After thinking it over a few times, Jin decided that he was actually really relieved that his boss sent him home for the day.

He was initially afraid that this unexpected day off would affect his paycheck and he couldn’t have that happen. Money was a necessity at the moment. Especially with the possibility of three more kids. Jin hasn’t gotten around to calling Bora’s husband’s parents to tell them about the fact that he wanted to adopt the kids.

A lot has been running through his mind lately. There was so much to do and only twenty four hours in each day. Seokjin was exhausted and by the time he had arrived at work about thirty minutes earlier than usual, his boss stopped him.

“Jin, you look like you didn’t get a wink of sleep last night,” his manager, Yoosoon, chuckled when he seen the state Jin was in when he entered through the back door of the kitchen. Yoosoon was literally the only head chef that was polite to Jeonghan and Seokjin. It was refreshing to have someone to look up to here and that wasn’t a complete jerk too.

Seokjin gave a small, sleepy smile, noticing that him and Yoosoon were the only employees there at the restaurant. He must have gotten here earlier than he thought. “I’m fine. I just have a lot going on at home and-” Jin originally wanted to just tell Yoosoon that he was fine. It was a lie that everyone told that actually meant “No, I’m not fine.” But the words were spilling from Jin’s lips before he could stop them. Just telling Yoosoon everything.

About Bora. About Yoongi’s possible social phobia. About a possible three extra kids that he didn't know if he was ready for. About money. About every problem that Jin had been holding inside.

When Jin finally stopped ranting, whispering a small apology when he was all done and out of breath, Yoosoon was sitting there with a sympathetic pout to his lips while he leaned against one of the nearby countertops.

“Damn, I would probably have combusted having to deal with all of that,” Yoosoon scoffed. Jin only nodded and chuckled emptily, moving to the sink to wash his hands and begin preparing the food for the day.

“Go home, Seokjin,” Yoosoon said. Jin stopped in his path and turned to him.

“I can’t. I need this money.”

“I won’t take it out of your check, I promise. I don’t want you to have an accident with the stove or one of the knives because your mind is somewhere else.”

Jin chuckled.

Yoosoon had a point. Jin did have a couple of close calls the other day.

“You sure?”

“Yes,” Yoosoon laughed lightheartedly, already pushing Jin towards the door.

“But I-” Seokjin tried to protest but Yoosoon cut him off again.

“If you don’t leave, I’ll take it out of your check,” he warned.

At hearing that, Jin stopped his pitiful fight at resistance and was rushing towards the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow then!”

As soon as Jin made it home, he ran for his bed, distantly wondering where Jiyong and Heechul went, and was fast asleep before he could fully change out of his uniform.

When he did wake up, he sat up in bed and stared at the wall. With a free day, he had some time to get things done before he had to pick up Yoongi and Hoseok up from school. Usually, Junmyeon would pick them up but he wanted to surprise them. With the little bit of energy he managed to resupply from his extra few hours of sleep, Seokjin slid out of bed with reluctance and got to work.

He had a mental list he was determined to follow for the day:

1. Decide and prepare what to cook for dinner
2. Call Bora’s husband’s parents
3. Reschedule Yoongi’s appointment (he completely forgot about that)
4. Eat some ice cream (he felt he deserved it)
5. Do laundry

Jin would have loved to make the list longer but he knew it would be unrealistic of him to think that he could get too many things done in just a few hours. Especially when he put ice cream on the list. Because that meant nothing more than “eat ice cream and watch television and laugh his windshield wiper laugh as loud as he wanted to.”

Before he began any of this, he called Heechul to scold the older for just leaving without telling him.

“Don’t forget I’m older than you,” Heechul said. “And aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

“Yeah! You should also be ashamed for not telling anyone that you didn’t have to go to work today,” Jiyong shouted from the foreground while they were on the phone. “We could have gotten you breakfast too.” Jin only laughed and hang up the phone. Jiyong and Heechul probably wouldn’t be back for a while. He’s seen the two of them eat. A lot was way too much of an understatement.

As a matter of fact, Jin should eat breakfast too.

Yoongi was so happy today. Ms. Jung said Mrs. Zhang was sick today so now Hoseok’s class was spending the day with Yoongi’s class.

That meant that Hoseok could sit with Yoongi all day and they could play together, learn together, and eat together. Today was such a special day for Yoongi.

Right now, it was snack time and Yoongi and Hoseok were sharing a few apple slices and peanut butter at their desks. They were both given their own and were told by Ms. Jung that they shouldn’t share snacks but they did it anyway. Both giggling to each other whenever Ms. Jung glanced at them and didn’t notice.

