"What the hell could have happened then?" Namjoon asked.

"I don't know. I just- I don't know." Yoongi said, running a hand through his hair.

"But you have a guess."

"I'm sure you do, too." 

"You've got me there." Namjoon poked at his sandwich, "It's hard not to, hyung. You're right, something is going on with him. Something serious."

"Why can't he tell us what's going on?"

"Fear? Lots of people keep secrets because of fear."

Is that what was going through his Dad? His Mom, too? Was fear the reason that nothing ever  seemed to be what it was in his house? Their smiles: fake. There to coat over every lie ever created to hide that things weren't okay as they were made out to be. Their laughs: fake. An add on to those ever so fake smiles. It was all fake, even after their paths split and strayed away from each other, things remained the way it had been. His mother's eyes continually got more and more tired yet she continued to say that she was as awake as the sun in the sky. Her face gained wrinkles nearly every day from the stress and she always said that everything was under control, that she was handling it. 

Yoongi knew now that she wasn't doing as well as she had managed to convince everyone. She had just lost her husband to a considerably younger woman and now had to care for her teenage son all on her own without the support of anyone. 

She must've been so scared. Scared of the same thing happening to her son. Scared that if she didn't give him a good life and convince him that he needed it, the same would come of him. She was almost terrified of her son discovering just how tired all of this made her. That he wouldn't feel proud of her. She didn't want him to go through the same shame of knowing that your family laughs over the fact that the man you loved left you and that you have nothing to live on anymore. She had been shamed on since the day she chose to love his Dad. It was like her family had a sixth sense and knew that he would only result in heartache but treated it the opposite of how they should've. His Mom had always said that she had no regrets, that if she were to go back in time and change anything, she wouldn't change who she chose to love. Sure, he had left her, but she got more out of it than she would have if they had never been together. She got experience, drive, and most importantly, Yoongi. If her family couldn't see past the fact that she had fallen in love, even if it was with a man who had no conscience, than she didn't want them in her life. 

Fear of all of those things must've influenced her to tell her son that she was okay when she wasn't. Much like what Jungkook was doing now. He was trying to hide the fact that he was hurt behind a mask of 'I'm okay'. He didn't want anyone to be involved that didn't have to be. It was like whatever was happening was so bad that he thought they'd hate him for it. Fear of disgusting them kept him in a bubble full of an emotion that Yoongi could only imagine was hurt and fear. Something was holding Jungkook back from bursting that bubble. It was holding him by the shoulder and leading him down a path that only resulted in him going further and further away from hearing that pop and letting that thing lose its hold on him. He was hiding something behind words that in no way represented the situation as it actually was. 

Despite saying it, Yoongi knew nothing was okay. Something was going on, something that was placing Jungkook in a position that he shouldn't be in. In a position that replaced all the comfort he had grown in return for that shield that had blocked out Yoongi and Namjoon in the beginning. 

"I guess so." Yoongi picked at the meal in the container in front of him, "What do you think happened. I know you have a guess."

Namjoon sighed, "Something involving another person. Definitely not a door nor anything related to one."

"Do you think it was those boys?"

"It seems logical, I mean, have you seen anybody else threaten to hurt JK?"

"Once or twice, but they haven't come back like those guys."

"What do you mean 'once or twice'?"

"You saw how quick he was to get up and defend me. He does this all the time."

"I know that. I thought he was able to smooth things over between the guys that fight."

"Well, it doesn't always end nicely." Yoongi said, poking his fork into his food, "He gets threatened way more than he should and sometimes gets hit."

"How did I not know about that?"

"He refuses to have it reported."

Namjoon leaned back in his seat, "Refused to report it my ass. We should've gone ahead and done it. Somebody hit him for crying out loud!"

"It happened off café property and he didn't want us to say anything, so there wasn't much we could do."

The salmon haired took a deep breath, "Alright, have any of those people come back, by chance?"

"Like I said, the only repeats are those guys last month."

"So, you think it's them?"

Yoongi nodded, "It would make sense, right?"

"Sure. Jungkook's been going home more on his own lately, which would provide good timing."

"Exactly. Maybe the guys threatened to hurt us if he told because you know how he is with someone getting hurt."

"He'll beat their ass." Namjoon chuckled.

Yoongi laughed, "That's our JK." Yoongi's laughs subsided, "I just wish he'd trust us with this."

"The way I look at it," Namjoon started, resting his elbows against the table, "he'd be scared for our safety, maybe other's, and wouldn't want to risk that. He's been going it alone for so long that he's decided he can handle these things all on his own. That if anyone were to be brought in, they'd suffer the consequences too. He doesn't want anyone to be hurt or affected in any way, even if it means blocking himself away from good people."

"You're one deep dude, Namjoon."

"Deep but right."

"Very true." Yoongi tapped the table with his fingers softly, "How do we get him out of this? I mean, if we can."

"Keep being his friend. Providing support." Namjoon said, taking a sip of his drink.

Yoongi nodded, "Now, protection plan. We can't let our Kookie get hurt anymore."

"Well, we could walk or drive him to wherever he needs to go. It might stop the risk of being jumped."

"Good. We could also message him or call him if he does decide to walk home alone."

"Ensure he goes down safe roads." 

"That might be hard because of where he works, but we could try."

"True." Namjoon said.

"This sounds good."

"Very good."

"The 'Curious About the Regular' partnership has turned into the 'Protect the Regular' partnership." Yoongi grinned.

"You know, looking back on it, that whole partnership thing was kind of stupid. We shouldn't have needed that."

"But it brought us together."

"That's the only good thing about it."

"You know you're dissing your own idea, right?"

"My idea? I swore this was your idea."

"It was your idea."

"I mean, I could've sworn that it was your voice there calling me Mr. Kim while proposing we look into 'the regular'."

"You are not turning this around on me, Namjoon. It was your idea."

"Come on, Yoongi Hyung."

"You should be happy this was your idea. We met Jungkook because of it."

"True. It's just, it sounds like a little kid's club."

"Yeah, we could've been a bit better about the name."

"It made it look like we were kids stalking their crush."

"Very true."

Namjoon bit his lip, "Let's not tell him about the partnership."

"Well, at least for now."

"Yeah."

Yoongi closed the container's lid over his half eaten food, "My break's up. I'll see you later."

"Wait, Hyung."

Yoongi turned mid way to the counter, "Yeah?"

"Would you like to go to the fair with me and maybe JK sometime in the next week?"

"Sure, when will you ask Jungkook?"

"Next time he's here or over the phone."

"Alright, sounds cool."

"Great." Namjoon smiled.

Yoongi smiled back as he finished making his way back to his bag where he could deposit his lunch gear. He could only imagine why Jungkook was so scared. Those guys must be threatening him hard for him to change so drastically in such a short period of time. Why were they still coming after him? Yoongi couldn't know quite yet. All he could do was hope was that Jungkook would trust him enough to eventually spill the details. For right now, all that could be done was to keep up with his safety and ensure to keep him away from being alone. Jungkook would not be hurt anymore, not on Yoongi's watch.

Word Count: 1544

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While it may seem that this is a filler chapter, it's actually got some pretty big plot pieces. I have a love and hate relationship with fillers, I don't think you'll be seeing many from me.
I'm going to SuperM's concert Sunday!! I'm super excited! If you haven't listened to them, you should, I'm looking at you my friend you reads this lol
Anyways thanks for reading and I'll see you all next week!