Hoseok's heard this before. He heard it from the girl he liked in junior high school, he heard it from Yoongi too, more than once. He heard something like it over and over when he was little, when other children were adopted, that someday the right people would come along for him.

And the thing is he believed it. For a long time he thought it was absolutely true. And it's not that he's become cynical or negative, he's just grown up since then. He has people in his life that love him, people who take care of him as much as they can, even as limited as their own resources are. He has more than he ever thought he would have, or that he deserved, but he knows there's a line there, too. They love him and they care about him and they'll do what they can for him, and he's so grateful.

He's not meant for anything more. These people are already risking ridicule from their families just being his friend. Jimin's mother actively hates him. Seokjin's parents would probably demand their son stay away if they knew about their friendship. Jungkook's mother loves him, but his father, unsurprisingly – he doesn't even love his own step-son, does not. Liking boys is bad enough; liking a boy with no family, no history, no future, that's unthinkable.

There might be someone, maybe, someday, who will be okay with that. Hoseok knows it's a possibility, especially because he likes girls too. He's just more careful now, about how much he hopes for it.

At the core of it, though, he knows Jungkook's only saying what he thinks will help ease Hoseok's pain. Yoongi only meant it the same way. Both of them mean the words in the kindest way, with the purest intentions. Neither of them know the barb inside Hoseok's heart, the way those words sting.

But then Jungkook says something different, something pointed, and though Hoseok's eyes are still swimming a little, his heart still pounding, it makes him blink.

"What... What do you mean by already someone out there?" he asks softly.