Chapter Text
4 years.
4 years since Jeongguk went from being a single child for 14 years to now having 2 step siblings. 5 years since his eomma decided to re-marry after his appa died when Jeongguk was young. 5 years since his two people household, became a five people household and all the normalcy, all the routines that he had with her, like seating to drink tea together in the morning turned into screaming matches with his step brothers because they were fucking taking a million years in the bathroom to get ready. His Kdrama evenings giggling with his mom 4 times a week all gone, being replaced by baseball in the TV every day.
And yeah, Jeongguk can see how his eomma’s eyes illuminate every time his step dad is in the room, and yeah its quite nice to have a kind of dad to ask about things he is too shy to ask his eomma about, and he really liked when Seojung told him the day of their wedding during his vows that he was still his mom #1 man, that he did a great job taking care of her, but that he is now here and he will take responsibility for both of them. So that's okay. He can accept that, and he is relieved that his eomma has someone to love her again.What is NOT okay is how fucking annoying Seokjin and Hoseok are. Since the second they found out the lady their dad was seeing had a kid that was two/three years younger than them, they had made their fucking life mission to be the most overbearing, annoying, over protecting people in his life.
He doesn’t think they have every referred to him as jeongguk once. Ever. Is either baby, bambi, little kookie, sweetie, little one, whatever they could come up with but jeongguk.. And jeongguk was 14 for fucks sake. Its embarrasing! Because they would not only do it at home, they would do it in front of everybody. Even his school friends!
After the marriage they were given the task of picking/dropping jeongguk from school if they wanted to have a car paid by their parents, and they took advantage of it to the fullest. He still remembers how red his face had felt when they rolled down the window parked in the curb and screamed “baby, lets gooo” in front of everybody no less! All the teasing he had to endure for the next 6 months until he finally let middle school and went to high school. That had gained 2seok deathly stares non stop, angry remarks, and mostly silent treatment. But it didn’t matter how bad Jeongguk treated them, it was like they were amused by Jeongguk! And that made him even more mad at them.
And even when Jeongguk talked with his eomma about the situation, her only response was in the lines of, can’t you give them a change sweetie? You have always liked to be treated nicely, why don’t you let them? Jeongguk would whine and say that he was a man, and he did not want to be treated as a baby any more. But alas that didn’t work.
When Jeongguk was 15 his eomma and step dad wanted them to bond so bad that from the moment they moved in that Jeongguk was made to accompany 2seok to as many of their activities and vice versa.
The running started 6 moths into them all living together. Seokjin has been playing baseball since he was 4 years old in the little leagues. He was quite, quite, quite good. And by the time Jeongguk was 15 and Seokjin was 18, he was signed into one of the teams in the city, even if he was still a high schooler.
So one of the most diabolical activities he was ordered to do was accompanying 2seok at 5 am for a morning run as cardio was extremely important for Seokjin's baseball training and for Hoseok’s endurance for dance battles.
“Wake up, little prince” he felt Hoseok’s hand running through his hair while murmuring in a soft voice “we need to get ready” he finished with a small peck in the forehead. The hand on his hair felt heavenly, and in his almost sedated he started to rub into it. Touching his hair was something 2seok found out was a weak spot for Jeongguk early on. Usually whenever he was seated in the couch they would just appear from behind, put their hand in his hair, and he would become putty, teenage rage tamed. This routine was already honed into him. Either Hoseok or Seokjin had been waking him up for the past year. Always in the same manner.
“I don’t want to” Jeongguk said while curling all his body into a tight ball, and gripping the sheets with a death grip
“Come on, hyungie is making chocochip pancakes” Hoseok whispered as an incentive. That gained an immediate reaction from Jeongguk.
“With caramel sauce?” he word muffled from his buried face in the pillow position.
“Of course” Hoseok replied like it was the most obvious thing “caramel sauce and bananas on top” he continued still caressing his hair.
