Work Text:
jungkook was in a very peculiar mood.
he’d slipped almost as soon as he’d gotten home from an early schedule, big-jungkook very decidedly taking a break as soon as he pulled on his super-comfy jinnie-hyung-gifted sweater over his head. little-jungkook very decidedly made an appearance as soon as he nuzzled the baby blue collar and felt one of the fuzzy pale yellow stars near the hem.
it wasn’t that big of a deal this time, even with yoongi and jin still working. he didn’t feel too awfully needy, or awfully lonely, or even too awfully little. he was content to make his own blanket fort using his desk chair and the edge of the bed, taking tokki and his pretty nightlight into his comfy cave, and color in one of the many books yoongi-hyung had hidden in his room a few months back.
it was one of the more complex ones, meant for bigger kids than jungkook, but it was fun to color in the intricate circles all the same. yoongi-hyung said it helped him ‘member coloring in the lines wasn’t always that important, too. jungkook had never-never made a piece of art that his yoongi-hyung hadn’t said was wonderful, and jungkook had never-never had a reason to not trust yoongi-hyung, so they must really be wonderful, messy lines and all.
maybe this one could be for his jinnie-hyung. he might not think it was as wonderful as yoongi-hyung, but jungkook thought maybe he’d want to keep it anyway. a nice gift from his nice baby.
he zoned out for a while as he worked, only able to focus on the important things - like if he should use a yellow-blue pattern next or a pink-purple one, and the rainbow order his crayons went in. there were lots of shades of everything, and jungkook always felt a tiny pleased hum in his chest when he looked at them all put up the right way.
he took teeny breaks to sip his drink or eat his snack ‘cause he knew yoongi-hyung was happiest when his bunny took care of himself. other than that, though, he lost himself in his art for hours, only finishing when the sun was just starting to set. he hadn’t noticed time passing, really, with his blanket fort shielding him from the overhead lights he didn’t want to turn off ‘cause tokki was scared of the dark and the sunny windows that sometimes gave his brain a buzzy headache.
but now, he was still floaty but less fuzzy, and being in a room by himself with nobody to show his completed art to wasn’t right.
he did a really good job! every time he looked at his page he smiled! he wanted to make somebody else smile, too, ‘cause smiling was important and good for babies and for hyungs.
he frowned to himself in thought, squinting at his pretty picture.
he nodded once before pushing himself up clumsily, tucking tokki under his sweater to keep him nice and warm. he knew who he wanted to make smile.
he peeked into jin and yoongi’s rooms to make sure they weren’t there - because he wanted them to smile first, he thought, and his art was sposed to be for jin anyway - before he stood at jimin’s door. knocking felt clumsy with his sweater-pawed fists, but he did it anyways, knocking politely and standing with his picture in front of him, fluffy-socked toes pointed daintily inward.
“come in!” he heard jimin’s muffled voice say.
he frowned a little, a tiny bit thrown by jimin not opening it himself. it wasn’t what he expected, and usually - usually that wouldn’t be good, usually it would be bad, and usually he’d have his yoongi or jinnie hyung to help make it not-bad and more-good, but they weren’t here, and he’d have to try his very best.
when he opened the door himself, carefully turning the knob and pushing in a tiny bit, it didn’t feel as bad as he thought it might. encouraged, he opened it a little more, enough to peek through.
jimin quirked his brows at him from his bed. “hi, jungkook-ah. what are you up to?”
jungkook stood up a little straighter. he knew how to answer that one. he came in quickly, holding his picture up proudly, eyes going wide to make sure he saw jimin’s smile very-very well.
jimin didn’t disappoint. he was still for a short, confused moment before gasping dramatically, giving jungkook a bright beam as he got up to inspect it better. jungkook thumped a foot excitedly, arms shaking once in a tight quiver. “this is so beautiful, kook-ah! did you do this?”
jungkook let out a pleased hum behind his closed teeth, nodding quickly.
“it’s lovely. you chose so many nice colors, didn’t you?”
jungkook nodded again. he did choose so many nice colors. he chose so many colors, nice or not. he used almost every color in his big crayon box. he wanted it to be the very best rainbow for jinnie hyung.
but.
jiminie-hyung was smiling a whole lot. and he had a really nice smile. one of the nicest smiles ever. jungkook knew this for sure; he thought about jimin’s smile all the time.
he furrowed his brows for only a moment before deciding, holding the picture out more.
jimin blinked at it before looking at him. “is this—are you giving this to me?”
jungkook nodded once, holding it out a little more insistently.
