Nothings Gonna Hurt You Baby // jikook

four

WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER !!!
this is one of the instances where the past abuse tag comes into play. There is no physical abuse and no scenes/flashbacks of abuse but there are semi-detailed mentions of what could be described as emotional abuse. if this is triggering I would skip paragraphs 2, 8, and 9 !!! I count the lil two/one liners between paragraphs as paragraphs too.

it is the past so it has relevancy to the characters but not necessarily the plot so while I hope you consider whether or not this fit is right for you if you're triggered, if you do want to continue to read it wouldn't hurt your comprehension of the plot very much to skip it if you need to.

now that that is out of the way, I hope you all enjoy! <3

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When Jungkook was seven years old he had a stuffed dog. Technically he had gotten it as a baby, a present his dad brought home for him. But it was at seven years old, when the divorce was finalized and the only times he saw him was when he was drunk on the weekends that you couldn't pry it from his arms.

Jungkook's dad was a nice man, he always held his hand when they crossed the street and taught him to hold the door open for old ladies even if they were slower than him. But he wasn't very nice to Jungkook's mom. They fought a lot, mostly over money but sometimes about other things, like the smell of liquor on his breath when he came home late. He never hit her, or did the bad things Jungkook heard about men doing to their wives. But he saw the way he made her cry, and he knew that sometimes you don't have to put someone in pain to hurt them. And sometimes nice people did bad things.

He always tried to make himself less of a problem, a skill his older brother taught him by example. Just be quiet. Be polite. Get good grades. Never complain. Don't get in trouble.

They didn't have the time or energy to handle troublesome kids. Both of them were working two jobs to stay a float, his dad even spending three months after the divorce in the same house because he couldn't afford to move out. Jungkook always wondered what it was like to be able to be a 'bad kid', to make mistakes and not be eaten alive with guilt. But he couldn't, the last thing he ever wanted to do was burden his parents when they loved him so much.

Jungkook would still remember using his chubby hand to wipe his mother's tears the day his father left for good. How she had pulled him in close, kissed his head and told him that she was so thankful to have such a good son.

Maybe that's why his parents didn't question him carrying around a stuffed animal. With two sons that walked on egg shells to make their lives easier, they couldn't complain about something so small.

The poor dog was in threads by the time Jungkook was nine but he still carried it everywhere. Including school. Jungkook had never made many friends in school, something he was okay with. He often kept himself quiet, focused and out of anyone's way. This made him a dream for his parents and teachers but it didn't make it easy to get kids his age to like him past asking for help on math work.

It was on the walk after school to his father's that two boys asked him to play, him readily agreeing. This excitement made his memory hazy as he turned around on the path and followed them to the beach. They even stopped at one of the boy's houses so Jungkook could borrow his brother's bike. They had played well into the evening, the sun setting on the water before they all had to get home, for their dads would be getting home soon. But of course Jungkook had forgotten, his dad was home already. He was waiting for Jungkook to get home from school so he could take him to his mom's, her house across town because his dad was closer to the nice school.