The Kim Family Tetralogy

19

There was a storm brewing.
Dark clouds were building up at the horizon and the heat was pressing down on them.
It was eerily silent, both in- and outside the house.
"Will you look at this shit!" Namjoon spat out and turned his surfpad around to the headline, 'HOUSE OF SINS', with a picture of Jin and Taehyung's childhood home.
"Young Jungkook," Jin started to read aloud, "couldn't have been more unfortunate in his choice of mentor or boarding when he began his career as a decathlon hero. Certain childish shenaningans at his boarding school promted his poor mother to let him stay at his, as it would later turn out, gay, mentor and his parents.
But it wasn't long until young Jungkook was seduced by the homosexual neighbours next door to move in with them and start a relationship with the youngest, but still his senior, member of the deprived household!" Jin rubbed his eyes, was he actually reading this? From an old reliable news company?
"Where the hell are they getting this from?" Namjoon growled.
"Yeah, yeah, I saw!" Minho said on the phone walking in to the kitchen where the rest of them was, "Uhum, ok. Yes. Bye." he looked at them.
"That was Mr Kim. And I guess you've read the crap," he motioned to the screaming headlines, "the shooting has made things worse too." he spat, "freaking assholes everywhere you look." he clawed at his face, "Sorry." he apologised, "People are starting to get on my nerves." he admitted, "So I wouldn't blame you if you, you know," he shrugged.
"Exploded?" Namjoon said, very close to doing just that.
"Mm."
"Please don't explode," Taehyung said putting a hand on Namjoon's arm, "It'll be such a hassle to clean up, and Hobi's really not up for it today." he nodded towards his friend who looked like everything on him was drooping, having had trouble sleeping even with chemical assistance, because of, well, because.
That effectively defused the situation and snickers were heard around the table.

"Anyway," Minho said and did a dog shake to get back on track, "Taehyung, you've been asked by," he had to look at his phone and read from the scanned mail, 'The Special Task Force of Human Trafficking and Sex Crimes'," he shrugged at the name, "to give a public statement about getting roped in to porn against your will at this commitee, you up for it?"
"No." Jungkook said, not looking up from his phone.
"Excuse me?!" Tae said aghast, turning to him.
"No." Jungkook repeated.
"Wha?" Tae was completely taken back.
"You're not doing it." Jungkook said, firmly.
"I'm with Jungkook on this." Jin nodded.
"WTH?" Tae said, "Hello? Am I even in the room right now?"
"Yeah," Namjoon chimed in, "Don't you think that's for Taehyung to decide?"
"I'm not letting my kid put himself in danger any more!" Jin stated, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Letting your kid," Namjoon couldn't believe his ears, "he's a grown assed man!" he pointed at Tae.
"I'm perfectly capable of deciding for myself what circumstances I want to participate in, thank you very much!"
"Yeah." Jungkook agreed, "But this one you're not doing, so!"
"Excuse me?!"
"You heard me."
"I don't want my kid to put himself in any more danger, you're not going!" Jin shrieked.
"Jin!" Namjoon protested, "This isn't your call to make!"
"THE HELL IT ISN'T!"
"NO IT'S NOT!" Tae shouted, "AND NOT YOURS EITHER!" he snapped at Jungkook.
"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO'S CALL IT IS, YOU'RE NOT GOING!" Jungkook shouted and stormed out of there.
Tae shot up from his chair and followed him, "JEON JUNGKOOK GET BACK HERE, RIGHT THIS SECOND!"
"NO!"
"NO!?"
"LOOK WHAT YOU DID!" Jin shouted at Namjoon, "NOW THE KIDS ARE FIGHTING!" he got up and went after them.
"JIN!" Namjoon got up to go after Jin, "THIS ISN'T YOUR BUSINESS!"
"THE HELL IT ISN'T!"
"NO! IT ISN'T!"

