"So, is Namjoon-Hyung Seokjin-hyung's new girlfriend?" Jungkook asked while incorrectly putting two LEGO pieces together. Yoongi took the pieces and looked at the manual for a second before detaching them and putting them in their correct locations.
"No, I think Jinnie is Joonie's new girlfriend. Jinnie would be the girl." Jimin states, playing with the Snapchat filters on Seokjin's phone that the caretaker had given to him to solve the boredom he felt. Hoseok looked up and tilted his head, slightly confused. He pauses on connecting two LEGO pieces together to complete a wing.
"Wait, Seokjin-Hyung is a girl?" He asks and Taehyung steps over the airplane they're building, holding a blanket closely to him as he sits beside Jungkook, sharing the baby blue blanket with him easily.
"No! Hoseokie, girls have..." Taehyung pauses for a second and looks around before leaning in and whispering in a hushed tone. "Boobies."
All the children cringed and made sounds of disgust at Taehyung's filthy remark.
Yoongi shakes off his jitters and finishes the part of the plane he was working on, taking out another pamphlet and another unopened bag of legos to make the airplane part two.
"Neither of them have to be a girl." He states simply, Jimin looking to him with a curious look.
"But I thought dating was with a boy and a girl?" He said and Yoongi bit the inside of his cheek as he looked away for a second.
"It doesn't have to be. It can be between anyone. Not just a boy and a girl." He said, opening the bag and making sure none of the pieces got mixed up with the other one. Jimin sat up and faced the camera towards Hoseok, who suddenly had a shark dancing on the screen with his face on it. Then his face lit up as he then hugged Taehyung.
"Taehyungie! You hear that? We can date!" Jimin said, and Taehyung is confused for a second before his eyes widen and he groans out loud, a literal shake running up his spine.
"Noooo! I don't want to have kids!" He says and Jimin nuzzles into his side happily. It was then that Seokjin walks in with a big box, obscuring his vision of whatever was in front of him. Good thing the kids were to the right of his view.
He glances over and tilts his head in confusion. He then smiles seeing the children working on the LEGO sets he had bought them.
"Oh! How are those? Are they fun?" He asks, setting the heavy box onto the table with a huff and walking over, eyeing the two LEGO sets that were out. "I've always wanted to do these, but I never seem to have the time."
Jungkook eyes him suspiciously and opens his mouth to ask the question. Yoongi really wishes he could've stopped him right before then.
"Seokjinnie, is Namjoon-Hyung your girlfriend?" He asks bluntly.
Of course, Namjoon had to step into the room right at that moment.
The two caretakers look at each other with raised eyebrows and sharing smiles, and Seokjin looks back at Jungkook.
But his smile looked forced this time.
"No Kookie, we aren't dating. Namjoon is not my girlfriend." He says, playing along with the idea Jungkook had stated. Jungkook pouted, crossing his arms and leaning into Taehyung.
"So you're still lonely?" Hoseok asks and Seokjin tensed. Yoongi shoots a sharp glare at Hoseok, who cowers under the gaze and looks down.
"I-I wouldn't say lonely..." He utters with a soft blush on his face. Nothing cute though, just a blush of embarrassment. If only he knew what Namjoon thought about the blush.
"My mommy feels lonely all the time even when she has daddy." Jimin says out of the blue and everyone looks at him for a second. Some of the children looked confused. How could one be lonely, yet have a spouse? Seokjin was about to have a really tough time answer the silent question until Namjoon came to the rescue, moving over to the circle the boys had created and sitting down. Jungkook had wasted no time crawling into Namjoon's lap.
"Guys, you don't have to have a boyfriend or girlfriend to not be lonely." He says, and Taehyung tilts his head in confusion.
"My mommy says that I'll stop being lonely when I get myself a girlfriend." He states, wrapping his body with the blanket. Seokjin walks towards the box and begins to unwrap it, not wanting to be intrusive of the conversation.
"That's not true. Being lonely is when you don't have anyone to be there for you." Namjoon explains, running a hand through Jungkook's hair. The youngest boy practically purrs. "Loneliness is the feeling of unwanted solitude."
Yoongi stops building the plane for a second. Seokjin stops taking items out of the box for a moment too.
"Seokjin-Hyung isn't alone because he has us. Right guys?" Namjoon says with a smile, and all the guys (excluding Yoongi) had smiled and nodded. "Just so Seokjin knows that we're here for him, let's give him a huge hug." Namjoon says, smiling at the way the children stood up in a flash just to run over to Seokjin.
The eldest male was shocked for a second, but he laughed into the group hug, doing his best to hug them all back.
Hoseok glances back and noticed Yoongi still sitting, staring down at the LEGO pieces with a blank look in his eyes. He pulls away from the group hug and rushes over, taking Yoongi's hands into his own and tugging him up.
"Come on Yoongs, we're here for you too!" He says happily, and Yoongi looks up. He avoided the others warm gaze when he feels his usually pale cheeks redden with color. He grips Hoseok's hands in return, shooting the other male a gentle smile in return.
