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“Are we there yet?”
Taehyung smiled and shook his head fondly, eyes momentarily leaving the road so he could look at the younger in the rearview mirror.
“Fifteen more minutes, baby.”
Jungkook pouted and whined, “But that’s soooooo long!”
“It’s not that long, Kookie.” Taehyung replied, “Hey, how about you choose the music, huh?”
The younger immediately brightened up, his eyes shining behind his cute round glasses, “Twice! Twice!” at Taehyung’s quirked eyebrow, he added, “Twice please, Daddy.”
“Alright, bun. Hang on.” Taehyung changed the playlist playing to one he titled Kook’s Little Songs. He pressed play and sure enough, the first song to start blasting through the car was TT.
The older fondly watched as Jungkook immediately began doing the choreography, unrestrained despite the seat belt holding him back. He belted out the lyrics like he hadn’t a care in the world, and Taehyung loved seeing him like this, so free.
I’m like TT, just like TT
ireon nae mam moreugo neomuhae neomuhae
A laugh bubbled out of Taehyung’s throat as Jungkook stomped his foot and placed his hands on his hips just like in the dance. The little even pouted too, fully into the song. He just looked so adorable that Taehyung wanted to pinch his cheeks.
I’m like TT, just like TT
Tell me that you’ll be my baby
The singing was now bordering on screeching, but as long as Jungkook was enjoying himself, Taehyung didn’t care.
The rest of the fifteen minute drive consisted of more girl group covers courtesy of Jungkook himself. This included Dance the Night Away (little Kook was a Twice stan, okay), as well as Red Velvet’s Peek-A-Boo and Blackpink’s As If It’s Your Last. Taehyung really wished he hadn’t been driving, otherwise he totally would have filmed the whole thing to send to their hyungs.
“DADDY, IT’S THE ZOO!” Jungkook pointed frantically out the window, eyes wide with excitement. He was practically bouncing in his seat.
Taehyung chuckled, “I can see that, baby.” He quickly parked the vehicle and got out to go over to the younger’s side. As he unbuckled the little’s seat belt, Jungkook whined, ever the impatient one. “Hey,” Taehyung gave him a more firm look, “No whining, Kookie. You want to be a good boy for Daddy, don’t you?”
Jungkook nodded quickly, “Y-Yes, Kookie wanna be good. Sorry, Daddy. He do better now, promise.”
A tweak to the nose made Jungkook’s face scrunch up cutely and the older smile again. “Alright, are you ready to go see the animals, bun?”
The sound the younger made was something between a squeal and a laugh, and he began clapping his hands together. “Yes, yes, yes! Please!”
After paying to get in, Taehyung took the little’s hand tightly and they started their journey through the zoo. “Where do you want to go first?”
Jungkook pursed his lips and furrowed his brows cutely as he thought, before he beamed up at the other. “Tigers!”
“This way, then.” They probably made it twenty feet down the pathway before the younger got distracted. Taehyung was kind of expecting that though, so it was okay.
“Daddy!” Jungkook exclaimed, waggling his finger obnoxiously in the direction of an enclosure to their left. “Look it! Look it! Gorillas!”
The older allowed himself to be pulled over to the pen so they could see the gorillas closer up. They watched a large silverback and a smaller female gorilla eating some apple chunks from a food dish. The large one took another slice and unexpectedly shoved it into the female’s mouth. She looked up at him before beginning to chew. He seemed to take that as acceptance to his courtship because he visibly puffed out his chest proudly.
“Looks like someone’s got a crush.” Taehyung mused, causing the little at his side to giggle.
“He likes her,” he agreed, then tilted his head as if he just thought of something. “The big one looks like Joonie-hyung.”
The older couldn’t help but burst out laughing in surprise, but as he looked at the animal, he had to agree as well. The way the silverback walked down to the little pond at the back of the pen was eerily reminiscent of the aforementioned Kim Namjoon. “He does, doesn’t he?”
Kookie grinned, “Yeah.”
They continued on their walk, Jungkook humming and skipping as they went. They detoured (again) to see the giraffes, little Kookie looking on with wide eyes at the fantastically sizable creature. It was very surprising to even Taehyung just how large they really were. After that, they stopped at the petting zoo and spent a good half hour brushing the goats. Taehyung took a picture of the younger with an alpaca at Jungkook’s request, because, “This ‘paca looks like Jinnie-hyung!” and Jin needed to know about it immediately, apparently (Jin’s response was a bunch of keyboards smashes and hearts).
“Are you gonna find animals that look like all your hyungs today, baby?” Taehyung questioned.
“Uh huh!” the little replied, his eyes nearly disappearing with how hard he was smiling.
By the time they had actually made it to the tigers, they’d been there for nearly two hours, and Jungkook was slowly losing all the energy he’d had before in the heat of the sun. He still refused to go home before seeing the tigers, though. “Tigers are the bestest, Daddy.”
