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Every morning a parent mourns the loss of a child who is still alive because not being able to see the child feels like death.

-Unknown

Hobi's eyes opened reluctantly at the sound of the alarm, and he waited for a long moment, but the sound didn't stop. Of course it didn't. It was his job, after all. But he'd come to wait for a lot of different expectations, and he was used to them failing him.

He rolled over and turned off the alarm before sitting up and rolling his neck, then stretching his arms above his head. After a minute of that, he got out of bed and crossed the room, shaking the lump inside the blankets. "Hyung? Hyung, it's time to wake up for school. Okay? Hyung?"

He knew Yoongi had risen to consciousness by the weak punch that was thrown his way.

That's when Hobi backed away and went back to his side of the room, scaling the ladder and gently shaking the nearest leg. "Jiminie? Jiminie, hon, time to wake up."

Jimin rolled first to the right, then to the left before finally sitting up, rubbing his eyes, his hair sticking in ten different directions. "'m up, h-hyung," he mumbled before falling back onto his pillow.

Hobi just sighed. "For real, Jimin. You need to get up, okay?"

Jimin groaned before pushing himself back up.

Hobi nodded. "Good boy," he said before going back down the ladder and prodding Yoongi once more, ducking to avoid being hit. "Get up already, hyung. I'm not going to do it again."

Muffled curses came from inside the blanket, and Hobi hurried to get outside of Yoongi's radius of violence. He grabbed a change of clothes just as Jimin was crawling down the ladder, clumsily missing a step and almost falling off, but Hobi moved to quickly push him back towards the ladder.

"T-Thanks, hyung," Jimin said, his eyes barely open at all.

Hobi just nodded before grabbing his clothes off his bed. "I'm showering first," he said.

"C-Can't we just shower t-together?"

Hobi rolled his eyes before flicking Jimin's forehead. "No."

"B-B-But hyung, you t-take up most of the h-hot water and then Y-Yoongi yells at me b-but I'm not the one t-taking t-twenty-minute showers-"

"Too bad, I called dibs," Hobi said before exiting their bedroom and hopping in the shower. Twenty minutes later, he returned to the room to see Jimin sitting on his bed, much more awake now, and Yoongi, sitting in his own bed, and barely conscious.

Still, as soon as they saw Hobi, they both made a run for the door, only Yoongi got their first and put a hand on Jimin's forehead, pushing him out of the way as he hurried ahead and locked himself in the bathroom.

Jimin turned and frowned at Hobi. "It's n-not fair," he grumbled. "Just cause he's older than me, and now I have to take a cold shower."

Hobi just smiled, ruffling Jimin's hair. "Too bad."

"If J-J-Jin-hyung were here-" Jimin cut off his own words, looking away before mumbling a quiet "S-Sorry."

It was their new unspoken rule. It used to be that they couldn't take about their mom, and now it was that they couldn't talk about the others.

Hobi just nodded, accepting Jimin's apology before grabbing his hand. "C'mon, I'll make you breakfast," he said, feeling bad for his dongsaeng. Maybe they did push him around a little too much.

"You can't even c-cook," Jimin said, but he let himself be pulled into the kitchen.

Hobi chuckled. "Fine, I'll get your bowl out then." He gave Jimin a light push toward the chair that was now Jimin's before turning and grabbing two bowls out of the cabinet.

"What about Y-Yoongi-hyung's?"

"He can get it himself," Hobi said before grabbing two spoons, a box of cereal, and the milk.

The joked between themselves for a few minutes before He came into the room.

He nodded at them, and they gave slight bows back before looking down at the table and lapsing into silence.

A few minutes later, their mom came into the room. "Good morning, boys," she said, smiling at them and attempting to ruffle Jimin's hair, but Jimin ducked his head, his eyes still on the table.

