Kim Seokjin sat on a chair in the hallway as he held a phone to his ear. He had been put on hold for what felt like an eternity, and he wondered if they were doing it on purpose. Ever since Jungkook had run away from home two days ago, Seokjin had been calling the police department every other hour for updates. He knew they must be getting sick of him calling by now, but he was responsible for Jungkook. He was responsible for all of them.

Kim Seokjin had grown up in an orphanage since he was five. He was old enough to remember the place, but not old enough to remember the circumstances of why he ended up there. He couldn't remember his parents either. While there, he tried to make the best of things. Every time a new set of parents was presented to him, he tried to be the kind of child they might think of taking home, but they never did. They always left him there. Seokjin tried to make the best of the rejection, forming a small family of sorts with six other boys that were in the same boat as him. Being the eldest by at least a year, he tried to be a father figure for them. He tried to make them laugh and see the bright side when the parents they were set before rejected them too.

Kim Seokjin was left there until the age of eighteen, his expiration date at the orphanage having come. He was forced to leave his family of friends and go out into the world alone. Seokjin had a plan — and though he was eighteen and barely had enough real world experience himself — he worked himself to the bone day and night to save up money. Just a few months after the orphanage had kicked him out, he returned and asked to adopt his six best friends, wanting to give them the home they always wanted.

Seokjin had managed to secure a decrypt looking house for the seven of them to call home. It was something that at least put a roof over their heads. Together over the next two years, they had worked on fixing it up a little at a time. Seokjin had kept at his job while Namjoon, Yoongi, and Hobi got jobs as well so they could pool their small amounts of money together. The younger three were left at home to try to keep the place from falling down around its ears and to study. With the money collected from their jobs, Namjoon, Yoongi, Hobi and Seokjin managed to get Taehyung, Jimin, and Jungkook into school. Even though it would only be a year or so of education, at least it would give them a leg up in the world.

Then the real world had hit. Seokjin's picture of them being a happy family began to dissolve. Jungkook had been copping an attitude for the past several months, hiding himself away from the rest of them. Seokjin had no idea what he was doing, and tried to talk to him but Jungkook wouldn't listen to anyone. Then one night he just ran away.

As Seokjin sat on the chair in the hall, he noticed someone had moved to stand in the kitchen doorway. Yoongi stood there with a severely stained apron on, the chatter from the others eating dinner echoing down the hall.

"Did they really put you on hold again?"

"Of course. I'm their favorite person after all," said Seokjin with a thin smile.

Yoongi could see that it was hard for the usually jovial man to joke, walking down the hall until he stood right in front of him.

"Supper is cooked. You go eat and I'll take a turn at the phone."

"But what if..."

"I'll probably still be on hold when you're done eating. Eat while it's hot, Seokjin."

He nodded, handing the phone off to Yoongi before moving to stand and walk down the hall to the kitchen. Crammed elbow to elbow around the small kitchen table were Hobi, Namjoon, Taehyung and Jimin. They looked at Seokjin as he entered, managing to pull out an empty chair for him to sit down on.

"Still no news about Jungkook then?" asked Hobi.

Seokjin shook his head as Namjoon reached out for an empty plate. The pot in the middle of the table was still steaming as Namjoon moved to ladle some food out for Seokjin to eat. He put it in front of Seokjin after as the four of them tried to make some sort of small talk with Seokjin to help distract him from the worries his mind was certainly plaguing him with. Seokjin tried to eat to not hurt their feelings, but he had a hard time doing so. He felt that this was all his fault. Maybe if he hadn't adopted his friends, they would have found the home they wanted. Maybe their life would have been better.

As Seokjin moved to stand up from the table after eating as much as he could, he heard the front door open. Moving towards the front hall, Seokjin saw that Yoongi was still sitting in the chair with the phone to his ear. However, Yoongi had turned his head to face the front door to see who had entered. Standing on the tattered welcome mat was Jungkook. He looked tired and disheveled, a guitar strapped to his back and a luggage bag in his hand. Seokjin almost collapsed to his knees, but found the strength in him to rush down the end of the hall and wrap Jungkook in a bear hug.

"Where have you been?" asked Seokjin. "You just...you ran away. It's been two days, Jungkook."

"I know...I know...I'm sorry..." said Jungkook as Seokjin pulled away, studying him. The boy looked exhausted.

