The maknae took leave of Jimin and joined Jin in his room, closing the door behind him. He tensed a bit when he saw that Jin was on his phone.

     "Hyung, what are you doing?" He asked anxiously, naturally joining Jin in bed.

     "Why do you like so suspicious?" Jin teased him, "I'm sending messages to everyone before the tour, because we're going to be away and overwhelmed for a very long time after tomorrow. I didn't tell them about the threats of course."

     Jungkook was relieved, but Jin mistook his silence for concern and looked up from his phone.

     "Don't worry, JK," he said, "I'm sure the tour is going to be maintained, PD-nim won't cancel it."

     "I'm not worried about the maintain of the tour," the youngest retorted, "knowing the company, they will do anything to keep it going whether we like it or not. But I'm a little worried about what might possibly happen on the tour. Not you?"

     "No, I'm not. But you might know things that I don't know, I haven't ventured into the live chat just yet, I'm going to watch it now to see how serious it is."

     "NO!" Jungkook shouted almost snatching the phone from Jin, who was surprised. "I mean... I haven't read the comments either but now I don't want to think about that."

     "But I need to know whether to worry or not... and then how can I sleep if I don't know what is worrying you?"

     "There are other ways to fall asleep with peace of mind than by repeating hateful comments!"

     "It's true but..." Jin began.

     "Hyung, do you want to go there just to show off your new haircut?" Jungkook cut in a joke to lighten the subject up a bit.

    "Yes, so what? The whole world has the right to enjoy my beauty," Jin got carried away by the joke.

    "Not just me?" Jungkook retorted, stroking Jin's hair and making him suddenly blush. "Hyung, are you going to blush like that every time? It's cute." 

     He laughed as he gently rubbed Jin's newly pierced ears who felt them heat up further. The eldest pinched Jungkook's ear far more pierced than his and replied with a groan:

     "Who are you calling cute, kid? Just because you're the muscular boxer kangaroo of the two of us doesn't mean you're the only one who is manly!"

     Jungkook laughed harder and took an interest in something other than Jin's ears.

     "Hyung, I also love your new hairstyle and the manly look it gives you, I'm glad I couldn't convince you to keep the old one."

     "Yaaa JK! A man cannot be cute and manly at the same time!" Jin exclaimed, outraged. 

     He had decided to give up the aegyo to accompany his new haircut and respect his new manly appearance, but he couldn't help resuming his old habits and sulking like a child, making Jungkook smile.

     "You have to believe that there is a man on earth who is both cute and manly," Jungkook replied, "and it was I who won his heart!" He added proudly.

     "Oh, wow, JK!" 

     Jungkook's words, were beautiful, and Jin didn't want to ruin them by covering them with inappropriate humor, but he struggled to find the right words when he wasn't hiding behind his humor. 

       This new romantic relationship between them was still unusual and a little strange in his eyes, he didn't know how to respond to this kind of romantic words from his dongsaeng when he had never had to do it seriously. 

       Just when Jungkook thought he had managed to get a serious reaction from Jin, the latter added, smirking:   

     "Is that your way of asking me?"

     "Ask you what?" Jungkook wondered, puzzled.

     "Seokjin, would you like to be my boyfriend?" The elder asked, mimicking the maknae's voice.

      The latter parted his mouth when he understood but didn't answer, which worried Jin who hastened to correct himself, embarrassed:

     "I mean... I thought... this is where our feelings got to but I certainly got carried away..."

     Jungkook shook his head quickly:

     "No hyung! It's just... strange to put a word on it, it immediately makes things more concrete."

     "Because calling me Yeobo and kissing me wasn't concrete enough for you?" Jin quipped.

      "But you refused to let me call you like that so ..."

     "Not in public JK, never in public. Just in private like now."

     "So, in that case, Yeobo," Jungkook smirked as he pressed the word, "would you like to be my boyfriend?"

     He was the one who suggested it and yet Jin blushed again from ear to ear when he replied shyly :

    "I would love that."

     Jungkook let out a triumphant cry and threw himself into Jin's arms, before whispering in his ear:

     "Hyung, we definitely need to buy these couple rings. Can't wait to be in Paris"

     "You are slowly forgetting that we're mostly going to Paris for the concert," Jin laughed, hugging Jungkook back.

     "Oh what a coincidence, we also also a concert there?" Jungkook replied with a laugh. "But don't make me think you're going there mostly for the concert, I know you're only thinking about the food you're going to eat there." 

    "Guilty!"

     Several hours later, when Jungkook had long fallen asleep smiling while curling up against him, Jin was still not asleep. He was in pain despite the painkillers and as soon as he closed his eyes, he saw Lee's face again and felt the pain he had inflicted run through his body. 

