Work Text:
Seokjin was organizing documents on their home office when he found the first formularies he and Namjoon had filled when they started the process to adopt children.
Namjoon had been so nervous to bring the matter up for the first time after they were married. When they were dating, they had talked about children, if they wanted them or not, but at that time, it was only a very distant dream.
After they got married, they took the time to enjoy their new status. But deep down in his heart, Seokjin knew Namjoon would bring the matter up one day again, and he quietly prepared himself for it, because all he wanted was to make his husband happy, and Seokjin knew Namjoon was made to be a father. About himself, he had doubts.
Now that they were parents for a bit more than 2 years, Seokjin couldn’t be happier. However, he would never forget how emotionally tiring the process was. It had taken them several months to be able to adopt the boys. Six months of endless, repetitive, interviews with social workers, psychologists, directors of orphanages… Seokjin and Namjoon even met school principals, because they wanted to adopt a kid in school age, so they needed to decide where their kid would study too. All of that before thinking of meeting the children to choose one.
To say they were overwhelmed at the time was an understatement. And now, remembering everything, Seokjin was overwhelmed again. Thankfully he was alone at home and could take his time to remember and recover from the rush of emotions that were running through him. So he sat at the office chair and stared at the documents in his hands.
—
Namjoon was sat on a chair in the waiting area of the orphanage while Seokjin paced around. They were waiting for the social worker that would lead them to meet the kids when a little boy ran in their direction, - crying and screaming that he wouldn’t go - crashing into Jin’s legs. The child would have fallen back if Seokjin didn’t have reacted quickly and grabbed him.
“Please don’t take me there! Don’t take me there!” The little boy cried to Seokjin.
Namjoon got up, thinking of approaching them to help his husband, but Seokjin had already kneeled to be at the same height as the boy.
“I don’t know where anyone is trying to take you to, but I’m not here to do it.” He spoke calmly.
A worker appeared at the end of the hall they were, walking fast.
“Jimin, you have to go!”
The boy looked behind him and back to the man that was holding him, new tears streaming down his face.
“Please, help me? Please? I hate it, don’t let them take me!”
“What do you hate? Where they want to take you to?” Seokjin was nervous, but he felt like he needed to help the little boy, so he tried to keep himself together.
“H-h-hospital.” The child sobbed.
At that moment, the worker reached them and stretched his hand to hold Jimin, and the social worker the couple was waiting arrived too. As soon as the kid felt a hand on his shoulder, he screamed and hugged Seokjin, that hugged him back in reflex.
“What is going on here?” Bo Young, the social worker, asked.
“Jimin is being insubordinate again.” The worker huffed, impatient.
“I’m sorry, what I saw was this child running desperately from something he doesn’t want to do and he is clearly distressed because of it.” Namjoon intervened in a calm tone, after getting up.
“He is sobbing and trembling. I don’t know him, but I don’t think this is a kid being insubordinate.” Seokjin’s tone was a bit angry, while his hand steadily caressed the boy’s back, trying to calm him.
Bo Young bowed a bit and caressed the boy’s hair, which made him look at her.
“Miss Bo Young, don’t make me go, please?”
She smiled at him before straightening up and looking at the worker.
“Where do you want to take Jimin, Si Dae?”
“To the hospital. It’s check-up day. The kids scheduled to go today are already on the car, he is the only one being a brat.”
“I am the social worker in charge of Jimin and I wasn’t informed of this, so you can take the other children as you planned, I’ll take care of him.”
“But-”
“You also know very well that Jimin has special needs regarding check-ups, so you have no rights of calling him “brat” because of his current behavior.”
“Bullshit.”
“You can go, Si Dae.” Bo Young’s tone was ice cold. “And I will report all this situation.”
The worker looked at her with annoyance all over his face, but she kept her firm stance and saw him give up and walk away. Only when he couldn’t be seen anymore, Bo Young turned back to the couple and the boy.
“I’m sorry you had to see this. If you follow me to my office I can explain what happened.” Namjoon and Seokjin nodded. She caressed the boy’s hair again. “You can let go of Mr. Seokjin now, Jiminie, you aren’t going to the hospital, okay?”
Seokjin felt him nod, but his hold on him didn’t relax.
“Can I take him with us? Until he calms down, at least?”
“Sure.” Bo Young was a bit surprised, but she was also concerned with him, so she didn’t mind.
