Back to work. Full time. Back. Full time...Back. 

The words Jungkook repeated to himself over and over in his head while being driven back home. His hyungs were absolutely ecstatic at the news that their maknae made a full recovery and could come back. Jungkook fiddled with his sweaty hands, he didn't feel as excited.

Why didn't I just lie on that stupid questionnaire?! It's not like I don't lie all the time now anyways!

They got back to the dorm and settled in. Yoongi and Hobi offered to make Jungkook anything he wanted to eat in order to celebrate. He told them he didn't care. He wasn't hungry. They started to cook up his favorite anyway. Jungkook retreated to his room and lay on his bed. He wanted to be alone. 

He felt guilty for not being in a celebratory mood, but he knew things that the others didn't. Things he would have to endure going back, that the others didn't. This break had been great for him. And now it all came crashing down. It almost felt like he hadn't even had the break at all. He lay there thinking of all the things he was afraid of when Namjoon tapped on his door and asked to come in. He took a seat on the bed.

"I thought you'd be a little more excited," Namjoon told him. He could tell Jungkook wasn't happy.

Jungkook was so scared to be alone with his manager again that he decided to tell his hyung the most truthful thing he's told him in a long time.

"Hyung, I'm not ready to go back yet." He lowered his gaze.

"Why not? The doctor said you're okay now." Namjoon started rubbing his maknae's arm.

"I just don't know if I'm ready. I mean what if something else bad happens?"

"What could happen?"

A lot, hyung.

"I don't know. What if I accidentally...fall...again or something and get hurt?"

"Well I think you've learned your lesson about being reckless, don't you? And I know you get stressed out but hyungs are here to help you. And I promise we'll all try to be a bit more aware and protective, okay? It's been a long time though, we really need you back."

Jungkook sulked. He wasn't getting the answer he wanted. He wanted Namjoon to simply say okay and that he didn't have to go back yet. But he knew they needed him back at the studio. Not just his members, but he owed it to ARMY too. On the bright side it was Friday and he technically still had two more days off.

"Okay hyung," Jungkook replied. He wasn't going to fight his leader.

"You'll be okay. I promise. Everyone will be glad to have you back. I know manager Shik really misses you."

Jungkook wanted to throw up. Of course he does. Namjoon got up and headed for the door. "He's coming tonight to celebrate your recovery."

Jungkook shot out of bed. "Wait!" He grabbed Namjoon's arm. "I don't want company hyung."

Jungkook was pleading with his eyes. The doctor let them drop the constant supervision rule which meant the members were allowed to leave him by himself now. Being left by himself, and having manager Shik over, was not a good combination. Jungkook was more scared of him lately. He was mortified that this man was going to try and actually kill him when the time was right.

He often found himself weighing his options lately. Tell hyungie's I'm being beaten and risk them getting hurt, or let the man kill me. But what if I tell them and he kills one of them instead?! No no no!

Namjoon put his hand on Jungkook's shoulder. "Kook-ah, it's just for a little bit. He misses you and I'm sure he will be happy to see you doing well. He's our boss, don't forget. He probably has to talk to you about work stuff anyways. It'll be fine." He patted Jungkook on the shoulder and left.

Jungkook went back to his bed and buried his face into his pillow, crying. He reminded himself that it was still his house and he was still with his hyungs. Sure they technically didn't have to supervise him anymore but that didn't mean he couldn't cling to them like there was no tomorrow.

And that's exactly what he did when Shik showed up that night. As soon as he walked in the door Jungkook ran to Yoongi and practically glued himself to him.

"Hi Jungkook!" Shik yelled and started walking towards him. Jungkook stared at him in silence and tried backing further into Yoongi. If Yoongi wasn't a solid form he would've went straight through him.

"Jungkook?" Yoongi tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hi, manager Shik." Jungkook looked everywhere but at him.

Shik grabbed Jungkook and pulled him into a hug. "I hear you're doing a lot better. I'm so glad to hear you're able to return to work." Shik backed away and winked at him.