“Ughhh, fine” he opened one eye, and saw a small smile in Hoseok’s face that was really, really, close, surprising him as he jumped back a little on the bed to put some distance
“Come on, baby” Hoseok said while standing up and going to Jeongguk closet to pick up his outfit. “its supposed to be 10 °C now” he pulled a thick black hoodie and grey sweatpants
“Not that one, the black one” he said groggily while he sat in the edge of the bed, and Hoseok smiled and found the correct one.
Hoseok was dressed in the same manner and Seokjin was probably as well. “Here, we will be waiting for you” and he left the room.
As soon as he was ready he went straight to the kitchen, Seokjin finishing the batter for them to eat when they come back from the run.
“good morning baby” Seokjin said before going to Jeongguk to hug him. Jeongguk swiftly avoided the hug. Another thing they wanted to force him to do with them. Hugs were a huge thing between 2seok. But as Jeongguk was an only child of a woman, physical touch with men was a little strange for him. Not that they didn’t try, and almost jumping into him, seokjin grabbed and pulled him into his chest for an awkward hug.
“let go of mee” Jeongguk whined, trashing between Seokjin's arms
“Ohh, someone got up angry” Seokjin chuckled and Hoseok laughed in the back ground.
“Let gooo” he struggled with less force this time. Why did he had to be so smothering?
“okay okay” Seokjin released his body “time to go” before he grabbed him by the hand, and when they passed Hoseok he grabbed his hand as well and pulled them to the garage so they could stretch, put their shoes and go out.
At 17, going to Seokjin baseball practices after school became a normal thing as well, and Jeongguk had to admit that as annoying as Seokjin was, he was a brilliant player, and at 20 with 2 years of pro-experience he was among the best in the minor leagues.
Jeongguk himself was never was into these types of sports, but his step dad an Hoseok were, so once they went all into the park, and they started to teach him how to throw.
“Spread you legs a little” Seokjin instructed from behind him, his big hands turning Jeongguk's hips so he was facing away from Hoseok in the other side of the field that had a glove on his left hand ready to catch. When he was satisfied with the position he let Jeongguk go. His hands were so warm, and the touch made Jeongguk blush.
Grabbing the baseball he took Jeongguk's hand and made him wrap it around it, his hands covering Jeongguk's. “the lines in the ball are for correct gripping” he recited like he was reading from a text book “put your your fingers above them” jeongguk tightened his hand around the ball in the correct position and Seokjin did an approval nod “put as much weight into the throw as you can, that would make the ball go as far as possible” was the last instruction he said to Jeongguk before letting him go.
And Jeongguk for this being his first time throwing a ball, was... good.. like really really good. The loud sound of the ball begin cached by Hoseok rang through the whole field, shocking the 4 men.
“Fuck” Hoseok lamented from the other side, removing the glove to inspect his palm. The force of the impact making his hand throb “if I didn’t know it was his first time throwing a ball I would be thinking he is a pro” he said walking towards them
“Jeongguk, that was impressive” Seojung, 2seok dad’s said “Seokjin, you should take him to practice with you” he turned to his eldest son with a serious tone
Seokjin who had a big surprised look on his face nodded. “Who new our kookie had such an arm? Huh?” Seokjin said appreciatively before evolving him in a hug, that he tried much to fight thank you very much.
Jeongguk had a small satisfied grin on his face. Yeah, they were annoying, but he was good, and he has always loved to be complimented.
Another big change in Jeongguk's life was that now that he had 2 people that could watch over him, his Eomma finally could take the positions she had been wishing to take for years, but didn’t, due to the guilt of leaving Jeongguk alone for extended periods of time. His step-father was also away for some days a week, usually two at most but sometimes both of their schedules had longer trips, so Jeongguk was really really excited about the freedom at 17. No curfew, no one telling him to turn off the computer or not to eat 6 packs of ramen.
On the first week of the 3 of them alone at home, he went go out to meet some friends in the internet cafe to play until the morning, half an hour in, when he was just finishing ordering food to be delivered to his station he feels a hand on his shoulder.
