"J-Jihyuk said you wanted me to stop by?"

"Yeah, come in."

Jeongguk lets Hyungsik inside before shutting the front door. It was late, the kids were down and Taehyung still hasn't come home despite the numerous messages Jeongguk left.

"W-Was there something you wanted?" Hyungsik asks, stopping by the front door instead of following Jeongguk in.

"Did you sign the paperwork?" Jeongguk asks crossing his arms.

"Yeah," Hyungsik shrugs. "Why?"

"You'll be glad you did." The ravenette says. "That family is trouble, you don't want anything to do with them."

Hyungsik shrugs again. "A-Alright."

"I asked you to come because Taehyung came home in tears earlier. He left and hasn't been back since." Jeongguk says. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"We had a tough conversation earlier, that's all." Hyungsik nods. "It's family stuff."

"Right," Jeongguk nods. "Well, he's my family so I'd like to know what upset him."

"It's personal." Hyungsik says. "It's one thing if he wants you to know but it's not my place to tell."

"You told him you were a Jeon?" Jeongguk asks, fishing for an answer now.

"Yeah, that's not why he's upset though." The older says. "But, like I said, it's not my place to tell you that part."

"I need to know, Hyungsik, so I can help him." The ravenette says, becoming aggravated with him. "If you can trust anyone you can trust me. He'd want me to know."

Hyungsik sighs, looking off for a second. "I'll just say this." he sighs. "Our mom...she can't have kids."

Jeongguk waits for him to continue but he doesn't. "Okay?"

"She can't have kids so she adopted me...and Taehyung." Hyungsik says, not expecting to have to spell it out for Jeongguk. "They told me when I sixteen, but they never told him. They didn't think he'd handle it well because of the way I reacted."

"And how'd you react?"

"I used all the money they gave me for college and moved back to the town we were raised in, in Japan."

Jeongguk sighs, falling silent as he thinks of all the things Taehyung must be feeling right now. He knew exactly what it felt like to have your entire life turned upside by a single piece of information.

"Taehyung's smarter than me." Hyungsik says. "He's not an eighteen year old kid either. He's got his life figured out here, he's not stupid enough to screw this up. Just give him some time to react, he'll cool off eventually."

Jeongguk looks at Hyungsik, his advice wasn't helping at all. "Don't talk about him like you know him better than me. When was the last time you even spoke to him?
When he was in high school?"

"I'm just trying to help." Hyungsik shrugs. "We've both been in his position, did you want someone breathing down your neck telling you that everything was okay?"

"...No."

"Neither did I."

Jeongguk rolls his eyes a little, he couldn't help but want to comfort Taehyung and make him feel better. It felt like it was his job to comfort him when he needed.

"I should go." Hyungsik says ending the conversation. "I'm sorry."

"About what?" Jeongguk asks.

"I'm just sorry." The older says, nodding his head before turning and leaving the house.

Jeongguk sighs as he locks the door, leaving the alarm off just in case Taehyung came back in the middle of the night. He calls him once more before heading to bed, hoping for an answer. It goes straight to voicemail.

"Hey, Tae, it's me again. I know this is probably my fiftieth time calling, I'm just freaking out because you aren't answering. You don't have to answer, c-can you just text me? Please? I'm worried about you. I love you."

~The next morning...~

"Good morning, my loves,"

"Dad!"

Jeongguk turns around in time to see Taehyung walk into the kitchen with bags in each hand.

    "I brought breakfast." The brunette says sitting the bags on the table before kissing each of the kids on the head.

    "Pancakes, no way!" Jaehyung says sitting up on his knees in his chair.

    "You wore that yesterday, dad." Hanjae says looking up at Taehyung.

    "I know, bubba, I'm going to change." He chuckles, ruffling his hair before turning to leave. "Eat your breakfast."

Jeongguk puts away the bread he was going to use to make toast before following Taehyung out of the kitchen. "Taehyung."

    "Yes?" He asks without looking at him as he goes upstairs.

    "Where the hell were you all night?" Jeongguk asks following behind him. "I was worried sick, I called like a hundred times."

    "I called a time out." Taehyung says walking into their room.

