after a week of careful deliberation, he was dead set on giving seokjin a piece of his mind that he refuses to be treated like a goddamn sugar baby no matter how tempting it is. but he decides against it the moment he knocked into the expensive wooden doors of the kim household.

what if he’s overreacting? he knows himself pretty damn well and he overreacts to the smallest things. he’s not about to embarrass himself in front of the ethereal seokjin just because his dumb thought the latter is trying to buy his affection. god, what was he thinking? now that he thinks carefully about it, without the influence of his overwhelming emotions, it’s embarrassing. he would rather be swallowed whole by the ground the moment those words escape his mouth.

distracted by his thoughts, he didn’t even notice that the door is already open and namjoon is waiting for him with his arms crossed.

“i’ve been waiting here for—“ he pauses to check the time on his digital watch and jungkook almost jumps in surprise when he heard the small voice”—exactly 3 minutes and 39 seconds.”

jungkook gives the kid a sheepish smile as he removes his shoes, placing them on the shoe rack.

“papa!” the kid yells and jungkook swears the kid has the loudest voice in the universe. “uncle kookie is here! you can leave now!”

namjoon’s loud announcement was soon followed by heavy footsteps, a number of censored curses (“holy golly, wafer fudge, fudger!” respectively), and the unmistakable sound of pans falling before seokjin emerged from the kitchen looking good as always. it almost made jungkook drop to his knees and start a cult called seokjinism just because.

seokjin is already wearing a white button up polo shirt that’s rolled up to his elbow (jungkook’s brain short circuited from this sight alone), coffee colored khaki pants, princess peach printed socks, and mario slippers.

“sorry, i was washing the pans. i made fried rice and sweet and sour fish fillet in case you’re hungry.” he smiles, waving his hand.

“uh..” jungkook blinks, “…thanks, hyung.”

“well, i have to go now.” he says as he runs to the front door. “namjoon, be good.”

the kid is already nowhere to be seen and seokjin lets out a loud sigh, putting on a shiny pair of brown leather shoes. “i swear that kid doesn’t even listen to me anymore.”

“i think he’s already at that age.”

“jungkook, he’s not an angsty teenager. he’s six.”

“yeah, i was just saying.”

seokjin rolls his eyes. “i’m going to work, i’ll see you later.”

the moment seokjin is out of the door, jungkook’s heart leaped out of his chest. that definitely doesn’t sound domestic as . he blames this to the amount of chick flicks he and jimin watches on their free time.

“uncle kookie.” jungkook spots namjoon sitting on a couch in the living room. with his arms and legs crossed, he couldn’t help but to think that he’s going to be interrogated for the crime he never committed. the kid motions his hand for him to take a sit in the floor.

jungkook humors him anyway, taking a sit on the floor as he looks up at namjoon expectantly. “what is it?”

“i’ll be straight to the point.”

jungkook is confused as . “alright?”

“do you or do you have a crush on kim seokjin?”

there was a moment of pregnant silence as he tries to comprehend what he just heard and there are three things that he was able to gather:

1. he wasn’t even given a choice, do you or do you? really?
2. did the kid just call his father kim seokjin?
3. in relation to the question number one, was he that obvious? that even a kid would catch up on his dumb affection for the older male?

he takes a deep breath. he’s a mature adult. he’ll handle this like a mature adult that he is and address this issue like an adult.

“i don’t know what you’re talking about.”

that was…definitely the mature-est thing he has ever said in his whole entire twenty years of existence and he wants to punch himself for it. he looks nervously at the kid who looks like he’s not happy with the answer with the frown on his baby face.

“mr. jeon, you’re dodging the question.”

he swallows thickly, now it’s mr. jeon. god, what did he get himself into?

“look, joonie i think you need to take a nap.”

“it’s not my nap time yet!” the kid protests, flailing his arms. “i’m being serious here! you need to corporate with me!”

“co-“ jungkook gapes at him, “you mean cooperate.”

namjoon ignores him. “grandma has been forcing papa to meet with girls and have dinner with them. i don’t like it. papa doesn’t like it too.” 

now that catches his attention.

“do you know what you’re saying? you can’t—you can’t meddle with adult stuff, joonie.”

“i don’t know what meddle means and i don’t care.” he says with a stubborn huff. “and i know what i’m saying. grandma wants papa to marry a pretty girl.”

jungkook ignores the pain in his chest. “i don’t think i should help you with this, joonie. it’s none of my business.”

“no! it’s your business! you take care of me, you have to make sure i’m happy! right?”

“uh-“

“and i’m not happy! papa is not happy too! papa always tells that the most important rule of marriage is that it’s for people who love each other. he can’t break that rule.”

he’s pretty sure his job only requires him to make sure that namjoon is not breaking the whole building down. but as he looks at frustrated look on the kid’s face that looks like he’s ten seconds away from crying, he guesses that he probably should do something. he pushes himself up to take a sit next to the toddler.

