"It's okay, Jiho. It's okay, you are right, you can always come here." Yoongi had no idea what to do, but he knew he was the adult, so he had to stay calm. He dropped to his knees next to the boys, wincing when he noticed the very obvious breathing and feeling himself grow cold when he noted how pale Tae was, how shallow his breathing was. Damn. This could be really bad. He held a hand out to Jiho. "Let your brother rest, he's probably really tired."
He had to thin. He had to think quickly. "Jiho, you did the right thing coming here, but I think your brother needs a hospital. Will you help me call an ambulance? You know the number, right? Namjoon practised with you."
"He's not waking up. He said he wanted to go and see eomma but eomma's dead." Jiho was clearly in shock, he didn't know what to do and the idea of going to a hospital meant people would know. It meant he'd lose Tae. He didn't take Yoongi's hand, he just curled himself around Tae. "It'll be okay. You can't take him, he... he needs me. I'm his hyung You can't take him from his hyung!"
He put his arm protectively around Tae and tried to whisper to him. "TaeTae, please wake up. I need you." He couldn't lose his little brother.
"Shh, Jiho. I know what I'm doing, okay? Your brother will be all right." He hoped. Damn, he really, really hoped. "He just needs someone to help him. A doctor. So he will be all good again."
Yoongi remembered what Namjoon had told him. Hell, he really wished Namjoon was here right now. "We will go with him though. You are right. He's too little to be without his hyung."
He kept holding his hand out, swallowing. "I promise, Jiho, I will make sure that you and Tae stay together. I'll make sure your appa can't get to you, but that you stay together."
They would just have to find a family that would take both of them! He would do whatever it would take.
"You should call a doctor then. Just tell him that nothing bad happened and Tae fell, then we won't have to be apart. Just make sure they know. Okay? And they have to let me be with him cause sometimes he gets scared in the morning." He was a weird kid, he didn't get scared at night but sometimes he was scared in the mornings - he supposed his dreams were an escape and his day life wasn't exactly ideal.
Jiho used his sleeve to wipe his eyes as he looked at Tae, frowning.
"Hyung, TaeTae's lips are blue." Why were they blue? They had a weird, funny blue tinge them them. He checked to see if he could feel air over the boy's mouth. Very, very faintly. "TaeTae? ... Yoongi-hyung, is he okay?"
"Move away from him a little, Jiho, all right?" Yoongi had finally dialled the ambulance and he tried to describe the situation as quickly as he could, giving the school's address, but he also asked what he was supposed to do right now. In the end, he pulled up Tae's shirt and winced when he saw the purple, almost black bruising. He made sure to roll him so he was on his back, then tilted his head up a little, anything to make his breathing easier.
"I think your brother has a broken rib, Jiho. Can you tell me what exactly happened? Please. It's important, so the doctors know what to do."
It was important? It had to be important. He was doing stuff and Tae didn't look so good. He was bruised. Badly. And he said he hurt a lot. "He ... He slapped him and then he grabbed his hair and threw him at the wall. He was crying and he said he hurt everywhere. He couldn't lie still all night cause it hurt and he kept crying. I did the best I could."
Jiho's eyes filled with tears. Did he mess up? He must have. He failed his brother. He should have gone to an adult but he didn't want to love Tae and now he might have to anyway. "His breathing was all rattlely and weird this morning."
"You did the right thing by coming here, Jiho, so he couldn't get more hurt. But now he needs some doctors to look at him, okay? We just have to make sure he keeps breathing and then it will all be all right. He's a brave boy, your brother, right? You always say he's a good boy." Yoongi smiled a little, then he reached out and pulled Jiho close, pulling him against himself so he could hug him. "You are a really good hyung. You did the right thing."
"No, I lied. I lied and I got him hurt. I'm the hyung, I know better and I lied." He messed it up and all because he just wanted to play with Jin for an afternoon. Tae was so excited to see all of Jiminie's toys, he said he'd come back next week and now he couldn't because Tae might die. And it was his fault. He should have stopped appa from getting close to him. He furiously wiped at his eyes, trying to stop crying. "It's my fault."
"No, Jiho, it's not your fault. I swear, whatever happened, it is not your fault that your father is such a bas-- such a bad man, okay?" Yoongi had his arms tightly around Jiho by now, playing with his hair and rocking him a little, doing what he could to comfort him. "It will all be okay and hyung is with you, Jiho. You won't be alone. Hyung will make sure everything is all right and no one will hurt you or Tae again."
