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“How do I look?”
“You look fine, Jeongguk”
“Really hyung, how do I look?”
“For the hundredth time, you look fine, Jeongguk” Seokjin answers with a huff, eyes rolling at the sight of his youngest band mate glaring at the full-length mirror of their living room, Jeongguk’s hands are gripping the blazer of his suit, looking like a groom panicking on his wedding day, “Geez, if I didn’t know any better I would think that you’re on your way to pick up your bride or something”
Jeongguk immediately stills and turns to Seokjin, scowling. “Not funny, hyung”
The older man laughs, “Then stop being so nervous”
“How could I not be nervous?!” Jeongguk says, beginning to sound hysteric, his voice breaking and two pitches higher than what he’s proud to admit. “It’s Jimin’s dad!”
Seokjin rolls his eyes, “Exactly” he replies, “it’s Mr. Park, that man is a teddy bear personified. Calm down, Jeongguk-ah, you’re gonna be fine and besides, we all know he adores you just fine” he adds so casually as if Jeongguk’s love life is not on the line.
The room goes quiet for a moment as Jeongguk continues to inspect every single inch of his figure to make sure that here’s nothing on his clothes that could embarrass him later, absolutely nothing is allowed to go wrong today, he tells himself and then suddenly the main door to the living room opens, both men perk up as they watch Taehyung strutting in, “Damn, you look nice, Jeon” the older boy whistles at his only dongsaeng, Taehyung is clearly impressed with what he sees, and Jeongguk beams in response, puffing out his chest in confidence while telling Seokjin “See hyung? This is the response I deserve to get from you” to which the eldest retorts with another eye roll.
“Huh, now wait,” Taehyung pauses for a moment before squinting his eyes at Jeongguk accusingly, finally noticing the state Jeongguk’s in. “Jiminnie is stuck at the studio for at least three hours, why are you all dressed up? You only dress up when you’re going on a date with him," he frowns, "you better not mess with my best friend, Jeongguk”
Jeongguk throws his unused jacket towards him, “Shut up, hyung” he glares, “You know where I’m going”
“Oh, damn” Taehyung says, his expression flattering to a smirk as he remembers yesterday’s commotion, “My boy’s meeting the future in-laws now, isn’t he?”
Jeongguk turns deep red and Seokjin is practically cackling onto the floor right now, “Shut up, Taehyung hyung, I swear to god” he groans, hiding his face into his palms as if it’s enough to get him out of this humiliation.
“Now, why is this boy having another breakdown again?” Namjoon’s raspy voice abruptly asks, he’s emerging from his room, hair disheveled, with his pajama pants that Jeongguk is pretty sure was borrowed from Hoseok hyung seeing how it hangs on Namjoon’s long legs.
“He’s gonna pick up Jimin’s dad from the station” Seokjin answers, patting the empty spot next to him, signaling Namjoon to sit on the sofa.
Namjoon complies with a pleasant purr, stretching his stiff body before plopping down, resting his head on Seokjin’s shoulders with his legs stretched out on the ottoman. “Wait, you’re gonna do it alone?” he asks, noticing the lack of Jimin’s presence in the room.
“Yeah” Jeongguk nods, bambi eyes staring back at his hyung with nervousness painted all over.
“Damn” Namjoon says under his breath, sounding weirdly impressed. “That’s brave, kid”
“Urgh” Jeongguk groans, other than Yoongi, Namjoon is the one hyung that teases him the least and for it, Jeongguk knows that Namjoon’s comment is genuine not just some random jibes thrown to make him panic. “I’m overestimating myself, am I?” he asks, hating how his anxiety is audible from his shaky voice.
“Hey,” Seokjin says, the teasing grin on his face is suddenly wiped off, he’s looking at Jeongguk with a small comforting smile, it seems like he’s finally taking pity on his youngest member, “You are many things, Jeongguk, you’re-”
“Annoying-” Taehyung chimes in with a snigger,
Seokjin rolls his eyes, but continues nonetheless, “You are playful, and you may-”
“Have been embarrassing-”
“Have moments you’re not proud of, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t-”
“Kickass-”
“Would you stop cutting me off, you fool!” Seokjin yells, throwing Jeongguk’s abandoned slipper at Taehyung’s direction.
