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Yoongi is awoken by loud sobbing and small fists banging desperately at his door. He shoots up into a sitting position faster than his brain can process, frantically looking around in the dimly lit room. His basketball shaped alarm clock reads 5:23 am and he would be stuck somewhere between dreamland and reality if it weren’t for the ruckus just outside his door.
He blinks, fists coming up to rub at his foggy eyes as they adjust and his brain starts to process what’s going on. The crying is unmistakably Hoseok who despite being only two years younger than Yoongi can be quite the crybaby. Yoongi makes his way out of his bed and pads over to open the door. His pajama pants are definitely too long so he has to hold them up a bit to not trip. But they’re his absolute favorite so there was no way he was gonna let Appa take them and hem them up when he’d received them from daddy last christmas.
They were perfect the way they were, Yoongi thought every time he saw them. Sometimes daddy could forget things and get things mixed up like how old Yoongi and the other kids were or what shoes and clothes sizes everyone wore but that’s just how daddy is and he’s perfect just the way he is, Yoongi thinks every time he sees him.
It’s a thought that crosses Yoongi’s mind countless times a day, that everything is perfect the way it is. Everything from their house that fits their big family of 7 like a glove and the messy crayon drawings littered throughout the walls to the chaos that occurs from the moment one of them wakes up and the 6 year old screaming Hoseok outside his door who still doesn’t know how knobs work.
Yoongi finally makes it over, opening the door only to be met by an armful of snotty-nosed, red-faced Hoseok. He’s in nothing but his snoopy underwear which are obviously a size too small (he’d had a complete meltdown when Appa had suggested going out to buy another larger pair, crying and screaming about his that’s not the same snoopy as the ones he already had. It was a battle Appa had chosen to accept defeat in so as to not make Hoseok cry himself to death.)
Yoongi instinctively wraps his arms around Hoseok’s smaller, shaking body, rubbing a hand up and down the warm expanse of his back the way he’s seen Appa do when one of them was in tears. It seems to do the trick as Hoseok’s crying dies down enough for Yoongi to ask him “what’s wrong hoba?” in his still sleep ridden voice.
Hoseok is still crying and snotting on the front of Yoongi’s pajama shirt and he has two small fistfuls of the back of it as he tries to explain through his sobs.
“Hobi ‘lone- every body lea-leaved and hobi all lone an-and h-h-house burned!” He can barely make it through the sentence before he’s crying full force again, hiccuping and shaking in Yoongi’s small arms.
Yoongi hums along, holding Hoseok even tighter as he feels a pang in his heart and tears pricking his own eyes at Hoseok’s desperation. He’d been having recurring nightmares of similar nature for the past two months now and Yoongi feels sorry for his baby brother and wants to cry along with him every time he wakes up like this but he knows that him crying will only make Hoseok cry harder so he fights back his tears.
He’d overheard Appa and Daddy talking about it one night on his way to the bathroom and although he didn’t understand a lot of it he’d heard something about a sleep specialist, psychological something or another, and something called OCD.
He was scared initially, thinking that Hoseok was sick but he’d eventually mustered up the courage to ask Daddy about what he’d heard. Daddy is the smartest person Yoongi knows so of course he had the answers to all of his questions.
“Sometimes people’s brains can have little glitches or bugs in them like computers and sometimes people are born with brains that just operate on a different software and Appa and I were just trying to figure out what could be worrying Hoba’s brain but that’s not something for you or him to worry about right now. We’ll figure it out with time and some great doctors” he had explained and Yoongi recognized this talk from when he’d been told he had something called ADHD. He’d been scared then but Daddy and Appa assured him that he and his brain were perfect the way they were.
“it’s okay, hoba. It’s just a scary dream. we won’t leave you if there’s a fire or if you were drowning or even if you were covered in spiders! we would save you, okay?” Yoongi says, referring to some of the other nightmares yet effectively calming Hoseok down a bit more. He feels a nod against his chest and it makes it a bit easier to swallow down that weird lump he gets in his throat sometimes.
