He breathes out into the cold air, shivering a little in his thin sweater. His knees are pulled against his chest, and his back rests against the brick wall. It's late, maybe three in the morning, but he isn't sure.

He's crying. The tears are hot against his cold, red cheeks. He knows his lips must be turning blue it this point- he's been outside in the freezing weather for about an hour or more. He grips at his hair tightly, trying to figure out what to do now.

She's dead. He lost her.

Why did this have to happen?

He finally forces himself to get up and re-enter the hospital. As he walks towards the room she was last in, a nurse coming from that direction stops him.

"Kim Seokjin-ssi?" She says, touching his arm. He stops, looking at her and she smiles sadly at his red, puffy eyes. "I'm sorry for your loss... She fought hard, but unfortunately... it just wasn't enough to keep her alive." Jin nods at this, and more tears are escaping. "But... would you like to meet your son now?"

"My son?" Jin asks, wiping at his eyes. "Eunji had a boy?"

The nurse nods, beginning to walk to the nursery, Jin following behind her. "Come with me, I'll show him to you," she utters, and Jin keeps following until they reach the nursery.

She opens the door and steps inside. Jin watches her through the window as she goes over to one particular baby and picks him up, carefully carrying him outside, wrapped in a soft blanket.

"Here he is," she murmurs softly, smiling. "Isn't he handsome?"

He looks at the sleeping baby, trying not to cry again. The nurse leans closer to hand him the baby, and he's a bit scared but it's okay, he takes the baby boy into his arms anyway.

"You're so young," the nurse comments, her voice still soft and unjudging. "So was she. How old are you? How old was she?"

"I just turned sixteen two months ago, in December," Jin replies shakily, looking down at the baby. His baby. "She was almost seventeen, would have been in August."

"Oh, I see..." The nurse sighs sadly. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Jin says, when it really isn't. He loved her so much. He wanted to have a family with her, he wanted to have this baby with her. But giving birth was too much for her and she died. Now Jin's alone.

"Are you going to be okay, Seokjin-ssi?" The nurse asks, but Jin doesn't know. He still has to tell his parents about the baby, and they won't take it well, he knows. Eunji's parents don't care about the baby and they hate Jin (even more now that their daughter is dead due to giving birth to his child), so he'll have nowhere to go if his parents kick him out.

"I don't know," he answers honestly, biting his lip. "My parents might throw me out because they can't afford to be helping take care of my baby. They don't even know about him yet."

"I'm sorry, I wish I could help you..."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be okay."

The nurse gives a nod, smiling at Jin with the baby after a moment. "What are you going to name him?" She eventually asks, and he looks down at his child.

"I don't know," he says. "I kind of like Hoseok."

"Kim Hoseok, it sounds nice," she smiles, but he shakes his head.

"No, Jung Hoseok," he corrects, and she looks at him a bit confused. "I'm giving him Eunji's last name. To honor her."

"That's really sweet... I bet she'd be so happy."

Jin smiles sadly down at his baby, Hoseok. "Yeah. She would be."

-

Breaking the news to his parents, so far, isn't easy. They're upset because he didn't tell them, because they can't afford to have the baby around, because Jin's only sixteen which meant he got the girl pregnant when he was fifteen, because "Seokjin what the hell were you doing sleeping with girls at fifteen?!".

But it's not like Jin's ever really gotten into trouble before. He's a good kid, gets good grades and doesn't get into fights or anything.

Jin pleads with them to not throw him and Hoseok out, despite that he feels they should. "I don't have anywhere else to go," he tells them, tears rolling down his cheeks. "Eunji, Hoseok's mother, died giving birth. Her parents despise me now. I don't know what to do. I don't want to even think about putting him up for adoption either. He's my baby. He needs me."

His parents share a look and his father sighs.

"How about this," he starts, and that's when Jin's thirteen-year-old little brother, Taehyung comes out of his room.

He, of course, inquires about Hoseok, and the boys' mother explains things to him.

"But you see, Taehyung, we can't afford to have the baby here so we're trying to work something out," she finishes, and Taehyung looks alarmed.

"You can't throw Jin-hyung out!" He says, and their parents sigh out. "You can't! He's got a baby now!"

"We know. Just go wait in your room."

"But-"

"Now."

Taehyung huffs and goes back to his room, and the conversation continues.

"As I was saying," Jin's father begins again, "Let's compromise. We don't kick you out until the day after your eighteenth birthday. That's a bit less than two years for you to find a job and a place to live. However, that means using your college money to take care of the baby until then, and whatever's left you can keep. I'm sorry, but that's all we can do. You won't get to go to college, but at least you'll have a place to live for a while."

"That's unfortunate but okay," Jin says with a nod. "As long as I can take care of Hoseok. Thank you both so much."

"Hopefully you can find a place and a job soon," his mother adds, and Jin wants to sigh but he doesn't- his parents couldn't make it more obvious they want him gone.

"I hope so," Jin murmurs instead.

That, however, is not how things work out.

Finding a job and somewhere to live is way harder than Jin can even imagine. No one wants to hire a sixteen-year-old boy who could end up being unreliable, no one wants to rent to him for the same reason.

On top of that, being depressed still because of Eunji makes no one want him to work for them. They want happy, approachable people. That aren't young and irresponsible.

His parents keep pressuring him though, bugging him about it. "Have you found something yet, Seokjin?" They keep asking him. Every single day.

But he hasn't and he's scared that he won't, that he and Hoseok will end up homeless, and before Jin even realizes it, it's Hoseok's first birthday already.

He visits Eunji's grave, and it still hurts but he's learned to live with it because he can't bring her back, but he's glad too, because he still has a part of her with him.

He spends a small amount of money on Hoseok's birthday, mostly because he can't afford to do much but also because he knows Hoseok won't remember it anyway. He gets a small cake, a candle and about three toys.

Hoseok seems to be happy about it all though.

But then February turns into March, and March into April, and so on. Jin starts to give up, stops looking even though he says he is for a while, and starts looking again. It becomes the hot summer months and then turns into autumn in the blink of an eye. And before Jin knows it, it's late November.

With only about a week and a half (if he's lucky) until his birthday, Jin spends every minute he's awake looking for something. He's had so much time to look, but always comes back with nothing.

Maybe he isn't really trying. Maybe he'd thought his parents would change their minds since they have stopped bugging him so much, but then they're warning him that time is almost up.

He's panicking, but on the 29th of November, something starts to come up.

While he's out in the cold looking, a woman tells him that there are some cheap apartments to rent not too far away, and that if Jin is literally almost eighteen, they should rent one to him. She gives him a piece of paper with the address and the number.

Jin excitedly runs home, and Taehyung smiles at him when he gets in the door, Hoseok in his arms. He's now almost fifteen.

"I think I might've gotten something," Jin tells him, and Taehyung's smile becomes a grin. "There are some cheap apartments around here, but I still need to find a job."

"I can ask my friend Jimin's parents if they know of something, hyung," Taehyung says, and Jin looks hopeful.

"Really? Thank you so much, Tae-Tae."

"Don't mention it, hyung."

-

The first chapter is short because I haven't finished writing the fic so I don't know how many chapters there will be. ♡