Six of a Kind

사십사: The Visitor

Rain pounded at the window, distracting Jungkook from his Barbie games. He loved the rain, especially when he got to sit in the doorway and read his book. He was always very careful not to get the pages wet, and sometimes had to sit back in the rain got pushed in by the wind. Daddy complained, and said he was letting the heat out, so he didn't get to sit there all too often.

Jungkook hitched his glasses up. He had finally caved into his fantasies of looking cool and mysterious, and decided to wear his glasses properly. It had taken him a few minutes to get used to the feeling of them on his nose, but with everything in sharp focus, he soon forgot they were there. They weren't quite the frames he would like, since they were a few years old now, but it would do for now.

A gust of wind sent more rain hard into the window, much to his delight. He dropped his hood from around his head, fully soaking in the sound of pattering rain. It helped wash out the overwhelming sounds of his brothers.

Yoongi was practising his new song on his keyboard so that he could perfect it before his next piano lesson tomorrow. Namjoon had been surprised that Yoongi had kept up with his passion for the subject. Most of the time, his kids decided they were madly in love with something, then the next month, they had forgotten it had existed. Yoongi seemed pretty serious about his piano, and frowned slightly as he worked through his mistakes.

Hoseok and Seokjin were playing with a pack of football TopTrumps, a game that Jungkook had been banned from playing because he was a bad loser. He kept lying about the number asked from him so that he could win, then cried when he got caught out. They were doing it fairly quietly, but with Yoongi's piano playing, they kept having to speak up for Seokjin's sake.

Taehyung was playing Wii Sports on the TV with the volume louder than necessary. He was bowling, and kept yelling with every ball he threw. Jungkook was pretty sure he'd be running around if he could, but he was still anchored to the floor by his cast. It was coming off tomorrow, which is why Taehyung was overexcited and being loud.

Namjoon and Jimin sat on the sofa together, making their way through a small picture book. Jimin's eye was still swollen shut with all the bruising, which made him grumpy, but with some pain killers, he was doing okay. His finger pointed along the words that Namjoon slowly pronounced, reading as best he could.

Jungkook couldn't wait for Christmas. It was still over a month away, but he was really hoping they were going to get some snow this year. It usually snowed every year, but with their main road location, most of the snow turned slushy and grey, and the snow in the garden didn't last very long with five brothers competing. He wanted to go to the park, and build a snowman. For now, he would just have to settle with the rain.

The house plunged into sudden darkness, which spooked Jungkook. He turned around at the new silence, taking in the dead ceiling light and the blank TV. Taehyung was still pointing the remote at the screen, confused. The dark clouds covered the sun above, so not much natural light was coming in through the windows.

"What's happened, daddy?" Hoseok asked timidly. He was still holding his cards tight.

Namjoon sat up quickly. "It's just a power cut, boys, because of the weather. It'll come back on soon, okay? Don't stress."

Jungkook ran his tongue across the new gap in his teeth. Lots of kids at school had lost their first milk teeth, but for whatever reason, the sextuplets were a little behind on that. To make up for it, they had all started to fall out at once. Jungkook had lost just one of his front top teeth, the same as Taehyung, whilst one of Hoseok's bottom ones had fallen out. Both of Yoongi's top front teeth had fallen out within half an hour of each other, giving him a lisp. Jimin had accidentally swallowed one of his bottom teeth just yesterday, and Seokjin's front top teeth were both wobbling. He kept pushing them forward with his tongue, which made Hoseok scream. His second front tooth wobbled with the movement.