Together: BTS X Reader 8th Member

Chapter 36

As soon as we got off stage, I felt the fatigue catching up to me; I had danced and given it my all so much that I was sweating like a madman. Some of the staff handed us cold water bottles so we could rehydrate ourselves, and Nari was in my face with a blotting sheet, soaking up the sweat off my face. "You have some time to get dressed back into the clothes you came in," She said while backing up so we could walk back to the dressing room altogether. "I'm so proud of you (N/N), you did so good," Jin complimented while walking next to Nari and me, so I was between them. "You did too; I bet when your parents come, they are going to be so proud of you," The smile on his face seemed to drop, his face was now full of sadness. "What's wrong, Jin? Did I do something wrong?" I asked, genuinely worried that I had said something that upset him. He shook his head as if wanting to disregard the subject, but I needed to make sure I didn't do something to hurt his feelings, "Please tell me, Jin," I said once again while grabbing his wrist and stopping him from going into the dressing room. "My mom said she isn't going to come. She only said she would because you were there, but the truth is she isn't the proudest of me being an idol," I could feel my heart shatter into pieces for him. She was so sweet and seemed excited to come to see her son's concert, how could she just not come to see him? "It's okay (N/N), don't worry about it, as long as I have you and Bangtan, that's all I need to keep me happy," His words reassured me slightly, but a part of me still felt bad for him, sure we weren't that famous, but we were getting more attention from the public eye. "Go get dressed, please, so we can go home," he said while guiding me into the dressing room so we could go home back to our cramped dorm. I walked past the boys who were in the mists of changing, keeping my eyes glued to the floor. I pulled the curtain back, stepped into the blocked-off area, and changed back into the sweats and cropped top that I had worn earlier in the morning. I handed the clothes back to Nari so she could wash them and have them ready for tomorrow. "Goodnight, unnie, Goodnight boy's get home safe," she said while walking out of the dressing room door. A part of me was envious that she got to go home already, but we were stuck here waiting on Jimin since he was taking his time to get unready. I decided to pass the time by sitting on an open couch next to Yoongi. "What do you need (N/N)?" He questioned almost as soon as I sat down next to him. "Nothing, can I not just sit next to you?" I questioned in rebuttal. He lightly scoffed before turning to sit facing me, "I wrote some songs for you. I know that you wanted to release a full album, so I'm going to help you," he commented out of the blue, making me feel excited but nervous at the same time. "Thank you. I'm terrible at writing lyrics. I feel like you got that memo with my rendition of I Need U," I replied while awkwardly laughing at the end of my sentence. "I thought it was a good attempt at writing a song, but don't worry, I finished the album with the other members, and tomorrow before the concert, we're going to record it," my eyes slightly widened out of excitement since I was itching for a new concept, and especially with the broad explanation of this concept I needed us to start focusing on it more. "Bang PD made some changes to the building, so we got a studio to record in," he explained with a smile on his face. "We don't have to record in the garage anymore?" I questioned, not believing that we finally got a studio in the small company building. "Yes, but he said it came with some catches, we have homework to do for this new album. I'll explain it to you when we get home," I never wanted to be back home so badly, Jimin was truly taking his time, and it was starting to piss me off since I wasn't patient when it came to things I was passionate about. "Jimin, hurry up, we need to go home now," I shouted, hoping that he would listen to me and wrap up getting unready.  

As soon as the car was parked and off, I swung the door open and grabbed Yoongi's hand at home, dragging him up to the front door with me. "Calm down (N/N), the dorm isn't going to leave any time soon," I rolled my eyes and waited for him to open the door, but since he was now taking his sweet time, I was growing more impatient, it was like he was teasing me. I hoped he enjoyed it since he was purposely opening the door as slowly as humanly possible. Once the door was opened, he led me to the music lab, where he shut the door behind him and pulled up a document on his computer. "We need to write notes. We're playing characters and porting a story," He pointed at a paragraph on the document, "This is a light summary of your character," I looked at where he was pointing and read it out loud. "Overtaken by the image of young love (Y/N) accepts the confession of a boy, not knowing what he is capable of, she enters an abusive relationship, she has her seven friends as an escape, no matter how much she tries to leave him she can't, eventually she ends up attempting to take her own life but fails when her friends find out she gets put into a mental institution," I let out a breathy sigh feeling slightly overwhelmed by the heavy topics, "So what do I need to write for the notes?" I questioned, feeling slightly uneasy with my ability to write something so compelling that it could capture these themes. "Write what you think your story would contain. How you got confessed to, how you met us, your friendship with us, all leading up until the end," His words stuck with me, knowing that there were people who went through such harsh situations, I couldn't fathom having to write about it, let alone live it. Yoongi stood up from his chair and gave me a notebook filled with the handwriting of the other members, "Write something in here, we'll add the date and year later. Read some of the other members if you need to," and with that, he walked out of the room shutting the door behind him leaving me alone to write my notes. I flipped to a random page labeled Taehyung Year 10, December 29. 

