Date: January 1st
Time: 6:00pm
Location: I guess we're never leaving Y/n's apartment
Mood: Trusfrated
<><><>

Both guys acted quickly. By the time the door opened and Rosie (far too excited to remember to take her shoes off) came sprinting in, Taehyung had taken off down the hall for Y/n's bedroom and Jimin had dived head first through the kitchen doorway.

"Unnie! Unnie! Unnie! Unnie! Unnie!"

"Rosie! Rosie! Rosie!" Y/n didn't have to put on an act at the pure joy she experienced when her favorite little person ran in and jumped into her arms. "You're home!"

As they spun in a circle while holding onto one another tightly, Rosie took her sister's face in her hands and delivered the sloppiest and most welcome kiss to her cheek. Behind her, Y/n's mom was stumbling her way out of her shoes and ran into the house, but drew up short when all she found was her daughters.

"Mama! I found Unnie!" Rosie sang as Y/n deposited her safely back on the ground.

But their mother didn't seem to care too much about seeing her eldest daughter. Instead her gaze flitted from one end of the room and to the other, before settling on Y/n. She slowly trailed her eyes up and down her body, pausing for an irregular amount of time on her stomach as though she were somehow expecting to find her 9 months pregnant. At the sign of no impending grandchildren or male presence, she frowned and crossed her arms to give Y/n a look of displeasure.

Y/n sighed, not having time for this today. Somehow she had to think of a way to get her family to leave again.

"Let's go out for supper!" She suggested, trying for a cheerful tone. It worked on Rosie. The toddler would agree to anything her unnie said.

"We just got home." Seo-Joon gave her a funny look as he walked through the door. "You're trying to get rid of us already?"

Yes. "No." She denied while slipping into the side hug he offered. "I thought you would all be tired and it would be nice to go out and relax together."

"We're way ahead of you. Dad already left to pick it up."

"Oh." Seo-joon didn't appear to catch the strained note to her voice, but her mom's attention snapped to her face, a spark of intrigue in her eyes. "Then I'll help you unpack!"

"Alright," Seo-Joon responded slowly, confused on why his sister was shoving him towards the suitcases.

With a knowing smirk, their mother scooped up Rosie. "I'll be in the next room, giving Rosie a bath and minding my own business."

Seo-Joon nodded, puzzled on why she said that so loudly. Y/n tried not to facepalm. Once mother and toddler left the room, Seo-Joon turned on the spot and went straight for the kitchen.

"Oppa!!" Y/n gasped and ran after him. He paused and looked over his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

Slowly blinking, he answered. "To get some water. Why?"

"YOU'RE GOING IN THE KITCHEN TO GET WATER?"

"Why the hell are you screaming?" He looked at her as though she had grown a second head. Then without waiting for a response, walked away.

Her chest felt tight as she chased after him, uttering some nonsense about her voice cracking. Seo-Joon appeared to buy it though, if the grunt of acknowledgment was anything to go by. They walked into the kitchen, Y/n scurrying around him like a frightened mouse. Relief flooded her system when they found it empty, but anxiety was just on the surface. Where had Jimin gone? The pantry was the most realistic option, though that would be a tight fit. As casually as she could, she strolled across the room to stand in front of the door and prevent her brother from opening it. If that suddenly became a possibility.

The breath of relief that had begun exiting her lungs caught in her throat when she realized how dead wrong her assumption about Jimin hiding in the pantry had been. Rather than the better option, the blond had simply pinned himself against the wall next to the doorway. Now that she was at the opposite end of the room, they were facing one another, identical expressions of horror on their faces.

Seo-Joon, rifling through the refrigerator for a water bottle, had yet to notice. Y/n waved as discreetly as she could for Jimin to go.

This was great. From here, Jimin could sneak and go straight out the door. As long as Seo-Joon didn't turn around, everything would be fine.

Seo-Joon chose that moment to begin turning around.

"OPPA!!" Jimin winced and her brother startled.

"Whaaat?" He snapped. "Can you stop screaming-"

"Uh-uh-um—Spider!"

Even the thought of them sent chills of terror through her veins so the fear in her voice was real. Seo-Joon's response was immediate as he threw the water bottle back into the fridge and began frantically scanning the floor for the vile creature. He began to turn right towards Jimin again and she screamed to get his attention.

