Hobi sighed as the bell rang.

Class was over.

Now, it was time for lunch.

He went to the cafeteria and got a tray, grabbing the necessary items and letting the lunch lady scan them. His mom and her husband paid for the school lunch program instead of making his lunch like Namjoon used to, and they'd get notifications if he didn't get a lunch everyday.

It was one of the things the lawyers made sure of.

Hobi didn't really care. Just another box to check off.

He looked for an empty lunch table and found one in the corner. Lunch hours were separated by year, which meant he had a sophomore lunch hour, which additionally meant that none of his brothers had the same one, which finally meant that he had to eat alone. He set the tray on the table before sitting down, putting his backpack on the seat next to him. Then he pulled out his phone.

4 new messages

view?

yes / no

Wonpillow: hoooooooooobi

Wonpillow: did you eat your lunch yet?

Wonpillow: hobihobihobihobi answer me child

Wonpillow: i will not stop messaging you until i have photo confirmation

Hobi smiled before flicking his eyes toward the lunch tray. With a sigh, he grabbed the entree item, a hamburger, and took a photo. Then he took a few bites out of it, ignoring the flavor and instead forcing it down his throat before taking a photo of the half-eaten burger next to his face. Then he sent both photos to Wonpil and waited.

1 new message

view?

yes / no

Wonpillow: good job! don't push yourself too hard. hope the rest of your school day goes well!

Hobi smiled before texting back.

to: Wonpillow

message: haha thanks, now stop texting me and focus on whatever your teacher is saying before i get you in trouble again

send message?

yes / no

He sighed and put his phone away. Because the zones for elementary schools and high schools were different, Wonpil had gone to a different high school than Hobi. Additionally, one of the stipulations in the custody paperwork had been that, despite living in separate houses, all of the siblings had to attend the same high school to keep things fair, so Hobi was here and Wonpil was there and that was that.

Although that seemed stupid to Hobi. He liked being in the same school as his brothers, but fair?

When had fair ever mattered?

Was it fair that kids had taken his food and he'd become accustomed to going without?

Was it fair that Hobi's only friend was in a different high school right now, texting him instead of talking with him in person?  

Was it fair that Jin, Taehyung, and Jungkook got to live with Namjoon while Hobi, Yoongi, and Jimin had to live with their mom and her husband?

How was any of it fair? Why was there a sudden focus on trying to make things even? When had that ever mattered before?

Was it fair that their vulnerabilities had been used against them?

The main reason Yoongi, Hobi, and Jimin had been chosen to live with their mom was because they were the three with the most severe problems. The lawyers called it neglect on Namjoon's part, which it wasn't necessarily, but nobody could argue with the facts. Yoongi, with a school record that seemed to never end, full of quite possibly several true accusations and a nest of questionable events that had never been confirmed. Hobi, with an eating disorder (Mr. Kim, how did you never manage to notice that one of your sons has anorexia? to which Namjoon had no answer). Jimin, for obvious reasons.

And so of course they blamed Namjoon. They said he wasn't being an active enough parent, that he was neglecting some of his children and ignoring their problems, that he wasn't taking proper responsibility for them.

Hobi remembered the look on Namjoon's face. He had looked heartbroken.

He hadn't known about Hobi's disorder until the trial. Yoongi, he'd known about. Jimin, he'd known about.

But he'd had no knowledge of Hobi's case, none whatsoever.

As upset as he looked toward Hobi, it was mostly toward himself, for not noticing, for not intervening, for not fixing Hobi.

But Hobi didn't think he could be fixed. He was getting better, but he didn't think he'd ever be completely "healed." He was eating during lunch now, at least a little bit, and he wasn't throwing up anymore for the most part. Partially because the boys who had been the source of so much of his anxiety had gone to a different high school along with Wonpil, and partially because he had a checkup every few months to check his progress. Another part of The Deal. Three kids, three problems to fix.

Hobi, with his doctor's checkups and lunch account records.

Their plan to fix Yoongi involved trying to waive him into higher level classes and get him more involved in clubs. They'd tried to sign him up for community service, but he'd done more harm than good simply out of general spite. Yoongi didn't want to be fixed. He didn't think he needed to be. But their mom had to provide statistics to the lawyers. Yoongi got less detentions this month, see? He's improving. He's better off with me than with Namjoon.

Fair?

Fixing Jimin was a bit more complicated. He'd had to attend therapy lessons once a week, although they were only once a month now. That was to fix all the damage Song Eungi had done. The problem was Jimin's grades and his speech impediment. They'd expected his grades to be low starting out because he was transferring in, but they hadn't improved enough for him to be considered "stable." Fixed. As for the speech impediment, Jimin had to go to speech therapy every week, but he hadn't been making any progress. It all looked bad to the lawyers. Jimin wasn't fixed; he was more broken than before. But, of course, the argument that kept Jimin in their mom's possession trumped whatever grades or speech impediments Jimin developed: Jimin got abducted when he was in Namjoon's care. Has he been abducted since? No? Then he's better off with me.

Hobi was pretty sure that she actually meant it. She seemed to care about them. A bit late, but better than never at all, Hobi supposed. Or maybe it wasn't better. But she was trying her best. She took Jimin to all of his appointments. Even if their car rides were either silent or one-sided conversations, she was there for him, even if he didn't want her to be.

Hobi thought back to when the Jimin's stutter had started developing, when he'd found Jimin crying in their room, shoving a pillow against his face to muffle the sound so neither their mom nor their step-dad would hear him-

The bell jolted Hobi out of his solemn reminiscence, and he stood up slowly, emptying his lunch tray into the garbage can.

He wondered if his brothers thought about the same things he did. He wondered if they wanted to be fixed.

He wondered if they thought they needed to be fixed at all.

cuties

short(ish) update

happy belated zombie jesus day