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“Appa!”
Jungkook became aware of a small amount of weight pouncing on his belly, knocking some of the wind out of him. He grunted but didn’t move.
“Appa! Get up!”
The weight crawled upward, stretching their body over his in order to reach his face. Tiny fingers poked hard into his cheeks.
“Appaaaaaaa…” The voice turned whiny. “You have to fly today!”
Jungkook managed a smile this time, eyes blinking open to see his five-year-old daughter’s face right above his.
“Five more minutes, Miseon-ah?”
“No!” she shouted, puffing out her already chubby cheeks. “You’re supposed to get up, Kookie-app–ah!”
She was cut off when Jungkook pulled her into his arms and turned to his side, cuddling her against him.
“Five minutes,” he insisted in a sing-song voice.
“Minnie-appa will get mad at you.”
Jungkook rather liked seeing his husband’s cute scowl and stamping feet, but it was better to appease their daughter.
“Hm, you’re right,” he murmured playfully. “We don’t like when Minnie-appa’s mad.” He released Miseon and sat up.
He glanced at the clock on the bedside table. 6:45. Two hours until he would have to leave.
“Are you ready?”
Jungkook looked up from his suitcases on the front step, eyes instantly landing on Jimin’s. He wasn’t looking forward to not being home for four months, but this was his biggest role to date, and in New York. As an actor just on the rise to stardom, how could he not take it?
“It’s only four months,” Jimin reassured him. “We’ll talk every day, okay? FaceTime with me and the babies.”
He smiled brilliantly at Jungkook, but the latter had to swallow the heavy lump in his throat. He was never ready to work far away from his family, and this will be the greatest distance to date. He was such a homebody, in constant need of Jimin and their children within reach.
“Come here,” Jimin murmured, sliding his arms over Jungkook’s shoulders and hugging him.
Jungkook tried not to cry, but a tear slipped out anyway, sliding down his cheek and onto his husband’s neck.
“I love you,” Jungkook whispered, his heart spilling all his emotions in a crashing wave. He clutched his husband tighter.
“And I love you,” Jimin replied. Jungkook heard a break in his voice. Whenever Jungkook teared up, he followed soon after. “This will all be worth it, baby. The film’ll make you a star.”
A star–his dream ever since he began acting classes early in college. And Jimin has been at his side the whole way through. He moved him forward and upward.
“I hope so.”
“I know so. You know how good I am at predicting things.” Jimin pulled himself away and winked.
Jungkook felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He lifted it out to look at it.
“The cab’s here,” he said.
Jimin idly straightened the lapels of Jungkook’s blazer. “Can’t be late.” He craned his neck to call their children from the living room.
Miseon bounded to the front step first, followed slowly, and more clumsily, by their son, two-year-old Youngjae.
“Time for Kookie-appa to fly?” she asked. Unlike Jungkook, she was elated at the thought of him going off into a plane for work; she must be projecting her own wishes of flying in one.
Jungkook crouched to her level and nodded. She giggled and jumped into his arms, peppering kisses on his cheeks and nose, shouting that, “It’s gonna be fun! The plane’s gonna be fun! America’s gonna be fun!”
Jungkook planted one on her forehead and reluctantly let go. “Be good to Minnie-appa, okay? Don’t let him work too hard. Again.” He heard a heavy, disagreeing sigh above him. He smiled and added, “Give him lots and lots of kisses when I’m gone, okay? And take care of your brother, too.”
With that, he turned to the younger child, who acted the opposite–taking his leave worse than either of his fathers. As soon as Jungkook faced him, the toddler’s face scrunched up and became wet with tears.
“Aww, Youngjae-ah,” Jungkook said, laughing a little. “I know. It’s hard for me, too.” He gathered his soon in his arms and stood up. He kissed his nose and rocked him gently, making shushing sounds as Youngjae clutched him in a vice-like grip.
“Appa will be back soon,” he soothed. “It’s okay.”
They all heard the taxi honk, and Jungkook knew he stayed too long. A small twinge of sadness pressed into his heart.