Namjoon helped Seokjin get up with the boy in his arms and they followed the social worker to her office. There they sat on a couch, while she took a glass of water for the kid. Jin made him unlock his arms from his neck so he could drink the water. Namjoon looked fondly at them, before giving his attention to the social worker.
“Can you tell us his story?”
Bo Young nodded, smiling.
“His name is Park Jimin and he is six years old. He lives here since he was almost three years old.” The boy looked at her, then at the two men, making all of them be quiet.
“Are you here to adopt someone?” His tears had finally stopped, making Jin’s heart less tight.
“We are.” Namjoon answered him directly, smiling at him and showing a bit of his dimples. Jimin looked straight to them, mesmerized.
Bo Young tried to hold back a smile. Since the first time she talked with the Kim couple, she felt like they were good people and she always wished for Jimin to find a nice family to love him, but she knew how hard that would be, because he was getting older, and most couples don’t want older kids. If the Kims fell for Jimin, and him for them, she would be happy.
Seokjin noticed and giggled. He poked one of them, startling Jimin. “Do you like Namjoonie’s dimples?”
“Y-yes.”
“I understand you. I love them.”
That made something click on Jimin’s mind. He turned to Bo Young to give her the glass he was still holding and got off Jin’s lap. Once standing, Jimin bowed deeply in front of the couple.
“I’m sorry for the scene I caused.” He turned to the social worker and did the same. “I’m sorry too, miss Bo Young.”
“You’re forgiven, Jimin.” She smiled.
“Don’t worry, kid, I cause scenes worst than that at least once a week.” Jin laughed. “By the way, I’m Kim Seokjin, and this is Kim Namjoon.”
“Hello, Jimin.”
The boy didn’t know how to react, not a lot of people had introduced themselves to him all the time he was waiting to be adopted. He looked at Bo Young, looking for guidance.
“The Kims are here for their first visit to meet children, Jimin. They are looking for someone to be their child.”
“Oh, we have a lot of nice kids here, I hope you choose one and you all can be happy.”
Namjoon’s heart clenched. Jimin talked like he had lost hope of having a family.
“Are you not included?”
“What?”
“Joonie.” Seokjin shook his head. “What Namjoon tried to ask was if you want to be adopted, Jimin?”
“Oh!” Jimin was shocked. “I-I do, b-but people don’t want big kids.”
"We do." Namjoon said, simply.
Seokjin spared a glance at Bo Young and saw that she didn't seem concerned about that conversation, in fact, she caught him looking at her and smiled nodding, like telling them to go on.
"Yes, we even chose a school for our kid to attend already. Do you like to study, Jimin?"
"I don't mind." The boy spoke before he realized that wasn't the better answer to impress potential parents.
"That's a good answer!" Seokjin said right away. "Of course that wouldn't be your favorite thing to do. I agree, studying is not that bad, but not that good either."
Jimin giggled.
"I liked to study. I still do." Namjoon said, bewildered.
"You're a special case, Joonie." Jin said, patting his hand. "He is a genius." He said to Jimin.
"Oh!"
"Jinie is being silly, ignore him, Jimin."
"I am not, Mr. 148 IQ points!"
"We should be talking with Jimin about him, to know him, and not bickering." Namjoon turned to Seokjin, sighing.
"He needs to know us too, so why should I restrain myself from doing something I love, like bickering with you, in front of him?"
Jimin tried to stop a bubbly laugh with his hand over his mouth. Even Bo Young coughed over one of her own, finally remembering Seokjin he was under observation.
"Should I say I'm sorry, miss Bo Young?"
"No, it's okay." She tried to compose her face. "Jimin, why don't you go to the bathroom to wash your face?"
The boy knew she was referring to the tears he had shed, but also that she wanted to talk privately with the couple, so he nodded and left. The couple looked at her with confused looks.
"I can call him again after we talk." They nodded. "I can see you liked Jimin, but I need to know if you want to meet the other kids before deciding who you want to know better to lately adopt. Please, think before answering, I don't like to let the kids have false hope.” She sighed. “The truth is some colleagues don't mind when the people they are guiding interact with a lot of the kids, but I do because these interactions create expectations that are often unreal, so I try to restrict interactions to a few to one kid, to see if there is real compatibility and to avoid giving the kids false hopes just to see them crashed in the end."
"We understand." Namjoon agreed.
“Can you give us a couple of minutes to talk privately?” Seokjin asked.
