Mission: Parents || namjin

five

[seokjin]

  "So.. you don't go to school?" I asked Junki who was stuffing the bread I ordered for us in his mouth, after I told him how much of a clean freak I was. The doe-eyed 18-year-old jolted his head up immediately and stared at me, it startled me a little. "Oh! Yeah! Yeah, I don't go to school.."

  He went back to eating the fluffy pastry and I squinted my eyes at him while thinking, no school? Where does he live? Where are his parents?

  "Where are your parents?"

  He started coughing uncontrollably and I stood up in a panic and handed him a glass of water. "Woah what happened? Are you good??" I wiped his lips with the napkin made available on the table, he squeezed his eyes shut while giving a few more coughs before clearing his throat, "Yeah sorry, just... a sensitive topic," he croaked in a low tone.

  "I'm so so sorry.. I should have made sure if you were comfortable with that topic first I'm sorry," I apologized to him in an instant, but instead of saying anything he shrugged it off and kept eating. Was he that hungry? I shook my head and thought of a new topic to talk about.
"Oh yeah.. by the way, where do you live?". At last, his bunny cheeks stopped moving and his already big eyes got even wider. "Uh.... I don't..."

  "Wait- YOU DON'T HAVE A HOME?!" he backed away a little and stared at me, I looked around us and saw most people staring, making the atmosphere around grow akward with silence. "sorry...." I whispered an apology to the other customers, they looked away and started whispering inaudible things, that were most probably about me. After that outburst of mine, he explained while rambling like he was unsure, but I'm pretty sure it was because it was another sensitive topic. I tried to tell him that he didn't have to tell me if he was uncomfortable, but he stifled a small nervous laugh and said it was fine.

  To my understanding, he was born here, moved to Canada when he was three and spent the rest of his life there with his grandparents. His mother died when he was four, and his dad only a few months ago. Because of his devastation, he flew back here to clear his mind. "When will you come back to Canada then?" I asked.

  "In six days..."

  I mouthed a small 'ahhhhh' and took a sip of my juice. "You still hadn't answered me yet, Where have you been staying?!" it still pokes my curiosity even if he already basically told me his whole life story.

  "Ah, I arrived this morning at about 6:00 am.. I'm still not sure where I'll be staying..."

  I clicked my tongue and thought for a bit, "Why not live next to me?.."  he shot his head up and cocked an eyebrow. "The apartment right next to mine's is my sister's! She doesn't use it anymore, and it's still hers, but I'm sure I can talk to her about it. You could stay there until you leave.."

  He stared at me for an uncomfortable amount of time, and I'm pretty sure I could feel sweat drip down the side of my face already while Junki still stayed silent. "Well-?"

  He suddenly smiled and jumped up to hug me, I made an 'oof' sound but Junki only tightened his grip on my neck even more. It made me chuckle, how it felt like he was my son, even when we wasn't.

  Strange, it all was. We had just met this morning, why am I inviting him to my sister's apartment? It's almost like my brain wasn't working anymore when I made my decisions. Then again, I always knew I followed my heart more often that being a critical thinker. And something in my heart just told me that I infact wanted to be friends with this strange young fellow named Junki.

  "Yes!" he giggled into the hug and it made me smile too.

.

[narrative]

  "You're staying where?!" the older's voice was loud and caused echoes to spread around the small secret alleyway behind an abandoned building. "Uh.... Seokjin's sister's apartment-?"

  Namjoon slammed his knuckle hands on the worn out desk and it made almost everyone in the room jump, not like it was a lot, but it was only Jungkook, Namjoon, Hoseok, and then there was Yoongi, who remained unfazed as if he saw Namjoon like this for a thousand times already.

  The furious man ran his hand through his deep purple and gel infested hair. "Seokjin's sister's husband works as a policeman! We're robbers!! What do you think will happen when they find out about you?!" Jungkook gulped at that, and he whispered "I'm sor-"

  "No. You're going to stay with me." Namjoon interrupted. "What?! But I already-"

  "No, Junki! You're the youngest member here, and we all have to do our best to protect every single one of us, and if you get caught, we're all dead." The older spat, and the youngest in the room tried his best to hold back his tears. Jungkook nodded in agreement, in contrary to his loss of excitement to live with Seokjin.

  Yoongi had enough courage to step out forward to approach Namjoon. "Your place is horrible, RM, and I don't think it would be appropriate for Junki to live there." the pale boy said in a matter-of-fact monotone voice, like he always has, to his bestfriend/partner Namjoon while using his pen name, RM.

  "Well, we know Namjoon won't have the guts to fix it. Who else will?" Wonho chirped in too. Namjoon only rolled his eyes at the two discussing his lazy and unclean self. Right then and there an idea sparked up from Jungkook's head.  The three seemed to notice and wonder, "What are you thinking, Junki?"

  "Wellll.... I just happen to know someone who could do just that!" All three criminals seemed to be waiting for another word to come out of Junki. "Seokjin!"

  With the name being mentioned, the grape haired of the bunch immediately scrunched his nose in disgust, "Seokjin?! Are you kidding me, Junki." Yoongi turned to his ignorant bestfriend, "I agree. Seokjin's a total clean freak so he'll do a good job, besides, he still owes me to do something since I saved Jimin from trouble last week." the mint haired explained his situation with his boyfriend and Seokjin, Jimin's older brother. Junki snapped his head to Yoongi's direction.

  "See?! We should totally have Seokjin around!" the youngest concluded. The arrogant grape, as Jungkook nicknamed him in his head, clicked his tongue and sighed.

  "Fine." he muttered. Success, thought Jungkook.

---

The arrogant grape, the clean freak mom friend, the monotone voiced mint hair, and the very buff but baby faced man. They were all living in harmony... UNTIL THE UNDERAGE TIME TRAVELLER ATTACKED-