"In the far-off sky, there are two nameless stars,
Just like the two of us
So you won't get blown away by the summer wind,
I'll never let go of that tiny hand in mine." – Pino and Amélie by Huwei Ishizaki, 2016

They just stared at each other, Taehyung wanted to go up to him to make sure he wasn't an illusion, a fake, but he knew he couldn't.

"It's you... You-You're here..."

Seokjin bent down, going to hold his hand, trying to ignore the visible flinch Jimin did when his fingers came in contact with his newly bandaged skin.

"Jiminie..."

Jimin looked back at his lap, "What're you doing here?"

"We're here to see you, of course, Minnie! We missed you!" Taehyung said softly.

Jimin stared up at them, "Why would you want to see me? Don't-Don't you have a schedule or a dance practice today?"

Namjoon came forward, shaking his head, "We just got back from doing our military service. We won't be going back to idol work for a little bit."

Jimin nodded, continuing not to meet their eyes. Jimin was scared to meet their eyes. He was terrified to see how much had changed from 2019 to 2023. Jimin didn't want to see how they had changed from the military service, or how they were looking at him right now. Was it pity? Sympathy? Disgust? He didn't even want to know.

Namjoon held his hands over Seokjin's, "We never forgot about you since that day... The group almost fell apart in your absence... If Yoongi didn't recommend we go to the military and go on that hiatus, I don't know how we would have survived..."

A small grin began to tug on Jimin's lips, "I guess you're a bit too dependent on me, huh?

Hoseok grinned, "Yeah, I guess we are. Even I felt it when you were gone."

Jimin looked at Hoseok before his gaze slowly shifted to everyone else in the room.

They looked so much more mature than they looked 3 or so years ago... It almost made Jimin sad to see how much they had grown up without him.

Jungkook and Taehyung looked so much more mature and grown up. Taehyung's cheeks were a little less chubby and a lot more defined, same with his jawline. Jungkook looked pretty much the same aside from the lack of cute cheeks for him to squeeze when he was bored. His jawline was a lot more defined and he most likely didn't have his cute, chubby little tummy anymore. Jungkook had really worked hard for the fans to gain weight, but the military work was gruesome, so it made sense the bits of fat melted off in an instant.

The hyung line looked much older. Considering they were older than Jimin, that was simply a given, but it didn't stop Jimin from noticing it. They looked more mature, narrower, almost like sharp lines of someone's comic book drawing.

It was daunting how much they had all changed within that time frame. He just didn't believe it... How did they see him? Did his hyung's still see him as his tiny, sweet, almost pure dongsaeng? Did they still see him as who he had been back then or do they see him how he was now? Damaged, sullied, and broken?

Jimin didn't want to know. He wanted to be treated the same, but he knew that wouldn't be possible... All of the media would be in his business day in and day out along with the other people that were there with him that day.

"Hyung's, do you still accept me?"

Jimin felt like a child stuck in the past compared to the rest of them They had all grown up and changed, but Jimin felt like he had regressed and gone backward. They had moved on, but he felt stuck in the past.

And his breakdown just a few hours earlier only confirmed it. Jimin had a camera pointed in his direction and he completely shut down and broke it. He had started hurting himself and it took a team of doctors and nurses to get a simple injection into his body.

"Of course we do. You're still our baby brother, even if you don't want to be," Hoseok said with a grin on his face.

Yoongi nodded in agreement, "One of our three baby brothers. No matter how old we get, you, Taehyung, and Jungkook qualify to be baby brothers."

Jimin would be lying if he said this conversation wasn't cheering him up a little bit. Jimin needed this, he needed his brothers by his side.

"Thanks, it means a lot to me that you're coming to see me under the circumstances. I know the company technically didn't have control over where I went since I am still under a legally binding contract with them for another... 4 years?"

Namjoon nodded, "Our contracts were on hiatus for a little bit while we were in the military, and yours was also put on an immediate hiatus one year after you were taken. So yes, you're still in contract with Bighit, but it's on hiatus until you're better."

Jimin grinned to himself, trying to hide his face from view. Soon he could go back to the life he lived before getting taken... He could go back to singing and dancing like he was always supposed to.

"Does this mean when I get discharged, I can go home? I can go back to the dorms?" Jimin asked, a little bit of hope filling his voice.

"We'll have to ask. I think they're contemplating sending you home with your parents when-."

All the hope in Jimin's eyes vanished, "I won't go with them!"

Jimin had a relatively good relationship with his parents, yeah, but Jimin didn't know how they were going to react against his decisions to keep being an idol. Especially his Dad...

Jimin whimpered, shaking his head and trying not to think about it. This was a good moment and he wasn't allowed to ruin it for himself. Jimin's brothers minus Jihyun had come just for him... Just to see him. He couldn't even comprehend how thankful he was.

