Namjoon stood in front of Yoongi's apartment door, horrified.

"Why the fuck wouldn't you go to class?!"

"I-I wasn't feeling well. My stomach – "

"You had a tummy ache?" Chul said with a sneer.

"I think when you kicked – "

"You're making people suspicious!" Chul interrupted with a roar. "One of your little friends called. What do you expect me to tell them?"

"Um, that I'm not feeling well?"

"Don't you mock me!"

"I wasn't! I – "

Smack

Namjoon jumped back from the door.

"Please," Yoongi begged. "Please, I'm sorry!"

Smack

"Shut up! Just shut the fuck up! If this gets out of hand, and your little friends keep coming around asking about you, you're going to regret it!"

Tears sprang to Namjoon's eyes. He wanted so desperately to knock down the door, grab Yoongi, and get him out of the situation. But he couldn't be sure how Chul would react. Well, he had a pretty good idea. And their apartment was full of potential weapons. Namjoon was unarmed and alone.

Against everything he believed in and desperately wanted to do, Namjoon turned around and walked away. He waited until he was out of earshot of the door, leaned against a wall and slid down it, sobbing.

-

To Jimin's great relief, Yoongi showed up to class the next day. His relief was soon replaced with dread, however, when he noticed the purple and blue bruise that was spread across Yoongi's cheekbone.

"Hey, Hyung."

Yoongi simply nodded at Jimin, but said nothing.

"Everything okay?"

Another nod.

"What, uh... What happened?" Jimin gestured at Yoongi's cheek.

Yoongi shrugged and still said nothing.

"Yoongi, I – "

But the professor starting class interrupted him. Jimin impatiently waited for the end of class to continue talking to Yoongi, but as soon as the professor stopped talking, Yoongi was immediately on his feet and almost out the door.

"Yoongi! Wait!"

Jimin shoved his things into his bag and hurried after Yoongi, but by the time he got to the door, Yoongi had disappeared into the crowd.

Namjoon suddenly appeared next to Jimin. "Where is he?"

"I don't know," Jimin said with frustration. "He ran before I could say anything."

Namjoon sighed. "We're just going to have to wait outside of his classes."

"But Hyung, you have a final today."

Namjoon paused. "I know, but Yoongs is more important. I'll email the professor later and explain as best I can."

And that's how Namjoon and Jimin found themselves standing outside of Yoongi's third class of the day, waiting to stop him ("With force, if necessary," Namjoon insisted) as he exited the class. And they did. And they did have to use force. Namjoon held him, tightly but gently, as they dragged him away to the cafe.

"Please, let me go," Yoongi begged as he looked wildly around. The other two assumed he was looking out for Chul.

"We can go somewhere more private, if you'd prefer."

"Yes!" Yoongi almost shouted. "Please!"

And so they took him to one of the production booths in the music wing, where they knew they could have some privacy. On the way there, Namjoon loosened his grip a bit and Yoongi tried to break free and make a run for it. This was when it was solidified for Namjoon and Jimin that things had escalated with Chul, and the situation had gotten much worse.

"Yoongs," Namjoon said gently as he and Jimin sat on either side of him in the booth. "We know what's going on."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do, Yoongs. Chul is – "

"Chul is the love of my life," Yoongi interrupted, fire in his eyes. "Be careful before you say anything against him."

"How do you know we're going to say something against him?" Jimin asked.

Yoongi froze. "I... I just assume. I haven't been around as often, I know, and I figure you'll blame that on me spending all my time with Chul."

"We know that you are," Namjoon said. "But we also know why."

Yoongi suddenly looked murderous. "Why wouldn't I want to spend all my time with my boyfriend?" he spat. "You guys aren't the only ones in my life."

Namjoon sighed. He was getting defensive. Another hallmark of his situation.

"Yoongs, I'm just going to say it. Get mad at me if you want." Namjoon took a deep breath. "Chul is abusing you."

Yoongi laughed a humorless laugh. "What? What the fuck is wrong with you, Joon? Chul is – "

"Where did you get that bruise, Hyung?" Jimin interrupted quietly.

Yoongi turned his wrathful eyes on him. "I fell."

Jimin shook his head. "No, Hyung. You didn't."

