the thing is, jeon jungkook is broke as .

it’s not like his parents doesn’t give him financial support, the money they give him is actually more than enough for a month and he’s grateful that he doesn’t need to pay anything for his college fees but he’s still broke as .

it was bound to happen at some point in his life, to open his wallet and cry because it’s completely empty except for his bus card, i.d and few coins. his atm card is pretty much empty too and his monthly allowance will only arrive next month. which is fifteen days from now.

as an art student with expensive art materials, it was absolutely bound to happen.

although thinking about it, it was also the fault of a certain park jimin. he was minding his own business on a fine saturday afternoon when jimin accidentally sat on his graphic pen tablet.

jimin begged for his forgiveness because he can only pay for it the following month, but jungkook needed it. he was desperate to finish a project that he should had done a week ago. but because he’s a procrastinating , he thought it was a good idea to procrastinate. so, he used all his money to buy a new one. jimin promised him to pay it back once he has the money.

all of these leads to the current situation. jungkook is now sitting in front of his laptop with squinty eyes, trying to figure out if his job application form is passable. but besides from delivering newspapers back at busan when he was ten, he doesn’t really have any job experiences to boast.

this is hopeless.

he barely registers the sound of the door and jimins excited footsteps until the older male yells right next to his ear.

“kookie!”

jungkook flinches as he turns his head to jimin, sending an accusing glare.

“was that necessary, hyung?”

“no, but i have a good news.”

“that better be really good.”

“you know taehyung right?”

“yeah. your friend with benefits.”

“boyfriend.” jimin corrects him and clears his throat.

“fine. boyfriend. what about him?”

“he has this older brother who owns a high class restaurant and i swear this older brother is really loaded with money—“

jungkook gasps and holds his hand up to make jimin stop. “stop.”

“what?” jimin asks, raising an eyebrow.

“are you seriously recommending me a sugar daddy? i’m not that desperate.”

jimin lets out an offended gasp. “sugar daddy?”

“yeah...and besides, i’m not into older men. so no, thank you.”

“can you let me finish first? he's not a sugar daddy, oh my god.”

jungkook raises an eyebrow at him.

“listen,” jimin says, “taehyung usually babysits his older brother’s son, but since he’s busy now they’re looking for someone to babysit the kid.”

jungkook’s mouth forms an ‘o’ shape.

“this guy's really loaded with money so he can pay you big time.” the older male grins. “sounds good, huh?”

“you sure it’s not sugar daddy business because i don’t think—“

“no. it’s not. can we drop the sugar daddy thing already?”

jungkook stares at his phone with a cracked screen for the nth time today. he squints at the address that jimin gave him just to make sure he’s in the right place. he glances at the building in front of him. it is one of those intimidating condominiums that he only saw in magazines and photos in the internet. he never dreamed of seeing one up close, let alone step inside of it.

he straightens his clothes to make himself look presentable (he doesn’t want to look like a broke college student) before he steps closer to the automatic glass doors.

the moment he steps in, he feels the welcoming warmth of the reception area and everything smells expensive. if expensive has a ing scent. the guard eyes him suspiciously but he really couldn’t blame him. he does look like he’s living his daily life with instant noodles and canned coffee. he’ll definitely kick himself out if he’s the security guard.

“may i help you?” he asks and jungkook thanks the gods because he sounds nice. he looks intimidating though, but he guesses it’s part of their job.

“yeah. i’m uh…i’m here for kim seokjin?”

“alright, let me ask him first. what’s your name?” he dials a number on the phone next to him.

“jeon jungkook.”

after several awkward seconds spent listening to the guard say “mr. kim? there’s a kid looking for you here called jeon jungkook.” and strings of “yes, sir. thank you,” before hanging up, the guard turns his attention back to jungkook.

“he’s in the topmost floor. you’ll see his place the moment you step out of the elevator.”

“thanks.” jungkook bows and makes careful steps to where the elevators are. the receptionist gives him a curious look but he just smiles awkwardly in return.

he steps in the elevator and a guy sitting inside politely asks him which floor he will get off to.

“um…” jungkook eyes the number of floors. “eightieth floor, please.”

