Single Father • Namjoon + BTS!Kids

xiii.

"Please, Daddy?"

"No."

"Please please please?"

"Taehyung, I already said-"

Taehyung started screaming, stamping his foot on the ground. "BUT I WANT IT, DADDY! I WANT IT!"

Namjoon put his hand over his face as other customers turned to stare at the spectacle. "Taehyung, please-"

"NO, DADDY! I WANT IT SO I HAVE IT!"

"That's not how it-"

"MINE! IS MINE!" Taehyung wrapped his arms around the box and sat on the ground.

Namjoon just sighed. "Really, Tae? We're going to play the throw a tantrum when I don't get my way game today? Is that what big boys do?"

Taehyung ignored him.

"C'mon, Tae. I don't have time to waste on this. Get up and put it back on the shelf so we can go-

"NO!"

"Tae, we really need to g-"

"NO!"

Ten minutes of Taehyung screaming at Namjoon, rolling on the ground, and eventually attracting the store security officer left Namjoon at the checkout line with Taehyung happily dropping his box on the conveyor belt.

All of that for one box of Legos, Namjoon thought, sighing as he pulled out his wallet and glared at the cash register. One box of plastic bricks that costs me $20.

Namjoon finally managed to strap Tae into his seat in the car before driving home. He tried to spend a little alone time with each of his sons so they didn't end up just feeling like they were only getting 16.67% of his love, but just helping Namjoon pick out groceries hadn't been enough for Tae.

No, he'd had to have a meltdown in the middle of the story so everyone could see what a terrible father I am.

Namjoon sighed, unbuckling Taehyung and letting him run inside ahead of Namjoon so he could start building whatever it was he was trying to build. Even if the box showed one thing, Namjoon was pretty sure Taehyung would create something entirely different.

Namjoon went inside the house, a bag of groceries in one arm while he closed the door with the other. "Jin?" he called out.

Jin ran over to the door, hugging Namjoon's leg. "I took care of everyone! Everybody was okay! Nobody came to the door! And somebody left a message on the phone but I don't know who 'cause I was playing with Hobi and we never answer the phone because Daddy told us not to!"

Namjoon smiled, patting Jin's head. "Good boy. You can play some more before dinner, okay? I'm just going to check the voicemail before I start cooking."

Jin grinned and ran off.

Namjoon set the groceries down in the kitchen and went into his bedroom - the only room in the house not occupied with children - and turned to the phone, hitting the button to play messages.

1 new message

play message? yes no

playing new message

"Namjoon, it's me. Saturday, 1:00. I have an appointment with my lawyer, and you need to be there. Call me back when you get this for details." A click as she hung up.

Namjoon took a deep breath before hitting the redial button.

She picked up after two rings. Namjoon was positive she could have picked it up immediately but that she'd made him wait instead. She was like that. "Yes."

He swallowed. It was harder than he'd imagined. "You called. The message. Details."

"Yes." There was a beat of silence. "I've talked it over with my partner, and we want kids. But I don't want to go through childbirth again. Four times was four too many." Another beat, as though she expected a response from him. Well, she didn't get it. "I'll be concise since the last thing I want to do it waste your time. I want Jin."

"What?"

"I want custody of Jin."

It was the last thing Namjoon had ever expected to hear from her, and he forced himself to say something - anything - so he didn't freeze up. "Why Jin?"

"He's the oldest, the most mature. And he's a beautiful child. He has a lot of potential, if he's brought up properly." A put-down, to remind him that he was struggling just to make dinner every night.

"I thought you didn't want to be bothered with the kids."

"Not with all six of them. One is manageable."

"You'd split them up."

"They'd get over it," she said. "And I'm not splitting up the triplets."

"He's their oldest brother."

"Then Yoongi will become the oldest."

"No."

"No? Isn't Yoongi older than Hobi?"

"No, you're not taking Jin."

A long pause. "You're going to fight me on this?"

"You're damn right I am. You're trying to break this family as much as you possibly can. Well, I don't give a damn how painful it is. If you want to play mom again, you're going to have to start from scratch because you're not getting any of my kids. Not our kids, my kids. You gave them up when you left. And if I so much as get a phone call from your lawyer, I will destroy you in court, both because you're insane for acting like you can just waltz in and take Jin and because I won't be happy if you make me bring my kids into the mess you created. So get busy with your boss, because Jin is mine." He hung up the phone before he could hear whatever she had to say.

His hand was shaking. Not out of fear.

Out of anger.

He forced himself to breathe deeply for a few minutes before walking out of his room, closing the door quietly as though to shield his children from the voicemail machine, before finding Jin and picking him up in his arms, giving him little kisses all over his face until Jin demanded to be released.

That's when Namjoon noticed that Jungkook was trying to swallow a Lego.