“Sure! I’ll wait outside, just open the door when you’re finished.” Bo Young stood up and left, closing the door behind her back.
Seokjin and Namjoon looked at each other. The later was the one to speak up first.
“Miss Bo Young has a valid point. We can’t decide it lightly, on the spur of the moment.”
“I know. Let’s see…” Seokjin sighed. “We had already decided that we wanted an older child, exactly because we know they suffer more since most people want babies.”
“Yes.”
“We aren’t adamant about the child being a boy or a girl, because what we want is a real connection.” Namjoon nodded. “But we were also slightly inclined to look more for boys because we both think we would adjust better with a boy than a girl.”
“Shame on us for thinking that, but yes.”
“Yeah… So, Jimin fits what we were thinking.”
“He does. And he seems like a sweet boy. When he talked about the other kids like he wasn’t a possible choice it broke my heart, and he is only six.”
“I know.” Seokjin held Namjoon’s hand. “I’m a bit concerned about why he hates hospitals.”
“Me too. He probably has a trauma. Should we ask him?”
“I think we should ask to miss Bo Young first. But before everything, we need to decide if we really want to know Jimin better.”
“You defended him pretty well earlier. I was ready to intervene, but you did just fine.” Namjoon smiled at his husband, proud. “I know you still have doubts if you will be a good parent or not, but I don’t have, I know you will. Besides, every parent has doubts about how to raise children.”
“He was so distressed I had to help him. Also, I think that guy doesn’t like him. And I don’t like that guy.”
Namjoon giggled.
“I didn’t like him either. He probably thinks children cry or show distress and panic just to get attention.”
“He shouldn’t work with kids, then.”
“True, but we are getting off the point.”
“It’s true. Let’s get back to what is important: is Jimin the boy for us or not?”
They got quiet and stared at each other like they were searching for the answer in the other’s eyes, but they were actually thinking, trying to separate immediate feelings of helping a distressed boy from the actual sensation of thinking of him as their son.
A couple of minutes later, Seokjin spoke.
“It’s him.”
“Yes. It’s him.” Namjoon agreed and hugged Seokjin.
They spent another minute calming down from the rush of emotion they felt for deciding who they wanted to be their son, to be part of their family. Then Namjoon got up and opened the door. Bo Young smiled at him and got into the room again. They sat.
“So?” She asked.
“We want Jimin.” Seokjin said.
“Okay. Let me tell you how we will proceed for now on.” The couple nodded. “First you will have supervised visitations here to know each other, this going well, we can arrange outings, including him visiting your house. Only after I see you’re going to be a good fit with him, we can conclude the process.”
“How long is all of this?” Namjoon asked.
“Between one and two months, usually. Sometimes it takes more time, sometimes less. It isn’t the amount of visits that define the time, it’s the growth of the relationship between the applicant and the child.”
“And you will be the judge of it, of us?” Seokjin inquired.
“Yes. I like to think I’m a fair judge of it, and I have experience. I have been working here for five years and most of my cases are successes. Also, I know Jimin well enough to know that he wouldn’t throw himself into a total stranger if he didn’t get a good feeling from you, even being so distressed.”
“Oh.” Seokjin gasped.
“He let you calm him down. That says a lot to me. Once, a visitor caught him running, in a similar situation, tried to calm him down, but as soon as I approached Jimin threw himself into my arms. Later we didn’t let that visitor adopt anyone, the social worker responsible for her didn’t think her fit to foster a child.”
Almost a minute passed in silence.
“Why is Jimin so terrified of hospitals?” Namjoon remembered to ask.
“He was involved in a car accident where he lost his parents. He doesn’t remember the accident, but he remembers being in a big hospital, the scary environment of such place, seeing his parents being admitted for treatment, and not getting out of it, all the while he was there alone. He came from the hospital directly to the orphanage. It was a huge trauma for a boy 3 years old.”
Seokjin held Namjoon’s hand tightly, both their eyes filling with tears they didn’t shed, hearts heavy in their chests.
“How do you suggest we deal with this? Does he talk about the accident? Do we need to talk to him about it? And where do we take him if he needs a doctor?” Seokjin blurted out.
“When we tell him you want to adopt him, I’ll tell him I told you about his past, I don’t think he will want to talk about the accident, he usually doesn’t, but you can let him know that if he wants to talk about it, he can.” They nodded, taking the advice very seriously. “About the doctor, I suggest for you to look for small clinics, he deals with it better, and always try to explain to him and prepare him before taking him to one.
