Sometimes, you just have to fight it out to settle things.

Jimin swings at Yoongi’s face but he swiftly side-steps to avoid his punch. Yoongi er-punches Jimin’s ab in retaliation. Jimin  falls a step back. He raises his gloved-fists in front of him in a fighting stance.

“Tired already?” Jimin taunts, “You have so much energy ing around with Jungkook.”

Yoongi connects his fist to his jaw, forgetting that this is suppose to be a friendly boxing match. He  smirks over the satisfying pound. “You’re ing disgusting.”

Jimin falls on his . Metallic taste of blood explodes behind his split lips.  He shakes his head so the stars in his eyes will go away. In a daze, his hand finds the thick string that marks the perimeter of the ring. “You’re the disgusting one, ,” he spits the words out like venom.

The insult hits Yoongi harder than the following fist that hooks his chin. He grunts as he loses all sensation in his muscles. The pain blinds him for a second.

“One...Two… Three…” Jimin counts triumphantly.

As if Jimin’s superior voice stings him, Yoongi springs up on his wobbly feet. His eyes burn hole into Jimin. There, Yoongi sees his weakness in his wavering eyes. He sneers. “If Jungkook likes me back, does it make him a too?”

Jimin lets out a war cry before lunging for Yoongi. He puts Yoongi under a headlock. “It’s. All. Your. Fault!” He punches Yoongi lunatically at each articulated word. Yoongi can barely gasps for air in between; he is taking as much pain as he can and he only thinks of Jungkook. When the attacker finally releases Yoongi, he stumbles backward, hitting rough on the perimeter. His whole body screams agony and begs him to stop breathing.

But he won’t go down this time.

Jimin bounces to the far side of the ring at a spot that is unreachable. It seems like any of Yoongi’s feeble attempt to fight back is futile. But he knows that he won't allow anything vile to taint the pure love that he and Jungkook share.

Just as Jimin thinks that Yoongi is going to fall in a heap, Yoongi rushes towards him takes a deliberate swipe at Jimin’s stomach. He repeated the attacks like Jimin did to him but he makes sure each punch is more painful than the previous. While Jimin is busy covering his mid section, Yoongi attacks his jaw unexpectedly. Thud. Jimin goes down on his side. He lets out an animalistic groan as Yoongi looms over him victoriously.

“One...Two...Three..”

Jimin remains on the ground, the only sound he makes is shallow breathing.

“It’s no one’s fault!” Yoongi understood this a long time back--on that night where he took a leap of faith off the balcony. It was stupid, Yoongi has already realized, he could have break his neck. But he had as much faith in the sturdy tree as he has it in Jungkook, so he flew through the night sky and landed in one piece. It doesn't matter if the younger does not love him the way he loves him, because he trusts that Jungkook will never abandon him like his loved ones did. It is not anyone’s fault either as long as they can be happy together.

Yoongi spits some blood out on the floor. He feels much better already from expelling the bitterness in his mouth. Now, he just needs to avoid touching his puffy cheeks. “Hey, are you dead?” He extends his hand for Jimin to take. As much as he hates Jimin at the moment, he is still Jungkook’s best friend. To his surprise, Jimin does not fling his hand away like he expects he will do with his dignity.

Jimin sits upright and leans against the ring. Yoongi retrieves two bottles of water and places one of them next to Jimin. They sit side-by-side for a while, gulping their water.

“Thanks,” Jimin tells the ceiling.

Yoongi spits out his water. “What the ?” Who is he talking to right now?!

Jimin turns to look at him. “Thank you for protecting Jungkook.” Is it Yoongi’s imagination or do Jimin’s eyes sparkle? “Can’t blame me for beating the out of you--I thought you’re hurting him. He's just so weird lately; I know it's because of you. But you guys didn’t tell me nothing! Do you know how worried I was?” A hint of hurt passes his face. “And then Jungkook went on another date with Junghwa... Aish! I just have to know if you’re serious about him!” The corner of his lips lifts. “But you didn't let me down.”

Yoongi frowns. “This was all a twisted test of yours?”

“What? I want Jungkook to have a boyfriend that doesn’t ditch him when he's called a . There’s a lot of s polluting the Earth and will hurt Jungkook! Not everyone is angelic like I am.”

Yoongi splutters, “W-Whatever!” He honestly missed anything Jimin was saying after the word “boyfriend”.

