Arcadia 11

Six

"Jimin you should have seen what he was like when I first met him." Taehyung closed his eyes hoping to stop the onslaught of images this topic was bringing up. "When Little Markie first met me, he didn't even know he was a Little. He was backstage at a music show having a full blown panic attack, Jungkook and I were worried he would pass out, he was bawling but wouldn't let us get him help. Kept telling us that his group couldn't see him like this and that he had to be strong for them." Letting out a shuddering breath, he pressed trying to keep his thoughts straight. "He thought there was something wrong with himself, he asked me to keep everything that happened in that bathroom a secret, only Jungkook could know and that's because he had seen it too. It scared him so he shut that part of himself off, trying to shove it so far down that it only came out in extreme cases."

Jimin gasped, Namjoon had told them how bad that could be, how it not only affected his mental but emotional state as well. When they started touring for Youth in Japan, they'd all noticed Namjoon's temper, his need to be alone, for the longest time they were afraid to approach him, which had been the problem. Namjoon had grown frail and unhinged, Hoseok had to take over for a couple months while Namjoon was told to sit back and let the others take care of him, which seemed to make it worse. Then the next year while touring for You Never Walk Alone, Yoongi found him in their hotel room talking to his plush Ryan the Lion and that's when things got complicated again. Shaking himself out of his thoughts he focused back in on Taehyung, who opened his eyes to show just how painful the memories of Mark suffering really were for him.

"It took me a week to get him to talk about it, and that was just because I was bothering him so much. After I had done a ton of research while talking to him we discovered what it was." Taehyung continued. "When I finally got him to come over for the first time and explained to him that what he was doing was okay and that he wasn't committing some great sin against his group or his family, he cried the whole night. I made him stay that weekend, remember?" Jimin nodded, the new knowledge of that mysterious time making everything clearer.

"It took all day Saturday to convince him I wouldn't hate him, that he was still going to be Mark and this wouldn't change that, and that I absolutely didn't mind looking after his Little side. Sunday he spent in Little space and it was so heart breaking." Taehyung let out another shuttering breath, jostling the other two as well. However Mark slept on, show-casing just how tired he truly was. "Have you ever been around a puppy that's been abused?" Jimin could feel the tears gathering in his eyes, he didn't want to hear this as much as he needed to know.

"He looked so fearful of everything. Like the things around him were going to attack him. He wouldn't move from the floor, every time I opened my mouth he would flinch, his whole body shook. He refused to make eye contact. Whenever I caught him staring at Namjoon's bed he would immediately look away. He didn't talk, just sat there, staring so pitifully at everything. I felt like a monster." Taehyung's tears had finally started to fall, his voice cracking painfully.

Jimin reached out, grabbing his hand and giving it a squeeze. He knew how Taehyung was, knew how large his heart was and how much this must have killed him. Seokjin, who had been listening in the hall, walked in with the tray of bowls along with drinks.

Mark woke up at the end of their meal, the smell of food bringing him back to consciousness, along with the cold. It was silent except the sounds of eating, but that wasn't disturbing, no, the disturbing thing was no one was touching him! Taehyung was no longer pressed against his side gently rubbing his tummy, Jimin wasn't calmly playing with his hair, and his tiger wasn't tucked under his arm. Letting out a whine, Mark sat up and looked around rubbing at his eyes to try and get the blurriness away. Taehyung was sitting at his desk, sipping the broth from his soup, Jimin was gathering his empty dishes no doubt to take them back to the kitchen. Both froze when Mark sat up, Taehyung jumping into action.