"Peek-A-Boo!

It's strange, you're differentI stop this game and I look at you againI'm not afraid, because I just feltThat a new story will begin(Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah~)" - Red Velvet-Peek-A-Boo, 2017

Jimin woke up and he had no clue where he was.

He woke up a searing pain everywhere, especially his back and his lower areas, specifically.

There was no light flooding into the room, only dark shadows of perhaps furniture from what Jimin tried to make out.

He felt hot and his head was spinning without stopping.

"Ah, Jimin. I see you've finally woken up.

The room was flooded with light suddenly and Jimin closed his eyes in reflex.

He finally adjusted and he saw that his body was littered in bruises and scratches from the bottom to the top, he had been stripped and there was dried blood running from his middle to his inner thighs. He nearly gagged at the sight.

"What did you do to me?!" Jimin yells trying to regain his mobility without getting nauseous.

"Oh, I let you have what you wanted. You little faggots love throwing yourselves at other people, so I thought it'd be nice if I let you have what you wanted for blackmail."

Jimin regains his mobility and tries to get across the room to the door before falling over to the ground.

"Hold on, we aren't finished yet, slut."

Jimin shut his eyes and wished for all of this to be over soon, drowning out the pain and voices until it became absolute background noise.

|-|-|

And that's exactly why the members are where they are right now.

Now, you know what happened in the past, so let's see what happens in the present now, right?

Let's fast forward to a fan sign in Hong Kong.

|-|-|

Jimin continues to shove his fingers down his throat until his lunch comes out. They all and been increasingly worried for his health ever since they came back from Detroit, but no one had really spoken up about it in front of Manager Chang-hee because he was always listening when they weren't in realization that he was there.

It was controlling, stalker-like behavior, and everyone was more than paranoid.

Everyone kept going out of their way every time they entered a new hotel to check for listening devices and even if they found none, they knew they were probably hidden in the walls or something.

They were all trapped and weak, Jimin sinking under the ice, Jimin being the chain holding Yoongi under the solid water, Jin and Namjoon having strange arguments over who should be able to take care of them all as leader and as eldest member, Taehyung and Jungkook looking for themselves for comfort in the entire situation, and a hoseok not even having the energy nor time to force genuine smiles on his face, it could you blame him?

Jungkook listened as Taehyung cried himself to sleep as they cried together seeing they were in the same boat in emotional sensitivity.

Hoseok had tried to comfort the two younger members as he tried to be a good hyung for them.

Jin and Namjoon were putting a strain on themselves by tanto only trying to be good dongsaengs and good hyung's, but also trying to be there for all the younger members as leader and eldest.

And we have Yoongi and Jimin who haven't spoken a single word to each other ever since that night in the dance studio, but who did they have to blame for that?

Would they blame themselves, or would they blame their terrible sleeping habits for letting them meet each other in such vulnerable states?

The only thing that they've shared together is a seat at least 6 feet away from each other at fansign and fan meets, which brings us to today when the exact opposite happened.

They were placed right next to each other, so basically when any movement was felt from either side if one from one side touched the other, they would either radiate bitter anger, or something else with a mix of disappointment and shame, respectively, or maybe it was a mix of both, but at least the fans didn't pick it

up.

Except for one peculiar fan.

He had come to the fan sign with at least 4 albums for them to sign and a note.

'Are you ok? Do you need help? This is my number if you need help?'

Jimin took the note great fully and signed the album with one of the most real smiles he had been able to give in a long time.

Sadly, Yoongi picked up on that and glared at him suspiciously while nursing his third probably half empty, suspicious smelling drink of the day in his water bottle.

When Jimin got to the hotel room, he decided to just flop on the bed and pass out for the rest of the night, but he remembered that Chang-hee would be looking for him, so he had to go.

He tensed remembering what happened the last time he was there. None of the members have seemed to pick up what was happening behind the scenes and Jimin hoped every night it would never come to the point where everything would fall apart exactly like this group was.

"Just be safe if you're going out, ok Chim Chim?" Taehyung asked giving him a slight hug on the way out, Jimin flinching under his touch.

You can't touch me...

Don't touch me...

I'm dirty, I'm filthy, I don't deserve any love at all...

Don't give me your concern either, I threw out any concern for myself out a long time ago, so you shouldn't have any either.

He had left the room shortly after and headed to Chang-hee's room with a somber look on his face, but he barely got out of the room and closed the door behind him before he fell to the ground, barely able to move, right outside of his hotel door.

He heard an elevator ding and he tried to turn his head in that direction, but he found himself unable to move.

"Jimin-ah?"

He recognized that soft, yet firm voice of authority anywhere.

"B-BangPD-nim..."

He felt hands over his waist and he heard a door open.

"Oh thank god, you're he-." Namjoon' s voice "Why is Jimin-ah on the floor?"

BangPD-nim looked at him with a blank face.