“You can have the last apple, Hobi,” Yoongi said pushing the last apple slice to Hoseok’s desk.

“No. You eat it,” Hoseok insisted.

“You eat it.”

“No, you eat it.”

“Fine,” Yoongi chuckled. “We can split it and share it.”

Hoseok’s eyes widened as if that thought hadn’t crossed his mind before Yoongi said it. “That’s such a good idea, Gi!” He kissed Yoongi’s cheek, which Yoongi responded with a quiet “Ew.” But Hoseok knew that it meant “yay” and not “ew” so he smiled and took the half of apple slice Yoongi had placed on his desk.

“Okay, everyone! Mr. Trash Can is coming around so he can take everyone’s trash,” Ms. Jung said while walking around with the trash can that had a smile on the front of it. As the kids obediently disposed of their trash, they all said “thank you” to the little trash can.

“Now that snack time is over, I have an activity for everyone. I want everyone to draw a picture of their family. At the end of the day, we’ll put it on the wall in the hallway so everyone around the school can see your amazing families. Do you want to do that?”

“Yess!” All of the kids yelled simultaneously. The classroom was louder than it usually was with two classes in here. It would have made Yoongi anxious to be surrounded by so many others, but with Hoseok here with him, he felt better.

“Great! Let’s pass out supplies and start drawing then. I’ll even draw my family with you.” Ms. Jung exclaimed with that signature smile of hers that mesmerized the kids every time she smiled.

“We should draw our picture together,” Yoongi said, poking Hoseok in the side just because he felt like it. Hobi giggled and nodded. “We should! Then we can show Daddy and Appa that we work hard on a picture. Together.”

“Okay! You go get the paper and I will get markers.”

“Got it.” Hoseok mocked a salute like he’d seen the men in the movies do and ran to get the colored paper while Yoongi went to get markers from the art bin at the front of the class. He grabbed four markers for them to share and rushed back to their desks where Hoseok was heading back to.

There were so many kids in class that Yoongi was having trouble not stepping on anyone’s toes but he made it back to the desk as soon as Hobi did. The two of them were already picking their markers before they even got the chance to sit back in their seats. They were so excited about drawing their family.

“You draw Appa,” Yoongi said. “And I’ll draw Daddy.”

“Okay! Can I draw you too?” Hoseok asked removing the cap from the pink marker to start drawing his Appa.

“Mhm. And I’ll draw you. Oh man! I forgot Uncle Heechul and Uncle Jiyong!”

“We split that too, Gi. Share!” Hoseok exclaimed.

“Okay so… that means,” Yoongi thought for a second. “You draw three. And I draw three. Equal… right?” Yoongi scratched at his head and looked to Hoseok for an answer.

Hoseok hesitated for a moment, thinking about whether Yoongi was right or not. But then it clicked in his mind that Yoongi was right!

“I think so!”

But wait… Hoseok thought. What about new brothers? They want to be in picture too!

“New brothers…” Hobi mumbled. “We have to draw our brothers too.”

Yoongi had already started using the black marker to draw the circle for their Daddy’s head but Hoseok was right.

Appa told them last night that they might have three more brothers in a little while. Honestly, Hoseok wasn’t listening, just excited that there would be more kids he can love on. But Yoongi tried to listen. He only understood the fact that their new brothers did not have anywhere else to go. And no parents. Yoongi was excited to meet them. He wanted them to have a family too.

But, Yoongi and Hoseok did not know their names or anything else about them so… how would they draw them? They didn’t even know their favorite color so that meant that they couldn’t draw their new brothers in their favorite color. And that wouldn’t be nice.

“Appa said we might have new brothers. He don’t know yet. That means maybe, Hobi,” Yoongi told him.

“I know! So that means they might come.”

That thoughtful pout returned to Yoongi’s lips as he thought about it again. “Well… that’s too many people on one small sheet of paper,” Yoongi argued. “We have me, you, uncles, Daddy, and Appa. We can’t do that.”

“Can we put three flowers then?”

Yoongi shrugged and started drawing again. “Yeah, we can.”

Hoseok squealed and leaned in closer to the paper with Yoongi to resume drawing too.

Yoongi and Hoseok didn’t know that so much time had passed until Ms. Jung had kneeled next to them.

“How is your drawing going, you two?” Ms. Jung smiled, leaning over the paper sweetly.

“We have Daddy and Appa,” Hoseok said pointing to the stick figures in the middle.

“Then we have uncles. That’s Uncle Jiyong and that’s Uncle Heechul,” Yoongi informed. He was a lot less enthusiastic about showing Ms. Jung his work. What if she thought it wasn’t pretty?

