Chapter Text
Jungkook stared at the TV screen, wide-eyed and full of awe. Some English cartoon was playing, even though he was far too small to read the subtitles. That didn’t matter. All he cared about were the pretty colors flashing brightly across the screen.
“Dada, bwue!” Jungkook pointed excitedly when he recognized his daddy’s favorite color.
From next to him, Jimin smiled brightly. “That’s right, sweetie! Such a smart little boy.”
Jungkook flushed at that, but kept his eyes trained on the show. He was really only watching this while he waited for Taehyung to show up. His friend had promised to come hang out, but he had piano lessons first. The lesson was dragging on forever, and Jungkook was beginning to wonder if Taehyung would ever show up.
He sighed dramatically, flopping back onto his caregiver’s lap.
“Aw, what’s wrong, sweetie?”
“TaeTae take too long.” Jungkook pouted cutely behind his pacifier, crossing his arms over his chest.
Jimin only smiled and shook his head at that. “He’s heading over right now, love. It won’t be much longer. Hey, do you want Daddy to do your hair before TaeTae gets here?”
“Yes!” Jungkook sat up quickly, practically bouncing on the couch. “Can Dada gives Kookie piggytails?”
“Of course, bun. Here, turn around.”
Just as Jimin finished Jungkook’s pigtails, the doorbell rang, and Jungkook squealed in excitement. “TaeTae!”
“I’ll go get it. Stay here, Kookie.” Jimin was a bit hesitant leaving him alone, even if it was only to get the door. Last time he’d left the little one alone, he came back to a mess of blue paint covering the living room.
Jungkook did exactly as he was told, swinging his feet back and forth. He looked down at his yellow onesie, something that Taehyung had gotten him a little bit after he was released from the hospital. He couldn’t help but smile brightly at it. It was just so cute, and he was really happy that it was all his.
“Kookie!”
Jungkook’s head shot up, and he saw Taehyung standing in the house. He gasped excitedly, his pacifier falling from his mouth as he made grabby hands. “TaeTaeTaeTaeTaeTae!”
He was swept into a tight hug, and then his face was peppered with kisses. He burst into giggles then, trying to kiss Taehyung back. It didn’t work all that well, but Jungkook was happy nonetheless.
“Kookie, TaeTae got some new toys to play with!” Taehyung told him excitedly. “Got lots of new dolls and stuffies!”
Jimin watched the exchange with a smile on his face, setting Taehyung’s bag of toys down in the living room. “Play nice, boys, okay?”
“Okay, Jiminie!” Taehyung agreed enthusiastically, helping Jungkook down from the couch before starting to dig the toys out.
Jungkook felt himself get littler as they started playing, which was pretty typical. As a big brother, Taehyung always babied his little brother, which made it pretty easy for Jungkook to slip into baby space. Jimin could tell that his baby was getting pretty small just by looking at his mannerisms: clumsy movements, incoherent speech, drooling. He stepped in when Jungkook tried to chew on a doll’s leg.
“Ah-ah, Kookie,” Jimin scolded lightly, replacing the doll with a pacifier. “Don't eat the dollie. I bet she doesn’t want that, does she?”
Jungkook only giggled and started playing with the doll’s soft hair.
“Jiminie, can you play too? Please?” Taehyung begged, giving big brown puppy eyes that Jimin could never say no to.
“Of course, darling. What are we playing?”
The little one lit up at that, explaining in great detail the game he and Kookie had been playing. Jimin nodded along, not fully listening but encouraging Taehyung to go on anyway.
But then there was the sound of the door opening, and all three of them froze.
“Jungkook, I’m home! Whose car is in the--” Grandma stopped when she saw the boys. “Oh, hi, Jimin, Taehyung,” she greeted kindly.
“Hi,” Taehyung responded shyly, hiding behind Jimin.
Jimin had no idea how to explain. There were toys all over the floor, Taehyung was hiding and clutching a doll to his chest, and Jungkook… well. The baby was lying on his stomach, sucking contentedly on his pacifier and playing with one of his pigtails. There was no way to get out of this.
