Faltering Steps • J-Hope

xiii.

Yoongi knocked on the door of EXO's dorm.

Xiumin opened it with a smile already on his face as though he'd been expecting someone else. Seeing the three BTS members, his smile flipped into a frown.

"Do you know why we're here?" Yoongi asked tonelessly. If he knew, then he was in the car that had inured Hobi. If he didn't know, he was innocent.

"Hyung! Who's at the door?!" someone shouted from inside. It sounded to Yoongi like Baekhyun, but he didn't know since he didn't follow EXO that much.

"Is it our pizza?!" Probably Chanyeol.

"It's nobody," Xiumin said, looking behind him before looking back at Yoongi and pausing before gesturing for them to come inside. They did so, and he shut the door before leading them into his room and shutting that door, too.

"So you know why we're here," Namjoon said, taking lead.

Xiumin hesitated before nodding. "I believe so."

"And you know it's not music related."

Xiumin sighed before nodding. "Right."

"Do you want to volunteer your side of the story, or do I have to conduct a full interrogation?" Namjoon asked, and Xiumin scowled at him before crossing his arms and looking at the door.

"What's there to say? It's a win-win scenario. Less competition for us, publicity for you."

"You forgot the lose part, as in Hobi loses the ability to dance," Jin said, starting to get angry.

Xiumin shrugged. "Someone always loses. This time, it was Hoseok." He paused. "Look, I'm sorry that he got hurt, but-"

"He didn't just get hurt," Jin said, taking a step closer to Xiumin with a frown on his pretty flower face. "He can't dance! He has a limp now! His whole career, his whole future - you took that away from him! And his fans! What about them?! They're all disappointed because they don't know the truth!"

"Well, tell them that he got injured," Xiumin said, seemingly unruffled.

"We can't! Because our agency is protecting you and your group!" Namjoon cut in. "We can't say anything!"

Xiumin looked interested at that. "So we have immunity?"

Namjoon scowled. "Unfortunately. For the time being. But if the deal doesn't go down? Who knows?"

Xiumin thought for a moment before nodding. "Look. I think it's terrible that Hoseok was injured, and I feel awful about it. But there isn't anything I or EXO can do to change that, is there? No. Did I mean to hit your car? No. And seeing how this whole thing is being swept under the rug, there's nothing you guys can do to me."

"You don't know what it's like to have someone injured!" Jin protested. "Hobi got hurt because of you!"

Xiumin threw up his hands. "I know! But it was an accident! And he wasn't the only one who got hurt. I was hurt too." He frowned.

Yoongi looked up for the first time since arriving in Xiumin's room. "No you didn't. I overheard one of the nurses saying that the driver walked away with a few scratches."

Xiumin swallowed like he was nervous.

Yoongi narrowed his already narrow eyes. "Our producers might be covering this whole thing up for their own reasons, but you're hiding something too."

"You're being ridiculous," Xiumin said, glaring at Yoongi. "I just admitted to crashing into your car and injuring one of your members! Why would I admit to that if I was lying?!"

"If you were trying to protect someone else," Yoongi said calmly. "Just like our producers are protecting EXO, you're protecting the driver. Aren't you, Xiumin?"

Xiumin stuttered. "I- No! I was the driver!"

"Who are you protecting, Xiumin?" Yoongi asked quietly, stepping forward until he was standing directly in front of Xiumin.

"Nobody! I'm not protecting anybody!"

"Judging by the fact that you're keeping this little meeting a secret from the others, nobody else knows about the accident. Nobody else except you and the driver. So if you don't give me a name right now, I'm going to go tell everybody what happened. What you - or whoever you're protecting - did. How Hobi can't dance because of it and how you're lying to us about it and there's nothing we can do because of some stupid political thing. Do you want me to tell all of your dongsaengs what a horrible person you are?" Yoongi asked, his voice quiet the whole time. He didn't move, didn't blink, didn't change his expression.

He was terrifying.

"The name, Xiumin," he said. "Tell me who it is, who you're protecting."

Xiumin swallowed but didn't step back. "Nobody. I told you. I was driving the car. I-"

"What side of the car did you hit?" Yoongi asked.

"What?" Xiumin replied, caught off guard. "I- I can't remember-"

"Driver side or passenger side?"

Xiumin panicked. "I- Driver side-"

"Wrong answer."

"I don't remember! It was dark! It all happened too fast!"

"That's not it. You're wrong because you're lying because somebody didn't tell you all the details. I just want to know who that somebody is," Yoongi said reasonably, but his eyes were cold. "Our manager said we couldn't hurt you guys physically or publicly," he whispered. "But he also said not to contact you. And look where we are now?"

Xiumin was shaking slightly, but the boy was determined. "No, no! I was the driver!"

Yoongi just grabbed Xiumin's collar, prepared to convince him with his fists instead (not that Suga can pack much of a punch), but then the door opened.

"Hyung?" A quiet voice. A scared voice.

A guilty voice.

"Get out!" Xiumin yelled, but the boy stepped inside the room, closing the door behind him, and immediately knelt on the ground and bowed.

"I'm so sorry..."

angst, drama, woo hoo

sorry to exo fans

but bts comes first in my heart

then got7

and exo can take a number and get in line