CHAPTER EIGHT :
It's Just A Phase
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Namjoon was packing his things hurriedly, stuffing his books and papers in his bag while Hoseok was skipping towards his older brother. "Hyung, look!"
"Not now, Hobi." Namjoon grumbles, making the other frowned, lowering his hands that were holding something and his eyes downcast. Namjoon was oblivious of Hoseok's sad expression, nonetheless, he was too focused on not being late for school, as he has to arrange some more things before his presentation. But when Namjoon was met with an unusual silence, he heaved out a sigh before facing Hoseok, since knew his little brother was sad that he haven't acquired his attention. "Look, tell me about it when we get to the car, okay Hobi?"
Hoseok beamed up a little before rushing towards the door and to the car. Namjoon watched for a moment in disbelief before rechecking his stuff in his backpack. "Yah, Hobi-hyung!" Taehyung suddenly shouted in the living room, the older brother zooming to the door and the sound of the door slamming was heard throughout the house. Jin suddenly entered Namjoon's room, lastly checking the entire house to see if any children are left behind. "Joon-ah, you know why Hobi is in a rush to the car?"
The eldest clicked his tongue and shrugged, his eyes still focused on checking the contents in his bag. "I dunno, appa. I just know that he's excited to show me something." Namjoon groaned and tilted his head, something he would do when he is hesitant or confused. "I think... we can leave." Namjoon says and nods in confirmation as he slowly zips up his bag before exiting the door with his father behind him.
Finally, everyone was in the car and on their seats, Jimin on the front seat with Jin. Hoseok was beside Namjoon, who was looking outside of the window and nervousness evident on his body language. Hoseok took this as an opportunity to show his hyung that item he wanted to show him a while ago.
"Hyung, look." Hoseok brought it out of his bag and almost pushed it in front of Namjoon. The eldest blinked, narrowing his eyes at Hoseok who has a big grin. "Huh? A flower crown?" Hoseok nodded and put it on his head. "Yeah! Isn't it pretty? I made it myself at school yesterday with my classmate." Hoseok giggled, flashing a peace sign and closing his eyes in happiness.
Although this made Hoseok happy, Namjoon wasn't. They are boys! Boys don't need flower crowns, nor wear them. They need to be masculine, not feminine.
Namjoon clicked his tongue and shoved the flower crown off of Hoseok's head. "Yah, leave it in the car. Don't wear that in school."
Once again, Hoseok felt his heart drop to the bottom of his stomach, his eyes brimming with tears as his shaky hands almost fisted the flower crown tightly. Namjoon turned his head away to hide his guilt and bit his lip. "O-okay..." Hoseok mumbled, slowly dropping his flower crown on the seat next to him while he clenched the hem of his shirt. Namjoon could hear how his voice got shaky, wanting to apologize immediately as he felt hollow in his chest.
Jin looked at the overhead mirror, frowning when he saw Hoseok silently crying on his seat. As much as he wanted to stop the car to comfort his child, he didn't want to attract the others' attention—
"Hobi-hyungie!" Jimin turned and pouted at Hoseok, who looked up and sniffled. "W-why you cwyin'?" Jimin felt hurt when he saw his hyung crying, his own eyes burning with tears. Namjoon didn't even steal a glance, but the others struggled to look at their sibling to see if he really was crying. He couldn't bear to be more hurt with guilt if he took a look at Hoseok.
Jin put a hand on Jimin's small shoulder. "Jimin-ah," Said child sniffled and looked at his father with a big pout and teary eyes. "Appa is going to drop you three off, okay? Hobi-hyungie will be okay, I promise." Jin sweetly said, patting Jimin's head and back to soften his cries, trying to distract him from being affected by their brother's quiet sobs.
The third to the youngest child only nodded in reply, puckered lips quivering as he tried to hush his cries. After a few minutes, Jin finally stopped the car and wiped away Jimin's tears. "Don't cwy, Jiminie." Taehyung said out of the blue, unbuckling his seatbelt to sit on the floor in front of the console. Jimin sniffled and nodded, grabbing the strap of his backpack and slowly put it on. Their father watched with a small frown, looking at Taehyung and Jungkook who are already ready to go. While Jimin unbuckled his seatbelt, he turned to glance at Hoseok who was still crying, his hand clenched over his heart.
