Chapter Text
“Morning,” Jin hums as he passes by Namjoon in the kitchen. “Sleep well?”
“I did until this cute little bug woke me up,” Namjoon smiles. “I’m surprised you slept through the crying.”
“Ah, is my sweet boy a troublemaker today? Waking up Daddy, tsk,” Seokjin teases. He taps Tae’s nose softly and the little giggles and kicks his legs against his high chair.
“Appa,” he babbles happily. “Hi hi Appa!”
“Hi baby,” Seokjin coos. “You excited to go see Minnie and Kookie today?”
“Uh huh uh huh! Play!”
“He’s been talking all morning about their new sandbox,” Namjoon tells Seokjin. “He loves it. I think we should get one too.”
Jin makes a face as he rummages through the fridge to pack himself a lunch. “Doesn’t that sound kind of messy?”
“It’s outside,” Namjoon pleads. “And wouldn’t it be cute for pictures? It’s just starting to get warm outside, think of Tae in those cute little shorts you just bought him- oh, and that sun hat! Wouldn’t it be so sweet?”
“Alright,” Jin says, amused. “You’ve sold me.”
Namjoon punches the air in victory, and Tae copies him- tipping his bowl and scattering dry cereal over his high chair tray in the process. “Uh oh!” He says. “Uh oh mess Daddy, uh oh!”
“It’s okay, honey,” Namjoon says, setting down his coffee to gesture at the tray. “Can you pick it all up and put it back in your bowl? Can you be a helper for Daddy?”
Taehyung lights up. “Can be help! Appa, look, m’ help!” He’s clumsy when he’s this small, but he works as carefully as he can to get every little piece back in the bowl. Namjoon can’t help but smile at the cute way Taehyung’s eyebrows scrunch together as he concentrates.
“Such a big boy,” Seokjin praises. “Can you count them, too?”
Taehyung wiggles excitedly. “Yes!! Taetae coun’!”
“When you’re all done, tell us how many there are, okay?”
As Taehyung mutters “one...two...three…” under his breath, Jin smiles and begins to eat his breakfast.
“Oh-” Namjoon says, suddenly remembering something. “I put it on the calendar, but I set up Tae’s appointment with Yugyeom for next Monday night. Said maybe he could come for dinner, too. Does that work?”
“Yugy?” Tae asks suddenly.
“Mhm, that’s fine,” Jin confirms. Then, to Tae: “He’s not coming today, sweetheart. Soon, though. Can you keep counting? You’re doing such a good job.”
Taehyung smiles proudly to himself, and sticks his handful of the spilled cereal into his mouth and begins to munch.
Then his eyes widen and he begins to tear up.
“Hey, hey, what’s going on?” Namjoon asks, scanning the boy for injuries or mishaps. “Why are you crying, baby?”
Tae tries to speak and a fountain of cereal starts falling out. “Nuh uh,” Jin says, “Chew first, okay? Don’t want you to choke.”
Once the mouthful is dutifully swallowed, Tae turns his tear streaked face to them. “Mess up,” he says. “Was- was count!”
Jin barely holds back a laugh. “You’re sad because you accidentally ate the cereal you were counting?”
Taehyung wails with a nod and this time Seokjin’s laugh escapes, and Namjoon’s joins him too.
“Honey, it’s okay,” Namjoon soothes, grin still on his face. “You don’t need to be sad about it! How about you just eat your breakfast and afterwards, Daddy will get out your counting blocks for you, hm? We can practice together.”
This seems to mollify the little, and he only sniffles as Jin wipes his tears away. “‘Kay. Coun’ time wi’ Daddy.”
“What a lucky boy,” Jin says. “Getting to spend special time with Daddy today.”
“Appa too?”
“No, darling, Appa has to go to work earlier than Daddy does. Remember? You and Daddy play for a little while, then he drops you off at Hobi and Yoonie’s house.”
Taehyung nods. “‘Member now, Appa. Miss Appa.”
“I’ll miss you too, baby,” Seokjin says fondly.
As Jin kisses Tae on the forehead and then moves to take another bite of his breakfast, Namjoon’s phone rings.