"Yeah," was the maknae's only response. He could feel his face turning red and his breathing pick up. He was trying to suppress the panic attack he could feel coming. He felt suffocated and trapped and he wanted to escape to somewhere else, anywhere but here. But that would mean he'd be alone, and that wasn't safe anymore either. The rest of the members came in and greeted Shik, offering for him to take a seat on the couch. Jungkook sat as far from Shik as possible, he quite literally sat on Jin's lap and leaned back into him, taking his hyungs hands and wrapping them around himself.

Shik can't hurt me here. Shik can't hurt me here.

Thankfully members sitting on each other was a pretty common occurrence, so it didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary. They started talking about work schedules and Shik told Jungkook the stuff he needed to work on when he got back. The whole conversation  seemed pretty professional.

The conversation hit a pause when a loud boom of thunder and lightning crackled throughout the entire sky and lit up the entire house. Jungkook instantly screamed and covered his ears, curling up against Jin more. The members still had no idea when or why Jungkook had randomly become so afraid of thunder. It wasn't like him.

"Holy shit!" Jimin ran to the window and pulled back the curtain. "It's a literal blizzard outside!"

Taehyung and Hobi also ran to the window. "Are we getting thunder snow?! I didn't even know it was supposed to snow!" Hobi yelled excitedly. He loved the snow.

Jungkook felt his heart drop to his stomach when he heard Jin say it.

"Manager Shik you should stay here tonight. You can't drive in that."

He felt his heart sink deeper when he heard Shik reply.

"Thank you Jin, I'd love to." Shik gave Jungkook an evil smile.

They kept discussing work related things when Jin noticed Jungkook's hand up his shirt again.

He grabbed his wrist and pulled it out. "Stop doing that or I'll cut your nails in your sleep again," he whispered.

Jin was frustrated. His maknae hadn't had any of his weird behaviors for the past couple weeks while he was home and now the instant he has to go back to work they start again. He didn't understand.

"I'm going to throw up," Jungkook whispered to Jin. He wasn't lying to get away. The anxiety of knowing Shik would be spending the entire night at their house was making his dinner crawl right back up his throat.

"You don't feel good?" Jin whispered back. "Go to the bathroom."

"Come with me," Jungkook asked pleadingly as he grabbed Jin's hand. They both stood up.

"He's not feeling good we'll be right back," Jin announced as the two disappeared down the hall.

The members watched them with some confusion and concern but kept talking. In the bathroom, Jungkook instantly bent over the toilet and brought back up his dinner as he cried. Jin rubbed his back.

"Any idea what's wrong?" Jin asked concerned.

Jungkook was just declared healed this morning, this was no time for him to already be getting sick. He started to hyperventilate without giving Jin an answer. He couldn't tell him what was wrong.

"Bunny what's wrong?" Jin asked again. The thunder outside made the younger tense up again. Jin hugged him.

"Are you anxious because of the thunder?" Jin asked.

"Yeah," Jungkook lied.

"It's okay Jungkook-ah. It can't hurt you. It's just noise." Jin rubbed his maknae's back while he hugged him. "Maybe you should try and get some sleep."

"Can you sleep in my room?" Jungkook asked.

"Why? You have Taehyung."

"Please?" He begged. He knew he had Taehyung but knowing Shik was nearby didn't make him feel any better. He needed more than Taehyung. Especially because Taehyung was just as defenseless as Jungkook, if not more. The man would probably kill them both in their sleep if he had the chance.

"Okay, sure."

Jungkook thanked him. They came back out and Jin told everyone he thinks they should try to sleep, it was late anyways. They all agreed. Namjoon offered some blankets and pillows to Shik so he could sleep on the couch. Jin told Shik he could actually have his room if he wanted, but Shik said he was fine on the couch.

Everyone went to their rooms and Jungkook curled up into Taehyung's bed while Jin took Jungkook's. The maknae couldn't understand how Taehyung and Jin both passed out so quickly, the thunder was so damn loud. And the wind wasn't any quieter. He wondered how much snow they were supposed to get because he didn't want his manager staying any later than he needed to. He was laying there staring into the darkness when he heard footsteps coming towards his door. He covered both himself and Taehyung with the blanket and wrapped his arm around Taehyung pulling him protectively close. He tried to control his breathing as he heard his door open.

What the fuck could he possibly be doing?