    "Okay? Since when do time outs last all night?" Jeongguk asks stopping at the door and crossing his arms. "It took me an hour to convince Hanjae to go to sleep."

    "I'm sorry, my phone died." Taehyung says sitting down on the bed to plug the device in.

    "That's no excuse for disappearing all night, Taehyung." Jeongguk says, reminding himself not to be too hard on him. "Where'd you go?"

    "I'm fine, Jeongguk, everything's fine." Taehyung says looking down at his phone as it powers back on. "Wow, you did call a hundred times."

    "Taehyung," Jeongguk says, he was slightly aggravated with his nonchalant attitude. "I thought something bad happened. I almost took the kids to Jin's so I could go look for you."

    "I'm sorry," The brunette shrugs as he locks his phone, standing with a sigh. "I'm gonna shower and get ready for school."

    "Hyungsik told me about the conversation you had with your parents~"

    "I don't want to talk about that right now." Taehyung says walking into the bathroom to start the shower. "I'll keep the boys with me again after school, car rider duty."

Jeongguk deflates a little, Hyungsik's words replaying in his mind. He doesn't force anymore conversation, walking out of the room and back to the kitchen.

    "Stop being gross!" Hanjae says shoving Jaehyung away from him.

    "Wait, I think it's coming back up~" Jaehyung says opening his full mouth of pancakes.

    "Hey, hands to yourself. And no talking with food in your mouth, Jaehyung." Jeongguk says. "Shoes on in ten minutes, I mean it."

    "Can I be a pwincess today?" Jaein asks looking up at Jeongguk.

    "You're a princess everyday." He smiles, bopping her nose and making her laugh.

    "Is dada alright?" Hanjae asks. "Did he cry some more?"

    "No, and you don't have to worry about him." Jeongguk says. "He's okay, I promise."

    "Is he going to stay somewhere else again tonight?" Hanjae asks with worried eyes.

    "Justin's parents started staying in different places and they got divorced." Jaehyung says. "Are you guys getting divorced?"

    "No, Jaehyung, we aren't. Wanna know why?" Jeongguk asks as he sits down at the kitchen table. "Because we're not even married."

    "So that makes it easier to leave each other." Jaehyung says before looking at Hanjae. "That means one of us is going with Dad and one of us is going with Appa. And Jaein's gonna have to chose who she loves the most and that's who she'll stay with."

    "No!" Hanjae says covering his ears.

    "Cut it out, Jaehyung." Jeongguk says with a stern expression. "Where'd you even learn all that?"

    "Youtube." Jaehyung shrugs. "And Justin."

    "Apologize to your brother." Jeongguk says. "Nothing like that is ever going to happen, do you understand?"

    "Yeah," Jaehyung pouts. "Sorry, Hanjae."

Hanjae takes his hands down. "I don't want dad to sleep anywhere else. I want him to sleep here."

    "He's not sleeping anywhere else tonight, Hanjae." Jeongguk sighs. "Shoes on in five minutes."

Hanjae gets up from the table without finishing his food, his expression still troubled as he leaves the kitchen.

    "Sorry, Appa." Jaehyung says before following him out.

    "Appa, I wanna do ballet like Yebin." Jaein says, still stuffing pancakes in her mouth. "She can put her foot on her head."

Jeongguk nods. "We'll think about it."

    "...Did you think about it?" Jaein asks looking at him expectantly.

    "Dad and I will think about it." Jeongguk clarifies. "Shouldn't you be putting your shoes on too?"

    "I dunno," Jaein shrugs.

    "Shoes on, Jaein." Jeongguk says nodding in the direction of the living room.

Jaein sighs dramatically as she slides off her seat. "I wanna put my foot on my head too."

    "Okay," Jeongguk nods. "I'll ask dada."

    "Yes!" She exclaims before dashing out of the kitchen.

Jeongguk sighs as he stands to get ready, his thoughts preoccupied by Taehyung. He didn't know if he was coping well by holding in all his emotions. He knew it wouldn't help to pretend like it never happened, he's tried.

No matter how rocky your relationship is with your parents, it's always hard to learn that they aren't really your parents at all...