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Bam might’ve been even more excited about arriving at the retirement home than Jeongguk was. Thankfully, he waited patiently for Jeongguk to attach his leash to his harness before jumping out of the trunk. It was a Friday afternoon in early spring and it was finally starting to get warmer. There was still a light breeze but Jeongguk decided to leave his jacket in his car for now.
For a few months now, Friday had been his favorite day of the week - and he could tell that Bam would feel the same if he understood the concept of weekdays. The rest of his week consisted of playing video games, streaming said video game playing, and doing other social media stuff, which genuinely was his dream coming true. When he had first felt like he needed something more in his daily routine he had gotten Bam and by now they were a dream team. Bam had always been happy to learn and Jeongguk really hadn’t expected that the two of them would have so much fun at puppy school - it ended up being quality time for them.
So when one of their teachers offered to help Jeongguk sign up for the ‘Puppy & Me’ program, Jeongguk was over the moon. The program paired up dog owners (and their dogs) with retirement homes, hospitals, schools, and similar establishments. Jeongguk and Bam had been paired with the ‘Linden Park Retirement Home’ and so they got to drop by the home at least once a month and brought joy to the residents by simply spending time with them. Bam always enjoyed all the attention and secret treats he got, meanwhile Jeongguk genuinely loved talking to the residents about everything that came to mind. By contract, they only had to make visits once a month, but they usually came once a week since this had become something they looked forward to a lot.
“Ah, look what the cat dragged in,” Ilsung said teasingly as soon as he noticed them walking into the foyer. “Is it Friday already?”
Jeongguk smiled. “It seems so.” He knew that Ilsung felt a little squeamish around dogs so he only waved politely before walking up to a group of women who were playing cards at a round table. “Hello, my ladies. Who’s winning?”
As always the women were ecstatic to see him - and Bam, of course. Immediately, he got roped into playing a few rounds with them as they chattered away, talking about their week and the shows they had watched on the tv together.
After about half an hour, Jeongguk shuffled the cards for a new round. “Where’s Kyungja today?”
Soonhee tutted. “So you do have a favorite, huh?” The look on her face was mischievous as she reached under the table to give Bam’s head a scratch. Before Jeongguk could even deny it, she laughed. “She’s outside in the garden. It’s her grandson’s birthday so he and his daughter came by to have a picnic.”
“Oh, that’s so sweet.”
“You should go say hi.” Youngsook next to him patted his leg. “I’m sure she’d love that.”
For a moment, Jeongguk hesitated. He didn’t want to interrupt someone’s precious family time but it was Kyungja and Youngsook was right, she would love it. He would never admit this to any of the other residents because he was raised to be polite at all times but… Kyungja truly was his favorite resident.
Growing up, Jeongguk had been very close to his grandma but she had died when he was around fourteen or fifteen years old. He missed her every day. And when he had first talked to Kyungja, something had clicked in his heart. Maybe it was that from the very first moment on, Kyungja had treated him as if he was part of her own family. Every week, she’d give him a tight hug and made him talk to her about his week, especially if he hadn’t felt well. She was the only resident that he’d had conversations with that went deeper than how the weather was or what food he’d had for lunch. Within his third visit, he had come out to her as gay and had instantly gotten overwhelmed with how supportive she was.
Another thing that he loved about Kyungja was how determined she was to set him up with her own grandson. Every time they’d talk, she’d bring the man up, and to her credit, she was never subtle about it. She’d mention how Yoongi loved lamb skewers just like Jeongguk did, how he was also an introvert, and how he also loved to watch dramas. Jeongguk was endeared by how much she thought they’d fit together but he never took her all that seriously. Yoongi sounded like an amazing man but Jeongguk had stopped going out of his way to date every gay man that was introduced to him. Plus there was the thing about Jeongguk having recently realized that he might be demisexual which had him rethinking every interaction with men he had ever had. Meeting and dating new people really wasn’t on his mind.
Jeongguk ended up saying goodbye to Soonhee, Youngsook, and their friends. On their way to the garden, they stopped a couple of times to say hi to a few other residents and staff members and by the time they made it to the garden, Jeongguk had already forgotten that Yoongi and his daughter would also be with Kyungja. Which of course meant, he stood awkwardly on the resident home’s patio, until Kyungja noticed him and waved him over.
“Jeongguk-ah! My love, come here.” She smiled at him brightly and made the young man next to her, Yoongi surely, scoot over a little so that there was some space for Jeongguk on their picnic blanket. On the other side of Kyungja, set a young girl who he assumed was Yoongi’s daughter. From what Kyungja had told him her name was Yunseo and she was about ten years old. “I was just mentioning you earlier.”
Sheepishly, Jeongguk bowed and sat down at the edge of the blanket. “I really didn’t want to intrude.” He glanced at Yoongi. “I heard it’s your birthday? Happy Birthday. I’m sorry for, uh-” He gestured to himself.
Smiling, Yoongi nodded. “Thank you. Don’t worry, we don’t mind the company.” He reached out to carefully pat Bam on the head. “Hello, you. I’ve heard lots about you.”
Jeongguk looked over at Yunseo who was staring at Bam curiously. “You can come pet him as well, he loves all kinds of attention.” Quickly, Yunseo got up and sat down on the grass next to Bam so she could enthusiastically rub his back. “I truly am sorry for crushing your birthday party, though.”
