formal.

"taehyung?" yoongi clearly didn't expect to see taehyung, if his expression had anything to do with it. he looked even more shocked to see jungkook. yoongi looked at taehyung, frowning. "what the hell are you doing here? and why is he bleeding? what the did you do?"

"I left him alone." taehyung said. he took his hand off of the back of jungkook's head, letting it fall onto his hips instead. jungkook was asleep, or else taehyung might have put him down. "look, hyung, I'm not asking you to let me in. but he needs somewhere to stay, and I trust you to watch him."

taehyung pulled the envelope out of his back pocket and handed it to yoongi. "he has cuts that could get infected. he stood out in the cold for a while without a jacket, and he still doesn't have any shoes. he has a cat. this isn't enough, hyung, but I'll pay you back-"

"you addressed me formally. twice." yoongi cut taehyung off. he leaned against his door frame. "you must be desperate."

"he just needs somewhere to stay. he's not going to be safe at our house anymore." taehyung said. please, please, please. he prayed; jungkook needed to be taken care of. taehyung, as much as he wanted to, couldn't do that now.

"you can stay. you can both stay." yoongi said, gesturing to the inside of his house. taehyung was so shocked that he just stood there for a minute. he expected yoongi would take jungkook in; he loved jungkook. but taehyung. he hated taehyung.

"hurry up. I don't know who followed you and I'm not about to get shot letting an idiot like you into my house." yoongi said, but his voice was playful, not strict. taehyung hurried inside, glancing back to make sure jay had followed. she had.

"thank you, hyung." taehyung said, somewhat choked up. he was so relieved he could cry; he heard little stories about yoongi, about how he was the most understanding person in the world, and probably one of the kindest (despite all of his rude jokes). taehyung didn't understand how he could be this understanding, to let someone like taehyung into his home.

"don't mention it." yoongi said. he had already shut and locked the door, and was drawing the curtains over every window that allowed anyone outside to see into the living room. "lay him on the couch. I'll go get my kit."

taehyung did just that, and yoongi disappeared into the kitchen. he straightened out jungkook's long limbs and tugged a blanket over the boy's feet and lap. there were no wounds down there, so yoongi wouldn't have to move it.

"you hungry?" yoongi called from the kitchen, and it took taehyung a few moments to realize yoongi was talking to him. he was hungry, but he didn't want yoongi to take the time to prepare or grab anything for him. jungkook was still bleeding; he hadn't stopped. taehyung was actually beginning to wonder if the younger boy had actually fallen asleep or if he'd just passed out.

"I'm fine." taehyung called back. just take care of jungkook. he added in his thoughts.

"you dress him nice." yoongi said when he'd come back from the kitchen. he had some bread and the envelope in his left hand, and he handed them both to taehyung. "I know you're hungry. eat."

"the money-"

"it's yours, taehyung." yoongi said, in a mutter, he added, "you don't owe me anything," and taehyung figured he wasn't supposed to hear, so he didn't say anything about it.

"thank you, hyung." taehyung said, stuffing some bread in his mouth. he put the envelope in his back pocket and watched yoongi pulled various things- cream, bandages, and bang-aids- out of his kit. he swallowed the bread in his mouth quickly. "should I wake him up before you do anything?"

"nothing's going to hurt him. if you want to wake him up, though, go ahead." yoongi said, gesturing toward jungkook with his left hand; his pointer finger carried a dollop on cream on the tip. taehyung shook his head. if jungkook wasn't going to be woken with pain, he may as well just stay asleep (or passed out, taehyung still wasn't sure).

"thank you for letting me in, hyung." taehyung said. it probably wasn't necessary to thank yoongi again, for he'd said it plenty already, but he couldn't help it. he felt like he did owe yoongi something, and not just for letting him in. "and for the bread. and taking care of jungkook. and-"

"stop thanking me." yoongi cut taehyung off, laughing. he glanced back at the boy, who had set two out of his three pieces of bread aside for jungkook. yoongi rolled his eyes. "and jesus christ, v, eat. I have more food, I'll feed jungkook when he wakes up."

"thank you, hyung."

"my god, if you say thank you one more time I'm going to have your neck." yoongi said, but his voice tipped to the playful side; his tone didn't hold as much annoyance as his words did.

"sorry, hyung."

yoongi glanced back at him again as his fingers, working on autopilot, pressed a band-aid over the cut on jungkook's jaw. he noticed how tense taehyung was, how the boy was avoiding eye contact, how he kept looking back at jungkook. yoongi smiled softly. "you know, you don't have to call me hyung. I'll take care of you guys either way."

I'll take care of you guys. taehyung smiled softly and whispered, "okay, hyung."

a few beats of silence passed, with yoongi taking care of the rest of jungkook's facial wounds, jungkook groaning every once in a while, and taehyung watching his someone carefully.

"we're brothers, you know." yoongi said after two minutes of silence had gone by. he lifted up jungkook shirt and began to tend to the wound there. it wasn't deep enough to need stitches, but it needed to be bandaged if yoongi planned on keeping it from getting infected. "whether you believe that or not. we may not be too fond of each other but we're in this together."

"I know, hyung." taehyung said, pushing more bread into his mouth. he ate in an odd way, often pushing his food under his tongue before he chewed. taehyung knew why he did it; the food he ate as a child was always hard, and he pushed it under his tongue to soften it. it worked most of the time, and he was able to eat comfortably. he didn't have to do that with bread, he knew, especially not with the bread yoongi was giving him, but it was a habit. taehyung really couldn't help it.

"you look tired." yoongi said. he reached behind the couch and came up with another blanket. "sleep. you can sleep on the chair or go to the guest room- down the hall, last door on your left."

"I'll sleep here." taehyung said, shifted over to the chair. he curled up under the blanket and glanced at yoongi one last time. "wake me up when he'd going to bed, okay, hyung? I want to go with him."

"okay."