“Let’s go see Appa and daddy.” He suggests and he knows Hoseok isn’t going to let go of his shirt so they clumsily hobble down the hallway to the room they all know and love so much. The door is already open, always is but Hoseok’s room is closest to Yoongi’s so he’s always the first to hear of his nightmares. He doesn’t mind though, it’s not hoba’s fault his brain makes up scary stuff sometimes, Yoongi thinks when he’s awoken to cries and sees the early time on his alarm clock and struggles to crawl out of the warmth of his bed.
They stop in the doorway because the room is dark and despite being 8 years old, Yoongi is still afraid of the dark and it’s a given for someone as skittish and easily scared as 6 year old Hoseok.
“Appa,” Yoongi calls quietly, trying not to wake 2-year old Jungkookie who still hasn’t been taught to sleep in his own bed despite Daddy having bought, assembled and placed a custom made paw patrol toddler bed in their room, right next to their own bed (Appa argues that his baby isn’t ready for his own bed but daddy says that it’s Appa who’s not ready.)
“Appa!” Yoongi calls louder when there’s no movement. This time they hear shuffling and Appa hums in acknowledgement of their presence, sitting up to turn on the bedside lamp. He quickly glances over to Jungkook who’s still sleeping soundly, his small, chubby legs sprawled across daddy’s head and back comically and then to the baby monitors in each of the twins’ beds before turning his attention to the two boys at his door. Yoongi thinks the twins, now 4 years old, are getting a little old to still have baby monitors but then again his school friend Woosung still has a monitor in his room at 8 years old so maybe it’s normal.
“come here babies, what’s the matter?” Appa asks, voice gentle and comforting despite him having just woke up. They shuffle over closer, Hoseok finally letting Yoongi’s shirt go in favor of climbing into Appa’s arms, whimpering and rubbing his face against Appa’s chest and not answering the question.
It’s moments like this that Yoongi thinks his brother really is still just a baby and it helps him have more patience with him when he’s being particularly whiny and obnoxious. Yoongi answers for him.
“He had another nightmare. This time the house was on fire and we left him all alone.” Yoongi says, sounding sad at the prospect of Hoseok who’s still just a baby experiencing such a thing in his dream. Appa coos, holding Hoseok tight in one arm and reaching the other out to caress Yoongi’s messy head of hair. He whispers words of affirmation and comfort into Hoseok’s head for a moment until he calms down the most he’s been since he woke. And then he pulls Yoongi in closer, tenderly taking his hand and kissing the back of it.
“My sweet helpful Yoonie baby,” he coos and Yoongi wishes for a second that he could squeeze in between them and cuddle for a bit but he doesn’t want to steal Appa from Hoseok when he needs him so bad right now so instead he leans down, giving both Appa and his Hoba a kiss wherever he can reach.
“You wanna snuggle with Appa too, baby?” Appa asks and Yoongi is further convinced that he has mind-reading abilities. He can always figure out what Yoongi is thinking and feeling without missing a beat and it’s a mystery to Yoongi. He nods shyly, subconsciously bringing the collar of his shirt to his mouth, pinning it between his teeth.
Appa always has a way of making him feel like he’s still a baby in the best way that Yoongi can’t quite explain. When he’s with Appa he doesn’t care about being a big boy or being able to do things like get a drink, tie his shoes, or zip his jacket by himself. He doesn’t get embarrassed when they go out to a restaurant and in the midst of all of their chaos Appa reaches across the table to feed him big spoonfuls of food and dramatically praises him for chewing and swallowing it all with over the top theatrical exclamations and clapping.
After quite a bit of shuffling around, shoving daddy’s big sleeping body over, and nearly waking up Jungkook, yoongi sighs in contentment as he lays, soiled shirt removed, against appas broad chest, face to face with his hoba who’s finally sleeping soundly again. He can feel Jungkook’s tiny knees in the small of his back, his soft curly hair tickling him between his shoulder blades, Daddy’s silly snores fill the air and there’s shuffling and whining coming from the baby minitor where Yoongi watches in the small screen as a whiny Taehyung makes his way into bed with Minnie who holds him close with his small chubby arms and Yoongi thinks he wouldn’t want his life or his family to be any other way, it’s perfect just the way it is.