"All right, I took a day off work to spend time with you guys, so tell me what you want to do," Namjoon said, sitting on the couch in front of the kids with his elbows on his knees. He hadn't planned on taking the day off, but after going out last night with Mark's friend-of-a-friend, he'd realized that his kids were growing up too fast, and he didn't want to miss a single second of that. And that his heart simply wasn't ready to be broken again.

"Let's go to the moon!" Tae suggested.

Namjoon blinked. "Right, so do any of the rest of you have any ideas?"

Tae pouted.

Jimin started to raise his hand hesitantly before he quickly brought it back down.

"Jimin has an idea!" Hobi yelled, grabbing Jimin's arm and trying to forcibly raise it back up.

"Nuh uh!" Jimin yelled, shaking his head with a panicked expression. "No I didn't!"

"Yes you did!"

"Hobi, stop before you break Jimin's arm," Namjoon said as the two wrestled.

Hobi gave up reluctantly but shot out his tongue at the scared mochi.

"All right, Jimin. No need to panic. Just tell us what your idea was," Namjoon said, smiling at the trembling boy.

Jimin bit his lip before playing his the edges of his sleeves. "I j-just thought if we be nice if we all c-cuddled," he said, looking up at Namjoon at the very end.

There was a moment of silence before Hobi started laughing and Yoongi smirked.

"That's something a girl would say!" Hobi said, laughing, and Yoongi joined him, snickering.

"Tae's idea was better," Yoongi said.

Jimin just buried his face in his sweater, shielding his head with his arms and muffling his voice. "See! I knew you guys would make fun of me!" he cried out.

Namjoon sighed and gave Hobi and Yoongi a sharp look before patting Jimin's head. "It's okay, baby. They aren't making fun of you."

"Yes they are."

Yoongi cracked up.

"Not anymore they're not, not unless they want me to melt down all of the crayons and pour the wax on their dance shoes."

Both Yoongi and Hobi paled before Namjoon smiled and went on.

"Why did you want to cuddle, Jimin?"

"B-because-"

"Please stop hiding your face, baby. I can't hear you."

Jimin swallowed before putting his arms down and looking up at Namjoon. "B-because when we all slept in Daddy's bed, I felt so warm a-and the monsters didn't get me," he mumbled, losing his courage and looking down.

"The monsters?"

Tae put a hand on Jimin's back. "Jimin has nightmares. Right, Jiminie?" he asked, leaning forward and pinching Jimin's cheeks.

Jimin scrunched his eyes closed, pouting. "S-stop it Tae!"

"Is that true, Jimin?"

Jimin looked up at Namjoon and nodded. "Mommy always tucked the corners in a special way but then she left and the monsters came back and I didn't want to tell you because I wasn't supposed to talk about Mommy but if she doesn't tuck me in, the monsters will get me but when we all were sleeping together they didn't come so that's why I said I wanted to cuddle," Jimin rambled.

Namjoon hesitated before nodding. "All right, Jimin. We can cuddle whenever you want to, but let's find something fun to do today, all right?"

Jin grinned. "A picnic! Let's have a picnic!"

***

"No, stop stop stop!" Jin yelled, waving his hand at Yoongi. "When I said salt, I meant a pinch, not the whole thing!"

"Yeah, well, you didn't say a pinch of salt, just salt," Yoongi snapped, slamming the salt shaker back on the counter.

"Well maybe you shouldn't be wearing that apron," Jin sassed back. "Because you clearly haven't earned it."

"You know what? Fine," Yoongi said, glaring at Jin as he put his arms behind his back, going to undo the knot before he stopped moving.

"What now?" Jin asked, raising his eyebrow. He was standing on a chair that he'd pulled next to the stove so he could stir the pot with a spoon. "Are you going to try to add butter with the wrapper still on?"

"No, I just realized I double-knotted the apron," Yoongi muttered. "I can't take it off."

