yoongi walked along the parramatta river and stopped to sit on a bench where he could view the harbour bridge. he knew it was one of the icons of the city, and since he was little he had always wanted to see it for himself. now that it was right there in front of his eyes, it didn't feel as majestic as it should have been.

then again, it was just another bridge, after all.

he sighed and leaned down slightly to think. there were many people walking about, as it was a tourist attraction, but they were all too focused on themselves to wonder about him.

just like many people from rural areas, he had gone to sydney in hopes of finding a job in the big city. well, a better-paying job than anything he could get in the rural area, hopefully. but considering everyone in his small town knew him, he doubted any of them would hire him so he knew he had to leave.

when he arrived, he didn't have much money so he stayed in a hostel's shared room, the cheapest accomodation he could find. he had found a job at a fast food chain, but it had been a while since he had last worked as he wasn't getting rostered on any shift, and he could only watch as his money in his bank account kept dwindling.

last week he had already had to survive on just a loaf of bread and cheap peanut butter, and he didn't want to do it again.

but what other choice did he have?

he sighed deeply. maybe it was a mistake to leave. it would have been better to be taken advantage of than to be homeless or dead. maybe he could find a soup kitchen to feed himself. but what if he couldn't pay for accommodation anymore? he wasn't exactly prepared to be homeless either.

"hi."

yoongi lifted his head to see who was talking to him and came face to face with a toddler. the boy couldn't have been older than three, maybe not even two. he had soft, fluffy hair, big, doe eyes, and chubby cheeks. he also had a pout on his lips as he studied yoongi.

"hi," yoongi said, almost caught off-guard. "where's your parents?"

the boy pointed to his right and yoongi turned to find a tall man standing nearby, watching them with interest. he was far enough that he wasn't imposing, but near enough that he would be able to save his son if yoongi tried anything funny.

yoongi noted how good-looking the man was, but also how similar the boy was to him. even without a dna test, no one would doubt they were related.

"sad?" the boy asked and yoongi turned his attention back to the boy. the boy toddled closer and rested his hands on yoongi's knees, looking up at him curiously.

"a little," yoongi said. he didn't even know why he was telling a baby his life story, but the boy looked genuinely worried and it warmed his heart slightly. "it's just... ah, money problems. i haven't been given any work for a while now."

the boy nodded. yoongi wasn't sure how much the boy understood.

"wan hug?" the boy asked with his arms lifted.

"can i?" yoongi asked, more to the father than the boy.

"sure," the man replied.

yoongi picked the boy up and held him close, sighing as the boy wrapped his arms around his neck and began patting his back.

"what do you do, if i may ask?" the man asked as he sat next to yoongi.

"i work, well, worked fast food," yoongi said. "i guess the store manager prefers younger staff because they're not paid as much."

the man hummed. "do you live nearby?"

"i, uh, sort of?"

the man looked at him and yoongi looked down, focusing on the little boy's shoes. he was wearing a pair of slip on shoes with a picture of a bunny on the side. how cute.

"do you have experience caring for children?" the man asked again.

"i guess. i used to take care of the younger kids," yoongi answered.

"the younger kids?"

yoongi sighed and looked down again. he didn't want to tell his entire life story to a stranger. he might be in need of counseling, but this wasn't what he had in mind.

"okay," the man said. "my name is kim seokjin, and this little one is jeongguk. what's your name?"

"min yoongi."

"okay, yoongi. do you want to work as an au pair for me?"

yoongi turned to look at seokjin so fast that even jeongguk was startled, looking up at the two curiously.

"you don't have a job at the moment, right?" seokjin asked. "i was thinking of hiring an au pair for jeongguk, so if you want to, i can give you a chance. provided that your police check and working with children check are cleared, of course."

"i--are you sure?" yoongi asked in surprise. "i mean, i'm really grateful for the opportunity, but i don't want you to feel obliged to help me."

