Chapter Text
Being a parent wasn't as charming as the sitcoms would have you believe.
On screen, they never tell you that your sense of smell would literally dull and vanish after months of changing diapers, nor would they warn you about its vicious return once your baby had left its milk phase and begun the semi-solid food stage. They didn't show how built your arms would become toting around a steadily growing watermelon every day or the way your back and hips would crack, loud and snapping, like you'd fisted a roll of bubble-wrap. He'd never spent half an hour on the couch watching the agony of a parent at three in the morning, leaning against the wall in the nursery and unable to sleep, miserably replaying the moment he'd lost his grip on the nail clippers and nicked his baby's toe.
No, being a parent - especially a single parent - was a relentless job in which you could run the gamut of human emotion in a single hour, during which your supervisor would gleefully smear sweet potato mush on to his forehead at the start and then sob uncontrollably into the collar of your shirt later. Seokjin was thankful for his good luck that the job had dropped itself literally into his lap, always - but he thought back to his parents' home and the groan his father would make every time he lifted himself out of his armchair and felt much more sympathetic than he had at the time.
Much the same groan echoed through his chest as he lowered the groceries to the ground on the stairs of their apartment building, his arm shaking from the strain. Seokjin sucked in a deep breath and raised his face to the steady breeze in the air.
A tiny sneaker wiggled against his stomach. He peaked one eye open. His son twisted against his hip, wide dark eyes following passersby on the sidewalk. Cookie crumbs speckled his cheeks and chin, occasionally dropping into Seokjin's shirt as Jungkook sucked on a few fingers. Sunlight and shadow danced along his curls as the wind rustled through the trees.
Seokjin shook his free hand a couple times to work his wrist before he thumbed a few of those crumbs from his son's puffy cheek. "You've got chocolate all over your face, Kookie."
Jungkook stared at him, bemused, before he asked, "Can we play?"
"Yes, we can go play at the park in a bit. Let's just get all this up to the kitchen, okay? You wouldn't want Uncle Joon's ice cream to melt." Seokjin tweaked his nose and grinned when that little face frowned solemnly.
"No melt."
"Right. We can't steal his ice cream later if it melts," Seokjin agreed sensibly. He leaned against the railing and bent his back, a familiar twinge awakening in the middle. "We're almost home. Daddy just needs a breather."
Jungkook grabbed a hold of his shirt and wiggled again as a woman passed by walking her dog. He watched the dog veer closer, tail wagging excitedly and barking, before she tugged him back, smiling and nodding politely. Dark eyes trailed after the dog with the same wonder he gave to the clear bowl on top of his desk that played home to their goldfish Kuri.
Seokjin murmured, "He looked friendly, didn't he?" Jungkook seemed to like dogs. One day in the near future, he'd like to adopt a pup into their little family. Their current apartment building refused to allow pets, so they would have to move before that could happen, but both he and Namjoon needed the location for work.
"Hi! Kim Seokjin and Jungkookie, right?"
At the sound of their names, he heard the scuff of boots on the sidewalk and turned around.
He first noticed the platinum blond hair flickering beneath the sunlight and drifting across his forehead with the breeze. Seokjin paused, momentarily stymied, before his gaze drifted down to a familiar face with a heavy-lidded gaze and a teasing smile. Jacket tossed over his shoulder, his shirt neatly tucked into navy cargo pants, the firefighter who had responded to the emergency at his apartment months previous waved from the bottom of the stoop.
"Hey, um..." Seokjin froze, embarrassed as his mind drew a blank. He'd definitely heard the man's name before, at the summer festival last week when they'd met again at the dunk tank. He knew he had, but for the life of him, he couldn't drag it from the back of his mind.
"Jimin! Park Jimin," he answered easily, and from his smile Seokjin felt hopeful that he wasn't offended. "Nice to see you both again."
"Right. Jimin. Nice to meet you again too."
At the sound of a new voice, Jungkook had turned around in his arms to stare down at Jimin, still determinedly sucking on his fingers. Seokjin paused to boost his son a little higher up his hip before returning the smile sheepishly. "What a coincidence. We seem to keep running into each other."
"Seems like it, yeah. I live a few blocks down the street. Just got off my shift, so I'm headed home." Jimin leaned his hip against the railing on the stairs, looking over the mountain of bags at Seokjin's feet. "That's a lot of bags. Back from the grocery store? Want help getting these inside?"