“ah,” the guy says as he punches the number eighty, “you’re here for mr. kim?”

“yeah.”

the guy gives him a weird look, the same look that the receptionist gave him and jungkook remembers the sugar daddy talk he had with jimin the other day. he groans, this kim seokjin must be really ing old that people give him this look. why would a stranger as young as him (and did he mention that he looks like a typical broke college student?) visit a rich old man’s place? a sugar baby.

“listen, it’s not what you think it is.” jungkook sighs.

“i didn’t say anything.” 

“i’m just here to babysit his child.”

“i really didn’t say anything.”

jungkook frowns. they’re on the thirtieth floor. “i’m really just going to babysit—“

“hey, i didn’t say anything. you’re being defensive. chill.” he laughs and jungkook’s frown deepens. “sorry. i didn’t mean to offend you or anything, you looked so stiff and nervous. i just wanted you to loosen up.”

“i didn’t need that. but thanks.”

“anyway, i’m hoseok. i work here.”

fiftieth floor. “i know. you’re wearing a uniform.”

“rude.”

“it’s jungkook.” he huffs.

“i hope we’re cool. i figured you’ll come here often because taehyung has been really busy lately. sometimes, he comes home with really big eyebags and messy hair like he forgot to take a bath for three days. sometimes, he falls asleep here and i had to drag him out.”

this guy sure is talkative. sixtieth floor.

“how do you know mr. kim? he’s nice but he doesn’t have much friends and i never saw you before.”

“i know taehyung. we go to the same university and uh…” he’s ing my roommate so those times when you saw him with messy hair, i was probably kicked out of the room, he had with him, and forgot to comb his hair. “…yeah.”

“oh! taehyung’s friend. that’s nice. he only brings one friend with him. a short one with nice .”

“jimin.”

“you know him too?”

“yeah, he’s my roommate and we both grew up in busan.”

“a childhood friend.” he nods.

seventieth floor. what the , how long is this elevator ride? it feels like he just told this hoseok guy his whole life story. and no one even bothers to get in the elevator other than him.

“hey, no one else use the elevator or something? do you just get paid to like, sit here and stuff? how do i sign up for this job?”

“people who live here are busy, so they’re at work or busy inside their rooms at this hour and excuse me, i don’t just sit here. i do room service too. also sorry, we’re not hiring right now.”

a ding and thank god he’s at the eightieth floor. he steps out and sees hoseok wave a hand at him before the elevator door closes with another ding.

the guard wasn’t kidding when he said it’s easy to find where mr. kim’s place is because there’s literally only one door in the floor. and it’s right in the middle. he walks closer to it and sees the name plate that looks like it is made out of gold above the doorbell with speaker, or whatever that is.

kim seokjin.

alright.

before he even gathered the courage to ring the doorbell, the door in front of him swings open and he was confused for a moment because no one is in front of him. he squints and looks down. he sees a small boy holding the door open, staring at up him.

that must be the kid.

“hi.” jungkook smiled. “i’m jungkook.”

“i know. you’re jeon jungkook, twenty years old, taetae hyung and jimin hyung’s friend, and you’ll take care of me instead of taetae hyung because he’s busy with school and you need money because you’re an unemployed south korean citizen with zero job experience. i know, you don’t have to tell me.”

jungkook is taken aback with what he just heard. holy crap, what the hell? this kid is nuts.

“that’s…” he tries to find a better word to say in this situation. “impressive.”

“joonie?” the kid’s head turns to where the voice came from. “is he there?”

“uh-huh.” the kid, joonie, steps to the side to let jungkook in. “come in and take off your shoes.”

jungkook is in the middle of removing his shoes when he hears footsteps getting closer to him. a strong sense of nervousness punches him in the gut. this is it. he’ll meet the mysterious old man by the name of kim seokjin.

“hello, thank you for coming today.” he hears a soft voice say. he frowns because that doesn’t sound like it would come from a wrinkled, sugar daddy material, old man. he looks up and he meets a pair of almond shaped eyes behind large and thick framed glasses, a warm smile on those (holy crap forgive him for his sins) lips, wide shoulders, brown hair, bangs that are sitting perfectly above his eyes, pink oversized sweater that shows off his milky white collarbones, baggy pants, and super mario slippers. he looks nothing like what jungkook imagined and holy , he didn’t get a memo that this kim seokjin guy is actually a ing prince—no, a goddess sent from the heavens above. , he’s beautiful and jungkook must be drooling because the seokjin guy laughs and covers his mouth with his hand.