“are you sure?”
jungkook saw the telltale pull at the corner of jimin’s lips, the way his shoulder went down, the tilt of his head that said happy-happy-happy. jungkook loved to see his jiminie-hyung happy-happy-happy. he wriggled.
jimin took it carefully, like it was a delicate silk painting and not a sturdy cardstock coloring page ripped not-entirely-perfectly from a book. he’d signed jk at the bottom in purple crayon. he didn’t used to sign things, but yoongi said he liked seeing his pretty baby’s name with his pretty baby’s art.
“jungkookie,” jimin said, quiet and solemn and sweet. “i love this. thank you.”
jungkook squeezed tokki, still hidden under his sweater, getting his excitement out a little bit. “chimin-hyung likes it?”
jimin clicked his tongue and jungkook saw the happy-happy-happy jiminie-look intensify. “i love it. you’re such a sweetheart, jungkook-ah. i love you.”
jungkook bounced on the balls of his feet. “love you! kookie—kookie loves chiminie-hyung lots.”
jimin smiled, putting the paper on his desk before pulling jungkook into a hug, as encompassing as he could make it. even though jimin had to look up a tiny bit to meet his eyes, he still made jungkook feel so wonderfully-wonderfully small.
“you make me so happy,” jimin told him.
“chimin happy?” he asked quietly, just to make sure.
“so, so happy.” he cupped jungkook’s cheek, smiling softly. “is your yoongi-hyung home?”
jungkook pouted, though he didn’t feel as sad at the reminder as he thought he might. “no. jinnie-hyung gone, too.”
“oh, poor dear,” jimin cooed. he took jungkook’s face between his small hands and jungkook beamed, all sadness erased and overcome with giddiness all at once. “do you want to play with your jiminie, hm?”
jungkook’s eyes widened. “we can play?”
“we can, if you’d like! we could watch some videos or make a snack or color some more—”
“oh!” jungkook gasped, patting his arm. “color for jinnie-hyung. can?”
jimin grinned. “just jinnie, hm? what about yoongi?”
“yoongi-hyung has lots,” jungkook dismissed. “jinnie-hyung doesn’t have any.”
jimin raised his brows. “none?”
jungkook shook his head. “made some but it made chiminie-hyung smile really-really pretty.”
“oh!” jimin cried out, putting a hand over his heart. “oh, honey—”
“make—make happy when chim-hyung smiles.”
“oh—it makes jiminie happy when kookie smiles, too, you know that?” jungkook’s chest went tight with joy and he had to smile to get some of it out. “mhm, exactly like that. your smile makes a happy jiminie even happier. are you sure you want me to have your art, though, baby? if it was supposed to be jin-hyung’s—”
jungkook shook his head. “keep? please?”
jimin considered him for a moment before squeezing his shoulder. “do you want to bring your coloring in here, baby? just for a change of scenery?
jungkook nodded, though he wasn’t entirely sure what a change of scenery meant. bringing his coloring in meant being in jimin’s room more, though, and jimin’s room smelled really nice and clean, and he had a soft blanket jungkook really-really liked, and maybe he’d let him and tokki cuddle under it.
he fetched his crayons and a few of his coloring books (his favorites, because he wanted to show off, he wanted jimin to like his things), and when he came back, jimin was standing on his bed.
“oing?”
jimin glanced at him with a smile before looking back to his task.
jungkook blinked.
his picture was in a frame, the print it previously held on the desk where jungkook’s picture had been before. jimin loved his art enough to frame it, to put it on his wall. even yoongi, who jungkook knew loved his art, didn’t frame it like that. granted, jungkook had given him enough to cover his entire room floor to ceiling. it didn’t matter if yoongi had framed every single piece, though. this was jimin.
jimin hopped off the bed and took a few steps back, squinting at his assessingly. “perfect” he smiled, looking over at jungkook. his smile slipped for a tiny second, but it came back softer than before before jungkook could worry. “good tears, honey?”
jungkook hadn’t realized he was crying. he nodded belatedly, wiping them away. “chimin-hyung likes?”
“chimin-hyung loves,” he assured. “now—here, let’s sit on the bed to color, i don’t have a great floor spot for it right now.”
“messy,” jungkook stated, giggling at jimin’s faux-affronted “mah!” he hesitated for a moment before gathering up all his big-big courage. “can—can cuddle?”
“can—you want to cuddle? me and you?” jimin asked.
jungkook didn’t know why he was surprised. he bit his lip. surprise wasn’t always good. still, he nodded hesitantly.
he needn’t have worried, though. “of course,” jimin gushed. “i would love to!”
“can—soft blanket? brown one?”
jimin glanced around before pulling it from a pile of various clean blankets and clothes from a chair. “this one, right?”
jungkook nodded, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“get comfy and i’ll fluff it over you, okay?”
jungkook got tokki out of his safe space under his sweater so he could lay on his tummy, settling for tucking tokki under his arm instead. he looked at jimin for approval and got it in the form of the big blanket being shaken out over him. he shrieked happily as it fell over him in one swoop, leaving him in darkness for just a second until jimin fluffed it up again.
