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Babysitting Jeongguk was as easy as breathing, and along the years Taehyung and Jimin had developed sufficient skills to make the job simpler. Of course, mishaps still occurred because Jeongguk would always be a devil’s child when he wasn’t being adorable. Because of that, Seokjin and Namjoon easily forgave the babysitters for most things: whenever a mess occurred, something broke, or like one time the boys had to explain how a 6-year-old managed to have 10 pizzas delivered to the apartment without anyone noticing. (The bill came out of Jimin and Taehyung’s paycheck, which still wasn’t a lot after all this time. Taehyung wanted to accuse Seokjin and Namjoon of child exploitation, but all Seokjin had to do was cook him something and Taehyung was sated.)
At 13, Jimin felt confident in saying that babysitting was easy and he was an expert at it. Except when it came to other people’s kids. By other kids, he mainly meant Yoongi and Hoseok’s daughter, Yoonji.
Jimin was terrified of watching her. Not because she was a handful, but because of Yoongi .
The man was frighteningly good at playing Mama Bear and up until now, he’s never had anyone else watch Yoonji. Either him or Hoseok were always available to watch her, meaning they either brought her to work or they brought work home. Taehyung tried to reassure Jimin that if Yoongi didn’t trust them completely, he wouldn’t have asked them to watch Yoonji for a few hours. Jimin guessed so. At least Hoseok smiled and sounded cheerful when he said things like, “I hope everything is still clean when we get back!” or “I hope Yoonji is still here when we get back!”
Whatever. Yoongi couldn’t really do anything to Jimin because Jimin was still a minor. And Jimin was almost taller than Yoongi, so if Jimin needed to wrestle him down, he probably could. Taehyung would help without a word..
“As soon as she’s done with dinner, give her a bath. She needs to be in bed by 9. You’ll have to lay down with her for a while and pat her back, but she’ll pass out quickly. If she’s really fussy she can have her pacifier but we’re trying to ween her off it, so only---”
The two adults were supposed to be out the door 30 minutes ago, but Yoongi felt the need to go through his list of instructions (that were also written down and posted on the fridge) three times. Hoseok linked arms with him and pulled him toward the door while waving at the kids.
“We’ll call or text every hour or so,” Hoseok said. “Have fun! Yoonji, be good. I love you.”
“--And don’t tell her any inappropriate stories, Taehyung!” Yoongi called just as Hoseok finally got them out and shut the door. The muffled words of “ I love you, Yoonji! ” came through.
Both boys stared at the door for a moment before a small whine interrupted the silence. They looked behind them to see Yoonji, her eyes so watery that it looked like they were going to drip and turn into black tentacles that would strangle Jimin and Taehyung. That’s what happened in a web comic Taehyung read once, anyway.
Yoonji was a good kid, maybe a little tamer than Jeongguk. She was always dressed fashionably for a 2-year-old (Hoseok had an instagram account dedicated to wearing matching outfits with his daughter), and dimples on top of chubby cheeks that could rival Jimin’s. (“I still prefer yours though,” said Taehyung once, and the overwhelming shyness made Jimin want to wrap a scarf around his face.)
This would be an easy job. Even when a river formed on Yoonji’s cheeks and she wobbled to the door, sobbing, “ Daddy! ” Jimin was confident. He patted Taehyung’s head and asked, “Ready?”
Taehyung pinched Jimin’s waist and answered, “Always.”
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Jimin almost forgot that toddlers had a different sphere of energy than older children.
Once Yoonji was thoroughly comforted, it was like Hoseok’s and Yoongi’s departure never happened and she immediately went to rolling around the apartment. She didn’t like sitting in one spot for long, and got bored very easily. Jimin couldn’t sit down because Yoonji would immediately grab his hand and babble at him to get up to do something. Taehyung, the traitor, lounged around on the couch, playing one of Yoongi’s game consoles, and whenever Yoonji would try talking to him, he’d say, “Aw, really? Go tell Jimin!”
Jimin made Taehyung change Yoonji’s diapers to make up for him having to run after Yoonji throughout the apartment.