“Are you having internal bleeding? Your face is all red! I swear I didn't hit you that hard!”

“Shut up!”

Jimin falls on his side laughing. Yoongi holds back his knuckles and chuckles.

“We should do this more often,” Jimin suddenly says.

“Beating each other to death?” Yoongi raises an eyebrow. “Good idea.” He smirks.

“This is a good idea from Henry. He can't stop us fighting anyway and boxing is fun.”

“Next time we’ll bring the fight to the ring. I feel the tiniest bad for Jin not able to eat Hyerin’s cupcakes.”

They laugh.

“Hey.” Jimin ceases laughing. “Promise me you’ll stand up for him if anyone being mean to him.” He takes a long hard look at Yoongi.

“I promise! You’re ing cheesy today.”

“I raised Jungkook! I have the right to be worried!”

Yoongi hollars. “You raised Jungkook? Oh. Please. I’ll take good care of him.”

“Cue in the wedding march!” Jimin jumps off from his spot before Yoongi will really beat him to death.

“Yah!” Yoongi suddenly stops chasing him around. “Jungkook went on a date with Junghwa?!”

“You’re slow! Whatcha gonna do about it?”

Yoongi throws his gloves to the floor and makes a dramatic exit.

***

“I can’t believe this many people came!”

“If I knew people will actually come, I wouldn’t have agreed to do a speech!”

“It’s all Hyerin unnie’s fault that ‘I Have a Name’ is trending!”

The boys fix their gazes on Hyerin--they are a mixture of awe, admiration, and a little despise.

“She was just trying to help!” Jin jumps into her defense.

“No. I posted my version just for fun,” replies Hyerin bluntly. “I didn’t expect people will pick it up after Hani posted hers too. ‘Hani Effect’ is pretty amazing, ay?”

Jin turns to her. “You did what just for fun?”

Hyerin shrugs. “I thought your campaign is pretty cool. ‘I Have a Name’ really give people a chance to shows them who they are, not just the name others gave them, or think they are. You are just you!” She chuckles. “Very brilliant.”

“Thank you for the praise, ma'am.” Jimin does a ninety-degree bow. “I am brilliant.”

Hyerin’s jaw drops. “You did what?”

“Ouch! I’m smart too!” Jimin cries, clutching his shirt and bows his head.

“I’m sorry, Jimin!” Hyerin quickly apologizes.

The boys laugh. J-Hope throws his arm around him to comfort his pride.

“Are we all ready?” Henry pokes his head around to the backstage.

Yoongi fixes Jungkook’s bowtie. J-Hope pats Jimin’s . Jin hugs Hyerin for good fortune. Taehyung checks his breath. Namjoon fixes his swooshy slope of hair for one last time before giving Henry a big thumbs-up.

The gymnasium walls are lined with the boys’ posters: Jimin crosses his arms; his pose is tough but he has the biggest smile on his face, plus that ridiculous yellow Minion hat does not help his swag at all. J-Hope has colorful balls surrounds him while he kisses his Mochi Egg. Taehyung makes an awkward V sign while wearing a money-sign glasses. Namjoon is leaning against the wall, his hands in his pockets, trying to look cool effortlessly. No onlookers know that he actually took a week on perfecting the design of that cotton pink hair and sewing his silver tuxedo. Jin has his hands in his pockets too, but he has an awkward smile on his face. Still, he is the epitome of perfection as the crown of his head is being adorned with roses wreath. Yoongi hold up two peace signs and he is biting onto his money-sign fake gold chain, looking absolutely swagalicious. Jungkook is having a serious-thinking face behind his lense-less 3-D glasses, cradling a thick Oxford dictionary in his arms. Nobody tells them what to do in the photoshoot and they loved every seconds of it. The posters are not tainted by any malicious markers; safe and sound. Back on the floor of the gym, around forty seats are slowly filling up. Hyerin, Hani, and Junghwa took the front seats already along with their friends, parents and classmates. The crowd is restless as they wait for the evening’s event to happen.

J-Hope is the first one to take the centre stage. He wears an orange bow tie that Henry lends him (well, more like he forces J-Hope to wear it because it is “darn cute”). He does a shimmy across the stage and earns some laughs and groans from the audience.

“What the heck is he doing?” Taehyung questions while he is hiding with the rest at backstage.

“Shh!” Jimin warns. “He’s nervous!”