"Jiminie... You never got to start working on your solo album, so I brought you a little something to keep you occupied."

Jimin was handed his phone and Jimin was embarrassed to realize he didn't even remember his own password.

"I deleted social media and restricted the app store so you didn't have an excuse. We don't want social media to be apart of the reason you have some type of bad incident."

Jimin nodded in understanding, "Can I at least look over one of your phones if I wanna look? I don't want to be completely out the loop..." he said with a small pout.

Namjoon pondered on it for a little bit before nodding, "Yes you can. You just need to ask. But only for a limited time."

Jimin made a small noise. His mood had gotten significantly better within a few seconds.

"And you're an adult... So, we don't think your parents have the authority to take you if you don't want to be taken."

"I want to go with you... I've really missed you and I've lost a lot of time with you... I want to make up all the time I've lost because I l word you a lot..."

Hoseok snickered before hiding his laughter behind one of his hands, "L word..."

"What's so funny, huh?"

"L word... I guess you do need to learn to love us again if you want to love."

Jimin's face went red, "I don't! You're my brothers! That's weird, hyung!"

Hoseok started laughing again. Namjoon was pleased to see the sunshine returning to its rightful place on Hoseok's face.

"Hey, you're making fun of me! Stop it!"

It felt like no time at all had passed. It felt like they were picking up right where they left off. They were treating him like he was normal...

Like he was almost normal.

There was a soft knock on the door before the moment Jimin had been dreading since the moment he realized he could have visitors.

"Jimin?"

The sweet, worried voice of his Eomma filled the room. It was slightly raspy, almost like she was about to cry.

"Oh, darling... Darling, it really IS you!"

She ran up to him, completely disregarding the, "Not too close" rule. Jimin panicked, trying to get her off of him.

"Oh, darling you have no idea how much I missed you-."

"Eomma-."

"Your Appa and I tried to sue but we couldn't! There was no evidence we could use!"

"Eo-o-Eomma-."

"But you're here! Don't worry, darling we'll get you out of there-."

Jimin began to shake, trying to shove his Eomma off him, "Stop, Stop-."

"Don't you want a hug from your worried Eomma?" She only squeezed harder, making Jimin panic more.

No, No, No-

Jimin felt like the world was beginning to close in on him again. His Eomma's suffocating grip on his body wasn't helping any as his dad tried to get him off of him.

"Eomma get off me! Please!"

She got off and Jimin instantly closed himself off. He was having an anxiety attack because of his Eomma's fierce hug. Vivid flashbacks began to aggressively come to the forefront of his mind as they battled for Jimin's attention.

Jimin's vision was fading in and out because of his teary eyes and blurry vision, but then he felt fingers softly stroking his hair.

"Hey, Minnie? It's ok? No one's here to hurt you."

Yoongi placed Jimin's head on his chest, "Just breathe in and out for me, ok? Make sure you follow the rhythm of my heartbeat.

Yoongi sometimes helped Hoseok with his panic attacks, especially when they were really bad during the first 3 years of debut. He also helped the other members when they seemed to be on the verge of cracking as well. Different tactics worked for different members and Yoongi had discovered Jimin responded well to praise and slight physical touches.

After some more praise and a few more minutes had passed, Jimin seemed to have calmed down from his initial panic attack. He looked on edge still, but that was better than what they had before.

"Baby..."

Jimin sniffled looking up at his Eomma, "I-I asked you to-to stop! Why didn't you stop?"

She had a look on her face, "Well I didn't think you were going to have such a bad reaction to something as simple as a hug."

"Sorry to interrupt, but the nurses specifically told us to stay a good distance from Jimin so something like this didn't happen. Didn't they tell you the same?" Namjoon asked, a brow raised. He knew she was an Eomma who missed her son dearly, but there was no excuse to have disobeyed orders from a professional.

"They did, but I became so overwhelmed with emotion I just couldn't help myself!"

Jimin let out a small whimper as more people entered the room. They were dressed in all black with shiny badges in his face.

"Park Jimin, this is the Seoul Police Department. We were sent here to question and collect statements from you about your case."

They turned to everyone in the room and one spoke up, "Friends and Family of Park Jimin, I'm going to need you to exit the room until we have collected all the information to put the captured behind bars, that's if you would like to press charges."

Jimin nodded softly, "Ok, I understand... I-I'll try t cooperate as best I can."

They all took a seat once everyone had left the room, one with a notepad and another with a tape recorder. They had heard about his meltdown earlier and they weren't going to risk something else like that.

"So, let's start from the very beginning, ok?"

"You try to act tough, saying "It's nothing"
I got the feeling we're somehow similar." – Pino and Amélie by Huwei Ishizaki, 2016