Chapter Text
Jungkook had been quiet all day, the absence of his usual humming in the kitchen and singing in the shower loud. Hoseok had asked if he wanted to go home to the eros when Jungkook had taken the day off work, but he had just shook his head; when he asked if he wanted anyone else in the eros to come stay with them, he just muttered a quiet “No, hyung. Just you,” that simultaneously warmed Hoseok from the inside out and broke his heart.
He seemed lost in thought the night before, staring out the window until Hoseok had gently shook his shoulder and got him to eat, feeding him bite by bite in a way that usually made his dominant pleased beyond belief, but just brought more worry to his brow now.
It didn’t take much prying to understand what was wrong.
I’ll call later :) Hoseok texted his mother. He normally called first thing in the morning on Parents’ Day, and that was if he wasn’t visiting them in person.
Jungkook was getting dressed, putting on something a little nicer than his everyday wear but not something that didn’t fit his style. Hoseok watched him for only a moment before doing the same. Neither of them spoke as they left the apartment, hand in hand. They were quiet even as they walked the mile to the columbarium, even as they slipped their shoes off at the entrance, even as Jungkook led him to the well-maintained shrine in one of the many halls.
Hoseok knelt beside him, watching Jungkook light candles, whispering a quiet prayer.
“I miss you,” was the first thing he said, sitting back on his heels. “I’ve missed you even more than usual lately. I wish—I wish you were here with me. You—you would have liked the Jung eros. Especially you, eomma. You would have called them all your sons after only an hour—” he let out a shaky laugh, a tear falling down his cheek as Jungkook did nothing to stop it. “They would have loved you, too. I think—I think you would have gotten along well with Yoongi-hyung, appa. You like a lot of the same things. You’d have argued but—but in a fun way. I can just see it in my head, which—”
Hoseok put an arm around his waist when Jungkook got closer, leaning into his side.
“I can see it so perfectly, and that makes it so—hard. In another life—” he let out a short laugh, a hiccupy, almost desolate thing. “In another life, I-I guess it wouldn’t matter. I don’t think I would have met the eros in another life. Maybe I would have, b-but—”
Hoseok kissed his temple when a sob broke out, Jungkook covering his face with his hands.
“You would be so proud of your son,” Hoseok told them quietly when Jungkook couldn’t continue. “You must know already, watching over him now, but he is so strong and resilient and brave. He’s kind and loving and so—so easy to love. He was blessed to have parents who must have shaped him so well, and you are even more blessed to have been given such a perfect creature. We’re doing our best to take care of him in your stead, though I don’t think it’s possible to truly do you justice.”
Jungkook let out a hiccupy sob, leaning heavy into his side. “You d-do really good.”
“Ah, like I said,” Hoseok said, smiling gently. “He’s kind.”
Even after days, hours, moments of thought, he wasn’t sure it would be the right thing to do. He wasn’t sure if it was appropriate, if it was the time, if it was something Jungkook really, truly wanted. But he knew—he had to ask. He had to ask.
“I wish,” he continued slowly, feeling Jungkook’s steady weight at his side, hearing his sniffly breaths, watching the gently flickering candles, “that you were both here—for many reasons, of course. But for a particularly selfish reason, I wish I could ask you if you would allow Jungkook to join our eros.”
Jungkook froze, his breath catching in his throat. It didn’t seem bad, though, Hoseok was pretty sure (he hoped, with a pang of fear). He didn’t push away or jerk to meet his eyes or anything of the sort. He just—let out a quiet “Oh.”
“I know I won’t be able to hear your answer, though I certainly wouldn’t mind a sign. But—you raised Jungkook, and he holds you close to his heart. And I hope—I hope he knows that when I ask, there is no wrong answer. But I also hope he knows how deeply we all love him, how we—I—genuinely forgot that he wasn’t an official part of our eros.” He let out a quiet laugh, squeezing Jungkook close for a brief moment, pressing a kiss to his temple. “Had I realized, I would have asked him before I panicked in the street at the thought of him leaving us. But that being said—I hope he knows he can reject and we would love him all the same. We would hold him as close and with as much love as we do now, for as long as he’d like us to. But I can’t pretend that I hope he says yes with a desperation I’m not sure I’ve felt before. I would be so, so honored to be his head dom this life and the next and however many he would have me for. I—I wish I could win your approval and trust and ask with your assurance that it would be the right choice, but I hope you trust your son to answer for you.”
Jungkook let out a quiet sound before tugging Hoseok’s sleeve.
“Ask me later?” he said, looking at him with misty eyes. Hoseok felt preemptive rejection seize his heart before Jungkook hugged his arm, nuzzling his shoulder. “S’inappropriate to kiss in here.”
That fear disappeared all at once. Jungkook, his precious heart, his precious soul, his precious everything—
“Okay,” Hoseok said quietly, resting his cheek on his hair. “What do you think they’d say?”
Jungkook huffed a laugh. “Yes. I think they’d say yes.”
And though he knew he should save it for something romantic (there had to be parks nearby, surely) or even just cute (they’d passed an ice cream shop on the way, and practically a dozen cafes), he couldn’t stop himself from blurting out as soon as they left the columbarium, “Will you—”
Jungkook threw his arms around Hoseok’s shoulders and kissed him clumsy and sweet. “Yes,” he said against his lips.
Hoseok laughed, holding him close, hands on Jungkook’s tiny waist, warm from the inside out. “I didn’t even get to ask—”
Jungkook kissed him again.
