Chapter Text
"Yo!"
"What do you want, Kim Taehyung?" Yoongi grumbled into the phone, voice thick with sleep as he rubbed his face sleepily. It had been a wonderful nap after the usual hectic day at work before his much needed sleep was interrupted. "Aren't you supposed to be on a dinner date right now? Did it turn into a disaster?"
"Dude! Don't jinx it!" Taehyung huffed. "Anyway, i'm just calling to brag because guess what! Hoseok prepared a freaking candlelight dinner for our third! A candlelight dinner on the rooftop of--" there was a short pause. "What’s the name of this place, babe?" And he could hear a distant voice yelling something about asshole husband, followed by a laugh that rumbled through the speaker, deep and vibrant. "Anyway, isn't my Hoseok one hell of a romantic guy, Yoongi? Are you jealous yet?" And Yoongi could already picture the hearts shooting out of Taehyung's eyes. He rolled his eyes as he sat up on the bed, but there was a fond smile on his face.
"You cheesy old fuckers," Yoongi muttered albeit grinning. "Did you guys drink though? I know you're celebrating and all but you still need to pick Areum up from Jimin's place."
Taehyung moaned. "You're no fun, doc," he grumbled and he could hear a telltale of drunk Taehyung and Yoongi silently groaned.
"Anyway, if you're calling me just to brag about your love life please just hang up."
He ended the call even before the other could let a word out.
***
The familiar ringtone of his phone blasted through the speaker and he sprang up in surprise, his head throbbed from the abrupt motion. Grumbling, Yoongi blindly searched for his phone.
With eyes half closed, he looked at the screen before he gruffly answered, "It's fucking midnight, Jung Hoseok. What do you--"
"Are you a friend of Mr. Jung Hoseok?" It was an unfamiliar voice. And the formality of the question made his blood slowly turning cold. There was a feeling of dread creeping up his neck and he didn't like it. Not one bit.
"Yes," he answered slowly and unsurely. The words that rung in the speaker made his blood drained out completely. Gone was the sleep in his body; replaced by sheer terror. It was as if a large bucket of ice was poured down on him making his brain froze to death.
"What?" he blurted in the middle of trying to make sense of every word. The same voice repeated the words over again and it was then that it finally sunk down on him, the start of tears welling up his eyes.
He rushed to the station with a broken heart, crushed into million pieces. When he arrived, Yoongi was breathless and his eyes were swollen red.
"Is it true? Are they truly--" he swallowed, his heart hammering in his chest. "Are they really-- gone?" he couldn't so much as breathe the word out because he knew. He knew the moment he spoke of it that it would come true; that they were never coming back. They were gone for good. And he could not accept that – couldn't accept the fact that he's not going to see them anymore, not going to hear their voices again.
Car crashed. Flipped. Instant death.
He could feel tears running down his face and he didn't think it'd ever stop.
"Yoongi," Jungkook arrived with dried tears streak on his face, eyes swollen and cheeks red; the remnant of what might be a quick riddance of his vulnerable side.
They looked at each other wordlessly and in that moment they knew that their walls had crumbled. Even if they tried to deny the truth, it would just come knocking on their door, the painful reality slapping them right on the face. Even if they tried so hard to put a strong front they knew it was useless.
So in the silence of the night, Jungkook pulled Yoongi into a warm embrace and they cried and continued to cry until there were no tears left.
***
"Thank you, Jimin," Yoongi said as he took a hold of the baby. He managed a small smile, albeit it came out a little strained around the edges.
The baby was soundly asleep on his chest, unaware of the palpable tension seeping out of his body. Behind him, Jungkook stood stiffly with his eyes trained on the ground.
"No worries, she's a good kid," Jimin smiled. Jimin was the couple -- his friends' neighbour and the one person (after Hoseok and Taehyung, and probably Yoongi) who was ever enthusiastic when it comes to caring for Areum. His gaze lingered on the baby as he bit his lip before he looked up at Yoongi. "I'm sorry for-- i'm sorry it happened," he apologised.
