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To say that Kim Taehyung has had a bad day would be an understatement. Like, the understatement of the century.
It all started at an early-morning variety show recording. Admittedly, Taehyung hadn’t had time to eat breakfast that morning, so he was already slightly grumpy, but he was still trying his best to stay upbeat. And man, did the show’s hosts test his resolution. Even though there were six other members present to talk about, the hosts kept coming back around to mercilessly making fun of Taehyung. Everything was fair game, from his “pathetic” attempts at rapping, to his 4D personality (‘come on,’ Taehyung thought, barely restraining himself from rolling his eyes, ‘that’s so old’), to the worst of all- attacking his love for Gucci. It was like they were trying to make him look bad. Taehyung just plastered on a smile and hoped that his annoyance didn’t show through. Of course, it only got worse when Taehyung’s hyungs and Jungkook joined in on the torture teasing. Their involvement managed to make the insults more personal, more cutting than the hosts’ superficial mocking. Taehyung’s fake smile became even more plastic as he did his best not to take his member’s taunting to heart. “Taehyung’s too loud,” “Tae-yah is annoying,” “TaeTae-yah isn’t actually good at dancing”. Taehyung just bit his lip and stared holes into the floor.
Taehyung’s spirits were lifted, if just the tiniest bit, when after the recording, his fellow members apologized to him for what they had said earlier. He assured them that it was no big deal, and the seven of them piled into the van to head off to the BigHit building.
Because fate had obviously decided that today was not a good day for Kim Taehyung, he happened to stumble upon a website dedicated to pointing out “Every Single Reason to Hate Kim Taehyung (warning: it’s impossible to get all of them!)” somewhere along the ride to the company building. All idols expect hate and anti-fans; it comes with fame. That doesn’t make it easier to ignore a rude comment or an entire internet page full of spiteful words. If the other members noticed Taehyung’s plummeting mood, they didn’t mention it.
As if Taehyung’s morning hadn’t been terrible enough, that afternoon’s dance practice also turned out to be astoundingly awful. They had already memorized the “new” choreography, and this was supposed to be the best kind of practice- the kind where the dance just flows from your body as naturally as walking. But, as stated previously, the gods had apparently taken a disliking for Taehyung. Throughout practice, he kept tripping and missing steps. In a few instances, he even stumbled into the other members, earning himself annoyed glares and harsh shoves. The first few times that they had to restart the dance because of Taehyung’s screw-ups resulted in quick chastisements from Namjoon and pissed-off mutterings from the other members. The fourth time he messed up so badly that the music had to be restarted, however, resulted in the manager calling a quick break for the group, excluding Taehyung, who was taken into the hallway for a quick talk. Taehyung’s little “chat” with the manager began with a hard slap across the face and ended with an “I’m so disappointed in you, Kim Taehyung. Don’t you want this? Can’t you see that you’re dragging the other members down?” Taehyung nodded silently, vowing that he would never hold BTS back again.
When, at long last, the manager announced that practice was over for the day, Taehyung timidly stated that he would stay back at the studio to continue practicing. The manager sent him an approving smile, and Taehyung felt like he was floating.
The other members eagerly filed out of the room in anticipation of having the rest of the night off. After the last members to leave (a cheerfully skipping Hoseok dragging a half-asleep Yoongi) had gone, the manager turned to Taehyung and asked him if he would mind walking home when he was done with practice because it was the manager’s anniversary and he wanted to be with his wife. Taehyung readily agreed, hoping to see that proud smile again. He was disappointed however when all he received was a nod and a “practice hard. I hope that you’re better tomorrow than you were today.” With that, the manager turned around and followed the other members, shutting the door behind him.
Taehyung sighed and turned on the music.
He had been practicing for just over four hours when he made a bad step and fell, twisting his ankle painfully and landing on the sensitive part of his elbow. Taehyung whimpered as he lay immobile on the ground, waiting for the pain radiating from his arm to recede. Once it had lessened, he realized that the skin on his elbow had split when it had made its unfortunate impact with the hard wooden floor. Tears pricked his eyes as he noticed the blood covering the floor and his clothing. He slowly got up, mindful of his tender ankle, and searched for towels to clean the floor. After hobbling around for a few minutes to grab towels, mop up the blood on the ground, and take care of the towels, Taehyung realized that there was no way he could continue dancing with his painful ankle. ‘Heck,’ he thought, rolling up his pants leg and scrutinizing his swollen ankle, ‘even walking home will be a stretch.' He debated calling for someone to pick him up, but then he remembered his members’ glares and his manager’s disappointed gaze and decided that he would actually rather walk home than face them again. So, with his leg threatening to give out every time he put his weight on it; his aching, bloody arm; and his sweaty, blood-covered clothing, he staggered to the door and turned off the lights.
