Chapter 10: Betrayal

    “I could really use some chocolate right about now… I haven’t had it in a while.” Jungkook muttered as he stared up at the ceiling blankly. He was lying on his back on the couch, completely exhausted from the day’s classes and responsibilities. He was just thankful it was Friday…

    “Jungkook… you’re not allowed to have chocolate. You athletes are supposed to have some kind of strict diet, aren’t you?” Jimin asked him from his spot in front of Jungkook, with his back propped up against the couch, “I mean… we’ve all been doing our best to eat healthier since we started conditioning for the dancing and all, but you and Jin hyung are in track and field… You guys kind of have to keep it together with your diet, right?” he was never an athlete, so he wasn’t positive.

    “Not many people actually stick to their recommended diets, Jimin. At least not my teammates. Most of us did start eating more vegetables, but we didn’t take anything out of our diets. We just kind of laugh it off.” Hoseok remarked about the baseball team from the adjacent section of the couch.

    “Yeah, besides, it’s not like Jungkook eats a lot of sweets anyways. A little chocolate never hurt anyone.” Taehyung stated as he considered the idea. He was seated beside Jimin with his head leaned back on the couch cushion next to Jungkook’s upper torso, “Now that I think about it, chocolate really does sound good right now…”

    “We don’t have any; I’m pretty sure Namjoon hyung had the last of it a couple of weeks ago. I saw him eating a hershey bar with one hand and holding up a book with the other.” Hoseok laughed.

    “Did he really..?” Jungkook pouted as he ruffled his hair and tried to think of what else could satisfy his sweet tooth and caffeine needs. It was then an idea clicked in his mind, and he was quick to sit up and look to the others eagerly, “Wait, doesn’t Yoongi hyung have snacks hidden in his room? I mean, I assume they’re in there. I’ve seen him buy some, but I’ve never seen where he puts them.”

    “You’re seriously considering looking for Yoongi hyung’s stash? He’ll crush you like the cookie crumble you are, maknae.” Hoseok joked as he stood from his seat and gave a gentle pat to his shoulder, “But if you’re serious, I’m game.”

    “I am NOT a cookie crumble! And he won’t crush me; he’ll just be a little upset… But I can always pay him back. I just don’t want to drive to the store to get it…” Jungkook replied defensively.

    “Whoa, whoa, whoa… First of all, you don’t drive. Hoseok hyung and I drive. Second of all, are both of you nuts? Yoongi hyung will expect more than the exact amount owed. He’d want double.” Taehyung pointed out as he and Jimin stood as well, “But, if you’re really that desperate… who’s to say that strawberries and whipped cream won’t go well with some of that chocolate? I mean… he gets the expensive stuff.”

    Jimin seemed to be uncertain as to whether or not this deed should be done, but the more he thought about it, the more fun it sounded! He thoroughly enjoyed joking around and messing with Yoongi, so his mind was quickly changed, “Alright, let’s find his stash before we run out of time.” he grinned as he gestured for them to follow him to the third door on the right, just across from the master bedroom.

    As soon as the door swung into the bedroom, the first thing the group was able to lay their eyes on was Yoongi’s desk to their left. The entire desk platform was covered with spiral notebooks, a variety of papers, a pair of wireless Beats headphones, a wooden pencil box, a small desk lamp, and three half-filled water bottles. Just above the desk pinned to the wall was the free Berea calendar every student received for the school year. Past the desk along the same wall was the nightstand with Yoongi’s slick black alarm clock placed on top. The head of Yoongi’s bed sat beside the stand, with the length of the bed stretched against the adjacent wall. Yoongi’s black blanket and white sheets were strewn across the bed, completely unmade, which stood out in comparison to Jin’s royal blue, Mario themed blanket and sheets that were neatly laying upon his bed. Yoongi’s dresser and Jin’s night stand separated the two beds, and Jin’s bed was set beside his night stand in a similar fashion to Yoongi’s bed and night stand. Jin’s dresser sat at the foot of his bed, and his neatly organized desk sat directly beside it. Their shared wardrobe sat on the right wall as they walked in, with a bookshelf of Jin’s nerdy collectables directly beside it on his side of the room. The blonde silk carpet was the same in every bedroom, but as soon as the carpet reached the door, it met with the Santos Mahogany hardwood floor.

    “Wow, Yoongi hyung’s side is a mess compared to Jin hyung’s… What’s weird is that the floor is completely spotless; it’s just his desk and bed that need to be tidied up.” Jimin observed as he bent down to look under the bed, “I don’t see anything under here, so maybe he’s hiding his stash in his wardrobe or something. Check the drawers of his desk.”

    Taehyung carefully opened each drawer of Yoongi’s desk, finding more utensils, flash drives, tape, glue, scissors, and basically any other necessary school supply Yoongi found useful. The bigger, bottom drawers on either side of the desk held empty spiral notebooks, two books, and folders while the smaller ones held all of the supplies. “I don’t see anything in here…” he pouted as he left the desk and watched as Hoseok and Jungkook checked the wardrobe.

    “Whoa… it’s actually clean in here.” Hoseok commented as his brown eyes stared at the hung-up clothes that were actually very well organized and, on Yoongi’s side, even sorted by color. “He may be a mess at his desk, but he’s the exact opposite with his clothes… I’ve never seen anyone this organized with clothes.” He was distracted by how interesting Yoongi’s side of the room was… If someone was to compare Yoongi’s side of the closet with his desk and look at nothing else, that individual would not ever guess that it was the same person using the two spaces.

    “It’s definitely weird… but hey, we need to keep looking or else we’re going to lose time!” Jungkook urged Hoseok to continue the search; he didn’t want to be caught in the act of stealing from the one and only Yoongi!

    The group searched and searched the room for a good 10 minutes or so, and they were becoming discouraged… If they continued on like this, their time would be wasted and the three oldest would be home in no time! “Geez, why does this have to be so hard… Are we sure he even has these sweets? He barely eats candy to begin with…” Hoseok began to doubt the existence of Yoongi’s stash.

    “If I was Yoongi hyung, what would I do in my room..?” Jimin groaned as he pulled Yoongi’s black, leather rolling chair out from his desk, sat in it, and then lay his head in his arms upon the desk’s surface.

    “....That’s it! Yoongi is always falling asleep no matter what he’s doing, right? So if he’s always staying up late working on lyrics or homework, he’s got to keep his snacks nearby in case he needs, you know… emergency fuel or whatever.” Jungkook pointed out as Jimin turned to look at him curiously, “Well, obviously it means he’s got to have his sweets at this desk. Hyung, are you sure you looked through the drawers thoroughly?” he turned his attention to Taehyung.

    “I thought I did, but we can look again…” Taehyung replied as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. He hoped he didn’t overlook something, but as far as he knew, everything in those drawers was completely school-related.

    Jimin and Jungkook began to search the drawers once more, hoping that with two more sets of eyes, the goods would at last be found. As they came upon the bottom left drawer where the two books and spiral notebooks were found. Jimin and Jungkook decided to check underneath the books to see if they had missed anything there. “Wait a minute… something’s off. These books aren’t… books.” Jimin informed them as he poked Jungkook’s shoulder to tear his attention away from the drawer, “Look, they’re wooden, and the binding comes out.” He carefully pulled at the binding of the accurately painted boxes to reveal  a ziploc bag full of vanilla wafers in one box and a full box of Ferrero Rocher (9 pieces) and a package of Lindor dark chocolate truffles in the other box.

    “Whoa… He really doesn’t eat cheap sweets. I mean, the vanilla wafers aren’t such a big deal, but they could go really well with those strawberries. Do we really want to open a new package of Ferrero Rocher though? It’s way more noticeable than taking a few of the Lindor chocolates…” Hoseok scratched the back of his head as he tried to imagine how upset Yoongi might be if the most expensive of the chocolates was touched.

    “Yeah, maybe you’re right… Let’s leave the Ferrero Rocher alone. Show some appreciation for our dedicated lyric writer.” Taehyung agreed as he picked out three of the Lindor chocolates for the others, “How can he like dark chocolate? It’s way too bitter for my liking…”

    “Yoongi hyung is a little sophisticated.” Jimin laughed a little as he picked out eight vanilla wafers and handed them to Jungkook before returning all of the sweets to their proper place and making sure that everything was placed back in their original spots.

    The four of them left the room and made a beeline for the kitchen, rushing to make their bowl of sweets before their hyungs arrived. Hoseok lay out four bowls, Jungkook placed two vanilla wafers in each and then added a thin layer of whipped cream on top, and Taehyung and Jimin sliced an entire container of strawberries to be placed on top of the whipped cream layer. As soon as the strawberries were portioned out into each bowl, one final layer of whipped cream was added and a Lindor chocolate truffle was added to all but one, and at last their desserts were complete! As soon as they cleaned up after themselves, they began to eat.

    “I still say that the vanilla wafers would have made a good crust if we would have had time to make it, but this is still really good… I can’t remember the last time I had something this sweet.” Jungkook remarked with a smile as he stabbed his fork into another couple of strawberries and took another bite.

    “Enjoy it while you can; we’re all going to be murdered when Yoongi hyung finds out.” Hoseok laughed with the others. The four of them finished in no time, and as soon as their sweets were gone, they went on to clean their dishes to remove any evidence of their terrible deed. Not even two minutes later, they could see Yoongi and some girl walking into their driveway, and they all made a run for the living room to jump on the couch and act as normal as possible.

    “Just to make things clear, I spoke with Taehy--- Aiden, sorry--- about you, and he told me that you had first seen me playing piano or doing something in one of the practice rooms in the music building… I wanted to apologize to you because I’ve been avoiding you without trying to understand what was really going on… You and I don’t talk unless you say something, and usually it’s about music right? So, you’re not really… interested in me, are you? I mean, it’s just my music, right?” Yoongi asked hopefully as his feet finally made contact with their house’s driveway.

