Bird of Paradise • taekook

Five

Yoonji turns out to do much better once she's out of the room, ends up eating two portions of the laulau, and graciously saves most of the bread for Taehyung. They all linger around long after dinner, over espresso and music. Jin and Namjoon talk about what transpired at the town hall ("These developers, think they can buy the whole town with money!"), and with Taehyung's encouragement, Yoonji even gets to talk about the latest songs she's been listening to, and a new surfboard she's read about that's made of carbon fibre and sustainable bamboo (Jin is in a good enough mood to murmur maybe for Christmas).

Family meals - messy, dramatic, awkward and a little overwhelming at times - but by the time they walk out of Jin's house against a backdrop of darkened sky, Jungkook is filled to the brim with relaxed contentment.

The streets smell of overgrown bushes and lingered over dinners from the open windows of all the residential houses. Taehyung is a few steps ahead of him, humming a nameless tune, face coming in and out of the dark as they stroll past sparsely placed street lamps. There's a soft pink glow on his slightly tanned cheeks. Jungkook decides that it suits him far more than the sickly paleness from before.

"Sorry that took so long, they all talk a lot."

Taehyung turns to face him, "Why are you apologizing, I had a good time."

"You don't have to put up with them so much, you know. You can always leave early. I know you prefer to be alone."

"Not all the time. This was nice, I haven't had a home made meal in a long time."

Jungkook decides that the chattiness suits him also. So does the smile, the gleaming eyes, and the relaxed slouched shoulders.

A hedgehog turning into a mellow cat.

"You don't have to walk me home all the time either, Uno would've been fun, I bet Yoonji is good at it."

"Very. You have no idea, she can remember practically every card that's been played, it's actually kinda scary. How is she not good at math in school..."

"Oh my god, you sound just like Jin now. You're supposed to be his cool surfing friend, not another annoyed parent."

"Do I? I try not to."

"I know you try, it's pretty obvious. But you honestly should cut her some slack. It's Jin's job to worry, you should just be her friend. She values your opinion so much."

"You think? I don't know, I'm not good with kids." Jungkook sighs, and sticks his hands in the pockets of his boardshort, "Yoonji is like the first kid I've ever had to take care of, sort of. Most of the time, when she skips school and pops by our place, I can't tell if I should be yelling at her or just spend time with her."

Taehyung pauses to look into his eyes, "You're already doing all the right things, just need to watch for the tone a bit. I think she's a bit of an overachiever, so school must be frustrating when she's not getting perfect marks. I mean, 65% attendance and her grades are fine? She's obviously very smart. Just need someone to listen, someone to be friends with."

"I guess."

"Does she have friends from school?"

"Some, I think, not many. The thing is, the thing is-" Jungkook tries to find the right words for it, "- she's actually not from around here either."

"Oh." Taehyung's profile is a little blurred in the darkness, but he steps closer with dipped head, "what do you mean?"

"Well, we don't talk about this much, but I'm sure you will notice sooner or later. Yoonji is not related to Jin by blood."