“Okay, we will do our search. Do you think we should take him to a psychologist?” Seokjin continued.
“To treat his trauma?”
“And to deal with life in general.” Namjoon said. “He is facing a new change in his life, one that I don’t think he expected to happen anymore, based on the way he spoke earlier. And we are open supporters of therapy.”
Bo Young smiled at them. “I think it would be good for him.” She took a deep breath, happy with the way things were going. “Do you have any more questions?”
“Can we see Jimin again and tell him that we want to adopt him?” Seokjin asked.
“Sure. I’ll bring him here.”
That day they spent an hour with Jimin. In the next two weeks, they tried to visit him every day, going together or alone. Then they took him out, to the zoo, to parks, to an amusement park, always accompanied by Bo Young. She was attentive and quiet, not interfering in their talks, just observing.
By the end of the month, Seokjin and Namjoon took Jimin and Bo Young to their apartment. Namjoon was showing Jimin his bonsais when Jin approached Bo Young with a glass of juice for her.
“We found a small clinic here in the neighborhood, well recommended, and we met the doctor. Doctor Seo Joon is very approachable, so I think we won’t have problems with it. Namjoon also received a referral from a pediatric therapist, doctor Hyung Sik, and we will meet him next week.”
“You are really trying to be ahead of everything, hum?” She giggled.
“I try.” He giggled too. “We just want to be ready for things that we can expect. Our son would need a school, so we found one that we liked. He will get sick eventually, so we can already have a doctor in mind to take him if needed, and we want him to grow healthy mentally too, so if we can and he accepts to treat his trauma, we will provide the means to it.”
“I’ll hand over my report to the adoption center tomorrow. Get ready to have Jimin with you soon.”
“Really?” Seokjin was choked up with happiness.
“Yes.” She smiled at him.
“Thank you.”
Seokjin bowed to her and went to his husband and soon-to-be son, hugging them. But he didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to jinx it.
It took two weeks to finish the process and for Seokjin and Namjoon to be able to take Jimin home definitely. During that time, a new child arrived at the orphanage and the boy was all Jimin could talk about, besides being happy about going home with his new parents.
When the couple arrived at the orphanage to take Jimin, Bo Young was waiting for them at the front door.
“I came here to say, away from prying ears, that I am very happy you are taking Jimin with you, I really think you will love him endlessly and he deserves to have a loving family.”
“Thank you, miss Bo Young.” Namjoon said for them both.
“I’ll be visiting you in a month or so for the follow-up. Let’s get Jimin?”
“Sure!” Seokjin was excited. “Miss Bo Young, who is this Taehyung boy that Jiminie can’t stop talking about?”
“Oh, Kim Taehyung. He arrived here the day we went to your house. He is six years old too, a few months younger than Jimin. That night, Jimin found him crying, hiding in a closet, because some older kids were bugging him, and they have been close since then.”
“Why were they bugging him?” Seokjin was already mad at the other kids.
“He was transferred from another orphanage, apparently he is weird and doesn’t get well with others. I’m in charge of him and I disagree completely. He just lost his grandma, that was the person who raised him, he has no other relatives, so I’m sure he was just scared and sad.” The couple could notice that Bo Young wasn’t happy about how the boy had been treated so far. “I won’t lie, he has some peculiar ideas sometimes, but he is the sweetest kid. After Jimin took to himself the task to make Taehyung feel welcome, he got along with the other kids around his age quite well.”
“Jiminie is an angel.” Namjoon said, softly.
“He is.” The social worker agreed. “And there they are. Jiminie!”
Jimin turned as he heard his name being called and ran to hug Seokjin and Namjoon.
“Dads!” Jimin had asked if he could call them like that as soon as Bo Young assured him they would be his family. “You need to meet TaeTae!” He was already pulling Seokjin and Namjoon with him.
The other boy was frozen in place. He was taller than Jimin and had a beautiful face, that was transparent in showing his nervousness.
“TaeTae, these are my new dads, Seokjin and Namjoon. Dads, this is TaeTae, my best friend in the whole world!”
They crouched to be at the boy’s height and greeted him. He bowed deeply to them.
“Can you bring me here to visit TaeTae, dads? And when he is adopted we can visit him too, right?”
“S-sure.” Namjoon answered. “We can work the visits with miss Bo Young.” He looked at the social worker and she nodded, but he could see she had concerns.
