Requested by voracious_quill
--
Another new manager.
His name was Peo-Lin but went by 'Manager P' for short.
He had been working with the members for a few days now. The members thought their initial introductions to eachother hadn't gone so well. Manager P seemed very reserved, almost like he didn't even care to meet any of them. They gave him the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe it was just first day nerves making him act like that, but even days later his personality hadn't changed. He remained reserved and somewhat hostile towards the members.
Manager P was a business man, and the members could tell he wasn't there to form any kind of emotional bonds or attachments with anyone he worked with. He was there to do his job and that was it.
Hobi was the first to express his sadness over how distant their new manager seemed. Their old manager was their best friend but he had taken a higher position with another company. Actually, most of their staff was their best friend so to have a new manager who didn't care to bond with anyone was disheartening.
"As long as he does his job well, I guess that's all that matters," Namjoon shrugged.
"I have an idea!" Taehyung suggested, "We should invite him over for a little night time barbecue or something! Maybe he can't form relationships at work because he's too busy. I bet if we all sat around a fire with him, we could actually get to know eachother!"
The others agreed that it was a great idea. Taehyung smiled and nodded at the small praise from the others.
Jin went and offered the invite and their manager accepted it.
--
Jungkook and Jimin were outside setting up a small tent and chairs while the others were getting the food ready when Manager P showed up at their house. Jin led him out back to their little dinner set up and told him to get comfortable. Once everyone was gathered together and eating, Manager P was the first to mention business.
"I have some schedules I need you all to look at, and then I need you guys to-"
"Can we please not talk about work?" Taehyung interrupted, "We do enough of that while actually there. Let's just forget about work for now."
Manager P glared at Taehyung but bit his tongue, "Right. Yes. Let's just...forget about work." He sipped his drink while continuing to stare at the second maknae with an irritated expression on his face.
The others all got up to go tend to the grill more or grab things from inside the house, leaving just Manager P and Taehyung sitting alone together.
Manager P turned to Taehyung, "You...you're going to be a pain in my ass, aren't you?"
"What?" Taehyung asked confused. Pain in the ass? Why?
"Based on what I've seen so far, Taehyung. Or V. Or whatever you go by...I don't like you," Manager P said sternly. Taehyung stared at the man in a moment of silence, unsure of how to respond.
"You've only just met me," Taehyung defended.
"I've seen enough of you on TV and all that to know I don't like you."
"But you...haven't actually met me until this week. You shouldn't let what you see on TV determine something like that.."
The members returned and Manager P glared at Taehyung. There was warning behind his eyes. Taehyung knew it meant they needed to drop the conversation. The rest of the night didn't exactly produce the results they had hoped for. Their manager didn't open up about anything. Taehyung felt too hurt to even bother trying to hold conversation with anyone. Jin noticed Taehyung's sudden mood change and asked if he was alright.
"Yeah," Taehyung replied while looking at his manager, "I'm just tired." His heart was heavy. He didn't understand why his new manager didn't like him. What had he seen on TV? What had he said that was wrong or bad or annoying? He thought his manager was supposed to keep comments like that to himself, since so far it was a strictly business relationship anyway.
Taehyung quickly learned just how much his new manager didn't like him. The man always avoided him in public. Taehyung could never express any of his thoughts or feelings or concerns because Manager P simply did not care to hear it.
However, being in private was different.
While backstage before an interview one day, Manager P asked Taehyung to speak with him alone. He pulled Taehyung into a room and told him to be quiet during the interview to avoid annoying people or looking stupid, "Because that is all you do."
Taehyung frowned. "But ARMY will want me to-"
Manager P punched Taehyung in the forehead, causing the singer to stumble backwards and bash the back of his head into the wall. "I don't give a shit what ARMY wants. You will do what I want!"
Taehyung cowered as he held the back of his head in his hands. He tried to take deep breaths to still his racing heart.
"Do you understand me?!" Manager P yelled and lifted another fist.
"Yes, yes. I understand. I understand!" Taehyung frantically replied so that he wouldn't get hit again. The wall had hurt way more than the punch did. A few tears trickled down his cheek. He didn't know if it was because he felt anxious or because of how badly his head hurt.
"Now wipe that sorry look off your face and get back to the dressing room."