***

Namjoon left Jin in charge of the kitchen activities, both because Namjoon was a fairly horrible cook and because he'd been reading some article the other day that said that parents of the modern decade were doing everything for their kids, leading to dependent children who weren't self sufficient.

Namjoon had tried imagining himself in twenty years - he'd be what, around 50? - with six children who still relied on him for everything, from driving them to the grocery store to paying their bills to making them frozen chicken nuggets.

He'd been somewhat horrified, leading him to the decision to let his kids take over Project Picnic.

***

Namjoon parked and killed the engine before turning around in his seat and smiling. "All right, we're here."

Hobi grinned. "WE'RE HERE!" he shouted before shaking Jungkook, who opened his eyes groggily before his face looked up when he looked out his window.

"Picnic time!" he said, grinning.

They all piled out of the car and followed Namjoon to the picnic table area. He paused, realizing that there weren't any tables that would fit 7, before heading over to a flat clearing and sitting on the ground. His kids all joined him, sitting in a circle with Jimin sitting so close to Namjoon that he was practically on his lap. Jin was on his left, grinning proudly at the basket that had yet to be revealed.

"Well, open it already," Namjoon said, laughing, and Jin dramatically opened the basket, setting out eight paper plates.

Wait, eight? Namjoon's heart clenched. Did he bring one for their mother? Because she isn't coming, she isn't ever coming-

"Daddy?"

Namjoon blinked before forcing a smile. "Yes, Jin?"

"Here's your plate," Jin said, holding out Namjoon's plate, which he took with unsteady hands.

I thought they'd been okay with her leaving. I mean, yeah, they'd all been sobbing when I'd told them, but after they'd gotten it out, they'd seemed...all right. Did they just not understand? Do they all think that she's still going to come back at some point? How am I supposed to clarify this?

Namjoon blinked again and realized that all the food had already been distributed. He looked down to see that Jin had made pasta (one of Jin's latest conquests in the kitchen) with a side of french fries, most likely just because Jin liked them.

Namjoon sighed but smiled. Then he saw that the eighth plate was also filled with food. "Um, Jin?"

"Yes, Daddy?"

"Who's going to eat that food?" Namjoon asked, pointing at the plate, his eyes trying to hold in his sadness.

Jin's face paled, and Namjoon was sure that he was about to have a break down when Jin shouted, "He's suffocating!"

"...What?"

Jin turned to Namjoon. "He can't breathe! Daddy, where are the car keys? I need them!"

"Um..." Shocked, Namjoon handed over the car keys and watched Jin run back off the car before running back twenty seconds later.

"How do I unlock the car, Daddy?"

Namjoon quickly showed Jin the button and stopped him before he ran off again to show him how to lock the car back up. Then Jin was gone, only to return a few minutes later with the eighth member of their family.

Namjoon just sighed.

"I forgot Lala in the car and I remember you said one time that if you're driving to the store, we always have to come in with you because if you leave us in the car, the oxygen could run out of go bad and then we wouldn't be able to breathe and something bad would happen," Jin said breathlessly, hugging Lala to his chest.

"Right," Namjoon said, resigned by this point as Jin set Lala down gently in front of the eighth plate.

At least the plate wasn't for Her, I guess.

That's when Namjoon took a bite of the pasta and choked slightly.

"Is it good, Daddy?" Jin asked, his face lighting up.

"It's...a little...salty," Namjoon choked out before giving Jin a weak smile and taking another bite.

Remember, you don't want to be 50 and still babysitting your kids, Namjoon. You have to encourage them to take initiative.

Even if it means eating noodles that absorbed more salt than water.

***

The picnic went well. Hobi stole Yoongi's french fry, Yoongi tried to punch Hobi but instead fell into Taehyung, who pulled on Yoongi's hair until the older apologized with the persuasion of Jungkook, who fell back asleep with his head in Jimin's lap, to which Jimin just smiled and played with Jungkook's hair while Namjoon secretly slipped his leftover noodles onto Lala's plate while Jin was looking away before Jin tried to feed Lala by putting noodles in his flowerpot, only stopping when Namjoon told him that the excessive salt in the noodles might dehydrate Lala.