A little before dinnertime, exhaustion swept in and knocked Jimin over. He tried to ignore it--as soon as Yoonji was fed and bathed, Jimin could nap for a bit until her parents came home. He tried to stay alert and on his feet, but his eyes continued to droop and he couldn’t stop yawning.
Taehyung was sitting by Yoonji while she colored inside a sketchpad and explained to him her work. (Jimin could only decipher something about puppies, papas, and yoyos.) Jimin fell back onto the couch. Taehyung could handle everything. Jimin would rest for a little bit, shut his eyes, and then get back up and help Taehyung with preparing dinner. Jimin deserved a break and now it was Taehyung’s turn to take up most of the babysitting work.
He turned his back to them, rubbing his face into the throw pillow. “Mm, Tae? Wake me up in a few…”
Jimin was out before Taehyung could realize he was falling asleep. Yoonji looked up and pointed at the teenager. “Minnie?” Taehyung nodded and ruffled her hair.
“Jiminnie’s really tired so let’s be quiet, okay? He’ll wake up in a little bit,” he said. Taehyung wasn’t surprised that Jimin passed out. They both had three tests yesterday that they’d spent long nights studying for, and lately Jimin was spending some extra hours at Hoseok’s dance studio. He was preparing for an upcoming dance competition, and the stress of it only added to his fatigue. Taehyung was surprised Jimin didn’t reject the babysitting offer on the premise he was too exhausted. But Jimin never said no to most things, and if Taehyung was okay with something, then Jimin automatically went with it.
Taehyung decided he would watch Yoonji for the rest of the night, and only wake Jimin up whenever Hoseok and Yoongi messaged they were coming back. The toddler wasn’t too much trouble, and if anything, she didn’t really need two babysitters.
Yoonji waved a crayon at the kitchen, her feet shuffling in place. “Juice!”
“Ah, you’re thirsty?” At her nod, Taehyung got up and grabbed a Pororo sippy cup from the fridge. The drink was actually a carrot-orange juice that Yoongi blended himself. Yoongi had mentioned something about how putting Yoonji’s drink in a colorful cup made it more ‘fun’ for her. Taehyung would rather be dehydrated before he drank liquefied carrots mixed with oranges.
He was only gone for a minute, and when he came back he found Yoonji hovering near Jimin’s face, a black marker in her hands.
“--Yoonji!” Taehyung dropped the sippy cup and scooped Yoonji up, but it was too late. Large lines and squiggly circles marked Jimin’s face. The boy continued to sleep, snoring quietly, oblivious to how his face resembled a toddler’s idea of a map.
Yoonji giggled, flashing her cutest smile, but Taehyung didn’t have time to swoon. He sat her back down and took the marker out of her hands. The label on it said it was a washable marker, so it wouldn’t stain Jimin’s face terribly. The marker must’ve been hidden among the crayons in her coloring box. Yoonji tugged at Taehyung’s pants, her high pitched squeals irritating his eardrums. “Minnie!”
“Yeah, I see that, you bad baby, “ Taehyung said, flicking the curl on top of her head. When she scowled it freaked him out how much she resembled Hoseok during his rare moments of severe aggravation. Taking another glance at Jimin’s face, an amused smile crept its way onto his face. But Taehyung had to keep up the appearance of a Serious Babysitter, otherwise Yoonji would take advantage of it and go from drawing on Jimin’s face to drawing on the walls.
Taehyung turned around and placed the marker on top of the bookcase. “I don’t think Jimin will be too upset. It’s not like Kookie hasn’t---”
One day Taehyung would learn not to take his eyes off Yoonji for a minute.
They locked eyes as the toddler now held a sheet of stickers in her hands. Glitter butterfly stickers adorned Jimin’s face, and Yoonji was about to smack a cat sticker on his nose. Taehyung looked between Yoonji and Jimin, the glitter slowly falling off the stickers, the ridiculous marker stains on Jimin’s face.
“....Yoonji, let me see some of the stickers.”
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Jimin stretched his arms above his head as the drowsiness wore off. Yawning, he slowly sat up and scanned the room. A few of Yoonji’s stuffed animals were on the floor, but otherwise the living room was clean. The smell of food was in the air, so Jimin stood up, ready to head toward the kitchen, when he spotted his reflection on the TV screen.
