Thread by @astralsvk

#taekookau where Jungkook is hired as a private nanny, unaware the single father is none other than Kim Taehyung, Seoul’s most feared crime boss - and leaves him sassy notes each day.

Until one day Taehyung comes home to: “Where were you? I told you of the kids’ recital today!”

→ mob boss & single father!th
→ masters student!jk
→ jk leaving sassy notes for taehyung like “who dresses their children like miniature adults like this? get some pastels!!” And “are you eating breakfast if you’re already long gone for work when I get here at 7a?”

— will try to write this on my flight tomorrow, lmk if you’re interested :3 idk why I’m on such a crime kick lately ha

When Jungkook first sees the job listing, it’s because of the money - roughly five grand a week, just to work part time, perfectly complementary with his class schedule. To watch a pair of children, ages 3 and 4, after school.

It’s weird, certainly, to ask for little to no official credentials, and offer so much money.

But Jungkook isn’t in a position to ask questions.

His father’s bad back has finally given out, and his mother has little ability to make ends meet otherwise.

So he applies, figuring he probably wouldn’t get it, anyway. (How is he to know that each applicant had been subjected to the most rigorous - illegal - of background checks via the underworld’s connections, and he’d be the only one eligible with zero ties to any rival mob?)

He gets escorted to a mega-mansion, and wonders if it’s some celebrity.

But then he spies /armed guards/ dressed in silk suits at every corner, and changes his theory to well-connected politician or billionaire.

A more careful person probably would’ve run at the first sight of guns.

But hey, Jungkook rationalizes that all rich people can afford some hired guns, and he’s not in a position to question the hand that pays him - not with his father’s medical bills mounting.

His primary point of contact is a man who simply introduces himself as “Jimin”, dressed in a far more luxurious suit than the other household staff, and a jawline to cut glass.

Jungkook had stared at him, before blurring— “so it IS a celebrity’s kids? Are you a model?”

Jimin hadn’t stopped laughing for six minutes. So back to politician, then.

Jimin gives him a shovel talk more frightening than anything- “one step out of line, Jungkook-ah, and we’ll know. You don’t want us to know.”

Jungkook believes him. Simplicity is terrifying.

The kids, on the other hand - goodness, the kids.

Jungkook’s always loved children - it’s why he’s studying what he does - but these kids are a cut above the rest.

The sweetest, most adorable pair of siblings with eyes like wide moonbeams and smiles like sunlight.

Danbi, three, clings to Jungkook’s elbow like a limpet; she’d loved him immediately from the moment he’d shown he could tie her hair in /perfect/ pigtails with the most /perfect/ ribbons.

Seohyun had been harder to win over - sullen and quiet in turns, apparently acting out due to his father’s periods of work-necessitated absence.

But Jungkook’s constant presence for weeks, coupled with his devotion to coming up with new crafts each day for Seohyun, won him over.

And they /adore/ their father, clearly, given they babble about “Tete” about seventy-eight percent of the time.

The only hard rule, Jimin had said, is to not ask questions about his employer’s identity.

But Jungkook still gleans a few facts, from the unsolicited snippets the children drop.

“He’s strong!” Danbi proclaims, making ketchup stars for her Dino nuggets, once. “He can pick both of us up at once!”

“And we have breakfast together every Sunday,” Seohyun adds.

Ah. Probably why Jungkook had been told never to come around on Sunday mornings.

“He’s suuuuper busy because he’s suuuuper important!”

Politician, then?

“He must go to work real early,” Jungkook mutters, once, blearily flipping a pancake, hardly able to keep his eyes open himself.

After all, he arrives every morning at seven to feed the kids breakfast before dropping them off at school, before he heads to his own classes.

And not once has he seen hide nor hair of this famous father, despite the kids insisting they see him at least once every day. So he must come home at some point, only to vanish out the door far before Jungkook arrives.

Danbi nods, pigtails swishing. Jungkook catches a fly pigtail with a fond laugh before it can dip into a bowl of syrup, murmuring “careful, you’re going to be wearing your breakfast, instead of eating it-“

“Daddy doesn’t eat breakfast either,” Seohyun chirps.

Jungkook frowns.

“That’s no good, breakfast is - what did I say, kids?”

Together, the siblings shriek, “the most important meal of the day!”

Jungkook beams at them.

That night, Jungkook decides to bend the rules a bit.

Jimin said to not /ask/ about his employer, not to not /contact/ him.

A man needs to eat breakfast, if he’s clearly such a hard working father to have earned such wild adoration from his two kids.

(Okay, so maybe Jungkook is a little endeared from all the fanatical stories the children tell him. Clearly exaggerated, but one doesn’t earn such intense love from two children without doing something right as a father, Jungkook would know.)

So if he cooks a plate of easily-heatable breakfast as he cooks the kids’ dinner, and leaves it with a note for Tete, then no one has to know.