Taehyung ran out before his manager had the chance to get angry again. He sucked his tears back in and made his way back to the others who were still getting their makeup done. He didn't want to tell them what happened because he didn't want to ruin everyone's moods for the interview. He really hoped this was just a one time occurrence. While he waited for everyone else to get ready he grabbed a seat on a couch and couldn't ignore how incredibly exhausted he suddenly felt. His head was also pounding so he let his eyes slip closed to get in a small nap.
"Aww!" Hobi cooed when he turned in his chair and saw Taehyung passed out on the couch. He grabbed his phone and ran to go take pictures of him. "How cute!"
It was time to go out and the members had a somewhat hard time waking Taehyung up. Jungkook had to practically drag him off the couch to get him to even open his eyes.
They did the interview and Taehyung did remain quiet, just like he was told to. Afterwards the others asked if he was okay and he said he was just tired. Jimin then noticed Taehyung had a bruise on his forehead and asked about it, and his best friend said he had simply walked into a door, which made Jimin chuckle. Taehyung really didn't want anyone to be concerned for him so he kept what Manager P did to himself.
Jin pulled him aside, "Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine hyung, why?" Taehyung asked.
"You seem tired a lot more than usual. And you're never this quiet. Hyung is a bit concerned. You promise me if something was going on you'd tell someone? Or at least me?" Jin asked.
"Yes, hyung. I would tell you." Taehyung frowned at his own lie. He figured nobody could help him anyway. What could anyone really do to their own manager?
Manager P started getting worse with Taehyung. In private he was always screaming at and hitting Taehyung over pointless nonsense. Taehyung learned quickly that Manager P's favorite form of violence was to punch him in the head, which was giving him constant headaches and even making it hard to deal with bright lights. A bad combination for his line of work.
Whether it was overseas, at events, the studio, or basically anywhere, Manager P was always angry at Taehyung about something. The other members were never treated as badly, as far as he could tell anyway. Manager P wasn't exactly 'nice' to them either but he still tolerated them on a much higher level than he tolerated Taehyung.
Jin couldn't stop growing increasingly concerned. The others had been concerned about Taehyung's random headaches and constant exhaustion too, but they all fell to believe it was due to stress. Jin didn't quite believe it. He had a high sense of hyungs intuition and he just knew something was going on that his dongsaeng wasn't being honest about.
While backstage before a concert, Manager P was once again scolding Taehyung. The singer had learned by now how to block out his useless words, he spent the time trying to prepare himself for the hits he knew were coming. Once again, more blows to the head followed by a migraine and the urge to pass out. This time he sat in the room and cried into his knees before getting up and rejoining the others. He was almost at his breaking point. He didn't know how much of this he could take anymore.
Once he recollected himself he went back to the room with his other members. He looked around and saw them all giggling and playing. Jungkook was doing small workouts on the floor so he decided to go over and do some too. However, he couldn't help but close his eyes as he lay on the floor.
Jungkook got up and went to the others, "Look! He's asleep again!"
There was concern in his voice. He knew whatever was stressing Taehyung out to the point where he was so exhausted he slept literally anywhere, he desperately needed a break from it.
"I'll go wake him up," Jin offered. The oldest went over and shook Taehyung's chest. It took a few minutes before his dongsaeng opened his eyes.
"TaeTae? You alright?" Jin asked. Taehyung stared at him. What was he supposed to say? No, because Manager P beats me up before everything we do?
Taehyung figured now wasn't a good time to be honest either because they had a concert to perform. He sat up, "Yeah, sorry. I just..was resting my eyes."
Jin pulled Taehyung into a hug and started rubbing his back gently, "Tae, can we talk when we get home? Please? Just about whatever it is that you're dealing with?"
Taehyung sighed in Jin's arms and said sure, but that was only to make Jin happy. He had no intention of discussing what he was dealing with. Jin helped Taehyung up and everyone got into their pre-concert group huddle.
The concert went great. Taehyung did his best at hiding his mind splitting headache. His eyes hurt. His ears hurt from the ear monitors. Everything hurt. Perform now, hurt later, damnit!
