Chapter Text
Chapter Eight
Things were incredibly silent and tense in the dorm. Jaebeom had escorted Bambam into the living room, where he told him to sit and wait on the couch. Then he went and got all of the rest of the members up and into the living room as well. They were going to have a group meeting, and he didn’t feel that it could wait until the morning. They needed to get this resolved, and they needed to get it resolved now. When he went to gather the older members he had briefly explained to them what was going on, but Yugyeom and Youngjae were still in the dark.
“What’s going on, hyung?” Yugyeom asked, rubbing at his eyes sleepily--he had been in the middle of a very nice dream when he had been abruptly woken up and told that he was needed for a group meeting.
“An issue has been brought to my attention that needs to be addressed,” Jaebeom answered, sitting down on the couch next to Bambam who looked very ready to curl himself up into the tiniest ball possible. “I think this issue is applicable to everyone, so that’s why I thought I would have all of you gathered here.”
“It won’t happen again,” Bambam whispered in promise, tears forming in his eyes.
Jinyoung slapped Jaebeom on the arm, reaching around Bambam to do so, giving him a look of warning to be kind to the very clearly upset boy.
“Oh Bambam,” Jaebeom realized, putting a comforting arm on the boy’s shoulder. “I’m not mad at you. I promise.”
“Can someone please get us up to date here?” Youngjae asked, looking around in confusion. “What on earth happened?”
“Bambam, do you want to tell them?” Jaebeom asked softly, getting a fervent shake of his head in reply. “Okay, I will then. Bambam has taken to sitting out at night and reading negative comments about himself on the internet. Jackson noticed something was off with you all day and came to us, and then us hyungs kept a close eye on you. That’s how I found you in the hallway tonight.”
“Bamie,” Jackson said softly, leaning forward in his seat to get a better view of the boy. “Why would you want to read such awful things?”
“Because they are true!” Bambam fiercely shot back, finally looking up at his members. “I am bringing this group down and the only way that I can know how to fix my mistakes is by reading what people are saying!”
“I don’t even have to know what the comments say for me to know that they aren’t true,” Jinyoung added in, with just as much fierosity as Bambam had made his own statement.
“You guys even thought when I first joined that I looked like the maknae and way too young for this group!” Bambam argued.
“Their problem with you is that you look young?” Mark asked in confusion. “Isn’t that usually a good thing, especially when we get a little older. You are going to be the fresh youthful face that everyone loves. Also, I get comments that I look young too. Some people actually thought I was the maknae!”
“I look too young, my Korean sucks, I bring down the group image, I make the songs sound wrong because of my pronunciation, I….” Bambam began to list, but got cut off.
“‘Bambam is my favorite member,’” Youngjae suddenly read out loudly--none of the other members had noticed that the boy had pulled out his phone. “‘He does the best fan service! I really hope to meet Bambam one day so that I can tell him how much I love him’”
Bambam’s jaw dropped open a little in his shock, staring directly at Youngjae in confusion.
“‘GOT7 is such a well-rounded group, they are the perfect mix of personalities. The group wouldn’t be right without even one of them in it,’” Youngjae read another comment. “‘I love that GOT7 has foreign members. It makes me think that I too can follow my dreams and learn another language.’ There are literally hundreds upon hundreds of comments like this.”
“But the negative comments…” Bambam began to argue.
“Are ALWAYS going to be there,” Jackson cut in. “No matter how hard you work, how much effort you put in, it’s never going to be enough for some people. You have to learn to ignore them.”
“But how will I know what I need to improve on if I don’t read what people are saying?” Bambam asked, his voice sounding weak and full of desperation.
“Do you trust us?” Jinyoung asked.
“Of course I do,” Bambam replied. “But you guys are biased.”
“Do you think that our company would lie?” Mark asked. “That they would let a subpar video or song go out?”
“Well no…” Bambam admitted. “But it’s more than just me and songs and videos, it’s interviews, variety shows…”
“Do you think I’m ‘obnoxiously loud and trying to steal the entire show?’” Jackson asked.
“No, why would you think that?” Bambam asked.
“That’s what some people are saying online,” Jackson answered.
“I’m ‘no fun and much too quiet. I bring down the entire mood,’” Mark added in.
“I’m too ‘obnoxious and broad to be the maknae,’” Yugyeom added in.
“Have...have all of you read the bad comments about yourself?” Bambam asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked around the room.
Bambam received six nods in reply.
“How do you let them roll off your back?” Bambam asked.
“For every bad comment there are dozens of positive comments,” Youngjae answered. “If we focus on just the bad comments, then we are saying that the opinions of all of those fans that love and support us are invalid.”
