SECOND MOLT (1/1)
Things are quick to wind up again, preparations and promotions blurring into each other as work consumes them. Hoseok gets caught up in the choreography, and he doesn't think of anything beyond congratulations when Yoongi tells him he's not having nightmares this time around. He gets caught up in hitting every note, and doesn't count how many times Yoongi walks away from him instead of toward him. He gets caught up in the magic of being on stage again, they all get caught up in it, and they thought Yoongi was right there with them.
In their defense, it starts small. He distances himself the same way he always does. He goes straight to bed when they get home, and only eats at 4am. He sleeps a little while longer, on the couch, before leaving the dorm entirely to go to the studio, with at least an hour until anyone else wakes up. They're all tired, they're all stressed, and they've all got unhealthy habits that help them deal with it. It's easy to brush off, even when Namjoon goes to the studio equally early some mornings and never sees Yoongi there.
Then he stops doing his chores; someone asks him to do them, he says "Yeah sure" but doesn't move right away. Normal. But then when they check back an hour later, they're still not done. A day later, still not done. They yell and yell but he doesn't start doing them again so they give up, re-delegate. No one is happy about this but it's something they don't have the time to fully deal with either.
Little things begin to go missing from around the apartment, like jewelry and photos. Then bigger things like clothes and toys. They start showing up in the trash, burned, cut up, and destroyed. There are other things in the trash, too, like rats and little birds. Disturbing, but no one knows who to blame this on until too late.
He stops eating with them at all, claiming to not be hungry or saying that he was planning on eating later, ignores them in the van, and avoids being around them when he can. During practice, he becomes a little too blunt, to the point of being rude. He antagonizes them over every tiny mistake, somehow having his choreography down without flaw the first time he tried it. Jimin has the worst time with this, leaving the room nearly in tears after being berated for the fourth time that night about how he sucked at the one thing he thought he could do. Namjoon tells Yoongi to shut the fuck up unless he's got something nice to say and he stops talking during practice at all, choosing instead just to scowl at them in the mirrors.
Hoseok tries to fall into any of the routines they used to share, but is ignored. He tries to get Yoongi alone, just to talk like they used to, but is avoided. One night he finally gets a spot next to him in the van, and tries to strike up a conversation. Yoongi tells him to fuck off, jamming his earbuds in and staring adamantly out the window the rest of the way home. Hoseok feels so bad after that, not even really understanding what he had done wrong but knowing it was something really serious, he cries about it the next time he's alone. Most times he's alone.
Yoongi starts saying nasty things to anyone he thinks will let him get away with it, mostly staff. Namjoon only finds out about it because his stylist one day tells him to "keep that boy on a leash." He shouts at Yoongi until he's red in the face but he just rolls his eyes, waving him off with a "yeah, sure. Of course, leader." They won't let him get styled by himself anymore, but fewer of the other members are willing to keep an eye on him as he gets worse. It's down to Hoseok, Seokjin and Namjoon.
Every day they work harder, practicing and promoting. During their precious free time, Yoongi has his earbuds in and he's on the laptop, ignoring the world around him. They think he's working on new tracks until Jungkook checks the internet history, looking for a funny video he saw the other day, and it isn't good. They huddle around the glowing rectangle and scroll through all the sites that have been visited recently. There are some miscellaneous, innocent things, from the brief moments they could use the computer, but it's mostly videos that they won't click on, with warnings like "graphic" and "not staged". Tags like "torture", "abuse", "murder". Stunned, lost, and horrified, they stop letting him use the laptop, and so he stops spending time at the dorm. He's there at night sometimes, though it hardly matters because he refuses to talk to them at all. His bed is usually empty, sometimes there's light and sound coming from other parts of the dorm, but often, there's no trace of him in their home at all.
He won't tell them where he goes or what he's been up to, but he comes home with a stench like a stray dog, and it usually looks like he's been fighting. Bruises, blood. Hoseok remembers how dark his blood was as it washed down that sink drain, years ago now, and wonders if it still runs black like that. If it does, then it's never his own blood staining his clothes. But there's no way to be sure.
They don't have a clue what to do about it now that it's definitely too late to do anything. They've tried talking, tried yelling, tried ignoring. Even casual conversations are incredibly thorny, so there's no way to get to the root of the issue. He has a glare, a snarl, a way of looking at them that tears them up inside, not to mention that every single one of their insecurities is at his fingertips and he doesn't hesitate to use them. They just want the old Yoongi back, the sweet, standoffish one that didn't scare the shit out of them. They hope it's a phase, but how can you tell? Their manager doesn't even know about any of it yet, they feel silly but they don't want him to get in trouble, to be taken away from them. He pulls himself together when they need to perform anyway, manages to stay up all night, doing God knows what, to not eat regularly at all, and still hit every verse like he's supposed to. It's like he's hardly even human any more. Their work isn't affected so they tell themselves that they can handle it as long as no one gets hurt. What else were they supposed to do?
Then during dance practice one day, instead of letting his hand fall away when Hoseok tugs at his wrist, as the choreography dictates, his fingers tighten around Taehyung's throat. He doesn't let go until Taehyung chokes and shoves him away. He doesn't apologize before storming out. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe he zoned out. Someone got hurt, but what were they supposed to do? So they keep making excuses for him. Maybe he was just tired. Maybe he forgot the next move.
Things are tense in the dorm the next day. They have to perform on a music show that night, and none of them are feeling up to it. Yoongi is with them, but isn't really there, which is normal these days. The van ride is quiet and their manager asks several times if they're okay, answered repeatedly with rushed assurances before dead silence sweeps over them again. The quiet is gone when they arrive at the studio, where he doesn't bow as deeply as he should, fights with the stylists about the look they're giving him, doesn't even want to stand close to the other members of BTS and when he's forced to he uses the opportunity to mutter underhanded insults at them. Pain shines in their eyes as they smile and shake their heads in his wake, making excuses for him so no one is really offended. To their relief, they get through the whole show without huge mishap, and their guard goes down.
None of them are close by or even watching him in the last 15 minutes of the show, when a girl falls off the stage and he is standing super close, suspiciously close, to where she had been. Sirens, lights, a stretcher. There was no way to tell the extent of the injuries this early, but she was definitely in the hospital. They hadn't heard anyone accusing Yoongi, yet, and they weren't even sure if he'd really pushed her themselves, but this was too far, they'd let it go way too far.
The next morning everyone scours fancams and official recordings, looking for proof as to whether he did or didn't push her. Everyone except Jungkook and Hoseok, neither of whom could stomach the thought long enough to help.
"Look." They're sitting on the couch watching TV when the laptop smacks heavily on the coffee table in front of them, Namjoon pointing at a video playing on the screen. It's shaky, a fancam from a cellphone that shouldn't have gotten past security, but there's a glint as Suga's arm reaches out, makes contact, and, she tips over the edge. It definitely looks like he pushed her. They play it over and over.
"What are we supposed to do?" Hoseok's voice is low, he hates that it's something he even needs to ask. There's a long, heavy pause.
"I don't know. No one is pressing charges, I heard she'll recover with no permanent injuries. He's not even here right now. What can we do?" Yoongi still isn't home when they go to sleep that night, praying that none of this will be real when they wake up tomorrow.