It worked and she did the only thing that popped into her mind at the moment. Mentally apologizing to her brother, she ran forward and slapped his forehead as hard as she could. Because that was the 'genius' plan her mind had concocted.

Falling victim to his small (but freakishly strong) sister, Seo-Joon folded like wet paper and crashed to the ground.

"It was on your forehead-" she offered a weak explanation as Jimin tiptoed out of the room. She followed to make sure he got out uninhibited, but both halted mid-step as the front door began to open. Jimin somehow dived in slow motion behind the sofa at the last second.

"Heya half pint." Y/n's step dad entered the apartment looking stressed. "I was meant to buy dinner, but I think your mom has my card."

"I-I'll get it," she said weakly. Everything was going to be fine. They could do this. All she had to was find the card, wait for her dad to leave, and then distract Seo-Joon while Jimin snuck out. With confidence, she raised her voice to ask, "Mom, where's your purse?"

As long as no one looked behind the sofa, they were fine.

"On the sofa!" Her mother answered back. Naturally.

Mister Yoon had already begun heading in that direction before Y/n could. Panic set in as he got closer but her tongue felt as though it had swollen up to twice it's size and no words would come out to stop his advance. He made idle chit chat, asking her how her week had been as he rifled through his wife's purse in search of the missing card. If he noticed the tension or anxiety in her posture, he didn't bring it up.

"Y/N WHAT THE HELL?" Seo-Joon stomped into the room sporting an ugly red mark on his forehead.

"Hey, don't raise your voice to a woman like that." Their father spoke up as he continued his search for the card, giving Y/n enough time to formulate a story.

"Sorry, oppa," she attempted her best innocent look. "It was on your head but I missed it and then I got scared so I had to leave the room...did you get it?"

He stared incredulously. Every second the mark on his forehead seemed to grow bigger. "Since when do you kill spiders? You always beg me to put them outside!"

"Please just get it!" She pleaded. And on that note, her brother turned and went back to the kitchen, audibly muttering about 'the abuse I have to endure'.

"Aha!" Her dad finally located the card and Y/n breathed a sigh of relief. Finally she could get Jimin out of here.

All would be well. As long as he didn't do something clumsy like drop the card and have it somehow disappear under the couch.

Two seconds later, he dropped the card and it slid under the couch.

"DAD!" Her throat was beginning to sting from screaming so much.

Alarmed, the middle aged man, who had been about to crouch down in search of the card, turned to regard her with a quizzical look.

"You...didn't...give me a hug." The distant sounds of Rosie's bath water running and Seo-Joon moving around the furniture in the kitchen in search for a make believe spider were the only noises in the room for the space of ten seconds. They stared at one another, both equally shocked by what had come out of her mouth.

"Did I hear that right? You want a hug? From me?" The hopeful lilt to his tone sent regret and guilt to rest heavy on her shoulders.

It was her biggest flaw that although she loved her step dad, appreciated him, respected him, and thought of him as a fatherly figure, she had always kept up a wall when it came to him. Much more than with anyone else. That was for obvious reasons and the man was practically a saint in her opinion because he never brought it up.

It wasn't his fault. As far as fathers were concerned, he was a good one. It was him who taught Seo-Joon how to take apart a car and put it back together again. Their mother being a stay at home mom for Rosie during her important developmental years was his idea, and though she had been worried about bills, he was quick to assure her that everything would be alright. He was also the one that helped Y/n come up with the method of listing off scientific facts to calm down and prevent an anxiety attack.

He was an essential part of their family. But that didn't negate the fact that Y/n's birth dad had ruined the father/daughter bond. That was inescapable. No matter how much she loved the real father here, the birth one had forever implanted a seed of distrust in her mind.

And thus, the mentioned hug brought her more stress now that she remembered all that. They had done a lot together, but physical affection? Never.

The innocent look of hope on his face now only served to make her feel like a horrible person. Because, it hurt her to admit, she still didn't want to hug him.

"Sorry. I'm sorry." Going back to her old ways of instantly apologizing for things that were out of her control was easy. As was the way she clenched her hands together until her fingers ached.

