"I'm f-fourteen y-years old, I d-don't n-need you to b-baby m-me hyung!"

"And I'm your older brother so I'll do what I want!"

Those were the sounds Hobi woke up to.

He rolled over slowly, releasing his vice-like grip on his pillow, to see Yoongi looming over Jimin's bed, hands on his hips, and Jimin curled up in his blankets, facing the wall and trying to ignore the other.

"What's going-" Hobi paused to yawn before continuing. "-on?"

"N-Nothing, hyung, g-go back to s-sleep."

"Jimin had another nightmare," Yoongi quickly ratted out as Jimin turned to glare at him, betrayed.

"Jimin," Hobi said, still exhausted but as always responsible to care for his younger brother. "You shouldn't try to hide it. You know that we want to help you, right?"

"It w-was n-nothing," Jimin insisted. "G-go b-back to sleep."

Hobi sighed before crawling out of bed and crawling into Jimin's, rubbing his back as he took in Jimin's wet eyelashes but dry cheeks, evidence that his eyes were teary but that he hadn't cried. "How bad was it?"

Jimin frowned before looking at the wall. "N-not bad."

"Jimin."

"B-bad."

Hobi sighed before looking up at Yoongi for direction.

"Can you tell us about it?" Yoongi asked in a tone that implied that Jimin better get busy talking.

But Jimin, immune to Yoongi's ways, just shook his head.

"Hon, we can't help if you don't tell us what's wrong," Hobi said. With Jin absent, he'd sort of taken on the role of the mother figure, and calming Jimin down was usually his job in situations like these.

"D-dark," Jimin whispered. "Blood. L-lots of blood."

Yoongi sighed, still standing, only he crossed his arms. "Jimin, your period is nothing to be afraid of. It's perfectly natu-"

He cut off as Hobi elbowed him just under the rib cage.

"Ignore him, Jimin. He thinks he's being funny but he's not," Hobi said pointedly, glaring at the elder, who stuck his tongue out. "Keep talking, Jimin."

But Jimin shook his head. "Y-Yoongi is j-just going to m-make fun of me."

Hobi turned to Yoongi, pissed that his hard work had gone to waste, but Yoongi was already stepping in, leaning over Hobi and grabbing Jimin's chin, forcing their eyes to meet.

"Jimin, make sure you get this straight: I will never make fun of you, okay? I made a joke at a bad time, and I'm sorry about that, but I would never make fun of you, okay?" he said sternly. Jimin didn't talk much about school, but from the things Yoongi heard, Jimin deal with enough subtle bullying that Yoongi didn't want Jimin to ever have to experience it anywhere else. He was fiercely protective of Jimin, and he never wanted Jimin to see him as the bad guy.

"Jimin, nod if you understand."

Jimin nodded, and Yoongi let go.

"Now, finish telling us about your nightmare," Yoongi said, going back to crossing his arms.

Jimin looked at Hobi for reassurance, and Hobi nodded for him to go on. "There w-was a gunshot."

"Who was shot, Jimin?"

"I d-don't know, I j-just remembered thinking it w-was s-someone in our f-family, and that it w-was my f-fault somehow."

Hobi kept rubbing Jimin's back. "Nobody's dead, and nothing is your fault, okay?"

Jimin nodded reluctantly, and Hobi decided to ask him questions to distract him. "How'd your speech go the other day?" he asked. Jimin had been writing rough drafts for two weeks and had been locking them out of their room at their mom's house so he could practice, but Hobi hadn't been allowed to know what it was about.

"It w-was okay," Jimin said cautiously, but his lips turned down at the edges.

"Yeah? Did the kids like it?"

"They l-loved it," Jimin said bitterly, full-on frowning now, his eyes narrowed as he glared down at the bed sheets.

"Jimin? What's wrong?"

"N-nothing, hyung. I'm j-just tired. Go t-take your shower."

Hobi sighed before standing up, realizing that he was pushing his luck and to just give Jimin some space.

***

At Namjoon's house, Hobi was prohibited from taking excessively long showers, both for financial reasons and because they had even less hot water. So Hobi showered quickly and was out in eight minutes. He tried to just grab his towel and dry off, but he couldn't.

It was the reason he hated showering there. Eight minutes wasn't long enough for the mirror to fog up and hide what he didn't want to see.

He stared at his reflection. It wasn't horrible, at first glance. He thought that there were some minor problems. His face was too long, for one. And it might have just been him, but he thought his eyes were a little too far apart. And his mouth, well it was all right.

But the farther down his eyes traveled, the less satisfied Hobi was. He saw all of his imperfections, real and otherwise. It didn't matter what the mirror showed; to Hobi, he could only see faults. He looked bloated and wan to his own eyes, a mess of disproportional limbs and unnecessary mass. It disgusted him.

He disgusted him.

"Hobi, hurry up," Yoongi's whine came from outside. "I have to pee and you've been in there forever."

"Sorry, hyung," Hobi said automatically before ripping his eyes away from the mirror and grabbing his towel. It was only when he looked down at his arms - not the ones reflected in the mirror, but his real ones - that he noticed that he was covered in goosebumps.

***

"Like I mentioned last night," Namjoon said, looking nervously at the three kids seated side-by-side on the couch. "I've been thinking a lot lately, and I've decided to-"

Ding dong.

The doorbell rang before a key slid in the lock and the doorknob turned, revealing Lisa, who smiled first at the boys and then at Namjoon. "Sorry I'm late, I was picking up breakfast," she said, holding up a bag of assorted bagels.

"Why bother ringing the doorbell if you have your own key?" Yoongi muttered, and Lisa gave him a look, setting a hand on her hip.

"Out of politeness, Yoongi. Maybe you've forgotten, but I don't actually live here."

Yoongi gave her an exasperated look. "Hard to forget you when you practically never leave."

The two glared at each other before Hobi grinned. "I'd like a bagel! And one for Jimin too, please. The one with the chocolate chips."

"How'd you know I got one with chocolate chips?" Lisa asked, amused as she handed the bag over.

"Because you're really just here for us kids and not our dad and you like to spoil us with food," Hobi said, grinning as he distributed the bagels before looking up at Namjoon. "What were you saying, Dad?"

Namjoon opened his mouth but shut it, shaking it head. "It can wait. I'll tell you guys later, okay?"

Hobi nodded, already eating his bagel, but he stopped when he ate half of it, the reflection in the mirror flashing in his mind, and he folded up the other half in his napkin to save for later.

Jimin saw him but just looked down before resting his head on Hobi's shoulder, his ear feeling the bones just beneath Hobi's skin as they bit into his head.