Jimin slept fitfully and woke up early the next morning feeling terrible. He didn't get further into his morning routine than going to the toilet before deciding he felt too awful to be doing things and crawled back into his bed. It felt wrong, not following his routine, but just then his entire body felt wrong so it was nothing more than another drop in the ocean of oh God please let me die.

When Hoseok offered to get him breakfast Jimin declined, then declined again an hour later. He felt too nauseated to even consider food. It wasn't until Hoseok pointed out that he wouldn't be able to take his medication on an empty stomach that Jimin sent him to get something with a grunt and a vague wave of his hand.

Jimin didn't know why, when he heard a knock on the door, he immediately assumed it was Hoseok back with his food. Why would Hoseok have knocked on the door? It wasn't until the second knock that logic returned to Jimin's mind. He dragged himself out of bed to answer the door.

Faced with his foster mum and Hani, all Jimin could think to say was, "Hoseok went to get breakfast."

Jimin's foster mum pulled Jimin into a hug, tentative at first and then tighter when Jimin didn't tense up or push her away. "I am so sorry, baby."

Jimin gave a grunt. Not it's okay, because it wasn't, but an acknowledgement of the apology.

She pulled back to look at him. "Why didn't you text me?"

"I didn't have my phone."

"You didn't bring it with you? I thought you weren't answering my texts because you'd forgotten to charge it again. Did you forget to pack it?"

Jimin frowned. "No, you said I couldn't bring things to play games on. There are games on my phone."

"I didn't mean..." She sighed. "Let's just go inside, okay?"

Jimin nodded and stepped aside to let them in.

"Hoseok's getting food," Jimin said when his foster mum handed him his medication. "I need food to..." Jimin waved the box.

"Yes, I know. You can take it when he gets back. Let's sit down so we can talk, shall we?"

"Don't want to talk," Jimin murmured, but he sat down on his bed next to his foster mum anyway. Hani sat across from them on Hoseok's bed. Jimin's foster mum stroked lines up and down his back, a motion that usually soothed him but now only made him think of how different it felt when Hoseok did it. The motion itself was quite similar, but the feelings it brought out in him...

"I know you're not feeling well, Jimin, so let's cut right to the chase," Hani said. "You haven't done well at all here, so we feel it would be better for you to go home. What do you think?"

Jimin crossed his arms firmly over his chest. "No."

"Jimin, what I've been hearing about what's been going on... It's bringing back old behaviours, things I thought were behind us." Jimin's foster mum squeezed his shoulder. "Pushing you into this was a mistake, and I'm sorry. I should have listened when you said you didn't want to go."

Jimin shrugged her hand off his shoulder. "I'm saying I don't want to go now. I want to stay here."

"Is this because of Hoseok?" Hani asked. "He's been a very good friend to you."

"I want to stay with him," Jimin mumbled.

"He's never been very good at making friends," Jimin's foster mum explained.

There was a sound at the door, and then it swung open to reveal Hoseok.

"See?" Jimin said, the nonsensical word coming out of his lips without thought. What were they supposed to be seeing? What about Hoseok's form could reveal why Jimin felt such an attachment to him?

Perhaps the uncertain but friendly smile Hoseok gave Jimin's foster mum or the gentle way he handed Jimin the crackers. "Hey, I'm Hoseok. Want me to wait outside?"

"They don't serve crackers for breakfast," Jimin pointed out.

"I asked the kitchen staff for them and they got me some from the back."

"Yes please, Hoseok," Hani said, but before Hoseok could leave Jimin grabbed hold of his wrist.

"No, I want him to stay," Jimin insisted.

Jimin's foster mum kneaded at her temple. "Well, I guess this involves him anyway. Hoseok, I'm sure you've noticed Jimin's struggling here quite a bit. Don't you think it would be better if he went home?"

Hoseok studied the three of them for a moment. "I'm not sure I really get a say in that."

"The only reason he wants to stay is for you," Jimin's foster mum explained. "If he leaves, would you be willing to keep in email contact?"

"Yeah, of course," Hoseok said. "I mean, I'd be disappointed if we didn't keep contact somehow."

Jimin wriggled his way out from under his foster mum's arm and shuffled away from her on the bed. "It's not the same. I want to stay here. I have my medication now and we have a risk management plan so it'll be better, it'll be fine. I want to stay."

