Single Father • Namjoon + BTS!Kids - Chapter 87: Chapter 87

"I'm really sorry, honey, but I got called in to work the day shift today, and I can't leave you home alone, and since Yoongi has internal suspension anyway-" Namjoon said to Jimin while buttoning up Jimin's jacket before turning to give Yoongi a glare. Then he turned back to Jimin, smiling apologetically and patting Jimin's head. "-you're going to spend the day with him. The principal said it'll be fine, given..." Namjoon cut himself off. Given your circumstances was a phrase he'd grown to hate since everybody seemed to be saying it to him lately, but he couldn't deny that all the extra help was appreciated and downright necessary. "Well, you know." He finished buttoning Jimin up and stood, pinching Jimin's cheeks lightly, and Jimin squeezed his eyes shut.
"All right, everyone in the car," Namjoon instructed. "And don't forget your lunches."
Everybody scrambled to the kitchen, and Jimin hopped along after them after remembering that Namjoon had made a lunch special, just for him.
He peeked inside, too excited to wait until later, and couldn't help letting out a disappointed frown.
"What's wrong?" Hobi asked, looking over at Jimin in concern.
"Nothing," Jimin said before pouting slightly. "It's just that Yoongi said I'm old enough to get two cookies now, but Dad still only gives me one."
"Oh." Hobi blinked before pulling a cookie out of his bag. "Here, you can have mine."
Jimin's eyes widened. "Are you sure, hyung?"
"Yeah, I'm not going to ea- Wonpil will share with me if I get hungry," Hobi said, dropping the cookie in Jimin's bag and delighting in the glowing smile that lit up Jimin's face.
Hobi felt odd all of a sudden and left the kitchen, getting into the car and sitting there by himself. He remembered when they were all younger, before Jimin had been abducted, when they'd all teased each other. Jimin had actually taken quite a bit of teasing, since he'd always been the most sensitive of the six of them, the crybaby of the family.
But now, he couldn't imagine teasing Jimin. He was too scared to do anything to make Jimin unhappy. He didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
He didn't have time to figure it out though, because soon enough, everyone else got into the car, and Namjoon went about his rounds, dropping each of them off.
***
"So this is the internal suspension room," Jimin said, his eyes wide as he took in every detail. Not that there were many details to take in.
The room was square and small, the walls made of white bricks, sealing inside a pocket of dead air. Not a pleasant place to be. Not that Jimin seemed to mind.
"Yeah, this is my room," Yoongi said, hopping up to sit on top of a desk and gesturing grandly before folding his arms. "My own little slice of paradise."
Jimin hesitated, unsure as to whether he was supposed to sit in the metal chair or on the desk like Yoongi.
Yoongi noticed and cocked an eyebrow. "Really? You're going to play the good boy today?" Yoongi rolled his eyes. "What are they going to do if you sit on the desk, give you internal suspension? Just do it."
Jimin hesitated another second before careful turning around and placing his palms on the desk, craning his neck to make sure they were lined up. "Hyung? Am I doing it right?"
Yoongi sighed impatiently and grabbed Jimin under his arms, yanking him up and setting his butt down on top of the desk. "There."
Jimin wobbled from side to side slightly before stabilizing at smiling nervously at Yoongi. "Thanks, hyung."
Yoongi just nodded, re-crossing his arms. He had to be scary. Don't let his cute little innocent act ruin you. Keep it together, Yoongi.
"Hyung?"
Yoongi glanced over coolly. "What?"
"Hyung, why did you get internal suspension?"
Yoongi thought for a long moment before turning and rooting through his backpack, eventually pulling out a crumpled sheet of paper. "What is it this time?...It looks like..." He scanned quickly, his eyes finding the listed offense. "Apparently I chopped off some girl's ponytail."
"You mean you don't remember, hyung?"
I mean I didn't do it. I mean some bitch cut her own hair off because she wanted to try out a new style, and when her parents saw her, they were furious, so of course the girl blamed me to make all of her problems go away.
"These things, they happen," Yoongi said, shrugging carelessly as he crumpled up the paper and squinted at the trash can.
"Hyung," Jimin said urgently, looking incredibly stressed. "Please recycle."
