"Taehyung, are you coming?"
"No, Hyung. I'm waiting for Yoongi-Hyung."
Namjoon stared at Taehyung for a moment. The others had already left for the company as they started earlier, so Namjoon had planned on travelling later with Taehyung.
"You have a schedule today. You can see Yoongi-Hyung afterwards."
"But I won't finish until late. I have some time before I need to leave."
Before an argument could ensue, Anna interrupted.
"I'll make sure he leaves in time, whether Yoongi is here or not."
"Fine. Taehyung, you can stay, but when Anna tells you to leave you go. Understood?"
"Yes, Hyung."
The leader sighed and rolled his eyes at his Taehyung as he kissed his forehead. Pulling Anna towards him, Namjoon kissed the top of her head too.
"I don't know what I would do without you. You keep me sane. Bye, my love."
"Bye, Joon. Have a good day."
A couple of hours passed with Anna and Taehyung curled up on the sofa together watching a drama. Finally, they heard from Yoongi. He had landed. However, Taehyung needed to go to work.
"Tae, I'm sorry, but you have to go."
"But he'll be here any minute!"
"It's going to take him at least an hour. You know what the traffic is like."
Taehyung pouted and Anna couldn't help giving those pouty lips a kiss.
"I'll tell him you waited as long as you could. He'll be touched."
"Promise? Okay, then. See you later."
Once Taehyung had left, Anna went around and tidied up the apartment for Yoongi's arrival. When she heard the door unlock, she ran to greet him.
"Welcome home!"
Yoongi dropped his bags as the door closed behind him. He looked exhausted, but that was to be expected since he had been travelling so much. However, it didn't stop Anna from worrying about him.
"Is anybody else here?"
"No, it's just me, but Taehyung -"
Anna suddenly had an armful of Yoongi. The rapper had wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her neck. Although she was a little shocked, she returned the hug. He had been away for a long time, so it made sense that he was glad to be home.
But then she felt something wet on her skin. Yoongi was crying.
She held him tighter and waited until he was ready to talk. Eventually, he pulled back and she wiped away the tears from his cheeks. They went up to his room and lay down on his bed facing each other. Their hands clasped between them.
"I love ARMY and I loved being able to perform for them all around the world, but it was a lot to do by myself."
"Why didn't you say anything when I visited? I would've stayed with you."
Yoongi shrugged as he traced his fingers over the lines on Anna's hand.
"I needed to stay strong to finish it."
Anna shuffled forward until their noses touched.
"You did. You were so brave doing it all by yourself. I'm so proud of you."
"I love you, Jagi."
"I love you too."
They spent a few minutes just being comforted by each other's presence.
"I knew it would be different, going on tour alone compared to going as a group, but I still wasn't prepared for how hard it would be, how alone I would feel."
"I understand. Although I don't have anything to compare it to, I've seen how you guys are together. When you're writing songs, having dance practice, and performing, you have each other and get to have fun together. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy being a singer and I'm grateful for the opportunity, but sometimes it's... not what I thought."
"What do you mean?"
"I wasn't prepared for how hard it would be. Not the workload, but all the other little bits that I didn't think about or didn't think would be such a big deal."
"The job is more than just making music and performing. Although sometimes I wish it wasn't, the promotions, the criticism... it's unavoidable. Is it getting to you?"
"No. Maybe. Sometimes."
"I hope you didn't feel like you had to become an Idol for us. I know we pushed you towards it but that was only because we believed it was what you wanted."
"No. I promise. If I didn't want to do this then you couldn't have made me or persuaded me to do it."
"Good."
Yoongi closed the inch of space between them and pressed his lips to her in a sweet peck. Anna smiled at him when he pulled back.
"You enjoyed it though? Performing for ARMY. Even if it was hard."
"I did. I loved seeing them."
They stayed curled up together for a while telling each other stories of things that had happened since they last saw each other.
Anna checked the time and saw that the others would be home soon. She stroked under Yoongi's eye with her thumb.
"I'm going to get started on dinner."
"I'll help you."
As they cooked, she told him about Taehyung's antics earlier that day.
"He wanted to welcome you home."
Yoongi shook his head amused.
"He acts more like a puppy than Yeontan."
Anna laughed.
"That's true! He's my puppy. I like it when he's like that though. Sometimes..."
"Sometimes?"
"I worry about him. Out of all of you, I feel like he took your sudden rise in popularity the hardest. I know none of you ever expected to get to where you are now, but -"
"It's just me here, Jagi. Don't filter your thoughts for me."
"You've all changed since debut, of course, you've grown up, but with Tae, he changed so much. I wonder if he's uncomfortable with being in the public eye. That maybe he doesn't always want to live this way. Does that make sense?"
"Hm, this life has its challenges. It's all about balance. Do the rewards outweigh the negatives? Do you love your work enough that you can live with what comes with it, such as the lack of privacy? We've all had to make that decision a few times over the years and decided that yes, it's worth it. I won't deny that it was harder for some than others."
"BTS. You chose BTS. Staying together is what made it worth it because you knew that whatever happened you would still have each other. You wouldn't be alone."
"You'll never be alone either, Jagi."
"I know."
Dinner was almost ready by the time the rest of their soulmates got home.
"Yoongi-Hyung!"
He rolled his eyes, but the rapper couldn't hide his big gummy smile at his soulmates' enthusiasm. After lots of hugs and kisses, they sat down to eat. It was a rare sight to have so many of them eat together.
While they ate, Yoongi told them all about his time on tour. He kept the atmosphere light, not wanting to have a deep conversation more than once today. Anna rested her hand on his thigh as he spoke and gave him a knowing but reassuring smile when he glanced her way.
"How was your day at the company?"
Namjoon ruffled Taehyung's hair as he answered.
"Good. This one made it on time for our meeting. We... we confirmed the timeline for our enlistment. We'll all be going at the same time at the end of the year."
Anna's heart clenched.
"All four of you? At the same time?"
"Yes. At least you'll have Yoongi-Hyung with you."
"The sooner you go the sooner you come back I suppose."
Jimin wrapped his arm around her, and she leaned into his embrace.
"Noona? If you have time, can you visit Bam? He's going to stay at the training centre but without my visits, I worry he'll think I've abandoned him."
"Of course, I will. I'll visit every week. Or... I don't know what my schedule is going to look like, but he could live at home, and I'll look after him. Does the company allow dogs inside?"
"Well, we sneaked Tannie inside but he's a lot smaller than Bammie."
They all laughed.
"Either way, Bam isn't going to forget you, Kookie. You can visit him on your days off."
"I guess, but it's still a long time."
Taehyung gasped.
"Oh! You could get a cushion with your face on! That's such a good idea. I'm going to get one for Tannie."
The other boys laughed, but Anna was deep in thought.
"But what photo would you use?"