“Gguk? What are you doing here?” He turned around at the familiar voice and saw 2seok with a confused face standing behind him “aren’t you supposed to be studying for your exam on Friday?” Hoseok asked, his semblance changing, frowning.
“I. I… I” Jeongguk stammered over his words, the light of the screen making him look even paler “I was just..” he pointed to the game playing on the back ground.
“You were here to play games instead of studying?” Seokjin reprimand him with such a disappointed look on his face.
“You know you have to study” Hoseok continued to stare at him. The intensity of his look making him feel small.
“I…” Jeongguk looked down to the floor in shame “I just wanted to play for a little bit” he said in a small voice
“Baby...” Seokjin sighed putting a hand over his eyes like he was tired or maybe disappointed… “okay”. That made Jeongguk look up once again to Seokjin
“okay?” he asked confused
“Yeah, okay, lets.. let's play some games, but only one hour, then you are back home to study” he said seriously “understood?” Jeongguk nodded rapidly agreeing.
The relief of not getting into trouble and being able to play made him forget all about how they even knew where he was.
The second time he was caught outside by them he tried to go a house party his crush had invited him. The sneaking out was easy once the clock marked 9 pm, with 2seok needing to get up early for their morning run. He had been at the party for around 2 hours, and Taehyung, the boy he liked and him were chatting and flirting.
2 coca-colas later, because he knew better than to start drinking alcohol, and he hears a commotion at the front of the house and walked quickly to see what was happening.
To his utter shock, 2seok were standing there looking pissed, and they would look even more intimidating had it not being for the fact that they had bed hair, were in their pyjamas, and one of them had put on different shoes.
The sight of them in the party made him jump a little bit, Taehyung was snickering about the poor soul those two were looking for until they gaze zeroed in into the two of them, most specially of their hand holding, and Taehyung looked at Jeongguk's face going red in the face
“Are they, are they looking for you?” Taehyung whispered eyes going back and forth between 2seok and Jeongguk. 2Seok was approaching almost like two predators zeroing in on their prey. Both porting angry faces.
“yeah” was the only thing he managed to whisper before they arrived.
“Gukk, what the actual fuck” Hoseok started angrily “you leave home and you didn’t think of saying anything to us?”
“Hyuuung, it's just a party, and you are not my Eomma” he tried to reason
“And if it was just a party, why didn’t you tell us? Instead of sneaking out?” Seokjin countered. “We are responsible for you! is it because you are hiding you boyfriend form us?” he said while his eyes went up and down Taehyung.
“Hyung!” Jeongguk replied turning red, squeezing Taehyung's hand in his “he Is not my boyfriend, not yet at least” he whispered the last part, and Taehyung turned red right besides him.
“Well it doesn’t matter” Seokjin said simply “lets go” he stated. Like his word was final.
“What do you mean?” Jeongguk contradicted “The party just started!”
“Well you should have thought about that before you sneaked out” Hoseok replied.
“Hyung! That’s not fair!”
“Enough!” Hoseok said sternly. “we will talk at home, say goodbye”. The tone angry in his voice and Jeongguk knew better than to argue with them in public.
“Bye Tae, see you tomorrow?” he begged and Taehyung just nodded before letting go of his hand.
The ride back home was awkward and silent. Seokjin driving, Hoseok in the back and Jeongguk in the passenger seat. His motion sickness would never allow him to sit on the back without barfing. They arrived home without saying another word, and as soon as the door closed behind him he started to argue.
“you did not have to humiliate me like that” He started the fight walking into the house, 2seok following him close by.
“WE? We didn’t have to humiliate you like that? WE?” Hoseok replied back without raising his voice.
“Yeah! I was there minding my own business, why did you pick me up??”
“why?” Seokjin asked crossing his arms as he rested his weight in the kitchen table
“yeah! Why?!”
“Gukk be fucking for real, you are 17!”
“yeah and?”
