Chapter Text
Kim Taehyung may be five years old, but he wasn’t stupid.
He noticed a lot more things than grown-ups gave him credit for, and he was sure that he could think of many better ways to solve some of their problems than they could. Hoseok-saem, his teacher at school, had even told him that he relied on him for difficult questions a few days ago, so surely that must mean something.
But even so, even with all his typical confidence and the trust of his favourite teacher, there was one problem that Taehyung still hadn’t figured out how to solve in all his five years, and that was what he could do to make his dad happier.
For as long as he could remember, he’s loved his dad more than anything in the world. His dad read him stories every night, tucked him in and gave him a kiss so he would have good dreams, woke him up with cuddles, tried his best to cook for him even though uncle Yoongi said he was hopeless, taught him how to ride a bike, took him to the cinema to watch the new movies that came out, played music loudly in the car for him on their way to school every morning, patiently cleaned him up after he came home coated in dirt after playing outside, let him sleep in on the weekends… So many things that Taehyung couldn’t even name them all one by one.
The point was, his dad was special to him. He was the coolest dad, and he knew that because he saw all the ones who came to pick up his classmates and they looked so boring compared to him. He told Taehyung every day how much he loved him, and took up Taehyung’s competition of trying to see who loved each other more, which usually ended with them laughing hysterically or his dad tickling him because Taehyung was playing too good a game for him to challenge him and needed to cheat to end the competition. It was okay, Taehyung let him win. He knew that he was the best at that game.
But, as already stated, Taehyung also knew a lot more than grown-ups thought he did.
He knew that his family was different from most. The rest of the children in his class each had two parents, a mummy and a daddy, although Hoseok-saem had said that there are also families with two mummies or two daddies, and Taehyung really wanted to meet one. However, when it had been his turn to bring a photo of his family to school to show his friends, the first question he’d gotten from them was why he only had a dad.
In all honesty, Taehyung couldn’t properly answer that question, and Hoseok-saem had changed the subject before he could think about it too much, but it had stuck with him. He knew that he’d had a mummy once, a long time ago, so far away that he didn’t remember, but that she’d had to leave. That was all his dad had told him. There was a photo of her with his dad in their home, and that was how Taehyung knew what she’d looked like. He did have a different family, but he didn’t feel like it was worse than those of his classmates. He loved his dad, and his dad loved him, that was enough for him.
Something he had noticed, though, was that his dad was a very busy person. Most days, he was working in his office at home, even after he’d come back from work before picking up from school. He also wore a suit, which meant that he had to have an important job. Taehyung knew that he was called a lawyer, but he wasn’t sure what exactly he did. His dad said that he made sure everyone followed the laws, but that had just confused him more, because he’d always thought that was what the police were for. His dad had said something complicated then, and Taehyung had remained confused. It didn’t give him an answer to why his dad had to work so much, and why he looked so tired all the time.
He could see him hide yawns when they played together, and a few times when he’d gotten up during the night to go to the bathroom or to drink water, he’d found his dad still awake and in his office. So many times during the day, he had to answer the phone because someone was calling him about work. Taehyung knew it was about work because his dad always used big words when he talked to them.
And to make it all worse, his dad didn’t have someone to keep him company. He didn’t have many friends like Taehyung did, only uncle Yoongi and uncle Kookie, and Taehyung thought that was just downright unfair. His dad was such a fun person, he deserved to have more than two friends. Not to mention that he couldn’t spend as much time with the ones he did have because of how busy he was. Taehyung got to see them often because they looked after him if his dad was busy with work, and every time they got him ready to get picked up, they told him to scold his dad for not spending enough time with them. Taehyung followed their instructions, but his dad always said that he wanted to see them, he just didn’t have time.
It felt unfair that his dad couldn’t do all those nice things because there wasn’t enough time. On the other hand, when Taehyung had said so to uncle Yoongi the last time he’d seen him, the man had nodded sadly and patted his head, saying that his dad had to work hard for the both of them.
As soon as December hit, they started talking about Christmas in school, and were even preparing a play for their parents to come and see. One day, Hoseok-saem had all of the kids in the class write a letter to Santa Claus, and helped them write what they were asking from him that year. Each kid took turns telling him what it was, and he would write it on the board for them to copy on their paper.
