Three weeks into the school year, and the Slytherin boy's dorm has become used to early morning invasion by Hufflepuff. They've got a tacit agreement, Hoseok and the rest of the Slytherin dorm - Hoseok doesn't bother anyone else, prevents Yoongi from losing Slytherin points by way of tardiness, and they don't hassle him. It's the grudging concession earned when Hoseok showed he may be just a first year 'Puff, but he could more than hold his own, that first time he'd come for Yoongi.

(The Slytherin prefects had stood to the side then, just watching the fight until it'd started to get completely out of hand. Afterward, the male prefect had approached him with a smile and said to him, "Commendable. But next time you want to get into Slytherin's dorms, approach me yourself about access; don't go through Bbang." But Himchan had directed him to Yoongi's room anyway, and Hoseok'd been too focused on his mission then to think further on the comment.)

Hoseok doesn't regret it. Yoongi is his friend, and Yoongi had been missing breakfast for a week before Hoseok had decided to stage an intervention.

Also, the detentions for constant tardiness had been getting in the way of their bonding time.

Hoseok is just glad he's taller than Yoongi, even though he's eleven to Yoongi's twelve. It makes directing Yoongi's sleep-addled form easy, by way of careful shoves and sometimes full-body maneuvering. In fact, it's... suspiciously easy, for Yoongi's normally Slytherin-paranoid personality.

It has Hoseok wondering one thing. One eensy little thing Hoseok can't resist asking any more. "Hey Yoongi, did you just keep getting detention last year or something?" Hoseok drags Yoongi out of bed as he asks, shoving fresh clothes at Yoongi that Yoongi mechanically puts on without ever opening his eyes.

"Hmmmrrph?"

"Ah, geez." Hoseok reaches out to set right Yoongi's collar; Yoongi continues changing as though nothing happened. "If you can't manage getting to classes now, how'd you do it first year when I wasn't here?"

"Nrrgh. Housemate. Yours," is what Hoseok gets after a bit.

Who? Hoseok almost asks, but then there's only one other Hufflepuff that Yoongi bothers to spend time with. Second year Seokjin Kim, who's friendly and has a brilliant smile, and also has a tendency to trip over his own feet when he's not paying attention. Hoseok has had to save Jin from a tumble more than once whenever they happened to be in the same place, which is pretty worrisome, given their school's layout.

Ah... come to think of it, could it be that he's the distraction? Maybe he should stop waving to Jin when they pass each other in the corridors. Or stop all "that, that purposeful disregard of personal space," as Yoongi likes to put it - Hoseok wonders how long it took for Yoongi to come up with something that hilariously snooty - whenever they walk together. Yoongi would be happy at least.

("Do you have to do that?"
"What?"
"Be so fluffy at each other."
"Aww, come now, we're all friends here!"
"Then leave me outta it. Hufflepuffs.")

In any case, Yoongi's response makes a lot of things click into place. Like the way Jin always manages to look up just as they enter the Great Hall, ever since Hoseok's started waking Yoongi up. Like how easily he and Yoongi had fallen into the routine, as though Yoongi were used to it.

Like Hufflepuff prefect Yongguk's expression, that first time, when he'd approached Yongguk to ask about getting into Slytherin dorms - Hoseok is many things, but subtle, he is not - and how Yongguk had merely said, "Let me guess, that friend of yours, Yoongi?" Back then, Hoseok had marveled at how Yongguk had known, thought it was Yongguk being an amazing prefect who could keep track of even the firsties and their friendships when it was barely a week into term.

He'd wondered, too, at how easy it had been to get the Slytherin dorm password from Yongguk. He'd attributed it to Yongguk and Slytherin prefect Himchan's closeness then, but with this new information, he thinks maybe it's because Jin had paved the way for him instead.

"He used to wake you up," Hoseok confirms.

"Mmngh." But then Hoseok is distracted by Yoongi shuffling toward the bathroom to brush his teeth - is that the time already? - and he's too focused on making sure Yoongi's schoolbag is packed, that he himself hasn't left anything behind in his own dorm, to ask further.

