"Twick o Tweat!"

Namjoon sighed. "No, no. Try it again. It's trick or treat. Trrrrr. With an r. An r makes a ruh sound. W, on the other hand, makes a wuh sound. Ruh. R. Wuh. W. Okay? Now do it again."

His kids sighed but got lined up again. Jin pretended to ring the doorbell.

Namjoon pretended to open a fake door. "Oh, my! There's a flower, a turtle, a horse, an angel, an alien, and a bunny on my doorstep!"

Namjoon had quickly made Jungkook change his costume from the singer, but after Jungkook had spent two hours searching for a seagull costume in vain, he had finally ended up as the Halloween classic: the cute bunny.

Namjoon was about 80% sure that the costume had been made for little girls, but he'd hidden that knowledge from his son.

"Trick or treat!" they shouted in unison, and Yoongi held out his bag expectantly.

"Candy," Yoongi said. "Now."

Namjoon crossed his arms.

"Please."

Namjoon smiled. "Close enough." He smiled at them. "Okay, new scenario, what if their doorbell doesn't work?"

Jin sighed, flopping on the couch. "Dadddddy, we're tired of practicing! We want to go trick or treating already!"

"Trick or treat! Trick or treat!"

Namjoon smiled. "Okay, okay, I get it. Let's just go then-"

"No, Daddy has to change into his costume first," Jin said, standing up suddenly and staring at Namjoon intensely so he couldn't escape.

Namjoon sighed after a moment. "Okay, okay...Give me five minutes."

***

Namjoon came out of his bedroom reluctantly, cat ears resting atop his head. "There, okay? Let's g-"

"No, I get to draw on Daddy's whiskers!" Jin said, and Namjoon physically cringed.

"No, I think I'm fi-"

"Nope!" Jin grinned, running out of the room and back again with Namjoon's wife's eyeliner.

It was the one thing she'd left behind, probably because it wasn't the first time Jin had stolen it and put it back somewhere it didn't belong, somewhere she hadn't been able to find it

"Sit down Daddy!"

Sighing, Namjoon did as asked, and Jin drew on whiskers with a shaky hand.

"Okay, now it's your turn to practice!"

Namjoon blinked. "What?"

"You have to do the thing I told you!" Jin insisted.

Namjoon was about to say "absolutely not, no freaking way" when he saw six pairs of eyes looking at him hopefully, ready to laugh, wanting to laugh, wanting him to make them laugh.

He couldn't disappoint those eyes.

Namjoon reluctantly held his hands up in paw-like fists by his eyes and, closing his eyes, hesitated before saying, "N-nya~"

Jin shrieked and they all clapped their hands.

"Now do the other one!"

Namjoon sighed. "Meow~"

"Yay! Daddy's a kitten!"

Namjoon hesitated before smiling at his kids, letting his hands drop to his sides. He wasn't really all that against wearing a costume with his kids, but the costume they'd picked out for him - of course they hadn't let him choose for himself - was, like Jungkook's, more geared towards women, and the front of his shirt was a low v-neck that revealed more of his chest than he liked.

But, it was Halloween. And if it made his kids happy...

***

At least, that's what he'd thought at the onset, but upon actually getting out into the neighborhood and walking his kids around like a herd of puppies - and getting not just a few odd or (even worse) flirty looks from both the single and married women of his block - made him quickly change his mindset.

Not to mention the catcalls.

He'd do almost anything for his kids.

Almost.

Key word.

Almost.

***

"Trick or treat!"

"Awww, look at all these cuties!" the woman at the door exclaimed, putting a hand on her cheek and swooning slightly at the six adorable toddlers on her doorstep.

"Candy, please," Yoongi said, blinking at the woman and having none of her fangirling.

"Right, right," she said, smiling and dropping a few pieces of candy into each of their bags. Then she stood up and looked at Namjoon. "You're their father?"

Namjoon nodded, smiling. He barely remembered the days before he'd been a father, without the sound of socks sliding on wood or heads banging on tables or crayons being shoved onto paper. "I'm honored to have that title."

The woman smiled at him and pressed a candy bar in his hand, holding onto his hand for longer than necessary as she looked up at him coyly. "You forgot to put your ring on this morning."

Namjoon smiled tightly, trying to pull away, but she hung on. "I didn't forget to."

Her smile grew a bit bolder. "Well if you ever need anything, feel free to come to my house. I don't mind, even if it's really late at night."

He grew uncomfortable, especially that she was being so bold in front of his children, and he quickly slipped his hand out of hers and hid it behind him. "I work nights."

"Oh, what a shame-"

"Not really. Thanks. Bye," Namjoon said, quickly grabbing whatever small hands he could reach and hurrying his kids along. He looked down to see Jin on his left and Taehyung on his right and his other four kids in various places in front of and behind him, all moving together but confused.

But he didn't want them to see Namjoon ever touching or looking at another woman. Because while one of two of them may have understood the truth behind his relationship with his wife, not all of them had realized it yet, and Namjoon never wanted to let them down in their role model as a father or as a husband, because they might be husbands one day. He had to make sure he taught them what they needed to know, what they needed to do and not to do.

He had to pretend that everything was okay as long as he could, because if he did, then maybe they'd turn out okay, too.

Raising children was like flipping pancakes. If he looked away at the wrong time, they'd burn.

But it wasn't just one pancake. He was cooking six pancakes at the same time, and all of them were bubbling.

It was just too much for one person to handle.

It was supposed to be handled by two people.

He was all that was left.

But he wasn't ready to move on. Not yet.

He had so much more to teach them.

He just wasn't ready.