"i'm not," seokjin said. "i really do need an au pair to help me. i work from home mostly, but while i work i still can't attend to him, so having an extra pair of hands is always a good thing."

"plus, it also depends on whether your checks come back clean and if we're not a good fit, any of us can terminate the arrangement with notice," seokjin added. "do you have a phone?"

the two exchanged phone numbers and seokjin helped yoongi got his police check and working with children check submitted. he also paid for it even though yoongi complained.

"consider it a short loan," seokjin said. "if the checks come back clear, i'll deduct the cost from your first paycheck. if they don't, then we can arrange for a way for you to repay me, if you want."

"okay, thank you," yoongi conceded. he didn't like feeling like he owed people, but knowing that he would pay it back made him feel a bit better.

"oh, we better head home now. it's almost time for his nap," seokjin said. "let me know once you get the checks back."

"sure."

yoongi wasn't worried about his checks. he knew they would come back clean because he never committed any crime. so he wasn't at all surprised when he got the checks back the next morning, and forwarded it to seokjin.

"that's great," seokjin had texted him. "here's my address. let me know when you're on the way."

yoongi checked how to get to the address on google maps, then started packing his bag. after his first week of stay at the hostel, the receptionist was kind enough to let him stay and pay per day while giving him the long-term stay rate.

"hi, yoongi," the receptionist greeted when she saw yoongi walking towards the reception desk. "heading out?"

"yeah," yoongi said. he handed the key to the receptionist. "i'm leaving, and hopefully for good."

the woman looked surprised but then smiled at him. "that's good. and yes, hopefully for good," she said. "but if it doesn't work out, you're always welcome to come back here. i'll give you the long-term stay rate again."

"thanks, susan," yoongi said. "you've been really helpful to me."

"not a problem at all," susan said. "now go out there and be good to others too."

"i will. thank you."

yoongi got off the train and followed google maps as it led him through the neighbourhood. it was one of the quieter residential suburbs, where the buildings were mostly landed houses and there was a park and a playground nearby. it seemed like a good place to raise a child.

he finally found the house, and he walked up to the house, slightly worried. there was no reason for seokjin to lie to him about the job and the address, unless he was secretly an asshole who liked to torment people who were down on their luck.

although, considering how sweet jeongguk was during their first meeting, he highly doubted it.

the house wasn't huge, but it wasn't small either. there was a small path with a gate next to the house leading to the backyard, and he could hear squeals and laughter from the back.

yoongi walked up to the front door and pressed on the doorbell, then waited for seokjin to open the door. he nearly jumped up and screamed when seokjin walked up behind him instead.

"sorry, i walked through the side gate," seokjin said. "thought it was closer."

"hi!" jeongguk greeted as he waved cheerily at yoongi.

"hi, ggukie," yoongi greeted as he smiled at the toddler. the boy was always full of energy and it made him happy to see it.

"well, let's go in then," seokjin said. he took out his keys and unlocked the front door, allowing yoongi to go in first before he followed and closed the front door behind him. "let us give you a tour of the house."

from the front door, there was a short corridor where the shoe rack and coat rack were, and then it was the living room. the living room was spacious with big windows so it looked really bright. there was a toy box and a small basket where children storybooks were kept near the coffee table. there were also a lot of framed pictures of seokjin and jeongguk on the tv bench.

there was a guest toilet and a linen closet next to the living room, then a doorway that led to the dining room and kitchen and a door that led to the backyard. to the right was a short corridor where the bedrooms, bathroom, and laundry were.

"this is the guest bedroom, but from now on it'll be yours," seokjin said. "we don't really have any guests staying over anyway. some of my friends like to come over to play with jeongguk, so you'll meet them soon enough."

"i'll let you settle in first. we'll be in the kitchen when you're done," seokjin said. he walked off towards the kitchen and jeongguk waved at yoongi and yoongi smiled as he waved back.

he walked into the room where he would be staying. it was a decent-sized room, with a big window next to the bed. there was a dresser, a full-length mirror next to it, and a desk with a chair. he unpacked what little he had and then went to the kitchen to find the two.