“HI, BUDDIES!” J-Hope screams to the mic, making everyone to cover their ears. “Oops. Sorry.”

There is curiosity, support, and some mistrust spreading in the audience. J-Hope seems to ignore all the conflicting energy in the crowd.

“I’m Jung Hoseok! But you can all call me J-Hope.” He beams. “Why ‘J-Hope’, you all asked?”

“No one ing asked him,” Jimin comments. Taehyung elbows him to shut him up.

“‘J-Hope’ is my lucky charm. I’ve been wearing it ever since my mom died.”

There is a long awkward silence ensues after the word “died”. But as always, the behaviour of the crowd goes over J-Hope’s head and he keeps going: “I have had general anxiety since then. I just go into panic attack whenever something makes me worry or nervous, which like more than sixty percent of the time.” He chortles as if he told a really funny joke. Somehow, the audience finds it hilarious too and laughs along with him. “Before I had the group therapy with my lovely crew, I used to carry weird things around like Kitty’s Intoxicating Nightly Dinglebell… Yeah, they are pretty random; they are just any synonyms that gives positive feeling. They are my lucky charms to ward off ‘evil thing’ that will distress me. There’s no science behind it but it worked for me! Because I’m a weirdo!” More bright smile lights up his expression.

“Until I met my new family--Henry and the boys, I knew nothing about proper therapy or non-medical treatment. Not like they really showed me the science side of my illness either--it’s really all about tuning into myself. I mean, my weird side is still part of me but something runs deeper inside, like my aspiration to help these guys who are suffering from mental illnesses too. Cooperating with them to find ourselves is like making a legacy for my mom. If more people paid attention to mental illnesses and treat it seriously, then depression wouldn’t have taken my mom away--she will be sitting down there watching me right now.” He directs his index finger at the back of the room. He gazes at the spot intently, as if she is really there watching him.

The air seems dead as a beached whale. For a second, no one breathes.

“But she is here with us today! We will help her legacy to live on. HI, MOM!” He waves at the excitedly causing a few heads turning around. Surely, they see nothing but the row of the hilarious but genuine posters.

“PLEASE GIVE MY PEOPLE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE,” J-Hope suddenly yells into the mic again, attracting people’s attention to the front. He brings his hands together enthusiastically and the audience can’t help but follow along. “AND FOR YOU GOOD FOLKS! We can’t move forward without a huge support network! THANK YOU!”

“Are you crying, Jiminnie hyung?” Jungkook whispers.

“NO!” He sniffs. “Stops lying or else I’ll push you out there!”

Yoongi kicks his shin before wrapping a protective arm around the maknae.

J-Hope’s speech ends with hoots and cheers all around. He skips over the stage and blows kisses to the crowd, then disappears off stage like a good fairy that will linger in people’s mind for ages along with his golden heart.

Namjoon high-fives J-Hope and Henry. “It was a good idea for J-Hope to go out first to hype up the crowd.” Namjoon throws a worrying glance over Jimin--he is going to appeal to the crowd next.

Jimin crosses the stage--he is all prepared with only a piece of paper in his hand. He smiles to the audience cheekily. “Hello, people. Please bow down to the almighty King Jimin!” he commands.

“I can’t watch this.” Taehyung facepalms.

“He said ‘please,’” Henry defends him.

Jimin suppresses his middle finger when the audience starts whispering. There are some actually bow out of mockery or respect. He freezes his bright expression like all of his facial muscles are dead. “Hoseok hyung had a boohoo speech and all, but you’ll cry after mine.” He winks.

He shakes and irons the wrinkled paper with his palm. “‘Hey, mom. Dad.’ Where are you guys anyway?” His parents give him small waves at the front. “Your uncle’s here too!” His dad yells back at him. Everyone looks for his family and ends up gawking at the middle-age man jumping up and down with a big neon sign like a high-school cheerleader. “HWAITING, PARK JIMIN!” the men hollers. “SHUT UP!” his mom orders. “MY BABY IS STARTING HIS SPEECH!”

The room reverberates with laughters.

“Is the embarrassment over yet?” asks Taehyung who has his eyes squeezed tight.

“I get where Jimin came from now.” Namjoon’s comment is full of awe.

“ATTENTION!” Jimin calls again. The audience returns their focus back to Jimin. “Thank you! Let me start again: ‘Hey, mom. Dad.’ And uncle.”

“HI!” They chorus back. “We love you!”