     His breathing had become difficult, like during his anxiety attack, and he almost felt like his anxieties had made him asthmatic. You had to believe that his speech wasn't entirely true despite what Jungkook told him: he wasn't strong enough yet to overcome something as dreadful as rape, even though he thought he was used to it. And a new physical appearance would not change anything.

     It wasn't until he opened his eyes and saw Jungkook's face inches from his instead of Lee's that Jin was feeling his breath subside. He forced himself to focus on Jungkook to keep his breathing normal and thought with sad amusement that Jungkook was so much more than a boyfriend: he had literally become his breath, his oxygen, the one through which he breathed and therefore lived. 

     Or maybe that was the definition of a boyfriend? Someone without whom the air was getting stifling and who we needed to feel alive? To please Junglook, Jin would wear his couple rings and anything he wanted. He kissed the forehead of the younger who did not flinch in his heavy sleep and then he released his embrace.

     Knowing his night was over, he grabbed his phone which Jungkook had kept by his side when he had stolen it from him earlier that evening. Since he couldn't sleep, he might as well read the reviews and be fixated on the precautions to be taken for the upcoming tour.

     He regretted it bitterly. What he read shocked him deeply as the threats had reached an unheard-of level of violence and he now understood why Namjoon had been so upset and had spoken something completely unheard of in the attacks against them.

     He would have liked to cry because he wanted to believe that many people hated him, but knowing that he was hated with so much virulence hurt his heart.

    The next day, when he woke Jungkook up, Jin was sporting the creepy face of someone who has barely slept in forty-eight hours and even though he smiled when the maknae opened his eyes, he failed to fool the youngest.

     "Hyung, are you okay? Are you suffering from wounds?"

     "No, JK, I'm fine," Jin reassured him. "What about you, does your foot hurt?"

     "Please, don't divert the conversation and don't give me that fake smile, hyung. Not to me." The maknae had a disapproving tone tinged with sadness, without answering Jin's question.

    His tone was what decided Jin to tell him the truth, because he knew they were both together and had to share everything. He shouldn't betray Jungkook's trust. He sighed.

      "There is something that was keeping my mind awake," Jin admitted.

     "Lee?"Jungkook asked in a concerned tone.

     Jin nodded. 

    "It's horrible to see him populating my nights, I can't take it anymore..." he said. "I have nightmares and as soon as I wake up, I feel like he's there and he's going to hurt me."

    Jungkook hugged him protectively :

    "Don't worry, it's me who's with you now."

    "I know and I'm grateful, it's seeing you with me and not him that allowed me to calm down."

    "You don't need to be grateful, it's totally normal," Jungkook smiled.

     But seeing that Jin didn't smile back and still looked uncomfortable, he realized that there was something else bothering the elder.

    "Hyung, what is it?" 

    Jin hesitated but resolved to confess :

   "I read the comments. Well, the ones I could understand."

   "I told you that would keep you from sleeping, hyung, why didn't you listen to me," Jungkook chided.

     "How could I imagine how extreme it was?" Jin retorted.

     "You saw how disturbed Namjoong hyung and Jimin were, to the point of cutting the live and saying that the tour should perhaps be canceled!"

    "I knew that threats had been made against the group, but I did not think it was so violent in the comments and above all, I did not know that I personally had received death threats," Jin sadly explained.

     He had completely lost his fake smile and seemed devastated, precisely what Jimin had feared last night. The maknae felt like he failed in his mission. He picked up his phone and logged into the Vlive app.

     "Have you had explicit death threats?" Jungkook asked, frowning as he in turn traced the thread of the live conversation.

     "Yes, but... it doesn't seem to surprise you more than that, so I imagine you knew how the chat turned and that's why you kept me from reading it yesterday, right?"Jin declared in a tone without reproach.

     "I haven't read it but Jimin hyung told me about it yesterday, he was very worried about you."

     "That kid!" Jin exclaimed widening his eyes because he had just understood something. "That's why he asked for the same haircut as me?! Why take an unnecessary risk? I'm going to shave his head myself!"

     "Hyung, this is not an unnecessary risk: Jimin hyung wants to protect you like you protected him in the past, don't you remember?"

     "I remember, but I don't want him to do the same, can you imagine if he was really being targeted for me? I could never forgive myself for it!"

     "So, try to imagine the other way around, do you think we can forgive ourselves if something should happen to y- HYUNG!!!"

     His cry of horror alerted Jin but Jungkook's eyes was still fixed on the screen.

     "What?!"Jin asked eagerly.

      "I'm sorry for our fans, but there's no way the company will keep the tour going after reading this!"