    The slim, athletically dressed African American girl, whose height was nearing 5’5”, frowned in response to Yoongi’s question, feeling conflicted by whether or not he was correct. She fiddled with her straightened black hair as she thought about it until she finally replied, “Yeah, I suppose you’re right… Honestly, I’ve always been really into music since I was a kid, and I love expanding my music genre. In Oregon, we don’t hear the kind of music I’ve heard you play… I guess every time I had the opportunity I just wanted to hear more of your music. I am sorry for causing you all of this trouble. I know you were getting annoyed with me always trying to see you, but I’m just really passionate about music. I always want to hear more…” she admitted sheepishly.

    Yoongi released a sigh of relief as she finished speaking and reached for the door handle to open the door, “Good. Because the reason I’m bringing you here is to have someone who appreciates music listen to something we just finished last night.” he informed her as he allowed her in and then shut the door behind her. Honestly he was glad she didn’t actually like him… He wasn’t interested in any sort of relationship, and it had been quite annoying for him until Taehyung pointed out that she was really into his music. “Hey guys, Renee is here to listen to the song, so if any of you haven’t met her before, go ahead and introduce yourselves.” he said nonchalantly as he removed his shoes at the door and gestured for her to wait while he walked to his room to place his backpack next to his desk. He was quick to grab his laptop out of his bag and then carried it with him out of the room to join the others.

    The first of the boys to stand and introduce himself to Renee was Hoseok, who was all too eager to be meeting someone new, “Hey, your name’s Renee Washington, right? I’m Jung Hoseok, it’s nice to meet you.” he smiled cheerfully as he shook her hand. Yoongi had told them she would be visiting, and they were all aware of the situation at hand.

    “Hoseok hyung, your English name…” Jimin reminded him as he stood and joined Hoseok at his side, “Sorry, we’ve all kind of gotten used to our Korean names here.” he apologized for him.

    “Right, sorry about that. My name is actually Rhodon Hope.” Hoseok let out an embarrassed laugh. He was so used to being addressed by his Korean name in this house that it didn’t occur to him that she needed his English name instead.

    “And I’m Andy Cimabue. Thanks for coming by to listen to our music.” Jimin offered a handshake to her. “I guess you already know Aiden, so then you just need to meet Damien, right?” he asked as he looked back to the couch only to find the maknae had disappeared, “Uh… he’s… Yeah, he’s a little shy with girls, so you might not see him.” he explained, though his attention was pulled towards the door when Jin and Namjoon walked in.

    “I see Renee’s already here. Did you and Yoongi just get here? I hope we didn’t make you wait too long…” Jin asked as he removed his shoes at the door and watched as Yoongi came down the hallway with his computer, “I’ll take that as a yes…”

    Renee was a little confused as to what was going on with this whole name thing, and as soon as Jin addressed Evan as Yoongi, she decided to finally question what was going on, “Wait, so you all have Korean names? Why? I mean, I understand that Jin is from South Korea, but did you guys just think it would be cool or something?” She had Jin in one of her classes, so she was familiar with him, but she was completely clueless with the names.

    “No, it’s actually for our Korean class. We have to use these names in class, and we decided to use them with each other to help practice.” Taehyung replied as he joined the group and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Hoseok and Jimin were both having a difficult time looking Yoongi in the eye without feeling slightly guilty about stealing from his stash, but Taehyung himself was an actor and could easily disguise his guilt.

    “Yeah, anyway, I’ll go ahead and show this to you now that everyone is here. We had agreed to show it to you once we were all together.” Yoongi said as he maneuvered around the back of the couch to sit down and placed his laptop on the table in front of him, “Someone get Jungkook out here; I know I saw him when I walked in…”

    “I’ll get him.” Jin volunteered as he walked to the first room on the right in the hallway. As soon as he opened the door, his eyes fell upon Jungkook, who was laying on his bed with his sketchbook resting on his right thigh, “Hey, we’re showing Renee the song, so Yoongi wanted all of us out there. It’s the first time someone will hear us, so it’s kind of a big deal… You can just sit the farthest away from her if you’d like. As soon as this is done, I think we’re going to head out to the Halloween party they’re holding at the Alumni building.” he informed him as he beckoned him with his right hand to leave the room with him.

    A sigh escaped Jungkook’s mouth as he set his sketchbook aside and joined Jin at the door with his hands stuffed in his sweatpants’ pockets, a slight frown forming on his lips, “Aren’t you nervous that he’s showing some stranger a song sung by amateurs..? It’ll probably be weird enough for her to hear since it’s in Korean…” He obviously wasn’t entirely on board with the idea of sharing the music…

    Jin smiled and placed a hand on his head to ruffle his hair, “Don’t worry about it. She’s listened to some Korean music thanks to me and Taehyung. We’re friends with her, you know. Besides, we may be amateurs, but everyone has to start somewhere. And we’re off to a really good start.” he assured him just before leaving the room with him following behind.

    The two of them joined the others on the couch with Yoongi in the middle of the group as he searched his computer for the correct file. “Okay, so I guess you should know this is just the first song we’ve produced together, and none of us are exactly professionals. Just criticize honestly.” he asked of her as his gaze met with each of his housemates before he finally pressed play on the track labeled “No More Dream” that he and the others had created with his Ableton Live recording software.

    Renee nodded in response to Yoongi and leaned forward towards the computer, obviously taking this entire situation very seriously. She was curious, slightly concerned, and yet thrilled that she was the first one to be hearing this song outside of their group. She was completely aware that this song could be a complete flop, but she highly doubted that possibility because she had already heard a portion of Yoongi’s talent. With the volume turned all the way up on his computer, she was able to hear every musical layer clearly enough for her to critique. While some of the members would usually be dancing the parts they knew to the music for practice, but this time all of them were far too nervous or too concentrated on the music.

As the song came to an end, Renee sat up properly with her back against the couch as she thought about what she had just heard and what to say. Her facial expression was completely serious, which made all of them even more anxious than before… It honestly seemed to them as though she didn’t like it. Wasn’t her reaction supposed to be more… bubbly or something? After a few seconds, she finally opened to speak, “Wow…” She seemed to be still fumbling for her words, “Um… Yeah, just… Wow. This is you guys? I don’t even-- How did you-- What?! I mean, I’m not gonna lie, I was expecting piano or something because I’ve heard Evan play so much, but this is like, the complete opposite! You guys are rapping! And you rap so… so… I dunno, so weirdly! I mean that in a good way! I’ve never heard rap like this! And the rhythm is so neat! Honestly, I’m still kind of in shock that you guys are rapping in Korean; it’s sounds impossible…” She simply had no idea how to express everything she wanted to say. Her words and her hand gestures put together were amusing to a couple of them, though most of them were shocked by what she had to say.

“Okay, okay, okay, before we get ahead of ourselves and start getting big heads, do you have any criticism?” Namjoon asked with a grin. He was excited to be sharing some of their music at last, and all he wanted to hear was her opinion. He wanted the music to be the best it could be, and the first step was to always take constructive criticism.

“Criticism? Yeah, let me think, there was something… Oh, that’s right. Can you skip back a bit?” Renee asked Yoongi, who rewound the song to the beginning, pressed play again, and then skipped until they found what she was searching for, “Okay, right there. Who starts at about 40 seconds or so into it and continues until a minute has passed?”

“Oh, that’s Jungkook.” Yoongi replied almost immediately as he pointed to the individual sitting farthest away, to which Jungkook sat up nervously. Since he was the one playing around with the music most of the time, he knew everyone’s part and timing by heart.

“Jungkook?” Renee made eye contact with the rather embarrassed-looking maknae, “Look, your voice is nice, and I think your rapping is fine. The thing is, it’s not as confident as some of the others, and you’re being drowned out a little bit. Whenever you guys record this next, I think you should try pushing yourself more to be heard loud and clear. I find that it helps to find a quiet space for yourself where you can practice projecting your voice and becoming confident. And try being a little bit more aggressive if possible.” she suggested to him before returning to Yoongi and asking him to skip a little more, “And, stop. Right there. I think you guys are all blending very nicely, especially towards the end, but as soon as you finish this break part and continue with a bigger, louder chorus, I think you are all overpowering whoever is singing the higher note in the background. We’ve heard the chorus before, but that’s the first time you add him into the picture in that way, so you want to bring that out a little. Other than those things, I really don’t think there’s much criticism to give. You guys did really well, and I really liked it.”

All of them exchanged glances of excitement with one another thanks to her compliments, and even in thanks to her criticism. They were all very appreciative of her opinion… “Thank you for listening and for giving us your honest thoughts. I think until now, many of us have been questioning our abilities too much, and I believe your comments have helped ease their minds.” Jin commented first as he offered a slight bow of thanks from his seat on the couch. As soon as he finished, the others began to chime in with ‘thank you’s as well before they all stood to their feet.

“And uh, also, we’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about this, you know? We’re performing this for our Korean class at the end of the semester, and we’d rather not have any news about us doing this for our project spreading across campus.” Yoongi asked of her as they all walked her to the door.

“No problem, really. I promise, I won’t say a word. But hey, if you guys want me to listen to anything else, don’t hesitate to ask, because seriously… You guys have something here.” Renee smiled before opening the door and leaving with a wave.

As soon as the door was shut, the boys immediately began to cheer triumphantly as they jumped up and down, hugged each other, and offered pats on the back for celebration. They were relieved, happy, and in awe of what had just happened. Someone listened to their music! Someone LIKED their music! They were absolutely ecstatic!

“We’re going to be musicians! Actual musicians!” Jimin exclaimed as he jumped onto Taehyung’s back, forcing him to carry him for a piggy-back ride as he cheered.

Taehyung was startled by Jimin at first, but as soon as he felt secure enough to be holding him, he was able to laugh it off as well, “I can’t wait until the performance now! Just watching her listen to our music made me excited; imagine how it would be on stage. I bet it’s even better than performing in a play.” He always loved being in front of an audience…

“Alright, alright, calm down guys. We’re not musicians yet; we’ve only made one song!”

Yoongi commented as he shook his head with a grin.

