Single Father • Namjoon + BTS!Kids - Chapter 84: Chapter 84

Namjoon decided to take his family somewhere as a fun trip together since they hadn't had much time for outings since Jimin had come back.
"Is there anywhere you guys want to go?" Namjoon asked. "I was thinking, maybe an aquarium or something, but what do you guys have in mind?"
"A greenhouse!" Jin suggested, grinning.
"A music store," Yoongi said, shrugging. Honestly, he was content to just sleep his way through the day instead.
"Let's find some street dancing!" Hobi yelled excitedly.
"Space Golf," Taehyung said, and Namjoon blinked.
"Do you like to golf?"
"No." Taehyung blinked back. "But I like the other part."
Namjoon just shook his head and sighed, looking to his next child, Jungkook.
"Um...maybe a petting zoo or something?"
Namjoon looked to Jimin last. "Jimin? Any thoughts?"
Jimin blinked his wide his eyes, biting his lip before tilting his head slightly. "Um...what is an aquarium?"
They all stared at him.
"You know," Jin said, confused. "It's like a zoo, only for fish."
"What is a zoo?"
They all stared at him in silence before Namjoon patted Yoongi on the back, as Yoongi's confusion tended to look a lot more like anger or frustration and Namjoon didn't want them to intimidate Jimin.
"A zoo is a place that has all different sorts of animals," Namjoon explained patiently, although it hurt his heart to do so.
"Like...like dogs and cats?" Jimin asked, frowning, unable to understand what everybody else seemed to obviously comprehend.
"More like exotic animals," Namjoon corrected. "Like lions and tigers and elephants and giraffes." He hesitated. "You know what those are, right?"
Jimin nodded slowly. "She showed me pictures."
Namjoon exhaled deeply before forcing a smile and continuing on. "Right, so, all of those crazy animals are in a zoo in cages and enclosures, and people go to the zoo to see them."
"The animals are in cages?"
Namjoon nodded. "So they don't hurt people."
"Do they like being in cages?"
Namjoon hesitated. "Well...I don't suppose they do...but a zoo has to be safe for people, and if there weren't cages, the animals might hurt people."
"So it's like they're being locked in their rooms?"
Namjoon laughed slightly at the analogy, but Jimin didn't smile. "Yes, I suppose it's something like that."
Jimin's frown deepened, and he looked severely unhappy. "I don't like being locked in my room."
Namjoon's laughter instantly died down, and he fought to find a subject change, any subject change. He wanted to hear about how Jimin was raised, but there was a time and a place for that, and that time and place didn't need to be in front of his other children. "Well, um, to answer your other question, an aquarium is sort of like a zoo, only it's full of fish."
"Are the fish in cages too?"
"Not exactly. They're in huge fish tanks."
"Huge?" Jimin's frown was replaced by a look of begrudging curiosity. "How huge? As big as the microwave?"
Namjoon couldn't help but smile at his adorable child. "Bigger."
Jimin's eyes widened. "As big as the refrigerator?"
"Even bigger."
Jimin blinked. "As big as a door?"
Namjoon chuckled. "I think it will be easier to just show you."
***
Jimin's mouth had been hanging open for the past ten minutes, and Namjoon was fairly certain that it hadn't closed a single time.
Namjoon just watched him, feeling warm and soft that he was able to give Jimin new experiences, experiences that he should have already had and that had been long overdue.
The other kids were still enjoying themselves, but as they'd all been to the aquarium at least once for a school trip, they were less interested in the fish and more interested in annoying each other (and other visitors).
Jin would play around with the others before stopping by Jimin and scanning an information plaque before reciting everything he remembered about a certain type of fish, butchering the Latin, and trying to sound smart.
Jimin, of course, who hadn't ever been to an aquarium or a zoo, bought every word, looking utterly amazed at both the fish and his hyung, even when Jin informed Jimin that they were looking at a Better spender instead of a Betta splendens.