"that was quick," seokjin commented. "you didn't have to rush."

"i didn't," yoongi said.

"okay," seokjin said. "come here and help me chop up the cabbage then. we're making dumplings."

"pork and cabbage?" yoongi asked as he walked over towards them and washed his hands. he took the knife and the chopping board and seokjin put half a head of cabbage on the board.

"yeah," seokjin said. "don't get too close, ggukie. we're going to flour the counter first, okay?"

"kay!"

seokjin poured some flour onto the counter and jeongguk patted it down, spreading it over the counter. yoongi chuckled at the look of utter concentration on the toddler's face.

"ggukie takes his job really seriously, huh?" yoongi commented even as he kept chopping the cabbage. "that's good."

jeongguk grinned proudly at him, then went back to spreading flour over the surface. once he deemed the counter was covered enough with flour, he turned back to seokjin and saluted him, although it looked more like he was trying to cover his eyebrow with his hand. his brow also ended up white because of the flour on his hand, which seokjin cleaned.

"ggu dun!"

yoongi smiled. jeongguk was a lot better behaved than some of the kids at the orphanage, and he had a feeling that he would feel like he didn't deserve the payment for looking after him. perhaps meal and board was enough payment for it.

they moved onto the minced pork for the filling. seokjin put the minced meat in a mixing bowl and allowed jeongguk to pour the sauce and seasoning into it, stopping when seokjin told him to. by then, yoongi had finished chopping the cabbage, so it got mixed in with the minced meat.

"do you want to roll out the dumpling wrapper?" seokjin asked. "i'll mix the filling. you can do it with jeongguk."

"okay," yoongi said. seokjin probably wanted to see how he would handle jeongguk, and he liked helping little kids learn to cook anyway.

"show me your hands, ggukie," yoongi said and jeongguk showed him his hands. they were still covered in flour after he spread the flour on the counter. "that's good. we want to cover our hands with flour so the dough doesn't stick to our hands, okay?"

"kay!"

yoongi showed jeongguk how to roll out the dumpling wrapper step by step. after each step, he would watch jeongguk do it and correct him if needed.

"so first we take a bit of dough," yoongi said as he took a small piece of dough. "you don't have to be too accurate, but it's good to be consistent, otherwise we'll end up with big ones and tiny ones."

"like papa and ggu?"

yoongi laughed. "yeah, like your appa and you," he said. "if you want to make big ones for your appa, you can, ggukie."

jeongguk nodded and grabbed a handful of dough from the big dough in the middle.

"now, we roll it into a ball," yoongi said, rolling the dough between his hands.

jeongguk hummed as he rolled the dough in his hands.

"now we'll roll it out," yoongi said. he gave the small rolling pin to jeongguk and took the bigger one for himself. "put it on the counter and start pressing down on it with the pin while rolling."

jeongguk struggled a bit with pressing the dough down, but once it was quite flat, he had a much easier time rolling it out. he followed along yoongi's instructions to roll out the edges but leaving the centre part slightly thicker, then showed off his wrapper to seokjin.

"good job, baby," seokjin said as he patted jeongguk's head. "will you make more?"

"kay!"

once the meat and seasoning was mixed, seokjin left it to marinate and started helping rolling out the wrapper. they stood around the counter and talked while they worked.

yoongi learned that seokjin used to be a model. he had gotten lucky and had done campaigns for some big name brands, and that was how he was able to buy the house they lived in. ever since he had jeongguk, he stopped modelling and instead worked as an account manager for a retail staffing agency. his team worked well even without him physically there monitoring them, so he was allowed to work from home by the owner.

sometimes, he would have to go into the office for meeting with clients, and would have to ask a couple of his friends to look after jeongguk.

"what about you?" seokjin asked. his eyes were focused on the dumpling wrapper that he was rolling out and yoongi knew it was out of consideration for him as he disliked eye contact for a long period of time.

