on patrol | vol. i ✓

CHAPTER TWELVE.

"Umm..."

"This weekend sounds good right? Excellent. I'll see which ones are playing and send you a list."

"I uh-"

"I think my work is done here," Jungkook says with a salute as he eyes the empty box. "So I'll text you later!"

Jimin watches the man walk out the convenience store with a light hop in his steps. Jimin picks up the empty box with a sigh. This is just so unreal to him, he's not sure what to do with the situation.

OK, so he lied about not being gay, but he'd rather die than admit it to a near stranger (sure they've been on a "date," but they were basically strangers). He was bullied so badly in high school for being gay that he had shut that idea down in his head a long time ago. He initially thought things were going to get better when he entered university, but that was hardly the case.

There was a lot of peer pressure for him to date girls, and when he refused all of the politely, the guessing game began. People oftentimes joked about him being gay, but he laughed it all off, ignoring the pain in his chest.

Then this insanely hot officer comes around asking him out on a date, and he's not sure if this is some cruel prank or not. Afterall, that was how his classmates in high school had found out. A fake love letter and one of the bullies pretending to like him was all it took for the entire student body bursting in gossip.

Jimin shudders at the memory and procedes to put the empty box away.

Namjoon swallows hard. It's been a while since he's wandered around in his uniform (he's usually stuck in his office during the day). He checks to make sure he has two handcuffs for showing, his badge as well as a bag full of candies to give out to the kids to encourage them to stay away from drugs and all those bad things (he's not sure if he's allowed to talk to little kids about illegal narcotics, so he's going to have to ask Seokjin later).

He arrives on campus, and he manages to arrive just during break time, which means kids are all staring at him in awe. Namjoon smiles fondly, remembering how much he used to idolize police officer when he was their age. He meanders through the hallways and eventually finds Seokjin's classroom.

"Oh! Officer Kim! Thank you so much for coming!" Seokjin grins brightly as soon as he sees the other man entering the classroom. Taehyung and a few other kids are seated, furiously scribbling on a blank piece of paper, and as soon as Taehyung sees his dad walking in, the boy starts screaming while running towards the officer.

"Hey little man," Namjoon says with a grin as he picks up his son into his arms. Taehyung wraps his small arms around his dad and nudges the man's cheek with his nose.

"Dad you really came!"

"I told you I will, didn't I?" Namjoon says, putting his son down.

"Woa, is your dad a police officer?" One of the boys who were also in the class asks with a twinkle in his eyes. Taehyung nods with pride, his nostrils flaring in excitement. The girl sitting next to the boy also stares in awe, her mouth agape.

"Thanks for having me," Namjoon says finally as he turns to face Seokjin. The two briefly discuss some of the things that the officer can talk about and a few things he should avoid when dealing with little children. If Namjoon's not mistaken, Seokjin seems just as excited about the career day as the students he's teaching.

Break time comes to an end, and Namjoon is now standing nervously in front of the classroom, watching little boys and girls run in and fill up all the empty seats. Now, Namjoon can face literal murderers, rapists and robbers straight in the eye without flinching, but trying to talk in front of a bunch of kids was on a whole 'nother level. He's quite certain that his palms must be sweaty, and he just hopes he doesn't mess up for his son's sake.

"Alright everyone! We have a very special guest today! It's officer Kim Namjoon, who's also our Taehyung's father! Now I know you're all excited, but remember classroom rules and let's give him a warm round of applause!"

The little kids all begin clapping wildly, leaning forward. The boys especially are buzzing in their seats, eyeing the uniform in awe.

"Hey guys, thank you for the warm welcome. I'm here to talk to you about what it's like to be a police officer," he begins and talks about his day to day duty, placing emphasis on catching bad guys and putting them behind bars for good. He can see his son beaming from where he's sitting, a boxy smile on his face. He finishes calmly and as soon as "any questions?" come out of his mouth, kids are raising their hands up.

He picks a random boy sitting in the first row, and the boy asks "Do you have a badge? Can we see it?" Namjoon chuckles and takes it out, and as soon as he flashes it towards the rest of the class, a simultaneous oohs and aahs break out. Some kids make a comment about how they've seen them only in movies, and Namjoon finds it all so damn adorable.

Another girl asks how many bad guys he's caught, and he jokes that he's lost count after his first 100. The class erupts in excitement, because 100 is obviously a huge number for children that age.

A few questions later, one of the boys ask if Namjoon has a handcuff, and Namjoon takes two off of his belt.

"Alright, you can pass this one around, just be careful with it," he says as he hands one of the handcuffs to one of the students in the first row. They all eagerly study it, tracing their small fingers across the metal, making jokes about how they are going to arrest each other.

"Can we put one on Mr. Kim?" One of the boy with a clearly mischivous smile asks, and the entire class starts shouting "please!". Namjoon glances at Seokjin who shakes his head with a roll of his eyes and a "guys!" that hold zero malice.

"Please! Like in the movies!" one of the girls says with a toothy smile.

Namjoon shrugs as he catches Seokjin's eyes again, and the teacher laughs before nodding. "Alright, one of you can come and try handcuffing me," he says with a good-natured smile, and everyone's hands go up simultaneously.

Eventually a boy sitting in the third row is chosen, and he walks towards the front of the classroom with his mouth open in an excited smile. Namjoon opens the cuff for the boy, who takes it as if it's the most treasured item on the planet, and the boy manages to cuff one of Seokjin's hands with the help of Namjoon.

Namjoon opens the other one too, and leans forward to help the kid, but is stopped when the boy decides it would be more entertaining to cuff the two adults together.

Namjoon lets the boy do as he wants, deciding he might as humor everyone while he's here. Plus, it's not the first time he's been cuffed to another person (although it's usually very ill-advised). The two adults glance at each other once they're handcuffed to each other and grin. Seokjin tugs at the device a little bit, marveling at how sturdy it is, and the rest of the class laugh gleefully.

"Alright you little rascals, let's give Officer Kim another round of applause for taking the time to come talk to us!" Seokjin says and the class lets out a "aww," saddened that it's already over. Namjoon waves at the class with the uncuffed hand and reaches for the key to uncuff himself.

Except the key's not there.