Yoongi threw the paper ball, only it bounced off the wall and off the trash can and into the recycling bin. "Damn it, I missed."
Jimin smiled at him, and Yoongi returned the smile with a frown. "Thanks, hyung."
Yoongi hmph'ed, turning away slightly. He didn't like how transparent Jimin made him seem.
It made him feel insecure.
It made him feel weak.
It made him feel vulnerable.
"Have you ever had internal suspension before?" Jimin asked, and Yoongi turned back to him with a tight-lipped frown.
"You're asking so many questions today," he said, and Jimin ducked his head. Yoongi sighed internally. He didn't want to hurt Jimin, but he didn't want Jimin to know everything. "If you want to ask me any more questions, you have to ask them in English," he said, and Jimin looked up, a panicked expression on his face, one that made Yoongi want to laugh, but he didn't let himself.
Jimin bit his lip before opening his mouth and letting the broken English pour out. "You...you are here before? You is here before? You are...you were here before? Have you were here before?" he tried, and Yoongi rolled his eyes.
"A few times."
"Why?" Jimin asked, automatically slipping back into Korean, and Yoongi gave him a look.
"You're supposed to be practicing your English, idiot. Don't you want to go to school with Taehyung and Jungkook?"
Jimin nodded, his hair flopping around before he said, "Why?"
Yoongi shrugged, already thinking up as many bogus reasons as he could before the door was opened forcefully, slamming against the wall, the sound ricocheting off the bricks.
"Yoongi!" Wonho yelled. "We've come to save you!"
"Hi, Yoongi's brother," Kihyun greeted, leaning out from behind Wonho.
"Oh! My new best friend is back!" Wonho said, grinning and bypassing Yoongi for Jimin. "You look so cute!" Wonho clucked his tongue. "If you ever get tired of your family, you should come join ours instead."
Yoongi smacked Wonho's arm, glaring at him, and Wonho hopped from his left foot to his right. "Ow!! Yoongi!"
"Stop fawning over my little brother," Yoongi snapped, fairly pissed. He didn't want to admit it (and he never would, not out loud), but he was feeling sort of jealous. Wonho was the kind of big brother anyone would want: kind, funny, a little on the clingy side. How was Yoongi supposed to compare to him? If Jimin had a choice, would he really choose Yoongi? Yoongi didn't think so.
"It's okay, hyung," Jimin said worriedly, reaching out to slide his hand into Yoongi's, but Yoongi misinterpreted Jimin's words as him saying that he liked Wonho's attention, and Yoongi tore his hand away.
"It's lunch time," Yoongi said, ignoring Jimin, not even looking back to see his face. "I'm eating on the roof."
"But hyung, you can't-" Jimin began, his voice noticeably weaker than before, but Yoongi cut him off.
"Well, too freaking bad. You don't have to join me," he said, stalking off, and Kihyun paused before jogging after Yoongi, mainly because Kihyun was the only person who wasn't really affected by Yoongi's savage mood swings (mainly because Kihyun was a savage devil himself).
Yoongi didn't look back to see the way Jimin stared after him, the way his feet stopped swinging off the edge of the desk, the way his tears rolled down his cheeks.
***
"Aww, sweetie, don't cry," Wonho said, panicking as the door swung shut after the two who had left, leaving Jimin and Wonho alone in the internal suspension room. "Yoongi didn't mean to hurt your feelings, he just-"
"I wanted to eat lunch with my hyung," Jimin said, his eyes disappointed. "I don't care about what he said, I just wanted to eat lunch together since we never get to eat lunch together since he's at school and I'm at home," he said.
Wonho's smile dropped off his face inch by inch. He was honestly just as much of a softy as Jimin, only he tried to hide it with an extroverted exterior. Inside, he was really just as vulnerable and sensitive, and seeing Jimin cry his heart out over a brother who had left him behind in a school he didn't even known in a room he wasn't even supposed to be in - that hurt his heart. Soon, he was crying alongside Jimin, and he didn't even know why.
"Hyung?" Jimin asked, sniffling. "Why are you crying?"
"I just..." Wonho forced a smile onto his face, but he'd always found it hard to talk while crying, so he forced himself to take several deep breaths first. "I just think that it's really hard to love people and have them love you back."
Jimin frowned. "But I do love Yoongi."