Jimin clears his throat, blatantly ignores their cheesiness. “Anyway, here’s my letter for you guys:

‘You know what? I will probably die without you guys.

I’m serious! If you guys kicked me out for always getting into trouble with police, I’ll probably die in a gang fight or freeze on the streets.

Thank you for holding on to me when I can’t even fight my urge to do all the bad things and break all the rules.

Thank you for hiding my crimes.

Thank you for not treating me like a psychopath.

Thank you for giving me more chances than I deserve.

Thank you for giving me room to be myself without abandoning me.

Love,

Jimin.’”

“Stupid Jimin,” Taehyung mutters under his breath. He looks over to Namjoon who throws his head back and stares at the ceiling. “I’m okay,” assures Namjoon as if he read the younger’s mind.

Honestly, Taehyung is happy for Jimin who could finally pour his heart out to his loved ones and the people who reciprocate his love. It is uplifting to see Jimin growing out of his “ the world” attitude and considers the people who are on the roller-coaster journey with him all along. Jimin is perfectly innocent because he is ignorant of the effect of his own fortune. But why does Taehyung feel like Jimin is digging up someone else’s scars in exchange for his own happiness?

It’s not fair.

Jimin finishes his speech with one big flourishing heart formed by his arms.

“Namjoon, it’s your turn,” says Henry.

Namjoon gets out of his seat without a word. He doesn’t greet Jimin when he walks past him.

“What’s wrong with him?” Yoongi asks from the corner.

Jin looks at Taehyung for an answer too.

“Nothing’s wrong with him… Sh. He’s starting.”

“Good evening. I am Kim Namjoon--a second year at Yonsei High. I also run a beauty vlog calls Monster Daily. I will appreciate it if you hashtag that on Instagram too.” He gives a crowd a charismatic wink.

He looks fine, Taehyung observes, then why is he frowning?

“I don’t really have a long speech, I just want to thank Henry and my friends for sticking by each others through a tons of crisis…”

“He’s not going to tell them that time when Jimin locked Henry in the closet, right?” Jungkook whispers.

“Or that time Jimin sets the classroom on fire?” Yoongi seconds. “Good time.”

“Oh. Remember how Henry quit and he was bawling his eyes out?!” Jimin asks.

“You made him cry?” Jin asks.

“NO! WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME?!”

“Because it was always you,” Yoongi replies matter-of-fact.

“...Of course we had a lot of trouble,” Namjoon continues, “since we were all new to group therapy. Some people might think that therapy as a bad thing. Their common reason is that ‘normal’ people don’t go to therapy. There must be something wrong with those people who go to see a therapist. You guys are right. Something is wrong with us.” He takes a dramatic pause. He does not look at the crowd anymore, Taehyung notices, he is staring at a blank space, almost soulless. “But who doesn’t have something ‘wrong’ with them?”

The atmosphere in the room seems more unsettling than ever. “I’m not saying that we’re all mentally ill. You might not get along with people and prefer to be alone. Or you are an absolute mess and hate to clean up after yourself. Or you just have a really bad cold right now. Or you have a broken arm. Some of our problems have remedies for us to get better. Some just don’t. We all have something that doesn't really fit what others or society expects of us. So what? After meeting these guys, I realized that the important thing is not asking what is wrong with us, but what we can do about our problems? Do we turn a blind eyes to them?” his voice breaks at the last word, but he quickly gains back traction. “Or do we take action and try to improve our unwanted situation? That’s what our group therapy accomplished and I am proud to tell you guys that our attempts to get better worked!”

Now, Namjoon takes time to meet the eyes of the audience at the first few rows. He is burning his messages into their souls. He is not sure how many people he can get through. However, it is reassuring to observe a few moved expressions, as if they really understand what he and his friends were all going through. Maybe they can relate to them in the least expected ways: they probably had time that they felt anxious for their big interviews, or suffered a death of their loved ones. Or something small like they didn’t feel like talking to anyone or big deal like they have to be the number one in school to make their parents happy. We all have those moments that things are bad and we feel like we can’t do anything about it. But that is not right! That's what Namjoon likes to believe.

Suddenly, a hand shoots through the air.

Namjoon glances at his direction and ignores him. He is about to close his speech: “To the lovely guests who-”

“I have a question!” Junghan’s arm is still up in the air. He projects his commanding actor’s voice and attracts everyone’s attention.

