Work Text:
in the early winter, a lot of the children got sick with flu due to the changing season. as per usual, the children infected the others quite quickly, so some daycares, community centres, libraries and play areas were closed for a couple of days to clean up and sanitise the area so that the children who attended the places afterwards didn't get sick too.
but of course, children didn't always understand the reasoning behind the closure, and yoongi felt his heart break a little for jeongguk.
"jeonggukie, let's go to the supermarket," yoongi said as he took some reusable shopping bags from the cupboard. seokjin had wanted to get him one of the trolley bags for shopping, but hadn't because he was worried yoongi would complain that it made him look like an ahjumma.
"you're almost one, though," was seokjin's non-tactful comment, and he was banished to the small mattress that jeongguk usually slept on while yoongi and jeongguk slept together on the king-sized bed.
jeongguk put his toy blocks away in the small box where his toys were kept and toddled over to yoongi, accepting the pieces of mandarin that yoongi offered him. sometimes yoongi would give jeongguk his snack before they left if it was hard to carry it around or if it was a short trip.
"we need to get milk, bread, cereal, rice," yoongi listed off. "what else?"
"anas!"
"oh yes, bananas, and strawberries and grapes, i suppose," yoongi said with a small smile. "do you want to walk? or do you want me to carry you?"
jeongguk walked towards the front door, sitting down on the small stool and lifting his feet up, waiting for yoongi to put his shoes on for him. that was his signal if he wanted to walk by himself. it was good, so yoongi could carry more things, but it also nearly gave him a heart attack when jeongguk almost ran across the road when the light was still red.
after a lot of worried yelling and crying, jeongguk never crossed the road without yoongi again. yoongi wasn't sure if jeongguk understood that it was dangerous, or if he just didn't want yoongi to yell at him and cry again.
they got to the shopping centre and did their shopping. on the way back, jeongguk walked over to the play area in the middle of the shopping centre, plopping down next to the entrance and struggling to take his shoes off since they weren't allowed to wear shoes inside.
"ggukie, baby," yoongi called softly as he walked over. "the play area is closed this week, remember? some kids were sick and they had to close to clean up."
jeongguk looked up at yoongi, blinking, before his eyebrows lowered. yoongi put his shopping down on the floor and picked jeongguk up to hug him tight, not wanting to see jeongguk's sad face.
"come on, baby, let's go home," he said after a while.
jeongguk nodded and they walked out of the shopping centre. yoongi sighed, knowing there was another obstacle on their way back to home--the library.
the library had a dedicated play area, and jeongguk liked spending his time there, even more than at the shopping centre's play area. he knew the library's closure would hit jeongguk harder,
and true to his prediction, jeongguk excitedly toddled over towards the library front door when he saw it, and tried to push it open, but the door wouldn't budge.
"baby, the library is closed too," yoongi said softly as he put his shopping down and sat next to jeongguk. "let's go home, yeah?"
jeongguk blinked at him, and his eyebrows lowered again, although this time there was a small pout on his lips too.
yoongi hugged him from behind as jeongguk stared at the closed door sadly and longingly, one hand still on it as if it would magically open if he touched it long enough or pushed hard enough.
after a couple of minutes, jeongguk sighed in defeat and turned his back towards the door. yoongi felt his heart break for his baby, and ended up carrying jeongguk home so jeongguk could hug him.
later on that night, yoongi was making dinner while jeongguk was sitting in the living room watching discovery channel when seokjin came home.
"i'm home! how are my babies doing?" seokjin greeted as he walked in, taking his shoes off by the front door and continuing on to the living room. "oh, ggukie, why are you sad?"
"the play area and library are closed this week because of the flu season," yoongi explained and seokjin made a hum of understanding.
"well, i've got a couple days off work this week, so you can play with appa instead!" seokjin exclaimed as he sat down next to jeongguk on the couch, picking jeongguk up and settling him on his lap.
jeongguk squealed excitedly and stood up on seokjin's thighs so he could wrap his arms around seokjin's neck, and seokjin chuckled as he hugged jeongguk back.
yoongi shot seokjin a grateful smile, glad that jeongguk was laughing again, and seokjin simply grinned back at him before tickling jeongguk until he was shrieking with laughter.