He looked truly apologetic and Yoongi was grateful, really, but he didn't need some bullshit to console him. He'd much rather go home, put Areum in her nice comfortable bed and just sleep everything off. Maybe when he woke up later everything would come back to normal; his friends would be alive and well. They would greet his morning with boisterous laughs and annoying smiles and everything that happened would turn out to be just a nightmare.
***
"You can sleep in my room," Yoongi offered tiredly, carefully putting the blanket over the baby and patting her head. A glance at the clock told him it was almost four in the morning. He cursed under his breath.
They had somehow come back to Yoongi's house together in an unspoken agreement. Yoongi had made a makeshift bed for the baby in his living room and had pulled a blanket and a pillow for himself on the couch.
"No, it's okay--"
Yoongi groaned. "Jungkook, please, I don't want to argue right now. It's late. I'm tired, you're tired and we both need sleep. Just sleep in my room, it's not a big deal."
Jungkook agreed reluctantly.
***
"Yoongi!" When the said man didn't budge Jungkook repeated with a little shake on his arm. Yoongi woke with a startle.
"What?" Yoongi groaned, rubbing the tiredness off his face. He shook his head to let his hair fall into place as he tried really hard to open his eyes. He realized as a second ticked by that, there were no annoying smiles and boisterous laughs welcoming him in the morning. In fact there was no sound at all. Just quietness. Suffocating silence that could choke him to death if he didn't so much as swallow the growing lump in his throat and allowed himself to focus on the voices around him. Jungkook's voice.
"Their lawyer called. He's coming over at ten," Jungkook informed.
Yoongi took a deep breath and exhaled. The nerves slowly uncurled and when Yoongi looked up the first thing he noticed was that Jungkook looked sleep deprived and he looked just as lost as Yoongi was. But Jungkook looked a little, if not a lot better than when they had went to sleep; and he looked far from just being woken up. His black hair not sticking out in different directions, the tiredness had gone from his face. His eyes wandered to the clock and he frowned. There was only an hour left.
"When did he call?" Yoongi asked.
"About half an hour ago," Jungkook answered hesitantly. "You looked tired so I didn't want to wake you up," he defended quickly when Yoongi glared.
Yoongi sighed as he stood up. He took Areum from her makeshift bed, the little one's face scrunched up from having been woken up. He bounced her instinctively, the motion gradually calming the baby. He then looked at the other man, unamused.
"You could've just been selfish and woke me up. How the hell am I going to wash up, change her and make food in an hour?" Yoongi complained.
"I made food," Jungkook shrugged. He looked a little wary, as if afraid that Yoongi would berate him for invading his privacy.
Yoongi dismissed it with a little smile.
Areum was then changed into a fresh cloth, a cute pink tee and floral patterned pants; he had bought the clothes last week in a whim but hadn't had the chance to give them yet. Least to say, changing diaper was a battle between life and death. Yoongi had yet to master the art of diaper-changing without getting poop on his hands or face being sprayed with urine. As he went to put the baby on the carpeted floor in the living room, he noticed Areum's bottle filled with milk.
"Did you make this?" asked Yoongi.
"I did," Jungkook replied as he put down their food on the coffee table.
"Great! You should probably write the formula down somewhere so I won't forget."
"Sure."
Yoongi helped the little one drank her milk before he went to shower. When he came out, he was already freshly showered, blond hair still wet but nevertheless he felt better than he had been the night before. He opened the fridge and was pleasantly surprised to see it was almost full. "I don't remember having these things in my fridge," Yoongi commented, his brows lost under his fringe.
"Went out for a jog then stopped by the mart," Jungkook replied deliberately. "I hope you don't mind."
Yoongi shrugged. "As long as I won't starve to death, sure."
He was also a little taken aback to find out that Jungkook had made baby's food. Areum made grabby hands toward Yoongi with a gurgle. "Oh sorry, baby girl," the man apologised with a chuckle. He scooped the baby's food with her little spoon and fed the baby, who in return bounced in glee.
"You should be her food maker or something. I really suck in the kitchen, which I think you have figured out by now," Yoongi said without looking. He was busy feeding the baby and eating his own breakfast that he didn't notice Jungkook had shrunk in his seat.