“boo,” jimin said, and jungkook shrieked again.
jimin didn’t tease jungkook after that, just folded it down over his shoulders before wriggling under with him.
“okay,” jimin said with finality. “let’s get to work.”
as they colored side by side, elbows occasionally bumping, sometimes asking each other for certain colors, jungkook began to - not drop, but unfloat. he felt bigger little-by-little-by-little, the crayon in his hand slowly becoming a little less cumbersome, the innocent peace of mind was a little less easy to achieve with big-jungkook thoughts filtering in easier. he wasn’t used to coming to so gradually; it usually took him a little nap or an entire night’s sleep to go back to being big-jungkook unless he was jerked out of it, making big and little jungkook very-very upset.
but now - he glanced at jimin out of the corner of his eye. he felt his cheeks prickling as he began to blush with the worrisome beginnings of shame. it was unfortunate timing, but jimin caught him looking when he reached over for a crayon.
jimin blinked and jungkook saw the moment he realized something wasn’t quite the same.
he looked quickly away but jimin followed, leaning forward to see his face again.
“hey, now,” jimin said, as quiet and friendly and sweet as he always was. “what’s that look for, baby?”
jungkook tried to speak, but his lip wobbled traitorously, an ache quickly starting in his throat. he shrugged.
“oh—” jimin wrapped an arm around jungkook’s shoulders and tugged him close. jungkook fell into him willingly, burying his face in the blankets under them. “sweetheart, don’t get all shy on me. we’ve been having such a good time together, haven’t we?”
“m’sorry,” jungkook sniffled, voice muffled by the blankets.
“for what?” jimin tutted. “there’s nothing to be sorry for. are you sorry for spending time with me?” jungkook shook his head quickly. “are you sorry for giving me a gift?” jungkook shook his head again. “are you sorry for—”
“being weird,” jungkook cut him off. “m’sorry for—for being weird.”
“this is the least weird you’ve ever been.” jungkook snorted and jimin squeezed the nape of his neck. “i’m serious! i don’t get some of your eating habits or your superstitions or why you sleep on the floor sometimes—”
“back health,” jungkook mumbled.
“but my soft little jungkookie makes so much sense. i’ve had such a nice time with you, baby. i wouldn’t have done this by myself and it’s been so relaxing. and i was able to color this for you—”
jungkook blinked, snapping to look at him, their faces inches apart.
“for you,” jimin said, tapping his coloring page. “see, look. for jungkookie.”
jungkook stared, taking the page in hand almost reverently. “for jungkookie?”
“so don’t apologize for something i was happy doing. and even if i wasn’t happy, even if i was the maddest anybody’s ever been, don’t apologize for something like that.”
“wh-what do you think it is?” he asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer.
“you just wanted to let go for a little while, isn’t that right? and letting go—looks like this. some peace and quiet, some nice attention. am i on the right track?”
jungkook nodded and sniffled, still staring at the little for jungkookie in the corner of the page, from chimin-hyung right under it. “y-yeah.”
“we have to make sure our little babiest is taken care of. and isn’t this such a nice way of doing it? cuddling under a nice, warm blanket with tokki tucked between us?”
jungkook sniffled again, looking down at tokki. the off-white bunny looked happy, he thought, smushed pleasantly between jungkook and his hyung. “s’nice.”
“i agree.” jimin touched his cheek, guiding jungkook to look at him. “i love you, jungkook-ah. can you say it back to me?”
jungkook huffed a laugh. “love you, too, hyung.”
“no, no, baby. i want to hear you say i love you. i want to make sure you know it.”
jungkook stared at him for a long moment before swallowing. “j-jimin-hyung loves me?”
“now i don’t think i asked you a question. what does your jimin-hyung do?”
jungkook’s lips twitched up a tiny bit. “loves me.”
“what was that?”
“jimin-hyung loves me!”
“good,” jimin grinned, satisfied. “i do. i love you, jungkook-ah. with all my heart. every single second of every single day.”
“what about when i—”
“don’t argue with me, because if you piss me off i might agree with you even if it would be a lie—”
jungkook grinned, grabbing tokki to squeeze to his chest. “thank you.”
“of course.” jimin smiled, squeezing him from the side. “we should do this again. do you have a rotation with hyungs? do i need to be penciled in?”
jungkook snickered, knocking shoulders with him. “no. i don’t—mean to. ever, really. it just—happens.”
“so if i go to check on you and yoongi-hyung tries to get me to wash the dishes or something—”
“i’ll get you out of it.”
jimin beamed and pinched his cheek. “such a good boy.”
jungkook batted at him. “you swear, though? you really don’t mind?”
jimin softened. “i really, really don’t.”