“But we can make more, right guys?” Hoseok asked excitedly, now that he had finally calmed down enough to speak. “If our performance goes well, we can actually do something with this, can’t we? I know we all have our own college degrees to chase after, but I don’t think it’d hurt to give this a shot.”

Jin rested his elbow on Hoseok’s left shoulder as he chuckled and looked to the others, “Well, I guess that depends on all of you. If we can actually hit this off… this will be bigger than any dream I could have imagined. A business degree is just something I thought I should settle for, but I actually have enjoyed doing this. Dancing and all.”

“I’m with Jin on this. My parents won’t like it much, but rapping runs in my veins. No way am I passing an opportunity like this up.” Namjoon agreed.

“Either way, I’m destined to be on stage. Count me in.” Taehyung laughed as he allowed Jimin to get down and stretched.

“There’s no question about whether or not I want to do this. I’ve been wanting to dance and sing since I was a kid. I just… I dunno, I’d rather do it with my parents’ blessing…” Jimin admitted with a small frown. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get that, but he did hope that his parents would change their minds.

Jungkook merely shrugged with uncertainty in response. He enjoyed singing and dancing, but he didn’t think it would do any good to pursue such a career. Especially with his background, he felt he needed to enter a career of high status where riches were always in reach. Musicians seem to lead truly hard lives, and he knew that career wouldn’t be approved for him either.

“It’s not like we have to decide on this now, but you guys can definitely bet that this is what I want to do with my life. I’ve never wanted anything more than to produce music.” Yoongi smiled from ear to ear, “And I’m not going to lie… I wouldn’t want to start this career with anyone else.”

“... Okay, you’re scaring me. Where’s Yoongi hyung and what have you done with him?” Hoseok squinted at him skeptically before laughing it off with the rest of the group.

“Oh, shut up. Come on, let’s get ready for this Halloween thing.” Yoongi pushed Hoseok jokingly as he already began his walk towards the hallway.

As soon as Yoongi separated from the group, the rest of the housemates followed after him to prepare for Hallowpalooza, Berea’s Halloween party. All of them took their time getting ready and then relaxed for another hour before they were to leave for the party. Once it was time for them to leave the house, they all met in the living room to make sure they had everything they needed, “Does everyone have everything?” Jin asked as he watched them all file into the living room towards the door. He was pleased to see that so far all of them were at least wearing long-sleeved shirts due to the chilly weather outside, though some of them were unfortunately wearing shorts... Jin himself was wearing an old, white cowboy hat, a white and red checkered button-up shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of brown cowboy boots. His identity for the night: pre-transformation Jimin.

“Yeah, hold up, I’ve gotta get my props.” Hoseok replied as he passed by Jin to get to the kitchen. His dark brown hair was slicked back, his eyes were covered by sunglasses, he sported a dark grey Supreme pullover hoodie, light blue shorts, and a pair of black and white low-rise converse. After a few minutes, he arrived at Jin’s side once more, this time with several accessories covering his upper torso. Everything was safety pinned across a black sash he wore across his torso: two broken and taped together pencils, a plastic empty bottle of blackberry jam that was cut to look like it was broken, a cardboard cutout with a refrigerator drawn on it, and at the very bottom of the sash, Namjoon’s broken suitcase handle was tied to the sash by a string. Hoseok also wore several bandaids all over him, with one placed on his left cheek, a few on his hoodie’s sleeves, and some scattered on his legs, “Sup.” he offered a ‘what’s up’ nod, “Ya’ll ready to break things?” he asked seriously before bursting out into laughter with the others once they saw him.

“I can’t believe you’re wearing all of that. Just wait until Namjoon hyung sees you!” Jimin mused, cackling due to Hoseok’s Namjoon impersonation. His outfit would probably be the best! Jimin himself wore a dark blue bandana on his head with it tied in the front, a black long-sleeved shirt with a white, “I’d rather be sleeping” t-shirt over it, and an “I love sleep” button attached to his shirt on the upper left of his upper torso. His pants were ripped, black skinny jeans and he wore simple black tennis shoes. To add to his costume, he had a pair of black headphones around his neck, and he also wore white body make-up painted on every visible part of his body. His ‘character’ for the night was none other than Yoongi, and he was extremely excited for this opportunity.

“He already sees you, and trust me, he’s offended…” Namjoon commented as he joined their company and looked Hoseok over with a shake of his head, “I do not look like that, and to wear those things as though I’ve broken all of them is rude. Where’s the respect here?” He was dressed as Taehyung, sporting a Pokemon hat, a black, long-sleeved undershirt, a white t-shirt with the wink emoji that sticks its tongue out, stressed blue jeans, and a pair of white tennis shoes.

“Why you always lyin’ Namjoon hyung?” Taehyung questioned with a grin, using a meme to joke around with him. Of all outfits, Taehyung’s was probably the most tacky… Upon his head he wore a hand-made paper replica of Peach’s crown, and underneath a pink apron with the word “Mom” across its front, he wore a white, long-sleeved undershirt, a black and white Legend of Zelda triforce t-shirt, and black athletic shorts, borrowed from Jin. Up to his knees were red and white Mario mushroom socks and for his shoes, he wore white athletic shoes, also borrowed from Jin. He had no shame in wearing such an outfit just to ensure the entire group knew who he was. He even had a mirror and a wooden spoon in the pockets of his apron. “Hey, this means everyone has to call me hyung now, right?”

“No. We are not going that far. Especially when you’re making fun of me enough. I mean, look at you! I don’t dress like that!” Jin complained as he nearly laughed at the sight of him. Just when he thought Taehyung’s outfit was obnoxious, his eyes fell upon Jungkook as he left his room and joined them as well.

Jungkook’s upper body was kind of dressed normally… He wore a black beanie, a black turtleneck undershirt, and a halloween sweater with white, dancing skeletons all over it. The worst part of his outfit and what stood out most were the bright yellow skinny jeans that were covered at the bottom by his black, lace-up boots. He also happened to be carrying his backpack over his shoulders so he could carry a few of his belongings with him.

As Jin opened his mouth to say something, Yoongi beat him to the chase as he tapped Jungkook on the shoulder from behind, “Nice pants, maknae. But hey, can I borrow your backpack. It’s light, right?” he asked hopefully as the youngest hesitantly allowed him to take his backpack.

“Yeah, it’s pretty light. Why..?” Jungkook trailed off when he realized that his question would have been a stupid one. Yoongi was acting as him for the night, so of course he would want his backpack! “Seriously, you want my backpack for your costume? I’m not nearly as protective of it as I used to be.” he chuckled as he looked Yoongi over.

Yoongi’s was the simplest outfit of them all. He wore a loose plain white t-shirt and a black zip-up jacket, black sweatpants, and black Nike running shoes. Obviously, he didn’t care to put anymore effort into it, and honestly, no more effort was needed. It was pretty clear to the others who he was dressed up as. “You may not keep it with you as often as you used to, but who said we had to dress up as who you guys are now? I mean, look at Jin hyung. He’s full-on cowboy Andy.” he commented lazily as he pulled the backpack over his shoulders and followed the others out the door.

“I can’t believe you guys are leaving this house without wearing the proper clothing. Hoseok, shame on you for wearing shorts. And you guys with all your holes in your pants, you should sew those shut before you catch a cold.” Taehyung scolded them all, gesturing at them with a wooden cooking spoon he had brought along.

“Hey, didn’t we just say that we keep our titles? Jin hyung, that’s what you said right?” Hoseok looked to Jin to ensure he hadn’t just imagined things.

“Taehyung, Hoseok’s right; we are keeping our titles.” Jin informed him with a roll of his eyes and a grin. He was actually starting to believe that this entire costume idea was going to be quite entertaining; he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to handle all of this without laughing himself to death, “Besides, you’re scolding the others when you yourself are wearing shorts.”

“I am above the rules. I can wear whatever I want because I am the most hyung. Besides, why would I want to hide such beautiful legs from the world?” Taehyung said dramatically as he even posed.

The others broke out into laughter and stopped in their tracks once Jin fell behind to cover his embarrassed, reddened face. He was laughing, but he had no clue what to say in return. It was a good thing Jimin often did exactly the same thing he was doing now when he was embarrassed…

“Oh, we’re stopping? Good, ‘cause I’m tiiiired~.” Jimin complained dramatically as he lay himself down on his back, sprawled out on the sidewalk.

“What do you mean you’re tired, we just left the driveway!” Namjoon pointed out as he gently kicked Jimin’s arm, knowing fully well that he was simply trying to act out Yoongi, “Come on, get up, we’ve got a party to go to.”

“Hey, you know what they say, don’t you? An object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon. Er… something like that.” Hoseok stated in his best attempt at Namjoon’s voice as he gestured for him to grab Jimin’s arms, “Ya’ll gotta help me pick him up.”

Namjoon shook his head and held his tongue so that he didn’t try to defend himself against Hoseok’s impression of him, and just as he was about to assist him in picking Jimin up, he came up with a better idea, “I don’t know if I can, I’m not exactly in the best of shape… But hey, Jungkook and Jimin workout together; they could pick him up without a problem. Why don’t we let them do it?” he gently pushed Yoongi towards Jimin and patted his shoulder with a grin.

Yoongi lowered his gaze to Jimin, scanning this impersonator of himself with disgust before stepping over him to continue walking, “Speaking as myself, that paint is obnoxious; I’m not THAT white. Speaking as Jungkook, well… I think he can pick himself up.”

    “Well… now I’m just insulted…” Jimin pouted as he got up by himself and followed after him with the group trailing behind and laughing. It took only five minutes or so for them to reach the Alumni building where the party was being held and all of them were eager to get into the food line to grab themselves a bite to eat.

    Yoongi was in the back of the line with Jungkook right in front of him, and as soon as a group of three girls added onto the line behind him, he couldn’t help but grin as an idea popped into his head. He put on a nervous expression and carefully pushed past Jungkook, Namjoon, and Jimin until he finally into the line three spots ahead of where he was.