-
It didn’t take much to decide to take a cab home, the thought of walking an hour instead of being all over each other was too much to bear; they would have been cited for public indecency, Hoseok was sure of it. It was difficult enough to not pull Jungkook onto his lap—and it seemed that Jungkook was just as eager to do the same, his bright doe eyes and pretty pink pout almost enough to do it anyways.
And even when they got back to Jungkook’s apartment—
“Wanna go home,” Jungkook said, flopped on top of Hoseok’s chest after a solid thirty minutes of just making out like teenagers, everything feeling simultaneously thrillingly new and heart-warmingly familiar. Hoseok would have followed Jungkook’s lead and done anything and everything he wanted, but this—
They were planning on going to the eros home the next morning, expecting Jungkook to be too emotionally wrought out to make a late journey, but the most perfect thing either of them could imagine was Jungkook in the middle of the eros bed, the eros surrounding him on every side, giving him the love and attention and devotion he desired, and it still wouldn’t be enough to show him how madly, truly, deeply they all loved him.
“Yeah,” Hoseok agreed. “Should we call them first?”
Jungkook giggled, technically shaking his head but really nuzzling between Hoseok’s pecs. “D’you think it’d be a good surprise?”
“I really do,” Hoseok grinned. He held Jungkook’s ass in his hand, giving his cheeks playful squeezes.”You’re the best surprise of all.”
Jungkook laughed, pretty and pleased, even as he blushed and tried to deny it. “I dunno—”
“You are,” Hoseok said firmly, patting his ass. “Our pretty honey bunny coming home a day early? With news that we’ve all been hoping for?”
“Has—I mean, I know, but—” Jungkook bit his lip, “does everyone really want me?”
“Yes,” Hoseok said, a sure finality in his voice. “I don’t think any of us have ever wanted anything more. You’re our sub, to make it official—there are no words for how much we want you to be a part of us.”
Months ago, Jungkook might have been unsure. Months ago, Jungkook might have agreed out loud even though he had loud doubts in his mind. Months ago—
Months ago had been months ago.
Jungkook pressed a kiss onto Hoseok’s chest before wriggling up to nose his neck, breathing him in. Their sensitive bunny with his sensitive nose—Hoseok had preened with pride that would not go away no matter how much affronted prodding he got from the rest of the eros when Jungkook said he smelled the very best out of all of them. He pushed his ass into his hands and Hoseok laughed, squeezing it before giving it the nice, rhythmic pats that he knew Jungkook was after.
“I think I need a nap before we go,” he sighed, resigned.
“You could nap in the car, baby. Hyung’s going to drive.”
“No,” he whined, feeling up his chest, “I wanna sing with you.”
“Ah, bunny—” Hoseok had to hug him close, bundling him as close as he could, rocking him in his arms. It didn’t quite work like he wanted it to, he had the image of his babiest sub all cradled in his arms, encompassed and held so close they were practically the same person, but it worked enough. “We have the rest of our lives to sing together.”
Jungkook went still in his arms, but Hoseok didn’t let go. Nice warm pressure, someone holding him tight—that was what his Jungkookie needed.
“We do, don’t we?” he asked after a moment, though it seemed almost to himself.
Either way, Hoseok hummed, rubbing his back. “Yeah. We do.”
Jungkook was quiet for another moment, fiddling with the neck of Hoseok’s shirt. “If I sleep in the car, we’ll get home faster.”
That wasn’t technically how it worked, but who was Hoseok to go against his baby’s logic? “Mm, we will. And we can sing until you fall asleep.”
Jungkook nodded and ignored Hoseok’s surprised yelp and reaching hands as he abruptly rolled off him, standing up and immediately starting to pack up. He had a routine now, of things to grab and clothes to take and how to clean up so he could come back to a tidy apartment in a few days. Hoseok watched him speed through it with growing affection—or glowing affection, rather, because it could hardly grow anymore. It could just make itself known with warmth and brightness, brought on by just glancing at Jungkook, just thinking of him, made blinking neon by watching him exist.
Hoseok helped, wiping down counters and refilling the little watering globes Namjoon had gotten for the plants that hadn’t yet moved to the eros house. Jungkook packed up both of their transient bathroom things, throwing on one of Hoseok’s hoodies and packing the rest of their clothes, putting Tokki under the hoodie and making sure his head popped out under Jungkook’s chin so he would know where they were going.
“Ready?” Hoseok asked. Jungkook was already blinking sleepily. Maybe they’d get through one song before his pretty baby was snoozing with his head on the window. Hoseok knew from experience that it didn’t matter how often he adjusted him to be more comfortable, he would end up in the same position as he always did.
“Yup,” Jungkook said with a yawn. He pressed a kiss to Tokki’s head and threw both his and Hoseok’s bags over his shoulders and waited for Hoseok to lead them out, as he would til the end of the world. Officially.
He took Hoseok’s hand when it was offered, lacing their fingers together and swinging their arms a little as Hoseok pulled him to walk by his side.
“I love going home,” he mumbled sleepily after a few minutes on the road. City became country, slow but sure, one familiar becoming the next.
He was asleep before Hoseok could manage a reply that wasn’t a sappy “You’re our home” or a joyfully teary overly-loud agreement.
He glanced over and moved Jungkook’s head from the window back onto the seat. He heard it bonk quietly against it barely a minute later.
“Yeah,” Hoseok said. “I love it, too.”