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Hoseok had just been there to pick up his nephew from daycare since his sister was still at work. He hadn’t expected anything special, just a bunch of moms picking up their kids--though it was kinda weird that he was the only guy there.
Well, that he knew of.
“Are you here to pick someone up too?” a voice had suddenly chimed beside him, startling Hoseok quite a bit and making a few of the women there laugh. Hoseok couldn’t stop his ears from flushing, as much as he denied it.
“Jimin, you can’t just pop up beside people like that,” the daycare provider laughed as Hoseok looked to see who the person that had startled him was. It was the same single dad from Namjoon and Seokjin’s ice cream parlor. Hoseok knew his eyes had to have been bugging out of his head as he stared at the man--Jimin.
“Ah- my bad,” he said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck as he looked back at Hoseok. “Sorry, I’ve just always been the only dad here.”
Hoseok, to put it simply, knew he was fucked from that very second.
***
“Jiyoo! Your papa’s here.”
Jimin smiled as he watched his little girl come running from playing in the living room, laughing as she jumped onto him in a tight hug. “Hi princess,” he said, pressing a kiss to her cheek and settling her on his hip as he stood up. He turned to the daycare provider. “Thank you again, Minseo, you’re a lifesaver.” The woman just laughed and waved her hand dismissively.
“It’s no problem, Jiminie. Jiyoo is an angel to look after.” The little girl giggled at the mention of her name, holding onto her dad’s shoulders as he signed her out. “She was very good today too, I think she deserves a trip to the ice cream shop.” Jimin glared playfully at the woman as Jiyoo suddenly gasped and began nodding excitedly, trying to shake Jimin’s shoulders.
“Yeah, yeah! Ice cream!” she cheered.
“Okay, princess, okay, we can get ice cream. I pinky promise.” He linked his pinky with his daughter’s in a tight promise before waving goodbye to the people of the daycare and heading out to the car.
“Papa, can we go to the ice cream shop with the pretty seashells?” Jiyoo asked once she was buckled into her booster seat, causing Jimin to cock his head to the side.
“You mean the one we saw the other day? The one with the pretty blue door?”
“Yeah! That one!” The girl was beaming and Jimin couldn’t help but smile. She looked so much like her mother.
“Of course baby, we can definitely go there.”
Once they got to the ice cream shop, Jimin was relieved to see it was open and not too busy inside--that meant he and Jiyoo would have time to look the menu over and decide without having to worry about people getting upset at them for taking too long.
“Okay sweetheart, c’mon,” he said, lifting the girl up and resting her on his hip again before locking the car and heading inside the parlor. There were two men bickering behind the counter, another was standing on a ladder with a paintbrush in hand, and the last man was sitting at one of the tables working on his own painting. They all looked over at the door once they heard the bell chime--Jimin immediately shrunk a bit under the sudden attention.
“Oh, welcome!” One of the men behind the counter chimed, dimples appearing as he smiled and motioned for Jimin to approach the counter--shooing the other man behind the counter away as well. “Take as much time as you need to figure out what you’d like.” Jimin nodded his thanks as he adjusted Jiyoo on his hip, scanning over the menu.
“Papa,” Jiyoo said, trying to pull Jimin down so she could whisper in his ear. “I want the cotton candy one.” Jimin just smiled, nodding.
“Alright sweetheart.” He carefully set the girl down so he could order and pay--he ordered two scoops of cotton candy ice cream in a cup and two scoops of rocky road as well. Only, as he was paying and watching the second man get the ice cream, he suddenly didn’t feel his daughter’s hold on his jeans. “Jiyoo-”
The little girl, when he frantically spun around to find her, was standing beside the man on the ladder, watching him delicately paint ocean waves on the wall. He sighed in relief, making the two behind the counter chuckle.
“Worried you lost her?” The dimpled man asked, his nametag reading “Namjoon”. Jimin just nodded as he pulled his card out to pay.
“Yeah… Unfortunately, it wouldn’t have been he first time she’d wandered away from me,” Jimin said, a sheepish smile on his face as he scratched his neck. Namjoon just laughed as his partner, whose nametag said “Seokjin”, set the two cups of ice cream on the counter.
“Here you go sir,” Seokjin said, a pleasant smile on his face. “Enjoy your ice cream. Also, the painter over there is Hoseok, I think your daughter likes watching him.” And Seokjin was absolutely correct, Jiyoo was completely enthralled while watching Hoseok paint--and he hadn’t even realized she was there yet.
Jimin just smiled at Seokjin, nodding. Hoseok huh? “Jiyoo, ice cream,” he called, effectively getting the girls’ attention. She came running over to the table Jimin sat down at--just behind the other painter--just across from Hoseok, that watch Jiyoo could still watch him paint. “Are you enjoying watching him paint, princess?”
Jiyoo nodded enthusiastically, the pink plastic spoon of hers entirely full of pink and blue ice cream--Jimin was worried it was going to fall for a second. “He’s painting the beach, papa! Look how pretty!”
Jimin smiled, nodding as he turned to also watch Hoseok paint. He was very good at it and, oddly enough, it was almost soothing to watch him and his delicate brush strokes.