“You left home without telling neither of us, while our parents are abroad and think you are under our care”
“oh come don’t be such a drama queen” Jeongguk rolled his eyes at the stupid line
“Don’t drama queen me” Seokjin was getting angry
“what do you call showing up at the party, humiliating me in front of my crush and taking me home?”
“WE call it taking care of you!” Hoseok quickly replied, his breathing getting more agitated by the second.
“I don’t need taking care of” Jeongguk retorted “I make my own decisions”
“Yeah” Hoseok agreed “You can make your own decisions, but decisions have consequences, and because of those decisions you are grounded”
“You can’t ground me! You are not my Eomma!!”
“like hell we can’t” Seokjin said “had you even told us what you were planning, where you were going, and with who, we wouldn't even behaving this conversation! We would have dropped you off and picked you up! We would have even given you pocket money!”
“I don’t have to tell you nothing!!!” he continued to fight. There is no way they are getting away with this.
“Yes you do” Hoseok left eye was twitching a little bit with irritation. “you are under our responsibility!”
“I am basically an adult” Jeongguk stomped his feet, not looking like an adult to anyone eyes.
“Adult people don’t say they are adults, Jeongguk” Seokjin stated blankly while sitting in the dinner table. The anger of waking up for a glass of water and checking Jeongguk's bed finding it empty long gone now. The relief he feels with seeing him right now flooding through his body.
However, the use of his name, the use of Jeongguk, from Seokjin, had Jeongguk's body fill with dread and a deep sense of loss. In 4 years not a single time, none of them had used his name. 4 years. And in the other side of his brain, just that single word, his name, made him want to fight back, full of rage. He was not Jeongguk, not to them, and he won’t accept the change. Filled with his imbalanced hormones, he lashed out.
“I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT” he screamed, his breathing getting heavier, his face feeling almost feverish.
“What do you think we would have done if you were injured, or something happened to you?” Hoseok asked seriously, crossing his arms above his chest like he just hadn’t screamed at them “what would we have said to your Eomma?”
“Nothing would have happened!” Jeongguk replied murderously, getting more angry by the second.
“and you know this how? Are you a psychic?” Hoseok asked raising his eyebrows. Jeongguk hated this look on him. So condescending. Like Jeongguk's words didn’t matter.
“Ughhhh! Stop! You know what I mean” – he refuted trying to make his point. Seokjin’s face the definition of disappointment
“No, we don’t” – Seokjin replied solemnly
“yeah you do!”
“This is not up for debate Jeongguk” Seokjin said with a final tone. And the use of his name AGAIN, by Seokjin, made him feel even more irrational “you are grounded because you scared us, you sneaked out, and you were irresponsible, you are lucky you are not drunk or drugged”
“I don’t drink alcohol!” he fought chidlessly back “And you know it”
“yeah? And what about people forcing you to drink? Daring you to do drugs?” Hoseok rebated.
“You know I don’t do that hyung!”
“Do I? I didn’t think you would sneak out for a party either, but guess who just got proved wrong, Jeongguk”. And that was the first time Hoseok had called him by his name. It felt like a cut right into his heart, and at least Jeongguk had the decency to lower his head at that.
“No phone, no gaming, not going out and no friends over for the next two weeks, you are going form here, to school, to practice and back”
“that’s not fair!” he tried to argue again, this time weakly, while Seokjin extended his hand palm up for Jeongguk to give up his phone.
“Jeongguk, Phone, please” he said with a nonsense tone.
“ughhh! I hate you!”
“No you don’t” Hoseok said “and I want you to think about what happened today, you could have just said were you were going, but you didn’t”
“You would have said no!” he countered with the last of his strength, giving up.
“Well, you didn’t give us the chance, so I guess we will never know” Seokjin said standing up from the table. “two weeks”
And Jeongguk stomped to his room.
