BTS 8th member ✔️

Stress

[This Chapter does affect the Plotline]
[A/N: Also a subtle Namjin joke is in here, if that is bothersome to readers I can change it ]

When it came to stress it would happen to Darling on certain occasions. She does get stress, but she hides it fairly well, which scares the boys because she is always hiding her emotions or quickly changing emotions at the blink of the eye.

Taehyung would say that it's inhuman for someone to change their emotion so fast and look so genuine, but that's how Darling was, she knew it was dangerous to her, but she couldn't help herself.

Jungkook would make a superhero nerd comeback saying, "But Noona isn't a mutant, and she doesn't have floating long red hair that fights for her." Which would result in Tae smacking the maknae's head lightly.

When Darling was a little girl she was... a brat, she was an only child and craved attention from her parents since they always work so much. When she was 6 her parents struggled financially since moving to the States, they had low income jobs that couldn't pay the bills on time, but most 6 year-olds know nothing about bills... or money for that matter. So when the stress of finances and bills got the most attention from Darling's parents she hated it, she wanted attention from the only people she could see everyday. Yes she was a brat pretty much, but when you're an only child with an everyday sugar rush even though that kid hasn't had candy in months, you may understand that 6 year-old Darling felt... alone, even though she doesn't fully understand the term 'alone'.

As Darling grew older she started to realize her parent's attention wasn't always going to be on her, but she also realized her parents weren't happy like they were before, and she wanted them to be happy, so when she was upset she would try to talk to her parents, realize that they weren't in the mood to talk, so she learned to conceal it and be happy... to make her parents happy. And 99% of the time it always worked, once Darling's parents see a happy 7 year-old Darling, they fill with joy even when the stress is too high for them too handle.

Flash forward to the Wings Tour with BTS, she saw all of the boys stressing, some more then others, even Hobi, who usually doesn't show his stress. Darling had her stresses too, her voice was failing her, it seemed hoarse whenever she tried to sing high, it also hurt whenever she sang low, she hated using the full audio version, especially when she has a live band from Chicago to play her Solo song, but when your voice is failing you, some sacrifices had to be made, and it even came to the point where Darling can't tell the boys about her voice because it would cause more stress, especially to Namjoon the most. The leader with already built up stress can't know that one of their lead vocalists can't even sing, sure it's a selfish mood, but there is already built up tension in the air.

Namjoon and Yoongi were the first ones to realize that Darling's vocals were practically identical to the audio version of "Am I Wrong", they didn't understand why the live performance of just Darling's lines were pretty much from the audio. Around the last 15 seconds of "Begin" Namjoon grabbed Darling's bicep softly and pulled her into a closet.

"Why are we in a custodians closet? This isn't 7 minutes in-" Darling jokes not looking at Namjoon, but rather the broom which had a lime green handle, and said broom was leaning up against a bookshelf.

"Darling why aren't you singing?" Namjoon sternly cut her off, her face filled with shock and sadness.

"I- I-" Darling didn't know what to do, the melody of "Lie" was about to start and Darling's chest starts to hurt and she can't tell Joonie how she felt.

"Darling, calm down-" Namjoon rubbed both her arms in a comforting manner, but her anxiety never left.

"-just tell me what's wrong, I promise I won't be upset." He said softly, still rubbing her arms. She looked away as tears started to build up.

"It's my fault..." she paused, Namjoon was confused, but he still continued to rub her arms.

Darling took a few seconds to breathe and contain herself, it wasn't working out that well.

"... I couldn't let you know that i'm beyond sick and I barely have a voice, and I couldn't or I wouldn't let you know because so much stress is on you already, I can't deal with the fact that your stressing over me as well." She opens up as she begins to cry and hug Namjoon tightly, he is shocked, his arms away from the breaking dongsaeng that's practiced crushing him, but he slowly puts his arms around her shoulders, his chin on top of her head.

"You're sick? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because Joonie, the stress of having one less vocalist is awful, and you're already stressed as is, I didn't want to be a burden..." she says, breaking the hug as she uses the red sleeve of her shirt to wipe her eyes, some concealer and mascara surfacing on the sleeve

"It's ok, I won't stress about it. I just need you to be happy." He said.

"Now how about we get out of the closet, yeah?"

"Does that mean you'll tell Jin how you feel about him?" Darling jokes as she dabs under her eyes to catch some tears.

"Shut up."

"That wasn't a no~"

"That wasn't a yes~ either~".

They got out of the closet, Yoongi's "First Love" about to start as Jimin's "Lie" was ending. They make their way to the stage for Darling to go on stage for "Lost".

Darling stresses, and she doesn't want the other boys to stress out. Just like how her younger self didn't want to see her parents stressed out either. Darling's morality with stress and emotions may not be the healthiest, but it's hard to change a person when they're just so use to their mistake.

Darling has struggled to effectively show her emotions at the right time, the boys try to help her, and she tries to help back.

Like Taehyung.

Poor Tae Tae was stressing over a busy schedule of filming Hwarang and being able to perform the rest of the Wings Tour. Taehyung was at the back of the stage by the entrance of the telephone booth, Darling watching the TV that was filming the performance. She looked over to see Taehyung looking quite nervous and distraught, she made her way to him.

"TaeTae?" His head snapped to see Darling's worried figure at the bottom of the stair case. He quickly gets up and make his way down the stairs towards Darling and practically tackling her in a tight hug, she holds his tight as he starts to cry.

"Hey... Hey... I know you're going through a lot. You're truly strong for keeping this up for so long." She whispers in his ear, honestly she wasn't even sure of he even heard her, he did. Taehyung still continues to cry as the ARMY chant "We Love You!". Reflection was ending and Taehyung had to be ready by then.

"Hey-" she grabs his face, her thumbs wiping away the tears as he sniffles and more tears fall down his cheeks.

"-Just sing your heart out there, yeah? Let all the stress out on those high notes." She tries to motivate.

"But Noona, those high notes are hard." He says. The telephone starts to ring.

"I know baby, just don't think about it. Let Stigma take out the stress. Sing beautifully without thinking it, now go, I'll be right here when you're done." She tells him as he nods, it starts to get darker and Taehyung stumbles his way to the stairs.

She watches his performance, congratulating Namjoon as we walked down the stairs. Taehyung looked distraught.

I mean it works with the theme of his song...? Even Darling wasn't convinced by that, she shook her head and continued to watch as Taehyung finished, she quickly went to where he exits. He walks out, put his mic in the bin and he searches to find Darling. Once he sees her he quickly goes by her and grabs her into a tight hug as he continues to cry.

"Just let it out TaeTae." She says softly as she runs her fingers through his hair.

"Just let it all out."