“Daddy! Ring ring ring!” the little exclaims.
“I hear it, sweetheart. Let’s see...oh! It’s uncle Hobi. Let’s see what he wants.” He taps the answer call button: “Hey Hobi, what’s up?”
“Hey, Joon-ah. Listen, I’m really sorry to do this last minute, but both the boys woke up sick. Like, really sick, they’re coughing their lungs out, high fevers- god, I don’t even know how they managed to get sick at the same time, but they do everything together so it must have been inevitable I guess-”
Namjoon cuts off the panicked ramble. “Whoa, take a breath, Hope-ah.”
Hoseok exhales shakily, but his attention is pulled beyond the phone. It sounds like Jimin, whimpering sadly. “Hold on, pup, Daddy’s almost finished talking. Cuddle up close, that’s it.” Then, back to Namjoon: “It’s okay, I’m okay. Sorry, I hate seeing them get sick. But Joon-ah, I’m calling because I can’t take Tae today. I don’t want him to get sick, and even if it was guaranteed he wouldn’t catch it, I just can’t handle it. Yoongi-hyung has a huge deadline tomorrow so I know he wants to help but he has to get this done or he might lose the client, so I’m by myself and we’re out of fever medicine, and the boys need food and water but if I leave the room to get them anything they start crying-”
“Hoseok-ah,” Nj interrupts. “It’s okay, I understand. We’ll figure out something on our end.”
“I’m so sorry to leave you guys hanging, I swear I’ll make it up to you soon.”
“There’s no need. You just take care of your babies, okay? I’m gonna send over a delivery with some medicine and some groceries, too, so watch for that.”
“You’re a lifesaver,” Hoseok moans gratefully. “Listen, I’ve gotta go, I need both hands. I’ll talk to you later?”
“We’ll check in tonight,” Nj confirms.
When Hoseok hangs up, Seokjin is already looking at him, concerned. “Is everything okay?”
“The boys are really, really sick right now,” Namjoon explains with a worried frown. “Hobi’s taking care of them by himself but they’re...not the happiest. You know how they get when they’re not feeling well.”
Seokjin nods, wincing. “Both of them at the same time? That’s miserable.”
“Daddy? Minnie Koo sick?” Taehyung asks, words muffled as he sucks cereal dust from his fingertips.
“Yeah, sweetheart, they are. No fun at all, huh?”
“Taetae hugs help,” the boy says solemnly.
The caregivers exchange a look. Taehyung isn’t going to like changing their plans. He always looks forward to playtime with the boys, and when he’s this small, he won’t understand why he has to stay away.
“Baby,” Jin begins. “Do you remember last month, when you got so sick and your tummy hurt all day? And you kept throwing up?”
Tae scowls, as if affronted at the very memory of it. “Mhm! Bad sick!”
“Bad sick, that’s right. You felt so bad you didn’t want to play at all, just wanted to lay down and nap all day. Well, Minnie and Kookie are feeling like that today. They don’t wanna play and they can’t get Taetae cuddles or else you’ll get sick too.”
“Not...no Minnie? No Koo?” Tae asks, and his lip begins to wobble dangerously.
“Hey, hey, no! It’s okay! It’s okay! You’ll get to see Minnie and Jungkookie another day!” Nj rushes to assure him.
“Daddy home? Appa home?” Tae asks, voice so, so tiny and sad.
That’s another thing they need to discuss, actually. If they’re both working, where can they bring Tae for the day?
Taehyung takes the moment of unsure silence as confirmation of the worst case scenario. “Taetae ‘lone,” he chokes out, big fat tears rolling down his cheeks.
“No, sweetheart, you won’t be alone,” Jin assures, quickly unbuckling him from the high chair and scooping the boy into his arms. “Not alone, never alone. We…just need to figure out a plan, okay? Appa and Daddy and Taetae are a team, so we’ll work it out together.”
Taehyung snuggles into Seokjin’s shoulder, much less distressed now that he’s in the caregiver’s arms- he does sniffle dramatically, though, like he wants to make sure they don’t dare forget his previous feelings.
