“So, I’m thinking about doing something crazy,” Jin whispers, leaning across the table.

“Crazier than a politician telling the truth on opposite day?” Hoseok answers back, trying so hard not to laugh at his own joke. The action is contagious, and Jin can’t help his chuckle.

“Well, not many things are crazier than that,” he tells his friend. “To be honest, you kind of inspired this move I’m thinking about making.”

“Ooh, I’m intrigued,” Hoseok tells him with a chuckle and an eyebrow wag as he leans across the table.

“Okay, so,” he starts, then pauses to gather his thoughts. “You know how you and Yoongi are in the preliminaries of taking the next step?”

“Mm,” Hoseok hums, eyeing Jin with curiosity.

“Well,” Jin leans in a bit closer, “I’m thinking of maybe asking Namjoon out.”

“WHAT?” Hoseok exclaims in shock.

The outburst has heads turning, and Jin sinks back in his chair quickly.

“Shh, what the hell?” he chides his friend.

“Sorry, sorry, it just slipped out,” Hoseok apologizes. “Wow, that’s a big step, hyung. You think he’s ready for that?”

“I hope so. He’s been doing really good lately. He handled this last incident with Jennie so well. But it’s not a date, date. I don’t plan on wining and dining him or even trying to woo him. I just wanna get to know him, you know? One on one. No kids, no buffer. I want him to be alone with me and feel that same sense of security he feels with Yoongi.” It feels vulnerable being this honest.

“I get that, hyung. I get that. I support this one hundred percent. You and Namjoon both deserve love, the real kind. I think having one more person he can fully trust in his corner may be exactly what he needs to help him regain his footing completely.”

After his wife passed, Jin had expected to walk through life alone. Unexpectedly, he met Jung Hoseok, and a friendship formed that helped guide him through some of the darkest days he’s ever known. Hoseok’s encouragement is like a life vest in troubled waters.

“Is it weird that I needed to hear you say that? I’m scared out of my mind, to be quite frank, but I also just don’t want to wait anymore. Time’s moving fast, you know? Tae’s growing, Jungkook’s growing... I don’t want to miss opportunities that we could have as, maybe, a family.” Sighing, he runs his hand through his hair and leans back in his seat. He feels nervous, more nervous than he should feel. Even when he’s not around, Namjoon affects him, and Jin wonders when he fell so hard for the man.

“Nah, it’s not weird at all, hyung. I’m happy to be your wingman. I needed to hear you tell me it was okay to like Yoongi, that it was okay to open that door despite all that’s happening in my life, and I’m happy I listened to you,” Hoseok encourages him. “Life is short, hyung, you know that better than anyone.” Hoseok pauses, and Jin’s mind is flooded with images of his wife. “You have to grab your happiness while you can.”

Seokjin nods, unable to speak. It hurts to remember his loss, how empty his days felt, how his heart ached as he carried around a hole he thought would never be filled. Then suddenly Namjoon appeared in his ER, flustered, worried about his son, and Jin fell in love instantly. Something about the blond drew him in. It’s as though their souls were destined. When he looks in Namjoon’s eyes, he sees his home. When Namjoon smiles, his world is at peace, and that hole that Jin once carried has found its missing part.  There’s no question, Kim Seokjin is one hundred and ten percent in love with Kim Namjoon, and if only two percent of Namjoon is in love with him, he’ll take it.

“Wow, this took a turn,” Jin comments with a strangled laugh. “This is our night out for fun, and here I am making the atmosphere emotional.”

“I always knew you were the girl in our relationship,” Hoseok jokes, and Jin considers punching the man, but that would require moving.

“I will not dignify that with a response. Oh, did I tell you my streak of getting Tae to school on time has been broken?”

“What? No, you were doing so well, and there’s like only three days left until Winter break. Ms. Wang was just starting to warm up to you,” Hoseok teases.

“I dislike you on a spiritual level. That woman lives to judge me, her with her snarky side-eyed-ness.”

“Is that even a thing, side-eyed-ness?”

“Yes. Now let me continue with my story. In my defense, the night before I stayed late for emergency surgery and got home super late. Poor Mrs. Lee was asleep on my couch when I got home.” Jin chuckles thinking about his elderly nanny.

“One of these days she’s gonna be dead on your couch. Please get a younger babysitter,” Hoseok pleads, and Jin laughs harder.

“What, she has fifty years of experience with children,” he reminds his friend.

“That’s because she’s been alive since the age of the dinosaurs.” Hoseok’s face is a mixture of sarcasm and concern, and Jin crumbles into further hysterics. “It’s not funny. I genuinely worry that one night Tae’s gonna wake up to find her in eternal slumber. The woman is seventy-five, hyung. It’s time she retires.”

“Okay, okay, I promise to look into someone with more longevity,” he teases.

“That’s all I ask. Now, back to you breaking your streak and earning the ever-condescending glare of Ms. Wang.”

“I think I got home at one, maybe even two. Anyway, it was stupid late. Needless to say, I overslept by half an hour and checked Tae into class eight minutes late, much to the dismay of Ms. Wang. But that isn’t the best part,” Jin says, smiling to himself as he remembers the events of the morning. “The best part is that Taehyung, the little er, had been up for an entire HOUR playing video games, and when I asked why he didn’t wake me, he looks at me all wide-eyed and innocent and says he thought I ‘deserveded’ to sleep. Funnily, he never thinks I deserve to sleep on the weekends when he wakes me up at the -crack of dawn. I want to say his behavior was sweet, but I’m skeptical.”