I took off my shoes, threw down my bag, and went into the main room. My dad was really there. I didn't think about how long it had been or where he had come from. I thoughtlessly jumped into my dad's arms. I don't remember well what happened next. Whether the smell of the alcohol was first, whether the cursing was first, whether he slapped my cheek first. I didn't know what was happening. There was the smell of alcohol, heavy breathing, and bad breath. His eyes were bloodshot, and his beard was growing in uneven. He slapped my cheek with a large hand. He hit my cheek again, asking what I was looking at. Then he lifted me into the air. His bright red eyes were scary, but I was so scared I couldn't cry. That wasn't my dad. No, it was my dad. But it wasn't. My two feet shook in the air. In the next moment, after hitting my head harshly against the wall, and I fell to the floor. It felt like my head had burst. My field of vision flickered and soon became pitch black. My head was filled with only the sound of my dad's wheezing breath.

I felt slight shivers go down my spine. His note felt so real and profound. I grabbed a pencil that was lying around the messy desk space. I closed my eyes, trying to envision anything that could relate to the storyline I was meant to be portraying. 

"I walked out of the now empty storage room since the other boys had now left, I turned a corner, trying to get to the front of the school where I would start the long walk back to my lonesome empty apartment. I was stopped by a boy standing in front of me, holding a small box in his hands. It was neatly wrapped in a dark blue wrapping paper and a white ribbon. Something about the choice of colors made me feel weary, but I brushed it off. "Kim (Y/N), I like you. I want to be your boyfriend, so please accept this gift and be my girlfriend," I didn't know the boy very well, but no one had ever done such a thing for me, and I was starting to feel quite lonely. I took the box from his hands and opened it. There was a necklace with a lock charm on it; the boy grabbed a necklace that was hanging off of his neck, showing off a shiny gold key to match the lock. "We're matching; you have the lock, and I have the key," I felt happiness but also an anxious feeling, I walked past the boy, putting the necklace on in the process, and walking home. I couldn't wait to tell the boys about this," 

I put my pencil down, extending my hand out, trying to get the cramping feeling to go away. I couldn't decide whether I should keep writing or stop. Something in me wanted to stop, but I also wanted to keep writing, I felt connected to the concept since I was able to help write the story for my character. I decided to read someone else's notes, I flipped to a page labeled, Jungkook Year 19 May 28.

"What are your dreams, hyungs?" At my words, the hyungs turned to look. "I mean, I ask because I have to write about future hopes." As I spoke vaguely, Seokjin-hyung said "Well...I don't think I have a dream. If there's something I want, it's just to become a good person?" Hyung blurted out his words with embarrassment. Then, Yoongi-hyung, who had been lying on the piano bench, said with an uninterested tone "It's okay if you don't have dreams. I don't have dreams. I'll just become anything." At Yoongi-hyung's words, everyone burst out laughing. "I'm going to become a superhero. I'm going to save the world from the villains," Taehyung-hyung said as he stood on a chair and faced the sky with his arms raised in a pose. Hoseok-hyung scolded him, telling him to come down quickly lest he hurt himself while acting up. "I want to be free, I want to live free and not be sad," (Y/N) spoke up, admitting her dream. I looked at her bruised lip that she blamed on her clumsiness, but I knew it was that boy she called her boyfriend who was the true cause of all of the bruises and beatings she endured. Then Hoseok-hyung added, "I want to find my mom and live happily. Becoming happy, that's my dream." While hyung was saying that, he had a very happy-looking smile. "So you're unhappy right now?" It was Jimin-hyung who said that. Hoseok-hyung said, "Is that how it is?" while showing a ridiculous expression like he was worrying. Then, he faced Jimin-hyung and asked him. "What's your dream?" "Me?" Jimin blinked like he was flustered and answered, "In kindergarten I wanted to become president, but I don't really know what I wanted to be after that time." Now only Namjoon-hyung was left. Hyung, who could feel everyone's eyes on him, shrugged his shoulders and opened his mouth. "I want to say good words, but I don't really have a dream either. I wish they'd raise my hourly wage at my part-time job." I nodded and looked down at my report. The paper about future hopes was divided into students and school parents. What did I want to be? I couldn't think of anything to write down.

I closed the book, not wanting to read any further. I knew it was all fiction and was just for the sake of producing music with a deeper meaning; I decided that taking a break from writing and reading the notes was better for me, especially since I had just gotten a text from my mom. She was in the hospital.