To his credit, her step dad didn't seem to hold it against her and promptly began to assure her. "That's fine! We all need time. I'll be here when you're ready. You know that, right?"

Her brain said yes but her mistrust of anyone calling themselves dad said no.

"I know."

While they were engaged in this awkward father daughter moment, in the meantime Jimin had covertly slid the card back out so that it landed next to Mr Yoon's shoes. Worried that he might be found anyway, he made the rash decision to crawl as quietly as he could until he was behind the adjacent love seat. Although Y/n knew he was there, this felt very intrusive on his part being privy to the conversations they held in their own home. So he tried to drown them out while he shimmied along to the very edge of the love seat, glad for the racket Seo-Joon was making in the kitchen that likely protected him from being heard.

"There's no spider in here!" As if he had heard his name, he yelled from the next room and Y/n answered back with more pleas to keep looking.

The next thing he heard was Y/n apologizing to her step dad, which in turn irritated him to hell. Randomly, he wondered if it would be completely absurd to jump out and go bite her lip.

I'm not going to give that the dignity of a response.

Carefully, he peered around the edge of the love seat just in time to see Mr Yoon retrieving the credit card from where Jimin had left it. He shot back down before he could be caught and listened out for his departure, his nerves hanging like delicate strings on tenterhooks.

The second his footsteps faded away and the front door closed, Jimin leapt from his hiding spot and scuttled towards the door as well, Y/n hot on his heels.

Finally, freedom!

As long as Y/n's dad or brother didn't bring their annoying asses back to interrupt his great escape again.

Right on cue, the front door beeped as it began to open, bringing Jimin to come to a skidding halt that quickly turned into a comical backwards dance of some type, as if he were trying to run on ice. On accident he bumped into Y/n and their limbs floundered around, just barely escaping entanglement.

That's when he made the only other viable escape plan, and flew in the direction of the hallway. Miraculously, he passed the kitchen doorway without being seen right before Seo-Joon turned around and came storming out to confront his sister, just as their dad walked back in the front door. Seo-Joon didn't know it, but his body blocked Jimin's from being seen by their father.

"THERE'S NO SPIDER-" Seo-Joon said exasperatedly.

"Forgot my wallet-" Mr Yoon sang.

"There are eighteen different species of penguins!" Y/n let everyone in on this new piece of pointless information she possessed. "The smallest and my favorite is the Adélie penguin."

"You would like the small one." Seo-Joon yelped as Y/n pinched him.

Used to their back and forth, their step father ignored them in favor of searching for his keys. Y/n moved around so that she was always blocking the hallway, where Jimin was on his belly and army crawling away. Once far enough to where he thought it was safe, he stood and peaked around the corner. His stomach dropped to his toes when Y/n's mom walked out of the bathroom, talking to Rosie over her shoulder. Panicking, he reached for the first door he saw and ran inside.

It was someone's bedroom but he didn't take the time to look around, closing the door as softly as possible and putting his ear to it.

"Y/n," her mom was calling her, "can you come here for a moment?"

Soon after she was summoned, he heard his mate's voice approaching her mom from outside the door and ask what she needed. Jimin sighed and tried to relax a little. From here, this shouldn't take too long. Y/n would talk to her mom, and when the older woman went back into the bathroom, he could sneak into Y/n's room and then back out later tonight when everyone was sleeping.

It was the only plan they had at the moment and it would work. As long as no one came into this room he was hiding in.

"Here, sweetie," Y/n's mom's voice seemed to be getting closer. "Mom has something important for you. It's in my room."

I swear to goddess if she comes in here-

The doorknob began to turn and within a second, Jimin had dropped to the floor and rolled under the bed.

Y/n heeded her mother's request and followed her into her bedroom. Her hands wrung themselves together nervously as she hoped Jimin had made it to her room where Tae had escaped to. As she walked in she glanced around, feeling somewhat curious as she never really came in here. It was very plain, very unlike her mother. The muted colors. The Buddha statue on the dresser. The foot sticking out of under the bed.

As casually as she could, she walked over and kicked the limb under the bed. Thankfully her mom had her back turned to shut the door. It was obvious (to her) that it was Jimin and her anxious mood increased. Why was he in here?

"I got what you asked for." Her mom pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it over. "And he swore to secrecy so don't worry about Jimin finding out!"

