based on the hate jimin keeps recieving for no reason. it hurts me seeing people hating such an angel.

___

jungkook frowns, huffing out a puff of air into the cold weather and takes off his jacket, throwing it on the couch and spreads himself over, resting his feet— with the shoes still on, on the coffee table. curiosity knits his brows together, eyes watching the elder brother— who instead of scolding him and smacking his head for laying on the couch with his dirty clothes on and even putting shoes on the coffee table; goes straight past him and minds his business. taking off his shoes, coat; putting them in place and heaves out a tired sigh.

wondering why jimin didn't bother chiding him for making a mess and being so dirty that he even care about washing up first, jungkook's brow arches up, springing on his feet he makes his way to the kitchen, letting out a loud cough for jimin to hear and notice him. the boy walks to the fridge once he's sure the elder is watching and pulls out a bottle of water, drinking straight from it with his lips attached to the rim.

when jimin still doesn't say anything, jungkook groans slightly, snapping back to the rest of the members who are just as confused with jimin's odd behaviour. the youngest keeps the bottle down, cursing under his breath as he once again forces his brain to recall anything he did in the recent time to make his brother so mad that he wasn't even speaking to him other than the normal and basic conversations.

"fuck! does anyone know what i did wrong?" jungkook exasperates, glaring down at himself while jimin is already upstairs in his room.

"maybe you broke something that belongs to him?" taehyung guesses.

"no," jungkook shakes his head, "it's something else."

"are you dating anyone and didn't tell him?"

"wha– obviously not. y'know you should just keep your mouth shut. you're not doing any goot to me." he hisses at taehyung who arches up a brow, not appreciating the younger's way of talking and stands up, shooting a glare.

"and y'know what?" taehyung growls, "this might be the reason jimin isn't talking to you. your cocky attitude and disrespectful behaviour."

jungkook shuts his mouth, quietly watching the elder heading upstairs. he sighs deeply, cursing at himself and lowers his head, "i'm sorry, i didn't mean to..."

"we know," jin assures him, patting his shoulder and smiles a little, "you can talk to tae later when he's cool. and don't mind what he said, jimin wouldn't behave like that to you for a stupid reason."

"but what did i do hyung? have you seen him? it's been almost the whole week and he's being like this. i try to talk to him but he doesn't even open up, i swear this is so annoying now. if i get mad and stop speaking, then i won't listen to anyone."

"koo," the boys turn around on hearing aera's voice and faint footsteps down the stairs, making the brother sigh and lower his anger to a great extent.

"hm? why are you not sleeping yet?"

"i was waiting for you to come back," she says, holding out a sweater for him and points upstairs, "jimin oppa said wear it and don't catch a cold."

jungkook breathes deeply, glancing at his hyungs who frown in confusion as well. he takes the sweater, putting it on halfheartedly and looks at aera, "did he say something else?"

"no," she shakes her head, "just that he's tired and going to sleep."

"man, i'm–"

"it's okay jungkook," namjoon says, rubbing the boy's back, "talk to him tomorrow okay? go and rest for now, you must be tired too."

jungkook nods slowly, agreeing to the leader's words and takes aera's hand, heading upstairs after wishing goodnight to the hyungs. he gets changed quickly, freshening up before joining his sister in the bed as he asked her to sleep with him for tonight. aera agreed happily, getting in the bed with a wide grin as she waited for jungkook to come and cuddle her to sleep.

she scrolls through his ipad out of boredom and jungkook notices, leaning forward to see what she's watching. although his brows knit together when he realises it's twitter and the logged in account is bts' official one. before aera presses the home button and switches to youtube, being more interested in watching the recent run episode or bangtan bomb; jungkook takes the ipad from her hand, frowning at the top most post that has his full attention now.

did you see the new run ep? jimin was trying so hard to push himself forward lmaooo that bitch really deserves all of this

<reply> ikrrrr it's already too much to have him in the group

i hate it when jimin always tries to show off that he's the eldest by scolding jungkook all the time. jk was clearly embarrassed when jimin told him to put the box away and focus. like wtf man do you think he's five?? he knows all that! jimin doesn't have to keep treating him like a fucking a baby. that's so annoying, even jungkook doesn't like it ffs!

