When 6 became 7

Chapter 26

Today was one of their free days off and the 95-liners had decided to take care of Jungkook for today so the oldest member of the group could have some 'relaxing time'. Of course it had been Yoongi who had volunteered to take Seokjin to the spa in their hotel while Hoseok and Namjoon decided to do some sightseeing around the area. Sometimes they were able to visit the city center if they dressed up with hats and sunglasses, but they quickly realized that they were quite famous in Stockholm. So when that was the case, the members were asked to stay close to the hotel and avoid crowded places so they hopefully wouldn't be recognized on the streets.

Taehyung and Jimin had decided to take Jungkook to a playground they had seen during the car drive from the airport to the hotel. It was only a 10-minute walk, but the place looked really peaceful since it was located in a local park and the playground was well maintained. At first no other kids were seen so the 95-liners played with Jungkook for quite some time. For the first time in many years, the two adults were found climbing up and down in nets and climbing frames and the toddler was loving every minute of it. Getting full attention of two of his hyungs was awesome, but also playing in a place like this? Jungkook's day couldn't get any better!

But after half an hour, the playground became busier when more kids arrived so Jimin and Taehyung decided to take a step back and sat down on one of the benches at the sides. As much as they loved playing with Jungkook, they also wanted for their youngest to play with kids his own age since he normally didn't meet other kids when they were on tour. And when other kids were around, Jungkook always turned into a shy little boy who suddenly didn't know how to talk anymore. Just like now, because the little one lost his enthusiasm and moved to stand behind a net while watching a bigger kid climbing up towards the slides. Another child ran past him while someone screamed in the background, so Jungkook's eyes were going everywhere and nowhere.

Jimin and Taehyung watched their baby brother carefully to make sure he wasn't getting too overwhelmed but otherwise they stayed back. It was important for Jungkook to learn to act around strangers and other kids, just like any other kid would during their childhood. It was already very clear that the toddler had some social anxiety and was being spoiler rotten, but sometimes they needed to stay strong and let Jungkook figure out the world out on his own. And thankfully their patience was being rewarded when Jungkook finally found a friend to play with after 10 minutes of observing everyone. It was a girl around the same age, maybe a bit older, but she was calm and that was what Jungkook needed right now. Although he could be a ball of energy while playing, the playground was too busy right now with the number of kids and it made him very shy and withdrawn.

"Look!" the girl said in Swedish while showing a spider that was walking on the ground. Jungkook didn't understand a word what she was saying, but toddlers didn't need to use words to understand each other so he and the girl sat down on the ground and crawled after the spider.

"Gosh they're adorable" Taehyung mumbled as he sneakily took a picture from a distance.

"His first girlfriend"

"Pfff just talking to a girl doesn't make her a girlfriend" the youngest 95-liner commented while he took more pictures of Jungkook. But he did select the one he liked the most and drew a little heart over the picture and send it in their group chat.

"Ah look at those as well!" Taehyung said while showing some other pictures to Jimin. The two were too caught up with the pictures and videos that Taehyung had taken, that they didn't watch Jungkook for a second.

Jungkook's friend had suggested to go down the slide and started to make her way up to the top of the climbing frame. The girl who was a little bit older and taller had no problems to make it to the top and didn't wait until Jungkook had caught up and went down the slide with a happy squeak. Now that his friend was gone, Jungkook started to panic a bit since he was almost at the top as well, but then he noticed the height. Although it was only 3 meters, it felt like he was standing on top of a building since he wasn't that tall himself yet.