Apparently, this took me almost a year to update??? What the heck, it felt like I updated only (lol 'only'?) three months ago. I hope people are still reading this! It's really fun to write this story~
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*Earlier...*
Yoongi walked after Taehyung, hurrying so the younger wouldn't lock himself inside a room before he could get to him. Yoongi found him in the hallway, about to enter the bathroom, so Yoongi quickened his steps and slammed his hand on the door as Taehyung was about to push it closed.
"H-Hyung, what are you doing?" Taehyung asked, his eyes wide.
Yoongi took a step forward, into the bathroom, and that was all that was needed to make Taehyung step back and release the door.
Yoongi fully stepped inside and closed the bathroom door, locking it with a simple twist of the lock. He was almost certain none of the boys would come here, since he'd told Jungkook he would be talking to Taehyung. The members knew privacy was to be respected. Still, he didn't want to be jumped by a forgetful Jimin rushing into the bathroom because he had left something in there.
And besides that, locking the door had the lovely effect of scaring the shivering boy in front of him even more.
"Calm down, Taehyung-ah," Yoongi said, or more like demanded. "I'm just here to talk."
Taehyung was stepping backward, but soon enough he reached the wall of the shower and he couldn't continue. His fists were balled and he stared at Yoongi in fear.
"Y-You hurt me," Taehyung said softly. "T-Those dreams...they were...they were your doing."
Yoongi had to resist the urge to smile. He reveled in the fact that Taehyung was so utterly terrified of him that the boy's entire body was shaking and his voice was barely a whisper. But he was a little confused...confused as to how Taehyung could be remembering so much. Hadn't he made sure the boy wouldn't remember anything? Just like he had done with Jungkook, which seemed to have worked perfectly fine?
"How is it that you remember?" Yoongi questioned softly, studying Taehyung from the small distance between them.
"I-I...what? What do you mean? O-Of course I remember...y-you were terrifying!" Taehyung said, his voice raising a little, but he was scared to yell at Yoongi.
Yoongi chuckled and feigned an innocent pout. "We were just playing, weren't we? I wasn't going to kill you. I wouldn't do that to Yoongi's friends. Not yet. He wouldn't cooperate so wonderfully anymore."
Taehyung's fear spiked. "What...'Yoongi's friends'? 'Coop...erate'? You're not- you're- No. No..." he breathed out, realization dawning upon him. "You're not Yoongi."
Yoongi grinned and slowly clapped his hands, mocking Taehyung's slow understanding of the situation. "Even though you remembered everything from yesterday, you took a while to realize that."
Taehyung gritted his teeth and tried to glare at Yoongi, but it was difficult with how scared he was. "I knew you weren't Yoongi-hyung...that you had somehow taken over...I just thought...I thought he was...somewhere in there still. That you'd taken over his mind. But...that's not the case...is it?"
Yoongi grinned widely. "Oh, smarter than I thought. Good job, Taehyung-ah. Now, what will you do next?"
Taehyung gulped, looking at Yoongi, at the demon. Oh god, he was looking at a demon. Oh god, an actual demon had been here. Oh god, for how long?!
No...that wasn't even the worst bit...
If this wasn't Yoongi...if the demon hadn't taken over Yoongi's mind and indeed a full demon stood here in the bathroom with him...that meant the real Yoongi was gone.
Taehyung's eyes widened and he gasped, slightly startling the demon.
"Where is Yoongi?" Taehyung demanded.
The demon chuckled. "Oh, you seem to have realized that part too, huh? It's none of your concern, Taehyungie. I'll be Yoongi from now on and
Taehyung's eyes filled with tears and he started shaking his head furiously. "No, no! I-I don't- No I won't listen to you! Give Yoongi-hyung back!"
The demon easily picked Taehyung up by his shirt and slammed him against the wall, earning a pained yelp from the boy whose head slammed against the tiles. His vision was spinning slightly and he had difficulty focusing on Yoongi's- no, the demon's face as he glared at him.
