ONLY YOU

2. MIRROR IMAGE

⚠⚠Mentions of Strict Diets!⚠⚠

The walls and mirrors seemed to shake with the pounding bass pumping out of the surround system speakers. Taehyung felt completely swallowed by sound as he bent over, hands on his knees, his breathing laboured. He'd been practising since half six this morning while the others were still getting ready, but they should be here any minute now. Taehyung felt as if he was behind, he'd missed so much practice over the last six months with all the little colds and flues he'd been getting.

He'd thrown himself into practising any chance he got.

He cursed his weak-ass immune system for making him a dead weight to the rest.

He never did feel secure in his position in the group with the short amount of training he had, so, every moment counted.

The others wouldn't get it. He felt alone sometimes.

At the moment, it felt like he was sharing a house with strangers. How had it gotten this bad?

Taehyung wanted to talk to them, he knew he should but he simultaneously shrank away from the mere thought of it. Over the past three weeks or so, Taehyung had been on edge. He felt this overpowering need for everything to just stop.

Taehyung had tried lying down, sleeping and even meditating. Anything to get some form of relief but his brain kept racing. Mocking him.

He waited for the room to stop teetering, everything seemed off balance and he just couldn't mute his mind. By all accounts, Taehyung should be ecstatic with his life; he had debuted in one of the top companies in the country, their group was successful and he now had six lifelong friends.

But he wasn't happy.

When he eventually falls asleep these days; it's fragmented. He struggled in and out of bed every day. The more Taehyung slept the worse he felt. Either way, he's irritable.

Most nights he sets his alarm early, convincing himself this time he'll get up and go practice or work out before the rest of the members wake up. He hasn't worked out in months.

Taehyung was supposed to be losing weight this summer for their next comeback which isn't happening. The company wanted him to lose just under a stone as he's the heaviest member with little to no muscle mass.

Taehyung knew he wasn't the best dancer in the group but it still hurt when the managers had sat him down and explained the diet plan. Taehyung couldn't deny it made him self-conscious. He always knew he wasn't the best in terms of dieting but having someone saying it so definitively was nothing short of devastating.

He had numbly nodded along, thankful the discussion didn't require any input from him because he was sure he would've cracked and the floodgates would've burst.

When they had finished he ran straight to the bathroom and locked himself in one of the cubicles. Once alone he couldn't stop the flow of tears that seemed to endlessly tumble down his face. He was a gasping mess of snot and tears on the cold bathroom floor when his phone lit up, telling him "Jungkookie <3" was calling.

This was followed by a thunderstorm of notifications from the group chat and individual members. It was times like this, seeing how much the six of them all cared for each other, that kept Taehyung going.

Reading the worried messages of his members, asking why he wasn't at practice littered with emojis and funny memes reminded Taehyung just how lucky he was to be in a group.

There's no way he could have lived through all the ups and downs by himself as a solo artist. Despite this, Taehyung refused to tell the others.

Jungkook would freak out if he found out.