Three months later and they had all recovered. Three months later and they had settled back into their old routine, writing songs and coming up with new concepts. They were set to perform soon again, and they’d been practicing very hard, as if they were rookies. As if they were completely new and had to establish their position and their popularity all over again. And as they edged closer to the day, they became nervous and tensed. Sometimes causing fights to break out, something that rarely happened among the seven members. But now, it seemed as if everything was so different. They all had changed. Taehyung had become so quiet, no longer the annoying one with Jimin and Hoseok. He’d just quietly agreed to everything, quietly performed. He put a lot of effort into his performance, trying to be who he used to be, and then after, shutting down and heading off to his bedroom all alone, curled up under the blankets. Everyone was worried about him, but he avoided any question.

Jimin, however, had made a change for the more positive side. He’d started eating more often, small portions but more often. He’d gained weight, his abs were gone and he now had a little belly. It made him uncertain, but with the praise and the comfort of the other members, it didn’t matter much. He was actually quite glad, seeing as he’d been less hungry and had more energy. He was a lot healthier, which made all of them smile. Yoongi has especially been comforting him at times that Jimin really needed it. They’d become close, the past few months. Even through the fights and the many emotions, everyone had gotten closer to each other. Seokjin had tried more recipes, Namjoon had gone back to writing good songs. Yoongi too had started writing songs. Jungkook had developed into a young man, no longer the shy boy he used to be.

Hoseok had been dancing a lot. Perhaps dancing his frustrations off, or to get more muscles since he felt like he had lost them all. He was often gone from early morning to late into the night. But he’d been chatty and annoying as always, filming cams for the fans in which he bothered the members, except Taehyung. Taehyung rarely appeared nowadays and it made Hoseok worried for the young man, as he’d also started eating less and less.

The day off the performance, their very first concert in a while and everyone was happily chatting away, nervous and excited. Taehyung just sat in a corner, as far removed as he could from the rest and staring down at the ground. He’d been getting a lot of hate ever since the fans found out he murdered someone. Not that it had been his fault entirely. But it made him scared and it made him sad. So he’d been in his room, quiet and avoiding contact with anyone. Honestly speaking, he didn’t want to perform today. Not for the fans who hated him, not for the fans who loved him no matter what. But he had to. He couldn’t let his BTS family down.

It was time. They all got up. Taehyung took a deep breath and raised his chin, getting up and following after the others. The stage was dark, the fans were screaming. The lights switched on, they did their usual greetings and started their first song. Taehyung performed, performed as he usually would, with power, with excitement. He matched the members perfectly, looking around at all the signs. There were many signs for each member. There were a lot of signs telling how they forgave Tae for what he did and that it didn’t matter. But he didn’t care. He wanted to scream at all of them to just hate him because that’s what he deserved. But he didn’t. He performed and he sang, going along and looking happy as he always did. And then after the concert, there was a mini fan meeting. Again, he smiled giggled and participated, signing stuff and putting silly things on his head. And then, once back at the dorm, he fled to his room where he curled up under the blankets.

Hoseok sighed, heading over to Taehyung’s room. He closed the door behind him and sat down on Tae’s bed, removing the covers and seeing that he was crying. Hoseok’s heart dropped. He swallowed and pulled the younger man into his arms, hugging him.

“Why are you crying?”

“The fans hate me. It doesn’t matter. Just please leave.”

“No. We’re all worried about you. You’ve lost a lot of weight and that’s not healthy.”

“Look, it doesn’t matter, okay?”

Hoseok took Taehyung’s chin between thumb and forefinger, forcing him to look at him. “It matters to all of us, Tae. We want you to be happy and healthy. And right now, you’re sad and not eating.”

Taehyung sighed and looked away. He closed his eyes. “The fans don’t care about me. They wouldn’t send all those hate messages if they did. They only care about my image and my body and right now I’m too fat for them and a murderer. I’ve seen so many messages of them wanting me to leave the group because no one wants a group with a murderer. Perhaps I should leave.”

His voice was stubborn and his face harsh. Hoseok sighed and released him, getting up. “If you leave, this group will fall apart. We are family.” With that, he left the room.

Yoongi looked at Hoseok, and Hoseok gave a worried smile before heading off to the kitchen. Yoongi sighed, closing his eyes and resting his head on the arm of the couch. Seokjin too sighed, looking at the door that was now closed where Hoseok had come out of seconds ago. Poor Tae, he thought.

Dinner time but Taehyung didn’t show up. So they were with six, eating dinner and chatting about their performances. After dinner, Seokjin and Yoongi cleaned up. Namjoon left to his room, wanting some silence to think and write. Yoongi too headed to his room, most likely to sleep since the day had been really tiring. Jungkook went to play a game. That left Jin, Hoseok and Jimin talking about Taehyung.

“Perhaps we should ask the fans to make drawings or little stories or songs or something to cheer him up. He’s having a hard time dealing with everything,” Hoseok suggested, head leaning on one arm and his other arm just lazily laying on the table.

Jimin nodded. “That sounds like a good idea, to be honest. Perhaps he’ll cheer up.”

Seokjin turned to the younger two. “Perhaps we can write a song for him and perform it.”

Hoseok was surprised, but smiled. “That’s a good idea, Seokjin-hyung,” he said with a bright smile. He headed off to his room, probably to start writing. Jin turned back to the dishes.

Jimin made a fancafe post, asking fans to send in messages and drawings and whatever else they had for Taehyung, as long as it was positive.

Taehyung walked into the kitchen and sat down on a chair. He looked like he had been crying pretty much ever since they came home. “Please don’t. I’m going to leave this group anyway, it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“You’re not leaving,” Jimin said, looking up at Taehyung. He could feel tears, but he blinked them away. “You can’t leave, Tae. We need you. The fans need you. You need to see past the negative messages and see that the majority of fans love you and care about you.”

But Taehyung just shook his head, looking at Park Jimin. “I don’t care. I’ll be gone soon.”

Jimin bit his lip, tears now streaming down his face. “Whatever happened to you, Taehyung…”

But he stood up and left, leaving Jin and Jimin behind. He went to tell each member he would leave, probably tomorrow. He told everyone, except Hoseok. And then he retreated to his room where he started packing.

The next morning, Hoseok stormed into Taehyung’s room, finding him already awake and seated on the bed with his suitcase ready.

“How dare you!?”

Taehyung looked up at Hoseok, unamused. His expression was cold. “Go away, Hoseok-hyung. You’re not going to stop me. I made my decision.”

“No! You’re not leaving…” There were tears spilling down Hoseok’s face, staining his cheeks. He shook his head, looking at the younger man. “You can’t do that. We’re family.” Hoseok could not believe it. After all that they had been through, they needed each other most now, especially with the busy events coming up. And Taehyung was just leaving them.

Taehyung got up, gripping the suitcase and walking over. “Goodbye, Hoseok-hyung.” He walked past, leaving Hoseok standing there. He saw Jimin, who in turn was also in tears. Jimin approached and hugged him, then wrapped his arms around the younger one.

“I will miss you,” he whispered through sobs.