((THIS WILL BE IN TWO PARTS.  THIS IS PART ONE))

"hey! you're the new kid right? hoseok?"

said boy looked up, he was 14 and just arrived to the office/orphanage.

"yes, i am...."

"i'm park jimin, and this is taehyung."

"jung hoseok.....as you know...."

"well let's go, the foster festival thing is a two week event so since you don't have a temporary home just yet you'll be staying here with a few of us."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

it was loud and hoseok didn't know where to go as he watched tae and jimin hug a shorter male who placed a stolen lollipop between his lips.

they both were yelling about how they were glad he was okay.

there was a clap from the small male, "who wants to hear my story!?"

hoseok decided to listen in, coming close.

"tell us yoon," tae urged.

"so the last foster home i was sent to were people doing it for the money.  they caught me smoking and then selling drugs so they didn't know what to do and chained me into a pool for a week," he had taked out the lollipop to speak clearer, "i got sick and ended up in the hospital for a month! they didn't pay hospital bills and i had hypothermia and couldn't even get warm enough without them paying the bill and ended up almost dying but they got caught, my hospital bill was paid for by some of the foster funds. and now another month later, here i am and they were charged for child neglect.

hoseok observed the smaller teenager, seeing his name tag, min yoongi, as hoseok looked he could see how skinny he was.  skinny and incredibly pale with black hair and pink, pouty lips, a cute button nose and cat like eyes.

hoseok couldn't help but stare a bit, subtly checking him out in his jean jacket and black skinny jeans.

"what, you shit!?"

hoseok jumped a bit at the glare from the shorter, "nothing."

the day was over quickly...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"you're sharing rooms with uhh yoongi.  if you don't like it we can switch rooms, im with taetae.."

"no it's okay," hoseok said, smiling at jimin who returned the smile and nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"oh great, it's you little shit.  i already took the left side so you got the right."

"okay."

hoseok set his very little things down next to the bed, he just had a few clothes from his old home.

as he sat on the bed, he decided to ask, "how come no one came over to us during the adoption festival thing?"

"how old are you kid? and what's your name?"

"14... name's hoseok."

"cool, im yoongi and im 15.  well no one wants teenagers, we're too much for them to handle so we end up in the system till we're 18."

"oh...."

yoongi sighed, laying on the bed, "im going to sleep so good night."

"good night."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"h-hoseok!"

the younger male blinked a few times, sleepily looking towards the teary eyed elder male.

yoongi sniffled, now panicking to speak since hoseok was awake.

"w-well....uhm can i-i uh i get...nightmares...."

hoseok didn't let him finish, scooting over and letting him crawl under the blankets beside him.

he could feel yoongi still shaking and crying so he pulled him closer in attempt to calm him, with worked as he stopped shaking and his crying slowly turned in to sniffles.

he listened to yoongi's breathing deepen and waited for a few soft snores from the elder.

he prayed yoongi was a deep sleeper so he could check a suspicion, carefully slipping a hand under yoongi's shirt and feeling around to find he was right.  he could feel yoongi's ribs distinctly.  there was more too, as he felt around he felt scabs too, lines of scabs going down his sides.  they weren't fresh though, like they were paused for a month or two....

hoseok almost gasped, is yoongi cutting himself? hoseok gulped, pulling his hand out from under the shorter's shirt.

he cleared his throat quietly, whispering, "you are loved.  i may not know you but you're not alone."

he heard the small male hum and he tensed, worried he woke the older but the older fell back into his regular breathing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"yoon!"

jimin let out a hurried whisper, calling the elder over which made hoseok follow.

they were behind the rest of the group on the bleachers.

jimin motioned to tae who opened his palm, hoseok scrunching his face at the perfectly rolled joint.

"holy shit, where'd you two get the weed?"