"Yes, I did!" Yoongi cried out. "I fell and hit it on the side of my desk!"

Namjoon and Jimin stared at him. "No, Yoongs. You didn't," Namjoon repeated.

Yoongi angrily tried to stand, but Namjoon held him down. "Talk to us, Yoongs. Please."

"About what? You accusing my boyfriend of being a monster? If that's all you're going to do, then just leave me the fuck alone!"

"We can help," Jimin insisted. "We can get you out of there. We can go with you to the police – "

"The police?!" Yoongi shrieked. "This is getting out of hand, you two! This...this is...this is ridiculous!"

"Yoongs, your reaction says differently," Namjoon said. "I know you. If it weren't true, you'd calmly explain. You've never been one to let your temper get the best of you. You've never raised your voice to me."

Yoongi paused, seething. After a few moments, he spoke dangerously. "Leave me alone."

Namjoon just looked at him. "No."

Yoongi blinked. "Excuse me?"

"No, Yoongs. I won't leave you alone. Not at a time like this. Tell me - honestly - if the situation were reversed, would you leave me alone?"

Yoongi paused, but after a few moments of silence, he looked at Namjoon with determination in his eyes. "If you told me to leave you and the love of your life in peace, then yes. I'd leave you alone."

Namjoon stared at him, tears stinging the backs of his eyes. "Yoongs, you don't mean – "

"Can I go now?"

Namjoon's grip on Yoongi slackened, and Yoongi took the opportunity to extract himself from his friends. Jimin looked confusedly at Namjoon. "Hyung, wait!" he said to Yoongi desperately.

"I have a lot of work to do for finals, so I won't be around. I'm very busy, so please just leave me alone from now on."

And then he was out the door, disappearing into the crowd of students in the hall.

Namjoon and Jimin sat there, stunned. Neither of them could bring themselves to say anything.

Finally, Namjoon swallowed thickly. "I can't believe I couldn't convince him. And what he said about if the situations were reversed... He's in a really bad place, Jimin. He's not himself. And I... I don't know what to do."

"Can we just go to the police?" Jimin asked. "On our own?"

"We can," Namjoon said. "And they would follow up. But if Yoongs doesn't admit to what's going on, there's nothing they can do. And then Chul will..."

He didn't need to finish his thought for Jimin to know what the rest of it was.

"Hyung," Jimin said. "I hate to do this to Yoongi, but...I think we need to tell the others. We need as many people looking out for him as possible."

Namjoon hesitated for a few moments before he finally nodded. "I think you're right. Let's get everyone together tomorrow at my apartment. We need to have this talk somewhere private."

Jimin nodded.

"And bring your new friend..."

"Jungkook."

"Yeah, him. He needs to know how dire this is and to not be going around telling other people."

"I really don't think he would," Jimin said. "But I understand where you're coming from."

Namjoon gave one final resigned sigh. "Let's get back to our classes," he said. "There's nothing more we can do for now."

-

"So, you're saying Chul is hitting Yoongi?"

Namjoon nodded. Hoseok stared at him in disbelief.

"Jimin and I both heard it. Chul is abusing him, and it's only getting worse."

"But," Taehyung said. "But, he's...Yoongi. He's so strong and resilient. Why would he allow – "

"He's in love," Seokjin said quietly. "This is the first relationship he's ever been in. He thinks this is normal...that it's okay."

Jungkook nodded. "I know I don't know you guys very well, but I have some experience with this type of thing, and..."

"Jin."

"Jin is right. And even though deep down I'm sure he knows it's wrong, he's so in love that he just accepts it. He knows that if he doesn't, Chul will leave. So he endures it because he doesn't want to lose him."

"But, what if Chul isn't willing to leave?" Hoseok asked. "And what if even if Yoongi tries to stop it, Chul won't let him leave?"

"Unfortunately," Namjoon said. "We think that's exactly the case."

"That's another reason he's scared," Jimin continued. "Even if he wanted to, he believes he can't escape."

"So what do we do?" asked Taehyung. "How do we get him out of this?"

Jungkook sighed. "We can't. He has to get himself out of it."

"And we have to be the ones to convince him," Seokjin finished. Jungkook nodded.

