Chapter Text
Namjoon and Jin had been married for 4 years when their lives changed for the better. They had wanted to adopt a child, but they hadn’t wanted to rush into it. Namjoon, being the intellectual he was, did massive amounts of research and presented all the data to Jin. After listening to all the different ways to adopt, Jin was a little overwhelmed and took a few days to think it over before presenting an idea that Namjoon hadn’t even considered.
“Joonie, what if we foster some kids first? We would be helping some that need someone, and when the right child comes along, we can adopt them.”
Namjoon had been totally on board with that idea, so they’d registered a couple of days later. They’d taken some classes, had the home inspection, and been assigned a social worker to help them get prepared for when they were needed. They had two spare rooms in their house, so they put a set of bunk beds in the larger room that had a full-size bed on the bottom. They also made sure to have extra blankets and pillows on hand, along with some age appropriate books and toys of a variety of ages.
They thought they were prepared, but they were only expecting one child. The first call they got was at 2:30 am on a Tuesday. Their social worker, Ji-ae, called about twenty minutes before arriving with 3 small brothers. The older fraternal twins, Jimin and Taehyung, had been 4 while the youngest, Jungkook, had been 2. Namjoon didn’t think he’d ever forget that night. They answered the door to see both Taehyung and Jimin with large splotches of blood across their pajama tops and tears staining their cheeks. Jungkook was terrified, his eyes large and glossy with an endless stream of tears, but he’d lunged for Namjoon as soon as he’d seen him. Namjoon had held him tightly, rubbing his little back while he trembled in fear. The twins had wrapped themselves around Jin’s legs as Ji-ae explained that they’d been in the car with their parents and a drunk driver had hit them head on. Their parents had been killed, leaving the boys without anyone to care for them.
After Ji-ae had left that night, Jin had taken Jimin and Taehyung into their master bedroom where they had a large tub and had run them a bubble bath to wash the blood off. Jungkook’s clothes were clean, but he wouldn’t even let Namjoon set him down long enough to remove his shoes. Namjoon just held him until he stopped shaking while he listened to the splashes and giggles coming from the bathroom.
Over the next few weeks, they adjusted quickly to having the boys running around the house. Despite the trauma they had been through, they bounced back extremely well with the help of an age appropriate therapist. In no time at all, Namjoon and Jin had fallen in love with them and new that there was no way they could let them go. So, over the course of 2 years, they adopted the three precious boys that had brightened their lives. Over time, the boys moved from calling them Jinnie and Joonie to calling Jin “Appa” and Namjoon “Daddy.”
Jin had always been the one who cooked and maintained the house since Namjoon couldn’t cook to save his own life. But when their babies came to him, saying, “Daddy, we wanna make Appa breakfast in bed for his Christmas gift from us. Will you help us?” how could he ever say no? So, that’s what led Namjoon to take their rambunctious sons to grocery shop while Jin was at work.
“Daddy, what is Appa’s favorite way to have eggs?” Jimin asked.
“Can we make him an omelet?” Taehyung nearly yelled from excitement.
“What’s an om-yet?” Jungkook asked.
“I think we can manage an omelet, my loves. And we can get some of that cinnamon bread that he loves from the bakery and make toast. It’s simple, but he will like it because we made it and he loves us.”
“When we go to the bakery, can I have a pup-cake, Daddy?”
“Maybe we will all get cupcakes, Kookie,” Namjoon smiled.
They had decided to make Jin’s surprise breakfast on the day before Christmas Eve, or Christmas Eve Eve as the twins had been calling it. They had been so excited about it that Namjoon was surprised no one had spilled the secret yet. Namjoon had a difficult time getting them to sleep that night. Luckily, both Jin and Namjoon were on holiday from work through the new year to be with the boys and Namjoon’s brother, Yoongi, who was coming to visit.
At 5 am, Namjoon nearly fell out of the bed. Jungkook had tiptoed in the room to wake him up to make breakfast. Instead of saying anything and waking Jin up (he was amazingly sensitive to the boys’ voices and would wake up if they began to sleep-talk from two rooms away), Jungkook poked Namjoon on the nose. When he opened his eyes, Jungkook’s face was so close to his own their noses were touching. After his initial shock, Namjoon quietly got up and picked Jungkook up and carried him to the kitchen. Even though Jungkook was 5 and the twins were 7, Namjoon picked up the boys and held them close as much as he could because he knew they wouldn’t be small forever. When they got to the kitchen, he put him down and began making coffee for himself and Jin, and hot cocoa for the boys. Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook all had their own aprons from when they wanted to help Jin cook, so Namjoon helped them all tie their aprons on while the coffee was brewing and the milk for the cocoa was heating up.
“Alright, my loves. We have to remember to be as quiet as we can so we don’t wake Appa, okay?” He paused until they all nodded seriously. “Okay! The first thing we need to do is to cut up some veggies for the omelet. While I get the knife and cutting board, you pick out Appa’s favorite veggies from the refrigerator.”
The three were very serious as they opened the door and inspected what was inside. Namjoon smiled softly at them as he mixed up their cocoa and poured it into their three favorite mugs. He placed the mugs on the island for them and dropped in a few marshmallows in each cup. By the time that he’d put the marshmallows away, the boys were putting some veggies on the countertop. They’d picked spring onions, a red pepper, some mushrooms, a bit of spinach, and some leftover bacon from breakfast the morning before. Before Namjoon began chopping the pepper, mushrooms, and onions, he gave them all jobs of their own. Jimin was whisking the eggs, Taehyung was putting some pre-cut fruit into a bowl as a fruit salad, and Jungkook was waiting for the toast to pop out of the toaster so he could spread butter and jam on it. Once the veggies were chopped and ready, Namjoon grated some cheese in a bowl and heated the pan with some butter on the stove.