Taehyung stared down at his empty paper, and thought long and hard about what he wanted to ask for. He could hear everyone around him asking for toys, roller skates, tablets or clothes, but he wanted to think of something bigger. If Santa could bring him anything he wanted, he had to think of something worth it. He had lots of toys and clothes, and his dad had always told him that it wasn’t good to have too much of something, so what was there left?
“Taehyung-ah, have you decided yet?” Hoseok-saem asked with a bright smile, when they’d gone around everyone in the classroom.
“Someone for my dad,” he replied hesitantly.
He heard some of his classmates laugh, and felt shy for saying it out loud, but Hoseok-saem asked them to be quiet, and kept smiling at him.
When the rest of his class went out to play in the garden, Hoseok-saem asked Taehyung to stay behind so they could finish his letter, the paper still blank and glaring at him unsatisfied, despite the many Christmas doodles he’d filled it with.
“That’s a really great wish you have,” Hoseok-saem told him, “But I don’t think Santa can bring real people. That would be a bit scary, don’t you think? Stuck in his sack.”
Taehyung couldn’t help but giggle a bit because, yes, the way Hoseok-saem put it, paired with the facial expressions he was making, it sounded a little funny.
“Maybe in this letter you can write something else,” Hoseok-saemk suggested, “And make that wish to something else. How does that sound?”
Taehyung nodded, and his teacher helped him write that he would like nice gloves like the ones Jimin, his best friend, had.
That night, after his dad had tucked him in, he couldn’t fall asleep. He kept thinking about what Hoseok-saem had said, and he wondered what he could do to make his wish come true. He looked out of the window in his room as he thought, watching as stars shined brightly and twinkled against the dark night sky. He had a great view from this window, and he loved looking outside, especially at night, when, on clear nights, he could see so many stars.
He remembered how Hoseok-saem had taught them that the universe was endless, and that there was so much of it that scientists and astronauts hadn’t explored yet, and he found that fascinating. While some of his classmates had been scared not knowing everything that was out there, to Taehyung that was exciting.
Suddenly, Taehyung sat up on his bed, almost kicking off his blanket.
Jimin had told him that on Christmas anything can happen, that it’s a magical time. If that was true, then all he needed to do was make a wish and let the Christmas magic fulfil it! It was that simple!
He closed his eyes and thought of the Christmas tree in the living room, the bright stars in the sky, and tried to summon magic.
‘I wish for my dad to find someone,’ he thought, ‘So he won’t be so lonely anymore. I wish we can find someone that can make him happy.’
He opened his eyes and looked around his room, just in case the wish had come true already, but it turned out that it might be too early for that. Still, he lay back down satisfied, and went to sleep with a smile on his face. He’d put the power of Christmas to work, so now all he needed to do was wait for the results.
⍋☆⍋
On most days, Taehyung was woken up by his dad giving him a hug and a kiss and telling him softly that it was time to get up and let his dreams sleep now. Very rarely, if his dad forgot to set his alarm, or if he fell asleep again by accident, he would be a bit more frantic while trying to wake him up, and one time he’d even started singing loudly to get him out of bed. It had worked.
In any case, Taehyung was used to the morning process of waking up and going to school. He knew what to expect every night when he drifted off to sleep, and it always came true the next morning.
Which was why when he was awoken by a loud crash that shook the entire house, he jumped out of bed terrified.
What was that? Where did it come from? Had it been real?
He grabbed his teddy bear and ran to his dad’s room, finding the older man already awake as well, and just as alarmed as he was, if not more.
“Daddy, what was that?” he asked, rushing to him so he could cling to his pyjama pant leg.
“I don’t know, Taetae,” his dad replied, “Should I go and see? Are you okay waiting for me?”
Taehyung shook his head frantically. Loud noises were scary, he didn’t want to be left alone when another one could come just as easily.
“Okay, that’s okay, baby,” his dad reassured him, and despite his fear Taehyung still managed to grumble, “Not baby,” at him.
His dad took some careful steps out of his bedroom and towards a window in the hallway. Their house had two floors, and there was a big window on the second floor that was too tall for Taehyung to reach on his own, but if he stood on a stool he could see the whole backyard and more of their neighbourhood. He guessed it would be a good place to begin their investigation into the strange sound.