“... Taehyung!” Somewhere in the kitchen, a bowl clattered to the ground and Yoonji’s loud giggles filled the apartment. Jimin couldn’t tell what emotions he was feeling, the irritation and anger having muddled together into disbelief. Not even Jeongguk has drawn on Jimin’s face, and Yoonji was just a baby! She wouldn’t do that unless someone told her to.
Which meant it was Taehyung’s fault.
Before Jimin could storm into the kitchen, Taehyung rushed in, invisible puppy ears flat on his head and tail between his legs. “Jim--”
“What the hell!” Jimin peeled a butterfly sticker off his eyebrow and waved it in Taehyung’s face. “What--why!”
“Don’t break up with me, please, the baby threatened me!” Taehyung couldn’t tell if Jimin’s stare was meant to frighten him or make him laugh. The thick mustache he drew under Jimin’s nose didn’t help. “She told me to help put stickers on your face or else.”
“Don’t break up...what are you talking about!” Jimin tossed the sticker at him and Taehyung watched as it landed into a sad, glittery lump on his foot. “Don’t try to distract me. And what do you mean she threatened you? Yoonji barely comes up to your knees!”
At the mention of her name, Yoonji cooed sweetly as she watched the boys from the other side of the room. Taehyung looked back at her and muttered, “ Traitor,” before glancing at Jimin again. Whenever Taehyung felt guilty, his eyes became bigger and shiny, his entire demeanor changing to something that resembled a dog that had been kicked around too much. Jimin almost felt bad for feeling upset at Taehyung. Almost.
“She really did threaten me!” Taehyung argued. “I mean, Yoongi does it to Namjoon all the time even though Yoongi is really short!”
Jimin wanted to scream. “Because Yoongi is older and he likes to hold that against Namjoon!”
“ Jimin, please . “
Yoonji watched the two boys argue for another minute before toddling in between them. “Stop it!” Taehyung immediately bent down and picked her up, pouting.
“I’m sorry, are we being too loud?” he asked, turning his pout toward Jimin. “I really wish Jiminnie would forgive me--I mean, forgive us.. Yoonji did most of the work.”
Yoonji nodded, waving her fist at the other boy. “Minnie!”
Any sanity Jimin had left slowly trickled out of him as he sighed. Why did he believe this babysitting gig would be any less eventful than if he were watching Jeongguk? Nothing was boring when Taehyung and a small child were involved. “I can’t believe you two.”
“We’re sorry!” Yoonji joined Taehyung in his pouting session.
“Stop...stop making your face like that,” grumbled Jimin, the black marker stains failing to hide the blush rising over his face. “Yoonji looks cute. Your face just looks ridiculous.”
Taehyung figured it would be in his best interest not to ask, “ Then what is your face supposed to be? ” The better option was to gave his signature broad smile and hug Jimin while squeezing Yoonji in between them. She stared up at their chins, sneakily pulling the drawstring of Taehyung’s jacket into her mouth.
“You have to buy me ice cream if you want me to forgive you,” said Jimin, reluctantly accepting Taehyung’s hug. Not that he ever could reject Taehyung’s hugs, no matter how upset he became. “At one of the fancy ice cream shops. Three scoops. In a waffle cone. With toppings.”
Taehyung’s smile twitched, but he continued to hold it up when the look in Jimin’s eyes said he’d get his revenge either way. Taehyung silently gulped. “Ah, okay. Fair enough.”
“By the way, Yoonji’s drooling all over your jacket.”
“I deserve it.”
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When Yoongi and Hoseok came back home, they took one look at Jimin’s face, the washcloth and bottle of soap in Taehyung’s hands, and nodded to themselves.
“Ah, yeah,” Yoongi said, making his way toward Yoonji’s bedroom. “I did say that if Yoonji finds a black marker, it’s not actually washable. It’s permanent. I thought I wrote that on the instructions list.”
(The money earned was still low, but it covered Jimin’s now four scoops of ice cream he requested.)