“Ouch-” The taller man yelps, rubbing his arm when the object hits dramatically, “What is it with you guys and throwing clothes at me, huh?” he pouts, “Just say you want me to do my fashion show and I’ll book a venue tomorrow”
“Unbelievable” Seokjin shakes his head and tsked, he’s crossing his arms in front of his chest like he’s incandescent with disappointment as if he’s not as equally as childish as Taehyung was a moment ago, “Anyway,” then the oldest man continues, staring at Jeongguk comfortingly, “In all seriousness, I know you will be fine, Gguk, Mr. Park adores you, he thinks you’re adorable”
“Hyung that was like two years ago,” Jeongguk tries to reason, “I was you know...innocent-”
“Now who the hell said that-”
Jeongguk throws the other slipper at Taehyung.
“-I was just this some random kid his son’s happened to be bandmate with, but now I’m dating Jimin, and you know how Mr. Park got with his last boyfriend, he was so skeptical about Seungcheol-hyung and that guy was actually a decent person”
“Well, but Mr. Park didn’t know him that well, did he?” Namjoon says thoughtfully, “And he knows you, Jeongguk, trust me, there’s nothing to worry about”, beside him, Seokjin nods, humming in agreement.
“You’re a good kid, and Mr. Park is not a stupid man, he knows a good person when he sees one” Seokjin adds reassuringly, glancing at his watch, “and you better go instead wasting your time moping here, just take the long route and drive around a little to clear your head before you come to the station”
Taehyung, who seemingly has enough entertainment in teasing his favorite (only) dongsaeng, walks to Jeongguk and puts his arms on his shoulders, “It’s Jiminnie’s dad, Gguk, he loves all of us, especially me-” Jeongguk sends him a glare “-and that includes you too, you’ll be fine, I promise”
Jeongguk bites the inside of his cheeks as he reels in every encouragement his hyungs give him, he diverts his eyes back to the mirror, he looks decent, looks...respectable, like the classic protagonist in dramas his own mom loves to watch. He will nail this, god, he will be so good at this Mr. Park will want to trade Jimin for him. “Thanks, hyungs” Jeongguk says gratefully, “I’ll be going now”
“Good luck, Jeongguk-ah!” Taehyung calls out once Jeongguk is nearing out of earshot, “Don’t screw this up- Ow! Ouch, fuck! Stop throwing shits at me, this is abuse!”
Jeongguk will never tell them this unless he’s held by gunpoint, but he truly does love his hyungs more than anything else in this world. (Less, than Jimin though, but everyone knows that already).
-
Okay, now alright, so let’s get the facts right first.
Yes, Jimin is Jeongguk’s first boyfriend, but he’s not, by a long shot, the first person he’s ever dated. Growing up in a household where both his parents are very open with dating, and even encourage both him and his brother to date as long as they are responsible for it, Jeongguk has had his fair share of girlfriends albeit at his young age of nineteen. He’s neither proud nor ashamed about it, but having experience in dating means that time has made him grow, just like with learning about everything else, Jeongguk becomes a slightly better boyfriend than he was before to his previous dates. So, in all technicality, it benefits Jimin also.
In fact, with the last two girlfriends he’s had, he was mature enough to hold up conversations with their parents without shitting or embarrassing himself, and his entire family like Junghyun did the first time he met his girlfriend’s mom. Sewon’s dad was a little bit strict, but Jeongguk had an excellent reputation with the teachers at their school and the words had spread and it seemed that they reached her parents too, so with just a bouquet of flowers and his mother’s homemade bukkumi were enough to make Sewon’s parents swoon. And it got even much easier with Hana’s parents, Jeongguk began dating her two years into his debut years, BTS had made a name for themselves and they had clean reputations so having a boy band member as their daughter’s boyfriend was a plus point on its own. Simply put, they adored the lives out of him.
So, overall, Jeon Jeongguk is good with the parents. He’s experienced and he knows which are the good qualities he has that can make parents carve out his name in their family trees in less than a day after meeting him. Jeongguk doesn’t want to be arrogant, but it also would be a lie to say that he’s not the master of Parents’ First Impression.