His dad stopped in front of the window and looked outside, only for his eyes to widen and his mouth to fall open, just like they had that one time Taehyung and Jimin had tried to bake a cake while he took a phone call during their playdate. They hadn’t gotten into much trouble that time, so Taehyung could only assume that meant that whatever had caused the sound wasn’t too bad.
With that thought, he tried to stand on his tiptoes to get a glimpse of it himself, but his eyes could only just reach the bottom of the glass. The only thing he could see was a small trail of grey smoke.
“Daddy!” he whined, curiosity higher than ever before.
His voice snapped his dad out of whatever he was going through, and he looked down at him.
“Wanna see,” Taehyung told him.
“Um… Sure, okay, bud,” his dad stammered. Strange. His dad didn’t sound like that often.
He lifted Taehyung in his arms and let him look outside, and lo and behold there was a huge metal object in their backyard that definitely hadn’t been there last night!
Taehyung almost screamed when he saw it, but only a gasp escaped him as he looked down at it, trying to examine it from their distance. It looked like a small plane, except its wings were smaller, and its body was much bigger than that of a plane. It seemed like it was out of that movie Taehyung had seen his dad watching once, one he’d found out took place in space.
His brain skidded to a halt as he made the connection.
HAD THIS NOT-PLANE COME FROM SPACE?!
He squirmed in his dad’s arms to be let down, and once his feet had touched the floor, bolted towards the stairs.
He ignored his dad’s panicked shout of his name as he ran down the stairs and towards the door in their kitchen that led to the backyard. He had to see this from up close, he just had to!
He reached for the doorknob when he reached his destination, ignoring his dad’s calls for him to wait. He threw the door open, and took two steps outside into the backyard before stopping.
Up close, the not-plane looked even bigger than it had from the window, but it also seemed smaller than what he’d been expecting. The ones from his dad’s space movie had looked much bigger, but this one seemed like it could only fit one person inside, compared to the many ones he’d seen in the movie. It also didn’t look like one of the rockets Hoseok-saem had shown them photos of.
He stood still, watching, as his dad caught up with him and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Go inside, Taehyung,” he told him, “It might be dangerous.”
“What is it, daddy?” Taehyung asked.
“I really don’t know, Tae,” his dad replied wearily.
Just then, another sound came from the not-plane, one that reminded Taehyung of opening a bottle of fizzy water or juice. As the noise died down, a part of the not-plane shifted, revealing itself to be a door, and behind it stood a person.
Taehyung almost screamed and ran to hide behind his dad, but it was at that moment that he had a sudden realisation.
Right before going to bed, he’d made a wish to the magic of the Christmas season, for his dad to find someone, and here someone was, standing in their backyard just a few hours later.
He felt like the inside of his body had lit up like lights on a Christmas tree.
He knew he’d made the right choice; Christmas magic would never fail him!
With that thought, he almost bounded to the person his wish had brought, but his dad held him back. Taehyung didn’t understand why, the man looked friendly, and, honestly, very cute with how confused he looked. His eyes were wide open, meaning that he was already the perfect match for Taehyung’s dad as their expressions were the same, his face was very pretty and he had fluffy brown hair and cheeks that Taehyung was dying to touch. If uncle Kookie always said that Taehyung’s cheeks were adorable, he had to see these ones. The man looked really tall, and his shoulders were so wide his upper body looked like an upside-down triangle. He was also wearing strange clothes. They looked like an astronaut’s suit, only there was more black on it, and he wasn’t wearing a helmet.
The most amazing thing, however, was who appeared next to the man after the door had fully opened.
Or, more accurately, what had appeared.
By the man’s legs stood a small creature, the closest thing Taehyung had seen to a real robot. It was a white little creature with a big round head and shiny green eyes that somehow looked alive as they flashed with what looked like curiosity as they took in the sight in front of them.
Taehyung heard his dad clear his throat a few times like he did when he was trying to seem like he knew exactly what to say, when in reality he had no idea. He waited anxiously. He hoped his dad would like the surprise he’d sent him.
“Who are you?” his dad asked, “What are you doing at our house?”
The unknown man’s eyes grew even bigger, and he turned to the robot by his side, which beeped two times before producing the most unusual stream of sound that Taehyung had ever heard in his life.
Until the man opened his mouth and spoke something similar to it, and Taehyung understood that this must be another language, like English or Japanese. He wondered what this one was called. It sounded difficult.