“And us! Oh! And we have three new brothers coming so-”

“Might,” Yoongi corrected.

“So,” Hoseok stuck his tongue at the Yoongi and continued anyway. “New brothers are the flowers. We have no space to draw them on paper so they’re flowers.”

Ms. Jung didn’t respond, just bit at her lip while holding her breath.

How should she explain this? Explain to these boys that this… family of theirs wasn’t actually a family. It couldn’t be with two fathers. That’s not how families worked. Hopefully one day, these two will be able to find an actual family and get out of the dangerous environment their fathers put them in by raising them. How selfish of Mr. Seokjin and Mr. Namjoon to raise these boys in such an environment. Where two men loved each other more than platonically.

“Hoseok. Yoongi. Let’s have a little talk,” Ms. Jung whispered, moving to sit cross legged in between them. Yoongi and Hoseok scotted in a little closer.

“You see… a family can’t have two… Appas.”

“We don’t have two Appas,” Hoseok spoke. “We have one Appa and one Daddy.”

“You can’t have that either-”

“Why not?” Yoongi rushed, looking at Ms. Jung already with a bit of angry to his stare.

“Because it’s not… good for two boys to love each other and-”

“That’s not true,” Hoseok frowned in a rush. “Daddy said that love is for everybody. Nothing can stop it!”

“Not even a big, brick wall,” Yoongi added with a giggle, recalling how his Daddy mimicked a tough wall when they talked about it. But he said that when love comes the big, brick wall falls down because love is strong.

Ms. Jung sighed. They have brainwashed these kids. Poor children…

There was no use in trying to change their mind in the middle of class so Ms. Jung decided she would resume talking to them later.

“Okay,” she nodded to the boys before standing and addressing the class. It was time to put everyone’s pictures on the wall and Yoongi and Hoseok were excited. They worked so hard on their picture.

But unfortunately, Ms. Jung took their family picture and put it face down on her desk instead. Telling the two of them that she had to do a little fixing to the picture.

Both of them were sad to hear it. Yoongi was embarrassed that he thought Ms. Jung thought his work was ugly, and Hoseok was on the verge of tears thinking about how not fair it was that everyone got to put their picture on the wall and they couldn’t. Why couldn’t there picture be up there too.

Seokjin had just finished putting Yoongi and Hoseok’s clothes in the washing machine. So while he was waiting for that to finish so he can throw them in the dryer, Seokjin grabbed the tub of ice cream from the freezer, a spoon, and a blanket, bringing everything to the couch with him.

He’d finished most of the stuff on his mental to-do list besides figuring out what to cook for dinner. He was thinking about just ordering an American styled pizza from across town so he didn’t have to cook tonight. Namjoon, Heechul, and Jiyong would definitely love that. Yoongi and Hoseok would too.

Ah, who was he kidding, he was craving some pizza too.

So it was settled: pizza for dinner.

Jin was sure he had been sitting in front of the television for about an hour now, laughing at things he wouldn’t usually find funny, a bit slow minded after eating so much ice cream. This was how Hoseok must feel in the morning.

When the show he was watching went to commercial break, Seokjin hurriedly ran to put the already melting ice cream back in the freezer. He took the number of their favorite pizza place off of the refrigerator and placed it on the countertop so he wouldn’t forget to call later.

Jin was just about to sit on the sofa again when the doorbell rang. With a roll of his eyes, he went to answer the door. He would have to get Heechul and Jiyong a spare key so Jin wouldn’t have to waste his precious time of getting to watch television alone just to open a door.

It was like second nature for Seokjin to look through the peephole before opening the door. He was glad he did because Jin was sure that the man standing on the other side of the door was neither Heechul or Jiyong.

“Um, who is it?” Jin called, still looking through the peephole, watching the tall, broad man closely. He was dressed in semi professional attire as he impatiently moved around in front of the closed door.

“My name is Mr. Chang. I’m looking for either Mr. Kim Seokjin or Mr. Kim Namjoon.”

Seokjin had little time to think as he just proceeded to open the door. “H-hello,” Seokjin said, opening the door just enough so the random man couldn’t just see completely inside his house.

“Hi, are you-”

“Yes, I’m Kim Seokjin,” Jin shook the hand the man had extended with a bit of nervousness but his grip was firm.

“Well, I’m Mr. Chang. I’m from the National Child Protection Agency and I received more than one complaint about the possibility of two children living in dangerous conditions here in this home.” Mr. Chang took his wallet from his pocket and pulled out a card.

Jin stared at Mr. Chang and then at the card Mr. Chang was holding out for him to see. Had he heard correctly? Was he seeing correctly?

