Everything begins when Yoongi is twenty, and he feels the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Writing is no longer a form of solace but a dry obligation. And with every word he scribbles against crumple paper, he feels himself cracking a little inside; it just isn’t right to be doing things like these for the sake of money, it never is. But he doesn’t complain, in fact he’d settle for anything he’s got because when a man’s twenty and tasked with the responsibility of supporting the family placed wholly on his narrow shoulders, he doesn’t have any alternatives.

Meanwhile, slumped over the table in the cubicle beside him is Hoseok who is off to a rough start as well, except that he’s got a self-regulating mechanism which sends him buoys on a regular basis before he drowns in despair. Except that he’s been blessed with the fortune of an unexplainably bright smile and bubbly personality which draws colleagues and superiors to him easily – and to this trait, Yoongi is no exception.

The clock strikes twelve when Hoseok pushes himself off the table to propel himself backwards, his chair bumping into Yoongi’s chair lightly. The older boy growls softly as his pen drops out of his hand before turning to face his polar counterpart.

“Its lunch time, let’s get food. You haven’t been eating properly for a week now, your body wouldn’t be able to take it,” Hoseok urges as he tugs on Yoongi’s chair softly, frowning lightly.

“But the reports are piling up, you should go ahead first. You’ll have more schedules later in the afternoon.” Yoongi’s voice cracks midway and he finds himself coughing and sputtering helplessly towards the end of the sentence, leaving Hoseok to eye him quietly with a tinge of worry.

“You do know that at this rate, they’ll bring you to the doctor, don’t you?”

Yoongi flinches, and Hoseok’s bright expression loses its vibrancy for a few seconds.

“And that would mean losing your memory, and your blood, and whatever you had left in this worn out shell of yours which made you uniquely Min Yoongi.”

The older boy begins to frown.

“Which means that you practically lose everything.”

The creases deepen across his forehead as he bites on his lower lip.

“Not forgetting the fact that they’ve got needles and all the unpleasant things that you secretly fear.” Hoseok’s smile creeps back as he feels the boy’s eyes scrutinizing every crinkle on his face.

“What are we going to do about you,” Yoongi groans before shaking his head as he stacks his documents into a neat stack.

“You’re going to have lunch with me, that’s all.”

As Hoseok reaches over to pat Yoongi’s head swiftly without getting noticed by their colleagues, the older boy nods lightly before flashing a slight grin.

And Hoseok doesn’t remember when the last time he saw Yoongi smile brightly was.