Jimin took the crying toddler from Jungkook and held him against his hip. He reached up to give Jungkook soft, sweet kiss–much too brief for the actor’s liking.
“Have a safe flight, baby. We love you.”
Jungkook became adjusted to New York and the routine of the film shoot. The crew, especially the director and producers, were surprised at his amount of talent–they’ve never been so impressed by an actor whose resume consisted of mainly cheesy romantic dramas.
But even after two months, he wasn’t used to being alone. Apart from acting, his family was his life and seeing them on FaceTime was never enough.
But Jimin had his own work schedule; it wasn’t like he could drop everything, grab Miseon out of school, and take both her and Youngjae with him on a plane to the United States.
So imagine his surprise when he returned to his trailer one evening, tuckered out from a long day of outdoor filming and practicing stunt choreography, to see his husband taking out round aluminum tins out of a plastic bag at his table, and to hear their children giggling in the back where his bed was, concentrated over something on wall-mounted television.
“Hi, baby,” Jimin greeted him in a calm, cheerful voice, as if suddenly appearing in New York wasn’t a big deal. “I know you told me that you’ve been dying to try that chicken and rice stuff but didn’t have time, so I took the liberty of doing it for you.” He moved past him to open the cutlery drawer.
But he was interrupted when Jungkook tackled him into a hug from behind, arms tight around his waist and nose buried into his neck. The familiar scent of Jimin’s cologne reassured him that everything about this was real.
“I missed you,” Jungkook sighed, relaxing as his form molded nicely against Jimin’s. “And the babies.”
Jimin chuckled when Jungkook pressed his lips against his neck. “We missed you, too.”
Jungkook gave him another squeeze before sauntering to the children.
They looked up simultaneously, wide-eyed and still as chubby-cheeked as he remembered.
“Appa,” Youngjae piped up first, reaching his arms out to be picked up. “Appa’s here!”
“Appa, appa, appa!” Miseon said loudly, bouncing on the bed. “We flew!”
Jungkook gathered his son in his arms and sank down on ground in front of the bed, crossing his legs. He held Youngjae in his lap. He kept squirming around in excitement but seemed otherwise content to be with Jungkook.
Miseon slid off the bed to pounce on him from the side, her arms hooking him around his neck. “We flew, Kookie-appa! Minnie-appa let me sit at the window and the clouds were so cool and fluffy and we flew through them!”
“What, is that really your favorite part of the trip and not me?” Jungkook joked.
“Course not, appa,” Miseon huffed. “But you need to appreciate the sky.”
“Then you’ll be excited about visiting me on set.”
“We get to see you at work?!”
“We do?” Jimin asked as he approached all of them.
“I don’t see why not,” Jungkook replied. “I think tomorrow will be fine.”
Jimin tickled Miseon to loosen her hold on Jungkook. She squirmed and fell into squeaky giggles.
Jungkook turned to look at them both, biting back a laugh of his own. Even though Miseon was adopted (as well as Youngjae), he still liked to think that she took after Jimin with her squishy cheeks and uniquely squeaky laughter, and after Jungkook with her need for adventure.
“That’s great, then,” Jimin quipped.
“Minnie-appa, is Kookie-appa gonna fly at his job tomorrow?” Miseon asked, letting her shorter father to lead her to the dinner table.
“Maybe, Miseon-ah,” Jimin replied, helping her sit on the table’s bench.
Jungkook followed after them with his clingy son in his arms, smiling gratefully as he pressed a kiss to his temple.
It’s almost like I never left.
Despite the narrow space of the trailer and how different it was compared to their house, dinner felt wonderfully normal. Jimin and the kids being here made him realize how much he needed the warmth of home within reach, lifting his spirits, brightening everything.
“Minnie-appa cried after you left,” Miseon spoke up during the meal.
Jimin, who was sitting beside her, playfully pinched her cheek, both of his own beginning to redden. “Sweetheart, you don’t need to tell Kookie-appa that–”
“Me and Jae Jae had to sleep with him so he’d stop.”