"We need to talk, but first you need to wash up and eat," said Seokjin, pushing the hundred and one questions he had aside. He took the luggage bag from Jungkook and shooed him towards the stairs. "Go upstairs and wash up."

Yoongi had moved to hang up the phone as he watched Jungkook walk up the stairs. Seokjin laid Jungkook's belongings down before walking into the kitchen where Namjoon, Taehyung, Hobi, and Jimin were cleaning up.

"Get a plate out for Jungkook," said Seokjin as he moved towards the fridge.

"He's back?" They all asked in unison, surprised.

"He is," said Seokjin as he grabbed the jug of water to get Jungkook a glass. "And no one is to interrogate him. We're going to let him speak when he feels like it."

"I wasn't planning to interrogate him though. I just want to ask him a few questions," said Jimin.

"That's interrogating genius," said Taehyung as he shot Jimin a look, Seokjin rolling his eyes.

Yoongi entered the kitchen so they were all together as Jungkook came downstairs. Jungkook had changed into a white t-shirt and jeans, his hair sopping wet from the quick shower he had taken. Jungkook paused in the kitchen doorway when he saw everyone there before his eyes landed on the hot plate of food that Seokjin held in his hands. Jungkook swallowed the lump in his throat as he looked at them all. Tears were welling up in Jungkook's eyes.

"I'm sorry for scaring you all," he said.

Seokjin moved to get behind Jungkook, directing him to sit down at the table before putting the plate of food in front of him. A tear or two slid down Jungkook's face as he took a seat, beginning to prod at the food as they all took a seat at the table around him.

"I'm sorry that I ran away," said Jungkook as he put the fork in his hand down, lifting his head to look at all of them in turn before his eyes remained fixed on Seokjin. "I just felt stifled here. I felt stuck, so I left to go chase down my dreams. I thought that was what would make me happy. It wasn't until I was gone that I realized that it's all of you and this family we have created that make me the happiest. I didn't need to run away from all of you to find my dreams. I have a better chance of achieving my dreams with all of you by my side. What I did...turning my back on all of you and running away like that...it was selfish."

The tears continued to swim in Jungkook's eyes as he buried his face in his hands. Seokjin got up from his spot at the table, moving to crouch down beside Jungkook's chair. Seokjin brushed some of Jungkook's hair out of his face as Jungkook lifted his head from his hands to look at him.

"I'm sorry, Seokjin," said Jungkook.

"It's alright," said Seokjin. "I can't say I don't blame you. I feel that adopting all of you was my own way of being selfish. I told myself that I wanted to give you all a chance outside that orphanage when the truth was more than that. I also wanted to do it because I didn't want to be alone."

"You weren't selfish," said Jungkook. "You have never been selfish."

"This is getting really sappy..." whispered Taehyung as he leaned over to whisper in Jimin's ear, earning a jab in the ribs from Jimin in response.

"I am thankful for what you did for all of us, Seokjin. I...I actually came up with something while I was away that can convey it to you better," continued Jungkook. "Can I play it for you?"

Seokjin nodded as he stood up. Jungkook stood up from his own chair to go out and rummage through his bag for his notebook. Jungkook flipped it open as he walked back out into the kitchen where the other six were still gathered around the table. Jungkook sat back down in his chair, pushing the plate of untouched food delicately away before he put the notebook down.

"This song...its words ring true about how I feel about all of you," said Jungkook clearing his throat before he began to sing the words, words that would ultimately make Seokjin realize that choice he made was the right one after all.

"The fifteen year old me that didn't have anything,
The world was so big, I was so small
Now I can't even imagine it.
Now I can't even imagine myself
Who used to have no scent, who used to be empty
I pray
Love you my brothers, thanks to my brothers
I now have emotions. I became me.
So I'm me.
Now I'm me.
You make me begin."

- - -

AN: So this is my first attempt at a one shot. I haven't written one in a while. I'm not used to writing something that ends relatively quick. I hope this was alright, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

The lyrics that are in italics at the end of the chapter obviously come from the song "Begin" by BTS, sung by Jungkook. This song was suggested as one shot inspiration by jungkookjeon7807 .

I tried to find an English translation of the lyrics, and posted it above. I obviously do not own those lyrics or that song.

See you all in the next one shot!