The robot beeped again when the man finished talking, and then out of it came a computerised voice that said in Korean, “Hello. I don’t know what happened, but my ship broke down and I fell to this planet. Where is this?”
“What do you mean?” Taehyung’s dad gaped, “Are you not from this planet?”
The small robot translated the message, and through their slightly delayed form of communication, the newcomer replied with, “No. I come from a planet very far away. I was only passing by while exploring the universe. I mean no harm, I just want to get back on my track.”
He gestured to himself, and the robot said, “I’m Jin.” He then pointed down to the robot, and was accompanied by the bot’s voice explaining, “This is Wootteo. My companion.”
“Wootteo?” Taehyung’s dad asked, “Like… Space wanderer?”
The newcomer’s eyes lit up and he smiled while clapping happily and cheering words that Taehyung came to learn meant, “Exactly! Finally, someone who understood it! It must be fate that my poor ship crashed here where there are good people!”
Taehyung himself wouldn’t have chosen people who understood corny puns like his dad did as the definition of “good people”, but if this was a way for his dad and this man to get closer, then he wasn’t going to complain. After all, Jin looked even cuter with how he was jumping around joyfully.
When he looked up, he found that his dad must be having similar thoughts, because he was smiling at Jin the way he did when Taehyung had first shown him how he’d learned to write his own name. The little boy held his bear tighter and smiled to himself. He’d done a good job.
“It’s a good name,” his dad said, and Wootteo, who hadn’t been partaking in the celebration, dutifully translated it back to Jin.
“Thank you,” the robot translated Jin’s answer back to them, “I really don’t wish any harm. I’ll fix my ship and get going as soon as possible. I’m sorry I interrupted your day.”
“If I’m being honest, this doesn’t feel like something that’s really happening, so it’s fine, I suppose,” Taehyung’s dad told him, “Um… Let me know if I can help? In any way?”
“Dad, no! You’ll make it worse!” Taehyung exclaimed, finally breaking his silence.
He appreciated his dad being willing to help, but he didn’t want him to break the ship even more and scare Jin away. Plus, if what Jin was saying was true, he wasn’t planning on sticking around. That couldn’t happen, he had to stay with them! That’s what Taehyung’s wish had been! He couldn’t let him leave so quickly.
What he hadn’t counted on was Wootteo translating what he’d said back to Jin.
“Worse?” Jin asked, and Taehyung didn’t need to wait to hear Wootteo’s translation to know that he didn’t sound excited anymore.
He clamped his mouth shut and looked up at his dad sheepishly.
“Ah, that’s…” his dad rubbed the back of his neck, “It’s a joke.”
“Yeah, don’t worry, my dad can fix it for sure!” Taehyung tried to make amends for what he’d said, “Why don’t you take a look at it right now, daddy?”
Right then, the ship let out another puff of smoke and seemed to sink further into the ground, making a thought dawn on the minds of everyone present, maybe even in Wootteo’s computer-brain.
“I think we’d have to move it somewhere the neighbours can’t see first,” Taehyung’s dad suggested.
“Yeah, it's a bit too beaten up,” Jin mused, “It doesn’t compliment your yard.”
“More like we don’t usually get visitors from other planets here,” Taehyung’s dad replied.
“In this part of town?” Jin asked, but Taehyung’s dad didn’t say anything to that.
The two men started pushing the ship with the help of Wootteo, who proved himself to be quite strong for how small he was (he was littler than Taehyung, but looked like he was doing most of the work), into the garage. Thankfully there was enough room for it, as Taehyung’s dad had parked his car outside the day before. The ship took up most of the space inside, and his dad had to move some pieces of furniture aside for it.
Taehyung and Jin stood side by side and watched his dad and Wootteo move things around and turn the ship around until it fit. Jin looked down at Taehyung as if he was calculating his height, and gave him a soft smile that made his cheeks look even fluffier and a wave when he was caught looking. Taehyung waved back with a big grin. Jin then pointed to the teddy bear in the boy’s arms. Without Wootteo around, it wouldn’t be as easy to understand each other, but they were making it work.
Taehyung held the bear out to him, and watched as Jin took it in his hands, eyes widening when he felt how soft it was, and then examining it like his dad looked at some of the emails the people from work sent him. He held the bear up and turned it around at different angles, before taking each of its arms into one of his hands and beginning to move it around like he was dancing with it. Taehyung giggled, causing Jin to look down at him questioningly, but the boy just gave him a thumbs up and watched as the man kept playing with the toy.
