"Yoongi is going to be in my school now!" Jin said, jumping up and down. "Cause I'll be in grade two and Yoongi will be in grade one!"

"Yep, you'll be in second grade, Jin," Namjoon said, smiling. "And your brother will be in first grade. Since you guys will be in the same building now, I'm going to drop you off together and pick you up together when school gets out, okay?"

"Daddy?"

"Yes. Jin?"

"Will I ever get to take the yellow one?"

"Yellow- the bus?"

"The bus! Will I ever get to take the bus?"

Namjoon hesitated. He knew that a bus was part of the school experience, but - call him an overprotective helicopter parent - he was afraid to let his kids take the bus to school. He couldn't pin down the exact reason behind his fear. Maybe he was afraid that the bus would get into an accident or would be a target for a terrorist attack. Maybe that was part of it.

But mostly, he was just afraid of other kids on the bus and how they'd treat his precious little babies. He remembered when he'd been a kid. The bus rides had been cruel. Some years had been fine, but in other cases, there had been the perfect combination of bad kids, and there had always been a target for their amusement. Sometimes it had been the bus driver. but sometimes, it had been another kid. Namjoon had sat pretty close to the front, so he hadn't usually been near the bullying, but he hadn't gone out of his way to stop it like he should have.

That was what he was really worried about for his kids, that some stupid brat would make fun of Jin's pink backpack or that Yoongi would fall asleep on the bus and kids would draw on his face with sharpie or some other stupid prank that would ruin Yoongi's day. Namjoon didn't want anybody ruining his kids' day.

So yeah, he knew he was being a bit ridiculous, but he didn't think that his kids were strong enough to defend themselves yet.

"Maybe," Namjoon finally settled on before turning back to the counter. "Now everybody, make sure you have your lunch."

Yoongi grabbed the lunch with written on it. "Dad, I told you not to call me sugar," Yoongi whined.

"But I need a cute nickname for you," Namjoon protested. "And you already said no to sweetie and honey."

"Yeah, cause those names are for girls. I'm a boy, not a girl."

Namjoon sighed. "What do you want me to call you, then?"

At that moment, Hobi ran - slid - into the kitchen. He saw Yoongi holding the lunch bag, but from his angle, he could only make out the first four letters. "SUGA," he sounded out.

Yoongi rolled his eyes. "No, Hobi, it says-" He paused. He didn't want to tell Hobi that his lunch bag actually said sugar. "Never mind, you're right. It's Suga."

"But your name isn't Suga! Your name is Yoongi!" Hobi turned to look at Namjoon with wide eyes. "Lies! Lies!"

Jimin, meanwhile, snuck into the kitchen and tried to grab the lunch bag marked Jin.

"Hey! That's mine!" Jin shouted, pointing at Jimin, who nobody had noticed because he'd snuck up on the other side of the counter.

Jimin opened his mouth. "N-no it isn't! It's mine!"

"Nuh uh! It has a flower on it! Daddy drew me that flower! That one is mine!"

Namjoon sighed. "Jimin, why are you trying to take Jin's lunch?"

Jimin's lower lip jutted out, a sure sign that he was about twenty seconds away from crying. "B-because Jin gets two cookies a-and I only get one."

Jin put his hands on his hips. "That's because I'm older! Hyungs get more cookies! Right, Daddy?"

Namjoon sighed. "Jin's right. He gets an extra cookie because he's older. But Jimin, when you get to Jin's age, you'll get an extra cookie too, okay? So-"

"But I'll never be Jin's age because he's older than me," Jimin said, his eyes starting to leak slightly.

Namjoon opened his mouth, but he couldn't really argue against his logic. "That's true, but...how about this: when you get to second grade, you can have an extra cookie in your lunch."

"But...That's such a long time...I'm only in preschool," Jimin said as a few more tears escaped.

"Give me back my cookie you thief!" Jin shouted, grabbing the bag out of Jimin's hand and running away.

Jimin's eyes swelled, and Namjoon knew he had to act fast. He ran around the counter and crouched down next to Jimin, taking his tiny hands in Namjoon's comparatively huge hands. "I'll let you have an extra cookie, but just for today, okay?" he whispered. "It'll be our little secret."

Jimin sniffled. "Y-you promise?"

Namjoon nodded. "But you can't tell everybody or else they'll all want cookies. Okay?"

Jimin nodded, and Namjoon wiped his thumb underneath Jimin's eyes, catching the few stray tears. "Now can you give me a smile?"

Jimin shook his head.

"Please? For Daddy?"

Jimin hesitated before putting a smile on his face. Even though it wasn't a full smile, it was enough for Namjoon. He pulled Jimin into his arms and hugged the boy. "There, there. You're okay." He stood up with Jimin still in his arms, settling Jimin on his hip as he grabbed the cookie box from the highest cabinet and took one cookie out, showing it to Jimin before dropping it in Jimin's lunch bag.

Jimin smiled and put a kiss on Namjoon's cheek. "Thank you, Daddy!"

Namjoon smiled and put Jimin down, handing him his lunch bag before ruffling his hair. He loved watching Jimin freak out and try to fix it, and Jimin did as expected and made a strange face before shaking his head, trying to get his hair to fall back into place before pushing it around with his fingers. "Daddy!"

"Everyone in the car in five! Seat belts on or we don't leave the driveway!" Namjoon yelled, and six pairs of feet could be hearing stomping and running and jumping throughout the house.

Namjoon smiled. There was something about the craziness of being a parent that was addicting. It was like a drug; it brought him to the point of exhaustion, but one smile, hug, or kiss brought him to a new high. He couldn't get enough of being a dad.

He couldn't get enough of his kids.

But after watching Jimin almost break down in the kitchen, he imagined Jimin on a bus. He imagined someone teasing his son about his somewhat girlish features. He imagined Jimin crying.

He didn't want Jimin to cry.

He grabbed his keys and got in behind the wheel of his car, twisting in his seat to check that everyone had their seat belts on. "Everybody locked and loaded?"

"Green for go!" Jin shouted, and Namjoon smiled before shifting the gear into reverse and backing out of the drive way. Then he shifted into drive and went about the long process of dropping his kids off at three different schools. It took him an hour every morning and every afternoon, but it was worth it to him to preserve their smiles.