"You're going to listen to me, Taehyung. I will hurt Yoongi if you don't. I will hurt YOU if you don't. You don't want to be stuck in more nightmares, do you? Perhaps I'll tell everyone you need the day off tomorrow...let you fall into an endless nightmare..." the demon smirked, eyes crazy with pure evil in them, "No one will be able to stop it, no one will try to wake you up...you'll be all alone...waiting until someone comes home...waiting until someone comes to save you...you'll be left in AGONY!"
Taehyung cried out a sob and squeezed his eyes shut. He flinched at the demon's voice. It only vaguely resembled Yoongi's voice now, and it was terrifying. He finally understood what Yoongi had meant with a voice that resembled an animal-like growl.
Taehyung felt himself being released. His knees buckled due to the immense fear he felt and he slid down the wall until he felt the cold bathroom floor underneath him. The demon held his chin, pulling his head up to look at him.
"Now, answer me, Taehyung. What will you do next?"
Taehyung suppressed a new sob that threatened to escape his lips and he gulped. "S-Stay quiet."
"Or else?"
Shit, he could hardly speak. He forced himself to open his mouth and stutter the next few words.
"N-Nightmares...Yoongi-hyung h-hurt..."
The demon smiled at him and let go of his chin only to pat his head. "Good boy, Taehyung. It's too bad you had to remember everything. You would've been oblivious to any of this if you'd forgotten just like Jungkookie."
Just like Jungkookie? Taehyung thought as he stared at the floor, a look of horror flashing on his face as he imagined what the demon could've done to the maknae.
"And I can't do anything about it now. I can't make you forget what happened yesterday...it's too late for that." The demon sighed. "So I'll just have to make this work. And you will have to behave nicely for that, understood?"
Taehyung nodded, his eyes still on the floor. He wouldn't look this demon in the eyes again.
"Good. Now take care of that awful crying face, I don't want those boys to get suspicious."
Taehyung stumbled back to his feet almost immediately, scared to disobey. He splashed some water in his face, took a few gulps of water to calm himself down, and fixed his hair and his shirt. He looked somewhat decent after a few minutes, but his eyes were still puffy and he looked pale. He couldn't do much about that, though, so he figured this would have to do.
When he was done, he walked after the demon, towards the living room.
No one knows he's a demon but me, Taehyung thought to himself. I'm letting a demon live in this house...I must be a terrible person for letting this happen...but fuck I'm so scared...
He vaguely heard Jimin and Jin's angry voices as he walked through the hallway, followed by Namjoon's calm voice. Part of him wondered if something had happened, but the largest part was too occupied with everything that had just happened.
"Morning, guys." 'Yoongi' told the members as he walked into the kitchen.
No one seemed suspicious of Yoongi...why couldn't they see? Taehyung desperately wanted them to notice that something was off about Yoongi. He didn't want to be alone with this knowledge. Fuck...
"Hey, Taehyung, how are you feeling?" Jimin asked, walking up to the pale boy. "Jungkookie told us you didn't sleep well due to nightmares. Did you get to talk about it with Yoongi-hyung?"
Taehyung nodded slowly, his face blank. His eyes traveled to the demon...that evil being pretending to be their Yoongi...
Jimin put an arm around him and walked him to the kitchen. "You'll have to eat something quickly, because manager-nim is here in five minutes. You took a while waking up."
I couldn't wake up, Taehyung thought. He wished he could tell them, say something, anything that could give them some information. But he had to stay quiet. Stay quiet.
A few bites of fruit and a very one-sided conversation with Jimin later, and Namjoon announced that there would be a van waiting outside their dorm. They all put on their coats and left the dorm, making sure to lock the door.
Taehyung was seated in between Yoongi and Jungkook when they got into the van. He only realized this when he looked to the left and saw a pair of eyes holding some sort of evil, amused glint in them staring right at him. He subconsciously pressed himself closer to Jungkook, but he was shoved closer to Yoongi instead when Jungkook complained about 'personal space, hyung' in the already cramped van.
Of course, Yoongi didn't complain. He felt how anxious Taehyung was. He enjoyed the fear radiating from the boy. It was a nice contrast with the happy and excited members.
