Chapter Text
"What does it say here?"
"It's our car. Can you please focus?"
Spring is beautiful. It's the kind of season that is neither too cold, nor too hot. With its windy days and sun just peeking from the clouds it feels refreshing to go out after the dark winter. Long gone are the days when everything was frozen, the nature is coming to life finally. The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, you can see it and feel it in everything. One could say it's the perfect time to fall in love.
Little Jungkook would beg to differ. It's deffinetely the perfect time to play treasure hunt with his "dada".
And honestly who was he, Jung Hoseok, to deny to that bunny smile? The boy was only 7 and his newly grown central incisors were huge in comparison to the rest of his teeh. Besides, his big, round eyes and energetic nature only added to the rabbit image he was emitting. Of course, he was a bit too much to handle at times, but all kids are. In fact, this passion for living is what made Hoseok choose him over other children in the adoption center years ago- Jungkook felt like spring.
This morning was no different than the others, though the kid seemed to be a little more excited than usually. As soon as he finished his breakfast, Jungkook ran to his room and returned in a heartbeat with a folded piece of paper in his hand. He flicked it in the air as he was talking.
"Dada, let's play treasure hunt! Dad please. we didn't play it in so long. I even made a map! the child said enthusiasticaly.
Hoseok agreed immediately, but oh how he wished he took a better look at the map before. The sheet wasn't big in size, it was similar to the pages in Jungkook's mathematics notebook if the grids were any hint. The thing he had not expected however, were the numerous landmarks. The paper was full of scribbles and coloured shapes with shaky outlines. Hoseok didn't have to be an art critic to tell it would fit perfectly in an abstract art gallery and yet, albeit a fine piece, he couldn't figure out where does his journey start. All the grown up man could do was to keep the kid close and ask for instructions.
They started from their very kitchen, passed by their pet dog's bed near the front door, jumped "like bunnies" (the map said) on the pavement to the green mailbox outside, walked towards the backyard where they planted flowers, circled the swing three times, crawled under the clothes that were hanged on a wire to dry and many other actions Hoseok was pretty sure the child was making up on spot because there was no trace of writing on the map.
"I want a snack. Can I have a cookie?" Jungkook spoke out of the blue.
The father could only mutter a "sure" when he was cut off.
"Googie is a big boy! He doesn't need help. You keep looking for the X."
"Okay. You can go, but don't eat more than three. That way you wouldn't want to eat lunch anymore." the man replied, but the kid was already gone.
Hoseok was thinking whether he should give the map another chance or not. He glances at the paper again and tries to remember which coloured spots has he passed already and comes to the conclusion that there's only two left. The shapes aren't defined enough to make objects out of them, but looking back at the rest, Hoseok notices that the colours match to their correspondent from reality. First he sees a stick with pink dots at the top, a cherry blossom tree he assumes- a tree like the one in the back of his green area. He walks there and stops to take another look at the paper in his hands. Next to the drawing of the tree there is a long grey rectangle and 5 little circles resembling... footprints? Yes, he should be walking five steps along the huge, myserious object. Hoseok glances around him and sees his neighbour's tall, silver fence and his face lights up. "Oh! It makes sense." The man's eyes fall on the piece of paper again, focused, trying to figure out the distance between the steps or whether they are child or adult sized. The map is undoubtely made for him, therefore it's his feet, right? Hoseok starts walking forward.
Jungkook is a shy child. He wouldn't say some things out loud and rather hint or mask his intentions with other words that are apparently unrelated to what is he pondering over. His father knows better though. Hoseok thinks all this running back and forth, suggestively called "treasure hunt", is his child's way of showing him one of his lastest achievements (he's won a good amount of trophies from the karate competitions) or maybe a new sculpture he's finished. Hoseok bumps into something warm, cursing under his breath about how he forgot to count the steps and that he's probably in a weird place right now. He can see his neighbours making fun of him for it for the next two weeks. He wants to raise his head, but before he could do so, the "something" moves and starts talking.
"Why did your kid ask me if he can tape an X to my shirt?"
Hoseok takes a couple of seconds to think everything through:
1. The mysterious voice belongs to his pretty(what?) neighbour, Min Yoongi.
2. He's found exactly what little Jungkook wanted to show him.
This kid is so much more smarter than he had anticipated. The father finds himself smiling at the thought.
3. JUNGKOOK?!
"I'm sorry. Do you know where my son is?" Hoseok blurts out, forgeting completely about what the other male said.
"Yeah, he came by my place a few minutes ago. He should be hiding somewhere around." he then replied calmly.
Yoongi was one year older than Hoseok and lived alone. It was rumoured that he is some sort of musician, but nobody knew for sure as he was staying indoors most of the time and joined neighbourhoodly gatherings less to never. People would find him intimidating, but it never seemed to be a problem to Hoseok who would just call him and ask to "keep Jungkook company" or "make sure he has lunch" whenever the father had to stay over working hours. The child was comfortable around Yoongi and the later took a liking in the kid. There was nothing weird about him sneaking to his place.
"So do you know what is the X for?"
Hoseok gathers his thoughts and replies:
"You are my X!"
"Your ex? Doesn't this imply we dated before? That's a weird way to ask one out. And we broke up too? That's such a shame." Yoongi replied grinning. He was looking at the map.
Gathering thoughts opperation: failed.
"No. Forget that! You are my treasure." Hoseok mentally slaps himself.
"Well, I can see an improvement, but this pet name is a bit too cheesy for my liking. How about you call me pretty boy?"
A high pitched sound- Jungkook's voice they assume- can be heard from behind Yoongi's house. The two adults exchange a knowing look and smile at each other then towards where the shout was coming from.
"Yoongi hyung put this on! You need to wear it before dada finds you.", but the sentence trails off as Jungkook approaces with what looks to be Hoseok's KAWS cap, "X_X" face embrodied on it.
"I already found him." Hoseok replies with a fond smile on his face.
"But this is a treasure hunt!" the child stomps his feet. "There should be a big X to mark the prize."
"If this is a treasure hunt, how come there is no gold either?" Yoongi interferes.
Hoseok looks at this son and says:
"We can talk about it while we're eating, Jungkook. You need to get ready for lunch now."
He then turns to Yoongi.
"As for you, we have to discuss it over dinner." Hoseok smirks and leaves with his child.