First Breath

💦 Chapter 37: Sweet Little Birdy

With the end of the semester nearing, Jungkook finds sleep miles and miles away. He sighs with exhaustion as he stitches the final feathers onto the ethereal outfit he is designing for Taehyung. He wants his Little Bird to know how he sees him. To him, his Little Bird is the most beautiful being to ever exist.

Despite the ache in his fingers from sewing for so long and his eyes blurring from lack of sleep, he keeps carefully sewing the feathers with diligence.

While Jungkook stays at the university to finish up his end-of-semester projects, Taehyung starts painting the nursery. He wants to surprise Jungkook with the finished nursery for Taeri. As he paints, he has Taeri napping in another room with fresh air constantly flowing to make sure the paint fumes do not harm his precious daughter. He bundled her up and placed her in front of the balcony to enjoy the winter sun.

Taking a break from painting, Taehyung walks out of the nursery. When he looks at his daughter sleeping in her bassinet, he sees the puppies sleeping in their beds beside the bassinet. He softly smiles and takes a quick picture, sending it to his partner.

When Jungkook receives the picture, he softly smiles. He stretches his back, pops his knuckles, and then continues working on the final touches. He wants to go home soon, but he needs to stay at the university to study for his exams once he finishes his outfit.

While Jungkook continues working, Jimin arrives at the apartment to help Taehyung paint. Knowing that Taeri is probably napping, Jimin texts Taehyung to let him know that he has arrived. When Taehyung opens the door, Jimin lifts a bag of take-out food.

"Since I can't cook, and you're probably exhausted, I went and got food." Jimin smiles as he enters the apartment.

"Thank you, Ji." Taehyung smiles and hugs his friend.

"Wow. You've already gotten everything looking so nice." Jimin looks around in awe. "Jungkook really chose a beautiful apartment."

"He did." Taehyung hums in agreement. 

"Where's my adorable niece?" Jimin asks as he looks into the nursery for Taeri.

"She's in front of the balcony door. I didn't want her breathing in the paint fumes." Taehyung explains as he points to the bassinet.

"Good idea." Jimin nods in agreement as he quickly rushes over to his sleeping niece. "Hello, pretty baby." He coos as Taeri's big eyes open and look up at him. He quickly scoops Taeri into his arms and carries her to the dining area while the puppies happily follow after him. "So, how's the planning for the shelter going?" 

"It's going really well. Youngho is so excited about it. He's basically taken over. I'm pretty sure he's warned Yoongi hyung that he's quitting dancing to take over running the shelter." Taehyung chuckles as he picks up Tannie.

"Hyung told me that he has never seen Youngho smile so much." Jimin softly smiles as he thinks about how animatedly Youngho has been explaining the shelter to Yoongi. "He's particularly excited about the four veterinarians you'll have around the clock."

"He and I talked about who we want to hire to work at the shelter, and we agreed that we want to hire kids who need jobs. It'll be a safe environment for them, especially since we are building on Yoongi hyung's territory." Taehyung explains as he fills his plate with food.

"I think Yoongi hyung mentioned sending kids he finds to work at the shelter." Jimin hums as he bounces Taeri in his lap.

"We'll have professionals working as well to make sure that the animals are well-taken care of and the kids are well-trained." Taehyung hums as he munches on his noodles. "I need to bring food up to Jungkook later."