    “Hey, you can’t cut me, I need my food. I’ll fall asleep on you if you don’t move.” Jimin threatened him, making fun of Yoongi as he did so.

    Namjoon laughed when he overheard their conversation, “Yoongi, if you were a Pokemon, you would definitely be Snorlax. I’m just saying.” He shook his head and chuckled at the thought, that is until he noticed Jungkook was standing a little closer to him than usual. When turned his head to check on him, he found Jungkook standing directly behind him with a brown paper bag over his head that had a smiley face drawn on it. He couldn’t help breaking out into laughter over this and grabbed the others’ attention so they could witness what he was seeing. At least Jungkook was TRYING to be Hoseok even when all of him was wanting to get away from the girls Yoongi intentionally put behind him. “Go ahead and stand in front of me, Jungkook. I’ll take your place.” he cackled.

    The housemates all chattered amongst themselves while the line moved along, and as they finally reached the food, all of them grabbed different items compared to what they would normally get. Each housemate filled their plate(s) with the same amount of food and same type of food the person they were dressed as would normally get, and then when they sat down at a table in Baird Lounge, they tried to act out the eating habits of that person. Taehyung made obnoxious noises when he bit into foods he loved and made sure to stuff his mouth as full as possible each time he needed to. Namjoon took his time eating, savoring each bite even when he had a lot of food to eat. Yoongi ate the meat off his plate, but found he didn’t quite care for the vegetables he had and really wanted more food than he got while Jungkook was the complete opposite and couldn’t finish all of the food he had. All of them were sort of failing at mimicking each other because they were so different…

    “Yoongi, did you have enough to eat?” Jin questioned him, knowing that Jungkook’s appetite was significantly smaller than Yoongi’s.

    Yoongi cleared his throat, pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and then texted a reply to answer Jin’s question.

Min Yoongi: No, this kid eats like a squirrel. I’m going back for seconds.

    Jin grinned and rolled his eyes at Yoongi’s response while Jungkook began to defend himself, “Hey, I never texted you guys while at the table! I only did it when you guys weren’t close enough to talk to!” he laughed.

    “Maybe you didn’t do it at the table at the house, but you’ve done it when strangers are around.” Hoseok pointing out with a chuckle. “Yoongi hyung is being so accurate it’s sad.” He then turned to Jin and nudged him, “But hey, you’re eating very slow and politely today without making anyone fear for your life. I think you’re a very beautiful eater,” he said dramatically to which all of them nearly choked on their food as they burst out into even more laughter.

    “What? You’re complimenting me? I-I can’t take it. It’s not true! I’m too shy for this!” Jin covered his face and looked away as he acted out Jimin, who had nearly fallen over Taehyung he was laughing so hard. Jimin was actually embarrassed because Jin was pretending to act as him being embarrassed!

    “Hey, Jimin, do you need to buy some cover-up or something to hide your blushing? Here, it’s on me.” Namjoon said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick wad of Monopoly money, removed $20 from it and handed it to Jimin. Again, the group couldn’t hold in their laughter. “Hey, Jungkook, you need more running shoes? Take this.” he gave him a $100 bill. “Anyone else need anything? Because I totally have the money for it. You don’t have to worry about a thing, trust me… But am I rich? No, no I’m not. I just want to help.”

    “That’s not fair! I really am trying to help when I buy you guys things. And I never denied being rich. Though, I think the term is more well-off…” Taehyung denied Namjoon’s impression of him.

    All of a sudden, Hoseok let out a gasp and raised his hand to reveal a broken plastic fork, which he had broken purposely to imitate Namjoon, “Man… I broke another one. Rest in peace Francis… I’ll put you in my collection.” he faked a sniffle as he tried to attach it to his sash of broken items. Namjoon simply facepalmed and allowed the others to make fun of him even further…

    The group continued to tease each other throughout their meal and even Jungkook and Jin performed short dances they thought resembled both Jimin and Hoseok. While Jin’s dancing wasn’t as good as Jimin’s because dancing wasn’t his forte, Jungkook purposely danced terribly just to make fun of Hoseok. When they were through with messing around at the table, the group made their way into the video game room where Taehyung volunteered to play in a Smashbros match in place of Jin, who normally went out of his way to play. He was doing rather well at first, but when he started losing, he began to distract the other players by standing up and blocking their view while he continued hitting buttons or by reaching over and messing with their controllers, “I’m too perfect to lose!” he exclaimed as he returned to his seat when they started getting aggravated with him, “I’m more handsome than all of you combined, therefore I should gain this victory automatically!” he declared. Unfortunately, his Jin powers weren’t quite working, and he soon lost the match… Jin didn’t even want to be seen in his company after that. He apparently disagreed with Taehyung’s impersonation as well, even though most of the group agreed that at the house, he occasionally did do exactly what Taehyung showed.

    It wasn’t long before two hours had passed since their arrival, and while most of the housemates weren’t particularly eager to leave, Jungkook seemed to be all too ready to do so. He had already changed into his normal street clothing and placed his outfit in the backpack Yoongi was carrying, and once he received a text from his friend, he was eager to leave their company it seemed, “Sorry guys, but I’ve got to get going. I promised a friend that I would hang out tonight after I spent some time with all of you, so I’ll see you guys later!” Jungkook waved to the group as he hurried out the doors of the alumni building to hop into the back of a black Dodge Stratus. The car soon pulled away before any of the housemates could question the situation any further, so all of them were left slightly puzzled at most.

           “A friend? I wonder who he was referring to…” Jin mused aloud as he stuffed his hands in his pockets with a frown. It was strange, but he didn’t quite like the fact that Jungkook had left without giving them a little more information. Lately he had been spending a small portion of his time with other individuals outside of the household, which was good for him, but that didn’t change how he felt at this moment… Taehyung was correct about one thing: he truly did act like a mother. He couldn’t help but feel concerned…

           Yoongi breathed a deep sigh as he watched the car pull off with their youngest and ruffled his hair as he came upon a quick answer for Jin, “It’s probably those people I’ve seen him hang out with at the gazebo in front of Pearsons Hall. I bet you they’re not the type he should be out with on a Friday night…” He didn’t have anything against most of the people who hung out at the gazebos, even if they were smokers. He had become friends with one of them the previous year in fact. Unfortunately, there was a particular group that would bide their time at the Pearsons gazebo at certain times of day, and he most definitely did not like any of the individuals he had met of that group.

           “Oh… Wait, what’s wrong with that? I mean, isn’t it good he’s branching out? Sure, they smoke, but they can be good people.” Hoseok stated. Of course, he felt similar to Jin because he truly had no clue who would take care of Jungkook wherever he was going… Seriously, with as sheltered as he had been just a month and a half ago, he still had so much to learn.

           “He’s talking about that groups of skateboard guys. I think there are two track team members in it, and that’s how Jungkook started hanging out with them I think. And you know how Jungkook is about skateboarding…” Namjoon pointed out as he scratched his right cheek and then leaned against the nearby wall.

           Jin didn’t appreciate the negativity all of them were practically emitting, but he knew they were right. If that was who Jungkook was leaving with, nothing good was going to come of it. That group was known to be full of party animals.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

           “You know, I was actually surprised that you decided to come with us, but I’m glad you did, Damien. We could always use someone else to have fun with!” Jeremy, a junior track member, said excitedly as he pulled into the parking lot of Soundbar, a bar located in Lexington, Kentucky that allowed underage individuals into the bar without allowing them to drink.

Once parked, Jeremy, another track member named Gabe, and Jungkook all exited the car and walked over to another vehicle nearby just as its passengers vacated the vehicle to join them. Jungkook was only acquaintances with most of the group, but he was mostly there because of the two track members he was more familiar with. The seven of them walked together towards the entrance, each of them showing their IDs to the bouncer at the door. For the three of them who were underage, their right hands were marked with a permanent black “X” so the bartenders would know not to serve them.  

“Don’t worry, even if you can’t drink just yet, you can still have fun. Just loosen up; you’re looking tense, Damien.” Jeremy insisted as he sat at the bar gestured for Jungkook to sit beside him while the rest of the group sat on Jeremy’s other side. “Here, we’ll get you some water,” he said as he gestured for the bartender to take their order. After ordering a water for Jungkook, he ordered a Cuba Libre for himself and excitedly returned his attention to Jungkook after his friends had ordered, “I’m actually really excited since I just turned 21 a few days ago. I’ve tried a few alcoholic drinks already, but I haven’t tried anything with rum in it yet. This’ll be new for me. Anyway, how are you liking track practice so far? I know we’ve only had three training sessions, but I’m curious to hear what you’re opinion is.”

Jungkook couldn’t argue that he wasn’t uncomfortable. The bar was rather busy, the scent of various types of alcohol was in the air, and honestly he was already missing the other housemates… He wished he was more of an extrovert, but it was times like these that he realized the only progress he had made at becoming a socially adept individual of society was with those six people he had come to trust almost as much as his brother. He so badly wanted to break out of his shell, he desperately wanted to prove that he could befriend others without someone else’s assistance and that he could be more than some shy British kid that was only seen because of his nationality. He was making progress with this group of people, and even if he was uncomfortable, he was willing to endure it if he gained friends in the end. With a small smile, Jungkook tried his best to release the tension in his body, just as Jeremy had asked of him, while he watched the group order their drinks. He waited for the bartender to hand him his water and watched as the man continued to make the alcoholic beverages right in front of them before Jungkook answered Jeremy’s question, “Practice is alright… I guess it’s not what I expected. I enjoy it, but it kind of troubles me that practice isn’t required. I mean… isn’t that a load of rubbish? If you’re training a team for something, shouldn’t you require the practice for it?”