<reply> so true, jimin deliberately does that to dominate jk

<reply> obviously he gotta do smth to look above our poor maknae

<reply> stop it guys, he's jungkook's elder brother why would he do that

<reply> then leave. it's clear that he does it for attention

jimin doesn't deserve to be in bts. he's holding the group back

jimin should stop being a homewrecker for once and let his brother live. taekook was on peek yesterday but jimin kept coming in between! fr that fucker needs to leave them alone

no hate, but jimin should leave

have you heard his voice cracks ppl???? lmaooo why is he even considered a singer???

<reply> yeahhhhh he's horrible

<reply> agreed, even my pet chipmunk sings batter than him

<reply> pet chipmunk? lmaoo

jungkook could feel his blood boiling and about to leak out of his brain at the stupid and nonsense references his brother was getting. he takes a deep breath, logging out of the account and keeps the ipad away, staring blankly at the ceiling, wondering if jimin saw it too or not.

"koo," aera mumbles, making him turn his head to face her and notices her teary eyes, "why are they so rude to oppa? he's so nice and he loves everyone, still they say bad things about jimin oppa."

jungkook says nothing at first and pulls aera in a hug, kissing the side of her head while his hand gently strokes her back. then he finally has enough words to tell her, "they don't see the good in him..." he sighs, "i hope he didn't see all this,"

"i think he did," aera looks up, earning a frown from the brother and nods, "he keeps looking in his phone and he's so upset. we have to tell him koo, that– that our jiminie oppa is not bad."

jungkook nods at her words, patting her back gently and takes a deep breath for the umpth time, hoping his mind would calm down instead of running loops of negative thoughts of what the elder brother might do. what if he's cursing at himself for being bad? what if he thinks he's not enough? what if he's thinking that jungkook was embarrassed of him? what if he's thinking that he's actually holding the group back? what if he takes a wrong step and– no!

the boy jolts up, muttering curses under his breath as he lets go of aera who frowns at him, sitting up as well and places her hand on his shoulder, "what happened oppa? are you okay?"

"i– yeah," he sighs, "yeah, i'm okay."

aera pouts, seeing him so stressed and recalling how jimin, too, has been disturbed in the past few days. her eyes fill with tears as the feeling that something bad might happen scares her to the depth of her gut. she leans forward within an instant, hugging jungkook securely and lets out a sob.

"hey don't cry, kiddo. everything is okay," he assures his sister, rubbing her back gently while telling himself the same with a heavy heart.

"i don't know... i feel like oppa is not okay,"

i feel that too, jungkook would've said, but for the sake of his little sister, he forces up a smile and hugs her tighter, "our brother is very strong– he'll be fine, don't worry."

aera hums faintly and pulls away, looking at his face as he wipes the tears from her cheeks and kisses them instead, "can we go to him right now?" she mumbles.

"uhm i don't know, he must be sleeping..."

"let's go and see, please. what if he can't sleep and waiting for koo and riri to hug him?"

jungkook feels his eyes getting warm as he nods, knowing how true aera's words could be. he gets up first, blinking a couple of times at the ceiling before inhaling deeply and holds her hand, heading out of the room.

aera's hold on his hand tightens gradually, letting him know that she's scared for some unknown reason which is well known to jungkook at least, for he too, can feel something hitting, pinching, stinging inside his chest as if mocking at how scared he was of opening the door to his brother's room. what if he's crying or regretting his whole life because some people don't know how hard it is to be jimin?

jungkook shuts his eyes close, holding aera's hand tightly as he forces down his fear and twists the knob, pushing the door open anyway. aera peeks in first, tugging on his hand, making him open his eyes and points inside, "he's up," she whispers.

"oh god," jungkook breathes out, relieved to a huge extent once his eyes make sure that jimin isn't crying or about to do anything that might hurt him.