Y/n had to physically restrain herself from face palming.

"Oh! I forgot to tell you so I hope it's not too late now." her mom chirped as she went over to the bedside table and pulled out a small box. "As much as I want grand babies, you've got to wait until you've finished your education. Remember sweetie, no glove, no love."

All she had to see was ribbed for her pleasure in silver lettering on the box of condoms before her face lit up in flames.

"We don't need that!" She insisted in an angry whisper.

"Why are your whispering, honey? It's just condoms. We're all adults here."

No they weren't! Y/n was an adult, but her mom was just her mom. In her own head she could tell herself that her parents never had sex, and that's exactly what she was going to do.

She tried not to look at the bed where Jimin was hiding as she whispered back, again lying to herself that he wouldn't be able to hear her. "We don't need that," she repeated, having to push the box away when her mom tried to force them into her hands, "I—I mean, we aren't ready! I don't need it!"

"That's what I thought when I was your age. But then one thing led to another and here comes Seo-Joon."

"Mom!! Stop!"

"It's nothing to be ashamed about, Y/n. Our bodies are temples. And people gotta worship. I was quite promiscuous as a teen. But god forgave me. Just go to him with your sins-"

"Mom, please. If I need them I'll come to you then. Please stop."

"Sure, sweetie. You need some tips? There's this thing your father likes that I do with my thumb-"

"NO!" Y/n tried not scream. But honestly she'd rather go deaf than hear the end of that sentence. "Please stop talking about that."

Her mom snickered. "I don't know where you got this shyness from, but at least it's endearing."

"Mom." She groaned. "I think I hear Rosie calling you."

"Why do you say that?" She asked suspiciously. Y/n couldn't meet her gaze. "Is it because you don't want me to know that Jimin is under the bed?"

"W-what?!? No-" her stuttering came to a halt at the knowing smile she received. Y/n had never been able to lie well. Most especially to her mom. "I'm sorry..."

At her confession the older woman squealed and clapped her hands, even jumped a little. "Jimin, please come out and greet us properly."

"No!" Y/n cut in frantically as Jimin began to obey. "Mom please, Seo-Joon will-"

"Seo-Joon will be happy and keep his mouth shut if he knows what's good for him."

There was a certain gleam to her eye as she said this that gave Y/n a sense of comfort and alternatively, a nostalgic old feeling of fear. She hadn't seen that look from her mom since that time in middle school when her brother had falsified his report card and tried to convince her of it's authenticity. Their mom wasn't overly strict and there never was much punishment in their house. But if needed, she could pull off that motherly stink eye to frighten you into submission.

For this reason Y/n was somewhat assured (but not entirely convinced) that this would go over smoothly.

Jimin came out and dusted himself off hurriedly before bowing to her mom and formally introducing himself once again.

"It's an honor to meet you, ma'am." Y/n gave him the side eye when he gave her a cliche line about how she didn't look old enough to be a mother, but her sister. Who knew he was such a kiss ass?

"That's so lovely of you to say, Jimin." She smiled. "You don't know how good it's been to see how happy my daughter is. I know every parent will say this, but with my kid it's true. She deserves the world." She directed another smile towards them before turning serious. "I'll warn you though, don't ever make her mad. There was one time where she stabbed Seo-Joon-"

The door opened, emitting her husband, Y/n's stepfather. "Honey, I can't find my keys—oh. Jimin?"

"What?" The unmistakable sound of Seo-Joon's angry voice filtered into the room, accompanied by the sound of angry footsteps.

Y/n grabbed Jimin's hand and pulled him behind her, something that Jimin found extremely adorable and had to restrain himself from squeezing her right then and there.

<><><>

That supper was almost as awkward as their very first breakfast together, way back when Jimin had creepily followed her here and inserted himself into her life.

Their mother didn't pay any mind to the tension. She was thrilled. Y/n had been alone and bashful for so long that she had worried a lot about her daughter and her future love life. She had always been somewhat of a loner. Though it was obvious to her that this wasn't a choice, but rather one created by circumstance.

In the past months, she had noticed a change in her middle child. She had switched to a job that required more socializing. She smiled more, was out often and had been putting more effort into her appearance. She was actually happy. And if Y/n was happy, then her mother was too. Because of this (her child's happiness), she automatically loved Jimin.

