Jungkook-hyung! || Jinkook

5. First contact

"Here are the pants," I say as I enter the living room where Seokjin and 11-year-old Jungkook are waiting in the couch. Jjangu is patiently sitting on the floor in front of them. I give Namjoon a nudge with my elbow as if to tell him to give Jungkook the pants. He gives me a strange look before walking to the others with forced steps.

"Here. They are too small for me. You can take them if you want." He says it without a hint of the nervousness from earlier. It's like he has rehearsed it a million times in his head to get it perfect.

Jungkook happily accepts the clothes offered and gives a quick thanks.

"There's a bathroom over there where you can change. Just give me the dirty pair once you're done and I'll get them cleaned up right away," I say. 

Seokjin stands up and gives a small nod to me before joining little Jungkook to the bathroom with Jjangu following close behind. The second the door closes behind them Namjoon grabs and pulls my ear quite forcefully. He doesn't look happy in the slightest.

"Not only do you invite them into the house but you let in a dog as well?"

"Yeah? They can't just leave him outside. That'd be mean."

"My mom is allergic to dogs," he hisses at me. 

"Oh. Guess I'll just have to clean a bit then. No biggie."

"Easy for you to say when you're not the one who's gonna get in trouble if she finds out."

"I'll take the blame if it comes to that. The worst she can do is to kick me out."

Namjoon lets go of me at that. His mouth falls open a little bit.

"You'd really risk getting kicked out just to make sure I don't get blamed?" he asks.

"Sure," I answer with a shrug. "If it's my fault then I should face the consequences, no? At least that's what a fellow scientist of mine used to say whenever I messed up."

Funny how I'm using Namjoon's own words to give advice to him. He used to say that to make sure I took responsibility for the decisions I made at the lab. At the same time, if I achieved something, that achievement was something I should take pride in because I did it on my own. 

"How did you lose your job as a scientist?" Namjoon suddenly asks. "You still haven't explained anything about yourself. Supposed friends or not, I can't trust someone I don't know."

I'm stuck wondering how I should answer that, but thankfully the others exit the bathroom at the perfect time.

"Let's discuss that later," I say with a smile. 

Jungkook gives me his muddy pants with a bright face while Namjoon and Seokjin silently watch me with varying levels of suspicion. 

"Alright, I'll just go throw these in the washer. I'll be back in a jiffy. The three of you can try to figure out something for us to eat in the meantime."

"Eat?" Seokjin questions.

"Yeah, since you gotta wait for the washer to finish you might as well eat with us. I'll leave you to it."

I head on over to the small laundry room, leaving the three youngsters behind. Of course, I did it on purpose to force Namjoon to socialize a bit. They can't become real friends if I keep meddling between them. 

I actually quite enjoy doing laundry, so I get the washer started in just a few minutes despite the unfamiliar machine. I throw some more white laundry in there to make sure I'm not wasteful, my muddy slippers among other things. I stand around for a bit, wondering if I should go to the kitchen to check up on how they're doing. Maybe give them a few more minutes? I seem to just make things uncomfortable for them, so it might be best to stay away for a while.