【playing..】

BTS (방탄소년단) - BE
내 방을 여행하는 법 (Fly To My Room)

❚❚►_____________________________ 3:42

Jeongguk loves being an after school teacher, don't get him wrong, working in care was and is his biggest happiness in life.

But there's just some days that make you feel like you have been hit by a bus -- twice. And ran over. That's what he felt like today.

Where he first went wrong today was coming into work with a headache. Stupid of him to think it would fade out by it's own accord because -- when does it ever?

Second, the new kid cut into another kids' pants because they wanted to make it so the hole across the knee is heartshaped instead of just a rip -- which yeah, cute on first glance it but it didn't seem like a very cute idea to their parents after calling them.

Third, he had everyone complain during their lunch on why there was no ketchup for the fries. And kids rioting during lunch is nothing short of terrifying, like trying to defuse a bomb just that he had to hold back some frustrated kids from throwing fried potato around.

Fourth, no one in his group had understood their homework assignment at all and to be fair -- he didn't really get it either. Yeah, he's a twenty-three year old struggling with third grader assignments. He knows it's embarrassing.

And to top it all of he was vomited on -- he won't go into detail for this one.

Sigh, he could totally use a shot of that peach soju that sits in his cupboard that he had bought for winding down.

It's days like these that make him question if the universe pushed him, stomped on his back, set him on fire and to put the cherry in top just showed it's middle finger right in his face on purpose.

And that headache he was talking about? That still was pulsing through his skull and it make him want to jump off a cliff since screaming children that cling onto his limbs, don't necessarily, you know, aid that pain.

So all he wanted -- after sending all his kids off, still with a smile of course, to be picked up by their parents at the school's gate by the end of their day at 5pm -- all he wanted was to get to his apartment, take a fat pill of ibuprofen and sleep while listening to a random podcast he had picked out, a true crime one preferably.

Not more, not less. Just a simple end of the day that would hopefully, finger crossed, make him feel a little bit more alive and less like a walking shell of himself.

Again, it was pretty rare for him to feel this pooped after working from 10 to 5, which generally would be considered a very nice shift for most people.

He doesn't have to get up super early, however he still forces himself out of bed at 8 to get a morning jog in, yeah, ew, he knows.

And he doesn't have to stay until unreasonable hours either and he often can actually do things after work. Meeting friends for food, going to fetch some errands maybe even go on the occasional date that never really work out but are fun regardless.

But back to rarely ever feeling as fucking tired like he did today. Most days he went home pretty content. Tired but you know with the feeling of a satisfying day.

But everyone know how kids can be. Unpredictable.

One might say they are noisy, uncontrollable, annoying germ slingshots that you can't get to follow a simple rule. He had heard it all already in his year of working.

Which -- yes, in some parts he had to agree with. No hard feelings.

But he had figured out that they can be all these things if you treat them like they aren't human beings capable of understanding things.

They can do much more than they are conventionally trusted with and once you give them that responsibility, don't yell at them for making mistakes and instead praise what they did well -- and then it'll all go natural.

He likes to remind himself of a quote that one of his professors used to use way too often: "A child doesnt become a human, they already are one."

He's well aware that that might sound cheesy as fuck. He knows.

But it was the truth from what he had experienced in his twenty-three years of living, two years of studying and working now as an after school teacher.

However he does have to say that today that unpredictableness really showed itself, something that usually made every day different in a great way. Today, not so much.

He had soon dragged himself from the busy streets piled with people rushing home from their days of work to his building, into the elevator and to his apartment door.

His legs absolutely felt like they were ready to give out under him as he grabbed his keys, putting them into the lock opening the door and being immediately hit with the comforting scent of the cherry blossom candle he had burned this morning to get himself to wake up somehow.

First thing when he had finally made it through his apartment door was to take off his sweatshirt and drop it off in his laundry bin, stain of the aforementioned child throw up painfully prominent.

