Chapter Text
Jungkook grew quiet when they left the car. On the way to the library he’d been singing along to the radio, creating his own lyrics about bunnies and Iron Man and his halemoni’s samgyeopsal.
The move had been tough on Yoongi and Jungkook, but when he’d been offered a new position within the same radio network in Ilsan, Sangchul and Youngja had convinced him to take the job.
“Aigoo, Yoongi-ya, you will only be two hours away! You won’t forget us, Youngja feeds you too well for that,” Sangchul had said, Youngja laughing from where she stood in front of the stove cooking breakfast.
The new job meant fewer late shifts, since he’d be doing more program management than actual work as a radio presenter. And he wouldn’t completely give it up, even though his new shift started right after the morning commute and ran through lunch.
It also paid more. That meant an apartment with two bedrooms, fewer patches in clothes, new shoes for Yoongi and less time fighting with Sangchul and Youngja about who should be taking care of who financially.
He still hadn’t cancelled the weekly grocery delivery he’d set up for the Jeon’s little retirement cottage. And now they couldn’t even complain about it negatively impacting Yoongi’s finances.
So, it was worth it.
But Jungkook still hadn’t adjusted, two weeks after they’d moved into their new place.
He’d hoped a trip to the library would help, but now that they were walking into the building Jungkook had gone silent.
“Hey buddy, what's wrong?”
Jungkook looked up at Yoongi with big, sad eyes.
“Appa, this isn’t our library.”
“Well, this is our new library.”
Jungkook’s bottom lip jutted out and his eyes became watery.
Yoongi kneeled in front of his son, running one hand through the little boy’s hair and rubbed the boy’s back with the other.
“Hey, hey, I know it's different. And we’ve had a lot of new, haven’t we?”
Jungkook nodded and a few tears ran down his face. Yoongi, not for the first time since they moved, felt like his heart was breaking. He wasn’t a bad dad. He knows he isn’t. But Yejun was so good at calming fears, even Yoongi’s, even though they hadn’t been that close.
And Minyoung…
Fuck, Jungkook looks like Minyoung when he cries.
“Tell you what Kook-ah, let's make this an adventure, okay? You can take pictures and videos on appa’s phone, then we’ll send them to halabeoji’s phone and you can tell him all about it tonight okay.”
Jungkook sniffed and nodded. Yoongi dried and kissed his son’s cheeks then stood again and walked with his son into the library. Luckily, or unluckily for Yoongi, it was a bit of a walk from where they parked to Goyang Aram Nuri Aram Nuri Library, giving Jungkook time to cheer up.
Another way Jungkook was like his mother, he usually didn’t stay in a bad mood for long.
“Appa look! Subway!”
Yup, the library was right by a subway stop. They could have just taken the subway. Great, great.
There was still more walking, this time with stairs, to get into the actual building. Jungkook became shy again when they got inside the building, trying to hide behind Yoongi’s legs. Yoongi picked the boy up and went to the elevator, after reviewing a sign indicating the children’s section was on the third floor.
Yoongi worried when they stepped off the elevator. The room was a bright white. There were giant glass windows along one wall which brought in a lot of light and made the space feel bigger, but the floor was cold tile instead of carpet, and there was very little color. He wasn’t sure if Kookie would-
“Appa! Appa, books!”
The little boy wriggled in his arms until Yoongi let him go, then he ran to a section of picture books on insects. Of course he’d go for the bug books.
Yoongi followed Jungkook into the room, then sat down next to Jungkook. Kookie crawled into his lap and asked his appa to read to him.
They got through three bug books before being interrupted by a small commotion at the other end of the children’s section.
“Namu, Namu, Namu! Princess today!”
“No, no, the moon Namu!”
“I want ninjas!”
“But, but I want-”
A small army of children surrounded a tall many with glasses and light brown hair. He walked like he was trying not to step on the kids, which was funny but a little concerning as a parent with his own small person.
“Okay guys! I already picked out today’s story because I wanted to surprise you! Are you guys ready for story time?”
The children cheer and Yoongi notices more children and parents coming into the children’s section, likely for the scheduled story time.
“What do you say Kook, wanna listen to story time?”
The little boy had curled into Yoongi’s chest when more people came into the room but he nodded against his appa’s chest.
“Okay, you can sit on my lap over there, but you need to walk on your own.”
Jungkook’s little hand fisted in Yoongi’s shirt, but then he nodded and let go. He stood and waited for Yoongi to also stand and take his hand. Jungkook led him to a place just outside the circle of children now sitting around the tall man’s chair, talking loudly with one another and with the man, telling him about their week.
Multiple children told the man about going to buy school supplies and Yoongi made a mental note to go get Jungkookie’s supplies after they were done at the library, as long as the little boy wasn’t wiped out.
“Alright everybody, are we ready for our story time?”
The children cheered again.