After a few moments, Jin pointed to the bear while looking at Taehyung.
Taehyung scrambled to try to understand what he meant, suddenly missing Wootteo, who was currently balancing one of the wings of Jin’s ship on one hand.
He shook his head, hoping Jin got the message.
Jin insisted, pointing at the teddy bear again, earning the same reaction.
The third time, he thought about it, and pointed at himself first. “Jin,” he said. Then, he pointed back at the toy.
“Ahhh!” Taehyung exclaimed, finally getting it, “Bear.”
“Bear,” Jin repeated, giving a slight nod of approval. At least he liked the name.
Taehyung pointed to himself. “Taehyung,” he gave his name.
“Taehyung, what have I said about giving your name to strangers?” came his dad’s voice, making him jump. He hadn’t realised when his dad had finished reorganising the garage.
“Don’t translate that!” his dad rushed to tell Wootteo, who had just started sharing what he’d just said to Jin. Both he and the robot stared at him blankly.
“He’s not a stranger,” Taehyung rushed to defend himself.
“He’s an alien,” his dad said, “I can’t even believe this is really happening. I guess I didn’t exactly prepare you for this scenario, but aliens count as strangers too.”
“He told us his name first,” Taehyung argued, trying to find the right way to tell his dad that Jin was also someone he had wished for for him.
“Just be careful, Tae,” his dad told him, “We don’t know anything about him. Let’s just hope he’ll have his ship fixed and ready to go by the time you’ve finished school today.”
Taehyung pouted at him, but he didn’t get the chance to say anything, because his dad’s whole body jerked like he’d been struck by lightning.
“You have school today!” he exclaimed, “What time is it?”
With those words, he rushed inside the house through the door that connected the garage to the kitchen, and let out many jumbled words, along with a mantra of, “Fudge, fudge, sugar, sugar!”
The little boy, alien and robot peeked inside through the door to see the man running around, looking like he was trying to put bread in the toaster, make coffee and get dressed at the same time.
“Tae! We need to get ready!” he called out to his son when he saw him standing in the doorway.
⍋☆⍋
As his dad drove him to school, sweating buckets even though it was the middle of winter, he told Taehyung that he was going to ask to work from home that day to keep an eye on Jin. Taehyung nodded, and gave him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek before running through the school gates and being greeted by one of the teachers who took him up to Hoseok-saem’s classroom.
The rest of the day in school, he kept thinking of Jin, and wondering what he might be doing back at his house. Had his dad shown him around yet? Had he liked their Christmas tree? Did he want a stocking of his own? Surely they could find another one, right? Was he still in his astronaut suit, or had he changed into something else? Did he even have other clothes?
So many questions raced through his mind, he couldn’t even focus on his and Jimin’s favourite games during break time. Hoseok-saem asked him if he was alright many times, and Taehyung kept saying that he was, because he really was. He was more than alright. He was so happy! His Christmas wish was coming true so quickly he couldn’t believe it.
By the time the school day was over and it was time to get home, he was bouncing on his heels with excitement to go home and see Jin again.
Just like every other day, his dad showed up at the school gate to pick him up, and once they were both in the car with their seatbelts on, he told Taehyung about how his day with Jin had gone.
The first thing he learned was that the alien’s spaceship was a lot more complicated than they’d originally thought, so it hadn’t been fixed yet. Taehyung let out a quiet, “Yes!” at that.
His dad also told him that they were going to order food for lunch, seeing as he hadn’t had any time to prepare anything, and hadn’t wanted to ask uncle Yoongi over to cook for them when he could see Jin. That was fine by Taehyung. Ordering takeout was a very special occasion in their family, so he looked forward to it! He wondered if Jin liked takeout too. Did they have takeout food where he was from?
He asked him when he got home, and was shocked to find out that Jin didn’t know what that was. Even Wootteo had no idea! His dad had to explain it to them so many times, and they still had questions about it.
Most of them were thankfully answered when their food arrived. Taehyung’s dad was still not sure if he wanted to let the alien and robot into their house, so he pulled their table closer to the garage door, and they sat there to eat while Jin sniffed at the box they’d given him and looked at the chopsticks like he had Bear.
