Chapter 5

What’s better than waking to your favourite person (excluding kids; they’re a special case) lying next to you every morning, their warmth and scent just as real as ever?

The sleeping face of Namjoon is so much more attractive in the daylight, what with a nice bed and his own little warmer in his arms. Seokjin can tell Namjoon’s fast asleep, in a dreamless slumber, all peace and quiet.

But the strong and lanky arms around Seokjin tell him they don’t want to let go, preferably not even when their owner wakes up, and Seokjin welcomes the embrace holding him in place, Namjoon’s musky scent mixing in with his own.

Seokjin actually regrets thinking of not wanting Namjoon to let go, because Namjoon’s holding him so tightly he can’t even look at the time.

A few more budges and yet Namjoon still wouldn’t move. Seokjin sighs, it’s been so long since they’ve slept together, and he’s forgotten what to do in repetitive, almost daily, situations like these.

Thankfully the door is knocked on, giving Seokjin a painful excuse to tear himself away from Namjoon’s cozy embrace.

He doesn’t miss the chance to glance at the clock. 11:46am. Seokjin smiles to himself.

Seokjin crouches down in front of the door, hand groping for the knob before swinging it open, in eye level with Jimin and Taehyung.

He kisses the kids good morning, and Jimin wraps chubby arms around Seokjin. “Where’s papa?” He asks, and Seokjin raises and index fingers to Jimin’s lips, telling him to stay quiet.

With smooth and well-trained movements, Seokjin scoops the twins up into his arms and carries them into the living room.

“He’s sleeping, baby, try not to wake him up, yeah?” Seokjin ruffles Taehyung’s hair, the toddler welcoming his touch affectionately.

Jimin tugs on Seokjin’s sleeve. “But where is he sleeping?”

Seokjin blinks a bit, and looks to a also clueless Taehyung. Oh, right.

He pulls the toddlers to his sides, rubbing circles into their soft bodies. “My room, I mean, our room, sweetheart.”

Taehyung gasps a bit too loudly, and looks at Jimin happily. “Daddy and papa are daddy and papa now!” Jimin cheers in toddler language, leaving Seokjin in a mist of questions.

Taehyung crawls over to Seokjin, looking at him with his big eyes. “I’m happy, Daddy.”

“What for?” Seokjin whispers, pressing his nose to Taehyung’s chubby cheeks.

“Because now everyone can be happy.” Taehyung plays with Seokjin’s fingers for a while, and the TV show grabs his attention out of nowhere, turning away from Seokjin abruptly as his eyes fixate on yet another adventure of Mickey’s.

Little Tae is so, so much smarter than anyone would know, and Seokjin would like to shout to the whole world that yes, indeed, everyone can really be happy.

-

That Sunday afternoon, Namjoon and Seokjin drop the kids off at Hoseok’s, much to his liking, because ‘I can have an excuse to invite Yoongi over,’ or so Hoseok whispers before he shuts the door.

Seokjin flips through the long list of groceries and daily needs now required to supply for a family of four, “We’ve run out of sugary cereals Jimin likes so much, eggs, toilet paper, shampoo, and then there’s also the honey cereal that Taetae likes.”

Namjoon groans a bit, parking the car (Seokjin’s, actually, before Namjoon sold his old one). “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m glad we didn’t bring the kids along.”

It’s funny (or scary,) how ‘I’ quickly transforms to ‘we’ and ‘us’. Sure, Namjoon finds it strange how easily he moulded his life around two kids and an adult, but it happened all the same. Thinking back, Namjoon is embarrassed to say the least that maybe, he hadn’t been that mad with Seokjin all along.

Those three years had been lonely, he’ll be really honest about it, and even though he won’t let himself think of it that way anymore, he owed it to Seokjin and Jimin and Taehyung, so maybe he had to. Not like he ever minded.

There could be many reasons why Namjoon fitted right in, and maybe those reasons happened all at once, we might never know. But Namjoon had a happy family, and a new responsibility as a parent, albeit a bit too suddenly. That was important, not how or why.

And then there’s the thing with Seokjin.

Namjoon sighs at the thought, and slams the car door shut as he climbs out. Seokjin flinches at the action, and asks, “Are you okay?”

It seems to wake Namjoon from whatever he’s thinking, and he takes Seokjin’s hand in his as they walk towards the shopping mall, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Three hours of shopping later, Seokjin collapses on a bench at the food court, groceries spread out around him as the handsome male fans his face rapidly, attracting people’s gazes from nearby.

Namjoon is possessive, has always been, and scoots around the perimeter of the table until he’s real close to Seokjin, handing him a smoothie, “Here, this’ll cool you down.” Seokjin doesn’t even bother raising his own hand to take the drink, and instead slurps right from Namjoon’s grip, half of the sweet substance disappearing down his throat. At least half the people staring have looked away. Cool.

They wait until Seokjin has fully rested until he pops up, “Do we need to pick up the kids now?”

Namjoon pretends to think over it, long fingers tapping gracefully on his chin, “I say we give Hoseok and Yoongi some time.”

Seokjin laughs, and his expression becomes solemn. “What next?”

It’s obvious the taller male doesn’t grasp the underlying meaning of Seokjin’s question, “We could get some hotdogs?”

