Two Months Later

“Freeze! Put your hands up!”

“Yeah, don’t move!”

“I swear I didn’t do it, officer,” Taehyung yelled as Hoseok and Yoongi pointed finger guns at him.

“Then who did it?” Hoseok said, putting his imaginary, little finger gun back into its imaginary holster. He even folded his arms across his chest and gave a smug face like a cop would. They really needed to stop him from watching so many crime shows.

“It was Kookie!” Taehyung ratted.

Jungkook gasped as he dropped his chocolate chip cookie into his cup of milk from being startled. “Aww,” he pouted. The pout only lasted a second as he dug his hand into the cup for his cookie. When he finally got it out, his hand dripping with milk, he yelled back,” No, I didn’t! It was Jiminie.”

“It was Daddy- I mean, Joonie!” Jimin said quickly pointing up at Namjoon whose lap he was sitting in. It wasn’t the first time that Jimin had mistakenly called Namjoon and Jin Daddy or Appa. Yoongi and Hoseok literally said it all day and the triplets were literally spending most of the week at their house anyway. Jin always told them that it was okay to call them whatever they liked and ensured that none of them filled pressured to do it just because Yoongi and Hoseok were.

Namjoon’s jaw dropped because, indeed, he was the culprit behind the curious case of Yoongi’s stolen cookies, but he made an agreement with Jimin that they wouldn’t tell anyone. But Jimin gave him up so easily.

Jin giggled at the situation from his spot on the sofa. Currently, he was on Namjoon’s laptop, looking at the two houses that he and Namjoon had narrowed down during their house hunting. It was now up to Jin to pick which one he preferred because Namjoon apparently doesn’t care which one they get. But that was just an excuse so he didn’t have to be responsible for the decision they made.

There was several bumps in the road, but recently Namjoon and Jin had just finalized the adoption and gotten full custody of the three children. Technically, Seokjin was the documented guardian. It made Namjoon uneasy but Jin assured him that even if on paper Jin was the only parent, Namjoon would be just as much a parent as he was.

However, they hadn’t gotten around to telling the triplets yet, and Jin was thinking that today would be the best time to tell them about both the adoption and the fact that they would no longer be living with their grandparents. That would probably be the hard part. However, Heechul and Jiyong took a flight back to America to handle some things with their jobs and would be back in a few days so they had the time to explain it thoroughly to all five children.

Clicking a few more things on the laptop, Jin gently shut the laptop and focused his attention on the kids and his lover.

“We were supposed to be a team,” Namjoon gasped, straining his neck to down at Jimin. The boy’s eyes widened immediately. It seemed like little Jiminie forgot all about their little plan and immediately tried to fix it.

“Oops! I meant Jinnie! Jinnie, did it.”

“Wow. You’re just gonna blame poor, little me?” Seokjin feigned a pout and buried his face in his palms like he was crying. At that, all of the triplets gasped while Hoseok and Yoongi giggled quietly at the ploy while trying to keep up their role as officers searching for missing cookies. And good officers didn’t laugh. At least the ones in the shows they liked to watch didn’t laugh.

“Oh no!” Taehyung said, way louder than he had to.

“I have cookies to share with Jinnie,” Jungkook said, grabbing his last two cookies and running to the rescue.

“Tell them, Joonie,” Jimin said quietly. He was trying to be quiet and secretive about it, but Jin heard them perfectly clear. “Jinnie is sad.”

“You’re right, Jimin,” Namjoon responded. He reached over behind the couch pillow and pulled a folded paper towel filled with five cookies from behind there. “I have your cookies, Yoongi.”

Completely forgetting about their act, Yoongi and Hoseok cheered that they’d solved the case successfully. The triplets joined in soon after, even Jimin who was in on the crime but Namjoon and Jin didn’t mention that part. Yoongi happily skipped over and took the cookies from Namjoon’s outstretched hand.

“I want ice cream,” Jin thought aloud while he ate the two cookies that Jungkook had placed (more like forced) into his hand a few moments ago. And that was how Jin and Namjoon found themselves at the nearby grocery store in sweatpants with their five kids happily exclaiming their excitement about the ice cream to come.

When they got back home, they all decided to enjoy the cold treat in Namjoon and Jin’s bed. It was a space that was comfortable and they can all cuddle together.