The ride to the venue where their interview would be held took about an hour. During the ride, Jimin and Jungkook had fallen asleep again. Taehyung had taken the opportunity to lean his head on Jungkook's shoulder – he couldn't complain now that he was asleep, HA – and he felt like he was about to doze off too. However, their driver announcing they had arrived woke him up enough and so he sat up straight and shook Jungkook awake.
"Jungkook-ah, we're here," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
Jungkook made a complaining noise, but after a moment he opened his eyes and stretched his arms. Together, the seven of them stepped out of the van and walked into the building. They only had about half an hour for hair and make-up, they'd heard, so they hurried inside as staff members guided them to the right rooms.
Taehyung walked after the group, his mind drifting off. He was afraid of looking too much in Yoongi's direction out of fear, so he tried to avoid it completely. He didn't want to anger him by making it seem obvious that he was uncomfortable around the elder...
Taehyung only came back to reality when his hair and make-up were already done. He seemed to have been staring at himself in the mirror and his make-up artist gently told him she had finished and he was ready to go.
"Thank you," he mumbled. He looked around to see that Jin, Jungkook, and Hoseok were done as well, and they were laughing about something on Jin's phone. Jimin had fallen asleep again while his hair was being done, and Namjoon seemed almost done. He was mumbling to himself, probably rehearsing some questions they knew were going to be asked.
Yoongi, on the other hand, seemed far from done.
"Yoongi-ssi, you'll have to wear these contacts, it's part of the look," a staff member told the blonde-haired male.
"I'm not wearing them."
"But it's part of the look—"
"I'm not wearing them!"
Yoongi raising his voice at the staff member – something that had never happened before – made the other members look up from the commotion. Jin, Jungkook, and Hoseok stopped laughing, Jimin woke up from his half-asleep state, and Namjoon turned around in his seat to look at Yoongi.
"Hyung, what's wrong?" Namjoon asked, not wasting a single moment to ask the question.
"Nothing, Namjoon, don't worry about it," Yoongi basically snapped.
Taehyung gulped. He knew this wasn't Yoongi. It literally wasn't. But the others didn't know...they were probably confused...concerned...worried for all the wrong reasons.
"You're raising your voice at a staff member, that means there's something to worry about," Namjoon retorted with a frown.
"Is everything alright?" Jimin asked sleepily, but Jin quickly shushed him, muttering something that Taehyung couldn't hear, but effectively shut Jimin up.
"Namjoon-hyung, let's leave it—" Taehyung tried, but Namjoon shook his head.
"No, if something's wrong I want hyung to tell us about it," he said, before turning to Yoongi. "You never yell at staff members- none of us do but especially you don't. Something's up, and if it isn't, you have to apologize to her right now, hyung."
The staff member quickly waved her hands. "No, no, it's okay, it's not a problem, Yoongi-ssi probably didn't mean to, i-it's probably my fault!"
Taehyung blurted it out before he could think his actions through. "He doesn't want to wear the contact lenses!"
Yoongi snapped his head at Taehyung, glaring at the younger so fiercely that Taehyung wanted to hide away. Taehyung's words had caught the members' interest, though, so there was no time for hiding.
"Since when do you yell about wearing lenses?" Jin laughed.
"Since when do you all worry so much about nothing?" Yoongi snapped back. "It's nothing, really. I just don't want to wear the lenses. Can we respect that?"
Taehyung's eyes fell on Jungkook, who looked like he'd just had an epiphany. His eyes were wide and he stared into nothingness. Taehyung could see rather than hear him mutter a word...'lenses...'.
"Well, I can respect that of course, as long as you respect others as well, hyung," Namjoon said. "You shouldn't just yell at people like that, especially not hard-working staff." He turned to the flustered staff member in Yoongi's stead and bowed his head. "I'm sorry on his behalf, he'll do the interview without wearing the lenses if that's alright."
"Of course, of course, it's alright, it's not a problem." The staff member quickly dismissed it.
Yoongi received some more frowns from Namjoon and Jimin, and a rather concerned stare from Jungkook. Taehyung wondered why the maknae suddenly looked so...surprised? Upset? He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he figured it was quite upsetting that Yoongi behaved strangely.