“How about the daycare down on the corner across from the pizza place? The one we brought him to when Yoongi and Hobi went on vacation?”
“I think it shut down,” Seokjin says with a frown. “Maybe the drop-in one on...what was it, 4th street?”
Namjoon pulls up the information on his phone, then shakes his head. “It says here it’s closed for renovations until the 15th. Can’t you take him to the regression center at your work?”
“I won’t be in the office today, so I can’t be there to supervise, and there’s rules against bringing your own littles if you can’t watch them. I’ll be out doing house calls all day,” Jin explains.
“Well…” Namjoon says, shrugging uncertainly. “Maybe...I could bring him with me?”
Taehyung perks up immediately. “Taetae go Daddy?”
“Is that allowed?” Seokjin asks, surprised.
“I think so? I know a couple coworkers who have done it. There’s no rules against it from what I’ve heard, it’s just hard to split attention between teaching and your little. But I can make it work for today.”
“It’s settled, then,” Jin smiles. “How does our baby boy feel about going to work with Daddy?”
“Daddy Daddy Daddy!” Taehyung exclaims, clapping his hands. He bounces in excitement so vigorously that Seokjin has to readjust his grip, so he doesn’t drop the boy.
“I think we have his approval,” Namjoon says, amused.
“Sure sounds like it,” Seokjin says, kissing Taehyung on the cheek and walking towards the nursery. “Now...what does my little bug want to wear for his first day of school?”
***
Namjoon has always been a popular professor on campus, but he’s never found it quite this difficult to make it to class on time.
“Such a sweetheart,” one of his advanced biochemistry students coos as she shakes Taehyung’s hanging stroller mobile gently to make it jingle. The boy makes happy little noises from behind his pacifier, reaching out to bat at the toy. “Professor Kim, why didn’t you tell us you had such a cute little guy at home?”
Namjoon rubs his neck. “Ah, it never came up? He’s only been with us for about half a year actually, so…”
The other girl- is she even his student? Namjoon doesn’t recognize her- makes a funny face, leaning down over the stroller. Taehyung giggles, delighted. “He’s so cute, ugh. I can’t wait until I graduate and can adopt a little myself someday.”
“It’s very rewarding,” Namjoon agrees. They currently have the stroller configured so Tae is facing his caregiver, and Namjoon is grateful for that now, so he can gauge the boy’s reaction to strangers. For now, at least, he seems to be eating up the attention.
When one of the girls sticks out her tongue to make a face, Taehyung copies her- and his pacifier falls out, bouncing onto his lap and rolling to the ground. The little looks at his caregiver, lip wobbling like he might start crying. “Uh oh, Daddy, uh oh!”
“Oh, honey, it’s okay!” The first girl says quickly, grabbing it from the ground. She then pauses, looking between Namjoon and Taehyung. “Should I…?”
He rummages in the diaper bag hanging from the handle. “I should have a clean one somewhere, it’s...aha! Here we go.” He switches the girl, clean for dirty.
“See? It’s no big deal,” she says, popping it between Taehyung’s lips. The boy immediately settles, sucking so hard that the pacifier bobs gently in and out of his mouth.
“All better,” Namjoon soothes, though it looks like the boy is already calm. He glances at his phone, then, and- oh, shit. “Hey, it was nice to talk to you both, but I’ve really gotta get to class- I’m gonna be late if I don’t leave now.”
They both nod and thank him- and say goodbye to Tae- and head off towards their own destination.
As they speed walk to the science building, Namjoon has to turn down at least three other people who want to say hello to Taehyung, very graciously explaining that he’s late for teaching his class, and even then he walks in six minutes past start. Luckily, this is his advanced biology course- a small, casual class, one that likes to joke around with him.
“Okay, before you give me trouble for being late,” Namjoon says, sheepish smile on his face as he maneuvers the stroller past the big double doors of his classroom, “I’d like to remind you that each and every one of you has been very late at least like...four times this semester. Keep this in mind before you speak. And…go.”
“Professor Kim,” a boy says from the front row, sounding dramatically aghast. “I’ve never seen you show up later than fifteen minutes early!”