“you’re staring.”

his laugh sounds like those windshield wipers that cleans completely dry windshield on a hot sunny day.

“oh.” jungkook’s cheeks feel hot and he’s not exactly the religious type, but he prays that it’s not that obvious. “sorry, the house looks great. it’s my first time seeing something like this.” he lies but it was partly true. the house does look impressive and expensive and this is the first time he sees something like this in person.

seokjin doesn’t look like he buys jungkook’s excuse but decides to just roll with it. “anyway, this is namjoon. he’s six years old. he’s cooperative so you shouldn’t have problems with him.”

namjoon waves his hand and shows a toothy dimpled grin that extends to his molar teeth. 

“come in, would you like a coffee or tea?” seokjin asks as he walks to where, probably, the kitchen is. jungkook stares at him, unsure if he should follow the older male when namjoon pulls his arm and sais:

“you should follow him.”

the kitchen is bigger than his dorm that he shares with jimin. the size is probably twice. everything looks shiny and jungkook notices that seokjin owns at least thirty different knives (he might be exaggerating but who knows). holy ing crap this guy is loaded.

he takes a seat on the counter table and watches seokjin work his magic in the holy grounds of kitchen. “so which one is it? coffee or tea?”

“uh…” he blinks. “i prefer hot chocolate.”

he hears seokjin chuckle. “alright.”

as soon as his hot chocolate is placed in front of him, seokjin leans on the opposite side of the counter, in front of jungkook. “i really hope you don’t mind looking after namjoon. i’m so sorry this was a bit sudden. i would honestly love to get to know you more.”

“it’s fine, mr. kim. i’m actually thankful for the job.”

“jin hyung is fine. don’t be so formal, i’m not that old.”

“you should at least be in your mid-thirties, right?” jungkook should had just bit his tongue. his eyes trail down at seokjin’s hand and doesn’t notice any ring on it. nice. 

the older male gives him an offended look when his eyes go back to his face. he must have noticed jungkook searching something on his fingers because his eyes show a bit of mischief. or maybe jungkook needs a prescription glasses soon.

“i’m only twenty-four and i’m turning twenty-five this coming december. thank you very much.”

an awkward cough. “sorry… it’s just that namjoon, well--” he tries to explain.

“it’s fine. i had namjoon when i was nineteen. i was in a culinary school that time so i really can’t blame you.”

“i see... um.”

“it’s fine, really.”

jungkook sipps from his mug and he wants the ground to swallow him. this is awkward as hell.

“so… mr. kim—i mean jin hyung.” the younger boy makes an attempt to break the awkward silence. “do you have a do not list for me? for namjoon, i mean.”

“ah right, no sugars unless it’s snack time. snack time is four pm sharp. other than that no cakes, ice creams, cookies, or anything sweet. he gets really hyper and it will be hard for him to take a nap. nap time is three to four pm. also don’t make him watch the television for more than an hour, do not, under any circumstances, give him coffee because he will ask for it later on so don’t fall for it. i guess that’s all.

anyway, i need to leave soon. i have an appointment later. i’ll show you around the place so you’ll know where to get some stuff.” seokjin smiles again and jungkook tries to finish his hot chocolate as fast as possible while he tries to remember all the guidelines.

he burns his tongue in the process and seokjin panicks.

after ten minutes of jungkook assuring that yes, he’s alright, he won’t die, seokjin gives him a tour in the place. with namjoon following them from behind.

“this is namjoon’s room.” he points to a door with a large sign that says joonie’s with weird stickers on it.

“and that one is mine.” he points to a door at the end of the hallway. “that’s the bathroom.” a door in front of namjoon’s. “there’s also a bathroom near the kitchen.”

after that, seokjin excuses himself to get changed.

“what do you think?” namjoon asks him when they walk back to the living room.

“your house is really big.”

