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He's doing it again.
Yoongi frowns as he watches Hoseok leaning heavily over the kitchen counter, staring down into a mug as it slowly fills with coffee under the spout of their keurig. Hoseok drank coffee most mornings, almost all of them did, but he rarely looked so drained. Rarely looked so desperate for caffeine to keep him going. He was always an easy riser, give him his eight hours and he shuffled out of bed at the ass crack of dawn. Maybe not coherent, but rested and ready to face his day.
In the pale light of another too-early morning in their shared kitchen Hoseok doesn't look ready to face anything while watching his coffee brew. The loose shirt he sleeps in is on backwards and the little antenna sprout of hair he gets before he brushes it out looks floppy and weak.
For someone who’s almost religious with their skincare his dark circles are looking rough.
"Sleep alright?" Yoongi asks, his own voice still rough with sleep in the quiet of early morning. It would be a half hour until the rest started to file in for breakfast so he had some time before he got around to cooking something. Maybe he could indulge them in egg toast sandwiches, there was a head of cabbage he needed to shred into something still sitting in the fridge and a loaf of milk bread in the freezer. A rare clear morning for them where they weren't being whisked off the minute the sun was up to whatever pressing engagement they had on schedule. Just enough time to make breakfast for the group and watch them happily eat a home cooked meal instead of quick fast food meals or half a samgak gimbap and instant noodles from whatever set they were on.
"Yeah. Just tired," Hoseok nods, forcing a smile.
They've been friends for years now and Hoseok is still the hardest to read of the bunch. Yoongi knows better though, he's seen the warning signs before. Not much got between Hoseok and his eight hours of sleep outside of extra practice before comebacks and stress. Stress was easier for him to manage than some, maybe from all the self help books he read, maybe he just came equipped with better serotonin delivery than the average twenty something in the arts. Hard to tell, but Yoongi was exceedingly good at telling when Hoseok was faking it, and the smile he gave while stirring his coffee, thin and not quite wide enough to show his dimple, never really reached his eyes. It isn't the time to bring attention to it, not when it could just be nothing, a bad dream maybe, so Yoongi does what he always does: he watches.
Wait for him to reach out maybe, wait till it was a sure thing before he tried to confront the issue head on.
Hoseok gives all of himself to the group, their little found family that stuck together through thick and thin over the years. He works himself bruised and sometimes bloody with mastering their choreography so he can lead them all through it, he keeps himself bright and happy for their benefit, buys them gifts, checks in on them, makes sure everyone is sleeping enough and eating correctly and doing their skin care. But Hoseok also rarely knows how to take care of himself when that self imposed burden finally gets too heavy. Seokjin has video games and on days off he sleeps and eats and does his best impression of a sea cucumber. Namjoon, with all the responsibilities of leader and his constantly whirring brain that never really stops, still finds time to water his bonsai and read and put on perhaps the worst disguise Yoongi has ever seen to go wandering around art galleries with one of their staff members. The maknaes all dog pile together and sleep or play fight or whatever it is Jimin and Taehyung call their spontaneous kitchen roleplays. Yoongi likes to play piano or cook, sometimes he drinks whiskey and reads in the quietest corner of their shared apartment, sometimes he goes to his personal apartment and redecorates for the millionth time.
And then there’s Hoseok who is still figuring out how to relax when he finally starts feeling the stress. Everything he seems to want to do in his off time feels like work half the time. Studies his language classes, does more dance practice, pours more of his heart out in taking care of everyone but himself.
The last time Hoseok got too wound up in his own head, not sleeping, avoiding them, working himself ragged, it was just before he mentioned wanting to leave. Back when things were at their worst. Yoongi can’t handle another meltdown like that, they all cried for days, Jungkook was inconsolable and Yoongi felt like his heart was getting ripped out his chest.
They can’t have another rerun so he’s gotten good at seeing the early warning signs.
