungkook, and I-”

The plate in Jimin’s hand dropped back into the sink. “You had a choice?”

“Who would’ve you chosen? I swear it-”

“I would’ve asked to have both of you! Did you not stop and think about where I stood?”

“I know now that it wasn’t on stage with me and Jungkook.”

“Clean your own damn dishes.” He threw his gloves at Taehyung’s chest before stalking off into the living room. 

“You can’t be mad about a decision that I made.”

“Then I’m mad at how big of a jerk you are.”

Seokjin and Hoseok came out of their rooms to see Jimin grabbing his jacket. 

“Jimin-ah, where are you going?”

Jimin gave the eldest a cold glare before replying. “Leaving. I’ll stop dragging you all down. Don’t worry about me, it’s not like you guys did anyways.”

Hoseok’s usual cheerful demeanour disappeared as he grabbed the younger’s wrist. “Stop this, what’s wrong with you? You’ve been quiet all week.”

“I’m glad someone noticed. I need some air. I’m sick of being your maid. Sick of being your ab machine, your cook, your slave.”

“Then leave, we don’t need a drama queen in this dorm.” This time it was Yoongi who came out of his room. “You heard him, he’s sick of us. Let him go.”

Jimin would be lying if he said he didn’t feel a tad bit disappointed. But his pride was on the line more than logic at the moment and he took one more glance at all six of them who came out to see what the commotion was and bit back tears as he stormed out the dorm.

Taehyung was looking at the wet rubber gloves in his hands as he spoke. “What have we done?”

Jimin didn’t know where he was going, where could he go? If a fan saw him it would be a scandal it something went wrong. As mad as he was at s, he couldn’t possibly have the heart to sabotage their hard work that they all spent years and years of practicing for. No, Jimin wasn’t heartless. He found his way to an old twenty-four hour convenience store they used to visit during their trainee days. Stepping inside made Jimin feel as if he was stepping back in time. When the most stressful thing was missing a vocal class. Or when all that went by his mind was the thought of one day debuting. The bittersweet thoughts clouded his mind but was soon forgotten as Jimin realized he only had to twenties in his pocket and a cellphone. He couldn’t possibly go back to the dorms, how was he to face them all? Deciding on a small coffee and a bag of honey chips, he sat in front of the window and thought of where he was to go.

The dorms were still quiet but the tense atmosphere was making all of them antsy. 

“How did this even start?” Namjoon looked at Taehyung.

“Remember the day that Jungkook told the interviewer of not needing Jimin?”

The youngest looked up, “I didn’t mean to hurt him. I don’t know, it just came out that way?”

“Well you did, and then the interview at the award show? I, I kind of told him off that night on the way home.”

“What did you say?”

“He asked for a break so I told him that no one was stopping him”

“Why would you say that Taehyung-ah?”

“It’s not just his fault. I told him to just go home after he asked for something to do. I kept dismissing his ideas.”

“Call him, we need to fix this.”

Jimin started his stroll to the park near the dorms. It was around ten in the evening and he made himself comfy on the swings. His phone started to buzz, it was Seokjin. Turning his phone on silent, he closed his eyes and felt the warm summer breeze. After a few minutes he heard footsteps behind him; stopping right behind him.

“Taehyung, I’m really not in the mood.” After being greeted with silence he turned around and saw three men staring. “Can I help you?”

“In fact, you can. You’re a famous singer no? We just happened to need some money, you can spare for the less fortunate no?”

“I give to people who deserve it.”

“And you think you and your friends deserve to be top notch celebrities when all you do is scream and jump around on stage?”

“Watch what you say about them. Now if you will excuse me.”

“We weren’t done with you just yet.”

“Oh, but I’m quite done with you so let me go, don’t touch what you can’t afford.”

Jimin was shocked when he felt a fist collide to his face; he wasn’t the type to use his fist but once he felt a kick to his stomach he couldn't help but retaliate back. 

“He’s not answering.”

“Use ‘Find My iPhone’”

“Like that’s gonna work.”

“Just do it.”

The app gave a GPS signal to the park beside the dorms and Jungkook looked out the window.

“I think I see him.”