“So, we are to the part that I don’t think you boys can help with. While I cook the omelet part, why don’t you each make Appa a Christmas card?” Namjoon couldn’t help but giggle at the seriousness with which each of them were concentrating on their personalized cards for Jin, and he knew that they were pouring their love and appreciation into them.
In his worry about messing up this breakfast, Namjoon had called his brother in a panic a few days ago. Yoongi had laughed hysterically when he answered the FaceTime call and Namjoon begged him to teach him how to make an omelet at 3:3o in the afternoon. After a few minutes of teasing him, Yoongi had given in and taught him step by step what to do, then teased him more at the way Namjoon was frantically jotting down notes.
Namjoon sautéed the peppers and mushrooms in the butter for a few minutes before adding in the bacon and spinach. Once the spinach wilted down, he added the spring onions then the eggs that Jimin had whisked for way too long, but he had taken his job very seriously; the omelet would just be extremely fluffy. The cheese was the very last ingredient, and then came the hard part and the only part that Namjoon was terrified about: folding the omelet and getting it on the plate. But with enough prayers and begging any gods who were listening, and he got the omelet decently folded and on the plate when he could sigh in relief. Namjoon looked up and saw Jimin and Taehyung helping Jungkook, who was just beginning to learn to write, spell out all the things he wanted to say to his Appa. His heart squeezed with love and he had to close his eyes to keep the tears from leaking out. After he was able to control his emotions a bit better, he sat everything on the tray.
“Babies, are your cards finished?” he asked quietly.
“Yes, Daddy. Jungkookie just needs to finish writing his name and we will all be done,” Jimin replied.
“All done!” Jungkook announced proudly.
“Perfect. Appa’s omelet is done now too. I’ve got everything we made on the tray, but I want you to carry your cards for him. You guys lead the way, and pounce on him on the bed and wake him up.”
They all three immediately went running towards the bedroom where Jin was still sleeping and threw the door open. Namjoon walked behind them a bit slower so the coffee and orange juice on the tray wouldn’t slosh too much but made it into the doorway as Jin was sitting up and being swarmed by their sons pressing kisses all over his face. Namjoon’s heart lurched in his chest for the second time that day as Jin smiled and pulled them all into a big hug before meeting his own eyes with a dazzling smile.
“Good morning, my precious darlings! Is all of this for me?” he asked them.
“Yes, Appa! We made you an om-yet and some toast for breakfast. I hope you like them,” Jungkook shyly told him, looking at Jin with big eyes.
Jin could tell that Jungkook was nervous that he wouldn’t like the omelet, so he kissed his forehead before saying, “I bet I’ll love it because you made it for me, and I love you so very much.”
All three boys giggled and snuggled into him as Namjoon sat the tray down in front of him. “Good morning, handsome,” Namjoon smiled at him, kissing his lips gently.
“Good morning, Baby. Thank you for helping our darlings make me breakfast.”
“Of course. We all wanted to do something to show you how much we love you.”
Jin didn’t say anything in response because Taehyung cut into the omelet and held up a bite to Jin. “Appa, try it!”
He took a bite, then moaned exaggeratedly. “Yah, this is so good. You three are the best omelet makers in the world.”
Namjoon sat at the end of their bed, sipping his coffee and watching Jin eat the breakfast they’d made him and feed their children more than half of it. While he knew that the omelet was probably okay and not as good as Jin made it out to be, it filled his heart so much to see him with their boys and how well he loved them. Watching him with their sons gave Namjoon a greater gift than any of the shiny packages under the Christmas tree in their living room.
After they had eaten, Jungkook shoved his card at Jin. The card was drawn on green construction paper with a Christmas tree on the front. The inside had a picture he’d drawn of their family and a note. The note was misspelled, but you were able to figure out what he was trying to say. It said, “Thank you for being my Appa. I love you so very much. Merry Christmas,” with a big heart at the end. Jin read the card, and hugged Jungkook tight.
Jimin gave him his card next, drawn on pink construction paper “because it’s your favorite color.” He’d drawn a snowman on the front with snowflakes falling around it, while the inside had a picture of their house. Jimin had written in his perfect handwriting, “Appa, thank you for taking such good care of us and for loving us. Merry Christmas! I love, love, love you.” By this point, Jin’s eyes were shining with tears, but he was striving to hold them back.
“Here, Appa. Read my card now,” Taehyung giggled as he pushed his card into Jin’s hands. The card was drawn on white paper. The front had a beautiful rainbow on it with a Christmas present at one end. When Jin opened it up, there was a stick figure sitting inside the opened gift that had been labeled as Appa. Underneath, Taehhyung had written in, “You are the best present I’ve ever received. I love you, Appa.” When he read that, Jin made a bit of a choked sound as his emotions broke through the hold he’d kept on then.
“Do you not like it?” Taehyung asked, staring up at Jin with big worried eyes.
“No, TaeTae. That’s not it at all. I love it and I love you. I’m just so happy this morning. These are happy tears, Baby,” Jin replied, pulling Taehyung into his lap. “I’m going to hang all three of your cards on the bulletin board in my office when I go back to work so I can see them all the time.”
Namjoon picked up the tray and took it back into the kitchen, giving Jin some time alone with the boys. He did the dishes and turned off their coffee pot. When he finished, it was just after 6:25 am, and still pretty early. He walked back into their bedroom to find Jin asleep with Jimin asleep on his left side and Jungkook asleep on his right side, snuggled in close to him. Taehyung was lying on top of Jin with his head pressed against his chest, his ear just above Jin’s heart. Namjoon grabbed his phone and snapped a picture of them sleeping together and made it his phone background before climbing into bed with them and snuggling as close to them as he could get. They were his whole world.