Taehyung smiled as he used a wet napkin to clean up the remnants of blue cotton candy from around the younger’s mouth. “Yeah, why’s that, bun?”
“'Cause tigers are protective and really, really beautiful,” he explained, before becoming shy. The little looked down at his feet and bit his lip as his cheeks stained a pretty rose colour. “Just like Daddy.”
God, Taehyung was so terribly enamoured with him it was insane. “Aigoo!” he cooed, pinching Jungkook’s cheek softly. “That’s so sweet, baby.”
Jungkook giggled, squirming at the praise. “What animal am I, Daddy?”
“Well, a cute little bunny rabbit, of course,” the older replied as he stood up from the bench they had been sat on. “Just like the ones we saw at the petting zoo. Except, you’re much cuter than them.”
The younger slapped his hands over his cheeks as they turned an even darker hue, nearly bright red now. Jungkook looked down and whined out, “Daddy!”
Taehyung didn’t think he would ever get over how cute it was that the younger still got embarrassed over his compliments. “It’s true!” he insisted, “No one’s more beautiful than my bunny.”
Jungkook peeked through the gaps in his fingers, “Daddy’s bunny?” he asked shyly.
“Daddy’s cutest, most adorable bunny.” the older corrected, just so he could admire the little’s blush for a bit longer. Sure enough, Jungkook whined and threw his arms around Taehyung, hiding his face in his neck. “Alright,” Taehyung continued, changing the subject. He didn’t want to overwhelm the younger, even if it was with good feelings. Not right now, anyway. “How about we go see the tigers now, huh baby?”
Jungkook nodded and pulled away from him again so they could head towards the tiger pen. Their hands swung, intertwined between them, as they got closer and closer to the most anticipated exhibit. Once they could see they familiar orange and black stripes, the younger squealed and ran excitedly away from his caregiver. He jumped up on the safety fence so he could get a better look, and though Taehyung knew that the predator couldn’t get to the little, he was still worried about the younger hurting himself.
“Careful, bun.” Taehyung admonished gently, hands moving to hold Jungkook’s hips just in case he fell as soon as he was close enough to do so.
Jungkook, on the other hand, wasn’t paying any attention to his hyung at all. His gaze was locked on the vibrantly colored, female bengal tiger crossing right in front of them. The dark, blood orange fur shimmered more brightly in the beams of sunlight, and the black stripes and white detailing seemed to contour her face and pattern her body breathtakingly.
“I think you’re right, bun,” the older mused, pressing a kiss to the back of the little’s head but eyes still entranced by the magnificently intimidating animal prowling along the ground less than ten feet from them. “Tigers are pretty cool.”
The two of them watched as the creature turned to look at them briefly, eyes flashing with a warning before she turned away once more. She reached the front left corner of the enclosure, where two cubs who couldn’t have been more than a few months old wrestled in the dirt. The mother – Taehyung assumed she was the mother anyways, with how protective she was being – plopped herself down nearby and her two cubs pounced on her, yipping happily at her presence. One jumped on her back and began biting at her ear, while the other one turned over on its back and started pawing at her face. The larger tiger only halfheartedly growled at them before giving in to their antics. Watching the animal like this, Taehyung could almost picture the tiger giving a fond rolling of her eyes.
“Protec'ive,” Jungkook said, breaking the comfortable silence that had formed between them. The little’s voice was quieter, and Taehyung could tell that he was getting tired. The younger turned to look at the older with a sleepy smile, “Just like Daddy.”
“Just like Daddy.” Taehyung agreed. He shuffled the younger around and brought him into his embrace invitingly. Jungkook didn’t hesitate to jump up and wrap his legs around the older’s waist, arms curling around his shoulders similarly. The little shoved his face into Taehyung’s neck as the other held the back of his thighs so he wouldn’t fall.
“Tired, Daddy.” the little slurred.
“I know, bun. It’s past your usual nap time.” Taehyung began walking them through the park towards the entrance. “You can sleep now, okay baby?”
“M'kay.” Jungkook hummed, already half asleep.
Taehyung was glad that no one gave them any trouble as they went. A few ladies saw them and turned to each other to coo at the cuteness, but they thankfully didn’t receive any dirty looks or anything.
Once they reached the car, Taehyung settled the younger into the back seat, doing up his seat belt easily. He draped his Winnie the Pooh blanket over him and tucked his stuffed bunny into his arms. Jungkook was completely asleep now, his face peaceful, lips pouted out just the slightest bit. The older quickly pulled out the little’s pacifier from the travel bag and made sure that it was clean before slipping it between the younger’s lips. Jungkook latched on to the teat of the soother, immediately suckling happily and letting out a sigh of relief in his sleep.
After pressing a loving kiss to his forehead, Taehyung started the drive home. It was quiet compared to the drive earlier, but no less comfortable. The older was more than content with sneaking glances in the rearview mirror so he could see Jungkook’s adorable sleepy pout. And if he took a few (read: about one hundred) pictures of him with his phone, the younger didn’t need to know.