…six months later…

Third Person’s P.O.V.

“Aisle three? Ok thanks!” Jin skipped and trotted his way, stuffing the cart with whatever caught his eye and anyone passing could easily catch the over-excited glint in his eyes.

“Jin” Hoseok huffed, losing his patience and his breath now as he tried to catch up with him “goddamn! Will you slow down?!” He hurried behind him watching him turning around a corner to head to another aisle now.

Taehyung was coming back home the next day, and Jin had planned to have a sort of 'homecoming' party for him.

“It’s been three hours you know, I bet she is badly missing you by now” Hoseok spoke, trying to get Jin’s attention with a topic he just couldn’t disregard.

“We’ve been here for three hours?!” Jin straightened up alarmed from where he was crouching to get the right sauces for the dishes he had planned to cook for lunch tomorrow.
 
“Three hours, twenty-five minutes and…sixteen seconds to be precise” Hoseok cleared and watched Jin hastily stuff the things he could manage to grab and dashed to the billing counter.

“Yoongs is gonna kill us” he thought out loud "Kook will be late today so he told me to come back within a couple hours or he'd miss his night-shift". Jin giggling worriedly while swiping his card and helping the girl over the counter to quickly pack up the stuff. However, when they reached home they couldn’t help but adore the scene. Yoongi had fallen asleep on the couch and Soohee slept on his chest mumbling incoherently in her sleep.

That night Jin couldn’t calm down, after showering he sat with Soohee, changing her into a soft blue overall for the night while he kept rambling mindlessly to her about how glad he was, and how she was in for a surprise tomorrow, and how unlucky she had been to miss out knowing her dad. She looked at him with wide gleeful eyes, happy to see her Appa smiling and playing with her but unaware of what he actually meant.

The next morning the whole house was a mini pandemonium with Jungkook trying every possible way to keep Soohee engaged while Jin stayed utterly busy in preparing the lavish lunch he had planned for. Soohee not quite happy about the fact that she couldn’t get to see her Appa all morning and wailed agitatedly, Hoseok and Yoongi going on and off about one thing or the other as they tried to help Jin and Jin trying to be the master of all trades-cooking, looking out for Soohee, calling Namjoon to check how long till they could reach the house, since he was going to drop Jimin and Minjae and then head to get Taehyung.

And hours later Hoseok, Yoongi, Jimin and Jungkook sat down with a huff as they finished setting up everything to Jin’s liking while Minjae and Soohee happily played in the playpen, lost in their own world as they babbled with the toys.

“Take a breather or you’re gonna pass out by the time he arrives” Yoongi spoke to Jin, who was trying to call Namjoon for the fiftieth time to ask how long till they would arrive.

“Yeah…I just” he breathed out, glancing around the living room, the food on the table, the kids “I just can’t wait…it’s been so long that I just feel so…lucky, I guess” he softly shrugged, smiling to himself “we’ve been through so much that thinking about good times kinda scares me...what if it gets taken away again...” his hands shivered a little in his worry.

Jimin came up to lead him to join them on the couch “calm down will you and just look forward to your future together” he gently massaged his shoulders, trying to help him with his jitters.

But the calm was short lived and Jin sprang up the moment they heard a honk outside, sprinting to get the door when those honks continued and everyone straightened up in excitement. Jungkook and Jimin hurriedly picked Soohee and Minjae, all of them heading towards the door as well. 

Jin pulled open the door and stood stunned, going numb for more than a moment to see Taehyung close the door of the car and turn around to set his eyes on him, an equally blank expression on his face as he took a few steps to walk into the front lawn and Jin found his senses coming back to him. Realizing it wasn’t that recurring dream he had been having for the past six months, creating this scene in his mind again and again till the day would finally come, he walked briskly through the front porch, breaking into a run as he hurried down the steps.

He watched Taehyung break into a loud grin seeing him running to him and opened his arms, waiting to finally get to embrace him.