"nothing fancy," yoongi said with a sigh. "i moved here in hopes of finding a well-paying job. well, better-paying than jobs in a rural town, but because i don't have a degree or a permanent address, it's hard to find a job."

"i worked at kfc for a while, but as i said, the store manager probably preferred younger staff. i haven't been given any shift for three weeks now, and he didn't say anything when i told him i quit."

seokjin hummed. "that's the unfortunate reality of it, i guess," he said. "they do get bonuses if the total wage cost is less than budgeted. it's that way in retail too."

jeongguk looked at the two in confusion, not understanding what they were talking about, and decided to just keep working, rolling out the dumpling wrappers.

yoongi laughed. "why are you so cute, ggukie?" he asked, stroking jeongguk's chubby cheek with his knuckle because his fingers were covered in flour.

"cos is ggu," jeongguk said with a grin.

"you're cute because... you're cute?"

jeongguk nodded, not seeing any problem with the logic.

yoongi laughed again. "i suppose you're right."

the three of them made enough dumplings for at least three meals. seokjin froze some of them and said it was for when they were too lazy to prepare anything or when their friends came to visit.

while waiting for the dumplings to steam, seokjin and jeongguk went back to the backyard to play. yoongi stayed in the kitchen to watch after the pot and to make them some tea for after lunch. jeongguk had pouted at him but he reminded jeongguk that it wasn't safe to leave the stove unattended because of the risk of house fire.

"oo," jeongguk said. "kay. be goo, gi."

yoongi chuckled. "of course, ggukie. i'll be good."

yoongi watched the two play tag in the backyard through the kitchen window and smiled to himself. no matter how bitter he had become in the last couple of years, he liked watching little children play and enjoy themselves. it was mainly why he didn't really mind having to care for them.

yoongi cleaned the counter from flour and washed the rolling pins and mixing bowls they used while the dumplings steamed. he checked them periodically to see if they were cooked, and went to call seokjin and jeongguk for lunch when they were ready.

"be careful, ggukie, they're hot," yoongi said as he handed jeongguk a bowl with a couple of steamed dumplings. he broke the skin of the dumplings to release the steam and so that they cooled sooner. "there you go. if you want more, let me know and i'll get more for you."

"ankie!"

jeongguk tried his best to blow on the dumplings and seokjin finally blew on it after trying his best to hold his laughter in.

"how is it, ggukie?" seokjin asked as he fed jeongguk a small piece of the dumpling.

jeongguk replied with a thumsb up.

the three ate in peace, enjoying the light breeze that came in through the window. the food was good, and yoongi nearly cried happy tears at how different his food situation was compared to the bread and peanut butter he had to subsist on the week before.

"you're getting emotional," seokjin said with a smile. "good food does that to you, i suppose. that's why jeongguk and i love food."

yoongi simply nodded. he wasn't looking for pity, and they didn't need to know about his struggle before.

after lunch, jeongguk yawned and made grabby hands at seokjin. seokjin quickly picked him up and carried him towards his room, motioning at yoongi to follow him.

seokjin's room was simple but cozy. it had a king-sized bed, a night stand, and a dresser. on top of the dresser were pictures of seokjin and jeongguk.

on the floor by the corner was a small mattress. there was a baby blanket and a stuffed bunny on top of it.

"he naps on the mattress, but sometimes he sleeps with me at night," seokjin said as he put jeongguk down on the mattress.

yoongi took the blanket and tucked jeongguk in after handing him the stuffed bunny. jeongguk held onto the stuffed bunny tightly and waved good night at them.

"you're good with him," seokjin commented as he patted jeongguk's back softly while jeongguk drifted off to sleep.

"are you surprised?" yoongi asked.

"not entirely. you did say you used to take care of little kids," seokjin said. "i guess i didn't make the wrong decision to hire you then. let's talk about payment while he naps."

"he's really well-behaved," yoongi said. "i almost feel like i don't deserve payment."