But then again, just like everything else that has happened with Jimin, when it comes to him, everything is always different.
Jeongguk had never met his girlfriends’ parents before he was dating them, so at the time of their meetings he had the leverage of preparing and practicing the things required for him to make the best impressions, but with Jimin’s parents, especially with Mr. Park, he doesn’t have that luxury.
Mr. and Mrs. Park had known him since he was a scrawny shy fourteen-year-old awkward kid with huge eyes who barely said any words more than needed. God, they were there to witness Jeongguk’s embarrassing phase where he was struggling to accept Jimin’s affection, they were there to witness him being dumb.
Jeongguk might not be a devout person, but he’s spent the last month praying to every God there is, that he didn’t leave any bad impressions on Mr. and Mrs. Park in the past five years he’s known them. He really cannot afford to screw this up, because Jimin isn’t just some ‘boyfriend’ to fill his ‘list of relationships’, call him naive, whipped, or whatever, but Jeongguk intends to have Jimin as the last person he'd ever date. (By that, he means that he wants to end this ‘dating phase’ with a ring on Jimin’s fingers).
To make it even harder, Jimin’s parents are known to be a little bit overprotective of their oldest child. For comparison to Jeongguk’s own parents, the Parks are at least a decade older than his mom and dad, even though they have children of the same age, Mr. and Mrs. Park had their kids a little bit later than what used to be considered the norm at the time while Jeongguk’s parents had his brother and him way earlier than what had been expected from them. In a simpler language, Jimin’s parents are a little bit...conservative.
It’s not that they’re not supportive of their eldest son’s sexuality, because they do, but they still live in the mindset that homosexuality has no chance to be accepted by society and they’re terrified that their son would be subjected to an insufferable amount of hatred once the public finds out about him being gay. Jeongguk cannot blame them for having those thoughts though, because they’re true to some extent, especially for the older generation, but unlike Jeongguk’s parents who have a more optimistic view and refuse to let their son submit to society’s bigotry, Mr. and Mrs. Park let their fear of seeing their son receiving backlash for his sexuality overtake them. Jeongguk never forgot the time when he saw Jimin fighting his mom and dad over the phone because they had forced him to make his then-boyfriend sign an NDA to keep their relationship a secret. Taehyung even told him that he heard them hiring a private investigator to dig some dirt they could use to blackmail him once things went south. Thankfully they didn’t have to, the breakup was mutual and Jimin’s ex was a decent guy after all.
So back to Jeongguk’s crisis, he had written down every single thing from the Ultimate Boyfriend Guide book he’d secretly bought on Amazon and applied all the tricks his brain deemed appropriate to Mr. and Mrs. Park. He even bribed Jihyun to list every single thing he knows his parents might like as presents and bought all items on the list and gifted them to Mr. Park on his birthday and to Mrs. Park at last month’s chuseok. He’s on top of his game, and he’s gonna win it, he’s the Jeon Jeongguk after all, and Jeon Jeongguk never loses.
Right?
Well, not quite.
He’s at the station now, wearing black trousers and a button-up shirt and his dull blazer with a surgical mask on, trying to blend in with the other working men going in and out of the metro. He even uses his old car so that he won’t attract any unwanted attention as he waits for Jimin’s father to arrive from his 3-hour-long train ride from Busan. He put on his best cologne, gave himself a pep talk before going out of the apartment and he may or may not have reserved a nice and quiet cafe for him and Mr. Park to have breakfast after. So by theory, this day should go smoothly.
Except it is not, and Jeon Jeongguk sometimes gets nervous, and when he’s nervous half of his brain cells stop working and that resulted in him forgetting to bring his phone with him. And remember that old car he’s bought? It doesn’t have a GPS system and he cannot call anyone, including Mr. Park to tell him that he’s already at the station. So now he’s stuck, without a cellphone and he has no idea how to reach Jimin’s Dad. He’s so close to panicking because he can't just ask someone if they’ve seen someone that looks like Mr. Park without making that person recognize Jungkook and have news spreading online about how Jeon Jeongguk had lost his bandmate’s father in the middle of the station. Luckily, the universe doesn’t really hate him just yet and she lets him know by making Jeongguk’s ears perking up when he hears someone yelling-
“Busan man!”