Taehyung had just stepped outside of the company building when the sky lit up with lightning and rain started pouring from the heavens. “Come on…” Taehyung muttered shakily. He had never been a fan of storms, and thunder freaked him out, so of course it would be thunderstorming now. Everything was just so unfair. He allowed a few of the tears that had been building up all day to fall before composing himself as well as he could and taking the first step of the half-mile-long trek home. It was almost completely dark out, with the exception of the frequent flashes of lightning. Taehyung flinched at every rolling boom of thunder, wishing that he was at home, cuddled snuggly in between Jin and Jungkook (his usual storm buddies).
Finally, after what was probably the longest walk of his life, Taehyung arrived at the dorm. Leaning against the wall, grateful for the opportunity to rest his throbbing ankle, he reached for the key in his backpack. And realized that he was not wearing his backpack. Shit. He had left it at the dance studio. He gnawed on his lip as he thought about his options. He could return to the studio to retrieve his backpack, though he wasn't sure if his poor ankle could take another mile; or he could ring the doorbell and have one of his members let him in. That definitely sounded like the better option, but… but Gods they had all been so upset with him earlier today; now they’d be so mad at him because he was so damn inept and useless that he forgot his key and he’d be interrupting them from whatever they were doing right now and then they’d be even more mad and why was he so stupid and worthless and they’d all hate him and- a loud burst of thunder shook the earth and Taehyung cried out in fear, collapsing against the door. ‘Okay then,’ he thought unhappily, struggling back onto his feet, ‘it’s decided.’
Standing with most of his weight on his uninjured leg, tears streaming down his face, Taehyung rang the doorbell with a shaking hand. Seconds passed, feeling like millennia. Like a thousand millennia. No one opened the door. Taehyung’s breathing became erratic as panic took over his brain, pushing all rational thought aside. They weren’t answering the door. They didn’t want to let him in. They didn’t want him anymore. They didn’t want him any more. Taehyung’s legs folded on themselves as he fell to the ground, curling up into a tight ball.
Mere moments later, though it might have been centuries for all Taehyung was concerned, he was suddenly face to face with a pair of bunny-slippered feet as their owner opened the door. A horrified gasp followed by a stricken, “Taehyung!” informed him that those were Jin’s feet. Taehyung knew that he should get up and go inside with his oldest hyung, but he just couldn’t bring himself to move.
He continued to lay there on the wet, dirty ground, shaking and sobbing.
“Taehyung-ah?”
He squeezed his eyes shut and attempted to curl even further into himself.
“Namjoon! Yoongi! Come here!”
He let out an involuntary whine at the feeling of hands touching his arms.
“What the hell happened? Why is he bleeding?”
Yoongi.
“Let’s get him inside.”
Namjoon.
More hands. His body lifted off of the ground. The cold air of the outside replaced by the warmth of the dorm.
“Jinnie-hyung…” Taehyung called out weakly, voice thick with tears.
“Shh, I’m here, TaeTae,” Jin replied soothingly. Taehyung felt gentle fingers comb through his hair. “Gods, Yoongi could you start a warm bath? And I think we’re going to need the first aid kit.”
Footsteps hurried ahead, probably Yoongi. Taehyung could look, could remove his head from its resting spot on Namjoon’s shoulder (he recognized his hyung’s scent), but Namjoon was warm and Taehyung was tired and this closeness to his hyung was the best thing that had happened to him all day. So he didn’t. He just clutched at Namjoon’s shirt tighter as he was carried into the bathroom.
The older members quickly washed Taehyung, taking extra care to be gentle around his hurt elbow. Taehyung let his head rest on the back of the bathtub, allowing his eyes to flutter closed as his hyungs took care of him. He was just dozing off when an exclamation from Jin startled him back awake.
“Taehyungie, what happened to your ankle? It looks really painful.”
“Yeah,” Taehyung agreed sleepily, “hurts.”