“Who cares about that!” his teaching assistant says, standing up and craning her neck to look at the stroller excitedly. “Who’s this?”
Namjoon turns the stroller around for the class to see inside, and when he does, Taehyung drops his pacifier out of his mouth (luckily this time it only lands on his lap, not the floor) and stares wide-eyed at the seated students. “Daddy, is class?”
“This is my little, Taehyung,” Namjoon introduces proudly. “I’m sorry in advance for disrupting class, but our babysitter cancelled last minute, and, well-”
“Taetae go class,” the little explains seriously. “‘M good helper.”
A good portion of the class lets out audible coos and Namjoon laughs lightly. “Yep, that’s about how long it took for my husband and I to get attached, too.”
“Appa,” Taehyung corrects. “My appa.”
“Yes, your appa,” Namjoon agrees. “Anyway, I’ll just need to set up a playpen for him really quick so he can stay busy, and then we can get to work, alright? Hopefully it won’t be too distracting to have our little visitor here. Talk amongst yourselves for now- oh, and I’m not naming names, but if anyone forgot to finish the homework due today, now would be a good time to finish that up...” A muffled curse from the back of the classroom makes everyone laugh, and they devolve into quiet chatter.
Namjoon gets the playpen set up in a back corner of the classroom- pretty tight against his own desk, but there’s not really room for it anywhere else, so it’ll have to do. He’s nervous at first that Taehyung will be too wound up from the people everywhere to do quiet play, but as soon as he sets the little inside and directs him a coloring book, his fears fade. The boy immediately grabs a crayon and starts scribbling.
“Make a pretty picture for Appa to see later, okay?”
“Taetae draw,” the boy agrees, switching colors.
“Alright everyone, let’s focus back in. Thanks for your patience. Now, did anyone have questions on the practice questions I assigned last time?”
As he begins his lecture, Namjoon can only cross his fingers that Taehyung stays happy.
***
Taehyung is bored . And maybe a little bit grumpy, too. But he doesn’t know why.
He drew a picture, and then he drew another picture, and then another. And those were all for Appa, so then he drew some for Daddy too- even though it won’t be a surprise because he can see Tae coloring. And then he drew some for his best bestest friends, Minnie and Koo, ‘cause Appa says they feel sick today and can’t play at all and he thinks pretty pictures might make them feel a little bit better maybe.
Normally he likes to draw forever and ever, but he’s tired of it now. And there’s puzzles in here, but they’re kinda too hard- Daddy didn’t mean to but he grabbed the ones that Tae needs help with, ‘cause they’re Koo’s old puzzles and Koo is way way better at puzzles than Tae is. He’s like...like a puzzle wizard. So Appa helps him with these ones, but Appa isn’t here. And Daddy said he can’t int...inter...can’t talk while Daddy’s teaching unless it’s important, so Daddy can’t help too.
So, no more coloring and no puzzles. He’s tired of blocks too, ‘cause there’s not even enough room to do good block towers in here. It’s too little. It’s not like his big playpen at home; this one is just big enough for him to lie down but doesn’t even have blocks room and Tae doesn’t like that at all.
And he started gnawing on the blocks instead for something to do, but Daddy came over and said that’s bad for his teeth so he shouldn’t even do it at all. And normally when Tae wants to chew on stuff and can’t they get him his special toy that’s rubbery and bendy and won’t hurt his teeth, but that one’s at home and not here.
So now, he doesn’t even know what to do. He whines in frustration because he thinks it might help, and kicks his feet a little bit, and rolls over again and again. It doesn’t help though, he still feels so bored and now also kinda grumpy. And he keeps yawning, too, and his head feels heavy heavy, and he can’t decide if he wants to run around or if he wants to cuddle and lay down and be quiet. All he knows is right now, there’s nothing at all to do.
He pokes his head up over the edge of the playpen to look around.
There’s lots and lots of people and they’re all looking at their papers really serious, like when Koo gets drawing and doesn’t wanna stop ‘cause he’s focused. He searches, and- there’s Daddy! He’s crouched down next to a desk across the room, talking to a student. (Taehyung knows they’re called students since Daddy reminded him earlier today, and he has a very good memory. Even better than Minnie sometimes, but Minnie wouldn’t say so.)