***
"In preparing their will in the unlikely event that they should both die, they had named both of you as their replacements for Areum's guardianship."
"What?" Yoongi screeched in disbelief. His eyes widened as he looked back and forth between the lawyer and Jungkook.
"Are you sure? There must be a mistake," Jungkook squeaked. He looked as if the wind had knocked him off.
"I know it’s a lot to take in. Believe me, I had advised them against this but, as it is, they had named both of you. Of course it is only applicable if either or both parties are willing to take the responsibility, because this is a big commitment. The life of a baby. But fear not, there are other options--"
"What options?" Yoongi promptly questioned.
"There is their next of kin," the lawyer listed, looking at the men across him with practiced calmness.
Yoongi scoffed. "Their parents never even agreed to their relationship, let alone accept the baby as their granddaughter so they're definitely out of the question," he stated rather harshly, anger bubbling up inside him when he remembered that one night his friend had broken down.
He remembered the time Hoseok had called him; a sobbing mess. He had told him everything; that his parents had deemed he was unworthy of the family. That the moment he chose to pursue his relationship he was no longer welcome into the family, into what he used to call home and Yoongi had come and embraced him. Let him cry into his shoulder until he couldn't cry anymore; until he fell asleep with dried tears on his face. His shoulder had felt limp with the weight then but he couldn't care less.
"What about Hoseok's sister?" Jungkook suggested, looking a little hopeful.
"She's not even in the country right now," Yoongi replied, almost rolling his eyes.
"There's another option," the lawyer continued on. "We could put her under a child protective service until--"
Yoongi held up a hand instantaneously. "That is a definite no."
"But--"
Yoongi huffed frustratingly. "I won't let her be in the care of strangers, what the hell! She's better off under our care if that's the only option you have."
The lawyer straightened. "Well, that settles it then--"
"Wait! Wait." Two pairs of eyes turned to him and Jungkook swallowed. "I never agreed to anything yet. Don't I have a say in this?"
Yoongi turned to look at the other as he questioned, "What do you suggest?"
"What if, hypothetically speaking," said Jungkook carefully, avoiding Yoongi's eyes. "What if I don't want to honour their will?"
"It's not going to be a problem," the lawyer answered. "Like I mentioned, there are other options--"
Yoongi's nose flared. "It doesn't have to be the both of us right? It could just be one of us. If Jungkook wants to back out, I could still take care of her myself."
"I'm not backing out. I just--" need time, was the unspoken words. Jungkook should've just confronted Yoongi with the truth. That he has yet to fully convince himself that he could actually take care of the girl -- both physically and financially. That if he could so much as actually do a great job at being a good guardian to the child.
He thought back to how he had grown up to be a strong man despite everything. Despite being left at a children's home at the tender age of one, not knowing who his parents were. Clearly, he never wanted Areum to grow up without someone showering her the love she deserved. Her parents, Hoseok and Taehyung -- god, Hoseok and Taehyung were probably the most wonderful parents, the most wonderful people that he had the bless of knowing. He had seen the way they pampered their little one, the way they looked at her with so much love in their eyes. The way their eyes welled up with tears of joy at all the first times since Areum.
And then there was also Yoongi. Min Yoongi. The one man that was always there through thick and thin. Jungkook had seen first-hand, the way the man always masked his emotions with nonchalance. He had seen the way his body had radiated with happiness as he watched the little family; eyes loving and mouth curling. And the way he would sit the little one on his lap, bouncing her up and down and the way he would sometimes cradle her in his arms, peppering kisses all over the baby’s face when he thought no one was looking his way. But Jungkook was always looking. Always watching him be the man that he claimed himself not to be. But that was it-- that was the only thing Jungkook could ever do. He could only watch from afar, with a smile on his face, because he was scared to be close to the little one. Afraid that if he so much as holds her, she would break. If he so much as stand near her she could feel the fear in him that he tried so hard to conceal. So he chose to look from a distance if it meant he wouldn't lose the only people that ever looked at him with nothing but empathy; even if they're now gone.
"I'm sorry," said Jungkook instead.