“Tete-ssi - the kids mentioned you never eat breakfast. You need to lead by example! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for a healthy foundation to a productive day! Just heat this in the microwave, it’s one of my test subjects for the kids’ next breakfast. - JK”

— ok I’m tired but will try to resume writing on the plane tom hehe interactions make me happy! 🤍

The next morning, Jungkook is violently woken up by the shrill tone of his phone ringing - at 5:30am.

He flips it open without looking at the caller ID, a number he doesn’t recognize. “Wha- hello? Whozzit?”

“Who told you?”

The voice on the other line is - rich. Deep, deeper than anything Jungkook’s ever heard, rumbling with the faintest hint of a growl that sends a shiver down his spine.

He blinks blearily, waking up more by the second.

“Huh?”

“Who told you,” the voice repeats, slow and menacing and- not delicious, he tells himself. “Tete.”

Jungkook is well and truly confused now. He sits up, rubbing at one eye. “…wha?”

“Who told you about the name Tete?”

Jungkook blinks. Tete. Tete, like the kids’ father?

“Who is this,” he asks instead, frowning.

“Which family are you working for? How did you find out about the name that Danbi and-“

Jungkook’s blinks wide awake.

The kids. How does this man know the kids? Who- “who the hell are you?” Jungkook demands, jumping up from bed. “How do you know the kids’ names, huh?”

A pause. “Excuse me?”

“Is this a ransom call? Is that it? I’ll have you know, sir, I’m going to call the police right now—“

The voice on the other end of the line splutters. “Who am I? Who the fuck are /you/, you little shit, I’m going to have you hung up by your entrails if you don’t spill who told you about-“

“If you think I’m telling you a single thing about them, you’re out of your mind!”

Jungkook hangs up. Briefly contemplates calling the police, but decides to call Park Jimin instead.

“Hello?”

“Jimin-hyung!” Jungkook yelps. “The kids are in danger!”

Jimin’s voice sharpens in an instant. “What do you mean? What danger?”

“This, this gangster sounding guy called, he was all growly and kinda sexy but mostly shady! He, he knew their names, and he was trying to extort information out of me about them!”

Jimin’s other line rings - Taehyung.

“Hang on, Jungkook. Don’t fucking hang up - I’m going to be right back.” He switches the line to Taehyung. “Tae, we have a pro-“

“Who the fuck is this Jeon Jungkook?” Taehyung hisses. “Where the hell did we find him!”

“…wha?”

—

Jimin is crying.

Of laughter.

Hasn’t been able to stop, ever since they sorted out the whole mess of this ordeal after about an hour.

“How the fuck did I know about Tete? Is he daft? How else, the kids won’t stop singing about their beloved dad Tete!“ Jungkook rants.

Taehyung’s jaw clenches as he glares stonily at the counter, chewing begrudgingly on the rabbit shaped egg.

Jungkook’s voice continues to ring in shrill outrage, on speaker on Jimin’s phone. He hasn’t realized yet that the very “Tete” is in the room.

Jimin is slumped over a chair, shoulders trembling, eyes watering with tears as he bites on his fist to quiet his laughs. “Oh my god,” he wheezes. “There’s two of them.”

Overprotective idiots.

“And /that/ was Tete?!” Jungkook demands. “Using that kind of language- I think he threatened something with my entrails! That’s so inappropriate and not child friendly!”

“They weren’t in the room,” taehyung mutters irritably, too quiet to be heard. Chews on the bread.

“And what’s his voice so sexy for anyway, when it’s threatening me, huh?”

Taehyung chokes on a piece of sausage at the same time Jimin cracks, wailing aloud.

—

That evening, taehyung arrives home from work to find his two kids awake and giggling, sending mysterious glances to one another.

“What,” he huffs, even as he scoops them up, one in each arm. “What are you two laughing about?” He peppers kisses along their cheeks.

Seohyun giggles and wipes his cheek. “Gross, drool!” He accuses.

Taehyung mock gasps, affronted. “Drool? /drool/? I am your father-“

“Daddy!” Danbi shrieks. “Kookie left you something.”

As if on cue, the two of them burst into laughter again.

Taehyung lets his children drag him all the way to the kitchen, curious despite himself. After that debacle of a morning, he’d admittedly half feared Jungkook might quit - the kids are already so attached to him that they can’t seem to wait until his next visit.

On the counter, Taehyung looks down - and stares.

And stares some more.

In the background, two children’s escalating giggles fill the air.

It’s…a bento. Kind of.

“Tete-ssi!” The note reads, with a frowny face. “You don’t get a cute one today, for your rudeness. But I still made you a lunch, since I guess I was rude, too. Let’s both apologize, be cordial and work on a more constructive communication style that the kids can learn from - JK”

Taehyung’s lips twitch.

He taps a finger on one particularly aggressive eyebrow on the something-shaped-riceball.

Jungkook, was it?