Jin had been keeping his eyes on Taehyung while they were performing and could see his dongsaengs small little gestures that he was in pain. A slight head rub there, a slight limp here, a sniffle to hold back tears there. Jin's heart broke but he was looking forward to having his talk with Taehyung later so they could discuss things. He really just wanted to help. He felt like as the oldest, it was his duty as hyung to make sure everyone was okay all of the time. If they weren't, he couldn't help but feel like it was his fault.
It's my job to keep them all safe. To protect them. To make them laugh. To heal their sickness. It was a heavy weight to bare, but Jin wouldn't trade it for the world.
After the concert, everyone was busy getting out of their outfits. Jin looked around and felt a deep anxiety course through his chest when he realized he didn't see Taehyung in the room with them. Where the hell did he go? Maybe the bathroom?
"Does anyone know where Taehyungie went?" Jin asked the others.
"Manager P wanted to see him," Jimin chimed in from across the room.
Oh?
Jin decided that was fine so he finished getting out of his outfit.
Taehyung had been dragged away from the others for another private scolding.
"I'd ask what I did now, but clearly you hate my entire existence." Taehyung crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. Manager P immediately smacked him across the face and screamed at him that he was sick of Taehyung being on this team and in this group.
"You're just a disrespectful little shit, huh? And your performance was not even worthy of calling you an idol!"
Taehyung was holding his stinging red cheek in his hand. He couldn't do it anymore. He broke. He decided to release all of his pent up feelings right to the man.
"My performance?! How about yours?! You're the worst manager, no-the worst person I have ever met!" Taehyung screamed. He clutched his hands into fists and began to cry. "All you do is harass and hit me for no damn fuckin reason and I'm sick of you! I hate you!"
Manager P showed Taehyung no mercy after that. He ran at Taehyung and immediately threw him to the ground and started kicking him.
Meanwhile, Jin had gotten worried when Taehyung and their manager were gone for what seemed like a long time. Jin told the others he was going to set off looking for them, and he did. He found himself wandering down a random hallway when he heard the sounds of banging and crying and screaming.
Taehyung crying and screaming.
"Taehyung?!" Jin sprinted for the door and the noise was louder. The door was locked so he started punching and kicking it. "Taehyung?! What's going on?! What's wrong?!"
"Help! Hyung help!" Jin could hear the terror in Taehyung's voice, and then he could hear Manager P screaming.
Oh my God.
Jin immediately had an adrenaline rush and busted the entire door down to get into the room. He ran at his manager, who had Taehyung pinned to the floor and was punching him in the chest. Jin tackled him. "What the hell are you doing?!" Jin screamed.
Manager P started hitting Jin.
"Stop it! Get off of him!" Taehyung cried.
Manager P listened because he realized Jin wasn't the target. Taehyung was.
He got back up and went to hurt Taehyung, but Jin jumped to his feet and blocked all of the hits meant for his dongsaeng. He felt all the punches landing on his own body while Taehyung screamed and cried behind him.
"Please! Stop! Stop hurting my hyung!" Taehyung begged.
"Well if he hadn't interrupted me!" the manager screamed. The manager immediately tried going after Taehyung again but Jin ran and blocked every single hit that was meant for the younger. Suddenly, the manager ripped his belt off and tried slamming Taehyung in the chest with it, but Jin grabbed Taehyung and pushed him towards the door and told him to run. "Go, Taehyung! Get out of here!"
"I'm not going to leave you!" Taehyung watched in terror as the belt came down on Jin. Again, and again, and again. Jin started screaming again for his dongsaeng to run. Taehyung didn't listen. He ran at their manager and the man instantly turned and whipped the belt at him, but Jin tripped him and made him stumble before the belt had a chance to hit his dongsaeng. Jin would give his life to make sure that belt did not land on Taehyung. Manager P fell backwards onto Jin, and the oldest let out an ear piercing scream when he felt and heard his fingers and wrist crack in multiple places.
"No! Jin!" Taehyung screamed. He dove down next to Jin to try and help, but Jin pushed his pain aside when he saw their manager coming up from behind Taehyung ready to hurt him again. He grabbed Taehyung with his good hand and threw him behind him. He kneeled in front of him protectively.