"Do you think," Hoseok said, an idea occurring to him. "We could have Jungkook approach him? Yoongi doesn't know him, and doesn't know that we know him. We know Yoongi won't talk to or reason with us. Maybe an impartial party - a new friend - could help?"

They all considered this. Namjoon looked at Jungkook, who nodded. "It's worth a shot."

-

"Hey, man, you okay?"

Yoongi looked up and furrowed his brow. "Um, yeah?"

"I just saw that bruise on your face. Looks nasty. Did you get in a fight or something?"

"Or something," Yoongi mumbled.

"My name is Jeon Jungkook," he said, sitting on the other side of the table from Yoongi. "What's yours?"

Yoongi nervously looked around. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but can you please leave? I'm busy studying."

"Oh, I'm interrupting? I'm sorry. You just looked kind of sad, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine."

"Okay then," Jungkook shrugged. "Hey, before I go, though, can I get your name?"

Yoongi furrowed his brow again, confused. But eventually he sighed.

"Min Yoongi."

"Nice to meet you, Yoongi. I'll see you around."

"Sure."

Jungkook walked away, feeling a bit dejected, but knowing he couldn't rush Yoongi or come on too strong. If he did, he'd just scare Yoongi away. He was glad he'd at least gotten his name, so it wouldn't seem too strange when he approached him again.

"How'd it go?" Jimin asked eagerly.

"I didn't get very far, but he at least told me his name."

"You weren't over there for long. Are you sure you couldn't have stayed longer?"

"I'm sure," Jungkook said. "This will be a process, Jimin. I know it's hard to accept, but we're going to have wait a while longer before we can really begin putting any real sort of plan into place."

Jimin's eyes filled with tears. "But what if Yoongi doesn't have that long?"

Jungkook sighed and reached out to take Jimin's hand. "Don't think like that, okay? It'll only drive you crazy."

Jimin sniffled. "I'll try," he whispered.

"Let's go ahead and go to class," Jungkook said. "Maybe dancing will get your mind off of things."

But it didn't. Because the moment they entered the room, Hoseok ran over to see how things had gone. And Jimin found himself just as distracted by the situation as he had been before class.

-

The next day, Jungkook went out of his way to "run into" Yoongi. He saw him near the production booths in the music wing and hurried over.

"Hey, Yoongi!"

Yoongi jumped then turned around quickly. "Oh. Hey."

"Crazy running into you again," Jungkook said conversationally. "How have you been?"

"Fine."

"You're a man of few words, huh?"

"Sure."

"Okay, well, I just wanted to say hi. Maybe I'll see you around later today."

Yoongi didn't say anything else. He just turned around and walked away. When he was gone, Jungkook sighed. He knew he was doing this the right way, but it was hard.

He decided to try one more time before he left campus for the day. He'd gotten Yoongi's schedule from his friends, so he always knew where Yoongi would be. He positioned himself outside of Yoongi's last class of the day, trying to look nonchalant as he stared at a bulletin board. Eventually, he heard the door of the classroom open, but he didn't turn around. He didn't want to be too obvious.

He felt someone bump into him, and he turned slightly. "I'm sorry," he heard a familiar voice say, and he couldn't believe his luck.

"That's o – oh, hey, Yoongi!"

Yoongi looked up. "Oh. It's you."

"Yeah! What're the odds?"

Yoongi shrugged. Then he tilted his head very slightly. "Are you a music major?"

"I am!" Jungkook said conversationally. "Performance. You?"

"Production," Yoongi said.

"Oh wow, that's awesome! I wish I understood the behind the scenes stuff more. I'll bet it's exciting."

"Probably not as exciting as being a performer," Yoongi said.

Jungkook was internally celebrating. He felt like he was finally getting somewhere with Yoongi.

"What're you up to now?" Jungkook asked.

"About to head home," Yoongi said.

"Wanna grab a cup of coffee first?"

To Jungkook's surprise, a light blush crept across Yoongi's cheeks. "I can't," Yoongi said.

"Oh, okay," Jungkook replied, disappointed. Yoongi watched him carefully.

"Maybe tomorrow, though?"

Jungkook blinked. "Uh, yeah. Yeah! That'd be great!"

Yoongi nodded. "See ya," he said quietly.

"See ya!"