He tensed up even more when he felt someone getting in the bed with them. He let out a sigh of relief when the arm that wrapped around him wasn't his manager.

It was Jimin.

"Jimin-ssi?" Jungkook whispered.

"I couldn't sleep," Jimin told him. Jimin didn't care for conversation, he curled up under the blanket and closed his eyes. Jungkook was the only one who couldn't seem to fall asleep. He needed to stay on high alert. He was surrounded by his hyungs at this point but that wasn't making him feel any better. He knew hours were going by without him getting any rest. He tensed up again when he saw the hallway light turn on and heard footsteps coming towards his door. He wondered if maybe it was just another hyung coming in, but Jungkook didn't see why anyone else would. It was the middle of the night.

The door opened and the hallway light lit up Shik's silhouette. Jungkook buried his face into Taehyung's back, thinking maybe he could somehow hide himself.

What could he do? What could he do?

A voice caught him off guard. It was Namjoon, now standing behind Shik.

"What are you doing?" Namjoon asked his manager.

"He's afraid of thunder. I was just checking on him," Shik informed.

Jungkook scowled to himself. He knew that was a lie. He continued to listen to them talk for a moment before Namjoon told his manager Jungkook would be fine, he had three other people with him.

Namjoon shut the door and told Shik to let them be. Jungkook smiled to himself.

Go hyungie!

He felt safe for the moment and finally closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.

Jungkook slowly started to wake up when he felt someone digging their hand into his chest trying to shake him awake. He woke up but before he could make any noise Shik was clamping his hand down over his mouth while his other hand dug into his chest trapping him in the bed. He stayed silent but he could feel his heart start to beat outside of his chest.

"Good morning, maknae," Shik smiled. "It's been way too long."

Jungkook could feel the tears coming already. Where the hell was everybody and how did his manager even get in his room without someone stopping him?

"Did you miss me?" Shik asked. He didn't give Jungkook any way to answer him, he kept his mouth closed shut. "Just know we're going to have a lot of fun when you come back. You could call it, hmm...making up for lost time." Shik started digging his nails into Jungkook's chest.

Shik withdrew himself quickly when he heard a knock on the door. He backed away and Yoongi walked in. Jungkook didn't waste any time, he shot out of bed and ran down the hallway into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

Yoongi turned to Shik. "What was that about? What happened?"

"I heard him crying. I think he was having a nightmare so I wanted to come in and make sure he was okay," Shik lied.

"He was having a nightmare?" Yoongi grabbed his forehead, ugh not again.

"Yes," Shik shrugged. "Do you want me to go in there and see if he's okay?"

"No, no. Just leave him alone for now please." Yoongi didn't suspect Shik of anything in the slightest, but Yoongi got possessive of his members sometimes. He knew if Jungkook was having nightmares again he'd want one of his hyungs before he'd want his manager.

The two of them left the room and Yoongi knocked on the bathroom door asking his maknae to let him in. It took a few minutes of pleading but the door finally unlocked and Yoongi took a seat next to Jungkook on the floor.

"Nightmares again?"  Yoongi wrapped his arm around Jungkook. The younger didn't know what he was talking about.

"Huh?" he asked his hyung.

"Shik said you were having a nightmare."

"Oh, yeah." Jungkook thought about how technically, it was a nightmare. Only he was awake for it.

"I know you're nervous about going back to work, Kook-ah. But it's really going to be okay. You know hyungs are here for you." Yoongi rubbed his back. Jungkook was silent. He thought all of his hyungs were starting to sound like a broken record. All they ever had to say was how 'it'll be okay' or 'we're here for you.' But Jungkook felt like neither of those two things were true. At least not when his manager was around.

Jungkook rubbed his chest, Shik's nails had hurt. Yoongi noticed and pulled his maknae's shirt collar down to see scratches. "This again? How do we get you to stop doing that?"

Jungkook shot Yoongi an angry look. "I don't know. You tell me, hyung." Yoongi told him he'd try to think of something and Jungkook looked away rolling his eyes in response.

Taehyung came in to let them know the roads were clear and Shik was leaving. They both headed out of the bathroom and said bye.

