The Meaning of Family: The Collections

Bonding Time with Namjoon (2/5)

Namjoon woke up to something prodding his face repeatedly. When he opened his eyes and his vision focused, he saw the face of the youngest member of the family peering down at him. "Daddy~" Jungkook whispered, finally retracting his finger. "Are you awake?"

"I am now." Namjoon grumbled, sitting up slightly and pulling Jungkook into a cuddle. "What's up, Kookie?"

"It's time to wake up!" The six-year-old exclaimed in a slightly louder whisper.

Namjoon reached out to grab his phone and checked the time. Although it would still be a while before the alarm went off, he knew that Jungkook was correct about it being time to get up. He, Jimin, and Hoseok rarely ever slept until the alarm, and Namjoon knew that Jin was always up well before him to tend to those three every morning. "Alright, let's go!" Namjoon nudged the kindergartener off of him and set him on the floor, sliding out of the bed shortly after. He led Jungkook to the living room where, sure enough, Hoseok and Jimin were sitting on the couch watching SpongeBob as they waited for everyone else to wake up. "Do you guys want to call Jinnie?"

The words had barely left Namjoon mouth before the two of them were jumping off the couch and running towards him. "Yes!" Hoseok exclaimed loudly, bouncing on the balls of his feet while Jimin tugged at Namjoon's hand.

Namjoon chuckled at the actions. "Go sit on my bed while I get the other two up." Again, all it took was the mention of Jin's name to get Yoongi and Taehyung out of bed and running to the master bedroom.

The five boys fought over who got to sit directly on Namjoon's lap (Jungkook and Jimin won) while Namjoon tapped at his phone to begin the facetime call. "Hi, boys!" Jin greeted brightly as soon as the call connected, already ready for the day thanks to the time difference putting him an hour ahead of the family.

"Hi, Dad!" Yoongi greeted cheerfully, very out of character for him in the mornings but still understandable given the circumstances. The other boys followed suit, telling their dad all about their plans for the day.

After a while, when Namjoon decided that he wanted a little time to talk to Jin by himself, he sent the boys off to get dressed (thankful that he had taken Jin's advice and set out clothes for the younger ones the night before). "I can't believe they listened." Namjoon said jokingly as the five boys retreated to their rooms to begin getting ready for school.

"They're good boys." Jin responded. "Because they were raised by a good father."

"Wow, praising yourself even from a thousand miles away." Namjoon teased his husband. "You really are shameless."

Jin rolled his eyes. "I was talking about you, dumbass." A slight blush covered Namjoon's cheeks as he waved Jin's statement off. "I'm serious! You're an amazing father. Real daddy material, if you ask me."

"Okay!" Namjoon exclaimed loudly as Jin burst into laughter. "I'm hanging up now and pretending you did not just say that out of hope that I will not be traumatized by Jungkook calling me that in the future."

Jin calmed down enough to speak. "Alright, I'll call you tonight." The call ended a few minutes later and Namjoon immediately started getting himself ready for work.

He made a gourmet cereal breakfast for himself and the boys before helping them double check that everything they needed was in their backpacks (triple checking in Hoseok's case). Once they were all sure that they were all ready to go, Namjoon took them out to the van and dropped them all off at their schools with a reminder that he would be picking them up from Abuela Martinez's as soon as he was off of work.

***

It was between 5:00 and 5:30 when Namjoon finally made it to Abuela Martinez's house, and he was immediately greeted by Sophia. "Hi, Mr. Joonie~" His son's best friend greeted him. "How was your day today?"