break him

seventeen

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two days have passed and it's the day of the party. taehyung has never been more nervous in his life before. he had to give a speech but he doesn't know if it's good enough. he wants jeongguk's help but he knows that the speech had to be kept as a secret from the entire kingdom, even seokjin and namjoon. 

taehyung has never given a speech before since the past few years was always namjoon to give them. but this year, namjoon decided that it's time for taehyung to give the speech. namjoon wanted everyone to know taehyung's feelings.

"hyung please... i'm not ready to give this speech! everyone practically hates me and they'll probably laugh at my speech!" taehyung says.

"they won't, tae. i'm sure they're going to understand how much pain you've been through," namjoon says, "i'm pretty sure they're going to like you."

taehyung sighs. "i'll believe you... i'll just go get ready now."

it was two hours before the party starts and taehyung was stressing out. he did not know what to wear, how to act in front of all those people, how to greet them nicely, and how to not break down at any moment.

"mom... dad... why'd you leave me? everything would've been good if you didn't die in that stupid accident... i-i don't know what t-to do... pl-please... i need help... i-i don't know why i can't do this... i-i used to f-feel so happy when—"

taehyung's heartbeat started going fast. he's breathing was unstable and he's hyperventilating. he feels so tense. he can't move even if he wanted to. he's weak.

"taehyung, it's—oh my god, taehyung!" jeongguk exclaims and he immediately rushes next to taehyung. he quickly hugged the trembling boy.

"j-j-jeongguk..."

"shh... don't speak. breathe carefully, okay? in and out. you can do it." jeongguk says softly. taehyung sobs and his breathing started to get more stable. 

when he was breathing carefully and not hyperventilating, he cried. he hugged jeongguk tightly.

"i-i-i don't know wh-what to d-d-do... t-tell me what to do, pl-please... m-mommy always tells m-me what to d-do when i-i'm feeling st-stressed." taehyung sobbed.

"taehyung... i-i don't know what to do... i-i can't handle—fuck it." jeongguk cursed and immediately started rocking taehyung back and forth.

taehyung sobs quieted down and turned into soft sniffles. jeongguk shushes him as he sings a song he really loves.

"j-j-jeonggukie," taehyung whimpers. "i-i hate th-this fe-feeling... wh-what to d-do..."

"you're going to be okay, tae. now, let's go get ready for the party, okay?" jeongguk says but taehyung shook his head.

"no! taetae don't wanna! scary people who h-hate me!" taehyung cries out childishly. "th-they said taetae is someone who doesn't deserve the world!"

jeongguk was beyond confused now. something happened to taehyung and he's not referring to himself in third person.

"l-let me call seokjin hyung first, okay?" jeongguk says and taehyung nodded, letting his grip on jeongguk loose.

jeongguk stepped outside of his room and went searching for seokjin or namjoon.

"jeongguk? hey! what are you doing here? aren't you supposed to be helping taehyung or something?" to jeongguk's luck, seokjin saw jeongguk's panicked face.

"t-taehyung... i—uhm—i don't know what happened to him? he started referring to himself in third person and he's acting so childish." jeongguk says with confusion.

seokjin sighs. "where is he? let me see him."

"he's in his room."

the two walked to where taehyung is. when they arrived, taehyung was picking at his nails with a pout on his face.

"taehyungie? it's jinnie~" seokjin says in a... cute voice.

taehyung's head shot up, "seokjinnie! taetae misses you so much! taetae haven't seen you in a while!"

jeongguk was now beyond confused. why is taehyung referring to himself in third person? it just doesn't make any sense at all.

"wh-who is that?" taehyung asks seokjin, pointing at jeongguk.

"that is jeongguk, your new assistant. yoongi left—"

"y-yoonie hyung left?! why? i-i liked him being my caregiver! w-was is because taetae became naughty? i-i promised i-i won't do it again!" taehyung whines.

caregiver? what in the world is he talking about? jeongguk thought. seokjin motioned jeongguk to come near him and he did.

"taetae, why don't you introduce yourself to jeongguk?" seokjin says.

"but i—" seokjin glared at him.

"h-hello... my name is t-taetae. i-i'm fwour years old!" taehyung exclaims, raising up five fingers.

"that's five, taetae."

taehyung let out an "oh" and he put one finger down, smiling brightly at jeongguk. the other, however, had a hard time processing this. fortunately, seokjin saw this.

"let's talk outside, okay?" seokjin says and jeongguk nodded. they left taehyung alone inside the room and exited the room. seokjin closed the door and he faced jeongguk.

"so i assume you have a lot of questions?"

"well, of course! h-he refers to himself in third person, he's currently four years old, and he acts like a little child!" jeongguk exclaims.

seokjin sighs, "i assume taehyung hasn't told you, didn't he? he's a Little."

"he's a little what?"

"he's a Little."

"little what?!"

"for goodness sake—when a person has too much stress or anxiety, they go into Little space. they act like a little child and that's why taehyung's acting like a little child." seokjin explains shortly.

"i-i didn't know about this, i'm sorry..." jeongguk says. "how come taehyung didn't tell me about this before?"

"he's quite secretive about this topic..." seokjin started, looking at taehyung through the crack of the door; taehyung was humming a song while playing with his fingers. "he didn't want anyone to know about this because he doesn't want people to start bombarding him with questions that he doesn't want to answer."

jeongguk nodded. "mhm, okay. i'll keep that in mind."

"i hope you won't make fun of him, okay?" seokjin says. "there are some things that... i shouldn't say."

jeongguk started at seokjin and nodded. "i promise."

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