“Hey, you guys,” Namjoon muttered, eating a spoonful of ice cream. Just by his tone, Jin knew what Namjoon was about to say. So Jin slowed down his eating and held Jungkook, who was cuddled against his side, a little tighter.

“Me and Appa have something really important to say,” Namjoon continued. Jin thought about correcting Namjoon’s choice of words. Referring to themselves as Daddy and Appa probably wouldn’t be a good idea seeing that they just lost their parents two months ago. He wanted the kids to do it at their own pace. And even if they never did, that would be fine with him.

But none of them seemed to notice, just listened intently, noticing the atmosphere shift a bit.

Hoseok scooped more ice cream into his mouth and muttered, “What is it, Daddy?”

“Did we do something bad?” Yoongi asked. It was rather unlike Yoongi but Jin was pleased to see Yoongi allowing Taehyung to sit so closely to him. Even letting Tae cuddle closer to him when he thought they were in trouble.

“No, sweetheart,” Jin said softly. “We just want to say that we’ll be moving from this house and into a new one soon. It’s not that far but it’s going to be much bigger with a lot more space for you to play and grow big and tall. There’s even a bigger bathtub for when you wanna take baths together.”

“You’re… leaving?” Jimin said sadly. He looked up at Namjoon with a sad, slightly frightened pout. When Jimin said that, Jungkook and Taehyung froze. Jungkook even kept the spoon in his mouth for a few moments and looked around cluelessly.

“What…?” Taehyung whispered. He looked up at Yoongi. “No more play time?”

“Hey, hey,” Namjoon rushed. He set his bowl of ice cream on the bed side table and began to pull the rest of them who weren’t already there, up to the top of the bed. Now all of the kids were snuggled between Jin and Namjoon. Jin was almost falling out of the bed and just one look at the way Namjoon was laying was enough evidence to show that he was close to falling out of the bed too. They would also need to get a bigger bed for times like these.

“We are not leaving you three behind. Actually, you’re going to be living with us,” Namjoon said softly.

“Your grandparents can’t take care of you because they are at an age where it’s really hard for them to do that. That’s why you’re going to be with us,” Jin explained, caressing Jungkook’s arm instinctively. He could vaguely feel Jungkook trembling. “So we are going to take care of you. You’ll be living with us from now on. Are you okay with that?”

“Will Joonie be there?” Jimin asked. Jin chuckled. He had to admit that he was a bit jealous at how attached Jimin was to Namjoon, but he had no doubt that Jimin liked him just as much as he liked Namjoon.

“Yup. I’ll be there everyday when you wake and every night when you go to sleep. And that’s for all of you. We’re going to be there for all five of you whenever we can,” Namjoon said, poking at Jimin’s chubby cheeks, making him giggle.

“Me and Hobi too?” Yoongi whispered out of nowhere, holding his empty bowl in his lap.

“Of course! That’s why I said five. You are all important to us. We won’t forget about any of you. You’re still our Yoongi-Bear and Hoseok is still our Hobi,” Namjoon said.

“Yeah. But now we have Yoongi-Bear, Hobi, Jiminie, TaeTae, and Kookie,” Jin said, tapping each of their noses as he said their nicknames. “All of you. All of you will get the utmost love from us. Because we’re a family.”

“Family!” Hobi yelled randomly.

“FAMILY!” Taehyung hollored afterwards before they hugged each other. Jin chuckled in confusion but found it oddly endearing anyway. Meanwhile, Namjoon was clutching his stomach in a fit of laughter at the randomness of the situation.

“Yes, family,” Namjoon said, finally sighing as his laughter slowly came to an end.

“Do we have to call you Appa and Daddy now?” Jungkook asked.

“No. You can call us whatever you want,” Jin reassured. “A title like that doesn’t make us a family. Our love makes us a family. Okay?”

Seemingly already knowing that Hobi and Tae would do it, Namjoon, Jimin and Yoongi joined in this time. All of them yelling the word, “Family!” at the top of their lungs. Now, it was Jin and Jungkook laughing uncontrollably at the scene.

When the sun was beginning to fall, the triplets insisted that they stay over for the night. So with a simple phone call to Mr. and Mrs. Kang, it was arranged. By bedtime after eating pasta, they were all cuddled up in Namjoon and Jin’s bed again. But now that some of the kids were tightly cuddled on top of them, there was more space for everyone to sleep. It wasn’t entirely comfortable but it was more than what Jin could ever ask for.

