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yoongi and hoseok spent months agonizing over the decision on whether to bring another child into the house. they spent hours going over how much more money they’d be likely to spend, how much sleep they’d be losing those first few months. they talked about whether they were willing to do it all over again.
in the end, that feeling in their chests won out all rational thoughts. maybe there were cons, but that one pro rang clear, brighter than all the others.
and to think that that was going to be the hardest - to convince themselves another baby was a good thing. it was nothing compared to getting jimin to accept his new sibling. mark, that was his name. they would have him from the second he was born, since the birth mom wanted to give him up right away. yoongi and hoseok realized how lucky they were. they were going to be the only parents mark ever knew.
jimin ,all five years old of him, is peeking over yoongi’s arms looking down at the new baby. jimin thinks he’s kind of ugly, and he has no hair, so he’s also bald. he doesn’t want an ugly, bald little brother. when he voiced his concerns to hoseok, his dad only laughed and patted his head.
the baby opens his eyes and stares at him. jimin glares back.
“jimin, stop glaring at mark,” yoongi chides.
right, mark. that’s his name. what a dumb name. jimin is much better.
“he’s ugly,” jimin states matter-of- factly. why did his parents have to choose the ugliest baby in the whole store?
“he’s a baby, jimin. you were ugly once, too.” yoongi bops his nose.
“nuh-uh, i was a cute baby.”
“sure,” yoongi rolls his eyes.
mark whimpers and yoongi’s focus goes back to the baby. jimin frowns. he also doesn’t like mark because he takes all of his parent’s attention. they don’t even play with him anymore, always busy with the baby.
“why did you pick an ugly one?” jimin hangs on yoongi’s forearms and looks at the baby again.
yep, still ugly.
“you don’t really get to choose, jimin.” yoongi sushes mark when he starts to fuss.
jimin watches yoongi hold the baby close and rock him. he feels something bubble up inside of him, like anger. he’s kind of upset that the baby gets to be hugged by yoongi; he wants to, too. he wants to crawl into yoongi’s arms and be rocked to sleep.
“i think he needs a nap, i’ll be right back jimin.”
jimin doesn’t like his ugly, bald little brother.
“do you want to hold him, min?”
jimin takes his attention away from the lego building he was making and looks up at hoseok. he has mark cradled in his arms, rocking on the balls of his feet.
jimin scrunches up his nose and stares at his building. then he stares up at the baby. then stares at the building.
the choice is obvious.
“nope, ‘m building.”
“aw, come on, don’t you want to hold your baby brother?”
not really, jimin thinks. he’d much rather build with his blocks and then knock it all down.
“no.”
“but he’s so cute.” hoseok squeals.
jimin misses when hoseok used to squeal at him like that.
“he’s ugly.” a sudden smell wafts into his nose and he cringes. “and smelly.”
“oh,” hoseok leans down and sniffs the baby’s butt (what is he doing? jimin wonders) “i think little buddy needs a change. isn’t that right baby?” hoseok talks in a baby voice, kissing mark’s face.
hoseok heads upstairs without saying bye to jimin.
stupid, smelly, bald baby.
“jimin, do you want to help me feed mark?”
jimin tried to say no, but yoongi was looking at him with those eyes, so he ended up being dragged onto the couch. yoongi put the baby in his arms (he’s heavy), and helped prop his head up so he could swallow.
jimin’s hand is starting to cramp from holding the bottle up in a certain angle. the baby is still drinking, making this weird sucking sound that jimin finds annoying.
“you’re such a good big brother, minnie.” yoongi pats his head and jimin smiles. if feeding the baby gets his dad to praise him, he’ll feed him every time.
finally, after a million years, mark stops drinking and the bottle is empty. yoongi takes it from him and leaves to put it in the sink.
jimin doesn’t know what to do. mark is looking up at him and won’t look away even when jimin frowns.
“stop looking at me, ugly.”
mark’s face scrunches up. jimin hopes he isn’t going to cry, because then his dad will get angry at him. he’s about to apologize when mark throws up all over him. it drips down his legs and seeps into his socks.
“EW!”
jimin tries to stand, and who cares if he drops mark? he just threw up all over him!
“jimin!” yoongi screams. suddenly he’s in front of the couch, pulling mark into his arms before he could tumble to the ground.
loud footsteps come echoing into the room.