“Miseon! That was supposed to be a secret.”
But Miseon only giggled and took in a spoonful of rice.
“This is news to me,” Jungkook teased, smiling widely at his husband. “You seemed so put-together on FaceTime.”
“I am put-together.”
Jungkook ignored him and turned to Youngjae sitting next to him. “Did Minnie-appa cry?”
Youngjae, their shyer, quieter child, who often didn’t express himself as much as his sister, looked up at him, surer than anything in his entire life. “Minnie-appa cried lots.”
“Aw, not you, too…”
Miseon and Youngjae fell asleep in the bed a bit after dinner. Jungkook supposed it was getting a little late for them.
After draping the blankets over the two children curled warmly and comfortably into each other, he dimmed the light and turned to Jimin, who was watching them fondly over his shoulder.
“How long are you staying?” Jungkook asked quietly, leading him back toward the front of the trailer.
“Two weeks. We have a room at one of the hotels a few blocks away.”
Jungkook immediately felt a grin forming on his lips. “Two whole weeks set aside just for me?”
“Well, you still have work and all to deal with,” Jimin went on, feigning dismay. “But yes. The babies and I will be here for two weeks.”
Jungkook drew him in by the waist.
“Thank you,” he murmured, pressing a kiss against his cheek. “You don’t know how much I needed this.”
“No, baby, I do,” Jimin replied gently. He slid his arms around his shoulders. He brushed his nose against his. “I always do. That’s why I’m your husband.”
Jungkook kissed him, his heart aching profoundly because he needed this, too–the feel of his sweet, silky lips against his own, all his love and support.
“You needed the trip, too,” Jungkook said, nosing affectionately into Jimin’s hair. “Didn’t you?”
“I never denied crying, you know.”
“It’s your decision, commander,” Jungkook said seriously, in unbroken, well-practiced English. “We’ll always follow whatever you tell us.”
Jungkook (or rather, Kim Jinwoo, flight engineer for The Paladin) turned to his commander, American astronaut Michael Damien, to cue him, but his vision suddenly focused over his shoulder, past the lights, the camera, and crew.
Instinctively, his lips tugged into a smile.
“Cut!” the director called. “Take it back to the top!”
“Sorry,” Jungkook muttered. He licked his lips and re-straightened the helmet on his head.
“It’s your decision, commander. We’ll always follow whatever you tell us.” The line was even better than the last take; he hoped that it made up for messing up.
“If you say so, Jinwoo.”
Jungkook glanced at Jimin sitting in Jungkook’s chair, smothering Youngjae in kisses in his lap, and then Miseon seated in a shorter chair next to him, quietly playing a game on Jimin’s tablet. She must have sensed his gaze, because she looked up and tossed him a wide, adorable smile.
“You missed a line, dude.”
Shit. Jungkook tore his eyes from his family and groaned. “Sorry.”
“Reset! Kook, I know they’re cute, but concentrate!”
This wasn’t exactly how he wanted Jimin and the kids to see him when they visited him.
“Rolling!”
“Appa fighting!”
“Oh, for–cut!”
The lead actor snorted out a bit of amused laughter. Jungkook was grateful that he wasn’t irritated like many of the crew members (including the director) were, but he blushed, regardless.
Before the director could call for them to start again, Jungkook heard quick, childish steps stampede toward him. He looked over just in time to see Miseon grab his leg in a hug.
Jungkook shot the director an uneasy smile, holding up his index finger so he could have a minute.
The director made a lazy, disgruntled shoo-ing motion to give him permission. “Two minutes, Jeon.”
“Appa, I wanna fly in a rocket ship, too!”
“Oh, god, I’m so sorry,” Jimin huffed as he followed after her, with Youngjae balanced securely on his hip. “I didn’t think she’d just run over and–”
“Babe, don’t worry,” Jungkook told him as he pried their daughter from his leg. He took off his helmet and bent down to her level. “Miseon-ah, appa’s working and needs to concentrate,”
She rolled her eyes. “I know you’re working as a flight margarine–”
“Engineer, Miseon-ah.”