He's good at hiding it, always has been, but Yoongi watches, he waits, he goes to Namjoon’s studio to talk about it when he catches Hoseok wandering around late at night attached to his phone instead of sleeping, catches him staring off into the distance early in the morning looking further and further from well rested the more time drags on.
"He's doing it again," Yoongi says the second the door of the Rkive clicks shut behind him, Namjoon turning from his monitor to stare at him.
The blue light glasses they got him are perched low on his nose, sliding down his shallow nose bridge while his eyebrows hike up towards his hairline. They’ve been together long enough for Namjoon to read him like an open book.
"Is he sleeping?" Namjoon asks, frowning, already sure of what's got him so out of sorts.
Anything wrong with Hoseok and Yoongi was a mess, it was actually one of the few things that got him out of sorts and he was old enough and self aware enough to know it. He cared about all the members, of course, but he had his soft spots. It's what love did to you. Hoseok was Yoongi’s weak spot, Yoongi was Namjoon’s, and they were both the Achilles heel to the unflappable Hoseok. It's been a couple weeks since first noticing something was off at breakfast and it’s been too long. Time to intervene before he worked himself sick.
"No. I don't think Jimin has noticed, but he has dark circles that he isn't putting concealer on and he isn't eating the same. I catch him up late sometimes just scrolling twitter." Yoongi shrugs, stretching out on the couch.
“He doesn’t even like twitter, he’s still trying to convince us to make instagram accounts,” Namjoon sighs with a frown, taking his headphones off his neck to set them on the desk.
It takes a little coaxing and giggling to get Yoongi to lift up so Namjoon can curl up with him, arms immediately locked around his waist to stare at Yoongi’s phone over his shoulder, cheeks pressed together.
“Think we could get a couple days off?” Yoongi asks while flicking through their schedules. The company was making record profits off their backs, they had more bargaining power now than they did in their early days, juggling around a few brand photoshoots could give them some time off to relax. Some time to figure out what had Hoseok out of sorts. “This phone endorsement is just photoshoots, we could do them at the same time we’re filming the commercial, save time and give us some free time for everyone. Think you could talk to Manager-nim? You’re his favorite.”
“He has Seokjin-hyung as his phone background,” Namjoon counters with a laugh, kissing Yoongi’s ear.
“Yeah but Jin isn’t gonna help us without something in return and I don’t want to give him an excuse to drag me fishing. I love him, but fuck I hate fishing,” Yoongi groans, turning just enough to give Namjoon big puppy dog eyes, soft bottom lip pouted out. “Please?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll email him in the morning. It’s late and I hate messaging the staff after working hours unless it’s important. They have families too,” Namjoon agrees with a sigh, nuzzling into the back of Yoongi’s head.
“Such a considerate boy,” Yoongi croons, sinking into Namjoon’s chest, hunching in to make himself seem smaller.
“I try,” Namjoon says, huffing a laugh into Yoongi’s hair.
It takes a few hours, curled up on the sofa together, to figure out what they can actually do for their shared boyfriend. Tending to him was always so hard when he got in a mood. Talking about their feelings was like trying to convince a skittish cat into the shower. Probably good for them, but nearly impossible to get started. Hoseok always flushed and giggled and pushed them off when they tried out in the open so it stood to reason that they needed to get him alone, but not in a way that made him feel cornered or coddled. He hated being babied like he wasn’t a grown ass adult who could make his own decisions. They needed the group apartment empty, it was easier there because it was shared ground, maybe they could get the others out for a night, have a nice little night in with Hoseok and take care of him like they wanted.
Dinner and a movie and some sleep, maybe a little talking about what had gotten him out of sorts.
Get the other boys out for the night, get food ordered, get Hoseok alone so they could talk, cover it all up with a good movie and cuddles and maybe Yoongi could suck a dick as a distraction. It was up in the air but he was always quick to offer it because you can’t be mad at someone when they’re trying to take care of you by putting your dick in their mouth. Time and experience had taught him that.