“Dad, TaeTae wanted to see your little plants, can we show them to him?”
“Yeah, I have a few pictures here.” He sat on the floor and took his cell phone out, opening the gallery. Taehyung approached him shyly.
Seokjin had also seen the concerned look in Bo Young’s face, so he stood up and approached her after messing Jimin’s hair.
“We can’t bring him here after today?” He murmured.
“No, no. You can. He can visit here. But if Taehyung is adopted I can’t guarantee visits, it will depend on the family that takes him in.”
“Can we not burst Jimin’s happy bubble today?”
“Sure! I don’t want to make him sad, especially today.”
“Do you think Taehyung will be adopted soon?”
“I can’t say. We don’t have scheduled visits for the next few weeks and I don’t think he is ready yet unless he really likes the people who want to adopt him, but if someone comes I can’t hide him.”
“I understand.” Seokjin sighed. A thought was growing in his mind, but he would analyze it later, not now. “Can we stay here for a while, talk to him?”
“Yes, no problem. I’ll be around to see you going with Jimin.”
“Thank you.”
They ended up spending almost two hours at the orphanage. Taehyung was a sweet and smart kid. After being quiet for a while, he started to feel comfortable with them, with the help of Jimin, and talked a lot. But didn’t scape to Seokjin’s senses the sadness that was under his bubbly facade. That kid needed love.
It was now night, he and Namjoon had just put Jimin to sleep and were laying in bed, resting.
“You usually use this with me, but today is my turn: I can hear you thinking from here, Jinie. What are you thinking so hard about?”
“Taehyung.”
“Oh!” Namjoon raised himself on his elbow, to look at Seokjin. “I saw you talking with miss Bo Young after Jimin said he wanted to visit him even after adoption. What did she say?”
“She said she can’t guarantee that he will be able to visit Taehyung if he is adopted because it depends on the family that will have him.”
“That would break their hearts.”
“My heart ripped only of thinking about it.”
Seokjin looked into Namjoon’s eyes. The later caressed his face, smiling sweetly.
“What do you want to do about it, then?”
“Would you think I am too crazy if I say I thought about adopting Taehyung?”
“So soon? I don’t know if the adoption center will allow it. But we could ask miss Bo Young when we take Jimin to visit him.”
Seokjin grabbed Namjoon’s hand that was over his chest and sat, almost bumping their heads due to their closeness.
“Would you do it? Would you adopt a second child so soon?”
“With you? Of course!”
“Are you serious, Namjoon? I know that at first, I was the one having doubts about adopting even one kid, but now I am being very serious.”
“I’m serious. Taehyung touched my heart too. We won’t take Jimin to the orphanage tomorrow or the next day, none of us can. Why don’t we take this time to think more about it? It will help that we will have to start our new daily routine with Jimin. We use this time to think and on the day we take Jimin to the orphanage, we talk again, and if we are certain, we talk to miss Bo Young. What do you think?”
“You’re right. Let’s think deeply about it.”
Namjoon kissed him and laid down at his side, snuggling with Seokjin. They fell asleep like that.
Four days passed before they could return to the orphanage. Jimin was settling pretty well at home, but he missed Taehyung. He didn’t talk about it much, because he didn’t want to make his parents think he wasn’t happy there, but he was missing his TaeTae a lot.
Bo Young was waiting for them at the door again and Jimin ran to hug her as soon as Namjoon let his hand go after they crossed the street. Seokjin was by his side and murmured to him.
“Jiminie is missing Taehyung a lot.”
“I noticed. He doesn’t talk much about him, but when he does I can see it.” Namjoon looked at Jin. “Did you decide?”
“I did. You?”
“I want him too.”
“Me too. We will talk with miss Bo Young later.” Seokjin concluded when they approached her.
She greeted them and they entered the building. Taehyung was at one of the small playrooms, alone. Jimin ran and threw himself on him, scaring Taehyung and making him scream, but seconds later he was laughing and hugging Jimin back.
Seokjin and Namjoon smiled at that. The boys came to them so the younger could greet Jimin’s parents and that was when Seokjin noticed a red spot on Taehyung’s forehead. He passed his hand on the boy’s hair, taking it away to see better.
“What happened here?” He asked lightly.
Bo Young paid attention because she hadn’t noticed that before. Jimin also looked at his friend’s head attentively. Namjoon observed too.
“It’s nothing, sir.” Taehyung put his hand over the redness.