Hoseok's lips twisted in consideration. "I'll be eighteen in a few months. I could come to visit you then."

Jimin shook his head. "I want to stay."

"Camp doesn't last forever," Jimin's foster mum pointed out.

Jimin's arms tightened over his chest. He wasn't sure if he was being defiant or hugging himself. "No."

"If he wants to stay..." Hoseok gave Jimin's foster mum a shrug. "Can't you just come and get him if he changes his mind? He can use my phone at any time."

Jimin's foster mum chewed her lip as she considered that. "He's sixteen. I shouldn't have brought him here when he didn't want to come, and I have no right to take him away again if he wants to stay. As long as he's not in any danger, I shouldn't be making his decisions for him."

"I want to stay with Hoseok," Jimin said. "That's my decision."

"And I respect that, but..." Hani was saying when Jimin tuned her out and focused his attention on getting the seal on his medication box open. He couldn't ignore the sound of her voice, but his brain felt scrambled enough that language took an effort to process and so it wasn't difficult to turn her into background noise.

Hoseok knelt down in front of Jimin and handed him the little packet of crackers and a bottle of water. Jimin had the sudden urge to lean down and boof his head against Hoseok's like a cat seeking attention, but he managed to resist.

Jimin slowly ate the crackers with one hand while watching his other gently tremble. Another withdrawal symptom. The conversation continued around them, Hani tactfully trying to convince his foster mum that Jimin should leave and his foster mum insistently supporting Jimin's decision. Hoseok sat down and lean against Jimin's leg, close enough for comfort but not affectionate enough to put how free they were with touch on display.

It wasn't easy to force the crackers down around his nausea, but determination got Jimin through enough of them that he could wash his medication down behind them without fear of them coming back up. Well, not for any reason the crackers on their own wouldn't have made him throw up, anyway.

Eventually, Hani gave up on trying to convince Jimin's foster mum Jimin shouldn't stay and left. Jimin felt better with her gone, with only people who really cared about him around. He lay down on his bed with his head in his foster mum's lap and let her stroke his hair while she started up a conversation with Hoseok.

"Oh!" she said when Hoseok mentioned plans to buy his own car and began searching through her handbag. She pulled out Jimin's little toy car and held it out for him to take. "Jaehyo thought you might like to have it."

"Who's Jaehyo?" Hoseok asked as Jimin climbed off of the bed and sat down on the floor next to him.

"Oh, my husband," Jimin's foster mum said. "He's not very good at the emotional things, but in his own way. When Jimin first came to stay with us, he was all but unreachable. Wouldn't talk, wouldn't let anyone touch him, got upset at the slightest thing. Then Jaehyo gave him that car and Jimin just sat down on the floor and played with it for hours. Eventually, he let Jaehyo join in and that's how Jimin started opening up to us."

Jimin pushed down on the car and pulled it back before releasing it to send it skidding across the wooden floor. Hoseok went to fetch it and sent it zooming back in Jimin's direction.

Jimin's foster mum reached a hand out over the edge of the bed to stroke Jimin's hair. "Jaehyo engages with Jimin's interests better than I ever have. They watch movies and play games. Jaehyo tried to get him into fishing and sport, typical boy things, but you really have to engage with Jimin's own interest."

"Yeah, I get that," Hoseok said while reaching over to grab the car as it skidded past him. "We watch movies on my iPad. Jimin, you got any consoles? We could play some games together when I come to visit you."

Jimin frowned at him. "I'm not leaving."

Hoseok smiled and shook his head. "Not now, but eventually, when camp ends. Then I'll come to visit, okay?"

"Okay."

Jimin's foster mum offered to take Jimin to lunch before she went home, but when she said Hoseok couldn't come because they didn't have permission from his parents Jimin declined. Somehow Jimin felt like if there was too much distance between the two of them Hoseok would be taken away from him.

After she left Hoseok brought Jimin lunch from the cafeteria, then lingered for a while making sure Jimin was okay. Hoseok wasn't like Jimin, though. He couldn't stay cooped up inside for days at a time without getting antsy. Jimin didn't mind. As long as he knew Hoseok was coming back, that he would be there to cuddle up with Jimin and watch a movie after dinner, Jimin didn't mind.