Having an argument and neither side can calm down? Suck a dick. The post nut clarity hits different and usually lets them see what they were missing so they could solve the issue. The healthiest option? Maybe not but it had worked for them for years so Yoongi wasn’t about to ditch the idea. They make a complicated plan with back up plans and they bribe everyone else out of the apartment for the night, they reschedule studio time, their manager comes through in the clutch with rescheduling their obligations to give the whole group a weekend off, they do everything they can think of.
And in the end they don't really need any of it. Not even the emergency blowjob.
Yoongi slides inside the apartment before the others have even finished putting on their shoes, all of them grinning at him and his poor disguise and wealth of takeaway bags for him and his two boyfriends. He squints at them, moving out of the way to slide his own shoes off and kick them into the open shoe cabinet before Jimin can close it.
"What?" Yoongi asks, frowning as he tries to wiggle out of his coat while juggling bags between hands.
"Just have a good night. I'm taking the boys out for dinner and then we're going to Jungkook’s place. Game night. We’ll send the lobby code for Mario Party in the group chat if you three get bored later on," Seokjin says with a shrug, barely talking above a whisper.
The other three smile at him, nodding, before they all quietly file out of the apartment.
"Namjoonie, they’re being weird," Yoongi whines, unsure of what the joke here is but as soon as he shuffles into the living room, bags of still steaming food in hand, he stops. Namjoon raises a finger to his lips, gently shushing him, and glancing to his right where Hoseok is sound asleep against his shoulder. It isn't his light napping where his eyelids flutter with lingering dreams, it's the dead weight unconscious kind of sleeping where he drools, mouth barely open, body limp against Namjoon’s shoulder. "Ah."
It's disgusting how fond he feels his face go, cheeks hurting from how wide he smiles.
At least Hoseok is sleeping.
From the couch Namjoon makes a vague motion with his free hand at the bags Yoongi is holding and he nods, taking it all into the kitchen. They can eat after Hoseok rests, that's really the important part. He wasn't skipping meals, or at least no more than they were all skipping just out of not having time for them, he was just skipping sleep. All the food would reheat well enough in the microwave or with a quick trip through the air fryer so it isn’t a hard choice to make or just toss it in the fridge for later. Yoongi rustles around the kitchen, setting their takeout containers in the fridge, tucked behind a couple things so they aren't the first thing Jungkook sees when he comes home. Leftovers never lasted long. They all tried to be respectful of each other's special food, like no one touched Jimin's drinks or the dried fruit snacks Taehyung liked, but sometimes they all nibbled on whatever they saw first. Styrofoam without a name on it was often the first casualty of war.
The war that was often Jungkook’s stomach after a hard workout.
Back in the living room Namjoon is just browsing his phone, one arm wrapped low on Hoseok’s waist, hand stroking gently over his legs that’re folded up and tucked into Namjoon’s lap. They look cozy, Hoseok drowning in a borrowed hoodie, legs bare since the apartment is warm, Namjoon dressed down in ancient sweats and a threadbare tee that might have had a band name on it once upon a time.
“How long has he been out?” Yoongi asks in a whisper once he’s close enough, kissing the tops of both their heads in greeting.
“About an hour. Knocked out once I offered to cuddle,” Namjoon says, just as soft with his naturally deep voice.
Yoongi smiles with his whole face, happy to see his boyfriends resting and looking peaceful. All the worry lines that had been stretched across Hoseok’s face the past couple weeks have smoothed out and his hands are tucked up in his sleeves under his own chin like a little shrimp. He looks so much younger when he sleeps, all smooth lines and messy hair.
“Let him sleep then, we can talk in the morning,” Yoongi says, sinking down into the space Namjoon has left him on his other side so he doesn’t jostle Hoseok awake.
