The Meaning of Family: The Collections

Loving & Fighting

Request:
"Will we be seeing the big fight?"

Notes:
Seokjin's stepfather is a dick

Ages of the Characters:
Jin - 24
Namjoon - 23
Yoongi - 7
Hoseok - 6
Jimin - 4
Taehyung - 4
Jungkook - 2

It was midsummer and Jin and the boys were at their weekly Sunday lunch with Jin's mother. Things were different this time, however. First, because Namjoon had decided to go to church with them (although he was whispering to Jin a lot about how ridiculous certain parts of the sermon were, to which Jin had to control his giggles as he agreed with his boyfriend) and was joining them at the lunch. And the second, definitely not as nice difference: Jin's stepfather had also decided to tag along that day.

This was the first time Namjoon had been around Jin's stepfather, and even if he had not been informed of their relationship previously, he still would have been able to figure it out based on Jin's behavior. He wouldn't talk much to his mother unless she initiated a conversation, and when he did speak to her, he would always subconsciously glance over at his stepfather as if to gauge his reaction. Even when he was speaking to the boys or Namjoon, his personality was more withdrawn, not as bold as Namjoon was used to.

Namjoon himself stayed quiet for the majority of the meal, following Jin's method of only speaking when spoken too. But that went out the window once Jin's mother started inquiring about Jin's career. "So, what are the boys going to be doing in school?"

"Well, Jungkookie's class is going to be learning about wheels this week." Jin answered, ruffling the toddler's hair as he talked about him. "They're going to be exploring all the different toys they have that have wheels on them."

"Like my firetruck!"

"That's right, Kookie, like your firetruck!" Namjoon couldn't help the small smile that appeared as he watched his boyfriend interact with the two-year-old. "And then in my class, we're going to be learning about how to stay safe in vehicles." He lowered his voice to a whisper so as not to ruin the surprise of what they would be doing for Jimin and Taehyung. "I'm even planning an activity for them to take a driver's test with the tricycles at the center and then letting them get their own license."

Jin's stepfather snorted as soon as Jin finished his sentence. "That's kind of ironic that you're teaching them that when you failed your first driving test."

To any other person, it probably would have seemed like the man's words hadn't affected Jin in any way. However, Namjoon could see how his posture tensed slightly and the way he lightly bit his bottom lip, as if holding back from responding at all to him. After composing himself, Jin moved to continue the conversation with his mother, but Namjoon's voice made him stop. "40% of people fail their first driver's test. And there's a lot of factors that play into that statistic, how strict the person giving the test is, the person's anxiety levels, the car they're using. Just because someone fails once doesn't mean they're bad. Especially when eight and a half years later they're driving record is completely clean, not even a speeding ticket under their name."

"Namjoon~" Jin mumbled, hoping his boyfriend would get the hint. He didn't.

"Plus, you don't have to be an expert in something to teach it to young children. You don't have to be a mathematician to teach kids how to count, you don't have to be a scientist to teach kids how to hypothesize. So, I'm not really sure what your point with that comment was."