"Okay." He mutters out, allowing the other to tug him up and over to the ongoing group hug.
Namjoon finally stands, smiling warmly at the group of boys all hugging. They looked like a family really. A really happy one at that.
"Namjoonie!" Jimin calls out, pointing a short arm towards Namjoon and making a grabby hand. "You're part of our family too now!" He shouts. Namjoon doesn't remember ever letting his eyes water that quickly before. Namjoon joins the hug, his arms almost grouping everyone together.
Seokjin wouldn't admit it, but he enjoyed the contact all too much.
Finally when they break away, Seokjin claps his hands once and points to the table.
"Alright! Snack time. Everyone to the table while Namjoon and I prepare the snacks." Seokjin announces and the children all head towards the table. Although, Namjoon looks up blankly and nervously rubs the back of his neck.
"I don't think that's a very good-" Suddenly, Namjoon was pushed into the kitchen by the children and an apron was stuffed into his hands. Seokjin usually doesn't make a huge deal about snack times, but this was Namjoon's first. Might as well make it special.
"Jinnie, are you making us our usual snacks?" Jimin asks, and Seokjin glances up. The eldest male tilts his head in confusion.
"Do... you guys not want you're usual snacks?" He asks, and the kids all look at each other. Seokjin didn't mean to show it on his face, but his heart broke just a little. Did he not make the children's snacks well? Perhaps they've been being silent this whole time to spare his feelings? The children seemed to catch on quick to Seokjin's thoughts, because they immediately shook their heads.
"Hyungie, you're snacks are great! But we just all kinda want cookies!" Hoseok explains, and Seokjin's shoulders slump in relief. Thank goodness. Seokjin nods. Cookies, that should be easy. Seokjin was no stranger to cooking and baking, but it suddenly dawned upon him that he was no longer alone in the kitchen. A soft blush appears on his face.
He had always dreamed of being in the kitchen with someone else, cooking or baking up a storm of sweets that they would share while cuddling up close and watching a movie. He and his lover would do that together.
This wasn't exactly that, but it was close enough.
Seokjin turns to Namjoon with a determined grin, rolling up his sleeves and tightening his apron a bit. Namjoon gulps.
"Alright Joon. We got this. Just me, you, and a batch of le-Jin-dary cookies." He says. Namjoon's soft blush returns as he rubs the back of his neck.
"Hyung, I can't cook. Much less bake." He says, and Seokjin stares at him blankly for a second. He then smiles softly.
"Oh don't say that! With enough confidence and handiwork, anyone can cook!" He says, pulling out his phone and connecting it to a speaker. Playing some music the children made a playlist of, Seokjin sets the phone down and looks to Namjoon again. "We've got this."
~~~~~
They don't got this.
They were supposed to have 14 cookies, two for each of them. But Namjoon ended up getting the wrong proportions for several of them, so now they only gave enough batter for about 11. Seokjin didn't get mad though, it was entertaining have a newbie in the kitchen. The only thing that aggravated him was when he asked Namjoon to cut some chocolate chips for the cookies.
"Namjoon, I said chocolate chips. Not choking hazards!" He shouts, watching as Namjoon allows an embarrassed smile onto his face. Seokjin couldn't help but smile slightly as well.
"And this! This cookie looks like it's two in one! Why is it so big?" Seokjin cries out and Namjoon looks at him with a slightly raised eyebrow.
"That's what she said." He says with a smirk, and Seokjin looks at him with a glare that could kill. Namjoon stopped with the inappropriate jokes right then just to save himself and Seokjin's sanity.
When the ding from the oven signifies that the cookies were done, Seokjin let's out a sigh of relief. He takes off his apron and hangs the clothe on a rack, grabbing oven mitts and pulling the baked goods out. Namjoon follows Seokjin's actions, making sure to be careful as the oven was open. Lord knows how clumsy Namjoon gets around dangerous objects.
"Cookies are ready!" Seokjin's calls out, grinning when he hears the children pause their game and scramble over to the snack table.
"I told you they were done! I could smell them from over there!" Jungkook says, climbing into is seat in excitement.
"I'm gonna eat all of them!" Taehyung says and Seokjin chuckles, taking them off of the pan they were baking on and putting them onto a plate. He moves the plate over to the children, smiling warmly.
"Careful, they're hot." He says, turning the oven off and turning back to the children. Thank goodness he did so soon too, because Hoseok was already reaching for a third cookie to hold in his arms. "Ah ah ah, everyone gets two so it's fair." Seokjin says, and Hoseok and Taehyung give him a momentary stink eye before grabbing their amount of cookies.
Seokjin didn't mean to get excited for their feedback on the baked goods, but he couldn't help it. It's been a while since he's baked for real, so he wanted to know if his skills were still pristine.
"These are good!" Jimin says after taking his third bite. Seokjin let out a soft sigh of relief and nodded, grabbing some milk from the fridge and pouring several glasses.