Hobi exhaled, his eyes sad. He understood why they had a rough relationship, and he wasn't on the best of terms with their mom either, but it had been years. Hobi didn't see the point in making her out to be the enemy. It wasn't like it would change anything. And she genuinely cared. She was really trying.

But she'd hurt Jimin in a way that Hobi didn't think he'd ever be able to forgive, and even though she kept trying to break down his walls, Jimin resisted at every turn.

Hobi looked up from his cereal and smiled at her. "Good morning, Mom."

Jimin tensed at the word, shooting Hobi a glare for being a traitor, but Hobi ignored him. Jimin could make his own decisions, but so could Hobi.

Their mom smiled gratefully at Hobi, her eyes still a little pained as she moved from behind Jimin's chair to go to the coffee machine, pouring a cup and setting it in front of her husband.

Hobi didn't care for him much, even after all this time. It was clear that their mom was the driving force behind wanting kids and that he'd just gone along with it. He wasn't especially interested in their lives, and he didn't seem equipped to deal with children.

And it was just hard to ever see him as a father when Hobi compared him to Namjoon.

"What's going on in school today?" their mom asked, setting down her husband's breakfast and remaining standing next to the table, smiling.

Hobi paused, giving Jimin the opportunity to speak if he wanted to, but of course Jimin didn't. "Nothing much," Hobi answered, smiling at their mom before taking a spoonful of cereal. "My dance club is meeting after school though." He looked over at Jimin, grinning. "And I'm making Jimin come with me since he always sneaks in to watch our practices anyway," he said, elbowing Jimin playfully, to which Jimin responded with an almost imperceptible, "S-S-Shut up, hyung."

Their mom's husband looked up from his phone, where he'd been reading an online newspaper, and stared at Jimin. Jimin stared down at the table, tense, and Hobi put a reassuring hand on his forearm.

After a long moment of unbearable silence, the man looked back down at his phone just as Yoongi entered the room, and Jimin swallowed, standing up quickly and reaching down to grab his still half-full bowl of cereal.

"I can get that, sweetie," their mom said, but Jimin ignored her until Hobi put a hand on his arm.

"Jiminie, I've got it, just go take your shower, okay?"

Jimin nodded, turning around, but then the man on the other side of the table spoke.

"Make sure you push in your chair."

Jimin clenched his jaw but turned back, pushing his chair in, and the man set his phone down.

"What do you say?"

Jimin stayed silent.

"What do you say?" he asked again, and Hobi gave him a soft poke.

"S-S-Sorry," Jimin mumbled, and the man crossed his arms.

"What was that?"

"Honey, he has to shower or he'll be late, all right?" their mom said, putting a hand on her husband's shoulder before looking at Jimin. "Go on."

Jimin nodded, not meeting her eyes, and quickly left the room just as Yoongi sat down at the table with his bowl and spoon.

The man finished his breakfast a minute later and left, and Hobi finally turned to Yoongi, setting his elbows on the table. "Did you use all the hot water again?" Hobi asked, and Yoongi nodded unremorsefully just as Jimin's yelp could be heard from the bathroom as the water started running.

"You guys always do it to me," Yoongi said, shrugging and eating his cereal. "Fair is fair."

Hobi sighed. It was hard reasoning with Yoongi. "Just, go easy on him today, all right?"

Yoongi frowned, looking over at Hobi. "Did he have another nightmare?"

"No, well, I don't think so, he didn't say anything about it. I think he's just having a rough day."

Yoongi looked down at his cereal before nodding. "All right," he said. Even though Jimin was no longer the cuddly little mochi they'd grown up with, Yoongi still had a soft spot for him, which was saying a lot considering Yoongi didn't have much of a soft spot for anything or anyone anymore.

When Jimin came back into the kitchen a few minutes later with his hair still dripping, his body shivering and covered in goosebumps, Yoongi gave him a light smack on the butt.

Hobi glared at Yoongi and whisper-shouted, "What happened to being nice?"

"Shit, I forgot."