"What the hell just happened?" Hobi asked, no one in particular.
"I have no idea." Minho said, "I think we're all just stretched a bit thin at the moment?"
KABOOM BLANG!
Thunder struck just outside and Hobi lept five feet in the air, away from the window and would have crashed onto the kitchen table if Minho hadn't catched him.
Or more like just been in the flight path, honestly.
BE-DANG!
Another lightning made everything whiteout for a second, blinding Hobi.
"JESUS FUCK!" he shouted and hunched down gripping the table top.
"It's right over us." Minho said, calmly.
"YA' THINK?!" Hobi shrieked, "COME AWAY FROM THE WINDOW YOU CRAZY PERSON!"
"Ok." Minho smiled and sat down, cross legged beside Hobi, "Better?" he asked as another bang lit up the room.
"NO!" Hobi laughed making Minho giggle.
"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY LAUGHING AT ME RIGHT NOW?" they heard Tae shout from upstairs, "BECAUSE YOU'RE BEING RIDICULOUS!" Jungkook shouted back, "THEY'RE MY KIDS AND I DON'T WANT THEM TO GET HURT!" Jin hollered, "THEY'RE MY KIDS TOO, DON'T I GET A SAY IN HOW WE RAISE THEM?"

Hobi and Minho made it over to the downstairs couch when it became clear this would go on for a while.
On every front.
Minho was working, presumably, Hobi didn't dare steal more than the odd glance, fearing he might jump the poor, unsuspecting man if he stared him down.
Like he wanted to.
But.
Minho had not made one little gesture or given him a look or anything to suggest yesterday's interaction had ment anything other than him being a nice guy when someone needed him to.
So Hobi would keep his distance.
He decided.
Since he was a mature, responsible adult who didn't flirt with anything that moved.
Anymore.

And he was so tired.
In every way.
He didn't have the energy to do anything but stare at the ceiling, trying to keep his naughty mind from undressing his GOD DAMNED LAWYER. And he couldn't focus on anything more challenging with all this ruckus around him!
'Cause the storms were raging on.
Outside, torrential rain had started falling, whipping at the windows with damned near hurricane strength winds trying to blow them away.
Inside, it had quieted down to more of an hectic drizzle with the occasional outbursts of, "IT'S NOT FOR YOU TO FIX ME!" and "WHY ARE YOU BEING SO FUCKING UNRESONABLE?!"
They were couple fighting now.
Jin and Namjoon.
Taehyung and Jungkook.
Hobi sighed.
"Fuck. Our. Lives." he said aloud.
"That bad, huh?" Minho smiled, crookedly.
"Blaech." Hobi grimaged and sat up, "Maybe we should make some food?" he suggested.
Minho looked at his watch, "Yeah, maybe we should. What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking, what ever you want to make, with my help!" Hobi grinned.
"Oh, it's like that, is it?"
"Yeah," Hobi drawled, "I don't really cook." he shrugged his apology.
"Then how do you eat?" Minho wanted to know.
"Yoongi cooks. I clean." Hobi explained, "Winwin."
Minho sighed with a smile, "Ok. Fine. Japche?"
"Sounds like a plan!" Hobi said and stood up.

Minho had him pealing and chopping vegetables, while he did the more precision demanding things like, seasoning.
"I would actually," Hobi said looking down at a carrot, "like to learn how to cook for myself one day."
"Can you read?" Minho asked, rhetorically.
"Yeah." Hobi snorted.
"Then you can cook." Minho shrugged.
"Oh." Hobi hadn't thought about it like that before, "You're probably right."
"Yes." Minho nodded.
"Jesus." Hobi rolled his eyes.
"No, Minho." he held his hand to his chest, grinning like a fool, "You done with the carrots?"
"Dunno, am I?" Hobi asked, holding the plate out for inspection.
"Hm." Minho said, skeptically, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh?" Hobi was about to apologise.
"They're fine!" Minho laughed, "I'm just teasing you!"
"Oh." Hobi bumped him with his shoulder, "Funny."
"Yes." Minho laughed.
"Jesus!" Hobi said, again.
"No, Minho." Minho answered, again, making them both laugh.
It wasn't that funny, but.
The tension!
The nerves...