"you're still working for me, so don't feel bad," seokjin said.

they made their way to seokjin's "office", which was a small opening at the end of the corridor next to the laundry. he had set up a desk and several filing cabinets there, although they weren't all work-related.

they both agreed that since seokjin didn't work on weekend, yoongi wouldn't be paid for weekend unless seokjin had to go somewhere and left jeongguk in yoongi's care. seokjin also wanted to pay yoongi at least twelve hours per day on weekdays, but yoongi negotiated it down to eight hours.

"you work eight hours a day. any extra time i spend with you two, let me consider it spending time with you as friends," yoongi said. "i really enjoyed spending time with you both, especially since i don't really have friends here."

"okay," seokjin agreed. "does $25 an hour sound fair to you?"

"for looking after ggukie? that's more than enough."

"yeah, well, there's still a minimum wage, you know," seokjin said in amusement. "i'm not going to break a law just because you don't mind it."

"okay," yoongi agreed.

they worked out that the room and food would be valued at $400 a week, which yoongi thought was fair. he had to pay more than half that just for a bunk bed in a hostel for a week and subsisted mainly on leftovers he was allowed to bring home from work, so having his own room and regular meal was a luxury to him.

"toiletries and linen will be provided by me," seokjin said. "if you need anything for your comfort, just let me know and we'll provide it."

"okay."

"i'll draft a contract for you to sign, so we both have a legally binding contract in case something happens. hopefully it won't."

yoongi nodded in agreement. this arrangement was a lot more than he expected, and he didn't want to lose it either.

seokjin went back to work while jeongguk napped and yoongi went to wash up the dishes from their lunch and tidy up around the house. he also walked around to familiarise himself with the house, noting where the cleaning supplies were kept, where the utensils and cutleries were kept, and so on.

"papa!"

yoongi walked into seokjin's room, where jeongguk was. seokjin had given him permission to go into his room to tend to jeongguk, and yoongi promised he wouldn't do anything he shouldn't.

"hi, ggukie," yoongi said as he sat next to jeongguk, who was blinking his eyes blearily. "did you have a good nap?"

"oh, gi," jeongguk said. "papa?"

"your appa is working, so you get to play with me instead," yoongi said. "is that okay?"

"oh! gi pay wif ggu?" jeongguk asked excitedly.

"mmhm," yoongi said. "what do you want to do?"

they ended up deciding on setting up the kiddie pool. jeongguk had mimed splashing around while sitting down and yoongi thought he wanted to take a bath until seokjin told him they had a kiddie pool.

he changed into a comfy tee and shorts and went to the backyard with jeongguk to set up the pool and fill it with water. jeongguk was wearing his swimming trunks and cheered as he watched the pool getting filled.

"come put on some sunscreen first, ggukie," yoongi said as he patted the floor next to him and jeongguk obediently sat next to him. "always remember to put on sunscreen when you're going out, okay?"

"kay!"

he put on some waterproof sunscreen on jeongguk and himself and waited in the shade while the pool filled. once it was filled a little more than halfway, he turned off the water and helped jeongguk in.

jeongguk cheered as he started splashing around and playing with his rubber duck. the water was cool against his skin and in the summer heat it was very welcome. yoongi poured some water out and refilled the pool with cool water once when the water got too warm.

"ahh," jeongguk sighed as he leaned back against the side of the pool, resting his head on it as he spread his arms out.

seokjin had just joined them then and yoongi stared at him with judgment.

"what?" seokjin asked as he laughed. "he's an old man at heart."

"as you are?"

"everyone's an old man at heart."

"papa!" jeongguk greeted cheerily when he saw seokjin. "papa dun?"

"almost," seokjin said. "i just wanted to check up on you. did you have fun with yoongi?"

jeongguk nodded. "ggu like gi."

"that's good," yoongi said. "i like you too."

"do you mind preparing dinner?" seokjin asked yoongi. "i do menu planning once a week before we go shopping. i think tonight is meatball soup with veggies."

