Too Much Confidence

Going a Bit Too Far

"What are you doing?"

Namjoon smiled. There wasn't a single other person in sight. He was free to do whatever he wanted.

Jin was standing by himself in the kitchen.

"Can you wash the dishes?" Namjoon asked.

"What?"

"You heard me. Get cracking."

"But..." Jin mumbled. He looked down at his feet. He had no more fight left in him. The others were successfully breaking him down. "But... you can't make me do it every day. You made me do it last night too."

Namjoon shrugged. "Yeah, so?"

"Why are you guys being so horrible to me?" Jin asked.

"Why do you think?"

"I don't know."

"You genuinely don't know?" Namjoon scoffed. "Why don't you take a good long look in the mirror and ask yourself that question? Or do you still think that you're the goody two shoes of the group? You've done nothing wrong?"

"I don't think so-"

"Literally ridiculous."

Namjoon stomped off. Jin watched his retreating back, getting more and more confused.

It was so weird. One day, they thought he was too quiet and self-conscious, so they told him to be more confident and outgoing. He thought he was doing a good job. He was doing everything right. And now, all of a sudden he hears that he's overdoing it and he's being annoying.

It was confusing. Jin had never been told how to behave. He just followed orders.

With a sigh, Jin turned towards the sink. He filled it up with warm water and slowly started to wash the dirty dishes. It was disgusting. He could hear the others laughing together in the living room. They had something that they didn't.

-------

Yoongi stepped forward onto the landing, blocking Jin from getting up on it. Jin was forced to balance on the narrow stair.

"Can you... um-"

"Watch it. You say anything wrong and I can push you down the stairs."

Jin shut up. He stared down at his feet again, avoiding eye contact. With the way Yoongi's voice sounded, there was no doubt that he would push Jin down if he had the chance.

He didn't know what was going on. He longed to go away from this place. He wanted to go and talk to the staff, they actually cared about him. These people didn't care.

....

He focused on balancing on the stair. That's all he could do for now.

-------

He had managed to survive vocal class, but to his horror, he ran into Jungkook in the hallway right after. There wasn't any reason why Jungkook should've been there - he was supposed to be on the other side of the building.

"What are you..."

Jin's words were cut off when Jungkook took his shoulders and slammed him against the wall. Jungkook held onto him as Jin spluttered and coughed. The wind had been knocked out of him. He stared into Jungkook's eyes and he gaped at the hate in them. Why did everyone hate him so much?

"Why are you doing this to me?" he managed to mutter out. His throat felt like it was closing up. Jungkook was too close to him.

"Why do you think?"

Jungkook's breath was on his face.

Why was this question always being asked? He didn't have an answer. He was just as confused.

"I don't-"

Jungkook's teeth were bared. He pulled his fist back, and Jin closed his eyes. He waited for the inevitable punch. It didn't come.

When he opened his eyes again, Jungkook was frozen with his hand right above Jin's nose. The smile was still playing on his face. But he was hesitant with the violence, Jin noticed. Even Jungkook had a weakness.

"I'll let you go this time," Jungkook finally said. "Get out of my face."

Jin nodded. As soon as Jungkook's grip loosened the slightest bit, he scampered away. He threw himself into an empty studio, locking the door behind him. He heard Jungkook walk away.

Jin fell against the door. His breath came out in gasps. He tried to think critically about what he'd done so wrong that everybody would hate him so much. It was so hard to understand. Wherever he was, he would be subjected to an unpredictable amount of kindness - one minute, he would be treated well, the next, not.

He didn't know what to do.

-------

Taehyung laughed as Jungkook explained the story of what had happened in the hallway. He hadn't laughed this hard in such a long time. His sides hurt.

"You don't understand," Jungkook was saying. "He looked so scared."

"Well, of course he was! Probably for the first time in his life, he realized that not everything happens how he wants it."

"A real power imbalance there."

"Yeah."

Jungkook shrugged. "He could've easily thrown me aside if he wanted to, though. He works out. He's strong."

Yoongi, who had been listening to the conversation from the side, finally jumped in. "Why don't we try something else? Make him not eat so he isn't as strong anymore?"

Taehyung's eyes widened. "How are we supposed to do that?"

"Don't worry about the how. Do you want to or not?"

"I mean, I don't have any objections against it. Whatever. As long he doesn't die or anything. We're going to end up in trouble then," Jungkook said.

"Oh, don't worry," Yoongi said. "We'll just make him weak, not bedridden. The key here is control. We get to control him and make him lose that obnoxious confidence that defined him."

"If anything goes wrong, you can take responsibility for it," Taehyung said.

"Oh, nothing will happen." When Taehyung shook his head, Yoongi sighed. "Fine. If anything does go wrong, I will take responsibility. I will turn myself in. Happy?"

Taehyung nodded.

"How are you going to do it, though?" Jungkook asked.

"Just threaten him. You guys obviously don't know how to do that. Just leave it to me."

"Okay," Jungkook said. He took a deep breath. He thought again about the fear in Jin's eyes.

Taehyung looked conflicted. About what exactly, he didn't know. They were doing good, it was just... he couldn't explain it. Something was wrong.

-------

i. hate. school.

its like i go to school and all my old insecurities come rushing back ahhh

okay have a good day! hope you're liking it so far!

1017 words