“That idiot not using a phone.”

“Hyung! He’s not alone, we need to go!”

He grabbed Hoseok as they dashed out the door.

“Why me out of everybody?”

“Because I’m confident you know how to land a punch.”

Jimin was positive he had a nosebleed and somewhere on his face was bleeding. 

“I don’t care how much you can hurt me. You want my money? I don’t have any, I haven’t done any promotions for weeks now! And we don’t scream and jump around on stage. We spent so much time and effort to bring the best. You have no right to just come up to me and disrespect me and my family!”

As he was yelling, he caught a glance of two familiar faces. It caught him off guard and didn’t have enough time to block the kick towards his stomach.

Hoseok’s blood was boiling and something inside of him snapped, he and Jungkook jumped in to the three men and easily overpowered them with the element of surprise.

“Jimin-ah!” Hoseok took the boy from the asphalt ground and brought him into the bench. By then the four others had come running.

“D-Did you hear me?”

“God you were yelling so loud I could hear you from the stoplight.”

“I can’t even protect you guys properly.” He gave a soft laugh but it gave away to coughs.

“You should be glad they didn’t disfigure your face like what you did to one them.”

“I’m sorry.” The six of them looked at the boy in Hoseok’s arms and it dawned upon them how small Jimin looked. “For everything, I shouldn’t have ran out, yelled. Now manager-hyung is gonna freak when he sees me.”

“We should go inside, just in case someone sees us. We can continue this over bag of honey chips.”

“I already had some, sorry I didn’t save any.” They were relieved that he still had his sense of humour. Things wouldn’t be as hard to fix as they thought.

When they got back inside, Jimin had fallen asleep on Hoseok’s back. Seokjin instructed to have him placed on the couch as he came back with the first aid kit.

Taehyung looked away, “I don’t think I ever felt so guilty about anything.” They all crowded around the couch and kept silent as the eldest lifted Jimin’s shirt to see bruises starting to blossom on his belly. “He’s right, I am a jerk.”.

“We were careless and Jimin was just there to take all our bull.”

“Language, Yoongi.”

“Sorry Hyung.”

 They all winced as they saw the cut on Jimin’s cheek. It would take a few weeks to heal as well as a scolding from their makeup artists.

“It hurts.” Jimin whispered as he opened one eye. “This is so embarrassing.”

The eldest gave a stern look before gently wiping his forehead. “You got hurt for us, we should be the ones to be embarrassed.”

“Jimin-ah, I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok hyung, you were stressed that day anyway, I was being pushy.”

“No, I was ignoring you. We all were. Thanks for cleaning up after us. I swear I’ll make you shine during our next comeback. And, no more sub-units for a while. That’s not how Bangtan rolls right?”

“Thanks hyung. I’m tired, can I just sleep for now?”

“I’ll bring you to your room.”

“I can walk perfectly fine Hoseok-hyung.”

“I beg to differ. C’mon, let’s go. It’s time for us to be your servants.”

That night Jimin went to sleep with a smile on his face. The digital clock shone a 2:30 A.M when Taehyung sneaked into Jimin’s shared room with Jungkook. 

“Jimin? Jimin-hyung?”

“Tae? What are you doing? It’s morning.”

“I wanted to apologize. Seriously seriously this time.”

“Jungkook apologized too, it’s ok, I’m fine.”

“I saved you some chips.”

“I can’t Tae, I’m not in shape as it is.”

Taehyung stuffed the honey flavoured snacks into jimin’s mouth with a grin on his face. “Well in my opinion, you’ve gotten slimmer and I personally don’t like having my best friend feel like stick when I want to cuddle.” After the crunching of chips disappeared to relieve a soft sigh, Jimin turned to face the younger with a smile on his face.

“Taehyung-ah, thank you.”

Hey guys! I hope you liked this story~! I know I usually try to write romance and this was more of a ot7 fic but it was something I wanted to try out~!

I'm so happy you've read up to here and it would be a great thing to leave a comment! 

I hope you all anticipate my future works as well as check out some of my old ones~ Shameless self promotion but ILY~!~!~!~!

Have an amazing night/day/afternoon/evening.

Love,

meiscribbles