“yoongi, are you alright? why are you yelling?”
“jimin almost dropped mark.” his eyes are glossy, kneeling on the floor with mark held close to his chest.
he’s very dramatic, in jimin’s opinion.
“jimin, was it an accident?” he shrinks under hoseok’s glare. daddy is much more scary than dad.
“he threw up on me!” he stomps his feet. “what a dumb baby!”
“he didn’t mean to,” yoongi says. finally, he stands up and mumbles about getting towels to wipe up the mess.
“do you want a timeout, huh?” hoseok scolds, “you can’t just throw your brother.”
jimin does end up getting a timeout. he stares at the blue wall and mumbles about stupid babies and throw up .
“what if we made a mistake?”
hoseok is shocked out of his almost-sleep by yoongi’s voice. he sounds small, timid, unlike most days.
“what do you mean?” hoseok wraps his arm tighter around yoongi.
“jimin isn’t being nice to mark, he doesn’t like him. what if he never will?” yoongi draws anxious patterns across hoseok’s chest.
“i think all kids take a little while to get used to new siblings. i’m sure it’ll blow over.”
he hopes so. he already loves mark, there’s no way he’s going back. mark is their son now, and so is jimin. he can’t lose either of them.
“i’m just scared.”
hoseok pulls yoongi up so they’re face to face. he kisses his forehead and snuggles him into his chest.
“don’t worry baby, everything will turn out fine.”
jimin sighs for the tenth time and rolls over in his bed. he shoves his pillow over his face to try and block out the cries. mark hasn’t stopped being loud for hours . it’s too early for this, it’s the weekend and the weekend means jimin can sleep until 8. but he can’t , not when mark is screaming and loud and won’t be quiet.
usually his parents make him stop crying, but for some reason they haven’t.
he closes his eyes and tries to fall back asleep. he’s dreaming of cars, and butterflies, and dragons. he’s about to be saved by daddy when -
mark cries again. he whines and sits up on his bed. he’s determined to make mark stop crying, no matter what. he climbs down from his bed and pushes open his door. he checks the hallway to make sure there’s no monsters, and once the coast is clear, trudges into mark’s room.
he’s kind of jealous that the baby gets cool animals on his walls, but whatever. jimin isn’t a stupid, smelly, bald baby unlike someone he knows.
the crying is ten times worse when he’s in the same room as mark. he holds his hands over his ears and goes over to the crib. he peeks through the bars at mark. he’s managed to kick off his blanket, and his pacifier is sitting on the mattress.
“shut up, baby.” jimin grumbles.
mark ignores him. how rude.
he tries to reach through the bars to get the pacifier. he comes up short, arms not long enough to make it. he huffs, then comes up with a great plan. he grabs onto the bars with his little hands and hauls himself up. he stands on the edge of the crib, using his arms to climb up the bars until he’s half-hanging into the crib.
“you’re so loud, mark.” jimin tries to lean down and grab the pacifier, but he feels himself nearly tipping into the crib so he pulls back.
he just stares down at mark with a frown. he’s still crying, and now jimin’s kind of stuck. he’s so high up, he might die if he tries to jump down.
there’s only one person who can save him now.
“DADDY!”
hoseok comes into the room like lightening. he looks scared, until he sees jimin half-hanging into mark’s crib. he relaxes and pulls jimin into his arms.
“what were you doing spiderman?”
“mark was being stupid and noisey. i had to get him to stop. i need to sleep, daddy.”
jimin lays his head on hoseok’s shoulder.
hoseok can’t help but hold jimin a little tighter.
“i want to be close to you, daddy!” jimin tries to roll over mark so he’s closer to hoseok.
yoongi grabs him around the waist to stop him.
“don’t roll over your brother.”
jimin whines but steps over a sleeping mark. he slams into hoseok’s chest and giggles at his daddy’s pained face.
“see, you both can be close to daddy.”
hoseok situates jimin on his chest and makes sure mark is safe, tucked under his arm.
“so can you.” he wiggles his brows and pulls yoongi close.
the elder huffs but lets hoseok hold him around the waist. he snuggles into his neck and slips his hand underneath his shirt.
“love you, seok.”
“love you too, baby.”
“i love you too!”
yoongi laughs. “what about mark?”
“he’s okay, even though he’s bald and ugly.”
“jimin!”