Despite everyone's assurances that Jimin would be fine, there was only one person who could make him feel safe at that moment, someone who had always been there to keep Jimin safe.

But he wasn't there.

He wasn't in the car.

As Jimin heard their step-father's footsteps growing closer, he fumbled his cellphone out of his pocket and quickly scrolled through the contacts before finding the one he needed and hitting the call button.

The car clicked as the locks disengaged.

"Hello?"

"T-Tae," Jimin breathed out.

The car door opened.

"Jimin? What's up?"

Jimin swallowed before forcing himself to laugh. "'N-Nothing, Tae. I j-just got b-bored. What are y-you doing right n-now?"

A breathy pause on the other end before Tae's reply. "Well, nothing really. According to Dad, I'm doing homework. According to Lisa, I'm researching the ingredients for a homemade pipe bomb. According to Jungkook, I'm plotting step 17 in my master plan of ruining his life."

"That's a l-lot of s-steps."

"All great endeavors take time." Another pause. "What are you up to?"

"I'm t-taking a break from h-homework," Jimin said, swallowing once more and turning his head to stare out the window as their step-father climbed into the driver's seat. He didn't even look back.

Jimin didn't know if that was a good sign or a bad sign.

Yoongi and Hobi, meanwhile, were caught between anger at Jimin for lying and concern for his well-being. He could see their reflections in the window.

He ignored them. "I was j-just thinking that it w-would be fun if we all h-had a s-sleepover," Jimin proposed, thinking back to the years they'd all slept under the same roof, years he'd appreciated dearly but had taken for granted in the moment.

"Ooh," Tae said, and Jimin could hear a pen tapping against a desk in the background. "That sounds like fun. Almost as much fun as step 17 in my master plan to ruin Kookie's life."

"What's s-step 17?"

"A magician never reveals his tricks!" Tae boasted before immediately adding, "But, on a completely, totally unrelated note that has absolutely nothing at all whatsoever to do with step 17 in my master plan to ruin Kookie's life...how do you feel about robots?"

Jimin blinked. "R-Robots?"

"Yeah. I was thinking that I'd build a robot version of Kookie, and then everyone would like the robot version better because 1, it's a robot and 2, it's like Jungkook 2.0 and 3, I made the robot so of course it would be awesome. I had reasons 4, 5, and 6 listed in the subcategory Reasons Why Robot Jungkook Would Be More Popular Than Real Jungkook but I spilled juice on the list and had to rewrite it. Upon writing the list a second time, I realized that there was an error in the original subcategory Reasons Why Robot Jungkook Would Be More Popular Than Real Jungkook because I realized that we don't even know that the Jungkook we know is the real Jungkook, you know? Like, what if the Jungkook we thought was the real Jungkook was actually just a robot based off the real Jungkook? Or a robot based off a robot based off-"

"I g-get it," Jimin interrupted before Tae got caught in an infinite loop. "B-But I think he's the r-real one. I think."

"Are you sure, though?"

"I...N-No..."

"Exactly. Like, what finite proof do we have?"

"D-Don't robots have to r-recharge or s-something?" Jimin asked, raising his eyebrows because he was used to letting Tae unwind his own twisted logic without interrupting him with reality. Better to let him dream.

"Smart boy, Jimin. Smart boy. Why, you ask? Why are you so smart? Because I thought of that point myself. I asked myself: have I ever seen Jungkook plug in a charging cable? And I came up short with a negative answer. But then I wondered, what if Jungkook is a wireless robot? And his bed is his charging station? And all he has to do is be in contact with his bed to charge? It explains why he lies in bed at night even though he doesn't require sleep."

"Unless he r-really is h-human."

"Jimin, as a scientist, I've been trained to bypass such infinitesimally small chances and focus on the big picture."

"So...that's s-step 17?"

"Didn't I tell you that I can't reveal any information about my master plan to ruin Kookie's life?"

"B-But then you s-said-"

"Back to the real question. If the Kookie we know is a robot - scratch that. It's a robot. It doesn't deserve cute human nicknames. So all right, if it is Jungkook's robot, then where is the original Jungkook? Do we go on a mission to retrieve him? Or are we satisfied with the robot we have? Is that wrong? We have to question the morality of the whole issue. Can we accept a robot as our brother? Can we love a robot? Can a robot love us? What does he - sorry - it get out of our family? Why is it here? Who sent it? What are their intentions? Do we destroy Jungkook's robot-"

Tae's dialogue cut off with a muffled thump before a new voice came over the line.

"Hello?"

"K-Kookie?"

A muffled thud followed by an ow in the background as Jungkook smacked the back of Tae's head. "Jimin. Was Tae trying to sell the whole Jungkook-is-a-robot thing? For step 17?"

"T-Tae said it wasn't s-step 17-"

"YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO KNOW ABOUT STEP 17!" came Tae's yell from the background, directed towards Jungkook, who ignored him.

"He's just being an idiot, Jimin. I'm not a robot."