"oppa?" aera calls softly, now grabbing attention from jimin.

the eldest looks at her and then at jungkook, pulling up a smile instantly at his two favourite faces and nods for them to come in, "i thought you must be sleeping?" he says and glances at aera, "bad dream?"

"no," she shakes her head and looks at jungkook, then back at jimin, "we wanted to see you,"

"oh? right now?" jimin chuckles, "is there anything special you wanna tell me?"

aera shakes her head again and steps forward to give him a hug. she kisses his cheek and smiles at him, "we love you," her voice comes out as a soft one, as tender as jimin's when he talks to her, "–a lot, more than this big universe."

"that's a lot of love," jimin smiles fondly, unable to hide his tears and looks down, nodding his head, "thank you, i love you more."

"and kookie?"

"him too," he says, hugging aera's smaller body and glances up at jungkook who is standing nearby, not saying anything for he's more absorbed figuring out what to say first.

"hyung," the boy sighs softly, taking a seat beside him and looks down, "did i do something to... uh make you mad?"

jimin frowns, pulling away from aera and looks at him, shaking his head, "no, why would you think that?"

"you're not speaking to me," jungkook shrugs.

"i am,"

"no, something is very different. you don't tell me to sleep on time, to clean up after eating, to put my things in place or– or not to drink water straight from the bottle, hyung. you don't scold me like you used to do."

jimin lets out a soft, airy chuckle, nodding his head, "isn't that good? i kept nagging at you, now it must be quiet peaceful–"

"no, it's not peaceful. it's- it's weird— strange and makes me think like i did something wrong and now you're mad at me."

"i'm not mad at you, kook. just... y'know i realised you're not five anymore. and it's annoying to always have someone up your as– i mean, someone bugging you and telling you to do even the smallest things."

"you didn't go on twitter did you?" jungkook gulps his saliva down, staring at the brother who blinks his eyes and nods briefly, "god! why would you do that?! those people are crazy hyung, don't listen t–"

"they're not completely wrong though, i do tend to–"

"no you don't," jungkook says, "if you don't scold me and tell me when i'm wrong, then who will do that? if you start looking down at yourself then how will me and riri learn to look up? i don't know what to say hyung, but this sucks. it literally sucks when you're like this, not speaking, not opening up, just shutting down and blaming yourself..."

"i'm okay," jimin hushes out.

"lie to me about that again, and i really won't talk to you." jungkook breathes out, rubbing his eyes and stands up, "you're not saying till now, so i'll do it. and please don't stop me." he says, cracking his neck and takes aera's hand, "let's go aera, oppa needs to rest."

"koo, don't be mad..."

"i'm not mad, princess. i'm hurt," he says, glancing at jimin, "that our brother lets people treat him like that. and i can't see it, so i'll do everything to change that."

"jung–"

"you cannot scold me," he reminds the elder and walks to the door, "goodnight hyung. ri, say goodnight,"

"goodnight..." aera mumbles with utter confusion and follows jungkook out, leaving jimin alone to heave out a sigh. he groans, falling on the bed and closes his eyes, letting a lone tear slide down as he prays for jungkook to not do anything stupid.

•••

next day

"you're doing a live?" jimin looks over his shoulder on hearing the voice directed to his brother who gives a brief nod, busy having his breakfast at the moment.

"i guess y'all should join me too," jungkook muffles out, glancing at the rest of the boys.

"i'm sorry, kook. i've to go to the company today." hoseok says.

"yeah, me too," namjoon states, "in fact suga hyung is busy too with some production work."

"me and tae were thinking of re-recording too," jin says, "why don't you do it with jimin? or maybe take aera with you, army always keep asking about her."

"hm i'll see," jungkook nods and stands up, walking to the sink and places his dish down, "i hope jimin hyung is free then?"

"well, i don't i think i can join you."

"you're going with them?"

"no, but–"

"then it's decided, you're joining the live with me."

"jungkook, i can't," jimin emphasises, "please try to understand."