Jeongguk stops his tracks and turns around, there he sees a man in his fifties, with stocky built and greying hair, Mr. Park is running to him, with luggage in his left hand and his right waving at Jeongguk. “Busan man!” he shouts out again. He’s breathless as he struggles to carry the heavy case in his hands, the younger man immediately sprints back to him, bowing repeatedly and he apologizes.
“Oh my god, Sir” Joengguk says, face red from embarrassment hidden underneath the mask. “I-I forgot to bring my phone and I didn’t bring the good car with me, I’m so sorry, let me carry that luggage for you, Mr. Pa-”
“Oh it’s alright, Jeongguk-ah” Mr. Park replies with a laugh, there’s no trace of annoyance on his face and Jeongguk is reminded of where Jimin gets his patience from. “It’s not hard to spot you from this crowd, young man, you’ve always carried that air of confidence around you even as you stand”
Jeongguk smiles sheepishly, muttering a small ‘thank you’ as he takes Mr. Park’s luggage and leads him to his car. The ride is almost awkward if it’s not for Mr. Park’s hilarious recital of the awful seatmate he had on his train ride ‘Oh, Jeongguk-ah, it was just awful, I think the poor young man just had his heartbroken by his girlfriend, he kept sobbing the entire ride while holding back his tears, I tried to comfort him but he just scowled at me instead. I swear I would’ve given that boy an earful, but I didn’t want to ruin his day more’ Jeongguk responds in laughter and make more small talk by asking him how Mrs. Park and Jihyun is doing, silently thanking every god out there that he hasn’t ruined this day yet.
They go straight to the breakfast cafe Jeongguk had reserved and Mr. Park comments on the sparse consumers with a suspicious glint at him, but Jeongguk just shrugs and tries to look as nonchalant as possible when he lies and say that the place has a very disastrous marketing tactic. Jeongguk’s heart nearly leaps out from his throat when Mr. Park squints his eyes at him in a very similar manner that Jimin often does whenever he’s suspecting Jeongguk doing something stupid.
“I didn’t rent this whole place, I swear” Jeongguk finally blurts out, the silence of the cafe speaks out as if it's trying to call him on his bullshit.
“I never said that you did, Jeongguk” Mr. Park says, looking amused.
“Well, I didn’t” Jeongguk’s stupid mouth says again, just to make things more suspicious apparently.
“Okay, son” Mr. Park chuckles, he purses his lips as if he’s contemplating to say something but chooses not to and instead he says “Thank you for the breakfast, Jeongguk-ah” while patting the younger man’s shoulder and it takes every single cell in Jeongguk’s body to refrain himself from beaming back in pride.
After Jeongguk is done paying the bills, the pair returns to the car and heads to the shared dorm that the boys usually use in the months nearing the comeback and tight rehearsal schedules, only this time both Jeongguk and Jimin had kind of asked for the others to stay and sleep there to help diffuse any impending awkwardness in the worst-case Mr. Park reacts badly to Jimin’s new relationship’s announcement while the man still has three days left staying in Seoul to spend time with his precious firstborn. Simply put, Jeon Jeongguk has never been more prepared for this whole thing to unfold.
They arrive at the dorm in no time, Jeongguk ushers Mr. Park inside the dorm like the polite boy that he is and puts the suitcases to the one spare room they have reserved to family members popping in for a quick stay, and just as he’s done finishing his task and walk back to the main den, Mr. Park is already being bombarded with the rest of the members, apparently Jimin, Hoseok and Yoongi came home quicker than what was planned.
“Oh! Look at all of you, all looking so handsome now” Mr. Park says happily, he hugs each one of the boys sans Jeongguk and stops his tracks at his own son, eyes trailing Jimin up and down, “Oh, Jiminie, you look a bit thinner than before, have you forgotten to take good care of yourself?”