A small smile rises to the surface of Seokjin’s face, “I don’t mean that, silly,” He says gently, “I mean what will come next for us?” He reaches for Namjoon’s hand, placing his on top.

“S-Seokjin, I, I don’t know if you-” Namjoon fumbles for the right words, “I like you.” The three words hang in the buzzing air, and time stops while Seokjin can only hear his heartbeat, ba-dum, ba-dum.

“You mean it?” Seokjin dumbly asks, and Namjoon blinks a bit. “Yeah!” He shouts, and awkwardly looks down. “Of course I do, Seokjin, all my life I’ve only confessed to you, now, and well... you.”

The corners of Seokjin’s eyes crinkle. “This is just like three years ago.”

“Uh?” Namjoon has his head in the clouds, hyperfocusing on Seokjin’s hand in contact with his own. Help. It shouldn’t be much trouble to interpret the scene laying out in front of them, yet Namjoon’s so nervous, he’s never one to take feelings well, he can’t even breathe.

“The confession, Joonie.” Why is Seokjin always so patient with him? “This,” Seokjin gestures to the busy food court, “And even your nervousness.” A soft chuckle, music to ears.

Being exposed makes Namjoon clear his mind a bit, and he swallows, panting for air he didn’t know he lacked.

“So, you accept me?” Namjoon asks timidly, and Seokjin looks surprised. “I put my kids into your custody, live with you, unwaveringly fell in love with you all over again, and you’re still asking me all this?”

Namjoon lets out a dry laugh. “Ha.” When all he can think about is he loves me. He loves me. He loves me?!!

The atmosphere tenses up as neither know what to say, and Namjoon makes a feeble attempt to not lock himself in JoonWorld- Specialist in dorkiness and endless self-doubting. “I uh, want to talk about our future?”

So much for breaking the silence. Namjoon silently curses himself and tries to imagine flinging himself onto a wall.

But Seokjin is kind, and doesn’t pressure Namjoon on his awkwardness. “Nah, I think we have it laid out pretty well, don’t you agree?”

It’s true, they have kids, stable jobs, and great house in borderline suburban Seoul, and now everything else is as straight as a chopstick.

Seokjin glances at his watch. “I believe ‘more time’ will evolve into ‘immense awkwardness’ if we don’t save Yoongi and Hoseok now, yes?”

“Yes.” Namjoon stands, scooping everything into his arms like the nice polite guy he is. Seokjin had worked too hard for the past three years. It’s Namjoon’s turn, even though he’s more than willing.

-

Yoongi genuinely wonders if Seokjin knows just how scarily-accurate his instincts are.

Precisely a minute ago, before Namjoon came barging through the door with tons of marshmallows to pick up the twins (and to bribe them to go home), Hoseok had grabbed tight of Yoongi’s hand when they watched Snow White’s evil stepmother transform into an old hag.

Yoongi completely understands that it wasn’t entirely Hoseok’s fault, curse Walt Disney for making the whole experience terrifying as heck, and he just has the habit of grabbing things nearest to him whenever he’s scared, as Seokjin would explain afterwards, laughing at their miserable awkwardness.

Which so conveniently happens to be Yoongi’s hand.

Why did Yoongi put his hand in the middle in the first place anyways? He doesn’t know, doesn’t want to know for the sake of it, and really, controlling the blush blooming on his cheeks is the more urgent task at hand.

As soon as he pulls up in front of his home, Yoongi groans and thumps his head on the steering wheel, scaring the living shit out of himself when the car responds with a long beep.

It’s lucky no one is there to see Yoongi making a fool out of himself, but he rushes inside anyways, locking the door tight. Holly runs up to him, running around in circles.

“Hey, baby.” Yoongi cuddles Holly in his arms, and tells him all that’s happened today like he always does, the drone of the television in the background. Oh, right. He didn’t turn it off when he left, to keep Holly focused.

“So you know I went over to Hoseok’s place, right? Those sneaky bastards must’ve purposely set it up. Anyways, we were watching Snow White with the twins. I can’t even begin to describe how nervous I was. Even worse, during the Evil Queen’s transformation part, Hoseok freaked out and grabbed my hand. My hand. He’s bound to know my actual feelings for him at that point. My face went so goddamn red I nearly combusted. And Hoseok would adore you.

“But there’s a problem when I’m lacking a set of balls and I really don’t want to invite him over if it means making myself look embarrassing. Yeah, okay, fine, I like him. A lot. What’s there not to like? His smile, his kindness, his cheerful personality, I can never list them all out without all the time in the world. It’s not like I don’t want to do it, but I can’t. If Hoseok’s not taking the first move- if he even likes me, to be painfully honest- then I’m not gonna do anything ever. I’ll probably drown in the sea of emotions and completely ignore the lifeboat in front of me. Yeah, I think it’s pretty accurate too, don’t ya think, Holly baby?”

Holly snuffles a bit and starts snoring, completely tuned out.

Yoongi sighs. “You’re really cute, but you can be no help sometimes. No offence.”

He lets Holly sleep, curled up warm and snuggly on his lap.

The TV is playing some cheesy soap opera that’s way behind time, and not too much later Yoongi is snoring to the curvy woman’s cries at her dead lover.

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