“alright buddy, so what do you want me to do?”

he really shouldn’t have agreed to this.

but here he is, standing in front of the expensive restaurant that seokjin owns, holding namjoon’s small hand (who just finished four scoops of ice cream).

he can’t back out now, he already made it this far (read: already spent money to buy namjoon the unnecessarily expensive ice cream).

“are you sure about-“

“yes, i’m sure. papa said he’ll be done with work early today.” namjoon assures him.

as if on cue, he hears the door open and the sound of people greeting a person goodbye. he turns his head to see seokjin with a surprised look on his face.

“o-oh—what are you two doing here?”

“sorry, hyung. namjoon said-“

“papa!” namjoon runs to his father, hugging his legs. “papa, i saw that cute line themed café in tv! can we go?”

“but joonie-“

“please, please, please?”

seokjin sighs, walking closer to jungkook while he drags namjoon with him. “can you go with namjoon? i have a scheduled dinner tonight.”

“no!” the kid yells. “you’ll come with me and uncle kookie!”

“but namjoon, i need to go. i can meet you to that café later, i’ll make sure the dinner will be quick.”

“n-no.”

“namjoon, please.”

jungkook watches namjoon bursts into tears as he aggressively shakes his head no. he immediately lifts namjoon up and the kid automatically wraps his small arms around his neck.

he sees seokjin staring at namjoon with pure guilt on his face. “o-oh my god. i’m sorry, joonie. oh my god, okay i’ll come with you.”

and with that, the sobbing stops and seokjin looks at jungkook with an apologetic face. “i’ll make a quick phone call, call a taxi.”

when seokjin is out of their sight to make a phone call, namjoon pulls away from jungkook. with a large grin, a series of giggles escaped his lips. “see? i told you it will work.”

the taxi ride was okay. namjoon kept his act together, sniffing and ignoring seokjin as he clings to jungkook. while seokjin, who is sitting in front next to the driver is trying his best not to eat his hand.

it was alright, although seokjin didn’t say a single word during the ride. his face is glued to his phone, probably answering the angry messages from his mother. he can hear seokjin’s phone vibrating like a washing machine, jungkook can only imagine what kind of they got seokjin in.

despite the awkward scenario in the stuffy taxi, the café looks pretty good. it’s the first time jungkook has seen it, he didn’t even know such place existed.

(the moment namjoon spots the familiar line characters that he adore more than his father, he drops his act and runs to the stuffed toys on the floor.)

jungkook follows seokjin, the older male talking to a (flustered) staff for a table for three. the staff leads them to the table at the corner of the room, right next to a giant brown stuffed toy that jungkook swears is as big as his bathroom back in his shared dorm. he takes a sit on a choco shaped couch while seokjin sits on a pangyo shaped couch (jungkook almost laughs out loud, he remembers how choco and pangyo are lovers). 

“hyung, why didn’t we go to a..uh..kakao friends café or that ryan café?”

seokjin hums as he opens the menu on the table, he makes a satisfied noise at the back of his throat, probably happy with the food available as he looks up at the younger male.

“huh? ah, well, namjoon has been having a strange attachment to brown lately. he also told me he likes brown now more than ryan. it’s almost heartbreaking, i feel bad for ryan to be honest.” he explains before calling his son to ask what he wants to eat. he gets an immediate reply of ‘brown!’ before he goes back to the brown stuffed toys lined up on the wall.

the older man turns back to jungkook and waves his hand to the menu. “order whatever you want, my treat.”

there’s the familiar knot in his stomach again that he tries to brush off. he looks at the menu but he couldn’t read whatever is written. his mind is too busy imagining the worst-case scenarios that his brain can provide him (seokjin on a date with namjoon’s mother, the man asking her the same exact question while in a fancy restaurant).

seokjin calls the attention of a waiter to order the food. jungkook kept his eyes trained on the menu while the staff patiently waited for his order. with a sigh, the younger male puts the menu down. he’s suddenly not in the mood to eat, but wouldn’t it rude to just…order water?

“i’ll take the moon cake slice and mango shake.”

“papa!” namjoon runs to seokjin, tugging the sleeve of his shirt. “can we buy that brown headband? i wanna be a bear!!”

“you already have a ryan hat.”

“but i want brown!!”

“you can’t have both, joonie.”

“but…brown!”

namjoon gives seokjin a puppy look that even jungkook can’t resist.

“fine.”

the kid lets out a happy yell before he goes back to his brown kingdom. seokjin stares at his son with a fond look before he turns his attention back to the younger male in front of him.

“what? you’re staring.”

jungkook blinks, his face flushing red. he didn’t even realize that he was staring already. damn it.

“sorry, i just noticed that you’re…good with him.”

“what do you mean?”

“i mean, you’re a great father. i guess. namjoon’s a good kid, it’s easy to tell he was raised well.”

“ah…you know, to be honest when i first had him i almost wanted to give him away.” seokjin admits, looking down.

“you almost gave him away?”