Yoongi, meanwhile, would go up to small groups of younger children staring at the shark tank and stand silently for a few minutes before going on to inform the younger children that one of the sharks wasn't in the exhibit today, and when asked why, Yoongi would happily let all the children know that it was because the shark had broken the glass of the tank just last week and had eaten several children, earning it the nickname Mauler, and that it was on suspension.
"Oh, but don't worry," Yoongi would say, smiling. "They said they should be putting him back in sometime today, so you'll still get to see him." Then he would sit back and watch in happy anticipation as the kids ran away from the shark tank.
Hobi mainly followed around after Jimin, watching as Jimin observed fish for the first time in his life, although he did occasionally try to trip a small child (or sibling of his), later resulting in Taehyung falling forward and face-planting right into the glass of a tank.
Taehyung started making weird faces at the fish, scaring them away, before going and attempting to tackle Hobi, which led to Namjoon separating them and holding Hobi's hand in his left and Tae's hand in his right, making sure they were three feet away at all times.
Jungkook was the only kid besides Jimin who actually seemed to take a vested interest in the exhibits. He would stare into one tank for ten minutes at a time before Jin elbowed his lightly, and then Jungkook would look up with a shy, embarrassed smile and say, "Sorry, hyung," before moving on to the next one. He'd been to the aquarium once, earlier that school year, but because he'd been so focused on glaring at and avoiding Taehyung and trying to remain separated from his classmates who had all grouped up into small cliques, he hadn't paid any attention to the fish and instead had had a miserable time.
But now, being able to appreciate the exhibits themselves, he actually found himself enjoying it.
"Jin-hyung," Jungkook said, pointing to a certain fish that looked to be swimming upside down. "Which one is that?" he asked, turning to Jin, who had been pretending to be a fish expert the whole day.
Jin squinted his eyes. "That one? With the spots?"
Jungkook nodded eagerly, looking younger in light of his innocent curiosity. Jimin stood next to him, also staring and marveling at the fish.
"That one is an...um..." Jin hesitated, stroking his imaginary beard. "A midnight speckled herring. Uh huh. No doubt about it."
"Ooooh, a midnight speckled herring," Jimin repeated, practically glowing. "Tell us the fancy name, hyung!"
Jin coughed before nodding. "Of course. The official name for it is...um...midnightus specklus herrus."
"Midnightus speck..." Jimin giggled, flustered as he covered his face with his small hands. "I already forgot it. Can you tell me again, hyung?"
Jin gave Jimin a look. "Again?"
"Sorry, hyung. Please?"
Jin sighed, unable to resist Jimin's cuteness, not to mention Jungkook's adorable face looking over eagerly as well. "Fine, fine. It's called the Midnightus sparkly herrus."
Jimin whispered the words to himself, captivated, but Jungkook looked over at Jin, skeptical.
"But, hyung? That's not what you said the first time?"
Jin put his hands on his hips. "Excuse me, who is the expert here?"
Jungkook hunched his shoulders. "You are, hyung..."
"And who told you what the fish is called?"
"You did, hyung..." Jungkook responded, curling his hands into fists and pressing them into his cheeks.
"So which one of us is right about the fish's name?"
"You are, hyung."
Jin nodded, smiling as he puffed out his chest. "Exactly."
"But hyung, I thought fishes isn't a word?" Jungkook continued, dropping his fists and tilting his head.
Jin shook his head. "I said fish's, like one fish with an apostrophe s."
"Oh, so like slingular?" Jungkook asked, blinking.
Jin nodded wisely. "Slingular."
Namjoon felt the urge to correct them, but just then, Hobi and Tae started trying to step on each others' shoes, and he had to separate them once more.
Jimin finished repeating the fish's name and grabbed Jungkook's hand, dragging him to the next exhibit, and Jungkook grinned, his little bunny teeth reflecting in the glass of the tank.
They were all back together again, on the first of many new adventures.