Jimin groans, ducking his head as his cheeks turn red in embarrassment, his dad really can never stop babying him, and it's even more mortifiying that he still does it in front of his own bandmates. “I’m fine, Appa, there’s just this one song where I’ll have a solo dance break so I have to practice extra, I’m eating enough, I promise”
“Hmm, you better” Mr. Park says sternly, “I don’t want those incidents when you pass out on stage happening again, okay?”
Jimin nods and Hoseok, who’s sitting next to Taehyung adds in innocently, “You don’t have to worry about Jimin not being taken care of, Uncle, he’s got someone to look after him just fine”
“Hyung!”
“What?” Hoseok shurgs, “I’m just telling him as it is”
Jimin whines, “Yeah, but I want to tell him that myself-”
“Wait, hold on” Mr. Park raises his hand, finally catching up to what the kids are discussing, “You’ve got someone, Jiminie?”
“Urgh,” Jimin groans into his palm before retrieving back to himself, taking a deep breath in and stares back at his father intently,”Yes, Appa”
From behind Mr. Park, Jeongguk visibly stiffens, but it goes unnoticed by the older man who’s too busy staring at his son in delight, “Well, that great news then! When did it start?”
“Um, like six months ago?” Jimin answers hesitantly,
“What! Six months!” Mr. Park replies in disbelief, “And you’re just informing me right now?”
“Well, we were talking things slow” Jimin starts, “We didn’t want to rush into things-”
“But why didn’t you just tell me son? We always tell each other everything” Mr. Park trails on, the disappointment in his voice is apparent to everyone in the room, “Wait,” he frowns, “that boyfriend of yours didn’t demand you to keep things a secret did he? Oh, I want to have a few words with him-”
“Appa, no”
Jeongguk pales instantly, he stares at the father and son pair in mortification, beside him Taehyung sniggers, elbowing Namjoon to join him rejoicing in Jeongguk suffering, the taller man takes the obvious bait and snorts. And if Jeongguk’s love life is not on the line, he would’ve smacked those two down onto the floor.
“But, why-”
“It was me, okay?” Jimin says, “I was the one who wanted to take things slow, and I didn’t want to tell you until we’re both ready because you know him already and I don’t want you to take things too far with your paranoia and scare him off”
Mr. Park seems unfazed by his son’s obvious jab at his habit of investigating his son’s previous boyfriends and jumps straight to the new information he’s just given, “I already knew him?”
Jimin nods, “Yeah”
Mr. Park purses his lips, “Is he that Hansol boy from your high school? Is that why he sent you that gift package to our house last month? Jiminie, are you sure that it's safe to date him? Have you made him sign an NDA I keep telling you about-”
“Appa, I told you I’m not gonna make everyone who dates me sign an NDA, its weird-”
“But it's for your own safety!”
“Yes, I know but there’s other way to ensure that and no one is signing anything this time-”
“Jiminie!” Mr. Park cuts him incredulously, “Don’t be so reckless, we don’t know what could happen and I’ve told you to stop trusting people so easily, especially with how famous you all have become!” he adds in pointedly, eyes trailing to the rest of the boys in the room, making sure that they know the last part is not referred only to his son.
“It’s not Hansol, Appa” Jimin says defeatedly, there’s really no point in debating his dad on this.
“He’s works at BigHit too, Uncle” Seokjin adds in calmly, “He’s safe”
“Oh,” Mr. Park visibly relaxes, “Well, I suppose an NDA won’t be necessary if the company already took care of it first”
Jimin groans again, “Appa, that’s not the point”
“So is he one of those back up dancers of yours?” Mr. Park asks, clearly ignoring another dig at his habit.
Jimin rolls his eyes, yet the corner of his mouth turns into an amused smile. “You don’t know any of our back dancers, Appa”
“Aish, you’re right I only know you lot and those mentors of yours but they’re all married aren’t they? Well, Shiyuk-ssi still hasn’t come around, I wonder why, the man is in his forties he should start settling down, it’s not fun taking care of babies when you’re fifty- Wait” Mr. Park abruptly stops his rambles as he catches up with his own words, “I already know him?” he asks, “and he’s obviously not your mentors or god forbid Bang Shiyuk-”
“Ew! Appa, what the hell-”
“So does that mean he’s one of you?!” Mr. Park exclaims, eyes gleaming.