"i don't know how to understand," jungkook grins, "you forgot to teach me that."

jimin rolls his eyes, but doesn't say anything, minding his own business as he cuts some fruits for aera who is sitting with him still half asleep. the boys all leave for their work by afternoon and jungkook sets up the camera and an ipad to go live today after many days.

aera brings a swiveling chair and sits behind the camera, making faces at jungkook to make him laugh. he mocks at her too, before gaining his posture as the live starts and the fans start filling in.

"hi guys, how's everyone?" he says, moving closer and takes a proper look to see it wasn't lagging and nods, "alright, it's doing pretty fine. can y'all see and hear me well?"

when the fans comment yes, he smiles and carries the live forward talking about casual stuff like what he's been up to these days, their schedule and even about aera. a few more minutes pass and he notices a comment asking about the rest of members.

"they're out for some work," he says, "jimin hyung is home and he will be joining us in a while."

"aera, go and take a shower!" they hear a voice calling from outside, which makes jungkook snicker and aera groans.

"later!" she replies back, "koo hasn't showered either!"

"he will do later, you go and take a shower." jimin says from the door this time as he's standing there with his arms crossed.

"jimin hyung is here," jungkook smiles, shifting his chair a little and pulls another one next to him, "hyung, come,"

jimin shakes his subtly, staying out of the frame and gestures him to carry on alone, not wanting to be a hindrance in his brother's time with the fans. however the boy doesn't listen and turns the camera towards jimin, "tell him to come and join us, army. he doesn't listen at all these days."

jimin sighs, forcing up a smile and takes a seat, "hi army, how are you guys? it's been a long time."

"yeah, i know right? in fact, i think it's just the second time we're doing a live together isn't it?"

"maybe," jimin shrugs, trying his best not to read the comments and looks at aera who is watching the live as well, but through his phone.

jungkook leans forward, scrolling through the comments and laughs as something funny caught his eyes, until the next moment he's not laughing anymore. a scowl takes over his features and his brows knit together, reporting the person immediately and a feels a hand on his shoulder.

jimin frowns at that, pulling his hand away and leans in near the camera, "i think you reported someone accidentally..."

"i know," jungkook nods, cracking his neck, "those kind of people don't belong here."

"jungkook," jimin tries to cover it up with a laugh but it doesn't work. so he just pretends to read more comments, and regrets it instantly.

why is jimin here again?

call taehyung please

he looks so ugly

why can't you leave jungkook alone for a second????? he was doing a live with us! why did you have to join?!

i really don't like it here, i think i'm leaving

die bitch

jungkookie oppa send him away!

jimin inhales deeply, keeping his eyes low as he shifts back, glancing at aera and smiles, "ri, should we go? i guess we can play some videogames..." he gulps, earning a glance from aera as she shakes her head and stands up.

a pout rests on her lips and eyes holding tears like last night. she moves to him, hugging him tightly and sits on his lap, "i love you, don't listen to them," she whispers and he realises she read the comments too. jimin closes his eyes, slowly shifting out of the frame and lowers his face in aera's shoulder, trying his best not to cry.

"i'm so done," jungkook breathes out, "do you guys really think it's okay to be that harsh to someone? especially when that person is working so hard and going out of their way for you guys. i've seen this for a while now, and i regret not speaking up earlier. my hyung won't say it, so i will."

"jungkook, don'–"

"no hyung, this is enough. they have no right to say all that about you. y'all keep talking crap about him, for what? because he tells me what to do? because he tells me when i'm wrong or is it because he loves me so much? you have no idea what he has done for me ever since i was just a child. he's taught me things, played with me, faught others for me, made sure i was doing okay, went out of his way to see that i wasn't having a problem. all because i'm his brother and he loves ne a lot.

"if you think i'll let you or anyone talk bad about my jimin hyung, i swear to god you're so wrong. and- and what was that? he treats me like a child huh? so? he's my elder brother, our parents passed away when we were young, he was the eldest and took control of the family after that. i'm so glad that he did treat me like his child, because i can bet no other brother would take care of their younger siblings like my jimin hyung did. you're not taking a stand for me or defending or protecting me like this, you're making me hate you for not treating my brother with the love that he deserves. he works so hard everyday, you don't see it and i feel bad for you honestly. please don't consider yourself my fan if you can't love my hyun–"

"jungkook enough," jimin voices out, giving off a stern glare to jungkook, "that is not a way of talking to anyone, especially to your fans. apologize,"

"no," jungkook looks away, "you can't scold me, i'm not saying anything wrong. they're not my fans if they can't support my hyung."

