Struggling Father • Namjoon!Father + BTS!Adults

liii.

"So what's going on, hyung?" Jimin finally asked, leaning back in his seat with crossed arms.

Yoongi sighed before looking off to the side. They were in a cafe, their plates barely touched. Every time Jimin said he was ready to go home, Yoongi immediately dragged him into the nearest store, wanting to sit down and talk with Jimin but unable to approach the subject. "What do you mean? Nothing's going on."

"You've been nice to me all day," Jimin said with a small huff. "Obviously there's something going on." Jimin paused, leaning over the table with his elbows planted on either side of his plate. "Are you mad at me, hyung? Did I do something wrong?"

"What-? No, Jimin, I'm not mad," Yoongi said, exasperated. "Why would you even- whatever, it doesn't matter because I'm not mad at you."

"Then can we go home?" Jimin asked. "Because this 'quick errand' turned into a five hour shopping spree only I don't even have anything I need to buy and-"

"No, let's- let's stay a while longer," Yoongi mumbled, fidgeting in his seat.

"Hyung, what's wrong?"

Yoongi sighed, looking over at Jimin and slumping down so their eyes were at the same level. "Jimin, is something going on between you and Jeongyeon?"

Jimin's face pinched as he hunched back in his seat, his muscles contracting tightly. "I'm fine," he said shortly, retracting his arms so they hugged either side of his torso.

"That wasn't my question," Yoongi said, frowning. He picked up his fork and stabbed lightly at the brownie that he knew his stomach would appreciate if only his mind weren't in a state of confusion. "Jimin-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Jimin cut off, and Yoongi forced himself to nod, looking down and poking at the brownie as a distraction.

The rest of the meal was quiet; Yoongi eventually boxed up his tortured brownie to take home, and he had Jimin's leftovers boxed up as well. Unlike Yoongi's, however, they were untouched.

The car ride was quiet with only the radio for soft background noise. Yoongi sensed that pressing Jimin would only result in making him more defensive, so he decided to let it go for now. But he couldn't just forget it altogether; he was too perturbed by Jimin's reaction to pretend that everything was fine.

They got home and Jimin politely thanked Yoongi for driving before heading inside and disappearing for a bit in his room. Yoongi sighed, following him in and dropping their keys in their niche before he noticed Hobi sprawled across the couch.

"Hey," Yoongi said, stopping when he realized that he wasn't sure if it was a Hey, get off my couch kind of a hey or a Hey, can we talk and figure this whole mess out kind of a hey.

"Hey," Hobi replied back in the same tone, looking up at Yoongi with wary eyes. He seemed to realize a second later that he'd taken over Yoongi's primary location, and he shifted, about to get up, when he had a second realization, prompting him to settle back in. "You don't own the couch," he defended a second later. "I can sit here."

"Yeah, fine," Yoongi said, rolling his eyes. Inside his pockets, his fingers danced nervously. "You and Jimin haven't been hanging out lately. Why not?" he asked, and although he said Jimin, he was thinking more about how long it had been since he and Hobi had been in the same room together without fighting, how long it had been since they'd just sat down and had a nice time. He couldn't remember.

"Yeah," Hobi said after a minute, looking up at Yoongi with a slight frown before his eyes shifted defensively, his eyebrows furrowing down. "It's not my fault, okay?"

"I didn't say it was."

"You wouldn't have asked me about it if you didn't think it was my fault."

"I'm just-" Yoongi paused, exhaling through his teeth and resisting the urge to punch a hole in the nearest available drywall. "-trying to have a conversation with you. How hard could you possibly make that, Hobi?"

"Oh." Hobi was quiet after a moment before he shrugged, looking down at his phone, but Yoongi saw how his eyes didn't line up with the screen, how he was just using it as an escape from facing Yoongi directly.

"What happened between you and Jimin?" Yoongi asked, trying to keep his tone as non-threatening as possible. He knew the odds of him accomplishing that were pretty slim, but he thought he deserved points for effort.

"Nothing really, I just..." Hobi sighed. "I guess he was upset because I invited Jeongyeon along when we went to the mall."

"Weren't you two supposed to be hanging out?" Yoongi asked, scrunching up his nose as he tried to process Hobi's explanation.

"Well, yeah, but Jeongyeon traveled all the way here and I wanted to see her and I thought Jimin would understand that and be fine with it, but after she showed up, he got really upset. I didn't know he'd react like that and I still don't get why."

"Probably because he just wanted to spend time with you," Yoongi said, wondering how on Earth Hobi hadn't come to that conclusion for himself. "You guys have been pretty close for a long time, and all of a sudden, you get a girlfriend who monopolizes all of your time-"

"She does not-"

"Shut up for once, Hobi," Yoongi snapped, trying to control his temper, but he was really straining himself. "Just- there are all these people around you, people who aren't her, and they all care about you a lot, too, only you act like you don't even need anyone else these days. What's that about?"

Hobi looked up at him, his face a cross between disbelief and pain. "This is my first girlfriend, Yoongi. And I'm serious about her. And I know it messed up everything between you and me, but this is my chance to finally have a relationship with someone, my chance to be loved by someone who isn't related to me." He paused, his breathing already a bit uneven. "It makes me feel validated, having someone like that. Like I'm worth it. Like I deserve to be loved. It makes me feel good inside, happy and warm. And all of you are important to me. Of course. But- this is something that's mine, just mine, something - someone - I don't want to share. For once, it's a feeling I can keep all to myself. Can't you understand that? Can't Jimin understand that?"

And Yoongi couldn't really deny him that because he knew the feeling, but it still seemed wrong to him, neglecting everyone else just for one person. "All I'm saying is that we loved you first," he said softly. "And I can guarantee you that we'll love you last, too."

Yoongi turned, not wanting to look at Hobi's face because he didn't want to see what was written there. He also didn't want to acknowledge that not long ago, he'd felt the same as Hobi, and he was scared of falling back into that hole.

short chapter cause i've been a little stuck with what i want to write, sorry guys, i know you've all been waiting :') we're nearing the end anyway though