—POV.—

The show comes to an end and the crowd cheers for "Grey" as he walks off stage, not collecting any of the money left there by the people crowding the stage.

Jungkook wipes the sweat from his brow as he turns to Hoseok, adjusting his pants as discreetly as possible before speaking. "Where do the dancers go after they perform?"

"Their dressing rooms I guess." The older shrugs.

"Where are they?" Jungkook asks making Hoseok laugh.

"There's a slim chance that you'll get into their dressing rooms, Kook." He says. "There are plenty of other good looking guys to go home with."

"No, it's not that. I know him." The younger says, he wasn't sure what he was going to say but he wanted to meet this alter.

"Him? How?" Hoseok asks.

"I met him somewhere." Jungkook says. "Do you know where the dressing rooms are?"

"Namjoon could probably show you." The older says. "Come on we can go ask."

They stand and walk back to the bar where Namjoon is serving some drinks to some obviously underage teens.

"Joon." Hoseok says getting his attention.

The older smiles at the group before walking to them. "Don't worry, it's watered down. It'll take at least four of those to get them drunk and I told them the limit was three."

"I don't care." Hoseok says. "Jungkook needs to know where the dressing rooms are."

"Dressing rooms? Why?" Namjoon asks looking at the younger.

"I know one of the dancers. Well, I've met one of the dancers and I wanted to speak to him." Jungkook answers.

"Hm, well I don't know. They're pretty strict about who gets backstage but I could take you to the back door. Most of them leave out the back to avoid the crowd, you might run into him leaving."

"Sounds good."

Namjoon nods, saying something to his coworker before removing his apron and walking from behind the counter.

He kisses Hoseok fully on the lips once he's from behind the counter, smiling softly at him before leading them to the back.

"I can't promise he'll leave this way but it's worth a shot." Namjoon says when they get there.

"Okay, thanks." Jungkook nods.

"Do you want me to wait with you?" Hoseok asks.

"No, I'm fine." The younger smiles. "I'm only going to wait for a little while."

"Okay. Meet me back out front after." Hoseok says to which Jungkook nods.

The two of them leave him there to wait for "Grey" who Jungkook hopes shows up.

He waits for almost ten minutes and just when he starts to give up he hears someone coming down the dark hallway.

His eyes light up when he sees Taehyung heading towards the exit with his hood pulled up looking down.

"E-Excuse me." He says nervously making Taehyung stop and look up at him in alarm. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's fine." Taehyung says looking up at him briefly before his brown eyes flicker away.

Jungkook notices the new eye color and realizes that this must be a different alter.

"I'm in a hurry, excuse me." The brunette says walking by towards the exit.

"Right. Sorry." Jungkook says following him with his eyes. "I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Jungkook."

Taehyung's eyes look him over, guarded and untrusting. "It's nice to meet you then, Jungkook."

With that he leaves, pushing the heavy door open without giving his own name.

Black, grey, and brown.

Those were the eye colors he's encountered so far and he had no name to match to the last two.

Perhaps he could just assume that it was Taehyung he just encountered or he could wait to gather more evidence that it was.

The difference between the three alters is something Jungkook still couldn't grasp.

He believed that D.I.D was a real condition yet he didn't understand how the switches worked just yet.

Seokjin told him not to refer to the alters as "things" but as people and that was still hard for Jungkook to grasp.

He still didn't quite understand.

——

Taehyung sighs as he closes the door behind himself, his head aching as he walks to Jimin's room.

"Minseok?" Jimin says through the door after Taehyung knocks.

"It's Taehyung." He says, feeling himself dissociating a little after hearing Minseok's name.

The door opens to reveal a worried Jimin. "You're back sooner than usual, what happened?"

"Nothing. I guess Minseok stepped away sooner tonight than he usually does." Taehyung shrugs. "Thank you for waiting for me."

"Of course. You should get some rest, you have work tomorrow." Jimin says with a smile. "You have to go back or your father will get suspicious again."

"I know. I'll try to stay away from any triggers while I'm there so don't worry." The younger says. "Thank you again."

"Get some rest."

——

Taehyung takes a deep breath as he focuses on typing up the rest of the contract for his father.

He was the President of the family marketing business and while many thought it was a taxing job he spent most of his time making other people do work for him.

Taehyung was his father's youngest son and the heir of the business.

His older brother was up for the position as well but almost everyone wanted it to go to Taehyung.

He was much more well rounded, educated, and respected.

As he's typing up the contract he feels himself dissociating and he has to fight off the feeling.

"I'm working." He says to no one in particular. "I need to finish this."

Stop fighting me. V's voice rings loudly in his head, the co-consciousness is a bad sign of an oncoming switch.

There's a knock on his office door and his father walks in.

"Father." He says standing quickly and bowing. "I'm just finishing that contract you needed typed up~"

"Where have you been?" His father cuts him off.

"Excuse me?" Taehyung asks, V influencing his words as he almost loses the battle of consciousness.

"This isn't the first time you've disappeared for days without a word. Or the second, third, or fourth time." His father continues. "This has happened multiple times. Where do you go when you disappear?"

"F-Father~"

"You won't stay in the house provided for you and you never attend the events. What's the point of holding the title or president if you won't let it be known?" The man asks walking towards Taehyung and stopping in front of him. "Are you seeing a woman?"

"N-No, father." Taehyung says quickly, keeping his eyes focused on the ground.

"Then what could possibly be taking up so much of your time?"

Taehyung stays silent as his father waits for a response.

"You're becoming distant again, son. You haven't been this distant since you first moved away from your mother."

No, no, no, no. Taehyung thinks to himself as the mention of his mother immediately makes him dissociate, the door in his mind opening and waiting for another alter to step through into the light.

"If there is something wrong you'd tell me, wouldn't you? I know you aren't a child anymore but I still want to take care of you. I mean if you can't take care of yourself someone has to, right?" His father chuckles.

Taehyung forces himself to smile. "Yes, father. We~ I'm sorry, I definitely will."

"You seem exhausted." His father says examining his eyes. "Don't worry about the contract, make your secretary do it. You oversee the production company for today."

"Yes, father." Taehyung smiles, bowing as the older man leaves.

His smile drops immediately as he rounds his desk and sits down, feeling exhausted from fighting the dissociating even for the short period of time he did.

Stop fighting me. You're making me angry.

"I'm sorry, V." Taehyung breathes out as his head starts to ache.

A sharp pain shoots through his skull, almost like a migraine, and he knows he's lost the battle for consciousness.

He steps back into the darkness, fighting the urge to reach for the light before the door closes and everything fades to black.

🔒🔒🔒