"I know that," Wonho said. "Anyone who saw you two together would know that. But what about him, Jimin? Does he treat you nicely? Has he ever treated you nicely?"
***
"You're going to make the poor kid cry," Kihyun said, catching up to Yoongi. "And then his eyes are going to get all red and his face is going to get all mushy and you're going to have to explain to your four other brothers why you broke his little heart."
Yoongi glared at the ground. "It's his fault, always asking so many questions and being so clingy."
"Um, no, it's your fault for being an asshole," Kihyun corrected Yoongi, who shot him a glare. "Don't try to deny it. You were jealous that Jimin was being happy with Wonho."
"I wasn't jealous."
"Um, yes, you were. Not that you had any reason to be. Jimin's obviously obsessed with you."
"Nuh uh."
"Yeah huh. Why else would he voluntarily attend internal suspension with you?" Kihyun asked, giving Yoongi a look. "And copying you, sitting on the desk? You're his big brother and he wants to be just like you. He wants you to be proud of him, Yoongi. But noooooo, you had to run up to the roof to work out your emotional problems instead of just giving the kid a smile. That's literally all it would take, Yoongi, and you'd make his day."
Yoongi scowled at Kihyun. "What do you know anyway? You don't have any little brothers."
"Not really, but I've got Wonho, and that's close enough," Kihyun said dryly. "He acts like a little kid, always getting excited about shit. Then I antagonize him and pick on him until he's almost ready to cry before I say something sort of nice enough, and he thinks I'm an angel on Earth."
Yoongi rolled his eyes. "That's stupid," he said, even though it was basically the same thing he did with Jimin on a daily basis. "I just...I just want him to need me," Yoongi said before shutting his mouth. He hated talking about stuff like this, his feelings, that sort of thing. "Never mind. Forget I said anything."
"Of course he needs you," Kihyun said, nodding back toward the room they'd come from. "I'll show you."
Yoongi hesitated before walking back with Kihyun and pausing outside the door, listening to the conversation inside.
"I know that," Yoongi heard Wonho say. "Anyone who saw you two together would know that. But what about him, Jimin? Does he treat you nicely? Has he ever treated you nicely?"
Yoongi reached for the door handle, ready to punch Wonho, but Kihyun's hand on his arm stopped him.
***
"Yoongi is always nice to me," Jimin said, frowning. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Wonho stared at Jimin. "What are you talking about? He snaps at you before abandoning you-"
"Yoongi-hyung helped me practice my English because he knows I'm having a hard time learning it," Jimin said earnestly. "He got mad at me because he doesn't like feeling like he's number two. And he left so that you and I could hang out even though he doesn't like me being with you," Jimin said, and Wonho still just stared at him.
Wonho didn't know why he wanted to make Jimin understand. Maybe because Wonho too was tired of being torn to pieces. "Jimin-"
The door opened, and Yoongi strolled in. "I just remembered that I left my lunch in here," he said casually. "I may as well eat in here, then."
Wonho quickly wiped away his tears before turning to see Kihyun staring at him. "What?"
"You should know that red eyes don't go well with your hair color," Kihyun said, and Wonho held a hand up to hide his eyes from his brother. "There's no use in hiding them, idiot. Now c'mon, let's go wash your face up," Kihyun said, and Wonho couldn't help feeling warm. "And don't think I'm doing this for you. I don't want anyone saying that our whole family is ugly just because you look all swollen today."
Wonho laughed but let Kihyun pull him away.
Yoongi sat down in a metal chair and watch out of his peripherals as Jimin cautiously lowered himself into a chair as well to mimic Yoongi.
"I'm sorry," Yoongi said after a long moment, not looking up. He hated saying he was sorry, and he hated saying it even more when he meant it.
"For what?" Jimin asked, and when Yoongi looked up, he saw Jimin smiling hard at him, his eyes a little puffy but his lips bent into a smile. "I don't know what you're apologizing for, hyung."
Yoongi sighed, rolling his eyes. "You're impossible, you know that?" he muttered, but he couldn't stop himself from smiling. Thank you, Jimin, for forgiving me like you always do when I screw up like I always do.
"I know," Jimin said in English. "And you is welcome."
Yoongi couldn't help but laugh.