The Kim Family Tetralogy

5

Late sunday morning Jin sat at the kitchen counter and picked at a bowl of fruit. He was still in his pyjamas and didn't plan on getting out of it anytime soon.
Namjoon was out communing with nature as he called it.
Jin shivered. He really did not like critters the way Joon did.
He would never understand his fascination with bugs and weird crawly things and such. Yuck.
He hadn't seen the kids since Friday when Joon kicked them out. That didn't worry him anymore, though.
Not like when they were younger and snuck out doing God knows what.
Eachother, probably.
He snorted out a laugh, all by his lonesome.
Little fuckers.
But he missed them. And that worried him.
They were growing up and soon they'd want a place of their own, Jungkook was already 23, for crying out loud!
He was still at Uni but it wasn't long 'til he too would graduate, just like Tae did earlier this year.
For the past ten years or so Jin had been the only parent in Taehyung's life, and pretty much Jungkook's too, even if his mother was still very much alive.

Jin was eighteen when their parents died, a freshman in college, first semester of pre-med.
Taehyung was only thirteen.
A small elfling of a boy with big, dreamy eyes that saw everything and had the biggest heart, capable of loving anything from a spider to the whole world.
Jin had always adored Taehyung.
From the very first moment his parents brought him home and placed the little squirt in his arms, he had loved him, fiercely, and more than anything.
Even if he suspected that his parents hadn't actually planned on having another child.
They were busy people.
Both caught up in international aid projects, which ultimatly claimed their lives, when the bus they were on slid off the road on a steep mountainside in Nicaragua after a heavy rainfall.
They were both doctors and Jin admired their dedication to their work, but when that happened, he wished they'd both been boring officeworkers or something instead.
He still wanted to become a doctor as well, there wasn't really anything else he could imagine doing with his life, but somehow going to medschool while taking care of Taehyung, suddenly seemed a bit, daunting.

Money was the only thing they didn't have to worry about, their parents had been very well off, inheriting a fortune from their parents, so Jin hired a housekeeper.
But after hearing her scream at Taehyung to 'Get out of her kitchen' and shoving him out the door for asking if she could show him how to bake those delicious cookies when she thought Jin wasn't home, he fired her.
Most grown-ups were baffled by Taehyung and had a hard time understanding him or being patient enough for him to get to the point, but Jin always thought he had the most profound outlook on life.
He didn't have any trouble finding friends, something Jin struggled with, what did you actually talk to people about to get them to like you?
What did you actually talk to people about, period?
But kids, babies, animals, old ladies, grumpy grandpas, all were drawn to Taehyung who effortlessly befriended all of them.
It was just, busy, people who didn't seem to get Taehyung who, when he felt he didn't connect with them, stopped trying and retreated in to his own head and imaginings instead, leaving them even more baffled and sometimes even offended by what they percieved as arrogance.

That day, Jin had had enough, though.
The weight of everything, beeing a single parent, to a teenager, at eighteen, putting himself through college, burning the pancakes at breakfast, and not understanding anything of the bloody organic chemistry he was currently struggling with, became too much and he found himself sobbing on the floor in the back of the library, cursing his misfortunes.
Silently, of course.
He really didn't want to get scolded by the truly frightening librarian on top of everything else.
"Hey, man, don't... Are you ok?" a voice whispered above him.
"Yeah," Jin whiped his tears and started to stand up, "I'm fine."
A pair of skinny arms helped him up.
The tears just wouldn't stop flowing! Jin rubbed angrily at his eyes.
"You don't look fine," a weird looking fella said and bent down to pick up Jin's stuff, "come on!"
The young man pulled Jin by the elbow and took him to a private study where he disappeared for a minute before coming inside, closing the door after him.
He held out a roll of toilet paper, that Jin gratefully accepted, but remained standing by the door.
"Thank you." Jin said and blew his nose. "I'm Jin, by the way."
"Namjoon." the boy answered.
"I'm sorry," Jin apologised, "I'm usually not," and the waterworks started again.
He couldn't contol himself and suddenly he was full on uglycrying!
He could feel the young boy pulling him to his chest, cradling him with his thin frame and Jin clinged to him, like he was a life raft, crying bottomless tears that shook the both of them.
Eventually his crying slowed and he could at least breathe. He didn't want to let go of his saviour so he still held on for dear life.
Jin had no idea how long they stayed like that, Namjoon holding him, letting him cry, letting him slowly return to the land of the living.
"My parents died." Jin croaked out, "And I have to take care of my little brother, and I burnt the pancakes, and," Jin found himself telling everything to Namjoon, who didn't say a word, just held him.
Jin was hoarse after spilling all to Namjoon and ended, finally, with, "and I don't understand shit about that fu...bribing organic chemistry crap!"
Namjoon let go of his embrace and turned to bend down and stroke the hair out of Jin's face, "Well, I can't help you with that other stuff, but I can help you with the chemistry, ok?" he stood up, "But we should probably leave. The library closed already."
"Wha?" Jin looked around, totally lost, "When did that happen?"
Namjoon was gathering their stuff, "Oh, about," he looked at his wrist watch, "forty minutes ago?"
"Bloody hell!" Jin shot up.
"Relax. I have access." He held up a key card.
"It's just, I have to pick up my brother," Jin explained.
"Of course." Namjoon nodded.
"Do you have somewhere to be, or?"
"I have a hot date with a bowl or ramen." Namjoon snickered.
"Then, if you want to and if you're not too freaked out from the break down earlier and if you're serious about helping me with the chemistry, d'you want to come over to our place for some pizza? I'm buying of course?" Jin offered.
"Sure." Namjoon smiled. "And I'm not freaked out." he said closing the door behind them.
"I am." Jin admitted.
"It's cool, man." Namjoon assured him.
"You're cool." Jin nodded.
"No. I'm really not." Namjoon shook his head.
"Neither am I." Jin huffed.
"No?"
"No."
"Well, that's a relief." Namjoon smiled.