“–but you have to let me fly, too! I wanna go to the moon!”
Jungkook cracked a smile. He tugged playfully at her pigtails. “After I’m done, I’ll show you the ship, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” She turned excitedly toward Jimin. “Minnie-appa! I get to see the ship!” She latched herself onto Jimin’s leg this time, excited.
“Two minutes are up!” the director yelled. “Jeon, I want your family off the set. We’re not paying you to show me Full House. Jack, escort them back to his trailer.”
Both Jungkook and Jimin winced at the bite in his tone.
“Sorry, baby,” Jungkook muttered, standing up and putting the helmet back over his head. “I’ll be done in around two hours, okay?”
“Okay,” Jimin replied, lifting himself on his tiptoes a bit to kiss the front of his helmet. As he did, Youngjae slapped his hand against it, his normally grumpy face lighting up at the shiny object in front of him.
Jack, one of the interns on set, promptly approached them and Jungkook felt his heart sink a little.
“Sir, if you please.”
Jimin sighed and turned to the children. “Say I love you to Kookie-appa.”
“Love you, Appa–”
“Love you, Appa! Don’t forget to show me the spaceship!”
Jungkook watched, somewhat wistfully, as Jack led his family out the door. His colleague will probably call him whipped later, but he wouldn’t find offense over it.
He wished he could have stayed at the hotel with them last night, but with such an early call time (five in the morning!), there was no way Jungkook could get to set on time. Now it was nearing three in the afternoon, and he was tired as all hell, but seeing his family energized him–he could do another day’s worth of acting right now if they asked him to.
Jungkook returned to the trailer two hours later, as promised, and Jimin was sitting worriedly at the table, gaze far away as he watched the kids hover over a game on Jimin’s tablet as they sat on the couch nearby.
He stood up as soon as Jungkook shut the door behind him.
“I didn’t realize we’d be so distracting,” he said, soft and embarrassed. “We should’ve stayed in the dressing room, or here. I’m–.”
“No, no, no, baby,” Jungkook reassured him. He cradled his husband’s face to kiss the worry off his brows and lips. “It’s fine. I love having all of you here. I invited you guys, remember?”
“But the director–”
Jungkook laughed and kissed him again. “Don’t worry about it; he actually adores me underneath all the grouch.”
Jungkook felt the presence of Miseon and Youngjae hovering around their legs and sat down on the ground so he could talk to them at eye level. Youngjae was quick to crawl into his lap and stay there, refusing to budge. Jungkook kissed him on the nose.
Miseon sat down in front of her father to copy him, her rump practically on top of Jimin’s feet.
“Did you have fun?” Jungkook asked them both.
“You said spaceship!”
“I know, I know, Miseon-ah,” Jungkook sighed. “Just let appa rest for a bit, okay?”
“Let’s give Kookie-appa a few minutes, okay?” Jimin suggested, lifting her to her feet. “Half an hour?”
“That’s fine,” Jungkook agreed. “Miseon can watch TV or something in the meantime.”
“That’s the one where the longhand goes half a circle, right?” Miseon spoke up, her attention already focused on her other father. “Thirty minutes! Right, Minnie-appa?”
“Yes, sweetheart,” Jimin cooed, honestly impressed. “You’re so smart!”
Jungkook watched Jimin lead Miseon to the bed and the television.
Despite the inconsistent and sometimes ridiculous hours, the distances, and everything else that came with being an actor, he was happy. He was grateful that Jimin and their kids went out of their way to give Jungkook support and comfort no matter where he was.
“Let’s join them, Youngjae-ah?” Jungkook spoke up to the toddler in his arms.
“Okay,” Youngjae replied as he slipped his arms around his neck, holding tight when Jungkook stood up.
“Do you miss home?” Jungkook asked him.
“We’re home now,” Youngjae corrected him, and his father smiled tenderly.
He couldn’t help but agree.