Jin literally crashed into him, his tears flowing unhindered as he felt Taehyung’s arms wrap around him and picked him up, kissing his face through his smiles. Jin wrapped his arms around his neck and hugged him tighter, fresh tears glistening on his cheeks as he kissed his head.

“I missed you so..so..so..so much” Jin spoke sniffling, a peck for every ‘so’ as he tried to assure his jittery heart that this was real and Tae wasn’t going to go away now, never again.

"Welcome home"

He pressed his lips on Taehyung’s and realized how much he had missed kissing him, his warmth, his touches and the way he could make him feel, the way he could love him. It all came crashing onto his mind as he felt Taehyung deepen the kiss. His tongue sliding over the plush bottom lip, seeking to relive the way it felt to actually kiss Jin and his arms unmindfully tightened around him when he felt Jin cup his face and kiss him hungrily, sucking on his lips and letting him explore his mouth the way he craved to. The little needy groan that left Jin’s mouth made him bite on his lip, and suddenly he remembered that although he had been utterly starving to get to shower Jin with all the love he deserved, right now he couldn’t lose that control.

Taehyung wouldn’t reply to his words, and Jin fell a bit silent when he abruptly broke the kiss, being a bit confused as well. However, seeing him made Jin’s heart hum some more.

He caught him simply breathing in as he set his head against his neck with his eyes pressed shut, looking content to finally get what he had lived yearning for every single day for so long. Jin shuddered a bit because his breaths were tickling him but denied to let go and realized Tae was walking up towards the door carrying him, and he just snuggled into his neck, not caring if the others were going to laugh at him for being a big baby.

“I’m so happy to be home” his deep voice rumbled right by Jin’s ear and Jin frowned at him, an unhappy pout gracing his lips and Taehyung frowned back “what?”

“Just happy to be home? I thought you’d miss me too…” he mumbled the last bit, his big brown eyes going bigger and glossier as he wished to hear Taehyung say that he had missed him terribly, just like he had every single day.

“Silly” Taehyung smiled, pecking his nose as he climbed up the stairs “my home is wherever you are” he spoke making Jin shed tears again, and snuggle tightly into his neck as he rubbed his tears on his shoulder, denying to get down when Taehyung already reached the door and he could hear other voices ridiculing him for clinging onto him like that.

“Baby…won’t you let me see Soohee?”

And Jin was slowly, hesitatingly unwrapping his legs from around him to step down and Taehyung chuckled to himself seeing him be so adorable, not being able to hold back from pulling him closer to kiss at his forehead yet again.

Taehyung turned to the rest, smiling at them to see how delighted they all looked to finally have him back and ushered him in, all of them speaking together as they tried to relay months of information to him in one go while his eyes desperately searched to see his daughter and finally settled on Jungkook’s arms where Soohee happily giggled, being aloof of why everyone else was suddenly being so loud and noisy.

“Go on…bet you have been waiting like crazy to see her, eh?” Jimin voiced by his side, smirking as Taehyung caught sight of Minjae in his arms and petted the child’s head, smiling to see the boy busy with the little yellow soft toy in his hand.

“I can’t believe I’ve been gone this long” he spoke more to himself “feels like yesterday when I heard about them being born” from the corner of his eye he saw Jin walk past him, intending to get Soohee and Taehyung followed behind slowly. His heart rapidly thumping as he caught her dark ruffled fringes, her chubby milky cheeks, a soft mouth just like Jin’s opened to let out giggles as she merrily played with Jungkook, unmindful of whatever was happening.

He was almost fearful when Jin drew her attention towards him, pulling her out of Jungkook’s arms to walk nearer and he could see she was just as fearful to see him, her eyes going wide and unsure as she instantly coiled back into Jin.

“Don’t be scared sweetheart” Jin tried to pacify her when she denied to even look at Taehyung and hugged Jin tighter “come on, turn about…he has been waiting so long to see you” he kissed her head hearing her mewl when he walked closer to Tae.