Jeongguk freezes, Jimin turns red and Taehyung loses it, cackling as everything unfolds. Mr. Park perks up at the boy’s laugh, “Taehyung?!” He asks delightedly, walking towards the tall boy, he’s laughing now too but it seems like the two are laughing about two completely different reasons, “You’re dating Taehyung?!”
Yup, there it is, Jeongguk internally cringes.
Taehyung stops laughing and gapes at his best friend’s dad like a deer caught in a headlight as Mr. Park pulls him to a hug, the older man is patting his back like he’s congratulating him. “Oh! I’m so relieved! Now I have nothing to worry about, huh? You know you’re like a son to me, Taehyungie, I know Jimin is in good hands”
“Appa-”
“And you, Jiminie! You know how long I’ve been waiting for this! Well, I mean I never really thought there’s something going on between you two, but I’ve been praying that you’d be with someone from a similar circle of yours so that I won’t have to worry about people betraying you and hurting you by leaking things to the press and Taehyung?! Your best friend! Well, that’s the icing on the cake!”
The room falls into one of the most uncomfortable silences and Jeongguk wants nothing more than the world to swallow him whole. Nothing can get more embarrassing than this, and he once pissed himself at the dorm when the microwave blew up
“Um” Taehyung starts awkwardly, “Uncle, as much I love knowing how much you adore me” he laughs nervously, “I’m not- I’m not dating Jimin, he’s great and all, but that would feel like incest to me”
“What?” Mr. Park widens his eyes in surprise, “But Jimin said he’s dating one of you-”
Yoongi, who has been quiet the whole time, lets out an inhumane song that sounds like half screech and half laugh, Mr. Park looks even more flabbergasted.
“That’s why you need to stop interrupting me, Appa” Jimin trails on, rolling his eyes.
“Then who is it?” Mr. Park presses on, he sounds even more impatient, and if Jeongguk isn’t involved in this whole thing he would’ve laughed at the whole situation, but again, his love life is on the line. “Honestly, Jimin, This is why you should’ve accompanied Jeongguk when he came to pick me up and just tell me about this when we were in the car,” Mr. Park continues, his hands are crossed in front of his chest, and Jeongguk cannot help but notice the stark similarity between the older man and his son when he’s lecturing someone he’s annoyed at too. “And why did you even let that poor child drive all the way from the station alone, huh? Did he even get his license yet? Jihyun-ie doesn’t even know where the breaks are, I can’t believe you let your dongsaeng here drive alone for hours”
Jeongguk swallows the lump in his throat and begins nervously, “I-it’s okay, Mr. Park. Jimin-hyung was busy practicing this morning and I was free, really”
Mr. Park rolls his eyes and pats Jeongguk on the shoulder lightly, “Oh come on now, child, you don’t have to make excuses for your hyung, he does this a lot to Jihyun too-”
“Oh my god, Appa, Jeongguk was the one who offered to pick you up in the first place” Jimin says, his small hands are turning into fists and he’s frustrated beyond measure at his own dad now.
“Oh really?” Mr. Park says, looking at Jeongguk for confirmation, the younger boy nods and smiles sheepishly, “Oh! What a sweet boy you are, Jeongguk-ah, but still, I think my son should’ve been more responsible and insisted to accompany you instead.”
“Appa, I-”
Jeongguk cuts Jimin off, “Mr. Park” he starts and he can feel daggers being sent to him from his boyfriend’s eyes, “-really, it’s okay, I-I also kinda wanted to spend time with you”
“Huh? Why?” The older man frowns thoughtfully, “But you didn’t even tell or ask something important to me the whole ride and even when we grabbed breakfast we were talking nonsense the whole time!”
Jeongguk turns red, “I just want to get to know you?” he says hesitantly.
Mr. Park gives him a sympathetic smile, “Oh, Jeonggukie, do you miss your Appa?”
