In which Jungkook attends his first 'family meeting'
we're not that bad (that's what they said)Chapter 3: In which Jungkook attends his first 'family meeting'
From the way Yoongi is speaking in that fed up, annoying sing-song tune one does when the teacher reminds them to "read with feelings", Hoseok imagines he's working in retail and Yoongi is his supervisor - reading off previous day's sales, the percentage increase or shortfall in revenue, new promotional products and sales items and such boring details from a thin file to the staff members before they start the day. Hoseok hides his yawn.
"-the little ones continue to stock up their own supply of snacks with their own money so it's none of our business. Jungkook is paying the same amount as us for rent despite being a minor so I have no complaints. Water bill, electricity bill, no significant off-the-cliff jump, good for us." Yoongi breathes. "So...there is no increase in our rent. All hail Seokjin-hyung."
Hoseok imagines Yoongi adding on "Good sales today, guys." before dismissing them for work.
No one responds nor makes a move after Yoongi finishes. Taehyung continues to nibble his piece of plain white bread, staring straight ahead at nothing and clearly, he hasn't been listening to a word Yoongi was saying. Jimin is leaning against Jungkook (who is starting to get used to this), both with a glazed look in their eyes, trying to stay focused. Namjoon has his hands clasped around his cup of coffee on the tabletop and waits for the landlord to continue.
"Do we have any suggestions or complaints? What to improve on, anything?" Seokjin asks, looking at the housemates sitting around him. Hoseok and Jimin shake their heads while Yoongi shrugs. "Hoseok doesn't know how to read the 'Do Not Enter, Keep Out You Dickheads' sign outside my door," Yoongi mentions, and the said man laughs it off, until Yoongi shoots him a glare and smacks him with the file.
"But I'm not a dickhead..."
Seokjin promptly ignores them. Next please.
"I'd like for Taehyung to stop speaking English." Taehyung's eyes shift to Namjoon. Jimin suddenly becomes fully awake now. "Why? I think it's cute and he's just interested in learning English," he speaks on behalf of his best friend. "Hyung, aren't you a tutor? You can teach him."
Namjoon looks to Taehyung who is showing a pouty face and tells him clearly, "No pay, no teach."
"Come on, don't be such a stick-in-the-mud, hyung," Taehyung bites into the bread. "...just like Yoongi-hyung." He finishes off with another bite.
"How dare you," Yoongi nearly, nearly, gasps. Offended, he slams places his hands loudly on the table and looks Taehyung dead in the eye. "I. Have. Fun." (He does.)
Using such a serious tone, Taehyung however finds his statement sounding contradictory, and simply gives the older man a smile that translates to: whatever you say, bruh. He then starts giving excellent, concrete examples of Yoongi being "no fun" and a wet blanket in the past, but Yoongi who has a special talent in giving reasons - more like excuses - that are seemingly reasonable, manages to retort the younger boy every time. Everyone at the table pays attention to them because they find this whole argument stupid amusing.
"You stopped me from jumping out of the window!"
"How is that fun during our fire drill?"
"Well, it's a fun escape route!"
"It's a shortcut to death, ."
Taehyung huffs and stuffs the last bite of bread into his mouth. The rest of the housemates wait and Jungkook is surprised that no one makes a sound for a moment, save for his own sniffling. Yoongi waits for the younger boy to finish chewing so that they can continue bickering, but it doesn't happen. Taehyung instead turns to face Jungkook and informs him, "By the way, Kookie, we conduct a fire drill tri-weekly."
Taehyung says it before Seokjin has planned to. Is this really how he wanted the meeting to go? Nah.
Does Seokjin mind though? More than used to it.
BUT. Seokjin shifts his attention to Jungkook.
Does the new tenant look bewildered? Yes.
Not good. Jungkook doesn't know if he should be wondering why they hold fire drills, or how Taehyung completely changed the subject, or why Yoongi isn't at all shocked that he was left hanging. His thoughts are all jumbled up now and he wishes he had stayed in his half-awaken state.