"H-hyung." Jimin mumbled, climbing over the console (despite hearing Jin's calls) and went to hug Hoseok. Jimin thought his hyung would totally lessen his crying and smile, but then it became the opposite, and Hoseok was wailing like a baby.
Jimin sniffled and hugged Hoseok tighter, making Namjoon give a guilty glance at the pair and sighing. Taehyung and Jungkook's lips began quivering, and before the situation gets worse, the father himself hurriedly flew off of his seat —unbuckling his seatbelt first, of course— and unto the door beside Jimin and Hoseok.
"A-ah Jiminie, Taehyungie and Kookie! C'mon babies, let's go to school before you three are late!" Jin exclaimed, carefully untangling Jimin from Hoseok and gestured at two other maknaes to get off the car. Jin glared at Namjoon, who jumped from his seat with wide eyes. "Calm your brother down, Kim Namjoon." Jin almost threatened in a deadly voice, slamming the door shut and guided the three onto the entrance of the school. Yoongi blinked, now wide awake and looking at Namjoon who was frozen on his seat. "You heard the man, hyung." Yoongi nonchalantly said with a raised brow and a small smirk, making Namjoon whip his head to glare at Yoongi. "Calm your brother down."
With a deep sigh, Namjoon turned to face Hoseok, struggling to find the right words to say. Yoongi could do nothing but stare at the two as the eldest opened and closed his mouth. It was an awkward silence, only the quiet sniffles and the subtle noise of children laughing with their parents outside were heard by the trio. Jin was still on the entrance, calming Jimin down with forehead kisses and gentle hugs, with Taehyung and Jungkook waving at the other kids going inside. Namjoon frowned as he saw Jimin cracking a small smile at Jin, unlike him who couldn't even form words to console his crying brother.
It was moments after when Jin came in and Hoseok was still crying, and Namjoon's eyes were a bit teary. Jin sighed and turned his back slightly to face the remaining children. "You two, do you need to be absent today just so that I can fix you two's problems?" Jin almost scolded, making Yoongi squirm on his seat uncomfortably and Hoseok to finally silence himself. A teardrop fell from Namjoon's eye, unnoticeable from the others, but Jin could tell he was about to cry.
However, Jin did nothing but drive to the elementary school's parking lot. Yoongi shifted, grabbing his backpack tightly and looked at the two silent brothers. Hoseok's flower crown still on the seat between, and Yoongi just wanted to let it sit on Hoseok's head so that he can be happy.
Jin parked the car, going down from the car, and went to their side. "So," Jin said as he opened the door, leaning his weight on one foot while his arms are crossed. "Am I going to make you two absent for today or you two are going to make up?"
Hoseok shook his head. "I just wanna go to school now, appa." He said in a small voice, making Jin drop his arms to his sides defeatedly and sigh. The father did not realize that the older brothers can be more stubborn than the little ones. Namjoon said nothing, and that irked Jin a tad bit. "You said you have a presentation, right, Kim Namjoon?"
Namjoon responded with a nod, lips tightly shut. "If you don't want to be marked absent and miss your presentation—and have a zero mark, I suppose you have to apologize to your brother for being too judgemental." As much as Jin wanted to say 'apologize to your brother for being a bitch', he didn't kept that to himself and controlled his temper. So, he gritted his teeth and stared at Namjoon and Hoseok.
"I—I..." Namjoon stuttered, fiddling with the strap of his backpack, and Hoseok couldn't stand it anymore. "I'm leaving." Hoseok grounded out, almost shoving Jin out of the way and ran towards the doors of the elementary school, not even bothering to look for any cars on the street. "Hoseok!" Jin called, but the child already stormed in without acknowledging them.
