You saw the fire behind your eyelids before you even opened them.

"FIRE! FIRE!" you shrieked, bolting upright in bed.

"There is no fire. Go back to sleep," Jungkook, who was laying next to you, murmured sleepily. You looked around for a moment, then, convinced that there was nothing to worry about, you settled back into the warm sheets and closed your eyes.

Which promptly snapped open again.

"JUNGKOOK?!" you exclaimed, springing out of bed and stepping backward, as if the mattress contained a ticking bomb.

"Mm?" He half-opened an eye.

"W-why are you in my bed?"

"Not in your bed, in mine," he said and turned over, as if that explained everything.

You rolled your eyes. "Then why am I in your bed?"

"You're not, you just jumped out of it," he mumbled.

"I- ah- ugh. Well, why was I in your bed?"

"Because you would've died from smoke inhalation if you didn't get out of there, and you would probably yell at me if you woke up on the floor."

You blinked. "Smoke?"

Jungkook finally turned over, fixing you with sleepy doe eyes. "Yeah, smoke. Don't you remember?"

You shook your head slowly. What was he talking about?

"Um... so you kinda almost burned the apartment down trying to bake something yesterday."

You blinked again, racking your brain. Yesterday? You remembered something about glue, soggy cereal (ew what), and cupcakes. That made no sense whatsoever. Then you coughed, your throat caught on fire, and you remembered. Although it was mostly a blur of sounds and colors near the end, you remembered it all.

"Were... were you the blob?" you asked hesitantly.

"What?"

"You know. The blob."

"I don't know, actually."

You sighed. "Did you... did you carry me to your room?"

"Yeah." Then he rolled over again.

You huffed and pushed his shoulder with your foot. "Insufferable prick."

"You're welcome."

You rolled your eyes, trying to think of something smart to say back but failed. "Why didn't you bring me to my own bed?"

"I dunno. The door was closed and my hands were occupied."

"Mm." You looked around. Jungkook's room looked the same as his room back in Busan, only much bigger. Posters and pictures taped onto the walls, random CDs scattered all over the place, one of those mesh laundry bags hanging on the door, an oddly neat desk with in the midst of the chaos. It was all so familiar. You winced. No, don't think about that. "What time is it?"

"See for yourself." He waved a hand at the opposite wall, and you looked over to see a clock.

"Eight in the morning?? How long have I been asleep?"

"Just a day. Chillax, Y/N, you didn't have anything important to do. What did you burn in there, anyway?"

"Mmcupcakes."

"Cupcakes? Why?"

"I dunno." You'd never realized how grey the carpet was.

"Come on, tell me."

"Uh-uh."

"Pretty please?"

Ugh. "I... I guess I wanted to make it up to you when I walked out like that," you mumbled. Your voice was so low you could hardly hear it yourself, but count on Jungkook to make out the tiniest sound.

"Aww. That's so sweet of you. C'mere." You tried to back away, but he was too fast, scooping you into a hug in his muscular arms. You tried to wiggle away, but he wouldn't let you go until you started to suffocate.

"So. Cupcakes, huh?" He looked you up and down as you caught your breath, which made you feel self-conscious in your huge t-shirt and shorts. "What a good nickname. Has a better ring to it than creamcake."

"No! How many times do I have to tell you? No nicknames!"

"Shush, cupcake. I'll do what I want."

"Why does everyone have to use dessert nicknames for me?" you muttered to yourself.

"Because they're polite," he said, even though you weren't talking to him. "You look more like a full-blown feast."

Your cheeks warmed. "Yeah, sure."

"I'm serious." He turned around to fix you with those impossibly pretty eyes, and you turned around as well so he couldn't see the red staining your cheeks. "You're, like, the prettiest girl I've ever seen."

You quickly shook your head to clear away the notion that he was being honest. "Okay, I'mma head out now, bye."

"No, stay with me, Noona." Jungkook tugged at your shirt and looked at you through his long, dark eyelashes.

You bit your lip.