"A...fire drill?" Jungkook has never heard of any households conducting fire drills before. Is this a Seoul house thing to do? Isn't it just screaming "fiireeeee" and the mum throwing the kids out of the house because they're not helpful while the dad fetches the fire extinguisher to put out the fire? Right, and also dialling 119. "Oh, it's nothing serious. Just...you know, we have to take precautions and conduct the drills," the landlord assures Jungkook but Namjoon laughing awkwardly with a "yeah, right" under his breath makes Jungkook think twice about believing Seokjin. Jungkook also catches Yoongi rolling his eyes and Hoseok whistling for no reason. Did something happen before? That's why they gotta 'take precautions'? However, Jungkook doesn't enquire, even when he knows Taehyung and Jimin are holding back their laughter and kicking each other under the table.
He looks at the wall clock and notes that only half an hour has passed. , it's 4.30 now. I should be asleep. Everyone is still clad in their pyjamas (wide awake now) and what an ungodly hour to attend his first 'family meeting', as Seokjin calls it. The 's' in Sunday stands for 'sleeping in', it's too goddamn early...
"Err... Jin-hyung, do you always have meetings at 4 in the morning? On Sundays?" Jungkook can't help but ask so that he can mentally prepare himself for the weekends for something he never does.
"We only hold family meetings when there's something important to address or when bills come in," Seokjin informs him, taking the thin file filled with receipts and bills that Yoongi has been holding onto. "And today's timing was decided on our last meeting hahaha," Hosek adds on. What the hell were they doing in the last meeting to choose 4am? Jungkook wonders, out loud. "How did you decide?"
As if on cue, everyone but the new tenant tilts their heads upwards to the right, staring off into the distance as if an animated cloud might form where they're staring at to show a flashback. Jungkook is impressed that none of them misses a beat, even Yoongi who doesn't seem to be the participative sort.
"What game should we-"
Taehyung raised his hand quickly, the cushion in his hand accidentally smacking Namjoon in the face. "Hide and seek!" he exclaimed before Seokjin finished the question. "We played it the previous time though."
"Yeah, but I'm good at it," Taehyung replied, a smug look on his face. Jimin chuckled at the look on his best friend's face, then suggested, "Jenga?"
"How about we see who can spin the hula hoop the longest?"
"Hoseok-hyung, we don't have a hula hoop."
"Oh, then we should get one soon hahaha!"
"Wait, what do you mean we? I don't have any use for that," Namjoon cut in, not wanting to fork out any of his hard earned money for useless things. If every housemate agrees and decides to purchase something for everyone to use, they split the money equally, it's only fair.
"Yeah you do, you can use that polypro circle to explain the Circle of Life to Jin," Yoongi threw in an idea, pointing his index finger at the oldest. "Only he can listen to you go on for hours." Seokjin didn't argue because Yoongi wasn't wrong. Deep down, he knew he could and would listen to Namjoon go on for hours.
After a discussion that lasted for almost twenty minutes, with one of them bringing up games they've never heard of and another running off to the toilet in the middle of it, they settled for scissors-paper-stone. How exciting.
Hoseok won and threw a dodecahedron dice. 3. He threw it once more. 1.
"4? Holy , that's 4am. You're amazing, Hoseok-ah." Yoongi said sarcastically and elbowed the man who unintentionally rolled out that sum which was going to be the timing of the next meeting to come. As much as the six of them groaned and complained, none of them suggested re-rolling the dice again because it was a rule they had set in the beginning - the dice has the final say.
Why do they go to such extent? Isn't setting a normal timing and sticking to it the easiest way? Jungkook doesn't get it, but decides not to ask in fear of offending his hyungs by questioning their silly method.
After a narration of their flashback, Namjoon whips out a framed piece of paper from under the table, startling Jungkook but not the rest, as if taking things out of nowhere is a normal thing to do. He places the frame in front of Jungkook to read.
Our fam rules:
- Do your chores
- Love and respect every individual i ing love ya'll xoxoxoxoxo
- Do not disobey
Seokjinour mum - I cook it, you eat it - Jin <3
- Be careful
of, me - Namjoon the Destroyer - Talk get hit - Min Yoongi
- When someone is feeling down, do your best to cheer him up!!! - ur hope, j-hope
- Have fun with Kim Taehyung - ✌
- No aegyo - Jimin :)
Jungkook reads through quickly, taking in everything; everything including the kindergarten-style doodles and the scribbles and corrections of the rules (with the same handwriting). The rules are easy to follow, except perhaps no. 6 and 7. Rule no. 5 has been edited by someone to become a self-reminder and Jungkook is extremely curious as to how destructive Namjoon-hyung can get that he even warns the housemates in place of giving a rule. He thinks he can get used to no. 8. He also stops at no. 9 and steals a glance at the boy sitting beside him with his face resting in his hands, looking younger and cuter than 18-year old Jungkook himself. 'No aegyo'. Pfft, this hyung's a natural.