When they finally explained everything well enough to him and he took his first bite of food, though, his eyes went as wide as saucepans, and he ate the rest of it so quickly Taehyung barely even saw it. He licked the sauce off his lips when he was done, and Taehyung couldn’t help but laugh.
As he played with his toys in the evening while his dad did some more work, he could see Jin watching him from the garage, but the alien would look away whenever Taehyung would wave at him. He didn’t feel too disappointed. Maybe Jin was still shy. But he hoped he would feel calmer soon. Taehyung could already tell that he would make a great playmate. He was already imagining himself and Jimin playing with Jin.
Not long after the sun had set, Jin knocked on the door to get his and his dad’s attention. He told them through Wootteo that they’d figured something out about his ship and wanted to let them know.
Once they were all sitting in the garage again, now looking messier than it had in the morning, Jin broke the news to them.
“So, we can’t find anything that’s wrong with the ship itself,” he said, “Our guess is that it needs energy from its planet of creation, but unless you have a way to get there, that’s quite far away.”
Taehyung celebrated in his head. The farther the better! It meant Jin got to stay for longer! More time for him to help him and his dad get closer.
His dad didn’t seem as excited when he looked for his reaction, but it was okay. He was going to take care of everything. Two shy grown-ups were nothing he couldn’t handle.
“But there is another solution,” Jin told them, “When I made the ship, I connected it to Wootteo’s computer. Wootteo is designed to be exactly what his name implies: a traveller. That means that his programming doesn’t allow him to stay in only one place, at some point he has to leave. I think that when that happens, the ship will power up again.”
“And in how long will that be?” Taehyung’s dad asked.
Jin shrugged. They didn’t need a translation to know what that meant.
“I don’t know,” he said, “I’ve never stayed anywhere long enough for that to happen.”
“So until then you’re stuck here?” Taehyung’s dad asked.
“Seems like it,” Jin answered.
Taehyung’s dad sighed, and Taehyung felt his heart tighten. This meant that at some point, Jin would leave them. That wasn’t fair! Couldn’t Christmas magic grant his wish exactly like he’d wanted?
Well, as unfair as this way, it only meant that he had to make everything happen as soon as possible! He had no time to waste, he had to get to work.
“Do you want me to leave?” Jin asked, and even Wootteo’s computer voice sounded sad.
“No!” Taehyung exclaimed, “Please, daddy! We can’t let them go away! Who else is going to let them keep the ship in their garage? It almost didn’t fit in ours, and remember how uncle Yoongi always said that our garage is bigger than theirs? What if we actually have the biggest garage in the world and don’t know? Where will their ship go then?”
“Calm down, Tae,” his dad reassured him, “I wasn’t going to ask them to leave.”
A smile spread on Taehyung’s face, and he saw Jin’s eyes light up when he got the translation of what his dad had just said.
The man turned to Jin. “As long as I can watch what you’re doing,” he told him, “And if you’re like today, you can stay here until you can leave.”
Jin nodded frantically and nudged Wootteo with his foot so the robot would do the same, after a few beeps that sounded like complaining.
“Thank you so much!” Jin said, “We won’t cause you any trouble, we promise.”
“I really hope you’re right,” Taehyung’s dad replied.
⍋☆⍋
For the first three days after Jin’s arrival, the alien and Wootteo lived in the garage permanently. Whenever Taehyung looked over to see what they were doing, he found them either trying to work on their ship, chatting in their language, or playing what looked like games. He hoped they were having fun, but the garage didn’t look nearly as warm or comfy as the rest of the house did, and Taehyung felt bad for the two of them being shut off like that. And even worse, he couldn’t put his plan into action if Jin and his dad were never in the same place.
He waved hello to Jin every morning when he woke up, and greeted him whenever he came back from school or just saw him watching him. He wanted to tell Jimin and Hoseok-saem all about him, but his dad had told him that it would be best if they kept Jin a secret for now. He was bummed, but he understood why. He wondered if Jin had gone to school too when he was younger on his planet. Did he have friends that he’d left behind? Did he also have a dad who would tuck him in at night? Did he even sleep? Taehyung never saw him sleeping, so his guess was that maybe he didn’t.
But in the end, he turned out to be wrong.