"I..." You swallowed. It was hard to think while those chocolaty orbs were staring into your soul like that. "I-I'm... I'm gonna go help clean up the kitchen."

He sighed dramatically. "Alright. I'll come with you."

You tried to make him stay here, but he had, inconveniently, turned deaf until you gave in.

By this time, you kind of knew your way around, so your steps were steady. But they started to lag when the kitchen got closer and closer, and you found your feet practically dragging on the ground when you walked into the hallway leading into the dreaded room.

"Hey, when did you get so slow?" Jungkook said, nudging your shoulder with his own. "I almost have to crawl to stay at your speed."

"I... I-I dunno," you said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear. "B-but maybe... m-m-maybe, maybe I shouldn't g-go, go out there at all. They might... they th-they might... they might just think I'm a b-b-bother, a-and I-I-I... I might r-ruin, r... ruin something again, and, and, a-and and-"

"I can hardly understand you," he interrupted. "You're stuttering like crazy. Come on, cupcake, it's nothing. Why are you so nervous?"

"I...I-I..." You sighed. "I don't know. I just don't want to face them after I've r-ruined their multi-million won kitchen."

"We make a lot, more than you probably think. It's fine. No biggie."

"A-are... are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure. You might have to scrub the floor yourself, though."

"If that's the worst, I guess I'll live."

Suddenly, you realized how close you were and stopped quickly. Your sweat, the master of untimely appearances, decided to stick its butt in your beeswax again, your hands began to shake, and your breaths got quicker and quicker. Nobody was going to throw you into prison for this. Bangtan probably had enough money to buy sixty more of them. It wouldn't take too long to scrub it out. Then why were you so nervous?

Without saying a word, Jungkook took your hands and held them tightly, making sure they couldn't shake, and waited until your little panic attack subsided. You wanted to say that it didn't help and that you haughtily shook him off and sashayed away, but it did help, and it felt good. You stood there, with your hands gripped firmly in his, until your heartbeat slowed down and your breathing evened out.

"Okay... okay... it's okay now..." You bit your lip at how shaky your voice was. Were you really that weak?

"Are you sure? We can wait a bit longer, if you want." Wow. He was either genuinely concerned for your well-being, or he was really good at faking it.

"No, no, I... let's just go." You pulled your hands out of his and wiped them on your pants, pretending to be disgusted that he touched you (when you were really only wiping your own sweat off) and walked into the kitchen.

"Y/N!"

You glanced at Jungkook and swallowed, slowly turning around.

To be almost knocked over by a huge hug.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?!" "Does it hurt? Tell me where it hurts. Now." "Do you need me to get anything, Y/N?" "And never, EVER, do that to me again." "I'm so glad you're better, Y/N!" "Give the girl some space, she needs oxygen, you know."

"She's fine, now listen to Yoongi hyung and make some room before she dies of suffocation," Jungkook chuckled.

"You guys... care about me... that... much?" you asked once they'd given you some air.

"Well, you're a part of our family now," Namjoon said, dimples showing.

"But I've only been with you guys for, like, three days."

"So? You're Jimin's sister, Jimin's our brother, you're automatically in. Simple," Hoseok said, making it sound like common sense.

"Really?" You couldn't stop the tiny smile from spreading across your lips.

"We take care of our own," Taehyung said, draping an arm over your shoulders. Your eyes flew to the wooden floor but the smile stayed.

"Thanks, everyone." You looked up at the faces of your newfound brothers, your chest almost bursting with warmth. "Now... where's the mop?"

----

"Hand it over!"

"No! Can't you see that it's already clean?"

"I just wanna go over it one last time. Just give it!" you screamed, tugging on the bottle of cleaner.

"You've been 'going over it one last time' for the past two hours, which is more than enough!" Jimin screamed right back, holding firmly onto his end of the bottle.

"It's not done! I'm being easy enough with you as it is, it should be scrubbed at least five more times until I'm confident-"

"God, Y/N, we have better things to do than clean an already clean floor. Why can't you just be done already?!"