As soon as Namjoon and Jimin's make-up artists had put the finishing touch to their hair and make-up, a non-BigHit staff member walked into the room. It was probably someone from the venue, Taehyung assumed. He was proven right when the man called for them to follow him to the stage. Their interview would be held for a live audience, after all.
Taehyung could already hear the screaming and cheering of fans waiting in their seats as the group walked through the halls to the stage. They were guided behind the stage where they had to wait until the interviewer called for them.
Oh!
That's when Taehyung remembered why he had been so excited about the interview before. The person who would interview them today was Park Jaehyung, better known as Jae. Jae was a band member in the band DAY6, but he was well-known for hosting variety shows and podcasts as well.
Taehyung had been too much in thought for him to hear what Jae was saying, but then he heard the words 'give a warm welcome to...BTS!'.
He moved forward, following after Hoseok and Jimin, who walked in the front. Even though his mind was still clouded with fear – Yoongi...the demon...it was right behind him! – he felt a happy boxy grin grow on his face when he saw Jae, and even more so when he saw all the ARMYs sitting in the audience. He waved at them before bowing to Jae and taking a seat on one of the bar chairs that were put behind a large sofa. Yoongi took a seat next to him, making the hairs in his neck stand on end.
"Welcome, guys!" Jae said with a grin. "It's good to see you again, it's been a while!"
"Thanks Jae," Namjoon said with a laugh, "You're right, it feels like it's been ages, right guys?"
"Definitely," Jungkook nodded.
"It's been so long, I'm probably too old now," Hoseok said.
"Then what does that make me?!" Jin exclaimed.
"Ancient," Jungkook said teasingly, making everyone burst out laughing.
It was a very relaxed interview from there on. Jae eased them into the questions about their comeback, but made sure to keep the mood light and joked around a lot. Hoseok answered a lot of questions about the theme of their comeback, while Namjoon explained some theories, and Jimin and Jin discussed the lyrics of the only song that was out yet. It wasn't the title song of their new album, but they had wanted to release the intro song before the album got out, just as a pre-comeback gift for ARMY.
Taehyung kept himself calm and tried to enjoy the interview as much as he could. He only had to answer a few questions here and there and he was actually glad that the attention didn't go to him that much. He made sure to throw in a few funny comments though, unable to keep himself from teasing Jae once in a while.
It was starting to become obvious, however, that Yoongi was rather quiet. He hadn't answered any questions about the comeback, even though he was the one behind the production of many of the songs. Taehyung was sure that the demon had no idea- or maybe only a vague idea of what they were all talking about.
"Yoongi, are you alright?" Taehyung could hear Jin whisper to the demon. Jin had probably noticed the silence to his right as well. Jin doesn't know he's a demon, oh god, what if he decides to just kill all of us?!
Taehyung's panic was flowing back and his calm demeanor changed into an uncomfortable one, but he forced himself not to look at Yoongi and keep listening to what Namjoon was talking about. But it was difficult, and he had lost the conversation at some point and now he felt even more anxious, trying to keep up with what was being said.
"And for this album, I noticed that Suga co-produced a lot of the songs. That's awesome. Did you produce most of them at your studio or do you also work a lot from home?" Jae asked.
Yoongi smiled. "Mostly at my studio."
Jae smiled. "Awesome, and you had a great name for the studio, I heard."
Yoongi grinned. "Yeah, I came up with it a while ago, the Genius Lab. The maknaes like to crash it a lot."
Jae laughed. "Ahh, do they bother their hyungs a lot?"
"Nooo!" Jimin protested.
"We would never," Jungkook said solemnly. Meanwhile, Taehyung still tried to get back to the conversation and follow everything.
Yoongi just laughed.
"So, you mostly work at the studio. How about at your house?" Jae asked. "You've all been living together for quite some time, I imagine working from home isn't always easy, but some artists have their studios at home."
The boys all nodded, but since Yoongi had been quiet a lot during the interview, Jae tried to give him more time to speak. He turned back to Yoongi. "How long has it been again?"
It was quiet for a moment, and Namjoon almost spoke for Yoongi as the two of them had been living together the longest, but Yoongi already spoke up.