“Taehyung-ah, lunch,” Seokjin said, getting the other painter’s attention and the boy went bounding up. He nodded as he listened to Seokjin--Jimin assumed he was getting his and Namjoon’s orders--before he went over to Hoseok, tugging on his pant leg. Ah, that’s why Hoseok hadn’t noticed Jiyoo. He had earbuds in. Hoseok stepped down from the ladder to tell Taehyung his lunch order then the boy was out the door.
Jimin smiled to himself. He liked this little parlor and it’s nice, friendly atmosphere. He was even able to talk to Hoseok some as he was throwing away their cups.
He was friendly.
***
Hoseok looked back and forth between the houses and the text from his sister. You would have thought it would be easy to find a daycare, but he kept worrying that he was gonna get the address wrong. He was able to find it, but was a couple minutes late.
“Oh, Hoseok, Dawon said you were coming fo Byungwoo. I’ll go get him.” Hoseok nodded to the woman, smiling.
“Thank you Mrs. Kim.”
As he waited for Mrs. Kim to get Byungwoo, Hoseok took in his surroundings. He was the only guy there to pick a kid up. There were a couple moms simply waiting while a few others were chatting while their children played for a little longer. Hoseok could see why Dawon would like this place, plus the provider seemed nice enough.
“Hoseok hyung?”
Hoseok absolutely
hated
the fact that he jumped over hearing someone say his name. He spun around towards the front door to see the dad from Seokjin and Namjoon’s ice cream parlor standing there, a look of surprise on his face. Jimin.
A smile suddenly split his surprised look as he walked up to him. “Are you here to pick someone up too? I’m usually the only dad here,” he said, tilting his head slightly as he asked.
Hoseok smiled nervously, rubbing his palm with his thumb--he still had paint from class on his fingers. “Uh, yeah, I’m here to pick Byungwoo up for my sister. She’s stuck at work for an hour or two.” Jimin seemed to deflate a little.
“Oh Byungwoo? He and Jiyoo are friends.” He nodded, but his attention was quickly snatched elsewhere.
“Papa!”
Jimin was immediately squatting down so Jiyoo could run up to him, picking the girl up after she hugged him and laughing as she peppered his face with kisses. Hoseok couldn’t help but smile, it was such a sweet thing to watch. Jiyoo really loved her dad.
“Hi princess. You remember Hoseok hyung from the ice cream parlor right?” The little girl stared at Hoseok for a few seconds before giggling and nodding.
“Seokie oppa!” She made grabby hands at him and squirmed in Jimin’s arms. She’d really taken a liking to Hoseok that day at the ice cream shop, he’d even let her help him paint the mural a little bit. Hoseok just laughed and gently took her from Jimin after making sure it was okay.
“Hi Jiyoo, were you being good for Mrs. Kim?” The girl nodded happily. “And you’re gonna be good for papa too?” She nodded with even more enthusiasm.
“I’m gonna be the best!” All three of them laughed at her statement--but they knew she was going to be the best. Hoseok kissed her hair and smiled as he handed her back to Jimin, who was immediately tickling her to get her to laugh, just as Byungwoo came running with Mrs. Kim. Hoseok laughed when the excited little boy immediately latched onto his legs, having to pry him off carefully so he could pick him up and sign him out after Jimin was done.
“Hoseok hyung,” Jimin chimed, getting the older’s attention before he and Jiyoo left. “Um, my number- here. I can pick Byungwoo up if Dawon noona needs me to, in case you’re busy. I’d like to take you out to dinner some time too if that’s okay.” As soon as Hoseok’s cheeks went red, Jimin was laughing.
Hoseok gently took the piece of paper from Jimin, putting it in his coat pocket before nodding. “I’d like that.”
***
It was Sunday morning.
Early
morning.
“Papa…”
Jimin rubbed his eyes and turned to look at the clock when he heard Jiyoo’s small voice. 4:17am. “Jiyoo? Princess, what are you doing up?” He sat up in bed, eyes adjusting to the darkness to see his daughter standing beside the bed with her stuffed horse plushie clutched to her chest.
“Had a nightmare…” she whined, crawling up into her dad’s lap and seeming to try to hide in his chest. Jimin frowned before kissing her hair and rubbing her back.
“It’s okay baby, you can sleep here tonight.” He gently shook the body next to him, getting a tired groan out of Hoseok. “Angel, scoot over.”
Hoseok did as he was told, but still rubbed his eyes to get the sleep out of them and tried to see why Jimin was making him scoot over so early in the morning. “What’s wrong?” he mumbled, sleep dripping from his voice.
“Jiyoo had a nightmare.” The little girl crawled in between Hoseok and Jimin, pressing her face against Hoseok’s neck and her plushie to his chest. Jimin pulled the covers back over the three of them before he put his arm across the two.
“Oh, Yooyoo, you had a nightmare?” The girl whined and snuggled closer to Hoseok. He just smiled, even if he was tired.
“Get back to sleep, hyung,” Jimin whispered, leaning over Jiyoo to peck Hoseok’s lips. Hoseok only hummed and nodded, nuzzling his nose against Jiyoo’s hair before falling asleep again.
Jimin only smiled, waiting until both of the lights of his life were asleep to get back to sleep himself.