Six of a Kind

사십칠: The Plan

Hoseok was in a miserable mood. His dad had been keeping a sharp eye over him, following all of his moves to make sure he was okay. He wished Taehyung hadn't convinced him into this stupid plan. The anxiety radiating off their father seeped into Hoseok, making him quiet and a little withdrawn.

This was ringing alarm bells in Namjoon's head. Sure, the boys' attitudes had been a little iffy after the last few months, what with Jisu on their case and having to deal with all these strange people and new places, but Hoseok really did seem weary to him. It had been over a year since his last seizure. His first medication had worked for him pretty much instantly, bringing back his old, cheerful and playful Hoseok. It was hard to remember what Hoseok was really like before that dreaded day, with Jimin being so ill at the time, but it had to be similar to this, right?

Or perhaps it was because it was early March, and there was still frost in the grass each morning? Hoseok loved football, but the cold season made it hard for him to play at home. Whilst he got warm running about after his ball, the grass was slippery, and he didn't have much space to run about in. There had been regular instances of Hoseok accidentally sliding into the fence, so his football time was limited. Usually, at this point of the year, the weather would be picking up, warming the ground, but it was a particularly clingy winter that year, and icy temperatures were showing no signs of leaving just yet.

They had all had a rough few months, and there had been so much stress, that perhaps that was affecting Hoseok's health. Maybe he'd been so stressed about Jimin's illness and Taehyung's bullying behaviour that it had triggered the epilepsy in the first place. Yoongi was on and off with his ulcerative colitis, Jungkook was having regular meltdowns, only Seokjin had been a stable presence for Hoseok, but the pair weren't particularly close. What if the cycle was repeating?

The truth was Namjoon just didn't know. He was never going to know. There was so much in such a small timeframe he could never pin it on something. Perhaps he was always destined to have epilepsy. Perhaps it was his head injury. Or maybe it was the stress. There was nothing he could have done to stop it from happening, either way. He just couldn't cope with his son hurting in a way he couldn't stop.

It was easy in Namjoon's head, though. This was all brought on by that Jisu and her commanding presence. The cycle would break if she lost her rights to the boys, and they wouldn't have to see her again. Forget the whole thing ever existed. He could tell all these stupid solicitors that the impact on Hoseok's health was too much, and, for the best interest, things should go back to normal.

Namjoon was so blinded by his newfound hatred for Jisu that he didn't see the flaws in all of this. That he would never win that battle, even if he had all the money in the world for the best solicitor on the market.

Taehyung and Hoseok had been building their plan up for the past three weeks. They still had their stupid sleepovers at Jisu's, which remained tense and painfully slow for the boys. They were building no bond with Jisu, and Jisu was doing very little to help that. She didn't want to wait with this stupid legal plan of 'weekend visits', she wanted two of her kids and to go back to her new life. In fact, she'd already picked who she wanted.

So far, all Hoseok had done was complain of headaches just before going to Jisu's, whilst there, and directly after. Jisu shoved some calpol in him and got on with her day, but Namjoon fussed and tutted over Hoseok, giving him special cuddles and hot water bottles. Whilst Hoseok loved special attention, he didn't like the reason why he was getting it. He hated upsetting his dad like this. Taehyung, however, didn't seem to mind too much.

"It's better in the long run," he'd said confidently to Hoseok the second weekend, after Namjoon had lingered at Jisu's door a little longer than the first time. "Daddy won't remember being stressed when that woman goes away."