Jeremy laughed at Jungkook’s comment and thanked the bartender for his beverage as he set it down in front of him. He immediately picked the drink up and took a tasting sip of the rum and coca cola mixture, and then he returned to the conversation, “Wow, that’s actually really good… Sorry, back to the topic, I know what you mean, but it’s not like it’s never required. Track practice is only set up this way in the fall because we don’t have competitions until the spring semester. Plus the fall semester can be a little chilly to run in. The thing is, if you make it optional, the best of the track members are still going to show up. If you attend practices, it shows you want to make progress and that you’re willing to put the effort in. Of course, it also means you enjoy running more than those who decide not to come. You're proving yourself to be a great asset to our team, and Gabe and I are especially excited to see you compete.” He remarked, raising the glass of the drink to his lips for another sip, “Actually, I think you’ll probably beat us by the end of next semester I wager…”

“Ha! No way, you really think so? Damien’s got speed, but so do we. I think we’ll give him a run for his money.” Gabe spoke up from Jeremy’s right as he leaned over to look Jungkook in the eyes, “You’re a great addition to our team, but don’t get a big head about it. That’s when a lot of people lose their cool.”

“Oh, come on, Gabe, I’m just saying. He’s got a lot of potential. Besides, we’re not competing against each other; we’re competing against other schools. All of us are all after the same goal.” Jeremy pointed out matter-of-factly to which Gabe merely shrugged.

“I think Jeremy’s right. It doesn’t matter which one of us is the best runner, it just matters that we can work together to beat the other teams.” Jungkook agreed nervously. He wasn’t sure why, but Gabe seemed to be a little upset about the topic. Perhaps he had experienced something similar with another individual in the past…

“Yeah… that is the point of practicing together. All I’m asking is that you don’t hurt the team by putting yourself ahead of it. Even if you’ve got more steam, you’ve got to know when to hold it back.” Gabe signaled that he was finished with that particular conversation by taking a few gulps of his whisky.

Jeremy nodded in Gabe’s direction and then finished his own drink only to look the drink menu over for something else he might want to try. As soon as he decided, he flagged the bartender down, ordered, and soon retrieved his next beverage, known as the Zombie. He was enticed by the name, being a huge fan of zombie games and movies, and he was also eager to try a drink a little stronger than the ones he had tried so far.

The night continued on with several different conversations about skateboarding, video games, class complaints, and the like; of course, the longer the group talked, the more alcohol they consumed. One thing led to another, and before long, Jeremy and two of the others were drunk and Gabe was on the borderline. Thankfully the other two underage individuals of the group were able to drive, but they were too busy getting a kick out of their drunken friends to want to leave any time soon.

Jungkook wasn’t exactly pleased that his friends were so drunk, but at the same time, it was definitely a sight to see. They were saying some of the most ridiculous things, with one of the topics discussing how to drink alcohol underwater. To individuals as sober as the three underage people at the bar were, their ‘how to’ guidelines on how this worked made absolutely no sense, but to the other drunks, it seemed believable. Though, Jeremy disagreed with one of the group members, saying that the alcohol had to be in the oxygen tank for one to feel the effects. It was complete and utter nonsense. These conversations came as quite the amusement to Jungkook, but his attention was taken by the vibration of his mobile device in his pocket. He pulled the phone out, typed the password in, and began to read over the message sent to him by his brother.

Dominic: Seriously I’m getting fed up over here. Same old same old, you know? It’s a bunch of rubbish having to take orders from people who think they’re doing a great service by giving a year or two of their life to look after us in place of parents. I’m real sick of this Damien… I know we deal with this every time we get thrown somewhere else in the system, but it’s harder without you…

           Jungkook read over the text, holding it still in his right hand on the bar, as he rested his head in his left hand. He hated receiving texts like these… He wished he could be there with his brother to help him get through whatever he was dealing with right now, but he wasn’t… The guardians the two of them were currently under had been looking after them for the past year now, and he agreed they were a little too strict… Somehow the older they became, the harder it was for them to get along with whoever decided to randomly dump themselves into their lives. Either way, he had to think of something to reply with… He read the message over and over, leaning back in his seat as he thought about what to say.

           Before he had time to reply to his brother, Jungkook was interrupted by Jeremy who was trying to get out of his seat to go to the bathroom without falling over. He turned off his cellphone and placed it back in his pocket as he stood and offered to help, “Are you going to be alright going to the lavatory by yourself, or do you need me to help?” he had never been in a situation like this, so naturally he wasn’t sure what should be done. In his opinion, Jeremy definitely needed a little assistance…

           “The lavatory..? What you talking ‘bout, I’m going to the bathroom.” Jeremy replied loudly as he allowed Jungkook to help him from seat, but waved him off as he started walking, “I don’t need any help…”

           Jungkook hesitantly allowed Jeremy to walk by himself, but he watched him in case he got himself into trouble. Unfortunately, he soon realized that letting him walk alone was the wrong decision… Jeremy was walking clumsily on his way to the toilet, and because he couldn’t walk straight, he accidentally lost his footing and fell to his left onto another person who was seated at a table with another group of college-aged men. Jungkook rushed to Jeremy’s aid and pulled him away from the table while simultaneously trying to hold him up straight and apologizing for his actions, but as soon as he realized who it was Jeremy had disturbed, he cut the apologies short, “Sorry about that, my friend is really--- Paul?”

           Paul stood from his seat and immediately stared the two of them down, seemingly using his height to intimidate them more than he might have sitting down. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Is there not enough room for you to walk around? Fall on me again, and I’ll knock your lights out.” He threatened Jeremy as he took hold of his shirt collar with a glare. The underage people of the group Jungkook had come with stood from their seats at the bar in case something started.

           “Leave him alone, Paul. He’s drunk, can’t you see that? It was unintentional.” Jungkook insisted as he reached over and broke Paul’s hand away from Jeremy’s shirt, “Come on, Jeremy, I’ll take you over there this time.”

           “Hey!” Paul raised his voice to catch Jungkook’s attention as he grabbed his upper arm to pull him back in his direction, “I don’t take orders from kids like you. Don’t forget, you’re the one who’s supposed to answer to me,” he snarled.

           “You’ve got that wrong. I only have to listen to you at work.” Jungkook replied sternly, though his tough exterior began to falter once he noticed Paul’s free hand ball up into a tight fist.

           “Hey, break it up! I don’t need any fights in here, and if you’re going to cause trouble, just get the hell out of here!” The bar manager shouted at them once he caught sight of the scene. The last thing he wanted was for the bar to become a madhouse of fist fights and police.

           Paul hesitantly released Jungkook’s arm and gestured for his friends at his table to leave with him. As soon as they all began to file out, he spoke up once more so he could get the last word in, “We’ll see about that, Damien.” He his heel and followed his friends out of the building, and once he reached his car, he sat himself in the driver’s seat and slammed the door closed while three of his friends joined him in the vehicle. Instead of turning on his engine, he pulled out his phone and went directly to his photos to select on the most recent one taken. Jungkook’s back faced the camera in this photo, but his cell phone was visible, which was all Paul wanted. He zoomed in, and sure enough, he was able to read the text message just as he had hoped. He had been watching Jungkook once he had noticed his presence, and the fact that Jungkook’s entire demeanor changed at the retrieval of that message told him he could gain a bit of information by walking by and taking a picture of his phone. It was simple because Jungkook wasn’t aware that Paul was even at the bar. “I’ve got to say… this kid really knows how to act like he’s someone else.” He smirked.

           Jungkook and his group also left the bar after Paul pulled out of the parking lot, and the two designated drivers made sure all of them got in the car for them to head home. It was already nearing 2:00 a.m., and Jungkook had been texting the other housemates to let them know everything was alright and that he was on his way back. As per usual the housemates were concerned with him being gone with people they didn’t know and being at a place they didn’t know, and he didn’t completely understand it… Of course he had had curfew before, and he had been scolded for being out too late in the forest with his brother, but none of that was ever because there was any concern for his or his brother’s wellbeing. Usually, rules were set in place simply for others’ convenience. He didn’t know why, but for some reason, his housemates’ curiosity didn’t seem to be of selfish reasoning… His welcome home even attested to that as they all barraged him with questions and wrestled him like always; he was truly glad to have finally returned.

           After that night, it wasn’t long before Jungkook was asked to join the group of friends again, other than the usual chatter they had at the gazebo. A week and a half later on Tuesday night, November 11th, Gabe texted him asking him to hang out, even though it was already dark outside. However, it was only 8:00 p.m., and he knew that it was more than enough time for him to go out and return by 12:00 at least. Besides, Gabe said he was already coming down the street, so how could he refuse? Excitedly, he grabbed his zip up sweater and pulled on his shoes before giving a quick explanation to the others and heading out the door. Though his attempt at an explanation was just a brief comment saying he was hanging out with friends.

           “He’s hanging out with them more and more lately… I’m serious, I don’t like this. The last time they went out he didn’t get back until two in the morning. It’s a school night; does he really think he should be leaving the house?” Namjoon remarked as he entered the living room and sat on the couch to join the others

           “I just hope he knows what he’s doing… It’s not that I don’t think he’s intelligent, but with the wrong crowd, some people give in to peer pressure and do things they wouldn’t normally do…” Yoongi commented as he watched from the window as Jungkook jogged up to a pick-up truck and jumped into the passenger seat just before they drove away, “It’s too dark to see anything… Why doesn’t he tell us who he’s going with or where they’re going?” Needless to say, he was annoyed that Jungkook was acting so reckless and wished he would quit fooling around…

           “Hold on, I’ll call him and ask what’s going on.” Taehyung volunteered as he pulled out his phone and clicked on Jungkook’s contact to call him. It wasn’t long before they all begun to hear the Doctor Who theme song faintly playing from the master bedroom. “Hey, he gave me the Doctor Who ringtone! That’s actually pretty neat…” he grinned.

           “You mean he left his phone?!” Hoseok asked as he hurried to the back bedroom to find the mobile device. With the sound leading him to its location, it wasn’t long before he found the phone hiding barely under his bed, “Man… Why does he have to be so careless sometimes…” he groaned as he made his way back to the living room with the phone in hand. He had already turned off its sound while in the hallway, “It was under his bed… Either way, we have no way of contacting him now. Hopefully he’ll come home sooner than later…”

           Jin ran a hand through his dark brown hair as he tried not to think negatively of the whole situation. It was possible that these people weren’t as bad as they sounded, but Yoongi most certainly knew how to crush that hope. He seemed to have a real grudge against these people… They didn’t even know if Jungkook was with that group or not!