It's only later, while he's pushing Yoongi out of the Slytherin dorms, that he remembers what he'd been meaning to ask. "So why'd he stop? Waking you up, I mean."

The answer Hoseok gets next is mostly annoyed and incoherent, but with the motions Yoongi is making, Hoseok thinks he gets the gist of it. 'Bother Jin about it, not me.'

Well, they are going to see Jin at breakfast. He supposes his questions can wait.

Right on time, Jin thinks, when Yoongi comes shuffling through the entryway of the Great Hall, steered almost entirely by Hoseok at his back. As long as Jin has known Yoongi, Yoongi has always been a creature of habit - once someone gets him moving, at least. Just because the person shoving Yoongi out of bed has changed, doesn't mean that Yoongi's morning routine has.

Jin finishes plating the last of Yoongi's usual breakfast fare, and then begins on Hoseok's.

By the time the two of them make it to the Hufflepuff table, Jin is holding out Hoseok's filled plate, which Hoseok grabs as soon as he has deposited Yoongi next to Jin. "Gooood morning!" Hoseok says, exuberant. He settles on the other side of Yoongi, so they bookend the still sleep-dazed Slytherin. "And thank you very much."

At least Hoseok appreciates him, Jin thinks. As Hoseok should; Jin always makes sure to guard the best bits for Hoseok against anyone else trying to get them. Though he supposes it is only fair he does so, when the reason Hoseok can't get them himself is because of a certain mutual friend.

There's a certain knack to getting the perfect breakfast plate. First of all, one has to get to the Great Hall before everyone else, for the best selection. Then, the food needs to be removed from the serving platters as close to time of consumption as possible. The serving platters have temperature charms; their own plates do not.

Last year, the one shepherding Yoongi had been him. Last year, that'd been him getting up especially early just so he could make sure dragging Yoongi out of bed didn't prevent him from having a nice, quiet breakfast before the bulk of the student body descended. And Jin? He is not a morning person.

But now all that is behind him. Warmth curls in his chest as he watches Hoseok dig in, and even Yoongi's half-dead munching becomes somehow endearing. Food really does make everything better, Jin thinks. Even dealing with the ungratefulness of idiots like Yoongi.

But Jin is distracted from breakfast when he feels a hand on his shoulder, and he turns to see Hoseok looking at him past Yoongi's back.

"Hey, Jin-ah, a question."

Jin pauses, sets down his fork. "Yes?"

"Ah, well. Yoongi mentioned you were the one waking him up last year. I was just curious why you stopped."

Jin beams at Hoseok, takes a deep breath, and answers as Hoseok's eyes grow wider the longer Jin's tirade goes on.

"--And I told him, end of last year, well! Now that he's all grown up and a second year now - do you hear that, Yoongi - he should be able to get himself up, right?

But then, 'If I haven't since I was a kid, what makes you think I'll change now,' he says. Geez! And then you showed up anyway." He pats Hoseok on the shoulder, squeezes in sympathy. "He's your problem now."

Yoongi, who between the food and Jin's verbal jabs finally has some semblance of wakefulness, tilts backward at the last remark to lean against Jin's arm. "Are you talking behind my back?"

"Yes."

"I'll get you back for that."

"I'll make sure your entire plate is cold and all you get is porridge."

"I--"

Jin shoves a spoonful of eggs into Yoongi's mouth. Ah, peace.

a/n: how do you write kids, it's been way too long since I've been in that first year age range, hahaha OTL I'm so sorry for how long I took to update! this fic was such a hot mess that it ended up needing to be rewritten many, many times. and not gonna lie, I'm a really slow writer in the first place, and I have a tendency to jump around the various fics I'm working on, so um. next bit's probably got taehyung and jungkook meeting at least?

I had a lot of trouble with this portion for some reason, and I'm still not satisfied, but. ah, well. I need to stop tweaking it or I really will never release it, haha. (I really, really hope I didn't miss any logic jumps I made. Also, apologies for how badly written Hoseok's dialogue is.)

but oh my gods, thank you to everyone who has subscribed so far, and especially those who have commented! I was not expecting this to get the attention it did. ahhhh, I hope I live up to all of your expectations. m(_ _)m