“I--I never thought about it like that,” Bambam admitted. “But I just get so upset, because one of the main things that they hate about me is that I’m Thai. I can’t change that! I...I just thought if I worked hard to change the other things, then it would make up for the fact that I’m Thai.”
Jaebeom felt his heart break a little at that comment. He felt terrible remorse that there were people so prejudiced against other countries in his own country. Even though it wasn’t his fault, he felt personally responsible.
“Bam-ah,” Jackson said, getting down on his knees in front of the second youngest member. “I promise the day will come when you are incredibly proud to be Thai. Some people aren’t able to get over their ignorance and their hatred. They have to hate on others to feel better about themselves. That is not something that is unique to this country or these ‘fans’--my country has its own faults, and so does Mark hyung’s as well. I know how you feel. I have gotten treated like the dirt on the bottom of someone’s shoe when they find out that I’m Chinese. No matter how hard I try, there is just no changing the way that they feel because of their own personal bias. So, as hard as it is, and believe me I know it’s hard, you have to just let it go.”
“Let it go, let it go, can’t hold it back anymore…” Youngjae sang, causing a smile to appear on Bambam’s face at his hyung’s silliness--Youngjae’s intended reaction.
Bambam wiped away a stray tear that had fallen down his face.
“Thanks hyungs and Gyeomie,” Bambam said softly. “You guys really are the best. I’m so lucky to have been placed in this group with you.”
“We are the lucky ones,” Yugyeom shot back, causing Bambam to giggle and to pretend to gag at his cheesiness.
Jaebeom ruffled the hair on the back of Bambam’s head, smiling down at the boy.
“I know it’s going to be hard,” Jaebeom spoke. “But you really need to stop looking at the comments.”
“I have an idea,” Jinyoung suggested, getting the attention of all of the other boys. “I know a lot of groups hand over their cell phones for their first year of debut. They do it so that they can better focus on their work. Maybe that would be a way to ensure that you don’t look at the bad comments.”
“That might actually be good for all of us,” Jaebeom suggested. “It’s clear that every single one of us have looked at them.”
“But hyung--” Jackson began to protest.
“Don’t worry, we will figure out a way to make sure you have access to contact your family back home anytime you want or need to,” Jaebeom reassured.
At that moment, the door to their manager’s room opened and out walked their favorite manager Jisung.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” Jisung admitted. “But you guys weren’t exactly being quiet.”
“Sorry hyung!” the boys all apologized at once.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jisung said, waving off their unnecessary apology immediately. “I can hold on to your phones if you’d like. You know that I’m usually either at the dorm with you or taking you to schedules. That would give access to the members when they need to talk to their families.”
Jaebeom smiled and nodded at their manager. This was exactly what they needed. Now, he just had to look and see if the others agreed. Mark looked very reluctant, but nodded.
“I will do anything to help Bam out,” Mark admitted, getting up and running into his room to grab his phone.
Jackson nodded and followed after Mark, appearing a few moments later together. They handed over their cellphones and returned to sit on the couch. Youngjae powered his off and handed it to their manager without complaint.
“Can I get it back to play games?” Yugyeom asked.
“Sure you can, but you will have a time limit,” Jaebeom answered. “I don’t need you staying up all night and playing games.”
Yugyeom nodded and then ran to grab his phone. Jaebeom reached into his pocket where he pulled out his cellphone and the one that he had confiscated from Bambam. He handed both over to their manager. Yugyeom returned, handing his over as well. Jaebeom looked over at Jinyoung, confused as to why the other boy hadn’t made any moves yet since it was his suggestion.
“I accidentally left mine at the studio today,” Jinyoung explained. “It’s sitting next to the computer, if anyone happens upon it first.”
“I will message Taeyong and let him know,” Jisung said, talking about one of their other managers. “He will be there early tomorrow to get the studio ready for your recording. He can grab it and hand it to me. Now, goodnight guys. I’m running out to a meeting first thing in the morning but then I will be back to grab you guys for your schedule.”
“Goodnight, hyung!” the boys all called, while their manager walked back into his room and shut the door behind him.
“Now we should all get some sleep,” Jaebeom suggested. “But I want to make sure that you understand what we’ve been saying tonight, Bam. No one who matters wants you to be anything other than the amazing Bambam that we all know and love, okay?”
“Yes, hyung,” Bambam answered shyly, blushing a little at the compliment.
“Group hug!” Jackson yelled, jumping up and pulling Mark along with him.
There was some grumbling, but all of the members followed suit. Jaebeom couldn’t help but note that these six guys standing with him were special. He and Jinyoung were great together, but they truly had been missing something--and that something was these 5 other incredible guys.