"...I know, K-Kookie."

"Why did you hesitate?"

"...W-Well-"

Another thud as Jungkook hit the top of Tae's head. "STOP CORRUPTING OUR BROTHERS!"

There were muffled yells back and forth as Jungkook and Tae fought, Jungkook covering the speakers so Jimin didn't have to hear them yell back and forth.

Finally, Jungkook came back on the line. "Tae is extremely sorry for misleading you. And I'm not a robot."

"That's exactly what a robot would say," Tae muttered in the background.

More muffled yells before the phone switched users.

"Sorry about the robot," Tae said with a sigh. "I forgot he has amplified hearing."

Jimin laughed softly to himself, the sound unforced, but it fell with Tae's next words.

"Seriously, though, Jimin. What's wrong?"

Jimin risked a glance towards the front seat.

The car was silent.

But that had been part of Jimin's plan. Because their step-father couldn't yell at them with Tae on the phone. Tae would hear. He'd tell Namjoon. Namjoon would tell the lawyers or whoever he had to tell.

So Tae was his safety net.

His lifeline. Literally.

"I'm okay," Jimin said. For now.

***

"No you're not," Tae answered immediately, spinning around in his chair lazily with the phone up to his ear. He knew when Jimin was lying. It was easy. Jimin was a poor liar, for one. But Jimin didn't often call, not just when he was bored. Tae knew it was because Jimin hated having to repeat his words over the phone when he couldn't get them right the first time. According to Jimin, it was because he preferred texting since he could use emojis in his messages.

There was a pause on the other end. Then, "I made a new friend today."

"Oh?" Tae stopped swiveling. "Who is it?" Tae was all for Jimin making friends, but he had a hard time accepting the people Jimin claimed as his friends. Like Jongup. No matter how much Tae told Jimin that he was making a mistake in befriending someone who had bullied him in the past, Jimin refused to break ties with Jongup. Tae hadn't renewed his efforts to separate them recently since he was still getting back into Jimin's good graces after the love letters incident. But he'd try again soon.

"H-His name is M-Mingyu. He's r-really t-tall."

"Why do you make friends with tall kids?" Tae asked, rolling his eyes.

"S-So they can r-reach things for m-me," Jimin said before giggling to let Tae know that he was kidding. "I d-don't know. It j-just happens."

"Well...that's good, I guess."

"Y-Yep. He has a l-lot of b-brothers, too! There's J-Joshua, Wonwoo, J-Jeonghan, D-Dino, and Woozi."

"Hey," Tae said, laughing. "That's funny. Yoongi's Instagram username is Woozi something."

***

Jimin looked over at Yoongi. "I d-didn't know you h-had an Instagram."

Yoongi blinked, tilting his head. "I don't?"

Jimin put the phone back up to his ear. "Are y-you sure that's Y-Yoongi?"

Tae scoffed. "I think I know what my hyung looks like, thanks. And as the good dongsaeng I am, I always make sure to like his post and add a dirty comment with questionable emojis."

"W-Why?"

"Because," Tae said, sighing in exasperation. "I am the lifeblood of the comment section. Everyone else needs someone to hype them up, to open the gates for them to comment whatever they want without fear of judgment because I've already put a far worse comment in there so they're safe. Without me, all the comments would just be Cool, man. Stuff like that. Boring. No vision. No excitement."

"O-Okay," Jimin said, cutting Tae off before Tae could read him aloud a comment section. Jimin paused as he saw the car pull into the driveway. He waited for their mom to unlock the car doors and unlock the front door before he hurried inside, going straight to their room. "I have to g-go now, T-Tae. Thank y-you."

"What? Hang on-"

Jimin hung up as Yoongi and Hobi walked inside and shut the door.

They waited in silence.

For yelling, screaming, violent knocks on the door.

But the house was silent.

Jimin breathed out. "M-Maybe we're safe?"

"He probably had too much to drink and doesn't even know that we were there," Yoongi said, and Hobi shrugged.

"Let's just count ourselves lucky."

They all nodded before climbing into their respective beds, Yoongi waiting for them to get in before shutting off the light and going into their own beds.

Half an hour later, the door opened.

***

Yoongi sat up immediately, adrenaline pumping in his veins, before he saw who the intruder was. Hobi and Jimin were asleep.

Yoongi laid back down before they could see him sitting up in the shadows.

Their mom climbed up the ladder slowly before giving Jimin a kiss on the forehead. "Good night, Jimin."

Then she climbed back down, slowly, and gave Hobi a kiss. "Good night, Hobi."

Then Yoongi shut his eyes as she came over and hesitated before giving him a kiss on the forehead. "Good night, Yoongi. And go to sleep."

Yoongi opened his eyes, the ruse up. "Why are you kissing us good night?"

"I'm your mother. Can't I?"

"We're too old."

"Not to me." She smiled, but it was hard to make out her face in the shadows. "You'll always be my little boys."

Yoongi twisted his lips in a skeptical line, but she just patted his head gently before leaving the room.