A Toothless Smile

Chapter 8 

Jungkook looked so much younger in his sleep. His cheeks seemed to be rounder than usual, his chin and jaw softer than when he was awake. His lips were just as pouty though. His eyelashes curved softly over his cheeks, his brows furrowed by whatever dream he was in.

Seokjin never thought it would be this hard to leave a sleeping infant behind. Instincts told him to stay with him, to look after him and protect him. He reminded himself that leaving Jungkook for a few hours to deal with work was also a way of protecting him. The sooner he got rid of pests the better for Jungkook.

"Hyung, the car is here."

Seokjin hummed in response, his eyes focused on the way Jungkook's face twitched lightly once, twice, and then again. Seokjin frowned and leaned closer to his little one, cupping Jungkook's face with one hand and rubbing his thumb over his cheek with a silent shush until Jungkook relaxed and instinctively turned his face into Seokjin's palms.

"That's new." Hoseok spoke up again from the door way, his gaze trained on Jungkook's sleeping form.

Nightmares were the least of their worries. It was also the one they'd expected the most. A death as traumatic at Jungkook's was bound to come back in some form.

Seokjin frowned. The sooner he left and the sooner he could return.

"Alright." He said and walked to Hoseok. "Make sure he drinks from those blood bags, make up for the day I wasn't here to feed him. A single day is enough to be catastrophic and Jungkook is already –"

"Hyung," Hoseok said, somehow looking amused and a little offended at the same time. "I know."

Seokjin paused and took in Hoseok's humored expression with just a slight tint of annoyance under it. And beneath it all was something Seokjin dare not touch or mention in the slightest.

"Of course." He said instead and pulled Hoseok for a hug. "I didn't doubt you, Hob-ah, this is your area of expertise after all. Hyung is just stressed."

"I know." Hoseok hugged him back and gave him a kiss on his shoulder. "But let me do my job, yeah?"

Seokjin nodded, "Jimin and Tae are still asleep?"

"Yeah, it's way too early for them." Hoseok nodded. "I'll make sure all three are well fed and pampered while you're gone. Now go, Joonie and Yoongi hyung is waiting for you in the car."

Hoseok pushed up to his tip toes to properly kiss Seokjin, sweet and chaste but Seokjin didn't want it to end, leaning after him when Hoseok pulled back. Seokjin nodded and looked at Jungkook. He was barely visible under all the covers. He nodded again and then turned around.

The ride was silent. All three of them were trying to get a head start on the hundreds of emails they had to reply on their phone. Sometimes Seokjin missed when it was harder to communicate, when letters took days or weeks or even months to arrive. Now he had to get creative if he wanted to ignore annoying requests.

Because although this pest problem was Seokjin's priority he still had a city to run. And Seoul was chock full of problems even on the easiest of days.

The Underground was working at full capacity. Seokjin hadn't seen anyone lazing around since the day they'd found Jungkook. Everyone was running in all directions, everyone was always on their phones, everyone was always trying to connect the pieces together. Even those who weren't involved with the case were always on their feet, picking up the workload left behind so the city didn't come crashing down.

A nice monetary boost would be nice by the end of this case. They'd earned it.

The only people who didn't immediately jump out of Seokjin's direct path were his lovely flock of assistants with their hands full of files and notepads and pencils. Seokjin had long learned how to keep track of what they were saying when they had a tendency to speak at the same time. Eventually they would learn to take turns.