Single Father • Namjoon + BTS!Kids

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"Is it your home?"

Jimin looked up at Jungkook. A lock of hair fell across his forehead, but Jimin didn't push it out of the way, just left it hanging there, obscuring a small portion of his vision. "I live there, K-Kookie. I sleep there. I have a b-bed there." He took a deep breath. "Mom is there."

"Dad isn't there," Jungkook said immediately. "It's like you guys have forgotten that he raised you, like you've forgotten all the sacrifices he's made and-"

"I didn't f-forget," Jimin said quietly, his eyes narrowed, brows furrowed unhappily. "It's just, the way the world is, you have t-to adapt to survive. I got tired of b-being miserable every day."

Jungkook really wanted to cross his arms now.

"Just because I care about M-Mom doesn't mean that I d-don't love Dad too," Jimin said, and Jungkook's lips twitched.

That's exactly what it seemed like to him. "It's a choice, isn't it? One or the other. Mom or Dad. There's always a choice. Leave our family, or stay and be our mom."

"Forget our family, or t-try to be part of it again," Jimin said, his voice soft in the room. The acoustics of his room deadened the sound of his voice, stopping the resonance of the pitches. There was no echo, only the statement itself, and then the words were gone, lost as sound waves into the walls, unable to be taken back or found again.

"What did she do to you?" Jungkook asked, his eyes narrowed in a glare. "What did she do to make you this way? To change you? You used to hate her too. And now you're best buds, like you've forgotten everything she did."

"Hatred makes the h-heart heavy," Jimin replied simply. "It's a chain that y-you can't take off. You can only unlock it with f-forgiveness."

"No!" Jungkook shouted abruptly. "I'm not going to forgive her! Not now, not ever! I'm never going to love her!"

Jimin paused before giving Jungkook a hug, and Jungkook stilled, not having expected the action in response to his harsh words.

"Hatred is a ch-choice," Jimin said. "Love is a choice. That's what you have to choose, only it's n-not only about her, it's about y-you, too. You're hurting yourself, Kookie." Jimin ruffled Jungkook's hair slowly.

"But I don't need a mom," Jungkook growled. "I grew up without one just fine. I don't need a mom now."

"But she needs y-you."

At that moment, the door opened, and their mom poked her head in with a small smile. "Okay, we're all ready to go. Jungkook, be careful with your arm, okay? Try not to hit the cast."

Jimin just nodded, standing up, not even looking at Jungkook because while he wanted Jungkook to dissolve the hatred in his heart, it was Jungkook's choice, not his.

***

She parked the car and opened the door on Jungkook's side. "Do you want any pain medication?" she asked as he stepped out. "I don't have anything prescription, but there's some over-the-counter pills in the cabinet if it still hurts."

"No thanks," Jungkook said, mainly because he considered himself too tough to have to rely on pain medication, as his arm actually did still hurt quite a bit.

"He's j-just being stubborn," Jimin said, coming around the other side of the car.

"I'm fine," Jungkook insisted.

"Whatever, your arm," Jimin replied, scanning the driveway before looking back at Jungkook with a smile. "We've got the house t-to ourselves."

"Come on in boys," their mother called from the doorstep, and Jimin hurried over, Jungkook trailing behind and trying to figure out why he'd agreed in the first place.