In the middle of the night, when Jin was on the verge of sleep and awake, someone whispered.

“Don’t leave me, Jinnie.” It was Jungkook whispering into his ear. He didn’t know if the youngest was awake, but responded anyway.

“I won’t, Kookie. I’m right here.” Jin held Jungkook impossibly close. “I’m right here, sweetheart.”

After a week of thinking, Jin finally picks which house he wanted. It’s the closest to the  house that they currently are staying in and Junmyeon’s townhouse, and it was right on the outskirts of the main city. Jin’s favorite part about the house has to be how open it is on the main floor. He’s a bit weary about the stairs but they can easily buy a gate for it so the kids didn’t have any mishaps. And now that Jin was thinking about it, he was so excited.

“Oh, Joon!” Seokjin shouted. He shut the laptop and was rushing from their room towards the living room where he was sure Namjoon was stuffing his face with chips while the kids played around. Namjoon had grown quite accustomed to being able to tune out the noise around him so he can watch television. Jin was still working on it though.

“Yes?” Namjoon said. Jin hopped onto the sofa next to Namjoon giddily and swung his arms around Namjoon’s neck.

“What’s got you so happy?”

“I picked a house!” Jin laughed, pressing kisses to Namjoon’s lips. “I picked the first one. We can call the realtor tomorrow and start everything.”

“Finally,” Namjoon bantered causing Jin to pull at his ear.

“Daddy! Appa! Someone just parked in front of the house,” Yoongi said as he stopped playing with his toy puppy and pointed towards the window.

“Oohhh, it’s a really pretty car too,” Hoseok marveled. Soon, the triplets were running over to look out of the window too. While Namjoon went to check the window along with the children, Jin just went to the front door.

But before he could open the door and look for himself, the doorbell rang. A bit startled, Jin turned to look at Namjoon briefly. However, he was trying to calm the kids down and get them all away from the window.

So after clearing his throat, Jin unlocked the front door and opened it.

He was surprised to say the least to find a woman standing there. She had long black hair, slightly tanned skin, and really prominent cheekbones. The woman was wearing very expensive looking clothing too. She was such a beautiful woman in all honesty. Her smile was also a gorgeous one; however, that smile was only short lived when she seen Jin open the door. Almost like she didn’t expect Seokjin to be the one to open the door.

“Hello,” Jin greeted with the kindest smile he could muster. “How may I help you?”

“Um,” the woman genuinely looked utterly confused. Maybe she had the wrong address.

“Are you looking for someone? Maybe I can direct you to the correct address,” Jin offered, seeing the expression on her face.

“Um, no. I was actually wondering if-”

“Appa! Help me! Taehyung and Jimin are trying to give me germs!” It was Hobi, running towards him laughing intensely. He jumped into Jin’s arms and held onto him tightly.

“Appa is trying to handle something important, sweetheart. Go run and hide,” Jin uttered, prying Hoseok’s tight grip off of his shirt to put him back on the ground. In no time, Hoseok was running off again laughing and screaming like a maniac as Jimin and Taehyung ran after him.

“Sorry, I-”

“Is that Hoseok?” The woman asked. She was frowning heavily almost as if she was horrified at the fact.

But she shouldn’t be the horrified one here. Jin should be. And Jin was. This random woman just called his son’s name. How can she look so frightened right now?

“Excuse me, but-”

“Where’s Namjoon?” She demanded.

“What?”

Jin stared in shock for a moment. His mouth opening and closing a few times before he retreated inside of the house. He doesn’t know how he didn’t notice the fact when he first opened the door, but the woman was holding a blank, white envelope. The same envelope that they found in the mailbox every month, filled with money.

“Please wait a moment,” he told the woman. He didn’t even wait for her confirmation and honestly didn’t even know if she heard him before he was shutting the door in her face.  

“Namjoon,” Jin called, trying to appear as calm as possible with all of his kids around.

“Yeah? Who is it?” Namjoon said, standing. Jin didn't answer immediately, just grabbed Namjoon’s forearm and dragged him to the kitchen. Away from the kids.

“What’s the matter?”

“The woman outside. I…” Jin really didn’t want to have to admit this. He didn’t want this to even be true. “I think that’s Hoseok’s biological mother.”