           Meanwhile, Jungkook had only just realized that he was missing his phone due to a hole that had formed inside the bottom lining of his jacket pocket. With the size of the hole, he figured it must have fallen somewhere at the house, so he tried not to worry about it being lost and instead focused on the road ahead. He had no idea where they were going, but he had learned that this group was very spontaneous and rarely did any sort of planning at all. He both liked and disliked this fact; while a lack of planning left plenty of room for adventure, it could also mean trouble, like what happened at the bar. He couldn’t blame anyone for that, but they could have at least warned him they were even going to such a place.

           The car ride must have taken at least ten minutes to arrive at their destination, which was completely unknown to Jungkook. The place they parked in seem to be wide open, but trees lined the entire lot and a dark forest lay ahead of them. “Where are we?” Jungkook questioned as he opened the passenger door, allowing the loud song of the cicadas to break the silence that had enveloped the car after the engine was turned off.

           “We’re at the Pinnacles. It’s a hiking trail that most Berea College students hike at least once during their stay at the college.” Gabe replied as he watched Jungkook get out of the car. He was about to open his car door as well when his phone suddenly rang, and he had to answer it, “Hello?... Yeah. Yeah I got him here… You what?... Alright, give me a few.” He ended the short call and let out a sigh as he looked over at Jungkook, “Hey, Jeremy’s having car troubles, so I’ve got to go pick him up. There’s only room in this truck for one, so you’ll have to stay here until I get back, alright? The other guys should be pulling in within a few minutes, so just hang tight.” He informed him, gesturing for Jungkook to close the passenger door.

           Jungkook gave him a brief nod, closed the door, and backed away from the truck so Gabe could drive away. He didn’t exactly know what to think at that moment… He wasn’t afraid of the dark, and he wasn’t quite as cautious as he used to be, so he took this opportunity to just get a look around while he waited. He zipped up his sweater and pulled his hood over his head to warm himself up a little as he began to walk into the forest where a hiking trail seemed to begin. There was a wide open area to his right where he spotted a few log seats as he approached, presumably for a show or something Berea might hold now and then. Past the seating area, he found a sign directly to the right of the trail, but he couldn’t read what it said because it was so dark. He just wished that he had his phone on him so he had a flashlight…

           “Damien! You there?!” A voice shouted from the trail’s entrance. Jungkook didn’t quite recognize it, but he still answered to it because he assumed it was one of the group members he wasn’t completely familiar with yet. He had only really gotten to know three of them… “Yeah, I’m coming!” he responded as he hurried down the trail to return to its entrance.

           Before he had any time to react, out of the darkness Jungkook was tackled to the ground and punched repeatedly in the stomach by his attacker. He was already winded by the landing, but one punch after another continued to keep him from being able to breathe properly. Gasping and coughing for air, he tried to fight off the assailant with his hands first, but when he realized it was doing him no good, he was able to pull his knee up and kick him away. He rolled over and pushed himself up onto his knees as he tried to regain his breath and held his stomach as the pain set in. He didn’t have much time before he was kicked onto his back once more, and instead of a single person, he was able to see a total of four looming over him for just a split second before he again tried to scramble away.

           Another hard kick to his stomach, followed by another to his side, and soon several followed in irregular patterns with all of the individuals present having a go at it. He pleaded for them to stop and cried out for help, but his voice was drowned out in their cheering and laughter the more he tried to get away. No matter which way he turned, he couldn’t get away from the intolerable amount of pain he was being put through. By this point he knew he couldn’t fight back against all four of them and decided to just take the beating as he lay in fetal position. No part of his body was spared from the attacks except for his head and his lower legs. It seemed like time had come to a standstill as the abuse continued on and on…

           It took Jungkook several seconds to realize they had finally stopped, but he didn’t dare move in fear he would be hit again if he did. He just needed to breathe, and even that had become agonizing for him. While his eyes desperately wanted to release a few tears, he fought them back in case they were seen by his attackers… He coughed several times as he finally allowed himself to move, and by the third cough, he was able to taste the blood that he had been coughing up.

           “Damien, Damien, Damien… didn’t your mother ever tell you not to walk alone in the dark? Oh, wait… You don’t have a mother, do you?” Paul’s voice from above followed by the snickers and laughs of the others present.

           Jungkook froze once more as Paul finished his sentence… What was he talking about? Why was he doing this? He couldn’t think very clearly, but he knew for sure that he hadn’t done anything recently to have pissed him off. Struggling, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, wincing as he forced himself to bend forward to finally look at Paul, “What… What do you mean?” he had to pretend to not know what he was talking about. There was no way he could possibly know about his background! It was just… just a lucky guess for Paul!

           “Don’t play stupid with me. You remember that bar we were at on Halloween night? You received a text from-- what was his name?” Paul checked his phone, “Oh, that’s right, Dominic-- shortly before we were asked to leave. I’d quote it, but I’m sure you know what it says. It just… explains everything. So… why was I curious? Why am I going out of my way and wasting my time dealing with you? From day one you have been a major pain in my , you know that? Do you have any idea how much I’m paying for rent because of you? If you hadn’t shown up at that house like a lost puppy, I would be saving at least $200 a month! For a while, I let that go, thinking I wouldn’t have to deal with you again. But hell, I became your manager at work, and you still have the audacity to defy me every single day you work under me, which has gotten worse since that night at the bar. You seriously test my patience, and right now, I’m just enjoying being able to talk to you one on one without your little buddies protecting you. Don’t feel so tough now, do you?” he spat at him with disgust. “It’s no wonder you’re an orphan. I would have dumped you, too, if I was your parent.”

           “Shut up!” Jungkook shouted at him as he jumped to his feet and threw his fist in Paul’s direction. One of Paul’s friends grabbed hold of his arm to keep him from hitting Paul, and Jungkook was backhanded so hard that he fell to the ground once more simply from being so disoriented. His cheek stung like nothing he ever felt before, and this time, a tear immediately fell from his left eye without any warning at all. “I-I’m not an orphan! My… My parents are alive, and they didn’t dump me!”

           “Yeah, well… I’m pretty sure every orphan says that. Besides, wouldn’t you prefer that they be dead? I’m sure you’ve thought about this, right? If they died, that means they didn’t have a choice to leave you, unless the thought of raising you lead them to kill themselves. But, if they are still alive, that means they  deliberately chose to throw you away. You’re denying both are true, which is, well… your way of coping with it I suppose. One day, you’re just going to have to admit that you’re nothing but garbage. In fact, didn’t your brother say that he’s tired of having new guardians? So you’ve been in and out of the system. You’re a hand-me-down. Once people have enough of you, they just pass you on. Even those housemates of yours will forget about you once the year is over and you’re flying home.” Paul continued to toy with him, letting every word drip with poison that hurt Damien worse than the wounds from the beating ever could.

           “That’s not true!” Jungkook spoke up weakly, though the words that left his mouth felt completely empty. It WAS true. All of it, every word. The past few months made him feel like his life had only just begun thanks to the housemates, but it was exactly like the first few guardians he had. They spoke promises that turned into lies, made happy memories that turned into hated ones, and most of all made him question himself, his existence, and everything surrounding him. Deep down he knew that once the year was over, these people that called themselves friends and brothers would become distant memories that he would look back on and loathe because he should never have gotten involved in the first place. This pain, inside and out, felt like it would never leave…

           “Damien, you really shouldn’t tell lies, your “mommy” wouldn’t like it. Besides, you’re not convincing anybody here. But, hey, I brought something for you.” Paul remarked as he took a bottle of beer from one of his buddies and opened it with the bottle opener on his keychain. “I’m sure you’re feeling a little down, so why don’t you have a little drink. Come on, sit up. It’ll help make the pain go away.” He insisted, gesturing for two of the others to force him into a sitting position without giving Jungkook the option.

           “I’m not drinking anything.” Jungkook hissed, trying to regain a tough exterior against Paul after the discomfort of sitting up passed. He had to keep trying, he had to fight everything he was feeling… He just wanted this to end.

           “Oh, you’re not, are you? And that’s exactly  why you’re in this position in the first place. You don’t know how to take orders very well… Drink it.” Paul insisted as his friends grabbed a hold of him and assisted Paul in forcing the alcohol into his mouth. The beer spilled everywhere as Jungkook tried not to let it in, and as much as he fought, he had to give in at one point when he couldn’t breathe otherwise. He took in several gulps before the rest of it was spilled over his body, and the bottle was thrown into the woods. As Jungkook sputtered and coughed, Paul stood upright once more and pulled out a cigarette, placed it in his own mouth, and set its end ablaze with his lighter before returning it to his pocket, “Listen to me very carefully, Damien… If you challenge me again, this pain you’re feeling is going to feel like a blessing compared to what we’ll do next time around, you hear me?” he warned him as he bent down to eye level with him once more. He paused when a few drops of rain fell onto his head signaling a shower was eminent and then scoffed a little, “Looks like our time here’s just about done… but here, I want to leave you with a souvenir before your skin gets too wet.” He said then grabbed hold of Jungkook’s left wrist, pushed his jacket’s sleeve up, pulled the cigarette from his mouth, and immediately forced its end onto the skin of his inner wrist.

           The burn from the cigarette was worse than anything Jungkook could have imagined. Although he didn’t want to, the pain overtook him, and he belt out a cry of agony. Paul kept it pressed for several seconds before releasing Jungkook’s wrist from his grasp; he then grabbed the maknae’s glasses while he was at it, “See you around, orphan.” He bid him farewell before hurrying to his car now that the rain had started. He quickly bent the center of the glasses in half and then threw the pair of lenses into the forest to complete the deed just before getting into the car with his friends.

