Six of a Kind

이십사: Amberlances

The more and more confident Jimin got with walking, the more boisterous and curious he got. Although he could crawl pretty well, the new founding of his feet took him anywhere much quicker. It was easier to open doors, and his brothers weren't always running in front of him. His knees didn't hurt so much, and he didn't depend on Namjoon carrying him around.

He didn't have the energy to carry him the whole day, though. His seizures still took him out by 5pm at the latest. He still wasn't as fast as his brothers. Although they were small, the others had pretty much caught up with their age group in terms of body use. Namjoon had realised that 4 year olds were much more wiry than he expected.

Namjoon found himself worrying even more now that Jimin was more independent. Even though it was everything he had been wanting, he realised that Jimin was now at more risk of getting injured. When he seized, he fell further. His helmet always protected him, but his head still made a nasty banging sound when he went down. On top of that, Jimin's shakiness seemed even worse. It was like his hips weren't quite aligned. He had been told the shakiness was from seizures, but since Jonghyun had mentioned cerebral palsy, he wasn't so sure. He had searched it up, and now he was certain that Jimin may have a mild case of cerebral palsy. It was just a case of saving up the money for the appointments now.

It also meant that Jimin was going through his curious stage, over 2 years later than his brothers. Anything Jimin could find to climb, he would try. He wasn't often successful, since he had very little strength. He also had started opening cupboards. Namjoon had had the cleaning products up high since the babies were born, but he still worried about Jimin pulling out all the plastic cutlery and trashing the kitchen. It was almost like having a toddler all over again.

His speech hadn't progressed all that much over the Easter holidays. Namjoon had tried. He had spent hours each day over the two week break going over the cards. Jimin still read them, but his pronunciation didn't get any better. Namjoon had given him a piece of paper to try and write on, but his hand was so shaky Namjoon had to guide him. It was like Jimin knew how the words should look, but he couldn't make his hand follow.

*

Namjoon strapped in Jungkook, and sat back in the driver's seat. All of the sextuplets were overexcited, and in need of a nap. They yelled and babbled over each other. Five of them tried to tell their dad about their day all at once, whilst Jimin repeated "Da-dee! Da-dee!" for attention. Namjoon smiled to himself. Although he was tired from the school morning start, he just loved the sound of his kids happy.

As they made their way home, the kids quietened a little, soothed by the vibration of the car. Namjoon looked at them through the rearview mirror. Hoseok had red paint in his hair, as well as all over his freshly washed jumper. Yoongi has juice stains down his own jumper, and Taehyung had scuffed his shoes. He had just a small insole in the left shoe now to keep his gait even.

Seokjin caught him looking, and giggled sleepily. "Daddy!"

"Seokjinnie!" Namjoon cooed back, looking back to the road. "My gorgeous Seokjinnie!"

Seokjin giggled again. "Daddy, have cartoon when home?"

"Don't you need a nap, sweetheart?"

Seokjin started sucking his fingers, his eyelids starting to droop. "Not tied."

"I think you are tired, Jinnie! Look at that sleepy face! You can watch cartoons after you've had a nap, okay? Or you'll get overtired and grumpy."

Seokjin whined, but he truly was too tired to keep arguing. He gave a soft little snuffle, and as Namjoon pulled into his driveway, his head drooped onto his chest, and he was asleep. He was the only one of his brothers to actually drop off, but the rest looked at him sleepily. Jimin was drooling, which meant he had more than likely had seizures that quietened him. Yoongi was next to him that day, and he hadn't said anything, but he was holding Jimin's hand.