"we have our ways," tae laughed as jimin took it between his lips, lighting it with a stolen lighter, taking a drag before passing it to yoongi who eagerly took it.

yoongi held it out to hoseok who immediately shook his head.

yoongi shrugged, "suit yourself."

tae reached over yoongi, grabbing the joint and taking a drag of it himself, blowing the smoke into yoongi's face.

yoongi scrunched his nose, snatching it back.

jimin interrupted them to grab it for himself.

hoseok watched them argue and blow smoke in each other's faces and yoongi was actually laughing, no sarcasm laced in his voice.

yoongi hugged hoseok, "try ittt~"

"no."

yoongi huffed at hoseok's confident answer.

"not even a lil~"

"no. yoongi, no."

the elder finally gave up, instead bringing it up to his lips and inhaling deeply, blowing the smoke into hoseok's face.

hoseok backed up, scrunching his face in disgust.

jimin took it, then tae, before it got too small and tae dropped it to snuff it out.

yoongi's lips turned to a pout, "i wanted last hit."

"well too bad."

"you bitch!"

yoongi pushed tae, the two play fighting for a while.

yoongi lost, being pinned to the ground, laughing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"hoseok...."

hoseok yawned, rubbing his eyes.

in the dim light from the small window, he could see the blood on yoongi's bottom lip.

hoseok turned on the lamp and sat up, wiping the blood with his thumb.

yoongi was too teary eyed to care, hoseok moving back a bit so yoongi would lay down.

hoseok settled yoongi's head in his lap, playing with the older's hair until his crying stopped.

hoseok let yoongi's head rest on a pillow instead and laying next to him, turning off the lamp simultaneously.

yoongi didn't sleep and neither did hoseok.

"did you eat today?"

"why would you care?"

"just cause."

"no.  i'm not hungry either."

"when was the last time you ate a full meal?"

"less than a week ago cause i was in the hospital."

hoseok quieted for a second.

"my turn, who are you? like where are you from and stuff," yoongi asked.

"well you know that im jung hoseok, im from gwangju.  my family wasn't rich nor poor, i have no remaining family except my father in jail.  Once he gets out he promised to get me, he was caught selling drugs."

"and how long will he be in jail?"

".....3 years......."

yoongi hummed, letting hoseok ask him a question.

"tell me about yourself..?"

"min yoongi, from daegu.  my mom was a prostitute and my dad was a drug dealer.  i grew up with tae and jimin, they're fraternal twins.  well my mom was raped and killed and my dad was caught selling weed, i took as much as i could and came here with a ziploc bag of weed and clothes.  i was......11."

hoseok took his turn to hum in response.

in a few moments of silence, hoseok could hear yoongi's soft snores.

he cuddled the smaller closer, smiling as he then slept too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

tae couldn't help but snicker as yoongi failed to light the joint, giving the lighter to jimin to lit it for him.

yoongi took a lungful of smoke and then passed it to tae as he sighed it out, "fuck, i missed that.  where are you guys getting the weed?"

"our dad.  he told us his drug dealer so in our last foster home we stocked up on weed after school for a month."

hoseok felt out of place, watching the three pass around a joint and once they finished it, yoongi would beg to light a second.

after a few hours of being there, yoongi got the courage to say something to hoseok with the help of the weed.

"he's not coming, you know."

"what?"

"your dad.  he's not going to come for you."

"how would you know!?"

"by the time he's out, you'll be 17!  being in the system means you're practically learning how to take care of yourself! by the time he's out, he won't care about his kid! he'll care about his drugs!  you would practically be an adult so he wouldn't even think about you!"

hoseok teared up, but deep down he had a feeling yoongi was right.  no matter how close he and his father were before the arrest, his father would want to rebuild his life and get money. "b-but what if you're wrong..."

"I won't get to see myself cause i have places to be," yoongi giggled darkly, drawing a line across his own neck.

hoseok looked away, closing his eyes and holding his tears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"i'm sorry," hoseok heard yoongi mutter, the older's face pressed against his chest, "i didnt...... my dad ..... he promised he'd come for me too....... but instead he went and got arrested again a year later for selling weed..... so he's in jail again...."

hoseok sighed, rubbing yoongi's back.

"we'll be okay, just you wait."