'Senile'. 'High maintenance'. A whole horde of other words along with those, too, but those were the most often used.

Personally, Yoongi had always liked grandpa Hoseok. Sure, he was a little... High spirited at times, but that was what made him Grandpa Hoseok. The stories, the grand gestures, the fun... A large part of Yoongi's summers had been spent at Grandpa's house when he was younger, and gladly so.

 

But Yoongi's parents didn't share the same mindset.

"Honey, I'm worried about him," his father would begin in a whispered conversation to his mother late at night when they thought Yoongi was tucked away in bed instead of sitting at the top of the stairs, straining his ears to listen. "He's further away since we moved, and with Mom gone... I don't know. I just worry that something might happen to him."

 

It wasn't long after these worried conversations grew more intense, raised voices and panic threatening the edges, that they'd insisted Grandpa move into their spare room. 

Gone was the bedroom that had been reserved for guests (though for the most part it was Yoongi's), during the holidays, gone were the floors Yoongi had played and raced across, gone was the backyard with the swing his grandpa pushed him on until he was so high he was sure the clouds were at his fingertips. All because of his parents worry and Hoseok's nature to please those around him.

 

But even after that, his parents weren't satisfied. Worry turned fear as Grandpa became weak on his feet, his well-worn cane soon exchanged for a wheelchair. Then, his memory began to worsen, too, exchanged for forgetfulness and disorientation.

"I'm just fine," he'd insist, chuckling but continuing to knock over a tumbler of water right beside him. Even his eyesight began to fade, a pair of heavy brown spectacles forever perched on the end of his nose. 

 

If Yoongi hated the way people described his grandpa, he despised the way people described the place they finally decided to send him to. 

"It's just a community for older people like yourself, Dad," Yoongi's parents would begin, and Grandpa would just scoff. 

"Older people? You say that like I'm ancient!" His grandpa refused to believe he was any age over sixty, though he was much closer to one hundred than that, a respectable seventy eight.

"You'll love it, we promise!" 

Yoongi's parents would hear none of his protests, or Yoongi's, for that matter.

 

But still, Yoongi had taken the day off work to help him pack for this... 'Community' (in other words, the ing asylum they were sending their own father to) that he was to move into tomorrow. Even if he couldn't dissuade his parents, he could help his Grandpa feel less afraid, less cornered. Less trapped.

However, Yoongi hadn't expected what he'd walked into when he entered the room his Grandpa had come to call his own. 

 

A sea of magazine clippings, worn out clothes and dusty-looking boxes were strewn across the floor, as far as the eye could see. 

Amongst them, Grandpa Hoseok was down on his knees, rummaging through the rubble.

"Grandpa!" Yoongi did his best to sidestep around the things on the floor, tiptoeing in case he stepped on something. "What've we told you about getting out of your wheelchair?"

Hoseok just rolled his eyes. "Yoongi, I'm telling you, I can walk just fine!" Hoseok did his best to tremble to his feet, though Yoongi came to help him back into his seat.

"You're gonna hurt yourself moving like that, and look at all this stuff!" Though Yoongi loved his Grandpa, he could see why people easily got angry with him. He didn't often think ahead, or try to. "You'll fall and hurt yourself on all this stuff!" 

Hoseok just waved him away impatiently.

"Ah, I don't need this old thing anyways. I'm perfectly fine!" He tapped the side of his wheelchair with a laugh, sifting through the piles of papers in his hands.

All fell silent.

"...You're packing to leave, aren't you?" Yoongi asked, his voice quiet as if out of fear of breaking the silence. Grandpa Hoseok just nodded.

"Yeah... Shippin' out!" Hoseok laughed, fiddling with the edges of a piece of paper in his hand, a postcard from his late wife. 

"I could help, if you want," Yoongi offered, and his Grandpa gave a tight smile. 

"Thanks."

 

Yoongi was astounded by how much stuff one man could have.

"Grandpa, why do you have gas bills kept from the seventies?!" Yoongi tossed the papers into a trash bag he'd fetched from the kitchen with a sigh.

"Hey, you never know what could be useful!" 

Yoongi just rolled his eyes, feeling very much patronised and pissed off that he'd spent his one day off like this.

 

Rummaging his hands through the piles of documents, his hand hit something solid. 

When Yoongi tugged, a dusty cardboard box pulled free, and Yoongi began wiping the dust away from its surface.

Upon opening the box, Yoongi discovered that there were only two items in the box; a rusting Polaroid camera, and a scrapbook he could only assume was filled with pictures from it.

 

"Grandpa, you wanna keep this?" Yoongi ed the box in his grandpa's direction, and immediately he saw Hoseok's eyes soften.

"Oh," he whispered, gently prying the box out of Yoongi's hand. "Oh my goodness. I forgot all about this..."

Hoseok opened the scrapbook, smoothing his hands over crinkled black and white pictures and crushed, dead flowers stuck to the pages.

Yoongi peered at the pictures, placing a gentle finger on one.

"That's you, isn't it?" He asked softly, the picture of two boys with wide smiles making him want to smile himself.

"Yeah," Hoseok whispered, smoothing his hand over and over the picture as if in disbelief.

"And... Who's that?" Yoongi pointed to the boy who had an arm slung casually around his grandfather's shoulders, a wide smile with chipped front teeth and messy hair making him look so carefree.

"...Jimin. Park Jimin," Hoseok smiled a little then, his voice barely above a whisper. He gauged Yoongi's expression as he continued. "My... First love."

 

Hoseok knew that times were much more accepting nowadays, but hadn't expected his grandson to just take it in his stride.

"Oh! Okay. I didn't realise you were that way, grandpa..." Yoongi gave a quick smile, before continuing. "What happened to you guys, bad breakup?"

Hoseok was slightly taken aback, but decided to just continue. 

 

"It's, uh... A long story," He gave a sheepish laugh, eyes cast down.

"You can tell it, if you want," Yoongi settled down on the floor, crossing his legs. "I don't mind listening."

Hoseok sighed, casting his mind back to the wonderful months he'd spent with Park Jimin. 

"Okay, okay. Just tell me to stop if you get bored..." 

 

Hoseok then began flicking the pages, in a deep breath and readying himself.

"I'll start at the beginning."