Jin could see the flash of hurt and uneasy shame on Taehyung’s face and didn’t know how to assure him that she was reacting like this since he was still unfamiliar to her and that it was just a matter of time till she’d be happily playing in his arms as well.

“Tae-I-” “It’s ok” Taehyung smiled, pushing back the sadness from his voice yet forgetting that our eyes have the loudest of voices “she doesn’t know me” “yet” Jin added trying to lift up his mood “give her some time, she’ll soon come around.”

And Taehyung nodded, dropping his eyes to the floor for a moment.

It was almost torturous to see everyone get to feed her, coddle her, caress her and her giggling at them and clinging onto them or even whine for attention from them but the minute Taehyung tried to get her attention, blocking her line of vision as he desperately demanded to her to acknowledge him, she’d turn around with a worried frown, looking for someone to help her out of the situation, fake sobbing to be saved.

Hoseok cackled to see the current state as he watched Soohee begin wailing for help the moment she saw Taehyung take a step closer to the playpen from where he stood and stop her crying to go back to playing whenever he moved back.

“She is doing this intentionally, isn’t she?” Taehyung complained, half grumbling to see Hoseok choke because he couldn’t stop laughing.

“Don’t punish yourself…she’s a bit moody and takes time to get comfortable about new faces…she’ll come around soon enough” he patted his back “however, Minjae is way better at this” and Taehyung had to agree, the boy was a gush of smiles no matter the situation and had looked delighted when he had petted his head.

“You’re right…I can’t blame her though” he sighed watching her chew on the ear of a toy giraffe “I wasn’t there when I should have been, she shouldn’t have to go through this…trying to get accustomed to a stranger and learning to call him ‘dad’”

Jin heard him say that and felt a pang in his heart, quickly calling them for lunch to distract them.

Lunch was grand, the table more stuffed with dishes of various kinds than the long tables of Hogwarts and no one was sure how they were going to eat all of it.

“You cooked all these?” Taehyung felt like his eyes would water at the thought of Jin working through exhaustion to get such a range of dishes ready, instinctively leaning to kiss the side of his face.

“I had help” Jin grinned as he stole a swift kiss and urged them to begin their lunch, getting the party going as they toasted to good health and better days ahead, keeping their drinks light and conversations cheery.

But by the time evening took over the sky, they had moved to comfortably splay on the couch, deep into nostalgic conversations of yesterdays struggles, mishaps, bloodsheds, losses and victories.

Soohee was sleeping peacefully in Jin’s arms as he stayed engaged in the conversation, while Taehyung revelled to finally get to see her closely, gently caressing her little feet that rested on his thigh as Jin sat snuggled half into him. Taehyung spoke, joining the conversation from time to time while his mind stayed occupied with tracing the outline of her tiny toes as he smiled to himself. He absentmindedly compared the size of her feet to his large palm and found it too adorable and wished to hug her and pepper her with a million kisses. Instead, pressed his mouth on Jin’s shoulder, resting his head on his nape as he prayed to never ever lose this again being grateful to know that the wait was finally over.

He could now live the way he had wanted to…with Jin, with his family.

The realisation crashed onto him as if anew and he wrapped his arms around Jin, pulling him closer to himself and Jin was a bit startled, being in the middle of a conversation but caressed Taehyung’s head and let him snuggle into his neck.

“What is it?” Jin asked softly and Taehyung shook his head, peeking over his shoulder to hesitantly cup the back of Soohee’s head, fearing to wake her up before caressing her fuzzy head.

“Nothing” he spoke dragging his fingers over her buttery cheeks before he turned to gaze into Jin’s brown eyes “I’m just really happy”

Jin let out a little laugh before pressing an affectionate kiss onto his lips and Taehyung returned the gesture.

After Namjoon and Jimin left with Minjae, the two decided to tell them about their plan to move back to Jin’s apartment and the dislike to this suggestion was evident on Yoongi, Hoseok and Jungkook’s face as all three tried to give them reasons about why it was better to stay here.