"sure," yoongi said. "you're going to join us after work?"

"yeah," seokjin said. "okay, i better go back to work now. you be good for yoongi, okay, ggukie?"

jeongguk gave him a salute and seokjin kissed his forehead before going back to his office. jeongguk stayed in the pool for a bit longer before yoongi asked him to get out because his fingers were getting pruny.

he brought jeongguk to the bathroom to go potty and rinse himself, then patted him dry. once he was dry, yoongi helped him into his change of clothes and they went to the kitchen to start the dinner prep.

"do you know what we're having tonight?" yoongi asked as he set jeongguk down on the counter. he looked around and saw a small board stuck on the fridge. the template was drawn on with permanent marker, but the menu was written in erasable marker.

jeongguk nodded. "ball!"

"almost there," yoongi said with a laugh. "do you know what kind of ball?"

"meet!"

yoongi smiled at jeongguk. "that's correct. you're really smart, ggukie."

jeongguk grinned, squirming happily as he accepted yoongi's pets.

"okay, now, let's prepare the mince and the seasoning," yoongi said.

he went to get the meat and the seasoning, then helped jeongguk wash his hands. he chopped the garlic for the mix while jeongguk poured the sauce and seasoning into the mixing bowl, stopping when yoongi told him to.

seokjin joined them just as they started rolling the meatballs.

"papa!" jeongguk greeted cheerily.

"he acts like he hasn't seen you all day every time," yoongi commented with amusement. "it's really nice."

"isn't it?" seokjin asked as he patted jeongguk's head. "it's great to have someone be so happy to see you."

this time the three worked in comfortable silence, rolling the meatball and then dropping them into the pot to boil. seokjin and yoongi took turns tasting the soup, seasoning it as they went, and giving jeongguk some to taste as well.

"what do you think, ggukie?" yoongi asked as he gave jeongguk a spoonful of the broth.

jeongguk replied with a thumbs up.

seokjin laughed. "ah, jiminie taught him that," he said. "i think the first person you'll meet among my friends will probably be jimin. he likes to drop by to play with jeongguk whenever he has time."

"if i knew ggukie i would do the same, honestly," yoongi said as he patted jeongguk's cheek.

"then aren't you glad you get to spend a lot of time with him?"

yoongi laughed. "yeah."

seokjin and jeongguk went to the living room to set up for a movie night while yoongi watched after the meatball soup.

after dinner, seokjin helped jeongguk wash up while yoongi washed the dishes, and then he tucked jeongguk in.

"yoongi," seokjin called when he saw yoongi walking towards his room. "here, this is for you."

yoongi's eyes widened when seokjin handed him a small laptop.

"this is my old work laptop," seokjin said. "my company let me keep it when they gave me a new one last year, but i don't need it, and neither do my friends. i've factory reset it and was about to bring it to an e-waste recycler, but i think you might find it useful. i'll text you the wi-fi password."

"thank you," yoongi said. he knew that seokjin specifically mentioned that he was about to throw it away so yoongi wouldn't feel bad about accepting it.

"no problem. good night."

"good night."

yoongi found out that seokjin and jeongguk were creatures of habit. they liked to have their meals around a set time each day. they planned to go shopping for groceries on the same day every week.

he had started forming his own routine around theirs too.

in the morning, he'd wake up earlier than the two and get started on breakfast. breakfast was the simplest and was usually toast, eggs, cereal, or oatmeal. he would also prepare breakfast smoothie, because it was healthier than juice, and some milk for jeongguk.

once breakfast was ready, he then went to seokjin's room to wake seokjin up and help jeongguk up. the baby was less of a morning person than seokjin was, so while seokjin went to the bathroom to freshen up, yoongi would stay and cuddle with jeongguk for a bit while jeongguk gathered his motivation to wake up.

they would have breakfast together, then seokjin would start work while yoongi helped jeongguk wash up. as seokjin had asked him to, he allowed jeongguk to help out while he was doing the dishes, mainly by wiping the dishes dry with a tea towel.