“Did you bump your head, TaeTae?” Jimin asked.
“No.” He answered with just one small word, but his voice trembled anyway.
Seokjin sat on the floor and pulled the boy to his lap, hugging him.
“It’s okay. Everything is okay, you aren’t in trouble. If you bumped your head you can tell us. If anything else happened, you can tell too, Taehyung. We are just concerned if you are hurt.”
Jimin sat close to him, also in Seokjin’s lap.
“Tell me, TaeTae? Is it hurting? What happened?”
Taehyung hid his face in the crock of Seokjin’s neck. Namjoon caressed his head, sitting on the floor by their side. Bo Young kneeled and put her hand on Taehyung’s shoulder.
“Taehyung, please, tell us what happened so I can take better care of you, honey.”
The boy shook his head. Seokjin hugged Jimin too so he could be closer to his friend and said, only moving his lips.
“Ask him again.”
Jimin hugged Taehyung.
“TaeTae, did one of the older boys do this to you?”
Seokjin felt his shirt start to get wet and looked at the other adults there, concerned.
“TaeTae, if you don’t tell anything, miss Bo Young can’t help. Let her help you. She can protect you.”
He finally nodded and raised his head.
“I don’t want to say his name, but he is much older and he gives a flick in my head every time he sees me.”
“I’ll fight him! Show me who he is!”
“No one is gonna fight no one, Jiminie.” Namjoon said, then caressed Taehyung’s face, wiping some of his tears. “I’m sorry this is happening to you, Taehyungie. If you tell his name to us, miss Bo Young can do something, hum? He is the one doing the wrong things, not you.”
“If you are afraid of him, it’s okay, Taehyung, I’ll observe the boys closely and find for myself. I only ask for you to promise me that you will tell me every time something like this happens, can you do that?”
“Yes, miss Bo Young.” He said, wiping the rest of his tears.
“Thank you.”
“Jiminie, take Taehyung to wash his face, drink some water, then you come back here to play, okay?”
“Okay, dad Namjoon.” He got up and took Taehyung’s hand in his. “Let’s go, TaeTae, I have a surprise to give to you later.”
The adults watched the kids go away.
“Jiminie wanted to bring a gift for Taehyung, we advised he should choose something that he could share with the other kids, so he chose popsicles. I hope we didn’t do anything wrong.” Namjoon said.
“No, it’s okay. The kids will love the treat.”
“Miss Bo Young, we want to ask you something?” Seokjin asked, very serious.
“Okay.”
“How long does it take for the adoption center to allow a couple to adopt again?”
“Oh!” Bo Young was astonished. “It varies. They usually like to see the first kid well settled, before allowing a second adoption. Can I ask why?”
“Jimin loves Taehyung. When we came to take him home and you said they could lose touch after Taehyung was adopted, that made me think, that made us both think deeply.”
“Also Taehyung’s story and the fact that he is not adapting here and what you said about the reason he was transferred from another facility.” Namjoon completed. “Besides that, I’m an only son and I always said to Jinnie that I wanted to have at least two children, so they could be friends with each other and always have someone by their side.”
“Yes. You talked to us during the process to adopt Jimin and I won’t lie because you know it, I had my doubts about having children, but I don’t have anymore. I love Jimin with all my heart, I would give my life for his.” Bo Young nodded to Seokjin. “We thought a lot during these days, we talked. Not with Jimin, not yet, we didn’t want to give him hope before even knowing if it’s possible to adopt Taehyung. But we want to know if it is possible.”
“We want Taehyung to be our son too. To be Jimin’s brother. To have a family that will love him deeply.”
Bo Young could see they were talking very seriously. And it was true, she had come to know them during the process of Jimin’s adoption, she knew they didn’t take the well being of children lightly. Before she could answer them, the boys came back.
“TaeTae is feeling better, can I give my surprise to him now?”
Namjoon recovered from their heavy conversation first.
“Sure, Jiminie!”
The kid pulled his friend toward a thermal box that his parents had left close to the door of the room. He took something from it and handed it to Taehyung, smiling brightly.
“I brought you the best strawberry popsicle ever!” Then he grabbed something in his pocket. “And this is my favorite toy.” Jimin showed Taehyung a small blue car. “I want you to have it and always remember me when you play with it. I always think of you, even if we can’t talk every day.”
Taehyung received both things from Jimin, visibly touched, and hugged him. “Thank you, Jiminie.”