“We don't have time for question,” answers Namjoon in gritted teeth. His eyes cry murder.

“‘We don't have time for question.’ But we have time for your bull.”

Gasps and murmurs erupt through the place.

A few in the audience smirk as they observe the drama unfolds. Some of them hooting and encouraging Junghan to go on. “Tell those psychos to off!” one of them shouts.

Namjoon doesn't hear the taunting--he only has his eyes on Junghan. “What is your question?”

He says as calmly as a rabbit that walks right into the hunter’s trap. But unlike the fragile animal, Namjoon will not be entrapped without a fight.

“You said that we’re like you guys, but we are so totally not like you, obviously. You guys are mental patients, you’re not normal like us. We won’t faint just from talking to people. We can go on with our normal lives but what can you do without screwing up? You guys are just burdens to everyone else! You should feel ashamed!” He stands up and addresses the crowd now. “You know how much money from our taxes go into that group and the mental institutions? Why are we wasting our precious time listening to your bull? So we can be responsible for something that is not our faults? IS THIS FAIR?!”

Suddenly, the noises in the auditorium split into halves. Some are clapping for Junghan; others are booing the troublemaker. They talk one over another. Arms are flailing from debating who’s right or who’s wrong. The uproar only becomes louder.

Namjoon tears his gaze from Junghan to the chaotic crowd now. He grips on the podium. His body fights back the rage surging through his veins. He will fight back for his friends, if he didn’t already feeling weary of the whole debacle. Who is he to ask for strangers’ support when the ones closest to him didn't give him the love he needs?

Namjoon steps back from the mic.

Junghan his head to the side, enjoying witnessing the “Almighty Leader” squirms and shrinks into nothing. If he collapses right now, the whole team will go down with him, including Jin. He throws back his head and cackles.

Taehyung wants to twist Junghan’s neck the other way and watches it snaps off from his shoulders. Taehyung is suppose to be angelic and supportive one and love everyone around him, but he all he can think of is five-thousands painfullest ways to deaths possible, like being mauled by a cow.

Namjoon averts his attention away from Junghan and that pisses him off. “You are crazy for believing that us and you guys are the same; we are not!”

“He is not crazy!”

There is only one person in the world at this moment can make Namjoon bawling foolishly in front of dozens of strangers.

“You bastard.” The man curses Junghan. “How is he different from all the other kids?! He is loved by other people that actually care for him too!”

The older people in room cheer him on and yell at the brat to shut the Hell up.

Taehyung restrains himself from rushing onto the  stage to hug his trembling back, or covers his ears so that man’s words won’t get into his head. It breaks his heart to bits to witness the confident leader bowing his head from the public’s eyes to hide his tears.

“Namjoon-ah.” He turns bluntly towards the boy standing at the podium.

At this point, all the tears that flooded out have no return policy. He has to muffle his crying in one hand and steady himself by holding himself by the ledge. Taehyung wonders why he doesn't run away from him.

An epiphany suddenly hits him: Namjoon can't run away because it's him.

“I'm sorry, son. For being one of those irresponsible people turning away from the problem. We were young and stupid when we had you, and we thought that was the perfect excuse to justify for leaving you.” Mr. Kim takes a sharp breath before appealing to the crowd. “Yeah.” He laughs at himself. “Y’all should hate me!” His maniacal laugh stuns Namjoon and his tears cease. He will yell at him to stop being an idiot while everyone’s watching, but Namjoon doesn't want him to stop. He wants to see how far he will go; how much wrongdoings he will admit.

“Hate me today but you’ll be me tomorrow.”

As if he is a warlock casting an unbreakable spell, everyone’s mute.

Scattering clap first starts in the corner, then it spreads to the rest of the room.

Namjoon swallows another sob. “Thank you, Mr. Kim,” he says in a broken voice. “Now Dr. Henry Lau will come out and wrap up tonight.” He steps back from the podium and bows deeply for three seconds.

He straightens his back, holding his gaze with his. Smiles. And walks away.

Author's note: I wrote the fight scene before the teaser came out lol. I'm loving the comeback so far! /screams sugakooki lap choreo/

And my favourite theory will be Peter Pan theory. I just love the idea that growing up and dying are inevitable and we just have to accept them.

Anyway, next chapter will be the last chaper. Please subscribe unitl then. Upvote if you like it and comments really help a lot!

Write you later,

Suzy

Can't Say - VIXX