“I swear to God, I love Taehyung,” Hoseok declares in between fits of laughter. “I would have done the same thing. I have done the same thing.”

“I believe you,” he tells Hoseok, laughing lightly as his friend suspiciously side-eyes him. “So, you haven’t said much about you and Yoongi. I was expecting a thirty-page report complete with references, but you’ve been kind of radio silent. I’m a bit shocked, to be honest.”

Hoseok inhales then exhales, as though he’s been waiting for this opportunity to present itself.

“I didn’t know where to start or how. I feel like if I start talking about Yoongi hyung, then I’ll never stop, you know? I used to silently judge you when you said Namjoon took up all your thoughts and energy, but now I get it. Like, I completely understand. I can’t stop thinking about him, and if by chance I think about something else, I somehow find a way that it relates to Yoongi. What is this? I was never like this before.”

“I wish I knew. I loved my wife dearly. She was my sun and she gave me Taehyung, but my feelings for her were never as intense as what I feel for Namjoon. She had my heart, but it’s like he has my heart and my soul. I can’t explain it; it makes no sense,” Jin admits with a shake of his head.

It’s been a mystery Seokjin’s been trying to unravel since their first encounter. His feelings for Namjoon are like nothing he’s encountered before. He’s been through the hormonal panic of first teenage love, where chemicals and chemistry heighten every emotion making you feel like you’re spinning out of control and about to topple over from the burden of love. Yet even those feelings pale in comparison to the technicolor array of emotions he feels for Kim Namjoon. The difference between then and now is that then the feelings were confusing and often times he wasn’t sure if what he felt was real or just his hormones. Now, he’s not confused at all. He knows exactly what he feels, he knows it’s real, and for the first time in a long time, he’s not afraid.

Jungkook’s not a clingy child. He’s a cuddle monster, to be sure, but not clingy. At the age of fifteen months, when it was time to wean him from the crib to a big boy bed, the transition had been so effortless that Namjoon had found that he was the one having a hard time letting go, often times falling asleep sitting in the rocking chair in Jungkook’s room or curled up on the floor beside the youngster’s Cars bed. So, the events unfolding tonight are both surprising and heart-warming, and they have Namjoon thinking maybe clingy gets a bad rap.

It happened about an hour ago, as Namjoon was making his nightly rounds through the house, checking the doors and making sure all the lights and electrical items were turned off.

Walking back down the hall towards his room, he stops to check on Jungkook. Earlier, the little boy had had a stomach ache. Namjoon had consulted with Seokjin who had assured him it wasn’t serious but had put Jungkook on a Pedialyte and Jello diet just to be safe.

Cracking the door ever so softly, trying his best not to disturb his son whom he believes to be sleeping, Namjoon peeks his head through the tiny opening.

“Appa.” Jungkook’s voice startles him.

“Why aren’t you sleeping, bub?” He asks, opening the door fully.

“I can’t sleep, Appa. The sleeps just keep disappeareding and I can’t find it,” the little boy explains, tiny lips set in a disgruntled pout. Namjoon chuckles at the cuteness. “Pick me up, Appa,” Jungkook begs, extending his arms in his father’s direction.

The action catches Namjoon so off guard, he’s momentarily stunned. It’s odd that he would have associated this action with Taehyung or Jimin. The two love to be carried and held, and Namjoon sometimes feels jealous of the way they cling to their dads. He wonders if Jungkook’s lack of clinginess is a byproduct of his illness. It’s yet another thing that Namjoon feels guilty about. So, this moment, this moment when Jungkook is being clingy like any normal five-year-old, wanting to be held not because he’s sick or because something hurts but simply because he feels like being clingy, is a moment Namjoon will cherish forever.

Bending down at the edge of the bed, Jungkook climbs into Namjoon arms, nestling his head in the crook of his father’s neck, his tiny thumb and index finger of one hand caressing the sleeve of Namjoon’s cotton tee, the thumb of his other hand in his mouth. Namjoon smiles to himself as he feels Jungkook begin to relax, breathing becoming even as the youngster turns to dead weight in his arms.

Namjoon paces the halls for a bit with Jungkook in his arms as he rocks his son to slumber. He begins tip-toeing back to the little boy’s room when he thinks he’s finally fully asleep. As he reaches the door and is inches away from putting his hand on the doorknob leading to into the child’s bedroom, Jungkook suddenly jerks up in his arms raises his arm and points in the direction of Namjoon’s room.

“Walk, Appa. Walk me to Appa’s bed,” Jungkook commands before his head once again falls onto Namjoon’s chest.

With Jungkook snuggled into his chest, his child’s heavy, even breaths breaking through the fabric of his t-shirt impacting his skin, Namjoon pulls the comforter up, tucking them both in. He smiles to himself as he lightly combs his fingers through Jungkook’s soft locks, his mind traveling back to when his now five-year-old was an infant. Scenes like old movies play in his mind of the nights he would cradle his son to sleep, much like this. There’s something special about moments like these, moments where your child just wants to be with you. These moments are meant to be cherished and remembered. These are the stories you tell your children when they’re grown, when they have children of their own. As sleep overtakes Namjoon and his eyes begin to droop, he decides it’s true. Clingy really does get a bad rap.

Jin has been staring at his phone for the past hour, willing himself to pick it up, to be brave, to call Namjoon. Ap