"I'm glad they're good." Seokjin says with a smile, looking over to Namjoon. The other male looked more than relieved to hear that the cookies he made weren't poisonous. "What do we say to people who made the cookies?" Seokjin says expectantly, and he felt his heart warm seeing all the children's innocent faces look up at them and smiles.
"Thank you Jinnie! Thank you Joonie!"
Huh, Joonie. Seokjin glances over to Namjoon once more just to see the blush on his face once more.
"Wait!" Jungkook's voice cuts through the air like a balloon knife a clown made. Everyone looks over just to see the youngest boy point towards the plate, showing the big cookie that was worth three regular sized ones. "Who gets that cookie?" He asks, and both Seokjin and Namjoon look at each other.
"You can have it, I ate a cookie already."
"Joon, that thing is worth like 3."
"Okay? And? That's my own fault."
"I'm not eating that whole thing."
"Me neither!"
Both males look at each other with expectant looks, like they were just waiting for the other to grab the thick cookie off the plate and eat it right then and there. Suddenly, everyone jumps when they hear the cookie clattering against the plate once again. Upon looking at it, it was split into two cookies. With that, Yoongi stepped off of his chair and back to the rec room.
It was silent for a moment before Seokjin and Namjoon shrugged, grabbed a half of the cookie and popping it into their mouths.
"Damn, that is a good cookie." Namjoon says, and Jimin gasps, moving to cover Jungkook's ear. Jungkook just continues to munch on his last cookie with a content smile.
"Bad word, Joonie!" He shouts, and Namjoon covers his mouth, looking to Seokjin with an apologetic smile. Seokjin waves it off as nothing and takes the children's plates, setting them into the sink for dishes to do.
After getting everything into the sink and dismissing the kids to go to the rec room, Seokjin begins washing them. Not a very hard job except for the repetitive melted chocolate chip on every singe one, but other than that, just a quick rinse with a bit of soap and they all looked good as new.
When Seokjin finally shuts the sink off, he realizes how quiet it it. He doesn't hear the tv on, no music, not even the clatter of a controller or a keyboard. Did everyone leave?
Seokjin dries his hands and heads over to where the noise would be, and he silently awes at the sight. All the kids had cuddled up closely and fell asleep. A blanket covering their small bodies, they looked so comfortable.
Seokjin smiles and moves to turn off the lights, keeping on the nightlight considering he knows Taehyung is afraid of the dark. It was when he began walking away that he felt a small hand grab onto his palm. He turns and see's Yoongi sleepily looking at him and tugging Seokjin towards them.
"Sleep with us, Jinnie." He utters out, but the small movement and noise is enough to rouse everyone else out of their slumber.
"It's okay Yoongi, I don't want to disrupt you guys." Seokjin says in a soft tone, but then a chorus of whines has him stop his tracks to the office.
"Please?"
Seokjin didn't expect all the children to plea simultaneously, but when they did, he couldn't help it. With a moment of silence and innocent eyes looking at him, Seokjin snuck himself under the covers and held two bodies close. Taking advantage of the moment, Jungkook climbed on top and laid on top of Seokjin as if he were a bed, and Taehyung holds the eldest male from behind, like a bear in winter.
Seokjin was impressed with how quickly he had fallen asleep among the young bodies. He always knew it was easier for him to sleep when cuddling something, but he didn't even realize how little sleep he was getting regardless.
It was... nice.
When he wakes up though, all he sees is the nightlight. And as warm as he is, he realizes that the children are no longer in sight. The only one still here was Yoongi, sleeping soundly in Seokjin's arms. And for a moment Seokjin had thought Taehyung was here too considering there was still someone holding him from behind. But when shuffling a bit to see that it was a larger body, his heart stops.
"Namjoon-"
"Shh, it's okay." Namjoon utters softly, motioning for Seokjin to lay back down. Seokjin for a second didn't, just staring at Namjoon's eyes. But the way the other look at him with such warmth and comfort, Seokjin couldn't help just laying back down in comfort.
"The kids parents came and picked them up. Yoongi's says they won't be here until much later, past closing." He says, wrapping his arms around Seokjin again and spooning him.
Seokjin doesn't remember the last time his heart was racing so fast.
"And... you began getting upset the lesser kids were around, so... I decided to come in too." He says, his voice like honey with how low and smooth it was. "Do you want me to move?"
Seokjin tensed and shook his head, subconsciously moving one of his hands and holding onto Namjoon's forearms.
"No... you can stay." He whispers back. Nothing more was said. Instead, Seokjin could feel every soft exhale from Namjoon's breath on his neck, and he could feel Namjoon's arm around his waist. And he pulled Yoongi just a bit closer.
Namjoon fell asleep quickly, soft snores emitting not only from Yoongi, but now Namjoon too. And Seokjin was falling asleep too.
He's never felt so comforted in a while.
And with that, he closes his eyes and falls asleep with a smile on his face.