The Meaning of Family: The Collections

Family Vacation (9/9)

Jungkook rubbed his eyes as he sat up in bed, seeing that Jin was busy packing to leave the boat. He determined that his other dad must have been taking a shower since he heard the water running. "Hey, sleepy head~" Jin greeted walking over to sit on the bed with him. "Welcome to the world of the living. One of us must have been pretty restless last night." Jin reached out to lightly prod at Jungkook's cheek, causing him to flinch and hiss at the pain as he realized he must have had a bruise there. "Sorry, we definitely didn't mean to hit you in our sleep."

Jungkook shrugged it off, glad that he wasn't forced to come up with a story on the spot for the bruise Jayden left. "It's fine, it was a tight squeeze, we're lucky that we all don't look like we've been through hell."

"You good to go over and pack your things, or do you want me to send your dad over to do it?" Jin offered in case his son was still upset about whatever argument he'd had with his boyfriend.

"No, I'm sure we've both cooled down enough, and we need to talk things out." Jungkook gave his dad a quick hug before leaving the room and walking across the hall to his and Jayden's.

As soon as he stepped inside, Jayden jumped off the bed and ran over to him, arms stretched out to pull him into a hug. "Jungkook, I am so sor-"

"Don't touch me~" Jungkook flinched away from the older male, taking a few steps away to put some distance between them.

Hurt flashed across Jayden's face as he lowered his arms. "I am so sorry, baby. I don't know what I was thinking. I never wanted to hurt you, and I'm the world's biggest asshole for hitting you." Jungkook felt some of his strength waiver at Jayden's sincere-sounding apology and weakened even more when the 25-year-old followed up with, "I love you, baby." Jungkook looked away from the man and took a calming breath, as he knew he needed to stay strong and set boundaries, otherwise nothing would change. Jayden took Jungkook's silence as a severance of their relationship. "Please don't break up with me, baby, I don't know how I could live without you-"

"I'm not breaking up with you." Jungkook said, finally looking up at him.

"Really?" Jayden asked with what seemed like tears glistening in his eyes.

Jungkook nodded, crossing his arms in what he hoped seemed like a strong, confident way, but on the inside, he knew it was a way of protecting himself. "I know that you were under a lot of stress from work before we left for this cruise, and we both got heated last night, I definitely said things that were completely uncalled for, so I'm not breaking up with you..." Jayden opened his mouth to respond, but promptly shut it as Jungkook continued, "for now." Jungkook took a deep, shaky breath. "But if you ever lay a hand on me like that again, we're done. No discussion, no exceptions."

Jayden nodded. "Of course, baby, it will never happen again." He moved in to kiss Jungkook, as a 'seal the deal' sort of thing, but the younger male stepped back.

"Not now~" Jungkook whispered, turning away to continue packing from the night before.

***

After they docked back in Galveston later that day, the family exited the ship and loaded back into their cars to start the drive home. They once again stopped in Houston for the night before finishing the journey home, finally arriving back at Jin and Namjoon's house midafternoon that Sunday.

"Enjoy being home!" The parents hugged all of their children and grandchildren before waving at them as they all drove away in their own cars.

Still standing in their driveway, Jin threw his arms around Namjoon's neck. "I can't believe I'm actually excited to get back to cooking my own meals."

Namjoon smiled as he wrapped his own arms around Jin's waist. "I'm also excited, and I actually can believe it."

Jin nudged his nose against Namjoon's. "Well, if you want me to cook, then we need to make a run to the grocery store."