For a moment, Seokjin felt the need to look around for a hidden camera, or possibly a snickering Hoseok hiding within a bush. The moment seemed a little... unreal. He could count the number of dates he'd had in the past two years on one hand, nearly all of which had been first dates that had never called for a second. Evidently the concept of dating a single dad was much sexier than actually watching him change a diaper or unexpected interruptions so he could rock his baby back to sleep. Now, suddenly, a hot firefighter was outside his building and offering to carry his groceries for him?
He checked Jimin's expression, trying to decide whether the offer was genuine or just to be polite, before he relaxed. "Yeah, that'd be great, actually. If you don't mind."
Grinning more brightly, Jimin drew the jacket from his shoulder and tied it around his waist. "Sure, happy to help!"
Seokjin took a couple steps back as the other man swept forward, confident hands looping through the handles of the grocery bags. He stared at Jimin's back for a second, soft black cotton pulled taut over his shoulders as he bent over, before glancing away quickly. "Thanks. I'll owe you one, again, I guess."
As he straightened, Jimin let out a short laugh. "Last time, I was just doing my job. Don't worry about it." He tossed his head a little, shuffling his hair from his eyes.
Seokjin began leading them up the stairs to the front of the building, caught between relief and guilt. It felt a little shameless to take advantage of Jimin after meeting him for the third time and not remembering his name, but he'd been up for most of the night filing taxes before the deadline went the following weekend, and his arms were aching. Seokjin wasn't so proud that he'd turn away an extra hand dragging his things up to the apartment. And if that hand was attached to an attractive, sturdy, and by all accounts friendly firefighter, well...
"Still," Seokjin continued sheepishly, holding the door open as Jimin shuffled himself and the bags through. "I'd like to repay the favor at least."
They walked through the quiet lobby and approached the elevators. Seokjin lifted one of Jungkook's hands to wave at the front desk attendant, who grinned and waved back, before he pressed the button and waited.
Jimin hummed thoughtfully, casting his gaze around the mailboxes lined along the wall, the seating area by the window overlooking the inner courtyard, before turning at the chiming of the bell and the elevator doors opening. "Treat me to coffee sometime then."
Seokjin froze on the threshold. A handful of people exited, squeezing between them, before Jimin stepped into the elevator and turned around. He stared, a smile turning the corner of his lips, before his brows lifted in question.
Blushing beneath his collar, Seokjin hurriedly got into the elevator and barely avoided a nudge from the metal doors. Jungkook wiggled in his arms again, clearly growing impatient from being carried around so much. He pressed a distracted kiss to his curls before meeting Jimin's gaze over his head.
"Sound good?" Jimin continued, just a hint of a tease in his voice.
"Easy enough, I suppose," Seokjin said under his breath. "Got a place in mind then?"
"You can pick, hyung."
"Okay."
After a beat, he realized that he'd forgotten to press the button for their floor. Seokjin leaned over and jammed his finger onto the eighth floor button, clearing his throat. A wet hand prodded him in the neck before latching onto the collar of his shirt.
"Play at the park, Daddy?" His son asked, shifting restlessly against his hip.
"Very soon, baby. Thank you for waiting like a good boy," he cooed, bouncing on the balls of his feet. They'd spent the better part of two hours for the grocery store trip, and Jungkook had either been in the cart or in his arms. He was still too little to walk next to him while they shopped. Seokjin had distracted him with a cookie at first but suspected they would need to get some play time in soon before his ball of energy exploded in miniature chaos or threw a tantrum.
"The community park, right?" Jimin shifted closer, the bags ruffling around his knees. "The playground there is pretty cute, with the frogs and fish themed stuff. Do you like frogs, Jungkookie?"
At his name, his son turned to look at Jimin before nodding.
"The swings have bugs on them too, don't they," he mused, his eyes crinkling the longer he watched Jungkook's serious consideration of the topic. "Dragonflies, butterflies, bees. Do you have a favorite?"
Jungkook fiddled with the zipper on his jacket as he thought about it. "Ladybug," he finally mumbled.
"Oh, you like ladybugs, huh? I should've guessed that from last time." Jimin grinned. He must be remembering the summer festival last week, when Jungkook had ladybugs painted all over his face. Seokjin was a little surprised he'd remembered. They had also made an impression, evidently. "They're nice, I like them too. Are there any at the park?"
