Just a little heads up in case you missed it in the forward but there is mentioned child abuse in this story. It's nothing graphic but still mentioned and referenced throughout the fic. I also took inspiration from the hyyh era loosely. 

Yoongi always watched Seokjin.

Eyes following that broad back in the summer sun. His pretty eyes that held warmth but also a little bit of cold, long limbs, soft hair that blew about in the wind. He was breathtakingly gorgeous, and he knew he wasn’t the only one who thought so if the eyes of people around them were anything to go by.

When they were first introduced by Namjoon— who said Seokjin would come around the gas station a lot and that's how they ended up talking and becoming friends, Yoongi was a little weary. Seokjin didn't look like he would exactly fit into their group of friends. They were a ragtag family of sorts, the six of them— all born to messy households with problems too big for their young ages. Yoongi knew that fate had dealt them a bad hand, but Seokjin didn't look like that. Seokjin was really pretty and regal looking. Taehyung was pretty too, but Taehyung with his cheap dirty clothes and sharp eyes looked like the street rat that he was from a mile away, but Seokjin wasn't like that, Seokjin was soft and warm and looked like he had been brought up on those Gangnam neighborhoods that the rest of them wouldn't even dream of going near.

Yoongi was weary of Seokjin when he first came but Seokjin was still warm.

It didn't take long for the oldest of them to wriggle his way into their lives. He was cheeky and sweet. A lot sharper than Yoongi previously gave him credit for and a lot darker than he had thought. Most of the time Seokjin would smile and laugh. He played around with the younger kids, cooked for all of them, listened to them, but in moments when he thought no one was looking his eyes would darken and glaze over.

Yoongi noticed because Yoongi was always watching Seokjin.

Seokjin came to them in the summer but when summer was over he suddenly went away again.

Yoongi had gotten so used to that warm presence that the absence of Seokjin— just like how it used to be a few months ago— left a bitter cold that only deepened as fall started to set in.

Namjoon said Seokjin had visited him once after that at the gas station convenience store, but that he said uni had started back up and he was busy but he would try to come around.

He never did and the days grew more frigid and Yoongi felt colder. He smoked a little more than he used to, trying to numb the ache Seokjin had left behind.

If he’s upfront about it Yoongi had ended up falling for an unattainable dream. Seokjin had felt like one of those princes little children dreamt of that swoop in and save the day and become your happy ever after. Yoongi at age twenty-one had stupidly likened Seokjin to one of those fairy tales, instead of seeing Seokjin as a real person with problems and feelings of his own and now he was here feeling miserable.

He really foolishly had thought Seokjin was there to stay in their lives, Yoongi might have even considered a future together if he’s confessing— he might have even practiced a little speech in his head, for when he would ask Seokjin out.

Seokjin had taken a Yoongi who had been dealt a ty hand by fate and added some better cards and Yoongi didn't feel as sad anymore. He had felt happier for the first time in awhile, a little uncharacteristically giddy, he had experienced what love felt like and imagined a future with someone he loved but now all that seemed to just fall away like the summer’s bloom in autumn.

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One day Yoongi caught the eye of a fancy producer with one of those songs he’s always working on. He wrote it about Seokjin, it turned out pretty good, he ends up with a big company asking to buy it. If the deal goes well this could be amazing for all of them, maybe for once their family of six can live a better life, Yoongi feels accomplished as the oldest.

He’s in Seoul because he has to meet the record label, the younger kids had pitched in to buy him some nice clothes, but he still feels miserably underdressed amongst the other carefree twenty-somethings running down the busy streets of the city. Yoongi feels a spark of jealousy, they look so happy and young, Yoongi has seen Jungkook whose years younger than them with eyes more mature, but he can’t blame them.

However, he suddenly spots a face he knows, a face that's carefully masked in the visage of happiness but with eyes that still look cold.

It's winter now, and the cool dull blues of the sky don’t do justice to Seokjin as much as the warm summer sun did. As Yoongi is contemplating whether to go and talk to him or not the other catches his eye. He looks shocked but then his face immediately breaks out into a smile and he walks over.

“Yoongi!” he exclaims and the next second Yoongi is being pressed close to Seokjin the other hugging him, and he feels like he’s back home. It hurts so bad Yoongi can’t breathe because he doesn't want him to go, but Seokjin pulls away and Yoongi clutches onto his jacket.