"See you Monday." Shik smiled at Jungkook. That was the last thing the man said before leaving out the door. Jungkook felt like he could finally breathe for a minute. He was exhausted and spent the rest of the day sleeping in his room. This concerned his hyungs considering their maknae was very quickly falling back into his old habits and he hadn't even actually gone back to work yet. They were starting to feel helpless. They tried to convince the boy to go to therapy already and he refused.

The doctor had already checked Jungkook over a million times and he didn't have any weird brain thing that made him clumsy. They felt like there simply was nothing they could do for their youngest.

Monday came way too quickly.

To everyone's surprise, Shik had set up a surprise live performance for ARMY's in the evening that the members had known nothing about. The members were panicking all morning trying to practice for it. They only had to perform Mic Drop, which they'd performed a million times. However the biggest panic came for Jungkook, he hadn't been in the dance studio in weeks. He always wanted to try his best for ARMY and he knew he was out of practice. He was terrified of messing up and not showing his best. Who the hell schedules surprise performances? They take weeks of practice.

Jungkook was thankful that they had to practice so much his first day back. It left little to no time for him to be anywhere by himself as everyone holed up in the dance studio the entire day. Shik claimed it was a charity event he had signed them up for last minute and he thought it'd be good for their image to show their support. The members didn't even know what the event was for, and it made them feel not very authentic. They were never ones to participate in things just to promote their image, they tried to stay true to their hearts and always stay involved in things they were extremely passionate about.

Namjoon told the group he'd talk to Shik about not doing stuff like this after they were done performing. Jungkook still couldn't believe Namjoon constantly had the nerve to stand up to their manager whenever he felt like he needed to. What Jungkook wouldn't give for that same confidence.

After hours of practice the members were driven to a venue to get ready for their performance. They got their hair and make-up done and Shik walked in, giving a pep talk that nobody was really paying all that much attention to. After Jungkook was done getting ready Shik grabbed his sleeve and pulled him aside.

"Remember what I told you?" Shik asked.

"N-no?" Jungkook gulped. He remembered a lot of things Shik had told him, but he wasn't sure which one of those things Shik was asking about.

"What did I tell you about making a single mistake?" Shik looked and pointed to the rest of the members.

Jungkook's heart seized.

"What?!" Jungkook was panicking. He remembered Shik threatening to hurt one of his hyungs if he messed up performing during that live shooting a few weeks back, and thankfully he didn't mess up back then, but was Shik seriously expecting him to never mess up again during any performance for the rest of his life? That was asking the impossible.

"That's not fair. I've had one day to practice, my first day in weeks!" Jungkook shot back.

"And whose fault is that?" Shik grabbed Jungkook's sleeve tighter, looking around to make sure nobody was watching him.

"It's your fault," Jungkook whispered angrily. He was right. He'd only been out of work because Shik slammed him in the head with a chair.

Shik took Jungkook's wrist and started squeezing it. "Are you really disrespecting me right now?"

Jungkook lowered his gaze to the floor. "N-no sir." He realized he shouldn't do things like that. Especially when it put his members more at risk.

"That's what I thought. Now remember, don't fuck up. I'll be right in front, watching you, maknae." Shik gave him a smile and a firm smack on the arm before leaving the dressing room.

Jungkook would do anything to get his manager to stop using all these damn nicknames on him. He had no right. He also couldn't believe the man had the nerve to grab him like that in the same room everyone was in, not that anyone else saw it happen. If Shik was getting braver, that was terrifying. The members gathered up and did some pre-show stretches and rituals before walking to the back of the stage. Jungkook looked at his members and took a huge deep breath as they came out and took their positions.

It was time to perform.

Their performance ended on a high note. The cheer of ARMY's had everyone's adrenaline pumping. Jungkook could see where Shik had been standing in the crowd for the entire performance but he made sure to avoid looking in his direction at all costs.

Just focus on ARMY.

The members were gathered together walking backstage, talking about how great their performance was, considering they only had that morning to prepare for it. Jungkook was laughing and smiling too, he knew he didn't mess up. He had done a great job. He felt someone grab his wrist and pull him backwards away from the group. Shik had grabbed him and was pulling him in the opposite direction of his hyungs.

"You're coming with me."