Single Father • Namjoon + BTS!Kids

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Hobi pushed open the door to their bedroom slowly, his eyes immediately falling upon Yoongi's figure, which was sprawled across his bed. Yoongi's phone was turned face-down on the mattress next to him, and he was staring at the bed sheet.

"Yoongi."

Yoongi grunted but didn't look up.

"Yoongi, look at me," Hobi said, and Yoongi's eyes slowly rose to meet Hobi's.

Yoongi didn't like what he saw - a still Hobi. An angry Hobi. Angrier than he'd been in a long time.

"Did Jin come to visit me in the hospital?"

Yoongi nodded.

"And when I asked why he wasn't there, you just...lied to my face?"

Yoongi hesitated before nodding.

Hobi's frown tightened. "Damn it, Yoongi! Why did you do that?!"

Yoongi flinched, unaccustomed to Hobi lashing out, but it wasn't as though he hadn't expected it, hadn't been preparing himself for the past few minutes to deal with this. "I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do."

"For who?" Hobi asked, crossing his arms, his scowl still etched deep into his face. "For me? Or for you?"

"For all of us," Yoongi said, slowly sitting up and letting the wall support his spine. "For you, for me, for Jimin, for all of us."

"Who asked you to make decisions for us?" Hobi shot back, and Yoongi just stared at him.

"Nobody ever told me to, Hobi. It's what I've been doing for a long time. Doing what I think is necessary to protect the both of you."

"To protect us? From Jin?" Hobi asked, laughing sharply and clearly not buying it.

"Yes. I wanted to protect you. From Jin."

"He's our brother," Hobi said, shaking his head incredulously. "Our hyung. What could we possibly need protecting from-"

"He'll hurt you," Yoongi interrupted, and Hobi stared at him, silent. "He already has. He's hurt all of us. You see that, right? I don't know if Jimin does because he's younger and he's sort of a special case, but you understand, don't you? How he's abandoned us?" Yoongi paused, giving Hobi time to think over his words. "There was a day when Jin would fake a cold to stay home sick with you and take care of you and hang out with you. Do you think Jin would do that now? Do you think he would sacrifice his time with his friends? Do you think Jin would even know if you were sick?"

Hobi didn't respond, couldn't respond because he knew Yoongi was right. The words resounded in his head, echoing and piercing his mind sharply with each additional iteration. Hobi thought back to the texts he'd sent Jin. He'd known. He'd known for a long time that Jin - their Jin - was gone. But Hobi was always the middleman, the peacemaker. He was the happy one, the one that dissipated conflict before it could occur. He wasn't the charging-into-battle type.

And yet that's what he'd done. He'd broken the peace through his words to Jin. Whatever false premise of brotherhood that had held their relationship together was gone now, blown straight out of the water. The smoke was gone, the mirrors shattered. Illusion had long been driving the show, but reality had taken back the wheel.

"You lied to me," Hobi bit out after a long moment. He couldn't argue with Yoongi about Jin, but he could still pick a fight about some of the other details. "And don't give me that it was just an omission bullshit. You knew what it meant to me, and you said nothing."

Yoongi nodded slowly. "You're right. I lied. I didn't tell you that Jin came."

"Why not, hyung?" Hobi asked, his voice a desperate whine, his anger quickly fading into despair.