“Um… Miss Jeon, I--”
Jungkook’s happy gurgles cut him off. He waved a hand at his grandma, babbling complete nonsense.
Grandma’s face broke into a warm smile. “Hello to you too, Kookie.”
“...Miss Jeon?”
Grandma turned back to face Jimin. “It’s alright. I know now. And if this is what makes him happy, I don't have a problem with it. Just… take care of him, alright?”
“Of course.”
Jungkook decided that he was getting bored then. “Dada,” he whined, trying to roll over and failing miserably.
“And on that note, I’ll be in the kitchen. Do you boys want anything to eat?”
Jimin was too busy helping Jungkook to answer, so Taehyung did instead. “Can you makes fruit, please?”
“Wow, such good manners!” Grandma praised. She clearly wasn’t used to this, but she was good with children. “Of course, I can. I’ll be right back.”
As soon as she was gone, Taehyung turned back to Jimin and Jungkook. “TaeTae think she nice.”
“That’s right, baby, she’s very nice.”
Grandma finished cutting up some fruit very quickly. After she gave them their snacks, she said she’d give them some privacy, and that she’d be in her room napping if they needed her. They played nicely for some time, making sure not to get too loud so as not to disturb Grandma.
“Dis is Mr. Bear, and dis is Mrs. Bear,” Taehyung explained, holding up two of his stuffies, neither of which were bears. “They is in love, like Minnie an’ Kookie!”
Jimin felt his face get a little pink at that. “Is that right, love? What are the others’ names?”
“Well, um, dis one--”
A loud sob cut Taehyung off, and Jimin turned to see Jungkook sobbing his eyes out. At this point, he knew what each cry meant, so he knew exactly what was wrong.
“TaeTae, baby, can you go get a clean diaper and some baby powder from Kookie’s room? It’s in a box in his closet.”
Taehyung nodded. “TaeTae get it!”
Jungkook still kept crying his little heart out, rubbing at his eyes with his fists.
“I know, baby, I’m sorry,” Jimin soothed. “I know it feels yucky, but TaeTae will be right back with a clean diaper.”
Kookie only replied with a little whimper, burying his face in Jimin's shoulder.
Taehyung nearly tripped over his feet on the way back to the living room, but he managed to steady himself on the couch before he fell. “TaeTae gots it,” he announced with a giggle, handing the stuff over to Jimin.
“Thank you, baby. Such a good boy,” Jimin praised, then got to work on changing his little baby.
Because Jungkook was wearing a zip-up onesie, the whole thing had to be taken off in order to change him. Other than a little shiver, he showed no signs of discontent. He stared up at the colorful socks on his feet curiously for a moment, then decided that they looked good enough to eat. He was so busy trying to chew his own toes that he didn’t notice when the change was finished.
“There, all done.” Noticing that Jungkook wasn’t paying attention, Jimin decided to use this moment to blow a raspberry on Jungkook’s tummy.
The baby burst into laughter, squirming but not actually trying to get away from Jimin.
“Oh? My baby likes that, hm?” With a smirk, Jimin blew another raspberry, sending the little one into another fit of laughter.
“Kookie really tickly,” Taehyung observed. “Can TaeTae tickle Kookie?”
“Of course, sweetie. But he’s a lot smaller than you, so be gentle, okay?”
Taehyung nodded and set to work on tickling Jungkook’s sides. Kookie was practically crying from laughing so hard, face slowly turning from pink to red.
“TaeTae, love, give Kookie a minute to breathe.”
Taehyung stopped instantly, his eyes going wide. “Kookie not breathing?!”
Chuckling, Jimin shook his head. “He’s breathing, honey, but he’s getting all red. How about we just get him dressed and play some more?”
“Okay!”
As it turned out, Jungkook did not want to be dressed. He kept kicking and squirming and whining, and eventually Jimin gave up. If Jungkook wanted to crawl around in just his diaper and rainbow socks, then Jimin wasn’t going to stop him.