“No!” Jeongguk says hurriedly, turning red, “Well, yeah, but I-I’m not trying to like, project you as my dad-”
Mr. Park laughs, and then he’s reaching his hand onto Jeongguk’s head, ruffling his hair affectionately, the boy ducks his head a little, chuckling nervously. “Well, you could’ve fooled me, you’ve been very kind to me these past months, Jeongguk-ah, giving me birthday presents and sending my wife vitamins, she even gushed about how you’d make the perfect son-in law one day” Mr. Park praises affectionately, seeming to be genuinely grateful for Jeongguk.
But his last sentence doesn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the boys in the dorm and suddenly the room goes silent. Everyone is expecting someone to just spill it out the oblivious poor old man and be done with it. Jeongguk is now the color of the beet roots from Mr. Park compliments and words and Jimin follows his boyfriend in suit, pursing his lips and smiles a little bit too sweetly at his father.
Taehyung and Yoongi snort, Hoseok is suppressing his giggles along with Namjoon and Seokjin is shaking his head, in disbelief at how ridiculous the whole situation has been.
Mr. Park, bless him, belatedly notices the tension in the room, eyes trailing from his son, to his best friend, to the leader of their group and finally lands of Jeongguk’s blushing face, his eyes are wide like a deer caught in headlight and that’s when Mr. Park finally realized what he’s just said.
“Oh.” Mr. Park says. “Oh” he says again, finally everything is coming together. “Oh my god, you, Jeonggukie? You’re dating my son?”
“I-I, yes, sir” Jeongguk answers, suddenly straightening up his posture like he’s a soldier on-call.
“Oh! Why didn’t you just tell me!” Mr. Park exclaims happily, “We could've discussed about you and Jimin at breakfast!”
Taehyung cackles, “I think that’s the exact reason why he didn’t tell you right away, Uncle”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Taehyungie!” Mr. Park rolls his eyes, “I’m not going to interrogate our Jeonggukie, he knows how much I’m fond of him!”
“Wait, really?” Jeongguk asks hopefully, “You do?”
“Of course, Jeongguk-ah” Mr. Park answers like it’s the most obvious thing in the world when all Jeongguk can recall are all the embarrassing things he’s done in front of the man whenever he’s visiting. Mr. Park leans closer to him dramatically, “You’ve always been my favorite,”
“Wait, hold on now,” Taehyung interrupts, “I thought that was me!”
“Well, you didn’t give me and my wife presents, Taehyung-ah, the list has changed” Mr. Park teases.
“What!” Taehyung sputters, “But Jeongguk was just doing that to get into your good side, Uncle! He’s a fraud!”
“Hey!” Jeongguk glares at him, “That’s called strategy, hyung”
“And it’s working, Taetae” Mr. Park says, duplicating Taehyung’s pout exaggeratingly, the other boy grumbles in response.
“You’re so unfair to me, Uncle” Taehyung replies dramatically, “And here I thought our friendship will last long”
“Up your game, Taehyung” Jeongguk tells him smugly, “You know how parents love me”
“Oh, please!” Taehyung retorts, “he’s acting so smug now as if he wasn’t crying this morning from nerves because he was so scared that he’ll embarrassed himself in front of you, Uncle”
Mr. Park coos, truly touched knowing that his son’s boyfriend is so committed in impressing him, this just shows how much Jeongguk values Jimin’s bonds with his family. “No wonder you’re so jumpy around me this morning, how cute”
Jeongguk blushes again at the compliment and mutters a thank you under his breath before Jimin decides that he has enough of his dad and best friend teasing his boyfriend, “Okay, Appa, we better leave now if you still want to buy Eomma that vase from that shop you’ve been talking about, any later than now we’re going to get mobbed once the market gets crowded”
“But, I still want to talk to our dear Jeonggukie here!” Mr. Park pouts and Jeongguk feels a surge of pride in himself knowing that once again, Jeon Jeongguk has mastered the art of Impressing The Parents, he’s such a legend. Maybe he should write a book.
“You’re going to be here for three whole days, Appa,” Jimin says while putting on his coat, and Hoseok hands him his car keys. “You can have him for yourself tomorrow” he adds nonchalantly, as if it didn’t take his boyfriend years to practice and prepare for this day.
Jeongguk freezes.
What now?