           Now that they were gone, Jungkook’s mind was finally able to start thinking about more than what Paul was feeding into his brain. With the taste of alcohol still fresh on his lips, the long lasting sting of the cigarette burn still lingering on his wrist, and the immense amount of suffering he was experiencing in his abdomen, he came to the realization that somehow, he still needed to get to the house… He had no way of contacting anyone, so he had no choice but to walk all the way back. His mind was willing, but his body was far from wanting to comply. The rain grew harder and broke through the canopies of the trees and onto the forest floor, every cold drop feeling heavier and heavier on Jungkook’s body than rain has ever felt before. The sound of the rain echoing through the trees acted as a lullaby to break his thoughts and soothe his mind, and soon enough, his body finally shut itself down to rest before he could even think about forcing himself to stand…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

           “Where is he? He should be back by now… Doesn’t he realize he has to get up at 6:00 in the morning?” Jin questioned aloud in a hushed voice as he paced back and forth behind the couch where the entire household was gathered. It was his turn to rant about Jungkook now that it was nearing 1:30 a.m. He, Yoongi, and Namjoon were the only ones awake at this point while the others were fast asleep on the couch, though they had asked to be woken up once the maknae returned.

           “I swear this kid’s lack of consideration for us really annoys me. He does know we wait up for him, right?” Yoongi mumbled and yawned once he was finished. He had just woken from a nap 15 minutes ago and was hoping to wake up knowing Jungkook had arrived…

           “I’m not sure he does know, hyung… He didn’t expect it last time at least. He’s just out trying new things; he’s got to learn his own lessons somehow.” Namjoon reasoned as his eyes watched Jin pace for a moment and then returned to the door. “Jin hyung, you should sit down. You’ve been pacing for who knows how long, and it’s keeping me on edge…” he asked of the oldest as he let out a heavy sigh. This was just like Halloween, except this time, they were all required to go to school the next day.

           Jin apologized and walked around the couch to sit down, but before he could, the front door at last swung open. Jungkook stepped in quietly and closed the door behind him without a word. He was soaked to the bone and trying his best not to shiver once he noticed the others in the room. Instead of making conversation, he decided to head straight for his bedroom so he could grab himself some dry clothes—of course, Yoongi wasn’t about to let him go just like that. He knew if he let Jungkook go down the hall, he wouldn’t see him for the rest of the night.

           “Where’ve you been?” Yoongi immediately questioned him after placing himself between him and the hallway, “We’ve been waiting up for you, we’ve been worrying about you… You could have at least called one of us from one of your friend’s phones or something. Why were you out this late when you know you have an early start tomorrow? Answer me!” he insisted, becoming more and more upset the longer Jungkook made him wait for a response. A lot of frustration had been building up throughout the night.

           “Yoongi, calm down.” Jin warned him as he gently shook those who were sleeping awake. He knew Yoongi was upset, but he didn’t need to yell at Jungkook when he didn’t even have an explanation yet.

           “We… we went up to the Pinnacles…” Jungkook answered quietly, knowing that if he didn’t give some kind of answer Yoongi wouldn’t allow him to go any further, “We just—“

           “Why does your breath smell of beer? Are you kidding me?! All this time we’ve been waiting up for you, and you’ve been fooling around, drinking alcohol with these irresponsible people that you call friends?! Do you have any idea how much trouble you could have gotten into?! And you’re really going to stand in front of me, lying to my face, when you basically wreak of beer?” Yoongi scoffed and shook his head, trying not to blow up even more than he already had. He couldn’t believe Jungkook thought him to be such a fool. He was pissed.

    “Yoongi, you’re not helping. Jungkook, go on and--- Wait a minute… Where are your glasses? You left with them on, didn’t you?” Jin questioned him uncertainly as he approached the two of them and looked him in the eyes with concern. Of course he was upset that he had been drinking and that he was late, but with Yoongi letting out all of his anger on him, he no longer felt it necessary to do the same.

    “Yeah, he did.” Namjoon answered Jin before Jungkook was able to get a word out of his mouth. He made sure the others were getting up and then came to Jin’s side with his hands stuffed in his pockets, “So what happened to your glasses? You don’t usually take them off when you’re out…”

    “Look, I dropped them and accidentally stepped on them because it was dark, okay?” Jungkook pushed past Yoongi and hurried down the hallway, slamming the door closed and locking it as soon as he reached his room. They couldn’t possibly understand what he was going through! It’s not like Yoongi would believe him anyway! He told the truth about being at the Pinnacles, he told the truth that his glasses had been broken, and still all Yoongi wanted to do was reprimand him for drinking, when it wasn’t even his choice… What even gave him the right to yell at him? None of them had the right to question him the way they did. Why did he even return? Most of him wanted to disappear rather than come back and face this household… The entire way home he contemplated taking his own life to rid himself of this suffering, inside and out. The problem is, he still had a brother waiting for him… a brother that had never let him down, no matter what happened. So for him, he had to overcome this...

Jungkook stuffed a small hand towel in his mouth and bit down as hard as he could to help him endure the pain he was experiencing as he pulled his t-shirt off in the bathroom. The soaked t-shirt was extremely difficult to take off particularly when he was forced to stretch his arms up to slip it over his head. As soon as the shirt was on the floor, he removed the hand towel from his mouth and released several heavy breaths as he braced himself with the bathroom’s sink. By now tears were trickling down his cheeks; he was trying to make his breaths smaller to dim the pain he felt with every exhale… He didn’t know how serious his injuries were, but he couldn’t go to a hospital even if he needed to. If anyone found out about the fight, he would be kicked out of Berea College. He knew that was why Paul didn’t outright punch him in the face… He knew Paul was deliberately avoiding the places on his body that would be visible to others.

Again, Jungkook put the washcloth back in his mouth to remove the rest of his clothing, with the intent of taking a shower. It took him several minutes just to remove his jeans because the wet material clung to his skin. He had to take three breaks until he had finally slipped the jeans past his feet enough to remove the pants by stepping on the ends. He couldn’t believe it was this difficult to get undressed, and he could only imagine what he would be feeling when the next day approached…

“Why are you guys just standing outside your door? You need to get some sleep, even if Jungkook is having an attitude. It’s your room, too.” Namjoon said to Jimin and Taehyung, who were leaning against the nearby wall in the hallway. Jin and Yoongi could be heard speaking to each other in their room, though it was mostly just Yoongi they heard ranting to Jin who was trying to calm him down.

“He locked the door; I think he just needs to cool down a bit…” Jimin replied with a frown and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, “I’ve never seen him or Yoongi hyung so upset… I mean, we’ve all had our arguments, but they’ve always been so small. Seeing them like this…” he trailed off with a sigh and a shake of his head. He didn’t know what to do, he didn’t know what to say, and what made it worse was that Hoseok didn’t seem to be taking it very well either… And he was the positive one of the group.

Namjoon offered a pat to Jimin’s shoulder, hoping to assure him that everything was going to be okay. “Yoongi hyung has his reasoning for being upset… He knows we’ve all been up waiting for Jungkook, and he knows how much all of us were concerned about him. He probably didn’t like the fact that Jungkook tried to just walk away without giving him any truthful explanation, which he feels he was owed. And apparently he drank so… This whole thing’s just a mess. The problem is that I understand Yoongi hyung, but I don’t get Jungkook. Hopefully he’ll be back to normal in the morning…” he stated as he leaned against the opposite wall.

Taehyung listened to their conversation without a word. He may not know what happened, but he didn’t want to believe that Jungkook was goofing around all this time… He wanted there to be a good reason for all of this, and he hoped he’d figure it out soon…

“... Is Hoseok hyung okay? He’s not said anything at all…” Jimin asked Namjoon since he was his roommate. Hoseok had gone directly to his room once he had gotten up from the couch, so he didn’t know if he was tired or upset.

“Yeah, he’ll be fine. He doesn’t handle arguments very well is all…” Namjoon informed him quietly just as he heard the sound of water running, “Sounds like he’s taking a shower… You guys are ready for bed, right? I think I can unlock the door to let you in. Let me get some scissors.” he went back into his room and retrieved a pair but was immediately stopped by Jimin’s loose grip on his upper arm before he could reach the door.

“No, no, that’s okay, hyung. I’ll do it.” Jimin offered instead; he’d rather not give Namjoon the opportunity to break a door handle… “Can you really open these locks with scissors?” He opened the pair and inserted one of the sharp ends into the keyhole and then proceeded to turn it until the door was unlocked. He closed the scissors and scratched his head as he contemplated over what just happened, “This is a really worn down keyhole, isn’t it? I mean, that really shouldn’t have worked… Anyway, thanks for the help. We’ve got to get to bed now, so goodnight…” he and Taehyung entered the room and closed the door behind them.

Four and a half hours later at 6:30 in the morning, Jungkook’s alarm began to ring obnoxiously from his bedside table. Jimin’s eyes flickered open almost immediately, and his drowsiness was quick to settle in. They did not get enough sleep last night, that was for sure… He was about to close his eyes to return to his slumber and wait for his own alarm to go off, but his eyes fell upon Jungkook, who was fast asleep and ignoring the alarm.

“That thing is so loud…” Taehyung mumbled his complaint as he rested his gaze on Jungkook as well. His thoughts from last night still lingered in his mind, and he couldn’t help but wonder whether or not Jungkook was going to act any differently today. It was weird that he had decided to go to bed in a long-sleeved shirt when normally he would use a t-shirt, but perhaps he was cold after all of that rain last night… Taehyung figured he should probably stop looking so far into it, but that was when he caught the sight of something he hadn’t seen on Jungkook before. Jungkook lay still on his back, which wasn’t his normal sleeping position, and his left wrist hung over the bed with the inner part of it facing up. With his shirt sleeve slightly tugged towards his elbow, Taehyung could see the red and slightly yellow cigarette burn that stained his skin, and suddenly, he found himself completely awake and jumping out of bed to check to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Unfortunately, the closer he got, the worse it looked, and his heart began to race faster the more he observed and thought about it, “Jimin. Jimin, get down here.” he insisted seriously, but in a whisper.

“What is it? Aren’t you going to turn off the alarm?” Jimin asked sleepily without moving a muscle.