“Okay, I see a couple new faces so I’m going to introduce myself. I’m Kim Namjoon, the children’s department coordinator, but the kids tend to call me Namu. This is our early Saturday reading time in Korean, then we have a later Saturday reading time in English. If anyone would like our full schedule-”
“Namu!!”
“Yes Sarang?”
“Read!!”
“I will Sarang, I promise, but I have to make sure people know about all the boring grown up stuff first.”
The little girl pouted and Yoongi hid his smile behind Jungkook’s head.
“As I was saying, please come talk with me after to get our full weekly schedule. So, now its time for the story!”
The children cheered again.
Namjoon pulls out a bright red book and begins reading to the children about a cat.
Yoongi liked his voice. The librarian was expressive and cheerful. Each character in the story had its own voice, inflection and speech pattern.
The librarian was also good at keeping the children engaged, which is even more impressive to Yoongi.
Jungkook was completely enthralled, leaning out of Yoongi’s lap to get a better look at every page, to get closer to Namjoon while he reads.
Yoongi can relate.
Namjoon is attractive in a sexy librarian kind of way, and Yoongi did notice the many impressive thighs when he sat down to read.
Yoongi may not be used to having attractive men thrust into his orbit, at least not anymore, but he does know how to push his own wants to the side and focus on Jungkook. Not that it’s a hardship. Jungkook’s little smileys the first time his son has smiled out in public since their move.
Maybe he didn’t mess up. Maybe Sangchul and Youngja were right.
A smaller, quieter place inside his chest says, maybe Yejun and Minyoung were right, maybe they didn’t mess up when they left Jungkook to him.
After story time, children and parents flocked around Namjoon to thank the librarian for his time, ask him about upcoming events and in a few cases very obviously flirt. The most obvious flirt was Sarang, the girl from earlier, who can’t be older than seven.
Yoongi got up to leave but Jungkook tugged on his arm.
“What Kook-ah?”
“Wanna talk to Namu, bout doing more library stuff.”
Yoongi blinked. He had leaned pretty heavily on their local library when they lived in Seoul. Since he’d worked a late shift, he’d taken Jungkook to almost every daytime children’s activity before dropping the boy off with his grandparents for the afternoon and evening.
“Okay buddy, lets ask.”
Yoongi and Jungkook waited for the crowd to dissipate before approaching Namjoon.
The man smiles at Yoongi then bent down to talk with Jungkook.
“Hi, my name is Namjoon. Did you like storytime?”
Jungkook nodded, a shy smile on his face. Yoongi bit his lip. Fuck his cute was cute.
“Can I know your name?”
Jungkook nodded and looked up at Yoongi. Namjoon did the same.
“Ah, this is Jungkook and I’m his appa, Yoongi.”
Namjoon smiled and stood.
“I’m glad you both are here. First time to the library.”
Yoongi nodded, trying not to blush when the librarian looked at him for too long.
“Ah, yea, we just um, just moved to Ilsan so, had to check out the library. Jungkookie and I were regular visitors at our last library.”
Namjoon’s smile widens and oh, oh, the man has like, dimples? What? Why?
Yoongi was still working through the startling revelation of Namjoon’s dimples when they were interrupted.
“Namu! You said you had a book for me!”
The adults looked down to see Sarang pouting up at Namjoon, arms crossed over her chest.
“Ah, Sarang, you’re right, I did tell you that. Please wait one minute and I’ll get you that book.”
Sarang gave Namjoon a cute gap-toothed smile, then skipped off.
Yoongi chuckled.
“She’s a firecracker.”
A small furrow appeared between Namjoon’s brows.
“She is a well-spoken child who keeps adults to their word. It’s important to make sure children grow up feeling like they are heard and supported, especially young girls.”
Yoongi opened his mouth but nothing came out. He had no idea what to say. How had he fucked up this badly this quickly.
He could almost hear Minyoung cackling somewhere.
Namjoon blinked and his polite smile was back, though his jaw seemed a little more pronounced.
“I need to help a patron, but luckily, I keep small booklets with our activities schedule on me.”
Namjoon reached into the pocket of his cardigan and pulled out a little pamphlet. He gave it to Yoongi then looked back down at Jungkook, the librarian’s smile turning a little more genuine.
“I hope you and your appa come back to see us again Jungkook.”
Jungkook nodded and leaned his head against Yoongi’s knee.
Namjoon gave Yoongi another tense smile then walked over to Sarang, taking the little girl’s hand and leading her away.
Yoongi looked down at Jungkook and sighed. The little boy smiled back at him.
Oh well, it isn’t like Yoongi was going to try to strike up some kind of flirtation with the hot librarian anyway.
“Hey Jungkookie, how about nap time them we go get school supplies.”
“Okay Appa!”
He could tell the boy was already getting sleepy. He sighed again, knowing he’d probably end up carrying the little boy most of the way back to their car.
“Let’s go bud, we’ll get our new library cards next time.”