"Because it is not clean! I have to scrub it until-"

"Ahem."

You and Jimin looked up. It was Yoongi, standing above with an unreadable look on his face.

"I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that you can't clean something with only cleaning solution?"

"That's what I've been doing, though?" You were bit confused on where he was going with this.

"No, I mean you would need a mop, or at least a cloth, right?"

"Yeah??" Beyond confused. "But I have-"

Oh.

Wow.

Wooooow.

All of the cleaning cloths, mops, paper towels, everything. Gone without a trace. You had a very good idea at who was to blame.

"Yoongi harabeoji, whyy?" you whined, letting go of the bottle and crossing your arms like an angry toddler.

"Not that old yet, Y/N," Yoongi said, rolling his eyes, "but I'd rather not have shrieking chimpanzees in this home, thank you very much."

You huffed, both at that freaking harabeoji and Jimin's smug face, and stood up, stretching your stiff muscles.

"Okay everybody, let's hurry up!" Namjoon called, walking into the kitchen. "Don't wanna be late. Y/N, you too. Let's be done in twenty."

Everyone nodded and stood up, heading to their respective rooms. Well, everyone except you.

Energy-drink blue caught the corner of your eye and you wasted no time in jogging over. "Taehyung? What's going on?"

"Hm? Oh, a meeting with PD-nim at the office. Sorry for the short notice. You should go get ready."

"Oh, okay. Um... who's PD-nim?"

Taehyung raised an eyebrow. "Do you follow us at all?"

"No, not really."

"Huh. That explains a lot, actually." He looked thoughtful for a moment but shook it off. "Anyway, Bang Si-hyuk-nim, Hitman Bang, Bang PD-nim, etcetera etcetera, is the co-CEO and founder of Big Hit."

Ah.

"We have short meetings every now and then, so it's not really a big thing, you don't have to be too nervous," he said, offering a small smile. You didn't think you were that easy to read, but okay.

"Fifteen more minutes, let's be done in fifteen!" Namjoon interrupted your train of thought.

"Okay, thanks." You shot Taehyung a smile and dashed off to your room.

After much contemplation and Namjoon's frequent hollers gradually making your anxiety levels rise, you decided to just go with a random outfit that gave you "Seoul" vibes, whatever those were. Not formal, not too casual, but you didn't really know what to expect. You'd never been in a meeting with anyone important before. Heck, you'd never been in a meeting with anyone before, period. You just hoped that you wouldn't embarrass yourself by being underdressed or overdressed.

Strangely, the rest of the members had some internal conversation, or at least connection, because when you all arrived at Namjoon's, "gather up," everyone had the same kind of vibe: casually cool B&W with some light denim thrown in there. You looked down at your thinly striped B&W sweater with some faded skinny jeans and felt proud of yourself.

"Whoa, lil Y/N is already matching with the big boys. Good for you!" Jimin reached up to ruffle your hair, but you batted him away before he could mess up your perfect ponytail.

"I'm older than Jungkook, though," you said, patting down your untouched hair. Jimin raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

The ride was fun. Like, actually fun. Not just fun as in "I guess liked it," but fun as in "I geniunely enjoyed it." If the Bangtan Boys were goofy before, they were even more so now that they were stuck in close quarters. There was always something to laugh at, the car was never quiet for more than a few seconds, and the air was just... really... comfortable. You thought that it would be awkward, these unrelated young men smushed into a small (well, smaller than the apartment) enclosed space, but they proved you wrong. They acted just like what they said they were all along: a family. It also helped that they treated you as one of their own now, bringing you along into their conversations instead of pretending like you were invisible and talking only amongst themselves to look cool to each other likE YOUR BROTHER ALWAYS USED TO DO FREAKING-

Before you knew it, the doors were opened, and you stepped out into your old nemesis, the sunshine. He seemed to be in a better humor today, the bright rays slightly less harsh, but you were still oh-so glad that you had stolen Jimin's sunglasses on the ride over.