“Andy. Seriously, come down.” Taehyung stated, using his actual name to emphasize that he needed to listen to him.

Jimin sat up at the use of his American name and leaned over his bed to meet Taehyung’s glance to see what was going on. The look he received made him nervous, so he took no time to delay in listening to his command and climbing down the top bunk. He gestured for Taehyung to wait a moment as he went around the other side of the bed to turn off Jungkook’s alarm, but as soon as he turned it off, Jungkook shifted in his bed and lifted both of his arms to place them over his stomach, his eyes still tightly shut. “Man, he needs to wake up… I know we’re all tired, but---” he paused when he looked back at Taehyung and saw him rubbing a hand over his own mouth as he stood in a thinking position, “Uh… sorry… what did you want me to come down for? You just wanted me to start getting ready, didn’t you?” he asked uncertainly.

“... Yeah… I just… thought that you should get up since you’re in the same 8:00 class as him…” Taehyung replied after a moment. He sat down on the edge of his own bed and faked a yawn to show Jimin that he was just really tired, but his mind was going every direction… He was afraid that if he told Jimin aloud what he saw, Jungkook might overhear him if he was actually awake. He didn’t want to chance that because he knew bringing it up wouldn’t be the best idea. This sort of thing was a real sensitive topic…

“Okay, uh… thanks for making sure I did. I guess we should get him up too, right?” Jimin remarked as he thought about how he should wake him up. In hopes of helping him start off with a better day, he figured it’d help to wrestle with him and get him into his normal spirits; usually that helped when he was feeling down. So without any further thought, he jumped onto the bed and pounced Jungkook, “It’s time to wake up!” he shouted simultaneously.

As soon as Jimin’s body made contact with his, Jungkook’s eyes flashed open, and he immediately did all he could to push Jimin off of him, accidentally sending him falling backwards towards Taehyung, who was thankfully able to react in time to catch Jimin before he hit the ground, though his legs had hit the bedside table and knocked over the alarm clock. Jungkook raised himself up on his knees and held his stomach, feeling as winded as he had after being tackled to the ground and punched last night. He was gasping for air for several seconds before calming down while Taehyung and Jimin just stared with both confusion and concern. They didn’t understand what was happening; Jungkook had never acted like that…

The room’s door swung open with Yoongi and Jin rushing into the room after hearing the commotion from the room across from them. They had been woken by the sound of the alarm already, so they were able to hear the clatter without a problem, “What’s going on? Is everything okay?” Jin asked immediately upon entering.

“Everything’s fine.” Jungkook snapped back as he got out of bed, grabbed the clothes he had set out for himself on his dresser, and then entered the master bathroom to start getting ready for the day. If it wasn’t for Jimin, Jungkook honestly probably wouldn’t have gotten out of bed. His body was practically screaming at him not to move even the slightest, and while Jimin’s tackle did hurt a great deal, he was thankful it gave him the push to get up.

Yoongi tried to stop Jungkook, but unfortunately for him, Jungkook was able to beat him to the bathroom and lock the door before he could bother him. He banged his fist on the door and yelled through it, showing his frustration once more, “I don’t care how hungover you may be, but no one in the house deserves this attitude, you understand me?!” He was sick of whatever mental state he was going through, and the fact that he was already snapping first thing in the morning was a sign to him that he didn’t just drink last night… He must have gotten drunk for him to be acting this way…

“Hyung, stop!” Taehyung demanded of Yoongi as he pulled him away from the bathroom door, “Everyone get out of the room. Just go.” he insisted, gesturing for all three of them to leave. He followed after them and closed the bedroom door, and before Yoongi could argue back with him, he raised his index finger to his own lips to signal for them to be quiet, “Look, something’s not right. I’m serious, this needs to stop. Whatever is going on with him, I don’t think it’s his fault… Just give him some space.”

“He’s right. It doesn’t matter what mood I’ve seen him in; he’s always loosened up when I try wrestling with him. This time is completely different… Maybe I accidently elbowed him in his chest or something…” Jimin agreed with Taehyung, still a little shocked by what had happened.

“What do you mean you don’t think it’s his fault? Drinking was his choice, staying out late was his choice, his attitude is his choice.” Yoongi disagreed, obviously not getting what Taehyung was trying to say. It was early morning, all of them were sleep deprived, and the last thing they had wanted was to wake up to more of last night.

Taehyung shook his head as he tried to find the words he wanted to say… Should he tell them what he saw? Should he question Jungkook about the burn? He didn’t know… “Just… Just go back to bed. Please… He needs space, and if you don’t give it to him, it’s just going to be worse.”

Jin nodded and gestured for Yoongi to go back into their room, “Let’s go… We can discuss more with him after classes.” Though Yoongi glared at Jin defiantly for making him return to his room, he listened and kept quiet while Jin closed the door behind him, “Yoongi, I know you mean well, and I know why you’re upset… but maybe there’s something we’re not seeing.” he suggested as he crossed the room to sit on his bed.

“Like what? Just because he was peer pressured into it doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be held responsible for his own actions…” Yoongi replied with an aggravated sigh as he sat down at his desk. None of this made sense, and he honestly had no idea how to handle it…

Jungkook skipped breakfast and didn’t walk with Jimin to class as he normally did… During their first class all Jimin could think about was Jungkook and what might be going on with him and how he could make things better. He made several attempts at jokes, asked him questions about in-class assignments, and did anything he could to start a conversation with him, but none of his efforts yielded results… He had no choice but to occasionally check up on him to see how he was fairing, sneaking a text to Jin every now and then to keep him updated. Jimin explained to Jin that Jungkook looked very ill and didn’t speak at all during class, but there really wasn’t much more he could say… He told Jungkook to text him if he needed anything, but again he had no response and had to go to his next class worrying about him more and more.

None of the housemates shared a class with Jungkook after Jimin until their Korean class, so none of them were aware of his current condition. All of them sat together at the same table in the cafeteria as usual, a booth against the wall adjacent to the dishroom. A couch sitting space was directly in between their booth and the dishroom, so they didn’t have to deal with crowds surrounding them whenever  the rush hit and people lined up to get rid of their dishes. It was nearing 12:30 p.m., and unfortunately many of the members who knew they had class at 1:20 weren’t even touching the food on their plates…

“You all need to eat.” Namjoon spoke up as he nudged Taehyung to his left and gently kicked Jimin’s shoe diagonally across from him. He was told by Jin what had happened that morning, but he wasn’t pleased that everyone was in such a bad mood by lunch time. “He’s not going to feel better knowing you’re not taking care of yourselves. If you’re really worried about him, you should eat and then go find him. He’s working his lunch shift right now.”

“I bet you he’s in the dishroom, and if he is, you can’t talk to him until the lunch rush is over.” Yoongi pointed out as he picked at his food with his fork but put no effort into actually eating it. He was being hard on himself for yelling at Jungkook the way he did, especially in front of the others… He didn’t mean to snap. Part of him really didn’t know how to handle his emotions, and instead of showing his concern, he showed his anger. His eyes lifted from his food only to spot Paul at the dessert bar, obviously on his break, and he couldn’t help but feel more sour than he did, “I really hope Jungkook released his attitude onto Paul. He looks so happy with himself that it makes me sick, knowing who he really is…” he muttered.

Hoseok looked up and watched as Paul walked away towards the other side of the cafeteria before responding, “I know you’re a little bitter with him, but you should try and forgive him… I mean, he only caused an issue that one time Taehyung was still interviewing for roommates right?”

“Trust me, Paul and Yoongi will always hate each other’s guts.” Taehyung replied as he finally took a bit of the mashed potatoes he had on his plate. “But hey, now that I’m thinking about it… Were Jungkook’s glasses prescription glasses? He seems to be getting along without them…”

“They are prescription, but they’re only for a small astigmatism in his eyes. He can see for the most part, but far away things are slightly blurry for him to read.” Namjoon replied as his eyes shifted back over to the dessert line. “Hey, we all need a pick-me-up, right? Why don’t we cheat and get a small sweet? I don’t think it’d hurt any, come on.” he insisted as he stood and waited for the others to give their answer.

“They haven’t even finished their meals yet, Namjoon.” Jin complained as he watched all of them stand up excitedly. Each of them gave Jin a pouting face, begging him to come with them as though his participation was necessary for them to go through with it. With a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head, he gave in and joined the five of them at the dessert line to wait.

Yoongi was at the back of the line, standing nearest the dishroom, looking less than motivated to be eating any sweets. He wasn’t particularly fond of what the dessert line had to offer, but maybe something small wouldn’t kill him… However, his attention to the group was torn away when his ears picked up the sound of someone yelling in the dishroom. He couldn’t quite understand what was being said because the dish machine was obnoxiously loud, but he figured it was just the workers communicating to each other. Seconds later, one of the student workers hurried out of the dishroom on her phone and stopped just outside its doors to speak to whoever it was. She looked panicked and stressed, and her voice mimicked her facial expression.

“No, he--he fainted! He started talking about how he was having difficulty breathing, began coughing, and then he just fainted!” She tried to explain to what Yoongi assumed to be the police. Quickly, he informed Hoseok that he was going to check out what was going on and then immediately came to the student’s side to get her attention.

“Hey, I’m in Public Safety. What’s going on? Is the person who fainted in here?” Yoongi asked her quickly, gesturing towards the dishroom.

“Yes, yes, he’s on the floor between the machine and the conveyer belt!” She explained to him in a panicked manner before returning her attention to the call and what the police had to say to her. She had obviously never been in this kind of situation before...

Yoongi hurried through the doors of the dishroom, the humidity of the room instantly fogging up the majority of his glasses. One of the college’s employees tried to tell him he couldn’t come in, but once he explained to her he was a member of Public Safety and was there to check up on the unconscious individual, she immediately moved out of the way and pointed to the student. As soon as Yoongi was able to clear up his glasses, he placed them back over the bridge of his nose and froze as soon as his eyes made contact with Jungkook’s still body. What the hell was going on?!