after breakfast was over, he would play with jeongguk before they had to start lunch preparation. after lunch, jeongguk would take a nap and yoongi would browse stuff on his computer or take a nap himself. then another play session and dinner preparation.

he didn't mind the routine. he liked cooking and didn't mind cleaning, and having jeongguk around trying his best to help was a big plus.

of course, not every day was always the same. things happened, and they would sometimes go out too, especially on the weekends.

that day in particular, seokjin had to go into the office. he apologised to jeongguk as soon as the baby was awake.

"i have to go in today, ggukie," seokjin said. "be good for yoongi, okay?"

jeongguk gave him a salute and kissed him goodbye.

yoongi and jeongguk had a quick breakfast and jeongguk watched some kids show that he liked, dancing along with the show host as he did.

the doorbell rang and yoongi looked at it curiously. seokjin hadn't told him they were expecting guests, but he went to check anyway because it could be parcel delivery.

when he opened the door, he came face to face with a man about his height, with a wide grin and crescent moon eyes.

"oh, so you're yoongi," the man said with a grin. "i'm jimin. and hi, ggukie."

"min!" jeongguk cheered as he stopped dancing and instead toddled over towards them.

jimin picked jeongguk up and kissed him in greeting. "have you been a good boy?"

"cos," jeongguk answered seriously. "min pay?"

"your appa asked me to take you out to brunch," jimin said. "you want some waffles?"

jeongguk nodded enthusiastically. "wan!" he exclaimed. he then paused, blinked, and turned towards yoongi. "gi go?"

"you're coming too, right?" jimin asked. "seokjin-hyung asked me to come because he couldn't be here."

"oh, of course," yoongi said. that made sense. they only knew each other for a short while anyway, and while his checks had come back clear, yoongi hadn't had official experience before and had no one to vouch for him. he could very well have committed his first crime with jeongguk, so it made sense that seokjin was still careful.

"you're not offended, right?"

"of course not," yoongi said firmly. "and i'm not surprised, really. he loves ggukie a lot and we've only known each other for less than a month, so of course he still has to be careful. i would definitely do the same if i were in his position."

"good," jimin said. "well, seokjin-hyung gave me some money to treat you all to breakfast, so let's go."

yoongi got jeongguk's carrier and strapped him in. jeongguk squirmed happily and rested his cheek on yoongi's shoulder, kicking his feet in excitement. jimin led the way to the local waffle and pancake house, and the waiter led them to a table and brought over a high chair for jeongguk.

"wat gi like?" jeongguk asked as soon as they were handed the menu. he couldn't read yet but he knew which one was which by the pictures.

"hm, i like strawberries," yoongi said thoughtfully.

"oh!" jeongguk exclaimed. he then pointed at a picture of a waffle drizzled with melted chocolate, served with a scoop of ice cream and sliced strawberries. "dis goo!"

jeongguk hummed as he continued looking at the menu, then pointed at a picture of a stack of fluffy pancakes served with whipped cream and sliced strawberries. "dis goo too!"

jimin laughed. "ah, baby has eaten here quite a lot, huh?" he said, patting jeongguk's head. "which one do you want, ggukie?"

jeongguk looked at the pictures again and finally patted a picture of a waffle served with egg and avocado. "dis pish!"

"which one do you want, hyung?" jimin asked. "i think i'm getting the blue cheese and burger pancake."

yoongi made a face at him and jimin just laughed. "hey, don't judge my cheese preference."

yoongi finally picked the waffle that was recommended by jeongguk and when the food came, jeongguk watched him intently, as if waiting for yoongi's verdict.

"it's really good, ggukie. thank you."

jeongguk grinned, pleased, and went back to his own waffle while yoongi petted him.

"isn't he adorable?" jimin asked. "i'm glad to see he likes you."

"me too," yoongi said. "i'm glad he likes me too."