“i was nineteen, too young to even think about buying diapers and milk for a baby. i…didn’t know what to do. i was honestly scared and his mother refused to take custody of him because her parents would disown her.”

jungkook frowns, he imagines a young seokjin who is still in a culinary school. in a hospital holding a baby. he imagines a young seokjin, scared out of his mind on what to do with the baby as the mother argues with him about the custody.

“but…” he continues, taking a sharp breath. jungkook listens closer. “..i’m glad i decided to keep namjoon. it’s the best decision of my life, it was hard but it was worth it. i would kick myself and jump off a cliff if i actually gave him away.”

i wouldn’t meet you if you gave him away. jungkook thought. if namjoon isn’t here he wouldn’t have a reason to eat with seokjin in a line themed café.

seokjin opens his mouth to say more but he was cut off when their food was served on their table. the older man shakes his head with a defeated smile before he calls namjoon to their table so he can eat.

namjoon falls asleep on the large brown stuffed toy in the corner of the café, while seokjin finishes the leftover food that his son couldn’t finish because he doesn’t have the heart to eat brown’s face (jungkook recalls the war flashbacks of namjoon legitimately crying because how dare seokjin eat brown’s face like it’s nothing and proceeded to call his father a monster).

a long sigh and three empty plates later, seokjin finally looks up at jungkook after hours of keeping an eye on his son. making sure namjoon doesn’t yell at the other customers for eating cartoon character shaped rice balls.

“i’m so sorry about this, i know you have classes tomorrow and you really should be in your dorm right now.”

jungkook shrugs. “it’s fine, hyung. i don’t have any pending work anyway.” lies. he has three pending plates due two days from now.

the older male smiles at him and suddenly he thinks that it’s kind of worth it. it’s worth the trouble of sitting for hours listening to namjoon on how they will execute the plan of distracting seokjin from the random blind dates, and definitely worth the trouble of him having to convince himself that his plates can wait.

“i also want to apologize because namjoon had to drag you in this.”

“what?”

“i know he was just faking his whole act before we went here, i’m his father of course i’ll notice.”

“oh…i…sorry.”

“no, i’m sorry. god, namjoon probably told you about the random blind dates i have to go, right?”

“you don’t have to go to them if you don’t like it, why do you even bother?”

seokjin’s eyes widened, he wasn’t expecting to get such answer from jungkook.

“i…i’ve always told my mother that i’m not interested and that i’ll look for a partner in my own phase but she’s not getting younger. she’s getting impatient so i’m just trying to humor her for now, it makes her happy at least. like she has this assurance that i’ll find a partner to settle with someday.” a pause, “you don’t have to play along with namjoon. he’s just…being emotional about this whole thing for some reason. he thinks it’s his responsibility to keep me happy.”

jungkook plays with the hem of his sweater, debating if he should say the words threatening to leave his mouth. he knows that if he did, he’s going to regret it.

“i’m not playing along.” he says, “i’m doing this because i want to.”

“jungkook-“

“and because i care for namjoon too. he’s really stressed about this whole thing. you should have seen how he talked me into doing this. he was dead serious.”

“i can imagine.”

“and fyi, i’m sitting here in front of you in a cartoon themed café with three pending plates under my belt because i want to. not because your son forced me to go here.”

“what?” seokjin frowns, “you said you don’t have any pending school work.”

oh . “t-that’s not the point.”

“jungkook, i swear to god.”

“as i was saying! stop doing things that stresses you the out, it’s affecting namjoon.”

seokjin groans. “what do you suggest i do? it’s not like i have a choice.”

“well…” jungkook lets out an awkward and forced cough in an attempt to make the air casual.

the older male raises and eyebrow. “yes? what else did namjoon tell you?”

“no- nothing.”

“o-oh my god.” seokjin’s face turns pale, “he didn’t tell you about that, did he?”

jungkook’s eyes widened like saucers, he gapes at seokjin. this couldn’t be happening. does seokjin know his stupid crush on him? that can’t be, right?

“hyung, we can talk this out—i’ll explain—“

“no! oh my god, he told you that i like you! how can we talk this out?”

jungkook freezes from his seat, jaw hanging wide open. what.

“look at your face!” seokjin points an accusing finger to him. “you look pale, like—you’re about to throw up! oh god, you’re probably grossed out that an old man like me thinks of you that way.”

“hyung, it’s not—“

“no. i’m sorry, i’m so sorry.” he stands up, picking the sleeping namjoon up. “we’ll go home now, i’m so sorry.” seokjin panics and runs out of the restaurant, leaving jungkook behind.

he stands up, maybe to run after him or maybe to run to the bathroom and cry but he drops himself back to the chair to stare at the wall in front of him. seokjin likes him? the feelings are mutual? holy .

he doesn’t know how long he was staring at the wall but when he came back to his senses, a staff walks to his table.

“excuse me, sir? we’ll be closing soon now. would you like to pay the bill now?”

“wait, what bill?!”

the staff gives him a confused look before handing him the receipt. it’s a long receipt and at the bottom is the total encircled in red ink.

165,000 krw.