He missed the look that his three hyungs exchanged. It wasn’t every day that a dongsaeng came home soaked, sobbing, and injured.
Jin and Namjoon helped Taehyung out of the bath and helped him dry off while Yoongi got a clean pair of pajamas for him. Once he was seated on the bathroom counter, dry and dressed, Jin set to work on his injuries, bandaging his elbow first before examining his ankle more carefully.
“I think you sprained it pretty badly,” he observed. “Why didn’t manager-hyung help you to the door when he saw that you were hurt?”
“I fell,” Taehyung said as an explanation for his ankle. “And I walked home. It was raining.”
“Yeah, we know it’s raining,” Yoongi stated dryly.
“You walked home? With your ankle sprained?” Namjoon asked incredulously.
Taehyung nodded. “It’s manager-hyung’s anniversary.”
“Why didn’t you call us? I would have come for you,” Jin said, scanning his second youngest member’s face with concern. Taehyung looked like he was on the verge of tears, and the intensity of his flinches at every clash of thunder worried Jin.
Taehyung’s gaze flickered to the floor. Should he say the truth about why he couldn’t call his hyungs? Would they be mad? They didn’t seem mad right now, but why not? Why wouldn’t they be mad? Taehyung had been moody and awful all day. Not only had he ruined his own day, but he had brought his teammates down with him. Even Taehyung was mad at Taehyung.
Taehyung didn’t notice the tears streaming down his face until Namjoon wiped his cheeks with a warm hand. “It’s okay,” Namjoon promised, “you can tell hyungs. You can always tell hyungs. It’ll be okay. We’ll keep you safe.”
With that, a new batch of tears poured from Taehyung’s eyes, but he tried to speak through them. “I-I just… hyungs were so mad earlier… and I didn’t want you to be more upset so I thought that it would be better to walk home but, but my ankle hurts so bad and it started raining and the thunder was scary and today’s just been awful,” he choked out.
“Oh, Tae, hyungs weren’t mad at you, we were all just tired,” Jin soothed, running his fingers through Taehyung’s hair. “And we wouldn’t be upset if you had called us, we all want you to be safe. I thought that manager-hyung was going to pick you up. I’m sorry, baby.”
Taehyung leaned forward so that his forehead was touching Jin’s. “It’s okay, hyung. I’m sorry for not calling you.” He yawned and nearly toppled to the floor. Yoongi and Namjoon caught him and helped him sit back up.
“I think that you should do something for his ankle, hyung,” Yoongi started, “and then Taehyungie should go to bed.”
Jin agreed, wrapping a bandage around Taehyung’s ankle. “You’ll sleep with this leg up on a pillow tonight, okay?” he asked Taehyung.
Taehyung nodded.
“Alright then, you’re good to go,” Jin said. He stood up with a quiet groan. “How about you sleep with Jinnie and Joonie hyungs in my bed tonight?”
Taehyung smiled gratefully, “okay.”
As the oldest two began to clean up the bathroom, Namjoon scooped Taehyung into his arms and carried him to Jin and Yoongi’s room. He stood in front of Jin's bed, just holding Taehyung for a few vast moments.
“Hyung?” Taehyung asked, glancing up at Namjoon.
Namjoon let out a small sigh and nestled Taehyung closer to his chest. Burying his face in Taehyung’s hair, he whispered, “please Taehyungie, always tell hyung when you need help. I want you to be happy. Let hyung help you.”
Taehyung could hear the tears in Namjoon’s voice. He blinked away tears of his own and tightened his arms around Namjoon’s neck. “Okay, hyung,” he said, “I will.”
“Good,” replied Namjoon, slowly lowering Taehyung to the bed. He crawled in after him, wrapping himself around the younger’s warm body. Jin and Yoongi soon entered the room, Yoongi slipping into his bed and Jin joining the two boys already cuddled in his own. He lay on the other side of Taehyung, wrapping his arms around him to reach Namjoon as well.
Taehyung smiled into his hyung’s chest, listening to Jin hum a soft lullaby as Namjoon's hand slowly soothed up and down Taehyung’s side.
Kim Taehyung had had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. The absolute worst day of all of the worst days.
But snuggled in between his hyungs, feeling warm and safe and loved, he realized that the only thing he needed to turn any kind of day into a good day was the family that he had found in his members.
With this sappy thought in his mind, Taehyung slowly drifted to sleep, happy at last.