He wished he could kill that father. Damn. He couldn't even imagine how Namjoon would feel when he told him about his, given his own history.
Jiho couldn't help it, he kept on crying and he just couldn't think beyond it being his fault. He couldn't think of anything good to say. It wasn't until the paramedics came that he was even able to think again. They were looking Tae over, saying big words he didn't understand. He sniffled and watched, looking distressed. "You have to be careful, he's really little!"
"We will be, it's okay." The paramedic assured, trying to smile at Jiho but this was a lot.
"I have to stay with him or he'll be scared. Yoongi-hyung, tell them!"
"Is it all right if we ride with the ambulance? Jiho can stay on my lap." Yoongi was relieved when the paramedics nodded and he kept his arms around Jiho so they could watch how Tae was transferred onto the stretcher. "You see how they do it? Really carefully, so nothing can happen."
He really, really hoped that Tae would be all right. Damn, he wished he knew more about this. While they got Tae ready for transport, Yoongi felt he had to give Jiho something to do, so he gestured. "Get the music book we are working with from the corner, yeah? We can study a little while we wait at the hospital."
Jiho ran up and got the book, holding it tight in his hands and following Tae with a determination. It wasn't unsure he sat down on Yoongi's lap in the ambulance that he winced and jerked forward a little. His back hurt a lot but he didn't care about his own pain, now when Tae looked like that. He just kept some distance between himself and Yoongi, holding the work book.
"What shall we study, hyung-nim? TaeTae likes Mozart."
"Then we can study Mozart, yeah? There is an entire chapter on him." It was a good workbook, made for students Jiho's age, so there weren't just the songs themselves, but also stories to explain them better and some exercises and even things to colour. Hopefully enough to keep Jiho engaged, because Tae might need a lot of help.
However, it seemed like it wasn't just Tae. "Are you injured too, Jiho? What happened? You have to tell hyung, all right?"
"I'm okay." Jiho said as he opened the book on the page for Mozart and tried to read, tried not to focus on what they were doing to Tae. They gave him a shot? Oh no. Tae hated shots. Jiho looked down at the book and frowned at the words, he was too stressed and freaked out, the words all moved and blurred.
"I lied. It was my fault. I had to protect Tae. It doesn't hurt." Not unless he sat down. Or lay down. Or existed. "Hyung, I can't read the page."
Yoongi nodded his head, stroking Jiho's hair. "Okay. That's okay, Jiho. Do you want me to read to you? Or do you want to tell me about the lie you told? Did you tell it to your father and he caught you?"
He did not blame Jiho. At all. "The thing is, no matter what happens, it's never okay for an adult to hurt a little child like Tae. Or like you, you know? Never."
"I went to Jin's house because TaeTae wanted to play with Jimin-ah and I wanted to see Jin more. His parents are nice. His eomma hugged me." It was the best he'd ever felt. He looked down at his shoes. "We're supposed to come straight home but I lied and said we were at school. And then my teacher called Kangwoo and when he came, he knew we weren't there. He caught us."
He was so careful, he never assumed that Kangwoo would be called in. Where did he go wrong? "He hurt Tae and he wanted to hurt Tae more so I protected him. I lay on him. Then he could only hit me."
"You were really brave to protect him like that, Jiho. Did your back get hurt? We will let the doctors look at it and then it will feel better quickly." He had to call child services, didn't he? And maybe the police. Or would child services call the police? Damn, he really didn't know enough about this. "Listen, Jiho. I promise you, you and Tae will not be separated. You will be together. Even if I have to take you in myself, I will make sure of it."
Wait. Had he just said that? "I promise. Hyung promises. Okay? So you need to be really brave and honest and that will make sure that your appa can't ever hurt Tae or you again."
"I can't be without Tae. If you take him away, I have nothing." Jiho mumbled as he felt the ambulance stop. They lifted Tae off the ambulance and pushed him away so fast that Jiho had only just stepped foot on the floor outside and his brother was gone. He looked like he was going to have a melt down. Of course they had to rush, Tae wasn't breathing properly but Jiho didn't understand.
"... Where-- he's-- no." Tae was gone. He gulped and reached out, latching onto Yoongi. "He's gone." Was that good or bad? "Hyung, I don't feel good." The shock was really hitting him now, he felt like he could faint.
Yoongi went down on one knee so he could hug Jiho properly, playing with his hair gently. What a sweet boy. No wonder he was having a crisis. He reached into his pocket and got his earbuds out, inserting one into Jiho's ear and turning on music. Music always helped him with calming down, he was hoping it could do the same to Jiho.