Again, Jungkook considered it. He shook his head.
"I think there are some painted on the jungle gym, Kookie," Seokjin added, swinging in place a bit as the elevator approached the eighth floor. "Why don't we find them after we put the groceries up?"
His son's eyes brightened at the idea. "Yeah!"
Chuckling, Jimin waited for him to leave the elevator before following them down the hall. Normally Seokjin would feel more apprehension about letting a relative stranger know where he lived - though that rarely stopped him from ordering pizza or other delivery food, so maybe that was hypocritical of him - but Jimin seemed all right. He was a firefighter for one, a bonafide public servant and civil hero, and he was a friend of Min Yoongi, Hoseok's not-so-secret boyfriend. He also was both unreasonably attractive and possibly into him, so that worked in his favor.
Seokjin glanced over his shoulder as he unlocked the door. Jimin strode along the hallway with ease, as though the six bags dangling from his hands were empty rather than full of vegetables, milk and yogurt, a couple bags of rice, and bottles of sauce. Opening the door, Seokjin stepped in and held the door open for Jimin. "You can just set them down there," he said, pointing at the lip from the entryway to the hallway. "I'll carry the rest inside."
"Sure thing."
While Jimin carefully arranged the bags along the side of the hallway, Seokjin set Jungkook on the ground and snorted when his son immediately tottered down the hall, dark curls bouncing. When Jimin looked up curiously, he explained, "Probably off to get his butterfly net and magnifying glass. He's really into insects right now. I hope he grows out of it soon." He shuddered.
"Cute," Jimin said, grinning broadly. He stretched his arms over his head, his head bent back, and rolled his shoulders with a small moan.
Seokjin forced his gaze away from where Jimin's neatly tucked shirt had pulled tight over his stomach. Forgotten his name, he had - but one did not simply forget the sight of those chiseled abs outlined in devastating detail beneath a soaking wet shirt. He cleared his throat and said, fighting for casual, "Thanks for the help, Jimin. You lifted all that like it weighs nothing. Puts me to shame."
Jimin met his gaze before a smirk curled the corner of his mouth. "This? Gotta be able to throw a fully grown man over my shoulder, you know. In the line of duty, I mean," he added, licking over his bottom lip.
"Oh, really?" Seokjin swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. He tugged his coat from his shoulders, more for something to do, before realizing he'd have to put it right back on after they put the groceries up. Flustered, he ran a hand through his hair and turned back to Jimin. "Anyway, thanks again for carrying all this for me. I don't usually have to buy this much, and when I do, Namjoon comes with us. But he's working today, so I had to go solo or we'd starve."
Jimin waved it off. "Like I said, I'm happy to help. Call me whenever you need some heavy lifting," he added with a wink.
Oh. Seokjin felt something like a laugh and a scream get caught in his throat. Never had someone winked at him unironically before. That was usually his job. And it had never seemed as effective for him as it did for Jimin at this moment.
He summoned up a lifetime's worth of bravado and flirtation to reply, "I'll need a number, if I'm going to buy you a coffee or exploit you for manual labor."
Grinning, Jimin tugged his phone from his back pocket. They exchanged numbers. Seokjin found himself fighting off the impulse to invite Jimin to linger for a bit as he put up the groceries. Jungkook would be eager to head to the park soon, and he couldn't imagine that Jimin would want to join them for that, especially not out of the blue like this. Still, he felt a flicker of disappointment as he let Jimin out into the hallway.
"Nice to see you again, hyung," Jimin called, walking backwards toward the elevator. His eyes crinkled alongside his smile. "I'll text you about that coffee."
A little past his limit, Seokjin gave him a wave and an awkward thumbs-up before seeking refuge behind the door as mortification bathed his face in fire. He leaned against the wall and worked through it until a pattering of little footsteps returned from the back bedroom. Jungkook stood by the mountain of grocery bags, wearing a baseball cap and his backpack, bright green net in hand. A plastic magnifying glass was tucked precariously into the front pocket of his jacket.
"Daddy? Ready for park?"
Seokjin snorted to himself before he ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "Five minutes, Kookie, then we'll go. We can grab ice cream on the way."
"Yeah!"