Seokjin had grabbed Namjoon’s hand and both of them were choked up. Bo Young was also touched and whispered to them.
“Jimin has that car since the day he came here, it was the only toy he had when he arrived at the orphanage.”
Seokjin was speechless, Namjoon noticed he needed some time, and he wanted to know Bo Young’s answer, even if second-handed, so he decided to take the boys to distribute the rest of the popsicles. He approached the boys.
“Let’s distribute the popsicles to the other kids?”
“Yes, dad!”
Namjoon grabbed the thermal box and went to the door. The boys followed him, but Jimin stopped and looked back when he noticed Seokjin wasn’t following him.
“Dad Seokjin, aren’t you coming?”
“I have something to talk to him, Jimin, is that okay?” Bo Young interfered.
“Okay.” He smiled and left with Taehyung and Namjoon.
“Let’s sit on the couch, Mr. Seokjin, please.”
They sat and Bo Young turned to face Seokjin straight in the eye.
“I won’t lie to you, I think it’s too soon for the adoption center to allow you to adopt again because you are still settling in with Jimin.”
“I was afraid you would say that.” He closed his eyes, sighing discouraged.
“However, if you really want to try, I would do my best to make it possible.”
“Would you? Why?”
“These last few days, Taehyung has been really sad and I know it’s because he misses Jimin. Even before you took Jimin home, Taehyung was only really comfortable when he was with Jimin. Besides all that, I can see you really care about him, not just because Jimin likes him, but for yourselves. So, if you want to fight this battle, I am willing to help.” They stared into each other’s eyes. “Take your time to think it through and tell me when you decide.”
“We don’t need time, we want Taehyung and we will fight for him.” Seokjin said firmly.
“Okay. I have one request only, don’t tell your plans to Jimin nor Taehyung, please?”
“We will try to keep our expectations realistic and we will not give false hope for the boys, I promise.”
“Okay. Thank you.” She nodded at him. “Why don’t we go see what they are up to now? We can’t do anything about the adoption until Monday, anyway.”
“Yeah… Yes, let’s see what they’re doing.”
They went where the others were and Seokjin reunited with his family. The family ended up spending hours in the orphanage that day. Seokjin and Namjoon took the chance to bond with Taehyung, even tho it was hard to not say anything about their plans. When they left, the boy that stayed had a sad expression in his eyes and Jimin was teary-eyed, but trying hard to hold his sadness.
On Monday, they started the second process of adoption. Following Bo Young’s instructions, Seokjin and Namjoon went personally to the adoption center, after they left Jimin at the school, and talked with the head of the office, explaining how they had also fallen in love with Taehyung, and that they were sure he and their son would get along pretty fine.
They assured the head of the office that they were sure they wanted two children, they had always wanted more than one, and that they were ready for the amount of work that would involve. Also, that Seokjin and Namjoon didn’t think it was too soon to adopt a second kid.
When they left, both could say the head had his doubts about the matter, but at least he hadn’t shut them out immediately, so they now had to wait.
A few days later, Seokjin received a call from the adoption center setting up a hearing the next day. They wanted to talk with Jimin about the situation. He called Bo Young right after and she said she would be present, and that they needed to tell Jimin what they wanted to do, that she would talk to Taehyung.
At the adoption center, Jimin was nervously playing with the collar of Namjoon’s shirt, sat at his lap.
“Don’t be nervous, Jiminie, you just need to answer a few questions, be sincere, and tell the truth, okay?”
“Okay, dad Namjoon.” The boy looked at him. “Will you be there?”
“I don’t know if we can, but miss Bo Young said she would. If we can we will, if we can’t we will be here waiting for you.”
“Okay.” He laid his head on the crook of Namjoon’s neck.
Seokjin was by their side, trying to hold his own nervousness to avoid passing it to Jimin.
“Kim Park Jimin?” A worker called. Seokjin and Namjoon had requested to add their surname to Jimin’s name when the adoption was completed, that way he would have their
families’ name and would keep his own.
Namjoon made the boy get up and stood up too.
“Can we go with him?”
“No.”
He nodded and crouched in front of him.
“Don’t be afraid, we will be right here waiting for you.” Namjoon hugged Jimin.
“Be yourself in there, Jiminie, everything will be okay. And we’re proud of you, no matter what.” Seokjin also hugged him.