He’s never been tactful, street rat and all and he says what he thinks.

“You left,” he says and the smile that had blossomed on Seokjin’s face leaves just as fast as it came. Yoongi then notices a blue bruise hiding under the scarf on Seokjin’s neck.

“What’s that?” he says pointing and he’s saying all the wrong things he knows because Seokjin backs away from him a little but Yoongi still has a fistful of his coat and they look at each other silence as people bustle about around them. Seokjin still hasn't said anything but Yoongi pushes them away from the busy street to a side alley and he takes in the eyes again, a lot less vibrant compared to that past summer and he takes in Seokjin who is curving towards him.

Maybe Yoongi wasn't the only one begging to be saved.

“I missed you.” Seokjin finally says. It doesn't answer any of the questions or accusations Yoongi made, but it's enough.

Yoongi looks at his phone for the time, he needs to meet his client but he can’t leave Seokjin again. He doesn't want to let him go.

“I have a meeting. Come with me?” He asks and Seokjin looks a little worried a little hesitant but he’s still curving in, coming closer to Yoongi, crowding him in and he nods, lip caught between his teeth.

Yoongi grabs his hand and they make their way down busy Seoul streets, walking side by side. And they get to the building, they haven't said anything on the way there but it's almost like they don’t need to but also like there's too much to say and they don't know where to start. Seokjin breaks the silence.

“What are we here for?”

“I sold a song. I’m here to meet the company.”

Seokjin looks stunned before his face breaks into a proud watery smile. “I’m so happy for you,” he says sincerely and Yoongi feels his chest ache and he ducks his head.

“Wait for me in the lobby? I— Let’s talk after I’m done?” he says and Seokjin who’s still holding tightly onto his hand nods and Yoongi feels skeptical but Seokjin squeezes his hand and he looks sincere so Yoongi decides to trust him, heading into the meeting leaving all other thoughts behind and only thinking of his future.

The meeting goes well, they buy the song, it’ll be on an up and coming idol group's next album, and Yoongi heads out of the meeting room with a smile and a starry future.

When he comes out and sees Seokjin in one of the lounge chairs dozing off his heart feels even more light.

He goes over and bends down in front of him, whispering his name and seeing eyelashes flutter open and he’s just as gorgeous as Yoongi remembers and he won’t let Seokjin go again.

They end up heading to a quiet diner that’s away from main foot traffic and where they can have some privacy. Yoongi looks at Seokjin getting straight to the point— they don’t have a lot of time, Yoongi has to be back in Daegu, Seokjin probably has his own things, they can’t beat around the bush.

“I didn’t know you lived in Seoul,” he says and Seokjin immediately looks down at his coffee. The blue bruise still glares at Yoongi and he wants to press but he doesn't want to push so he waits.

“I— when university starts back up I live with my father. During summer I live with my mom.”

“They’re divorced?”

“Basically… separated actually.”

“Where did the bruise come from?”

“...dad.”

Yoongi feels his hands clench, he remembers Taehyung too, bloody and bruised and the image sticks in his head.

“...Your mom?”

Seokjin looks up sharply, “It’s not her fault. She… she doesn’t know. She’s sick, really sick, has been most of her life. A ty heart condition that keeps her in bed. The fighting wasn't good for her heart so she went back to Daegu, and looking after a child alone isn't easy so she had to make a choice, she cried a lot. He made a deal with me though. He would continue to pay for her medical expenses if I stayed and worked hard in school so I agreed. We didn't tell her and she just thought he was being the bigger man by not divorcing his sick wife and taking care of her. She doesn't love him but thinks he’s a good person for what he’s doing for her.”

“But he hits you.”

Seokjin is quiet before he speaks again, “She doesn't know. I—It’s only when he’s stressed.”

“How often is that?”

Seokjin doesn't answer but Yoongi could probably guess it's not a rare occurrence.

“Is he a drunk?”

“He’s a doctor, he’s not too fond of alcohol.”

“Didn’t know there were monsters out there who could do this sober,” Yoongi says bitterly and Seokjin just clutches the mug of coffee in his hands tighter.

“Yo