The fourth day since Jin’s arrival was a Saturday, one of Taehyung’s favourite days, because he got to sleep in. By the time he ran down the stairs for breakfast, it was late morning. His first stop was, of course, to say good morning to Jin, who might even be curious why he hadn’t done so already. Taehyung couldn’t have him think he’d forgotten about him.
When he reached the kitchen door, however, he was met with an unexpected sight.
With his head leaning against his ship and his legs stretched in front of him, Jin was fast asleep. Wootteo was standing by his side, watching him.
“Dad!” Taehyung called out, and was scolded by the robot who made a, “Shh,” noise at him.
When Taehyung’s dad saw the sleeping alien, his eyes softened, and after standing in the doorway for a few moments, he took a step toward him. Wootteo beeped annoyed, but his dad quickly spoke to him to calm him down.
“I’m not going to hurt him,” he told the robot, “He just looks uncomfortable like this. I’ll take him inside so he can sleep on the couch. Is that alright?”
With Wootteo’s permission, his dad picked Jin up and slowly carried him all the way to the living room, where he laid him down on their biggest couch. Jin sighed as soon as his back hit the soft cushions, and curled up more comfortably. Taehyung’s dad didn’t stop there though. He brought one of the blankets that were draped over another couch, a red one with white snowflakes on it, and covered him with it.
Taehyung smiled when he saw Jin tucked up like that, and brought his toys close to the couch, so he would be able to play near him.
It was a long time before Jin woke up again, and when he did he looked very surprised. So much so that he jumped off the couch, flinging the blanket off him.
Wootteo, who had been sitting by them silently, shot up seeing him like that.
“What happened?” Jin asked Taehyung.
“You just fell asleep and dad brought you inside, don’t worry,” Taehyung replied, “I was playing a game, do you want to play too?”
Jin seemed more confused than before when he heard him. Why, Taehyung wasn’t sure, but he invited him to play again, in case he missed it.
Slowly, Jin nodded and sat down on the floor next to him as Taehyung began explaining the story he was acting out with his toys.
It was easy. Pororo had taken the train, but forgot his goggles on it, and now he and Elsa were looking for the train to get them back. Luckily, Jin caught up quickly, and the adventure could keep going right away.
“Look, Elsa, a Christmas tree!” Taehyung called out, shaking his Pororo toy, “Maybe it’s there!”
Jin didn’t follow along, though. He looked around the room, and asked Taehyung, “Where? What is that?”
Taehyung’s mouth fell open. “What do you mean?” he asked, “You don’t know what a Christmas tree is?”
Jin shook his head, and Wootteo seemed just as lost as him.
Taehyung couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Then, an even more horrible thought hit him. “Don’t you have Christmas on your planet?” he asked.
“No,” Jin replied, “What’s Christmas?”
Taehyung almost screamed. “What?!” he exclaimed, “What do you do without Christmas?! Christmas is the best thing ever! Actually, maybe that’s my birthday, but Christmas is also cool! It’s so much fun!”
And with that, his lesson began.
“Christmas is a holiday,” he explained, and listened as Wootteo translated what he said, “In winter. Though Hoseok-saem said that in some other countries it’s in summer. But here in Korea Christmas is in winter! It snows too! Snow is amazing, you’re going to love it. When Christmas is close we decorate our houses, like dad and I have done! With all the little on- orma- ornaments! And we put a big tree inside the house and that’s what a Christmas tree is. This is ours!” He walked them over to their tree. “We put ornaments on it too, a star on top and presents at the bottom. And on Christmas, Santa Claus comes and puts presents there too! Santa Claus is a nice old man who lives in the North Pole and he has a long beard. He brings presents to all the children who have been good that year. He visits all the children in one night, can you believe it? He has magic flying reindeer that help him. I don’t know how they fly without wings, maybe they’re aliens like you. If you see him this year you should ask him. I’ve never seen Santa before. He comes so late, I’m always asleep! uncle Kookie says that when he was little he felt him once, though. His beard brushed over his hand as he left his present by his bed. Isn’t that amazing? I hope that happens to me too someday.”
As he kept talking about the big lunch they had with uncle Yoongi and uncle Kookie, his dad walked into the living room with a big cup in his hands. He was walking towards the kitchen, but stopped when he saw the three of them sitting around the Christmas tree. He listened as Taehyung started telling stories from their last Christmas.