Washing it out in the bathroom really didn't do that much. This is one of his favorite ones too. He's crossing his fingers that it'll wash out.

His feet dragged his body to his kitchen area, just tugged in the corner of his living room, as some kind of snack would be nice to cover up the lowkey pain of his stained hoodie and a tiring day.

Well, talking about that soju thats tugged away in the cupboard, he could really wind down with a sip of that right now.

Normally most people would have their hands on a glass of wine, red or white, right now but to him wine is a creation from hell and it's gross. He said it. And he's not going to take that back.

Anyway so, soju tends to be his go-to.

And that's how his hand ended up clamped around a glass filled with the alcohol, just enough for Jeongguk to taste it honestly -- not nearly enough to actually feel something since he has work tomorrow anyway -- and a bowl of sweet potato chips sitting beside him.

All tugged away in his bed under his comforter with a laptop on his lap and right now, headache faded away from the absence of loud screams all around him -- it felt like absolute heaven on earth.

He lifted it up to his lips to take another sip, sweet taste of aritifcial peach washing over his tastebuds, other hand on the trackpad of his laptop and picking out something to watch on Netflix.

He had decided that he wanted something to entertain his eyes too and not just his regular choice of a podcast.

So after a couple minutes of aimless scrolling, looking for something to catch his attention he had settled for 'Love Alarm', a drama he had been meaning to finish sooner or later.

And he's gotta be honest, the idea of an app that tells you if someone liked you in a 10 meter radius, seemed both horrific and so nicely easy.

Soon he felt himself glued to his screen, the couple sips of alcohol reddening his cheeks and hand going to grip another handful of chips.

When the clock hit around 9pm -- and he had almost finished the first season -- his eyes started to fall close, slowly but surely drifting off from the more than tiring day he had endured and he couldn't wait for that feeling when he wakes up for being well rested the following morning.

Until -- cries.

Painfully loud ass cries. Baby cries to be exact.

And what makes it worse -- it's not the first time, nor the second or third. To make it even worse this wasn't the first night this week. They are breaking through his paper thin walls again, so loud you'd think it would be from the same room.

And god, when you hear kids scream all day for a living, it's not something you want carried all the way to your home.

Now he layed there, wide awake but tired to his bones, eyes open and staring at the ceiling contemplating what the fuck to do.

Before his brain really managed to process any solution, he was already on his feet, head slightly spinning from getting up too quickly as well as being way too sleepy.

His legs speedily dragged him to his door as somehow his sleep deprived brain decided that he would find the apartment and ask the person to fuckin console their child, not leave them cry for everyone in their apartment complex to lose their sleep.

He was about to unlock the door before he noticed the very odd feeling under his foot.

That for sure did not feel like his wooden floor.

His gaze pointed down to see a piece of paper, black ink printed on it. He could only figure that it had probably been slipped under the door and he had missed it when entering earlier. Couldn't blame him as all his focus was on getting a vomit stained hoodie off his frame.

Curiosity spiked in him as he picked it off the floor and started to read, the cries still ringing in his ear.

Hello neighbors,

this is the owner of apartment 400.

That should be the penthouse right up above him, Jeongguk thinks. He had looked at it more so as a joke knowing full well he couldn't afford it before he moved into this apartment he lives in right now himself.

I apologize for any cries that you might have heard the last few nights.

Oh, you better be sorry, buddy. Care for your kid, man.

I began sleep training my daughter after intense sleep regression and have now decided on the Cry-it-out method. I'll be checking on her every 15 minutes, she's not being left alone.
Don't worry please, i'm in no way neglecting her. With her cries i am also crying.

Oh, fuck. Gguk couldn't help the immediate guilt washing over his spine as he continued down the page.

If you ever happen to need anything be it sugar, rice or even a glass of soju let me know. I'll gladly give it to you as some sort of apology.

Best regards,
Kim Taehyung

He didn't know how to go about this but feel incredibly empathetic for this person and immediate urge to help kicking him in the back of his skull.