Y/n's step dad's thoughts were along the same lines, but a thin veil of worry encased him. As his daughter, he loved Y/n. He had been a part of her life for 12 years and thought of her and Seo-Joon as his kids, and would fight anyone who tried to say different. Knowing how far she had come when just months ago she had no friends or boyfriends to speak of, made him very proud. However, that worry lingered because this was a young man dating his daughter.

Seo-Joon had spent the entirety of the meal glaring at the pervert that dared put his hands on his little sister. He'd already had his suspicions for a while and now they were confirmed. Although untrusting of any guys near her, he was happy for her. If somewhat begrudgingly so. At least it wasn't Jackson. But Jackson or no, he and Jimin were going to have a long talk.

Rosie was so excited! The prince who saved her unnie from that spider dragon was her boyfriend. Rosie didn't really understand what boyfriend meant, but she thought it must have something to do with the ball. Would Jimin take her sister to a ball? Would they bring her with them? Would there be more dragons? Rosie was asking the important questions here. She was so caught up in her thinking about the Prince Charming in their home, that she didn't realize her mom had snuck some vegetables onto her plate.

Jimin was scared. Y/n's family was scary. From the questions her mom asked about his religious beliefs, the way her brother was cutting some meat with a very sharp pair of scissors and keeping some very intense eye contact with him, to the way her dad asked about his intentions with his daughter. They were frightening.

But the scariest of all was Rosie. Not by anything she said or did, because the little girl was adorable and clearly loved his mate as much as Y/n loved her. As they set the table for supper, she followed her sister along like a little duckling, doing whatever her unnie did. If you couldn't see how attached they were from this, then it was evident in the way that Rosie looked at her. With awe and wonder, like she thought she was the coolest person on earth. He wondered if that's how he looked when he was with Y/n.

And maybe that was what scared him. Maybe he was more intimidated than anything. If there was one person he had to get along with to make his mate happy, it was this tiny little girl. He had to make her like him. Meeting all of them (again), there were a variety of emotions and attitudes he was greeted with. With Rosie, he wasn't sure what she thought of him. All she had seemed to care about at the time had been her sister.

Over supper he was met with lots of questions about his job and home life. Seo-Joon asked him at one point if he knew how to fight and he responded with a yes, he'd been taught at the police academy. He wasn't sure why that seemed to make his mate's brother so happy. Apart from the constant glaring from Seo-Joon, things were going well.

Until the barking started.

Everyone at the table halted in their movements and Jimin and Y/n looked to one another in alarm. They had completely forgotten about Taehyung.

"Is that a dog?" Her father asked worriedly. "We aren't allowed to have any pets in the apartment, if we get caught-"

"I'll pay the fine if you get caught!" Jimin stood and bowed quickly in apology, despite the parents insisting that he didn't have to do so. "I apologize, it's my friend's dog that I was dog sitting for and I forgot I put him back there-"

"Doggy?" Rosie questioned excitedly, bobbing up and down in her booster seat. "I wanna see!!"

"Is it safe?" Her mother questioned and was instantly met with assurances from both Jimin and Y/n.

"He's very safe! And he looks, um—like a wolf. But it's just a breed of dog."

The older woman chuckled. "You don't need to worry. I wouldn't have thought my daughter would bring a wolf into our home."

Y/n tried not to make eye contact with anybody.

His answering laughter was nervous as he inched away from the table and bowed again. "Then, thank you for having me, but I think it's time for me to take him home."

"Nonsense," Mr Yoon stopped him. "Bring him in here and we'll make him a plate."

That was what Jimin had been afraid of. Taehyung getting his paws on more food. He would never stop. But the family had spoken and he wasn't about to go against them in anything after they had finally come out as a couple. With trepidation mounting inside, he went back to Y/n's room and was met with Taehyung's pretty wolf sitting on the other side of the door.

"Don't eat their whole kitchen." He hissed as Tae pranced by him, uncaring that he was showing this intimate side of himself to a bunch of humans. Jimin sighed, suddenly very tired as the situation seemed to slip away from them.

With his entrance, Taehyung became the star of the show

—
Edited 8/4/22