“National Child Protection Agency? Dangerous conditions? This has to be some type of mistake,” Seokjin insisted with an unamused, anxious chuckle.

“I don’t think so, sir. This is the correct address. I was advised to check your home. Now if you don’t mind, can I come in to complete this job?”

“I-I,” Jin stuttered. He wasn’t understanding any of this. Who would file a complaint on him and Namjoon? Not just once but several times. Enough times that made the NCPA show up at his door themselves. “Can I see this documentation approving this authorization?” Seokjin asked firmly.

Mr. Chang seemed to be expecting the question as he opened his briefcase just enough to slide out a manilla folder. He handed it to Seokjin and when he opened it, it looked pretty official to Seokjin. Signatures. Their official seal and stamp and everything.

Jin let out a shaky sigh and opened the door wider for Mr. Chang. “Please come in,” he muttered. Mr. Chang bowed slightly and walked into Jin’s home. Just seeing him this far in his home was upsetting for Jin. Watching Mr. Chang pull a pad and a pen from his suitcase and proceeding to roam his home, Seokjin felt himself getting nauseous. He should call Namjoon.

Yeah, he should call-

“Um, Mr. Seokjin? I would like to ask you a few questions while I examine the home,” Mr. Chang said heading for the first room he saw, which was the kitchen.

“Yes?” Jin followed and tried not to feel too bothered by this guy from child protective services checking his home.

“Where do you keep things like drugs, medicine, and alcohol?” Mr. Chang asked blatantly.

“We don’t keep drugs in the home and don’t partake in that activity at all. The medicine is locked away in my bathroom closet and the alcohol is on the highest shelf in that cabinet.” Jin pointed to the cabinet he was referring to, practically trembling as he watched Mr. Chang rummage through the cabinet he pointed to.

He wanted nothing more than kick the man out.

The inspection went on for about twenty, long minutes. Starting in the kitchen, moving to the bathroom, the kids’ room, Heechul and Jiyong’s room, their room, and now they were in the living room. Jin had just been following him around, answering any questions that he had and watching him scribble down notes or check something off as he walked around the house.

He was so glad they were in the living room, the only room he hadn’t officially checked.

“Mr. Kim?”

“Yes?” Jin answered, rubbing at his temples with closed eyes.

“Is Mr. Kim Namjoon… your partner?”

Seokjin’s eyes shot open, seeing that Mr. Chang was looking closely at a picture that Jin had framed on the end table. It was a picture taken on their first Christmas together as a family.

“I-” Jin really wanted to lie. Could this fact get his children take away? There wasn’t a law that he knew of, but Jin wasn’t exactly well acquainted with all of the laws anyway. He had too much going on in his life to even try. “Y-yes, he’s my partner. We raise our children together,” Seokjin confessed in a small voice, preparing himself for the worse.

For a fight, whether that be legal or physical. No one was taking Hoseok or Yoongi away.

“Ah… Now I see why I was called here.” The amusement in Mr. Chang’s tone angered Jin. This wasn’t a laughing matter. “Wow, this was a large waste of my time.”

“What do you mean?” Seokjin questioned, noticing that the man was so close to just bursting into laughter. Did he miss something?

“Your home is safe and there is no evidence of dangerous conditions in environment. I couldn’t see why anyone would call and file a complaint so many times. But now I see why… It’s because you’re same parents.” Mr. Chang smiled.

“Someone called the Child Protective Agency on us… because we’re a same couple? Are you kidding me?”

“I don’t have a definite answer, but I’m sure that’s the reasoning behind this visit. This seems to be a very safe environment to raise children and I can’t see how anyone would feel differently. But same parenting-”

“It’s not harmful to kids. I did tons of research on it,” Jin said.

“I’m aware,” Mr. Chang replied smoothly to Jin’s rushed answer. He slid his pen and pad back into his briefcase and closed it again. “But not everyone is aware. They just believe what they want to believe is right. Anyway, I do sincerely apologize for wasting your time and for scaring you half to death.”

That made Jin laugh just a little bit. He was already feeling a bit lighter as he watched Mr. Chang walk towards the door. Jin rushed behind him to usher him out, hoping he would never have to see the man again.

“This visit won’t show up anywhere, right? It won’t go on any records or anything?”

“No, it’s just a false call. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Thank you so much. Have a great day,” Jin said kindly before bowing at his departure.

Just to be polite, Jin lingered there at the door so it didn’t seem rude to just shut the door as soon as the man stepped outside of the house. But soon as Mr. Chang turned his back, Jin closed the door and locked.

Still a bit shaken, he pulled his phone from his pocket and pressed Namjoon’s contact.