He plops back down, sighing and rubbing at his eyes. Daddy’s still busy. What’s he gonna do? He doesn’t wanna do anything !
Then, he sees his blocks.
Suddenly, he’s so annoyed with them being here. They’re not even fun to play with! Dumb blocks! In a moment of anger, he drops one over the top of the playpen to land on the floor outside. And it’s kinda satisfying, so he does it again, and again.
The wall is really tall, all the way up to his chin, but he can still reach over just fine. He drops one, two, three, four. He counts them while he does it, because even when he’s mad, he’s a good good counter.
Before long, every single block is scattered on the floor around him. And he finished his counting, too- it’s definitely more than eleven blocks. Probably lots more, but that’s really, really high to count, and Taetae is good at counting but not an expert. Appa and Daddy are experts, he thinks. They can count to a hundred, probably.
Once the blocks are gone, he tears his empty papers in half! It feels kinda good, and it makes lots of little pieces that slide across the floor when he drops them. (He tips his crayon drawings over the edge too, but he watches really careful where they land so he can go find them later. He might not be happy right now, but he still wants to give those drawings to people.)
He looks around the room to try and find Daddy, and when he sees the caregiver with his back still turned, gesturing to explain something, he pouts. He doesn’t know why he feels so sad right now but he does know he wants a hug. He sucks his pacifier harshly, and he tries calling for Daddy. It comes out all muffled behind the plastic, but he thinks if he takes his paci out he’d get even sadder. That’s what happens at home, when he loses his paci. Either way, Daddy doesn’t even hear him, so he’s still all alone.
He turns back to the toys, sniffling and wiping away wetness in his eyes. He dumps the puzzles and it feels extra good, because he’s still kinda mad that he couldn’t do them all by himself. That was really mean of them to be so hard. And Appa always says to be careful with puzzles because it’s bad if they lose pieces, but he can’t do them anyway ‘cause Appa’s not here.
He throws some crayons over the edge too, one by one, until that’s too slow, and then he just tips the whole container out. The box falls and clatters on the floor with a satisfying crash. Good. Let everyone know he doesn’t! Want! To play anymore! With anything at all! He just wants to stay here and be sad and mad and sad!
Taehyung scowls. All that standing up and sitting down and up and down and up and down was really tiring and his legs kinda hurt a lot now too. And Daddy’s not even here so he can’t even get cuddles and now he realizes he doesn’t have any toys at all, they’re too far away because he got mad and threw them, so does he have to stay in here forever and ever with no toys at all?
He tries to reach over the edge to grab some blocks- he doesn’t wanna play, but he also doesn’t wanna do nothing, but the toys are all so far away now he can’t even get close to grabbing them again-
His legs suddenly give out, too tired from all the movement, and he falls down, rolling to lay flat on the softly padded floor of the playpen.
There’s a beat of silence.
And then Taehyung begins to cry.
He knows he’s not s’posed to be loud, but he can’t help it anymore. He wails, and kicks his feet, and feels so sorry for himself, because he threw his blocks, and crayons, and paper, and his legs are tired, and he misses Daddy, and-
And Daddy is here, looking completely bewildered and opening the playpen to scoop Taehyung up. “Oh, no, sweetheart, don’t cry!” he frets, carefully sidestepping rolling crayons on the floor and heading out to the hallway for a moment of quiet. “I checked on you ten minutes ago, honey, what on earth happened?”
Taehyung sobs against his shoulder, unable to use words yet. He’s just got so many feelings, all of a sudden, and he just wants to cry for a little bit.
“Okay, no words? That’s fine,” Namjoon soothes. “We’ll figure it out together. Let’s think. The kids said you didn’t get hurt, and I gave you a snack a little while ago so you shouldn’t be hungry...you’ve got a clean diaper, naptime is-”
He groans. “Oh, baby, it’s past naptime, isn’t it?”
Oh. Is it? Taehyung didn’t know that, he just knew he was grumpy and sad and mad and bored.