"They are just getting him to a room with a doctor so he can be helped quickly. We will go in and find out where he is and wait until we can visit, yeah? Then we'll be there when he needs you."
Jiho leaned against Yoongi, wrapped his arms around him and buried his head into Yoongi's shoulder. He didn't want to any more. Nothing was good and he didn't have Tae, he let him down and he was a bad hyung. He just wanted to stay in Yoongi's arms, listen to music and turn his brain off. And that's what he did.
He was pliant and passive, easily moved around, contently clinging to his hyung. It was nice, in some ways, to not have to be the hyung any more. "Don't leave me."
"I'll not leave you. Never again." Yoongi wasn't even sure what he was promising here, but he just had to say it. He carried Jiho into the building and they ended up in the right waiting area, with him sitting down with Jiho on his lap. He put the second earbud into his ear too and then just let him rest on top of him, not surprising at how quiet he got. Between shock and everything else, he had to be exhausted.
"You can sleep, Jiho, hyung will wake you if Tae needs you."
He had to figure out what to do next. But that was on him, not Jiho.
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He had to thin. He had to think quickly. "Jiho, you did the right thing coming here, but I think your brother needs a hospital. Will you help me call an ambulance? You know the number, right? Namjoon practised with you."
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He put his arm protectively around Tae and tried to whisper to him. "TaeTae, please wake up. I need you." He couldn't lose his little brother.
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Yoongi remembered what Namjoon had told him. Hell, he really wished Namjoon was here right now. "We will go with him though. You are right. He's too little to be without his hyung."
He kept holding his hand out, swallowing. "I promise, Jiho, I will make sure that you and Tae stay together. I'll make sure your appa can't get to you, but that you stay together."
They would just have to find a family that would take both of them! He would do whatever it would take.
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Jiho used his sleeve to wipe his eyes as he looked at Tae, frowning.
"Hyung, TaeTae's lips are blue." Why were they blue? They had a weird, funny blue tinge them them. He checked to see if he could feel air over the boy's mouth. Very, very faintly. "TaeTae? ... Yoongi-hyung, is he okay?"
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"I think your brother has a broken rib, Jiho. Can you tell me what exactly happened? Please. It's important, so the doctors know what to do."
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Jiho's eyes filled with tears. Did he mess up? He must have. He failed his brother. He should have gone to an adult but he didn't want to love Tae and now he might have to anyway. "His breathing was all rattlely and weird this morning."
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He wished he could kill that father. Damn. He couldn't even imagine how Namjoon would feel when he told him about his, given his own history.
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"We will be, it's okay." The paramedic assured, trying to smile at Jiho but this was a lot.
"I have to stay with him or he'll be scared. Yoongi-hyung, tell them!"
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He really, really hoped that Tae would be all right. Damn, he wished he knew more about this. While they got Tae ready for transport, Yoongi felt he had to give Jiho something to do, so he gestured. "Get the music book we are working with from the corner, yeah? We can study a little while we wait at the hospital."
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"What shall we study, hyung-nim? TaeTae likes Mozart."
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However, it seemed like it wasn't just Tae. "Are you injured too, Jiho? What happened? You have to tell hyung, all right?"
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"I lied. It was my fault. I had to protect Tae. It doesn't hurt." Not unless he sat down. Or lay down. Or existed. "Hyung, I can't read the page."
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He did not blame Jiho. At all. "The thing is, no matter what happens, it's never okay for an adult to hurt a little child like Tae. Or like you, you know? Never."
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He was so careful, he never assumed that Kangwoo would be called in. Where did he go wrong? "He hurt Tae and he wanted to hurt Tae more so I protected him. I lay on him. Then he could only hit me."
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Wait. Had he just said that? "I promise. Hyung promises. Okay? So you need to be really brave and honest and that will make sure that your appa can't ever hurt Tae or you again."
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"... Where-- he's-- no." Tae was gone. He gulped and reached out, latching onto Yoongi. "He's gone." Was that good or bad? "Hyung, I don't feel good." The shock was really hitting him now, he felt like he could faint.
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"They are just getting him to a room with a doctor so he can be helped quickly. We will go in and find out where he is and wait until we can visit, yeah? Then we'll be there when he needs you."
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He was pliant and passive, easily moved around, contently clinging to his hyung. It was nice, in some ways, to not have to be the hyung any more. "Don't leave me."
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"You can sleep, Jiho, hyung will wake you if Tae needs you."
He had to figure out what to do next. But that was on him, not Jiho.