“Jin has no idea how to take care of her, half the time it’s me or Jungkook who can pacify her” Yoongi spoke in a serious tone

“Yeah but now Tae’s here too so-“ “She won’t even let him within a feet and you think he’ll be able to help you?” Jin was cut off by a dead set Hoseok now.

“And he doesn’t even know what she likes and dislikes” Jungkook spoke crossing his arms and rolling his eyes at the suggestion of cutting them off from being around Soohee.

Jin tried to explain to them while they kept throwing points why it was a bad decision and Taehyung just calmly watched them, noting how right Jin had been about Soohee getting everyone around her on a leash. However, their queries and reasons didn’t hold and it was decided that they’d move back tomorrow, leaving the rest almost in tears as they grumbled angrily.

Jungkook decided to leave early, feeling his heart pressed under a heavy boulder to see Jin set a sleeping Soohee in Taehyung’s arms, who watched her as if he was cradling the moon. It hurt him to see how easily the child was now encircled by the two, aware that it would probably be a matter of weeks when Soohee will forget him and be completely concerned only about her parents.

He had never felt so needed until Soohee would look up at him for anything and everything she’d need, she had expectations from him, demands from him and showed how she needed him around. Something nobody else had ever made him feel, and although he had known this would eventually happen anyway tonight as he realized she won’t be needing him to sing to her to sleep or wake her up, she won’t need to hold his thumb while the doctor gave her those nasty painful vaccines, she won’t roll her sippy cup towards him just to let him know she wanted some more juice and neither would she ever again call him ‘dad’.

It was a secret he had planned to keep and didn’t want anyone to know that it had happened a couple of times, a normal thing for any child learning to talk but very shocking and abnormal to him being half ecstatic and half pained to hear her call him that. The day Jin had screamed and wept to hear her call him ‘Appa’ the first time Jungkook delightedly told him that he had been teaching her that but was stunned when his own teaching had turned to shock his mind out a few weeks later when she called him ‘Dad-da’.

“Call me if you need help with moving” he spoke debating if he should give her the goodnight peck he always gave her, and decided otherwise as he watched Taehyung still gaze at her with charmed eyes, tracing her delicate features being lost in thought.

“Sure, goodnight Kook” Jin came to the door to hug him for all the help and Jungkook could tell he was just overjoyed today, hugging him smiling through the hurt as he tried to be happy for him. He couldn’t help but ask his fate why was it that no good thing ever lasted for him…every good thing would eventually end and he was back to square one, alone n unhappy.

That night as they retired to the room upstairs where Jin had spent all the months that Taehyung hadn’t been with him felt different. They spent hours talking, and cuddling, watching their child sleep or dreamily smile while spit bubbles emerged once in a while and Jin smiled watching Taehyung get excited about every little thing she did, even in her sleep.

“I can never thank you enough for enduring everything I put you through and still love me, and never give up on me” Taehyung spoke into Jin’s hair, caressing his face as he dragged his lips over his skin, pressing fond kisses on his eyes, his cheeks, his nose and his lips. Jin hugged him a little tighter, taking the chance to kiss him back as he felt himself losing to the glee it set within him.

“Thank you for coming back to me…a little late but I’ll take it” he grinned referring back to the words Taehyung had said to him before leaving for college, when they had been teenagers, same young hearts, same dream just a different time.

They had no idea at that time that it would come true…so what if they had to go through a world of struggles and immense pain and unimaginable fears and dreadful nightmares…it was worth it if they could feel this blessed lying in each others’ arms.      

It was worth it all because the uncertainties and tragedies only made it more evident…that they were meant to be, and even Fate didn’t dare to challenge that.

á na márië

[A\N] I'll let you in on a little secret_ I had planned this chapter when I had completed writing chapter 3 of this book(when Jin had just stepped into this whole thing without even being aware), so it was like I began with how I was going to bring them back together n then planned how I was gonna make them go through the struggles. lmao I'm cruel 🤐but hey...finally, they're home💜😚

Stay safe and healthy lovelies!