The night is quiet, the movie they wanted to watch playing nearly on mute with the subtitles on, the whole room swaddled in a content, warm, quiet that helps shed the worry and stress out of Yoongi’s shoulders. Everyone else stays out, giving the three space to do what they need, the group chat letting them know it’s turned from game night to slumber party at Jungkook’s. For the entire length of their relationships, both as just two, then a pair of pairs, then finally the thrupple they are now, Yoongi hasn’t called for the use of the empty apartment card. Namjoon calls for a sexile on his birthday, but otherwise they’re pretty content to fuck elsewhere or go out for dates instead of hogging the shared space. Maybe that’s why it was so easy to get everyone out for the night.
Whatever it is, Yoongi is greatful.
Hoseok sleeps through the movie and even through Namjoon carrying him to bed, only stirring a little when they tuck him in between them before nodding back off. It isn’t until just after dawn light starts streaming past Namjoon’s blinds that he pops up, wide awake at seven am. It wakes Yoongi, who’s a naturally light sleeper, but Namjoon is still unconscious on his side, the only position where he doesn’t snore, his face tucked into the pillow that Hoseok was just laying on.
“Where-?”
“Namjoon’s room,” Yoongi says through a yawn, reaching up to pat at Hoseok’s belly until he lays back down.
“Oh, oh I fell asleep didn’t I? I’m sorry you two had a date night planned didn’t you? I don’t even remember you getting home honey,” Hoseok says with a comically wide frown, eyes big and apologetic.
“Don’t be, this was the plan. You haven’t been sleeping and we were worried. We wanted an excuse to get you to relax,” Yoongi explains, carding one hand through the bird’s nest that Hoseok’s hair has turned into. They haven’t dyed his hair in a while and it’s still thick and hard to manage until he washes it. “Everything ok?”
“Yeah, yeah it’s nothin’ I promise, sorry I worried you,” Hoseok giggles, flushing with embarrassment as he snuggles back down between the two other men. “It’s a secret, but my sister is getting married. I’m supposed to do a speech, you know, as her brother or whatever, but I’ve been stumped and I’m worried the dates won’t line up with time off. I’ve been trying to write a speech and emailing manager-nim nonstop at weird hours the second I get more information about dates. It’s nothing bad, I promise. Just running myself in circles over nothin’ again.”
“Ah, that’s good news, we were worried about you. Glad it’s only because of good things,” Yoongi says with a relieved smile.
“That why the guys went out so easy?”
Yoongi nods, eyelids still heavy while he strokes his hand back and forth up Hoseok’s side, grinning when Namjoon finally starts snuffling awake.
“Ok?” Namjoon asks the second he’s even partially conscious, reaching out to squeeze Hoseok like one of his Ryan dolls.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m perfect. Thank you both for noticing I wasn’t sleeping,” Hoseok says, still smiling and huffing out a laugh. It was nice to see his smiles reach his eyes again. “I couldn’t talk about the wedding so I was just running in circles, but I’m sorry I worried you. You’re both so soft on me, huh?”
“The softest,” Namjoon mumbles, voice still thick with sleep.
“We’re just glad it wasn’t anything bad,” Yoongi agrees.
“Love you,” Hoseok says, sing-songing it over and over into their cheeks and their hair as he peppers them with early morning kisses despite how they’re still barely awake and grumbling about sleeping in. It’s hours before they finally get out of bed, the others returning without them even noticing. Their home is once again returned to normal, or as normal as they get, and Hoseok seems happier for it. Yoongi keeps watching, keeps making sure that Hoseok lets go of his phone at a reasonable hour, that he’s sleeping and eating. Namjoon goes to management to make sure their schedules and performances are booked and flexible enough to allow for the time of around the wedding dates when they finally get them. It takes a couple weeks but once more Hoseok is a mother hen and back to his normal levels of sunshine.
Hoseok takes care of all of them, but sometimes he needs the same attention and his boyfriends are always there to do it.