"Ehmm...four years or so?"
Jae nodded and continued asking a few more questions about how producing the songs had gone, and Yoongi answered the questions with short answers, but all of the members had tensed at his previous answer.
Five years? Was he messing with them?
Everyone knew, most ARMYs even knew, that Yoongi and Namjoon had been living together for ten years now. The other members a little less, but definitely not four. Heck, four years ago they had already been a group for almost five years!!
Taehyung had paled, knowing Yoongi had now said something completely wrong and the others must've caught onto it. He knew they must've, because even the crowd had shot them confused looks.
Yoongi's answers had turned even shorter than before and Jae, being a good host and interviewer, knew how to switch to different members when he thought they were getting uncomfortable. Of course he didn't know that 'Yoongi' probably had close to no idea what they were talking about.
They finished the interview shortly after, but Taehyung had completely spaced out and lost track of time. He barely noticed it when they said their goodbyes, because all he could do was stare in Yoongi's direction. He barely noticed it when they were led behind the stage again and into the dressing room, because all he could think about was how that imposter was going to kill them.
"Alright, spit it out."
Taehyung blinked at Jin's harsh, no-bullshit words. For a moment he thought they were directed at him, but then he got out of his daze and saw that the two eldest of the group were staring at each other.
"What?" Yoongi asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms.
Jin obviously wasn't intimidated by it and looked at Yoongi accusingly. "Something's up with you. You had no focus during the interview and you were bullshitting all the answers."
"Hyung..." Namjoon said hesitantly at Jin's use of words.
Jin shook his head. "No, Namjoon. Something's up and I just know that Yoongi has been keeping something from us. It's obvious in the way he acts. Didn't you notice how he left yesterday evening and never came back until this morning? Don't think I didn't notice! I'm the eldest hyung here, I keep an eye on all of you! I just never thought he would fuck up an interview like that. He's the main producer for this album and he barely said a word! And then Jae gave him the opportunity to speak some more and he blatantly lied. As if he had no idea what he was saying!"
Jin spoke as if he had a train to catch, the words rolling off his tongue as he ranted about his annoyance.
"I mean, four years? Four years?! All of our fans know we've been together as a group for more than double that number! I'm sure Jae knew too, but he was professional enough not to show it. Damn it, do you have any idea what this means for us, Yoongi?! It will be all over social media, people will be questioning why on earth you've said that! They will be speculating, making up things, and we'll probably need to have BigHit give a statement about something as stupid as this!"
"It might not even get to that point, hyung..." Namjoon said.
"Maybe," Jin sighed, before he turned to Yoongi again, "but you really are acting weird. First sneaking out in the night...then yelling at the staff...now you're lying and acting weird during interviews...seriously, Yoongi. What is going on?"
It was quiet for a moment. The few staff members that had been present had quickly left the dressing room, giving the boys some privacy with their discussions. Jungkook and Hoseok were staring at their hyungs with wide eyes while Jimin looked serious, frowning with a look that told them he wanted to join in the discussion but held himself back.
Meanwhile, Taehyung looked like he was about to pee himself. Jimin noticed the terrified look on his best friend's face and his mouth formed a thin line.
"If you would believe me for once, I would tell you," Yoongi said. A glare had formed on his face while Jin had been talking and he looked beyond pissed.
Jin let out a sigh again. "So this has to do with that demon you're seeing. Alright. Say I believe in it, what does it have to do with you acting weird?"
"Perhaps I'm not really myself when a demon is haunting my ass, hm?" Yoongi replied with a sarcastic tone. Totally not something Yoongi would say. Yoongi would stay calm, think about his words more, or if he was agitated he would yell out something. Talking like this, to his hyung even, was out of character. Taehyung wasn't the only one who noticed, now.
"Is...is it here?" Jungkook asked softly.
Yoongi and Jin both turned to look at him.
Yoongi snorted. "What? You think it would show up in a room full of you guys?"
"It has been careless before...when it showed its eyes to me..." Jimin mumbled, looking around the room suspiciously. He couldn't see anything strange. Nothing seemed to be off about the room, but he still had a feeling Jungkook could be right.