"stop that jungkook. i won't repeat, apologize to everyone."

jungkook inhales deeply, glancing at jimin and then at the camera, "see? he's still defending you all even after you treat him like that. that's my jimin hyung, which you can never become. i'm ending this here, sorry for saying all this but i really mean everything i said. and i won't be active anywhere until this gets fixed."

"jung—" jimin sighs deeply, watching the younger mutter a disheartened bye to the fans and turns off the live, standing up and takes aera's hand, ready to head out of the room until the elder speaks again, "why did you do that? they all love you jungkook and you... you just— this is wrong,"

"no, it's not. they don't get to hurt my family. nobody gets to hurt you and aera." jungkook says, never facing jimin and leaves. aera however glances back over her shoulder, staring at jimin with her innocent round eyes, fear and pain glistening as though she was being hurt in all this too.

jimin finds himself standing like a statue as the siblings close the door behind them, leaving him alone for a while. a tear courses down from his face along with a laboured breath from his plump lips. the door opens again, making jimin flinch as he wipes his tears instantly and takes a deep breath, seeing taehyung coming in.

"jimin," the boy smiles softly and so does jimin, "i saw the live,"

the smile vanishes within a second and all left is tears again. jimin shakes his head, taking a deep breath to hold himself together. though his best friend comes closer, hugging him tightly and pats his back, "you know kook isn't wrong," he hushes out, making jimin break into a sob, hugging taehyung back and nods slowly.

"but he'll lose his fans like this... just because of me tae. it's not worth it,"

"he won't lose anyone," taehyung assures, "those who love him will know that his reaction was genuine. you're his brother and he loves you a lot, of course it angers him seeing the hatred towards you. it makes me and the members mad too, jimin, but your kook is the one taking a step. so let him, and just have his back okay? even if it creates a ruckus on the internet, he won't be alone until you, jimin, are with him."

jimin nods, pulling away and wipes his tears, smiling a little at taehyung, "i don't want anything, tae. i've always got more than what i've wished for, kook, aera, my members, armys, all the love... all of this. i'm more than happy to have you guys with me, jungkook doesn't need to do this for me. he's stubborn and just—"

"i am stubborn?" jungkook's voice grabs attention from the older males, watching him enter the room and take his phone from the table, "fine, i'm stubborn. what are you then? you don't listen to us, don't open up when i asked you what's wrong, you don't wanna stand up for yourself and have a problem when i'm doing it for you. aren't you stubborn as well hyung?"

"kook, i know you're not happy with all this, but you make sure to watch your words," taehyung glares at the younger.

"weren't you mad at me too yesterday? why do you bother to speak now?" jungkook scoffs.

"jungkook enough," jimin glares at him, "don't take my silence for granted," jungkook says nothing further, walking out of the room, making the elders sigh.

•••

"sit down, aera," yoongi says, sighing as the girl shakes her head, huffing with a determined look on her face and sits on jungkook's lap. the brother doesn't mind for a second, but then makes her stand up, gesturing her to sit somewhere else as he's busy on his phone.

"oppa..." aera pouts, touching his arm to let her sit with sit with him, though it doesn't bother jungkook who keeps his focus on the phone, not paying much mind to the sister.

"it's okay, come here," yoongi says, patting the chair next to him and makes aera sit, stroking her hair.

the rest, however, glance at jungkook with a subtle frown, not understanding what's up with him today that he didn't want to have aera sitting with him when other days he's the one to keeps snuggling onto her and refuses to leave her alone.

"what happened kook?" hoseok asks.

"nothing," jungkook answers.

"is it about jimin? did you both talk or not?"