3 hours later he was coming out into the living room to apologize to them after reflecting, and found Seokjin and Hoseok laying on the couch with Hoseok half on top of Seokjin. Seokjin’s arm wrapping tightly around Hoseok waist, his other on top of his ass. The sight so shocking he stabbed his little toe into the small console table in the living room.
The sound made Hoseok stir on top of Seokjin, his mouth leaving some kissed on his neck while his hand came up to Seokjin's pec giving a squeeze, before burrowing back into sleep. The movement making Seokjin only reaction to murmur a soft “Seok” and squeeze his hand on Hoseok ass.
Jeongguk felt hot, so hot, like he was not supposed to see that. Like he was intruding in a very, very private scene. And before he could even think about the morality of the situation, he fled the scene. He didn’t even realized he was hard.
For the next 3 days, Jeongguk avoided 2Seok like the plague. The shame of being grounded, of sneaking out, even when it was dumb, they would have said yes to him going to the party, Jeongguk knew this rationally, had him escaping all rooms where they were present. But the most irrational thought was how ashamed he was to be called Jeongguk.
No matter how many times he fought with himself, not being called guk, gookie, bambi, baby, sweetie, love, had him almost climbing up the walls. Why was he so hurt? Why did it bother him so much? He literally spent years telling them to call him Jeongguk, to be ignored, and not that they actually did. It felt wrong. Wrong in all aspects. He was not Jeongguk to them. No, no and NO. But with what face would he tell them they hurt him by calling him by his name?
It took him another 4 days before the moping and hiding around the house got so bad that 2seok had to intervene. Knocking in Jeongguk's door after he came from practice was the way they catched him.
The soft sound of “come in” letting them know they could go into the room. The sight was almost pitiful. Jeongguk’s face was a little red, the pink fuzzy blanket wrapping him like a burrito, and the tears that glistened his eyes were enough to break 2seok.
Almost running to his bed side, they arranges the jeongguk burrito until he was laying on his back, and Seokjin and Hoseok flushed on each side of him. Seokjin's left hand caressing jeongguk’s face so delicately, and Hoseok's hand going up and down his tummy making him feel 10x better and 10x worse. A few minutes go by almost in silence, however the tears continued going down jeongguks face until Hoseok couldn’t bare it anymore
“Baby, what’s going on, why are you crying?” At the sound of the pet name jeongguk wailed, and the tears fell faster. “googie, what's going on bub? why are you so sad?”
“hy..hyu..hyung” Jeongguk replied between hiccups. Turning sideways he buried his face in Seokjin's neck, trying to hide from his shame.
Seokjin and Hoseok looked at each over a little lost on what was going on. Hoseok got even closer, and his arm brushed against Seokjin while both surrounded Jeongguk figure.
The poor boy was so distressed, and they were a little bit out of place, Jeongguk had never looked for confront from them like this ever before.
“Bambi, please, tell hyung what’s wrong” Seokjin half begged into Jeongguk’s head.
“i-- su—rryy” Jeongguk choked the words out, barely intelligible. The shaking of his body making them tremble.
“what do you say sweetheart?” hoseok tried again rubbing Jeongguk’s tummy softly again. He could feel the irregular respiration and tears of Jeongguk from the contraction of his abdomen.
“I’m… I’m sorry hyungs” he said still shaky. Seokjin could feel the dampness where the boys face was buried into.
“why are you sorry sweetheart?” Seokjin replied. He wouldn't be a good hyung if he didn’t make Jeongguk admit to his mistakes.
“I… I went out” he started “without asking permission” Seokjin hummed. He knew more was coming soon.
“Yes you did…” Hoseok encouraged
“And… I made you worry” he continued. Seokjin hummed in agreement while rubbing circles in Jeongguk's nape.
“And... and... I… I screamed at you”
“that, you also did” Hoseok agreed. “And what should you say then?”
“I’m sorry hyungies” – Jeongguk moved his face from Seokjin neck to look into their eyes, with tears on his – “I messed up”
Squeezing Jeongguk's small waist, making him meld into them, Seokjin relented.
