Step Into My World (and see)

30. Response

Trigger warning - Usage of slurs

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'Idol Kim Taehyung dating a mentally disabled man! Click to see the clips for yourself!!'

Taehyung's rage knew no bounds. Jimin, who had read the headlines over his shoulder, let out a gasp and shot up from his seat, his eyes already filling up with angry tears. He looked about two seconds away from bursting out and Jeongyeon hugged him from the side before that could happen. 

"What happened?!" Yoongi and Namjoon asked, but Seokjin went to check it himself on Twitter. It was obvious that something was up if it was making Taehyung look at his phone and react so badly. 

"I'm not...I'm not mentally disabled, I'm not a retar-"

"Shhhhhh," Taehyung threw his phone onto the table and yanked his boyfriend into his arms, tears threatening to run down his face. "You are not, baby, we all know you are not. You are a wonderful man, don't mind those assholes," he hurried to assure him, but Jeongguk didn't register those words. 

Taehyung couldn't even begin to imagine how badly the headline would have affected Jeongguk. 

Hell, even a non-autistic person would have felt bad if people all over the country were suddenly talking about them being mentally disabled. He couldn't even start to imagine how an autistic person, who viewed and felt everything a little differently than the others, would feel in such a situation. 

As his boyfriend struggled to get himself together in his arms, he wanted nothing but to wrap him up and hide him away, protecting him from the bad eyes of the world. 

He noticed that Jeongyeon had led Jimin out. He couldn't imagine Jimin's pain either. 

He supposed this wasn't the first time someone called Jeongguk mentally disabled from the way Jeongguk kept mumbling, "I keep telling everyone, but no one listens. I'm not mentally retarded, I swear I'm not," over and over again, his voice getting muffled by Taehyung's chest. 

The rest of them had tears in their eyes too. It wasn't an easy thing to think about. Taehyung gestured for Seokjin to pass him the phone that he had thrown onto the table earlier, and Seokjin sniffled as he placed Taehyung's phone in his hands. 

Over Jeongguk's back, Taehyung opened Twitter and clicked on the most trending tag. 

#KimTaehyungsCharity

His blood boiled as he looked at the clips of Jeongguk flapping his hands in excitement at the amusement park. There were also clips of him getting overwhelmed a couple of hours ago outside the hotel. 

With horror, he realized that he was still being stalked. It could even be the same man. Tears still ran down his face as he clicked at one of the post's comments, but pride filled him up immediately when he noticed a lot of people fighting the person for posting 'such nonsense'. 

He realized that his loyal fans were doing quite a great job at shutting people up after taking Nemesis_95 as their inspiration to stand up to the people they loved. 

"I'm not-"

"Shhh, you are not, baby, you are not."

"Taehyung, take him hom-"

Taehyung's phone rang once again, cutting Seokjin off. It was a call from Jimin. "Baby, see? It's your brother," he said, but Jeongguk didn't respond. "Jimin?" he answered the call himself. 

"Taehyung, it's me," Jeongyeon replied. "Ahh, yes, Jeongyeon, how's Jimin?"

"He is disturbed. We are headed towards the company to do whatever we can. Can you give us your manager's number?" she asked.