It's very difficult to get your kids to sleep properly. Consider yourself a lucky parent if your kid is an easy sleeper because it's far from the norm.

He remembers his little sister crying, kicking the blanket for months when Jeongguk was around 8 years old and she was 4. And his mom being close to unfazed by it by that point as she had went through that same phase with both Jeongguk and his older brother.

And by being in the child care field and having spend some internships at kindergartens with toddlers and babies as young as a year old. He knows it's hard.

He knows it's so hard to have them scream out in neverending cries and not know what is wrong. He shouldn't have been so mad at the cries in the first place but damn his sleeplessness plus bad day had really made his tolerance fall to zero.

Gguk stood infront of his door foot tapping on the ground, spinning some sort of plan of action together because if he could be of any help, he wanted to make sure the person knew he was available.

And first thought was just to knock on their door and offer it personally. Straight forward and easy.

But he would probably disturb the poor child crying their little lung out even more with just a subtle knock and it would probably be embarrassing for the parent -- Taehyung is their name Jeongguk reminds himself -- as well.

His eyes searched around his hallway in thought, dropping on the notepad and pen that he usually uses for writing down groceries before going out -- ding ding ding. Perfect.

So ten minutes later he found himself infront of the door of said apartment 400, in his sweats, white t-shirt and slippers.

The cries had gone a bit more sparse now, not as continuous but having breaks inbetween.

The kid had probably gone a bit tired by now so they were most likely in and out of sleep, crying whenever they woke up.

That's what Gguk assumed at least from what he remembered from his sister.

He still tried to be quiet as one of his hands held the flipped apology note from the parent, inked by Jeongguk with his writing-down-groceries-pen.

His eyes scanned over it one final time, immediately asking himself if his handwriting was neat enough.

Usually he writes really speedily, being used to quickly put down the names of kids that weren't attending after school that day as the other student clung onto him, asking him to please go get more coloring pencils or help reach the top shelf with the card games on it.

But he did really try to make it as readable as he could -- so most of the ten minutes were taken up by that effort.

If you ever need help, don't hesitate to ask. I'm experienced with children and would love to give you a hand anytime.

Stay strong!
Jeon Jeongguk, apartment 397

He had kept it pretty simple. Offering his help and nothing else.

A smile stretched his lips, nodding to himself as he looked at his other hand, gripping a mug.

During his rather hard time of studying to work with children he had picked up the habit of everytime he saw a quirky, weird or funny mug, he had to get it. Just you know, for every day enjoyment to make life a little more fun.

It was just a little detail that sometimes made his day a smidgen better. So he hoped it would maybe do the same for an exhausted parent who really seemed to try their best with their toddler.

So he had chosen the one he used on his first day of work. A drawing of a sloth on it, in bold cartoon letters the phrase 'hang in there', printed beneath it.

Yes, he's aware it's cheesy. No, it won't stop him. It's a nice gesture in his eyes. And if he was never going to get it back, he was fine with being scammed out of a mug.

After rereading the note for a final time, really making sure he didn't fuck up the spelling of anything, he crouched down to place it right infront of the doormat, mug beside it.

He wasn't really worried about anyone stealing it away as it's only this and another door on this floor. And he highly doubts that whoever lives in the other penthouse needs to rob their neighbor of a nerdy mug.

Gguk got back up, looking at it all one more time before a shy smile made it's way over his lips, hoping this was going to make someone's day a little better. Hoping it's going to make the parent feel a little less alone and helpless.

He quietly went back down the stairway to his apartment and right back into his bed, trying his best to ignore any more cries breaking through the walls.

<3 happy bangtan 8th birthday! <3

hello c:
I hope this first chapter was enjoyable!! it took me a while to finish but i didnt want to pressure myself into writing when i was too tired :^) it would just not be good if i did it half heartedly!

i'll try to be frequent with updates but can't promise a lot as uni and work are taking up a lot of my time

I do look forward to writing this <3

love, yoo