Yoongi rolled his eyes and Jungkook and Jimin stifled a gasp. "No, it's not here. But how about I just call in sick for the next few interviews, hm? Then you won't have to worry about me fucking things up."
He walked out of the dressing room and no one followed after him, not even bothering to comment on how Yoongi seemed to suddenly walk just fine. Jungkook and Jimin recognized the look on each other's faces and Jimin now understood why Taehyung was looking so pale the whole time.
"So...ehm...did anyone else see that Yoongi's eyes turned yellow when he rolled his eyes?" Jimin asked.
Namjoon and Hoseok frowned and Jin let out a laugh. "What? You're not serious, are you?"
"Just now, I saw it," Jimin said, nodding.
"Me too," Jungkook breathed out. That made Jin join in with the frowning.
"And Taehyung has been pale ever since he spoke to Yoongi-hyung at home," Jimin added. Taehyung shot him a look that was a complete mess. It was both betrayal and relief, both fear and gratitude. "Can you tell us why that is, Tae?"
Taehyung gulped, the demon's voice running through his head again...
"Either you stay quiet about it and pretend you know nothing or I hurt the real Yoongi so bad you won't even recognize him when you do get him back."
A shiver ran down his spine and he looked at Jimin in fear. "I-I can't...he...he doesn't want me to."
"Fuck," Namjoon said, while Jimin let out a soft 'I knew it'.
"Yoongi-hyung told you something, didn't he? Said something to scare you?" Jungkook asked softly.
Taehyung stared at the maknae, too scared to nod or confirm what he said in any way. What if the demon was listening in on them right now? What if he would hurt the real Yoongi? What if he would punish Taehyung with eternal nightmares again?!
"This is so fucked up," Hoseok said, shaking his head. "We're not supposed to keep secrets from each other, guys. This situation with Yoongi has been hard and we don't all agree on how to deal with it, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about this. Yoongi might not be in his right mind, so whatever he told you, Taehyung-ah, you have to tell someone about it. Especially if he scared you this much."
Taehyung nodded at Hoseok, but he didn't say anything.
Namjoon grimaced. "I'm with Hobi on this one, Taehyung-ah. Sometimes secrets aren't bad, but this one seems to scare the living shit out of you. Would it really be that bad if you told us? Wouldn't it make you feel better? Wouldn't we be able to help Yoongi?"
Taehyung nodded, but it was unclear to which of those questions he agreed.
"H-He'll punish us..." Taehyung whispered. He had subconsciously grabbed Jimin's arm and squeezed it, his friend drawing circles on his hand in a soothing way.
"Punish?" Jin blurted out with an incredulous look on his face. He laughed. "Yoongi doesn't hurt a fly! Besides, he's not the oldest here. If he needs to be taught a lesson, I'll gladly take that upon myself."
"Hyung, no fighting," Namjoon said quickly, seeing how Jin was getting fired up. "But Tae, that sounds very disturbing. Yoongi would never say something like that. What on earth did you two talk about?"
Taehyung looked at the closed door. The demon had run out of the room and Taehyung hoped, he prayed, that it was far away now and wouldn't hear him speak.
"You won't believe me, but..." Taehyung started, hesitantly looking at each member, "that's not Yoongi."
Namjoon blinked at him.
Hoseok looked confused.
Jin laughed...though very, very nervously.
And Jimin and Jungkook just looked at him in horror. The two of them had had their suspicions. Jungkook, after he somehow remembered something vague concerning Yoongi's lenses...and yellow eyes...and Jimin, after seeing Yoongi's eyes only minutes ago and remembering how awfully similar they looked to the demon's eyes.
"What are you saying?" Hoseok asked. "Yoongi isn't himself, no, but he said so too, a lot is going on and-"
"No," Taehyung interrupted, shaking his head. "It's not. Yoongi. Not the real Yoongi, at least."
"What...what do you mean?" Namjoon asked.
Taehyung was almost feeling faint with anxiety, but he had to tell them now. He looked at them one by one and took a deep breath.
"That guy who just stormed out, looking exactly like our hyung? That was the demon we've been seeing."