“Tae, slow down a bit,” he teased him.
“It’s okay,” Jin answered quickly with a smile, “I’m learning a lot.” Then, like he’d just remembered it he added, “Thank you by the way. For bringing me inside. I don’t think I’ve slept that well in years.”
“You’re welcome,” Taehyung’s dad replied, “It didn’t look that comfortable in the garage. Plus, you’ve been here for a few days and haven’t done anything wrong. It’s not fair to leave you in there on your own.”
“I wouldn’t have learned so much about Christmas out there, that’s for sure,” Jin told him.
“Will you be here for Christmas?” Taehyung asked.
“I’m… not sure,” Jin replied, and Taehyung was once again reminded that they didn’t know how long Jin and Wootteo would be able to stay.
He sighed sadly. “I hope you can stay to see how nice it is,” he said. Apart from needing to bring Jin and his dad close, Taehyung also couldn’t bear the thought of someone living a whole life not knowing what Christmas was. If not for his dad, then Jin had to stay for that.
“We’ll see,” his dad said, and Taehyung nodded.
“If you would have us, we would love to stay,” Jin said. Wootteo beeped in agreement after translating his words.
“I don’t see why not,” Taehyung’s dad answered, “And, ah, I’m sorry, but I just realised I haven’t even introduced myself yet. My name is Namjoon. This is Taehyung, my son.”
“They know that already, dad,” Taehyung rolled his eyes.
“Well, I wanted to introduce us properly,” his dad told him.
That made sense.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Namjoon and Taehyung,” Jin said, “Both for me and for Wootteo.”
⍋☆⍋
“What’s that?” Jin asked when he saw Taehyung scribbling on a piece of paper.
“Your name!” Taehyung announced happily, “I asked my teacher how to write ‘Jin’ and ‘Wootteo’ at school today.”
“That’s my name?” Jin looked surprised.
“Mhm!” Taehyung hummed, “We’re learning how to write. I already know how to write mine and dad’s names! Jiminie’s too most of the time. I don’t get it wrong much anymore. Your name is easy, I’ll remember it for sure!”
“So these are the letters of your language?” Jin asked, looking down at the characters on the page.
“Yeah!” Taehyung answered, “Want me to show you?”
He started explaining to Jin everything Hoseok-saem had told them about the Korean alphabet, and wrote some of the words he remembered for him. Jin even tried to write some too, and he did really well! It made Taehyung very happy. Maybe with some practice he could learn Korean, and wouldn’t have to wait for Wootteo to tell him what Taehyung and his dad were telling him all the time. It would make playing together so much easier! Jin was so much fun to play with. Taehyung made sure to include him in as many games as he could.
“This word means ‘family,’” he said as he wrote the two characters, “Daddy said it’s very important.”
“Family,” Jin repeated slowly in Korean. He looked down at the word, and for some reason, he looked a little sad.
“Daddy was very happy when I learned how to write it,” Taehyung said, hoping it would make Jin feel a bit better.
“Your dad is very nice,” Jin said.
“He is,” Taehyung agreed, “You should talk to him more, he looks like he wants to get to know you.”
To his surprise, Jin’s cute cheeks turned light pink at that. “You think so?” the alien asked.
“Definitely!” Taehyung nodded, “Try and you’ll see! He’s shy at first, but so are you, so you’ll be okay.”
He was about to say more, but Wootteo suddenly let out a few loud beeps, making them look at the robot in question. Wootteo said something in his and Jin’s language before repeating in Korean, “The window! Look!”
Taehyung turned to the nearest window and there he saw it clear as day. It had started to snow.
“Snow!” he exclaimed.
He got up and ran to the window. “Daddy! Jin! It’s snowing!” he called out to the others.
Jin was the first to reach him, and Taehyung watched as his eyes opened wide as he watched the white snowflakes fall from the sky. The little boy held onto the windowsill and jumped up and down, trying to get a good view of the falling snow.
Hearing his struggle, Jin looked down at him and saw him frantically jumping so he could look outside. “Look at the snow!” Taehyung said happily.
He yelped in surprise when he felt two hands lift him from the ground, and all of a sudden he was in Jin’s arms, the alien holding him up to the height of the window, so they could watch together.
As the snow continued falling, Taehyung snuggled closer to Jin’s chest and lay his head on his shoulder.