"I won't let you touch him! I won't! I won't let you hurt him!" Jin screamed with tears of pain and heartbreak flooding down his cheeks like waterfalls. "You stay the hell away from him, you hear me?! Stay away! This has been the problem the whole time hasn't it?! It's been you!" Jin cried. His heart shattered more and more as he made sense of what was going on. He realized their manager had been secretly hurting Taehyung for a while now and his dongsaeng held on to that secret and was suffering alone. My poor Taehyung.
Jin's entire body and his fingers were throbbing with unbearable pain as he continued to defend Taehyung. He screamed through his tears at their manager while Taehyung curled up behind him and cried. At this point he was too terrified and dizzy to even know what to do. He was mad that Jin was getting hurt but also grateful that he was there because Taehyung knew he couldn't do this himself anymore.
The others members ran in. They had gone looking for the two and found them when they heard the screaming.
What happened next was a chaotic blur. A lot of screaming, more hitting and punching.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears.
Jin had turned and curled up with Taehyung in a hug on the floor. They both ignored everything around them as Jin cried to Taehyung that everything was going to be okay. Taehyung kept apologizing over and and over while he cried but Jin told him he didn't do anything wrong.
Everything was happening so quickly that neither of the singers even remembered being grabbed or rushed to the hospital. It was like time froze and then suddenly they were both there. They both had to undergo trauma exams and it was discovered that Taehyung had a bad long-term concussion (which explained a lot) and Jin had a broken wrist and fingers. Both of them had quite a few bruises but Jin wore most of them. He also wore the only marks from the belt as he had protected Taehyung from every single strike.
The two were reunited in a room together and curled up in the hospital bed. Jin held Taehyung's head to his chest and cried into his dongsaengs hair.
"Why didn't you tell someone?" Jin was desperate for an answer. He couldn't wrap his head around why Taehyung would go through something like that alone.
"I didn't want to burden you." Taehyung couldn't stop himself from crying too, especially seeing Jin's arm in a cast. Jin gently rubbed the back of Taehyung's head. "Taehyung," he said softly, "Never worry about that. He could have really hurt you. You always tell one of us if something like this is happening to you. Please don't ever think you'd be burdening us. Your safety and health is the most important thing."
Taehyung said he promised to say something. He meant it this time.
The others suddenly slammed through the door, practically tripping over eachother trying to get to the bedside first.
"Hyungie and Taehyungie!" Jimin cried. The members were all messes of tears. They all wrapped their arms around the two injured ones in the bed and sobbed. They were informed about the injuries that both sustained and their hearts were completely broken. Later on Jin and Taehyung would learn that before being escorted to jail, Manager P also had to be treated for some injuries that the rest of the members had caused him. Most were from Jungkook. He had taken it upon himself to make sure to show that man no mercy, because nobody messes with his hyungs.
"They wouldn't let us in sooner, we're sorry!" Yoongi cried.
"What the hell was happening with you guys?!" Namjoon asked impatiently. All they had so far were a lot of questions and no answers. Taehyung started to explain the situation but he was getting confused with the details because of his concussion so Jin finished stating the facts. The members cried even harder while listening to everything.
"Ohh my hyungies," Jungkook cried as he hugged them both again. They all discussed what would happen now. What would happen at work, how they'd help out more at home while the two recovered. How they were going to explain to ARMY why Jin had a giant cast on his arm.
--
A few days had gone by and Jin and Taehyung were recovering well at home. Taehyung couldn't help but continuously feel guilty that Jin got hurt when he shouldn't have.
"You expected me to not protect you? I couldn't do that. My heart can't take seeing any of you get hurt. And nobody touches my babies. Nobody. There is nothing to be guilty of. You're innocent Taehyungie. We both are," Jin had told him.
Jin's injury was made public because someone outside the hospital when they were leaving snapped a picture. Jin was angry about it, but told the company to release a statement that he'd simply hurt himself while doing some down-time activities. As transparent as the group was with ARMY, they knew the world didn't need to know everything.
Jin began wearing his cast around as a sign of honor. He was glad to have protected Taehyung. It made him happy knowing that the younger wasn't the one wearing the cast. And although almost the entire world thought Jin was just clumsy and hurt himself fishing or something, the members knew differently.
Jin's dongsaengs knew that his cast represented his highest form of love and protection.
{The End}