“I’m sorry, Daddy’s sorry. I should have put you down for a nap forty-five minutes ago, huh? Silly me. No wonder you’re so upset; my sweet boy must be so tired.” He starts to sway gently, and Taehyung rests his head on the caregiver’s shoulder, still crying, but not as hard now. Being close to Daddy makes everything better.
“That’s it, deep breaths. No wonder you got upset and made such a big mess; little boys have really big feelings when they don’t get enough sleep.”
“Sorry mess,” Taehyung says, voice very small. He sniffles, over and over. “Sorry Daddy mess.”
“It’s okay, honey, we’ll clean it up together after you get a nice long nap. How about that, hm?”
Taehyung yawns. It seems to be answer enough.
“I’m gonna go talk to the class for a minute, and then I’ll lay you down in your stroller with a bottle, okay? You’re gonna be just fine now, Daddy’s sorry for keeping you awake so long.”
As they walk back inside, Taehyung stops crying as everything gets...heavy. He blinks, once, twice. Oh. Daddy was right. He really is sleepy.
They make it in front of the class, but Tae, facing away, can only see the gently swaying whiteboard and posters on the wall.
“Hey, guys- sorry about that, I forgot to put him down for his nap. My bad. I’m gonna go ahead and let you go a couple minutes early today, but I do need you all to write down the practice problems. The official assignment is problems 20-35, but from 33 on they’re pretty difficult so we’ll cover those as a group at the start of class next time. Try them out on your own if you have time, though.”
Taehyung sniffles again, softly. Everything’s a little fuzzy, his vision blurring so much that it’s easier to just close his eyes. Daddy’s chest is warm as he snuggles closer, and his deep voice so soothing as he keeps talking, and talking...
He’s asleep before class is even dismissed.
***
“A’ done!” Taehyung says, clapping excitedly. He crawls back across the floor to Namjoon, where he’s sitting at his desk helping a student. “Taetae done!”
Namjoon coos, lifting the boy into his lap. “Oh, Daddy’s so proud of you! You did so well cleaning up that big mess.” As he glances over, it’s pretty obvious the pieces from different puzzles are mixed together and the crayons are all in a haphazard pile instead of in their box, but it’s about what Namjoon expected from Tae in his typical young headspace. At least the blocks are stacked nicely (the little is an expert at stacking and counting, or so Namjoon is told every single time the blocks come out to play).
“Good job,” Taehyung praises himself, wiggling on his caregiver’s lap until he’s comfortable.
The student smiles. “He’s so sweet. What’s his headspace age?”
“It depends, but usually pretty young. Probably around two on average. Sometimes he slips into babyspace, though, and oh, it’s the sweetest thing you’ll ever see.” Namjoon can’t help but brag. He probably has the cutest little in the world.
“‘M not baby,” Taehyungs says seriously, eyeing the stranger up and down.
“You’re Daddy’s baby,” Namjoon insists, kissing the top of his head.
Taehyung doesn’t refute it.
“You sure look like your Daddy’s baby,” the boy smiles. “Look how you’re both matching!”
Namjoon himself looks down at his clothes, too; he’d forgotten that Seokjin dressed them in similar outfits so that Tae could match his Daddy at work. Namjoon hadn’t even been aware they owned anything matching, which probably meant his husband had kept them in the back of their closet to pull out for an opportune moment like this.
Namjoon isn’t complaining. Tae does look very cute in his onesie with buttons up the middle to look like a dress shirt, plus the soft green cardigan that swallows him up like a blanket.
“Match!” Taehyung agrees happily, tugging on Namjoon’s cardigan and then his own. “Taetae teacher.”
“Oh, are you the teacher now?” Namjoon asks, teasing.
“Uh huh. A, C, B, C…D.”
They had done some multiple choice questions earlier, so…technically on the right track. “My little scholar, so smart. You’re gonna have to teach Appa when we get home.”
Tae nods, then wiggles to get off his lap. He has exploring to do. All sorts of desks and chairs and cabinets to crawl around in.