Yoongi clicked his tongue and went down the car with an 'oof' escaping his lips. "Bye, appa." He said, not waiting for his hyung as he walked towards school carefully. As if Yoongi really wanted to catch up with Hoseok, he hastened his pace so that he could chase the sad boy down the hall. However, Namjoon still remained seated, now vulnerable against Jin's hard gaze as he started to shed tears. Jin wanted to scold Namjoon so bad and so hard, that he would be forced to go home and think of his mistakes these past few days, the excuse of 'being stressed at school' now invalid since he took it too far. He wanted to let Namjoon know how much his words affected their little sunshine, not wanting their home to become so gloomy just because of Namjoon's judgemental self.
"A-a-appa p-please—"
"Think of what you did to your brother, Namjoon." Jin sighed, rubbing his temple as he struggles to find the right words to say. "I know that... Hobi is different from uh, male stereotypes that you're thinking of. Typical boys like you like cars, video games, and action figures for the most part. But Hobi..." Jin sighed once again, feeling a headache coming in as he somewhat try to explain to his eldest carefully without making him feel worse. "...Hobi likes flower crowns, sunshine, and rainbows. I know its... different. Unique, even."
Namjoon wiped his tears away while avoiding eye contact with his dad. "But please, Hobi is your brother. Your little brother." Jin inhales, and Namjoon suddenly froze in realization. "He is your little brother who looks up to you, because you are his hyung. Now, if you say hurtful words to him just because he is different, how would he look at you? Let alone act around you?"
Namjoon thought of it, and frowned at the thought of Hoseok glaring at him, but smiling as usual to his other brothers and his father. "I know that you are smart, Namjoon. I know you are stressed in school and whatsoever, but that doesn't mean it gives you a free pass whenever you diss your brothers." Jin couldn't help but lay a harsh word out, and it made Namjoon flinch slightly. "Now, since your presentation is gonna end today, think of how you could apologize to your brother later. Deal?"
Namjoon nodded silently, earning a pat on the head by Jin and he let his father wipe his cheeks. "Good. Now go and do good on your presentation, okay?" Jin gave an encouraging smile while patting Namjoon's back, gesturing him to run along and attend his classes before he becomes tardy and as if nothing happened from the last few minutes. The eldest son got the message and started running towards his first class, the thought of Hoseok and the flower crown still bugging in his mind.
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"Ugh, I dunno, hyung." Jin suddenly dropped his butt to the couch, cracking his back and groaning while his brother was talking on the phone. "Yeah. He likes flower crowns. Maybe it's just a little phase of his?"
"You wouldn't know for sure if its just a phase or maybe its a permanent thing." Seokjung stated, the sound of rap music on the background that Jin couldn't help but bop his head to. "I mean... yeah, it could be a phase, but still. It's kind of questionable that those kinds of boys... you know, exist." Jin snorted in reply, much to Seokjung's displeasure.
"Huh. Thanks a lot, hyung."
"Yah, you little shit. But now that you mention it, Hobi really likes flowers." Seokjung hummed, making Jin raise a brow even though his hyung couldn't see it. "Hobi was talking about flowers and the sunset when I went there to babysit them the first time. He really... likes flowers."
"I see." Jin could only muster out those two words, his brain racking up a solution or a hypothesis as to why Hoseok is a boy who loves flowers. 'A phase, or not a phase? Oh god, what if it's not a phase? Then Hobi could be bullied in school. Or worse, in life.' It almost made Jin want to bite his fingernails, eyes shaking as he goes to panic mode.
"Jin-ah. Don't worry about it too much." Seokjung suddenly piped up, as if he can read Jin's mind. "Hobi would figure himself out at the right time. Don't force him to become someone else, it's unhealthy for kids."
Jin could only thank his brother and end the call, deflating as he sighs deeply. He looked at his open laptop filled with windows for his freelance work, not an ounce of motivation present. "I need money." He suddenly told himself and sprang up from his seat to start typing, the thoughts of Hoseok being bullied in school distracting him a little bit.
'Gah, maybe it's just a phase of his.'