He entered the room with the worker and Seokjin and Namjoon stayed behind, worrying. They hadn’t seen Bo Young, so they didn’t know if she was actually there. They didn’t know about Taehyung either, if he was there too, how he had reacted to the news.
One hour later, Jimin got out of the room and went to hug them, bouncing. Seen him looking happy made Seokjin and Namjoon feel more at ease.
“How did it go?” Namjoon asked, pulling the boy to sit at his lap again.
“Miss Bo Young was there! They were nice, they asked me a lot of things about you and if I was happy and I said very much, then they asked if I would be happy if I could see TaeTae every day and I said that I would be more happier happy!”
"Was Taehyung there too?"
"No, dad Seokjin. Can we visit him?"
"I don't know, but I'll ask." Seokjin reassured a pouty Jimin.
After Jimin, they were called in, one at a time, but they had been through that already, so they weren't nervous with the board questioning their intentions again.
Later, Seokjin called Bo Young, but she said it was better for them to wait for the board's decision first, or they could think the couple was being pushy. So they waited.
One week later, the board allowed them to start the process of adopting Taehyung, with the supervised visits, then the outings, then the visits to their house.
Seokjin and Namjoon pushed for vacations in both their jobs, so they could focus on speeding the process as they could because the bigger kid kept bugging Taehyung and they didn't like that at all.
By the end of the month, they finally were able to take Taehyung home with them and Jimin and that day started the tradition of celebrating the anniversary of their family as one.
—
Seokjin was pulled out of his memories when he heard the front door closing. He rubbed his hands over his face and felt his cheeks wet.
"Wow, I didn't even feel I was crying."
He murmured to himself while getting up and going to the bathroom, he didn't want the boys to see that he had been crying. Namjoon would probably notice, but he could explain later.
He took his time at the bathroom, listening to his family moving in the kitchen and living room, if he was listening right. They were awfully quiet, which was strange.
When Seokjin was calm enough, he got out and went to find his husband and sons. That lull was really weird.
“Guys, I know you’re home, where are you?” He called, loudly.
He heard a hushed giggle from somewhere close to the couch.
“Should I catch you?” Seokjin waited for an answer that didn’t come. “Okay… I’ll find you!”
He walked quietly toward the couch and found Jimin there, as he had suspected. Seokjin grabbed him and tickled him, making the boy laugh loudly.
“One caught, two to go.” He singsang.
Jimin wasn’t quiet, so Seokjin had to search without hearing the other two. He left his son on the couch and walked behind it. He knew Taehyung, his next target, was inventive, but the living room and the kitchen didn’t have a lot of places to hide, and he was certain none of them had gone to the bedrooms, so he looked at the cabinet they had in the room and he noticed the door was slightly ajar.
Seokjin went there, very quietly, opened the door really fast, and screamed as soon as he saw the boy entangled with his own toys.
“AH HA!” Taehyung laughed looking at him. “Come here, boy.” Seokjin opened his arms and TaeTae hugged him.
He took the boy to the couch too and also tickled him. Equal treatment for the boys was the rule in their household. After they were both sat side by side, Seokjin looked at them, trying to show a stern facade, even tho he was having a lot of fun.
“Where is your dad?”
The boys shook their heads denying to answer.
“This is how you want to play then?” They nodded with big smiles. “I’ll catch you, Namjoon! Just don’t break anything, please!” The boys laughed out loud.
Since Seokjin found Jimin and Taehyung in the living room, he went to the kitchen. It was the best place for Namjoon to hide anyway, because of his height. Seokjin heard the boys moving behind him, but he didn’t look back. When he was almost at the kitchen counter, Namjoon stood up with a cake in his hands and the boys shouted.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!”
“Oh!” Seokjin was startled. He smiled at Namjoon, then looked behind him and saw the boys holding a poster board full of glittery letters wishing him happy birthday.
He smiled brightly, kneeled, and opened his arms. Jimin and Taehyung dropped the poster board and ran to hug him tightly. Namjoon hugged the three of them. A tear rolled down Seokjin’s cheek and Jimin saw it.
“Why are you crying, daddy?”
“I’m just very happy, Jiminie. You make me the happiest!” Seokjin kissed both Jimin and Taehyung’s cheeks and then kissed Namjoon on the lips. “I love you all! Thank you for the surprise.”
“We love you too, daddy!” Taehyung said.
They stood there, hugging, for a few more time, then they ate the cake and spent the rest of the day playing together.