As you looked around in your much more bearably dimmed surroundings, (thank the lord for polarized lenses) you found that the parking lot the car had stopped at was different from the place Chinhae had dropped you off at. It was less grand, but no doubt the same building. The expensive air gave it away. Maybe it was a private back entrance only for employees. You smiled a little at the fact that you now were an employee, and the air felt a little less costly. The price went up again, though, when you saw how professional Bangtan suddenly was, grins wiped off, shoulders straighter. You hoped that they were just being professional for the sake of being professional, but nevertheless stood a little straighter yourself.

After Namjoon put the passcode in, the group walked down the long, maze-like halls to a large room. Big Hit had a way of making rooms comfortable but still businesslike, as if to say "make yourself at home, but remember that it's not actually your home." The walls were a creamy off-white that was easy on the eye, but white enough that it still felt professional. The carpet was soft under your shoes, but short enough to feel professional, and the- well, you get the picture. At least the couches looked comfortable, and there was a box of assorted snacks on the table.

Even though this whole thing was still relatively new to you, the boys seemed perfectly at ease here. They didn't literally kick their shoes off (yet), but the grins were back and they immediately sat themselves down on the joined couches and the laughing started again. You were a little confused at this, since they were all so professional just moments ago, so you sat cautiously on the edge of the couch and smiled politely, even when you wanted to die of laughter.

"Y/N-ah, why are you so stiff? Come and have a snack or something!" Hoseok said, motioning for you to, well, come and have a snack or something.

"I dunno, Hobi. It feels a little too professional to be goofing around like that, so I'd rather wait and try to stay businesslike until I can see for myself who I'm gonna be working under." At least, that's what you wanted to say. Unfortunately, you just knew that you would stutter, so, not wanting to look bad in front of the other employees who were standing around the room, you shrugged instead.

"Ah, annyeonghaseyo Bang Si-hyuk-nim!" Namjoon called out, making you jump a little.

You turned to see him. Bang PD. Bang PD-Nim. In all his glory.

You almost said "woah" aloud.

THIS was the man that shaped K-pop to what it was now, from what you've read. THIS was the man that grew a mega-company out of the literal dirt. THIS was the man the gave you a new family. Your first family, really, since your parents were always traveling and were never really there for you when you needed them.

Freaking god.

Before you could get onto your knees, Bangtan started whooping and clapping as the iconic, er, icon walked in. You clapped as well, as did some of the other employees. Honestly, PD-nim looked like a proud dad in front of BTS.

"Thank you, thank you," he said with a smile, motioning for the noise to calm down.

"I thank you all for coming on such short notice." What impeccable manners! "We have all gathered here today, but I would like to talk with Bangtan Sonyeondan first, so if all the managers and other employees would please step out for a second? Thank you, and sorry about this. I would still like to talk with you later, so if you would come back in a few minutes, that would be great." You were a little reluctant to go, mostly because you didn't know your way around the office as well as the rest of the employees did might get lost, but if PD-nim wanted to talk with BTS first, that was fine.

However, as you stood up to leave, PD-nim stopped you. "Miss Y/N, will you stay here? Since you're a personal assistant, I'd like you to hear what I have to say." Wow, you got to stay here? You almost refused such a big honor but decided against it because he probably had his reasons. You nodded a quick thank you and sat back down. You could feel some who's-she? stares on the back of your head, but you were too proud to acknowledge them. Bang PD-nim stayed standing at the front of the room until the door slid closed with a click, then he pulled up a chair and sat down in front of the couches, crossing his legs.

"So. What I wanted to say is..."

Sorry it's a bit late. I was tired and this took really long to write, but I think it's the longest one yet! :)
What's iconic-icon-can't-live-without-we-love-you Bang Si-Hyuk PD-nim going to say? What's so important and secretive that only BTS (and Y/N) gets to hear it? Who's gonna finish those snacks? All this and more, coming Friday!
💜 y'all~

PS: Harabeoji (할아버지) is grandfather in Korean 👌