Excitedly, Jungkook grabbed Chan and a stuffed bunny and cuddled them close, nuzzling his face into each of them.
“Ooh, good idea, Kookie! Let’s play with stuffies!” Taehyung picked up a tiger stuffie that had clearly been well-loved over the years. “Kookie, lookie! It tiger! Rawr!”
Jungkook stared with wide eyes, then smiled brightly and put Chan forward. “Rawr!” he echoed, pretending that Chan was stomping around.
“It a dino! Horangi, we gotta find some more friends!”
They had a face-off in which they each attempted to gather the largest army of stuffed animals. Taehyung ended up winning, mostly because Jungkook got bored and started trying to eat his feet again.
“Alright, baby boys, I think it’s naptime now,” Jimin announced, much to Taehyung’s displeasure.
“But Minnie, we was playing!”
“I know, sweetie. You can play after your nap, though. You may be bigger than Kookie, but you’re still very little, baby. That means you need naptime.”
“Don't wanna leave Kookie, though…”
Jimin glanced between a very upset Taehyung and a half-asleep Jungkook and came up with an idea. “What if I set up a big bed on the floor and we all had a nap? Then you wouldn’t have to leave Kookie.”
Taehyung appeared to think this over for a moment before nodding. “Okay. But only if we takes nap together.”
With Taehyung’s help, Jimin was able to set up a bunch of blankets and pillows on the floor. However, it was still the floor, meaning it wasn’t super comfortable. The little ones didn’t really care, but Jimin knew he would never hear the end of Jungkook’s whining about back pain when he was big again.
“Da,” Jungkook whined, snuggling closer to Jimin.
“Daddy’s here, sweet boy, Daddy’s here,” Jimin soothed.
Jungkook pouted, spitting out his pacifier and mouthing at Jimin’s chest instead.
Jimin hesitated, glancing over at Taehyung. He knew Taehyung wouldn't care, but he didn't want to risk making the other little uncomfortable. “Tae, baby?” he asked quietly.
“Yeah, Minnie?”
“Kookie wants to nurse, love. Is it okay if we do that?”
Taehyung nodded. “Kookie can nurse. He just baby, so he gotta.”
“Alright, honey. Just wanted to check with you.”
Jungkook whined loudly, getting frustrated that Jimin wouldn’t let him nurse. A meltdown was near.
“Hey, Kookie, calm down. Daddy will let you nurse,” he soothed, pulling off his shirt.
Jungkook immediately scooted closer, sucking gently on Jimin’s nipple and looking up with big brown eyes.
Jimin smiled fondly down at him, stroking his hair. It still felt weird, he wasn’t going to lie, but he loved having his baby so close and seeing the little one so relaxed.
The room fell silent, save for Jungkook’s tiny suckling noises and Taehyung’s snoring. Apparently, he’d been a lot more tired than he’d let on.
Eventually, the nursing started to tire Jungkook, and he stopped sucking. He didn’t move, though, just kept his lips ghosting against Jimin’s nipple as he began to drift off. He felt warm and happy, safe in Jimin’s arms with his best friend asleep next to him.
“Da.”
“Yes, my sweet boy?”
Jungkook couldn’t think of the words to ask what he was thinking. He furrowed his brow, trying his best to come up with something. Eventually, he settled on, “Ni' ni' song?”
“Oh, a lullaby? Daddy can sing you a lullaby.”
Jungkook nodded softly, closing his eyes as he listened to his daddy’s soft, sweet voice. Jimin had such a pretty singing voice, and Jungkook wondered why he didn’t sing more. Yet again, Jimin thought Jungkook was good too, but he rarely sang.
He was so close that he could hear Jimin’s heartbeat. Slowly, gently, he fell asleep to the steady beat of Jimin’s heart and the soothing melody of his lullaby.
All was well. All was peaceful. Jungkook had never thought that he could find a home in another’s arms, but in that moment, Jimin was all he needed. And for once, he knew everything would be okay.