"Well, don't just stand there boy!" He says "Come help me!"

"Right!"

They hauled him over to the door Namjoon just left and Jin looked up from his book.

"Weren't you going to get-. Oh god, is he ok?!"

Jin dropped his book on the bed and leaped over Namjoons bed and rolled on the ground in a perfect handstand into a somersault before landing on his feet in front of the two.

"And you say you aren't apart of the athletic part of the group." BangPD-nim says in amazement "We need to put you up front more."

They lay Jimin down on the bed and Jimin groans in discomfort.

"I saw him outside, Namjoon." BangPD-nim says "He looked like he had passed out."

He looks around "Shouldn't you be with Chang-hee? Where is he, he needs to see this."

Namjoon and Jin stared at each other in worry, not knowing if they should intervene in this or not, but it was already too late because he already had his phone out.

"I'm calling security as well, things have obviously gotten out of hand."

Namjoon and Jin release breaths they didn't even know they were holding.

He walked into the room and Jimin began muttering incomprehensible words underneath his breath in really fast English that Namjoon nearly missed it.

"I'msorryI'msorryPleasegetawayfromeIt'sallmyfaultAndit'smyfault,everythingismyfault!"

Jimin's breath becomes rapid when the door opens and Chang-hee steps in, he nearly looses, but at least he kept a good distance from him while continuing to mercilessly glare into his soul.

'Did you say anything?'

'No, sir.'

"Jin-ah, get the rest of the boys, we have a lot to talk about."

Jin nods and walks past Chang-hee hurriedly his eyes wide in terror

"Would you mind explaining to me why Jimin was lying out right on the ground outside of his hotel room in obvious hurt underneath your watch?" BangPD asked squaring up his shoulders in a defensive manner.

"Sir, If I may, Jimin completely looks fine to me."

Namjoon raises a brow at the man's obvious lies, but he trusted BangPD-nim, so he said nothing.

"Chang-hee, I Know you're old, but don't you think that lie is a bit too obvious?"

"Aren't you fine, Jimin-ah?"

Jimin flinches at the use of his name and honorific and nods feverishly for fear of him getting angry with him. Once more, his body temperature went from on fire to freezing cold within seconds, a still dizzying feeling.

"We aren't dragging Jimin into this," BangPD says putting his hand up to silence him. "This conversation is between you, the other members and me."

Jin comes back in with everyone else and they all keep their distance from Chang-hee.

"Have you noticed may irregularities with Jimin's behavior?" BangPD asks.

Taehyung looks at Jungkook before taking in a deep breath.

"He-He's been throwing up his meals after he eats!" Taehyung says hurriedly. "And once he didn't come back to his hotel room and came to the fan meet, but he came with Chang-hee instead!"

"Mhm, go on."

"He looked even paler than usual, and he had makeup sloppily applied to his face to cover up something, but no one knows what was trying to be covered up!" Taehyung blabbers out and Jimin curls in on himself trying to force away memories. Everything he was saying was true, but he never wanted to explain it until he was gone, but maybe even then, he probably wasn't going to tell anyone.

Lie until you got caught, that is what this cruel world has taught him along with other lessons like "You don't matter, only appearances do" and "Everyone leaves, you just have to learn to smile through it while dying on the inside"

BangPD-nim looks to Chang-hee, whose face was slowly turning blotchy and red.

"Why did he come to the meet with you instead of the other members?"

"I found him wandering the streets. I had to take him in."

"Another lie," Yoongi spoke up. "He was in the hotel because I saw him leaving."

"Face it Chang-hee, you've been caught in a lie," BangPD says raising his voice at the man. "No one messes with my groups and gets away with it."

Security chooses that time to come in.

"Take him away. We'll deal with him later."

|-|-|

Jimin shrinks underneath the eyes of the rest of them on the verge of tears. How dare he let himself be exposed in such a manner and in such a vulnerable state like that right in front of their company's CEO? How stupid was he to be to let himself show the slightest bit of imperfection in front of them?

Such an act s unprofessional and unneeded in the workplace and he should just retreat back to Busan if he was going to act like this in front of his dongsaengs and the CEO of their company.

"Jimin, why are you shaking so hard?" Taehyung asks "It's only us."

"You don't need to feel afraid when you're with us. We're your dongsaengs and you can#"

"No..." Jimin mutters before his voice begins to steadily raise "If it were really you, then why aren't you judging me like you do during variety shows? Why aren't you ranking me last in looks like you always do?"

They all look at each other and go up to Jimin slowly and carefully.

"It's my fault, I'm so far away from perfect and I can't even make the rest of the group happy without bringing some type of problem with me!"

"Jimin, I don't care if you're problematic or not, what does matter is that you're safe from that monster," Namjoon says trying to stop the small boy from shaking.

Jin nods in rapid agreement and reaches his hand out.

"Now, let's get you to a doctor, yeah?"