Strip

September 18th, 1:40 P.M.

Namjoon stood in the hallway, staring at the closed white door that led to Seojoon's room.

He still couldn't believe he had a brother. This kind of shocking revelation only happened in movies, not to regular people like him.

Yoongi came around the corner and saw how the boy seemed to be having an internal debate with himself.

Deciding to make it easier for him, he walked over and opened the door.

"Take your time." Was all the detective said.

He watched as Namjoon tentively stepped inside, looking around at the bed, the hanging pictures, the paint colors.

"You can touch things." Yoongi held back a smile. "It's not a museum."

Namjoon ran his fingers along the blue painted walls, stopping to look at each painting hanging there. Took in how the paintings got better after each one he passed, like Seojoon had grown up with them. He glanced at the bed, which was neatly made.

"I never had to tell him to make his bed, not even once," Yoongi smiled at the memory, leaning against the doorway. "In fact, he would often scold me for leaving my own room a mess."

Namjoon also preferred cleanliness over messiness, and he wondered if that was a trait the two brothers would have shared if they had grown up together.

He opened the closet, seeing the boys wardrobe change. The left side was mostly all primary colors and dinosaur print, before slowly changing into bigger clothes that had darker colors and more modern styles.

"He really branched out after he became a teenager." Yoongi told him. "Tried all kinds of fashions. He didn't care what anyone thought about his outfits while he discovered his style."

Namjoon wondered what his brother would think about Namjoon's own wardrobe- with all the revealing outfits and short, glittery skirts.

He bit his lip, looking at the toys that had been packed away in clear bins.

Firetrucks, superhero costumes and policeman action figures took up most of the variety of toys.

"He never wanted to play with anything that wasn't a hero." Yoongi smiled fondly. "He said he wanted to become a detective like me, because I inspired him. He never knew that he was the one who inspired me."

Namjoon sat down on the bed, taking in all the traits of his older brother, and promptly burst into tears.

"Namjoon," Yoongi was startled, quickly hurrying over to sit beside the boy. "Why are you crying?"

Namjoon sobbed, burying himself against the detective's side.

Yoongi wrapped his arms around him, holding him close until the boys sobs slowly quieted, and Namjoon sniffled.

"He stood up to bullies, was brave, kind, neat, admired hero's and was even good at art and fashion. He was a role model, a perfect guy. A-and I'm...I'm a fucking slut who dances for sleazy men just so I can pay my fucking bills. What if he saw me now? His younger brother who spreads his skirt wearing legs for dirty money. He would be ashamed of me. A suspect in a murder case, sleeping with his boss, not good at anything...I would have been the disappointment of the family."

Yoongi frowned. "Joon...that's not true."

"Yes it is!" Namjoon insisted. "You knew him- you knew how great he was! And you know me, you know how lame I am. He could defend himself easily, and I'm always needing to be rescued on an almost daily basis. It's pathetic! I'm pathetic!"

"Don't say that." Yoongi insisted. "You two had very different lives."

"That's doesn't matter- it's all about personality. He was a great person at heart and I...I always just took the easy way out. No matter what the consequences were. Seojoon would never work at a place like Kkoim, you and I both know it. If he was in need of money he would have gotten a good 9-5 job with full benefits and earned it in no time. I just saw how much the dancers got in tips and signed up immediately, not even sparing a second to think about my self respect. That's the difference between me and him- he actually had some."