Jungkook's POV.

Walking into Taehyung's and Jimin's apartment feels different this time, unlike before when I was with Jongun.

I almost feel like I don't know what to expect walking in, which alter I would encounter this time.

I hesitate before knocking on the door.

"Why am I so nervous?" I say to myself, forcing myself to just knock on the goddamn door.

When the door opens Jimin stands there, a sound of relief leaving his lips before he pulls me in by my arm.

    "Thank god you came." He says closing the door behind us.

    "Taehyung called saying he wanted to meet and he just texted me a little while ago telling me to come now." I explain as he pulls me to the living room.

    "I know he called you. I texted you though." He says sitting down. "I needed you to come over before Taehyung got home."

    "Why?" I ask sitting across from him. "How'd you text me from~"

Jimin holds up Taehyung's phone, answering my question. "He's been leaving it here everyday since Wednesday."

    "Okay?"

    "We put a tracker on his phone on Tuesday for when he goes missing and he's been leaving it since then."

    "Okay?" I ask again.

Jimin sighs. "Taehyung's the one that wanted the tracker so why would he keep leaving his phone?"

    "Maybe it's not Taehyung leaving it." I shrug, Jimin giving me a look that I can't decipher. "What?"

    "Nothing. I didn't call you here for that." He says putting the phone down. "I needed to talk to you before you moved in with Taehyung."

    "Alright." I nod, letting him continue.

    "Since he's going to be living with you I think it's best if you know each alter's positive and negative triggers along with how to deal with their reactions to each." He says reaching behind him and grabbing a notebook. "I can email you a revised list of course but these are some of the things I've come up with over the years."

    "How long have you known Taehyung?" I ask as he flips through the book.

    "Since we were twelve." He says handing me the notebook. "So starting with Hajoon. Positive triggers include black and white movies, tea, the color yellow, and classical music."

"Tea?" I ask looking up at Jimin.

"Yes. The smell, the taste, whatever. He likes tea." He explains. "Negative triggers include injuries, sickness, hunger, dehydration, crying and any type of harm conflicted on the body."

"Why is hunger a negative trigger?" I ask looking over the list.

"It's a long story. Everything has a reason when it comes to triggers. But recently hunger has been associated with Minseok. We think he has an eating disorder." Jimin says, a frown etching itself onto his face. "We aren't sure. Hajoon created this checklist for each alter to complete if they front at certain times. Minseok never completes the meal portion of the checklist when he fronts. So Hajoon fronts to take care of it."

"Okay." I nod. "Who's next?"

"Minseok." Jimin says reaching over and turning the page. "One of his positive trigger is dancing. Not stripping but any kind of dancing. Another is any kind of soothing sound, like a soothing voice, waves crashing, rain pouring, etcetera."

"Cool."

"He's a trauma holder so his negative triggers are a bit more serious than Hajoon's."

I nod as I look over the list. "Sexual assault?"

"He's a sexual protector." Jimin explains. "He hasn't opened up to me or any other alter about the assault, not even Hajoon. He keeps those memories away from Taehyung without the help of Hajoon."

A sigh escapes my lips as I look up at Jimin, we were only on the second alter and I felt a bit overwhelmed.

"Other than that his negative triggers include the cold and arguing." He continues. "Any situation where Taehyung feels like he can't speak up or he feels like he should stay quiet Minseok will front if V doesn't first. V and Minseok don't get along."

"I still don't understand how alters can not get along." I say. "Aren't certain alters only able to communicate with each other?"

"Well, in the inner world, which is inside Taehyung's head, they all live in one house. He describes it as a glass house and each alter stays in its one room in the house. Whenever alters get close to the front they are in the main room of the house looking out through the body's eyes. Whenever more than one alter is there they can communicate, even if they normally can't."

I nod. "Makes sense."

Jimin chuckles. "A lot doesn't make sense so listen closely. We're moving on to V. Literally everyone's worst nightmare."

"I'm nervous about him." I admit. "He hates me."

"He hates anyone that's trying to help Taehyung. He feels like he's the only person Taehyung needs in his life. He hates me, you, Dr. Kim, and whoever else. He claims to hates the other alters as well."

"Wow." I say in shock, he even hates the system he's apart of?

"I know. He's a persecutor protector with traits of a perpetrator. Which explains why he went after you that day."

    "How'd you~"

    "V told Taehyung. And he's really sorry about that." Jimin says. "But V is unpredictable and his goal is to keep the body isolated, isolation is protection in his mind. When Tae goes to work or makes friends or becomes closer with his family V feels threatened. So he runs off and he threatens the other alters if they try to return. He did that last year and things ended terribly. V will definitely be a challenge."

    "Anything good about V?" I ask. "Is there a single good thing about him?"

    "Of course there is. There's good in every alter. V just wants to keep Taehyung safe, even though the way he goes about things aren't healthy." He explains. "He has the same defense mechanisms he had when he and Tae were kids and they aren't acceptable in a healthy environment but he doesn't understand that. He's scared just like the other trauma holders."

    "Jongun said that V told them they were going back to the 'old home.' What does that mean?"

The look in Jimin's eyes tells me that I've gone too far with my question.

    "I'm sorry, I shouldn't've~"

    "No. It's fine." He says looking down. "I'm not suppose to disclose information that involves the system's trauma. I just can't."

    "Okay. I understand." I nod. "I shouldn't have asked."

    "V has no positive triggers. His negative triggers include fights, small places, the dark, cigarette smoke, and doctors." Jimin lists quickly. "Moving on to Jongun. He's not a trauma holder so he has all positive triggers. They include upbeat music, spicy food, and alcohol. He's Taehyung's newest alter so we're still learning about him. Moving on to the littles. There are three apparently.

    "Chaehyeon is the only one that's fronted so far and Hajoon says he's still working with the other two. He can't tell if they are trauma holders or not but they are there. Chaehyeon is a trauma holder. He experienced most of the trauma up until the age of nine when V started fronting regularly to protect the body. V grew with Taehyung but Chaehyeon stayed the same. He age slides between the ages four and six."

I nod along with Jimin's words, trying to mentally cram everything he's saying into my memory.

"He only has negative triggers and they're similar to V's. Dark places, small places, and fighting. In addition to those things his negative triggers include being in extreme temperatures, hot or cold, and anger. Any anger directed towards Taehyung can cause Chaehyeon to front but he doesn't front regularly."

"Got it." I say closing the notebook. "So if an alter is triggered by a negative trigger could I use their positive triggers to calm them down?"

"In some cases. With V or Chaehyeon, who have no positive triggers, the only way to calm them down is to try talking to them and reassuring them that they are safe or saying sunshine. Don't ask what sunshine means, I have no right to tell you." He says standing up. "You can't stay because Taehyung might return but thank you for coming."

I stand as well. "Thank you for this, really Jimin. This is going to help me a lot."

"It's not going to be an easy task, Jungkook. And it takes a lot of courage to step up to the plate in a situation like this." He says. "As Taehyung's friend I thank you so much."

"Yeah. I'm glad to help." I smile at him. "I'll do my best."

"Thank you. You should hurry and go now."

"Alright. Bye, Jimin."

"Bye."

🔒🔒🔒