“You did…” he said seriously. “and you are being punished for it”. The last bit made Jeongguk almost whimper again.
“But…” Hoseok interrupted before the water works started again “we forgive you, baby.” his poor heart couldn’t handle the mopping/hidden creature that Jeongguk had become the last week. But contrary to what Hoseok thought would occur, the water works started once again with force.
“Bubs, please” Seokjin begged “what's going on? bunny?” the total distress of Jeongguk wails made them feel horrible. Jeongguk’s face back again buried on soekjins neck, holding him for dear life.
“Baby, everything is going to be okay, I swear, we forgive you, love” Hoseok said softly, rubbing Jeongguk's shaking back.
“Please baby, you are breaking our hearts, please tell us what’s going on?” Seokjin tried once again.
“hyu.. hyuungg” Jeongguk started before taking a deep breath between sobs. “Hyung ca.. called”
“Hyung called? What do you mean baby? What hyung?” Hoseok tried to understand the mumblings.
“hyung called me Jeongguk” – the strange sentence making Hoseok and Seokjin more confused when Jeongguk refused to elaborate further.
“your hyung called you Jeongguk?” Seokjin tried to rationalize the irrational words “what hyung, baby? What do you mean?”
“YOUU!” - Jeongguk almost screamed. Wiggling he got out of their arms and stood in front of the bed (they let him go more than anything). “YOU CALLED ME JEONGGUK”. And paint Seokjin and Hoseok face a poem to confusion. Looking at each other before they look back to Jeongguk they tried to decipher what the younger was saying.
“Love, I’m trying to understand please, believe me I do, but I don’t” Hoseok said softly looking at the shaking boy wrapped in the blanket that was looking at them with such a betrayed and hurt look. “can you tell me once more?”
“YOU. You and Seokjin hyung called me JEONGGUK” and Jeongguk said it angrily, like it was the worst insult a person could ever receive. “You have never, not once, called me Jeongguk” he said more quietly. Like his heart was broken. “that night, you… you called me Jeongguk for the first time, not bubs, not baby, not love, not googie, no. YOU. CALLED. ME. JEONGGUK.” he finished before dropping to the ground and started crying again.
Seokjin and Hoseok moved as quick as lightening to recover their precious cargo from the ground, and lifting him once again to the bed, they surrounded him, arms thigh against the small figure and with the roles reversing begging for forgiveness, that I would never happen again, they fell asleep when Jeongguk finally said that it was okay with a small snifle.
After that incident, 2seok needed to know where he was at all times. They even made him download a tracking app on his phone. He protested to no end about this, there is no need for that, he is seventeen and can take care of himself thank you very much. But 2seok were extremely convincing. To their parents they told them that it was so they all knew were Jeongguk was, that when they were abroad they would have a peace of mind. That Seoul was getting dangerous and they could get targeted due to Seokjin’s semi famous status, and it was always better to be able to track him just in case. That something could happen to him, and they wouldn’t know where he was.
That got them to agree, and when Jeongguk tried to refute this, they used the dreaded day, guilt tripping him into how worried they were for him that night, how it broke their hearts and their confidence in him, and he had to suck it up. Douchebag move if you ask him. That was the first time they had pulled that card on him and it stung.
2Seok had also had added into their “hyung activities” to randomly appear wherever he was when out. They always claimed that they were there because they though about coming to the same place, and due to them being older cooler hyungs, that had more money than any of Jeongguk's friends to treat, they were welcomed by Jeongguk’s group of friends.
At the beginning they would casually sit in the same table, and by the time they had ordered and paid food for everyone, Taehyung and Jimin had forgotten that they were crashing their meetup. However, whenever Jeongguk was not seated between them, the sitting arrangement would change as soon as the person occupying the seat would go to the bathroom, possessive hands on both his thighs. That happened through the rest of Jeongguk's 17’s, whenever he was out after school, they would appear, until the seats besides Jungkook were purposefully left empty as they started to expect the duo to show up by now.