"Everyone contributes a house rule, so what do you want to implement, Jungkook?" Seokjin asks, handing him a pink-coloured pen. It takes Jungkook only a few seconds to pen down whatever rule he wanted in pink and his hyungs read what the newcomer has written.
Okay, is the meeting over? Can I go back to bed now? Jungkook starts to fidget in his seat, twirling the pink pen with his fingers.
"We really hope you like it here, sonny boy," Namjoon suddenly says, smiling so widely that his eyes take part in the smiling as well.
Sonny boy, Jungkook repeats in his head because what the , Sonny boy.
"Sonny boy." Yoongi decides to imitate Namjoon, showing his own gummy smile and Taehyung bursts out laughing at that. He wears a cheeky smile on his face when he leans towards Jungkook and says sweetly, "Sonny boy."
Jimin joins in, lips curling into a bigger smile than Taehyung's as if it's a competition and effortlessly getting Namjoon's eyesmile, he sings, "Sonny boyyy."
Hoseok places his hands under his chin, forming a V-shape and he wriggles his fingers. With a smile that shines way too brightly for Jungkook to handle at 4.50am, Hoseok shouts, "Sunny boy!"
Jungkook can't tell if they're mocking Namjoon or him.
"That's right. If we say so ourselves, we're good people, sonny boy," Seokjin is the last one and Jungkook can't help but roll his eyes out of habit at hearing something as dumb as "sonny boy" for the sixth time, though he realizes what he has done seconds later. , I rolled my eyes. The disrespect! He knows his eyeroll didn't go unnoticed, but none of them seem like they are going to give him a verbal beating for that. Jungkook, a risk taker, takes it as an OK-sign from the hyungs.
"We're not that bad, Jeon Jungkookie," Yoongi also states, and Jungkook wonders why he doesn't doubt this hyung.
"His mouth is. Potty mouth."
"Shut the up, Hobi."
They are finally dismissed before the clock strikes 5 and everyone returns to their rooms, exchanging "goodnights" as they went upstairs. How Namjoon can drink coffee and then return to sleep amazes Jungkook. When the young boy is snuggled under the covers, ready to fall back into slumber, his phone receives a notification alert. But they said goodnight! He screams in his head.
Bangtan Room
Hyung. Namjoon-hyung: GUYS
Hyung. Namjoon-hyung: NEWCOMER INITIATION
Hyung. Hoseok-hyung: OH YEAH
Hyung. Hoseok-hyung: WE FORGOT
Hyung. Tae-hyung: whoooo
Hyung. Tae-hyung: whooOO
Hyung. Tae-hyung: bingsu!
Hyung. Tae-hyung: bingsu! xD
Hyung. Jimin-hyung: Bingsu! Bingsu! Bingsu!
Me: What..?
Hyung. Hoseok-hyung: Bingsu yes!
Hyung. Yoongi-hyung: y'all are giving him really obvious clues...
Hyung. Jin-hyung: Don't tell him what he has to do!
Hyung. Jin-hyung: Jungkook it has nothing to do with bingsu
Hyung. Namjoon-hyung: Are you free to do our newcomer initiation later on?
Me: Yeah, I guess
Hyung. Jimin-hyung: It's really easy! Don't worry about it
Hyung. Tae-hyung: GR8! CAN'T W8!
Hyung. Namjoon-hyung: Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite haha
Me: Hahaha goodnight :)
Jungkook adds a smiley face for good measure and has a quick internal debate over adding another 'ha' so that he doesn't sound stiff. His heart rate quickens when he doesn't see another message coming up after his. Was that awkward? They're not replying... And only when six "goodnight" messages come in, does he sigh in relief.
Later that day, all seven housemates wake up for the second time and head off to a nearby cafe that they frequent. They stand in a line outside the cafe and Jungkook can already guess what he has to do from when Jimin drops by his room and subtly reminds him to bring his wallet. The menu of the cafe displays a variety of patbingsu types and flavors.
"Newcomers must treat the other housemates."
Jungkook's wallet cries.
I was walking and I heard someone call out "sonny boy"
Thank you for reading <3
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