"it's nothing, hyung. stop bothering me about it. i'm done, i don't care what he does anymore." the younger rolls his eyes, getting a sharp look from yoongi.

"say that again, i dare you," yoongi hisses and jungkook clicks his tongue, seeing jimin coming down from the stairs and stands up.

"i don't give a fuck what anyone does anymore," jungkook says, a little louder this time, pushing his plate away which accidentally hits aera's arm, making her flinch.

"ouch," aera winces, shifting away and hugs yoongi, away from the plate that fell down and shattered into pieces.

"what do you think you're doing?" namjoon glares at the boy, standing up and so does hoseok, while yoongi hugs the young girl and jin pats her back, consoling her that jungkook didn't mean to hit her.

"why does anyone care huh? aren't you all doing what you want?" jungkook snaps back, stepping back and turns on his heal, ready to leave until a hand grabs his shirt, stopping him on his track.

"why do you think you can disrespect your hyungs like that?" jimin glares at the younger brother, getting a sharp gaze back which just angers him more, "stop testing my patience, jeon jungkook. it won't take me long to knock you back into senses,"

jungkook face the elder, not impressed with words jimin spoke and crosses his arms on his chest, "what will you do? hit me? go on,"

jimin clenches his jaw, stepping forward as his hand grasps the collar of jungkook's shirt, "eyes on the floor," he growls and jungkook flinches, lowering his head automatically, trying to pull himself back. "move an inch i swear to god, jungkook, you'll regret speaking to your hyungs like that."

"i'm sorry," he biting his lip as he tries his best to hide the smile fighting to stretch his lips.

jimin's anger just doubles seeing the younger smiling and pushes him back harshly, hand raising up, but before it does hit jungkook, the boy is already ducking down and using his hands for defence, "hyung i'm sorry! i didn't mean it! it was a plan!" he blurts out instantly, turning to aera who rushes to him for the rescue and hugs jimin.

"what?" the elders frown, just as confused as jimin himself, "what plan...?"

"uh so that jimin hyung would be like before," jungkook smiles nervously, "he wasn't talking to me, scolding me or anything like before and it felt weird. so i thought this is the only way he would turn back normal— if i be rude to you guys,"

"gosh!" taehyung exasperates, falling on his chair and shakes his head.

"you— seriously?" jin sighs as well.

"yeah, oppa it was a plan. me and koo wanted our old jiminie back," aera says, nodding her head to make jimin believe and pulls him down, kissing his cheek, "we love you, oppa. we love your voice, your hugs and kisses, and even when you scold us."

jungkook grins at the elder brother, rubbing the back of his neck, "sorry for making you mad, even though i almost got hit. but it's okay, at least you're back,"

"you two..." jimin shakes his head, hugging aera with one arm and opens the other for jungkook, who joins in without any second thoughts, "i'm sorry, i guess i shouldn't have avoided you like that. things were really overwhelming,"

"it's fine," jungkook assures, "but hyung, don't you ever stop talking to me— to us. you often say we're like your kids, and we don't have anything to say in return. but that doesn't mean we you're not important for us, or we don't love you. you're all we have hyung. ever since we were kids, all we've ever had is you."

jimin chuckles softly, patting jungkook's head and glances at aera who smiles at them, nodding her head, "yeah, same what koo said." she giggles, "don't be sad, i like my oppa happy,"

"i'm very happy," jimin whispers, leaning to kiss her forehead, "thanks to my kids,"

______________

a/n- if u have checked out my message board then you probably already know that i'll be on a hiatus after this. and it's okay if you didn't read that message, you can do it now. i'm not in the position to write or literally do anything. everytime feels too much these days and i'm getting tired of it yk my studies, my marks aren't increasing and parents just keep bringing that up all the time and i don't know what to say, it's just overwhelming for me. i'm sorry, so i'll be offline for a while. i hope u guys understand. 

love you guys, please don't lessen the support and the love you give me. i'm always so thankful for it. i hope i'll be back soon with another amazing chapter for you guys. till then, goodbye, take care ❤️✨

borahae 💜

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