Struggling Father • Namjoon!Father + BTS!Adults

viii.

Hobi honked the horn repeatedly, and after a few moments, two boys scurried out from the building.

"Shotgun," one of them called.

The other punched him on the arm. "You don't get to call shotgun! I'm older, I automatically get it!"

"Like that two minutes means anything!"

"It means I get shotgun, that's what it means!"

After a brief scuffled outside the passenger door (which Hobi watched without interfering), Tae ended up in the passenger seat, and a grumbling Jungkook wound up in the back.

Hobi shifted the gear and began driving slowly. "Buckle up, kids."

"Hyung," Jungkook whined from the back, leaning forward into the median.

"Yes?" Tae answered with a deadpan expression. Jungkook ignored him.

"Hyung, it isn't fair that-" Jungkook yelped, almost flying forward, as Hobi gave a guilty smile. "Hyung! Don't brake suddenly!"

"Looks like someone didn't listen to me when I said to buckle up," Hobi said, grinning in the rear view mirror before accelerating.

***

Hobi parked and got out of the car. He wouldn't call it stealing so much as swiping the keys when Yoongi wasn't looking. It wasn't as though he needed the car that day, anyway. So what if he didn't get to see his stupid girlfriend.

When they got inside, Hobi sat in the booth across from the two, grinning at them as he picked up a menu. "Order whatever you want. It's not every day your favorite hyung drives all the way out to you to buy you lunch."

"Yoongi's paying?" Tae asked with a curious tilt to his eyebrows as he scanned the menu.

Hobi scowled at him. "If you want to order more than a single glass of water, you'd better rethink that sentence, Tae."

Tae looked up, blinking, his face the very picture of innocent. The light from outside filtered in through the window and lit up his irises, only adding to the effect. "...you, of course I meant you, Hobi-hyung. What did I say, Yoongi? Silly me. Slip of the tongue."

"Hyung," Jungkook whined. "Can I get this one?" he asked, pointing toward an item on the menu.

"Sur-"

"And this one? And this one too?"

Hobi stared at his youngest brother for a second before slumping down in his seat with a sigh. "You kids just want to empty my wallet. Fine, I told you that you could get whatever you want so do it. But you're ordering for yourself, I'm not doing it for you."

Jungkook shrunk down in the booth, looking at Hobi in betrayal. "B-But hyung-"

Hobi glared, setting his menu down on the table so he could see Jungkook better. "If you're still scared of a waitress at this point in your life, then you're the most pathetic nineteen-year-old I'm related to."

Tae smirked.

"B-But-" Jungkook stuttered before whipping his head to the left and scowling at Tae. "How can I be the most pathetic nineteen-year-old you're related to when Tae's right here?"

Tae didn't bother to look over, just raised an eyebrow and kept scanning the menu. "Oh, so not failing my math class makes me pathetic?"

Jungkook flushed a bright pink, even his ears heating up uncomfortably. "I haven't failed yet!"

"I said fail-ing. Present tense. Which you are."

"W-Well math is the pathetic one, not me!"