Seokjin couldn’t help himself. He reached out to pinch Jimin’s cheeks and cooed at him. “You’re so cute!”

Jimin blushed, which only served to spur Seokjin on even more, and Namjoon had to pull him away. “Yoongi-hyung told me you two went shopping,” he said.

“That we did,” Seokjin smiled, holding up four full plastic bags. The glimmer in Jimin’s eye when he spotted the candy didn’t go unnoticed by him in the slightest.

Namjoon walked past them, presumably to find Yoongi, and Jimin followed Seokjin into the kitchen where he set down the bags on the surfaces. He was surprised to see that Jimin had already begun to put away the shopping when he turned around.

“That’s very helpful of you,” he praised.

He turned around and smiled (albeit nervously). “My mum told me that I should always try to be helpful.”

“Your mum sounds like a respectable woman.”

“Yeah.” Jimin’s smile faltered and he was still, cradling two cartons of milk in his arms.

Seokjin decided it would be best to change the subject. “Is Jungkook here yet?”

“Jeon Jungkook? Uh―oh yeah, he went into the bedroom, I think.”

“Do you mind putting away the rest of the shopping while I go see him?” Jimin shook his head and Seokjin patted his shoulder gratefully. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He was just about to leave when he was suddenly reminded of something. “You’re not vegetarian, are you?”

Jimin looked puzzled. “No.”

“Alright, then,” he grinned.

He left Jimin in the kitchen and made his way to what he thought was the bedroom but was, in fact, the bathroom before finding the actual bedroom. He opened it and was met with a pair of wide eyes, buckteeth and a mop of black hair.

The boy jolted from his position on one of the beds and bowed stiffly. “I’m… M―my name is… uh…”

Seokjin offered him a friendly smile. “Are you Jungkook?”

He had his head tilted forward so his fringe covered his face, but Seokjin could see the redness settling in his cheeks. Jungkook nodded, and he approached him cautiously.

“I’m Seokjin.” He smiled again, hoping to ease some of Jungkook’s nerves, but the younger of the two was unresponsive and continued to look down at his feet. Seokjin looked around the room and spotted a suitcase. He gestured to it, asking: “Would you like me to help you unpack?”

Jungkook glanced at him from under his fringe and was briefly taken aback by his striking appearance. He pulled up his knees to his chest and hugged them close. “Yes, please,” he mumbled.

It wouldn’t have mattered if he said yes or no, because Seokjin had already pulled out the suitcase to it. Inside were mostly clothes: shirts, jumpers, jeans, a couple pairs of worn-out shoes and―

“Oh! These are adorable!” Seokjin exclaimed suddenly, causing Jungkook to jump again. He pulled out a pair of Sesame Street-themed pyjamas and held them in front of Jungkook.

“Oh yeah,” Jungkook said quietly. “I, uh―I have some Iron Man ones, too.”

And, sure enough, he did. Seokjin pulled them out and grinned at Jungkook. “You like Iron Man?”

Jungkook nodded shyly.

He unpacked the rest of Jungkook’s clothes in silence, allowing the boy to ease himself. It was when he began to pull out a pair of trainers he heard a sniffle from behind him. He turned quickly to see Jungkook covering his face with his knees, stray tears spilling down his cheeks and dripping onto his jumper.

He rushed over to him. “Oh no, please don’t cry, Jungkook…” Jungkook hid his face further into his knees. “I’ll―I’ll go get some tissues, okay?”

He grabbed some tissues from the kitchen only to discover that Jungkook had disappeared upon his return. He walked out and saw Yoongi stood outside the bathroom door.

“Is he alright?” he whispered

Seokjin shook his head. “I―I don’t know. He was fine and then he suddenly started crying.”

Yoongi was observant, he noticed the concerned expression etched into Seokjin’s face and sighed, saying: “Just give him some space. Think about it, he’s in a new city, a new home, living with new people. It’s all foreign to him.”

“He must be terrified,” Seokjin said sympathetically.

Yoongi frowned. “Yeah, must be. But he’s got to come out of that bathroom sooner or later, just give him a moment to calm down.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

Once he’d walked off and out of sight, Seokjin crouched in front of the bathroom door and tapped at the wood.

“Jungkook, I’m still here. I have some tissues if you need them,” he said gently, his voice calm and full of warmth.

He heard a sniffle, then the lock clicked. The door creaked open with just enough room for Jungkook to reach his hand out. Seokjin’s heart ached to see the small hand tremble, so he handed over the box and pulled the door shut.

Later that evening, Seokjin prepared steak like he promised. Unfortunately, there were no cooking utensils, so it was just as well he’d brought some with him or they might have been on takeaway like Yoongi and Namjoon seemed so used to. What was worse than that, however, was the lack of dining furniture. To Seokjin’s dismay, they had to sit on the floor to eat.

The scene was far from what he had in mind. They were sat on the floor with trays on their laps to carry their plates (Yoongi’s had a massive chip in the porcelain) and their cutlery was mismatched and varied in size. No one commented on Jungkook’s absence, yet Seokjin couldn’t help but gaze at the empty space next to him.

“This tastes great, hyung,” Jimin said, which earned him a smile from Seokjin.

Namjoon hummed as he shovelled another mouthful of vegetables into his mouth. Yoongi, however, ate slower, savouring each mouthful as if it were the last meal he’d ever eat. They complimented Seokjin’s cooking and asked whether he would be okay with cooking for seven. To which he replied that, even if there were fourteen of them he would still cook for every single one of them every single day.

Jimin offered to help with the washing up but Seokjin shooed him away, reminding him that he had yet to unpack his bags.

When he’d finished drying up all the plates, pots and pans and tidied them away neatly, it was about a quarter to ten. He could hear snoring from the bedroom which was really beginning to get on his nerves. Of course one of his new roommates was a snorer and of course their snores had to sound like a heard of elephants.

“S―Seokjin-hyung?”

The voice was incredibly soft, almost inaudible, but he definitely heard it. He turned and saw Jungkook poised in the doorway, eyes red and puffy from too many tears. He looked so small, so fragile, and Seokjin wanted nothing more in that moment than to hug him.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

Jungkook rubbed at his eyelids and nodded. “Yeah. Really hungry.”

Seokjin handed him his readily prepared steak, watching as his face lit up. He found a cushion for Jungkook to sit on as he stuffed himself with masses of food much too large to fit into his mouth. It felt nice to see him at ease and eating.

“You eat so well,” he said, smiling.

“I like food,” was Jungkook’s muffled response.

There was a long stretch of silence between them before Jungkook surprisingly spoke up.

“I won’t cry again, hyung,” he said.

“It’s okay if you do.”

He shook his head. “No, it won’t happen again. I’m not a baby.”

Seokjin wiped away some sauce from his chin with his thumb. “Okay, Jungkook.” He looked down at the plate. “But if you do ever feel like that again, promise me you’ll tell one of us. Yoongi, Namjoon; they all seem like good people.”

“Y―yeah.”