Namjoon smiles as he watches the boy speed crawl around the room. He’s so much happier after a long nap and a bottle. Namjoon really should have known better than to mess up his schedule, but they seem to have recovered from it okay now. He slept right through Namjoon’s second class of the day, and now that he’s awake he’s been an angel for all of his office hours.
(Not that he wasn’t one before- just a very…cranky, tired, destructive angel.)
“Thanks for being patient,” Namjoon tells the student. “Which problem was it that you had trouble understanding?”
Across the room, Taehyung repeats the words in his signature headspace mumble: “Wish problem?”
He’s gotta memorize how Daddy does it for when he teaches Appa, after all.
***
“Appa say A, B, D, C, A, C, D, D, E, B,” Taehyung instructs seriously. He’s set up a desk made of pillows for himself in the middle of the living room, and Jin is sitting in front of him on a pillow of his own. A model student.
“A, B, E, D, F, A?” the caregiver asks.
“Noooo,” Taehyung moans dolefully. “Appa A, D, B, F, A, B, D, BBBBB!”
Seokjin pauses, deadpan. “I think you keep changing the answer, Mr. Professor.”
(Maybe not a model student.)
The little kicks his feet in frustration and whines. “Appa!”
Namjoon laughs as he walks in the room. “I think Appa is doing his best, but multiple choice might be a little hard for him.”
Tae frowns. “Daddy teach it?”
“No, little bug, I like seeing you do it. You’re a professor just like Daddy!” He taps the boy’s nose and he giggles. “How about you teach him some numbers instead?”
Taehyung perks up at the advice. “Taetae count! ‘Kay?”
“I’d love to learn counting!” Seokjin says. Then softer, as Taehyung crawls across the floor to grab a set of stacking rings, he whispers to Namjoon: “This professor is kind of a hardass, no mercy at all. I’m considering switching classes.”
The other caregiver laughs. “Well, I think it may have been easier if he had any clue what multiple choice actually was to begin with.”
“I was gonna say, is this all you do at work every day? Make your poor students memorize strings of letters and repeat them back? It’s Sisyphean, really, the way he changes the answer every time- oh, the teacher’s back!”
Taehyung kneels in front of the two men and spreads the rings out on the carpet in front of them, ever so carefully; he points to each one as he counts: “One, two, three, four, five, six!”
“One, two, three…uh oh, I forgot the rest. Can you show me again?”
Taehyung nods, and shoots a covert but knowing look at Namjoon, as if to say ‘students these days, right?’ “One, two, three...four...five...six.”
Seokjin dutifully repeats, correctly this time. “Did I get it right, baby?”
“Yeah! Yay Appa! Yay yay Appa!” Taehyung claps excitedly. “You do counts!”
“Oh man, I’m so lucky to have such a good teacher!” Jin says, scooping the boy into his lap. “My brain is tired after all that hard work.”
Taehyung pokes Seokjin’s forehead. “Goo’ job brain.”
Both caregivers smile. “Good job to Taetae’s brain, too. Teaching takes a lot of brainpower, huh?” Namjoon says.
“Uh huh,” the boy sighs. “Lots.”
“Well…” Seokjin says conspiratorially. “I did happen to pick up a special treat on the way home, one that gives you lots of energy for using that big brain of yours. But...ah, never mind, you wouldn’t like it, baby.”
Taehyung instantly picks up the conversational thread, curious. “Treat?”
“You really wanna know about it?” Seokjin asks, faking surprise. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, yes!” Taehyung says, bouncing with anticipation now.
“Well, if you’re sure. I thought maybe little boys don’t like ice cream, nowadays, but-”
He’s cut off in an instant by a high pitched squeal. “Taetae ice cream! Appa! Ice cream!”
Seokjin laughs, and picks him up to walk towards the kitchen. “Alright, alright, I hear you.”
Namjoon groans, but he’s not actually upset. “You realize that now he’s gonna say he needs ice cream any time he does anything even remotely educational? For brainpower?”
“It sounds like logical reasoning to me,” Seokjin says, blowing a kiss to his husband and winking.
Taehyung blows a messy kiss too, and Namjoon can’t help but smile, and sigh.
He’s going to have to stock up on more ice cream.