“yeah it’s too big for the three of us.”

jungkook raises an eyebrow. three of them? he thought taehyung lives with them.

“yeah, kind of too big for you, your dad, and your mom.”

“no.” namjoon shakes his head and takes out a book from under the couch. it is a thick book with a hard cover. it looks like those super old encyclopedia that no one really uses anymore since google became a thing. it’s been a while since jungkook saw something like that, he was already convinced that those books are just part of his imagination when he was young. “it’s me, dad, and taetae hyung.”

for some reason, jungkook feels relieved to hear that there’s no mother in the household. seokjin is probably not married basing on his ‘ring-less’ fingers.

what the , jungkook. he thinks. get your together. 

after a while of namjoon reading and jungkook having an existential crisis, seokjin shows up in a black formal suit that hugs his body perfectly well. it looks like jungkook is looking at ing . he looks so ing good, holy .

“i have to go now. namjoon, be a good boy. don’t give your hyung a headache.”

namjoon runs to seokjin and gives him a hug. “take care, papa.”

jungkook watches them with large curious eyes and the thought of ‘what would it be like if i'm part of that picture’ clouds his mind. he immediately dismisses the thought before it goes somewhere else beyond the acceptable pg-13.

seokjin gives him a wave before he leaves the house and namjoon goes back to his previous spot to continue reading.

jungkook swallows hard and curses jimin for not giving him a warning that taehyung’s older brother is burning hot. he mentally slaps himself and reminds himself (again) to get his together because he’s here to babysit, not to get stupid crushes at someone that is totally out of his league.

his thoughts are cut off by the voice of the small boy next to him.

“i know what you thinking.” he frowns and be damned, jungkook feels intimidated by the stare of a six years old kid. “i know everything.” and he squints his small eyes, emphasizing that he knows jungkook’s deepest darkest secrets, sins, and the amount of he hides under his bed.

 well. .

the pay is good. seokjin comes home at seven in the evening, cooks a quick dinner for jungkook and namjoon (and don’t even ask jungkook about how good the food was. it tastes expensive).

seokjin offers him a ride home, saying about how it’s really late and it’s dangerous to commute at this hour. jungkook has to remind him that he’s twenty years old and it’s only eight in the evening. he can take care of himself. seokjin doesn’t look convinced but he lets go of jungkook anyway, not without walking him to the front door of the building safely.

namjoon is alright. he’s a nice kid. he’s not the typical six year olds who demands piggy back rides and snacks when it’s not his snack time. he is literally just sitting in his spot with his nose buried in a book. sometimes he walks around in the house and sits back down with an expression that looks like he’s contemplating his whole life. god, the kid looks like he has been through ten economic crisis and six world wars. it's too much for jungkook to handle.

but at least he didn’t cause any trouble. that’s something.

“how was it?” jimin greets him the moment he opens the door to his shared dorm with the elder.

he lets out a sigh of relief and throws himself on the hard, cold, wooden floor of this place. hard and cold just like jungkook’s soul at the moment.

“it was ok.”

“namjoon’s a nice kid, right?”

jungkook grumbles in response.

”there was this one time i told him that college is hard and he should prepare for it but you know what he told me?”

jungkook doesn’t really care but he listens anyway.

“i quote,” he says, changing the pitch of his voice a bit higher (if it’s even possible with jimin’s already high pitched voice jesus christ), “life is harder, hyung. the only reason why you think it’s hard is because your heart is heavy with burdens. try to let it go and you’ll see.”

jungkook bursts out laughing and he starts to cough violently, chocking on his own spit.

“see? he’s really weird but he’s adorable. my point of view in life changed because of the wisdom of a kid.”

“he’s nice.” jungkook murmurs.

“what do you think about his dad?” jimin inquires as he sits next to jungkook on the floor. jungkook mumbles a you before he pushes himself up to get a shower.

“you should have warned me that he’s hot. i almost got a in front of him.”

jimin’s laugh and a series of “i knew it!” echoes in the dorm when jungkook enters the bathroom to wash off his filthy thoughts about seokjin.

he knows he’s ed because the guy is totally out of his league, but what can he do?

he takes a cold shower. that’s the answer.