“Don’t worry about it. Would you like some cake? Yunseo made it.” Yoongi motioned to the small chocolate cake that was sitting on a paper plate in the middle of the blanket. When Jeongguk nodded sheepishly, Yoongi moved to cut him a piece. As he did, Jeongguk’s eyes got stuck on the pins on Yoongi’s jean jacket - one of them was in the colors of the trans pride flag. Before Jeongguk could even process that, there was already a plate of cake being placed in his hands. “Now, halmeoni already told me a lot about you but I wanna hear from you. Tell me about yourself. Who are you, Jeongguk?”
Jeongguk let out an airy laugh. “Hitting me with the hard questions, aren’t you?” He accepted the fork Kyungja handed him. “Well, I’m… twenty five years old. I’m a twitch streamer so I earn my money by playing video games pretty much. Ther’s not much more about me really. Life is stressful.”
Yoongi sent him a gentle smile. “That still sounds like a lot, though. What kind of games do you play?”
“Uh, recently there’s been a lot of Final Fantasy and League of Legends, but my Minecraft series was the most popular,” he replied before taking a bite of the cake. The chocolate melted on his tongue, making him let out a surprised hum. “Oh, this is really good, Yunseo-yah.”
“You play Minecraft, too, right?” Yoongi nudged Yunseo who was still petting Bam, the dog’s head on her lap.
She shot her dad an unimpressed look. “Everyone plays Minecraft, appa.” Then she turned to Jeongguk. “Are you good at Mario Kart?”
He raised an eyebrow in amusement. “I’m decent, I guess? I mean-”
“Good, good,” she interrupted him with a grin. “We should play together some day. I’m tired of winning against appa all the time.”
Jeongguk couldn’t help but laugh at the look on Yoongi’s face. It was clear that him being bad at Mario Kart wasn’t an actual insult but more of an inside joke between father and daughter. He was a little surprised that Yunseo already wanted to make plans with him. It almost felt as if he was part of their little circle, their family. Well, not really but… almost.
“Aish, I’m so happy you came by, soondoongie.” Kyungja reached out to gently rub Jeongguk’s back. He leaned into her touch out of instinct. On days like these, he really wished that she was his grandmother. “You know, you’re family for me by now.”
“Be honest, can you read minds?” Jeongguk asked, grinning at her.
She only winked at him. “Old women like me don’t reveal their secrets.”
Jeongguk stayed with Kyungja, Yoongi and Yunseo until visiting times were over. Kyungja told them a few anecdotes from when she was young that left Jeongguk speechless and Yoongi talked to him about his job as an architect and his chaotic life with Yunseo. At some point, they just quietly sat there and watched Yunseo run around the yard with Bam chasing her. The atmosphere felt so comfortable that Jeongguk almost believed it was just a dream.
He could see now why Kyungja had tried to set him up with Yoongi. Talking to him was so easy. In the past he had really struggled to feel comfortable around strangers and acquaintances. But with Yoongi it felt different; they had only met today and Jeongguk didn’t want to rush into anything but never had he wanted to trust someone so quickly.
“You have to promise me you’ll come visit me on my birthday as well,” Kyungja said to Jeongguk when they were about to leave. She shook his shoulders gently. “It’s not on a Friday, so you’ll have to remember. It’s on April 1st.”
Smiling, Jeongguk pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek. “I won’t forget, halmeoni. I’ll see you next Friday.”
As Yoongi and Yunseo hugged Kyungja goodbye, Jeongguk already walked back to his car, waving at the residents they passed. By the time that Yoongi and Yunseo reached their car, Bam had already jumped into his box in the trunk of Jeongguk’s car. With one last kiss on Bam’s head, Jeongguk closed the trunk but before he could get into the driver’s seat, he could hear Yoongi calling his name.
“Jeongguk-ah, wait!” The man jogged up to Jeongguk’s car, his phone in one hand. “Sorry, I’ll let you go in a sec I just wanted to-” He leaned against the car, trying to catch his breath. Jeongguk suppressed a smile at how cute he was. “I thought we should maybe exchange numbers? So we could plan something for halmeoni’s birthday party, get a present together or something.”
Laughing, Jeongguk nodded quickly and got out his phone as well. “Or so I can teach you how to win against Yunseo in Mario Kart?”
Yoongi scrunched up his nose. “Or that.” When they had saved each other’s numbers in their phones, Yoongi was still hovering next to him. “Umm, thank you for spending time with halmeoni. It really means a lot to her.”
“You don’t need to thank me, I really like her as well.” Jeongguk shrugged sheepishly and folded his arms in front of his chest. “I hope you still enjoyed your birthday with me there.”
Shaking his head, Yoongi reached out to squeeze Jeongguk’s arm. “Don’t worry so much, I enjoyed it especially because you were there. Maybe I’ll make sure to drop by more on Fridays as well.” He took a few steps back, glancing over to where Yunseo was playing with the radio in his car. “Have a nice night.”
“You too,” Jeongguk called after Yoongi who waved with a grin. Yunseo stopped her impromptu dance party in the passenger seat to wave at him as well.
They were such an adorable family. And maybe Jeongguk would be part of it one day. One way or another.