"I'm not going."

"You're going."

"No."

"Yes."

"You can't make me."

Namjoon raised his eyebrows at his son's sass. "Excuse me? I think I very well can."

Yoongi scrunched his nose and rolled over on the ground so his back was facing Namjoon. "Nuh uh."

"Oh really? You want to bet?"

"I'm five years old. I can do what I want."

He'd almost be cute if I didn't want to smack him right now.

Although...now I see why Tae drew him as a turtle.

"You're not going to be a big boy and get up by yourself today?"

"I am a big boy. So I can make my own decisions."

"Big boys go to school."

"Well, today I'm a little boy."

Namjoon smiled. "Little boys get...scooped up," he said, scooping Yoongi up into his arms, only Yoongi had a death grip on the rug, and it lifted partially off the ground.

"NO! I'M NOT GOING TO SCHOOL TODAY!"

"You're going to school. With or without the rug."

***

Five minutes later, Yoongi was buckled into his seat - rug attached - and Jin was twisting around in his seat to look at him.

"Why are you being so crabby today?" Jin asked, frowning. "I'm your hyung so tell me!"

Yoongi crossed his arms over his chest, pouting. "I'm tired. I want to sleep."

"So?" Jin asked, blinking his long eyelashes. "Just sleep in school."

Yoongi thought about it. "But the the teacher yells at me and wakes me up."

"Tell her before class that you stayed up all night studying," Jin whispered wisely, eyeing the front door and keeping a lookout for Namjoon. "Then she'll be proud of you and let you sleep. It works for me."

"No, you just use your face to get out of trouble."

"Oh. Right. That too. Have you tried that?"

"When I smile, she glares at me and asks who I hurt."

"That's probably just because you stabbed that one kid with a pen."

"He kept poking me and wouldn't let me sleep."

"Yeah but the adults don't really like it when you stab people with pens."

Yoongi frowned, uncrossing his arms. "Well, if they'd all just let me sleep, nobody would get hurt."

"Have you told your teacher that?"

"Yeah, and she said...she said, 'Yoongi, you're too young to be making ulti...ultim...'" Yoongi stopped, pursuing his lip.

"Ultimatums?" Jin asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Yeah. How did you know?" Yoongi asked, forgetting his anger and instead channeling a new vein of curiosity.

"That's what Daddy says. He says, 'I have an ultimatum for you. Either you do your homework and go to bed, or...'"

"Or? Or what?"

"Oh." Jin grinned shamelessly. "He never gets to the second part because I'm too cute to punish."

Yoongi scowled. "No fair. Everybody treats you differently because you're pretty."

"I'm pretty sure it's because I don't stab people with pens."

"It was just one person. Actually, it was just a kid. He's not even an adult so he isn't important."

The two of them nodded solemnly before Yoongi's eyes widened slightly. "Hyung?"

"Mm?"

"What do you do in class that's bad? Besides falling asleep."

Jin tilted his head so his bangs fell partially over his eyes. "What do I do in class..." A grin slowly appeared on his face. "I take kid's juice boxes."

"You steal them hyung?!"

"No! They give them to me," Jin said, but his smile changed into a devious smirk. "I just ask really nicely and say that their hair looks really pretty or their eyes are really bright. Sometimes, I just have to say their name. Like, Oh, wait...you're So-and-so, right? They get so happy that I remembered their name. Then they give me their stuff."

"No fair, hyung. No fair at all."

"Well that's not all-" Jin cut off, twisting back in his seat so he faced front. "Alert! The enemy has been spotted!"

Namjoon closed the door behind the last of the triplets, Hobi skipping in front, and they all joined the two eldest siblings in the car. "Sorry for the wait," Namjoon said breathlessly, buckling himself in and giving Yoongi a look. "If I didn't have to drag someone into the car, we could have left five minutes ago."

Yoongi gave him a sullen look back before turning his face to look out the window.

Hobi grinned, poking Yoongi in the cheek. "Yoongi-hyung! Smile!"

Yoongi turned to glare at Hobi. "I'm not going to smile today."

Jin twisted to look at Yoongi, giving him a wink. "Don't say that! You're just tired because you stayed up all night studying!"

Namjoon's eyes went to the rear view mirror to look at Yoongi. "Really, Yoongi? Is that the truth? You didn't stay up reading with a flashlight again?"

Yoongi flicked his eyes to Jin. "I- Yes?"

Namjoon sighed, looking back out the front windshield. "I'd rather you not stay up late because you get really cranky in the morning, but I'm at least glad that you were studying. But please go to bed when I tell you to tonight? You had a bedtime for a reason. Specifically for the reason that I don't want to have to deal with sass at 7:00 AM."

Yoongi nodded. "Okay..."

The car was was quiet until Namjoon pulled up to the elementary school. Jin immediately unbuckled his seat belt and opened his car door, hopping down to the ground and jumping a few times, clutching his pink backpack in his small hands as a smile grew on his face.

Yoongi moved slower, and as he leaned over to hit the release, Hobi leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Jin-hyung just saved your butt." Then he leaned back, grinning at Yoongi, who stared back. Then he opened his car door.

"Aren't you going to take the rug with you?" Namjoon asked, keeping a serious face as he referenced the - until now - forgotten rug that was standing limply next to Yoongi's seat.

Yoongi stared at the rug for a moment, meticulously weighing the pros and cons before sliding out of his seat, rug-less. "Well..."

"I have an ultimatum for you," Namjoon said, and Yoongi sighed. Why can't I have a pretty face like hyung so I can just get out of this? "Either you take the rug with you like you said you would, or...you make sure to smile today even though you said you wouldn't."

Yoongi hesitated, looking at Namjoon, who was smiling gently at him. Yoongi looked at the ground.

"I see your hand, Yoongi. You touch that rug and I will tickle you into smiling. Right here. Middle of the parking lot. In front of everyone."

Yoongi quickly turned and caught up with Jin.

Namjoon smiled, watching his kids enter the building safely before driving off.

What he didn't see, however, was Yoongi's smile as he walked away