So, it went well.

Until they packed everything back up at the basket and Namjoon held out a hand towards Jin.

Jin cocked his head before giving him a questionable high five.

"No, I meant that I need the keys back," Namjoon said, smiling at Jin's behavior before explaining further since Jin still looked confused. "You know, so I can drive us home."

"Oh..."

"Is that a good oh or a bad oh?"

"Um..."

"So, a bad one."

***

After finding out that Jin had managed to lock the keys inside the car, Namjoon had to call Shownu and ask him to swing by Namjoon's house (he would have asked Mark since he was a bit closer with him, but Mark was working a shift and wouldn't pick up). Shownu agreed, and Namjoon gave him the garage pass code to get in.

Forty minutes later, Shownu appeared, holding up the car keys, and Namjoon thanked him profusely before unlocking his car and carrying his - by this point - sleeping children into the car one by one, buckling them in safely.

He was tempted to leave Lala behind, but for fear of negative karma (but really for fear of shattering Jin's heart), he brought the flower along. After buckling everyone in and shoving Lala in the biggest cup holder he had, he apologized to Shownu, bowing upwards of twenty times before Shownu continually insisted that it was fine, that he was out anyway, and that he'd been in the same position once or twice.

Then Shownu drove off, and Namjoon sighed before getting in the car and driving his kids back home.

***

He was going to pull into the driveway when he noticed a fire engine blocking his driveway.

They really should park better, Namjoon thought, irritated. He had to carry six children and one flowerpot into his house, and now he had to park father away because some idiot on his block had tried to make mac n' cheese without putting water in the pot.

But then Namjoon noticed that his front door was open.

What?

And that firemen were coming out.

Namjoon hurriedly parked on the side of the street and got of of the car, running up to a fireman. "Sorry, but what's going on?"

"Is this your property?"

Namjoon nodded, confused. "What's happening?"

"It looks like a burner was left on in the kitchen on the stove top," the fireman answered briskly. "The flame went out but the gas stayed on, so there's a bit of a buildup of carbon monoxide in the house. The detector caught it, luckily enough, so now it's just a matter of proper ventilation before the conditions are safe enough for you to enter." The fireman looked toward the car. "But we like to be careful with children, so I'd suggest giving it a bit more time."

"How long are we talking?" Namjoon asked.

"Two hours, maybe three. We opened all the windows and turned on fans, but there's not much more we can do but let it air itself out."

Namjoon nodded. "I'm sorry for the trouble."

"Safety's the name of our job," the fireman answered before turning back to the house.

Namjoon sighed, knowing he'd probably get another bill of services, which was a bit of a blow considering he hadn't gone to work today either. He took a deep breath before going to the car.

If we're stuck outside for three hours anyway...

Namjoon got back in the driver's seat and drove them to a nearby park. Then, an ironic reverse of what he'd done half an hour earlier, he carried his kids out one by one and laid them down on the soft grass next to a giant oak tree. Then, making sure that his keys were in his hand, he locked the car before joining them, moving them closer with him in the middle so they were all cuddled together under the giant tree.

Namjoon smiled, shifting Jimin onto his lap, and he ran his fingers through the boy's soft hair.

He closed his eyes, ready to take a nap with his kids, when his eyes shot open.

Shit. If I don't get Lala out of the car, Jin's going to yell at me for letting him "suffocate."

Namjoon made half a motion to get up, but when he looked down at Jimin's face pressed against his chest or Taehyung, who had somehow shifted and laid across Namjoon's legs, he gave up, sighing and smiling as he leaned back against the tree.

Lala can wait.

And as Namjoon closed his eyes, he had another realization.

Jimin was right.

With all of us together,

It feels so warm.