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“I don’t wanna do it!”

Jin sighed and buried his face in his hands.  It had been five weeks since school started, and today, Tae had decided he hated homework.  Jin had been sitting at the kitchen table with him since dinner had ended, and it was now nearing bedtime.

“Tae.”

The little six-year-old looked up at Jin with wide eyes.

“Tae.  If you don’t finish this, you’re not going to get to use the TV for the rest of the week.”

Tae pouted and kicked his legs.  Jin sighed.  Jimin had finished all his homework right after he’d gotten home from school, thankfully.  Jin just wished Tae had done the same.  Sometimes it was exhausting having five kids.  Jin heard a hiccup, and he looked up to see Tae crying.

“It’s so hard,” he whimpered.

“Bub, read the instructions.  Your teacher taught you this in class, right?”

Tae nodded, still pouting.

“Do you want Jimin to help you?”

“Yeah…”

Jin pushed his chair out and headed down the hall to find his other six-year-old.  He was sitting on the floor in his room playing with LEGOs.

“Hey, Minnie, can you come help Tae with his homework?”

Jimin smiled and stood up. “Yeah!” he ran out of the room and headed to the kitchen.  Jin smiled and followed him.

He entered the kitchen just in time to hear Tae exclaim, “But it doesn’t make sense!” followed by a soft hiccup.

“But you just have to put the words together,” Jimin explained. “See, road and toad go together because they both have ‘oa’ in them.”

Jin suppressed a chuckle as he watched them.  It seemed getting Jimin to help Tae had been a good idea.  Tae had stopped crying and had started doing his homework.

Jin heard the door open behind him.  He turned around to find Joon walking through the door struggling to juggle all his books.

“How was your library date?” Jin asked.

Joon laughed. “It was mostly studying.”

“Sure, it was.”

——————–

“How was your date?” Hobi asked the moment Joon entered their room.

“Why does no one believe me when I say it was a study session?” Joon groaned as he dropped his backpack on his desk.

“Because we all know that you both enjoy studying enough for it to have been considered a date.”

“I’m going to bug you so much as revenge when you get a girlfriend.”

Hobi laughed. “I doubt I’ll have one anytime soon.  No girl seems to even want to look in my direction.”

“What on earth are you talking about?  That girl in science class – was her name Anna? – totally has a huge crush on you!”

“No, she doesn’t!  We’re just friends.”

“I’m not sure she thinks of it that way.”

Hobi sighed and laid back on his bed. “I don’t know…she’s just…too loud.”

“Hobi, you are the loudest person I know.”

“Louder than Tae?” Hobi asked, his eyebrows raised.

“Ok maybe the loudest teenager I know,” Joon laughed. “But still, shouldn’t having someone else so loud be enjoyable?”

Hobi shrugged. “It’s kinda hard to be loud when the person you’re with is just as loud.  I feel like it’s hard to even get a word in when I’m talking to her.”

“I guess that makes sense.  Don’t worry, dating isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.   Half the time, I feel like Macy’s my mom.”

Hobi snorted. “Your mom?  I can see that.  She really likes to take charge of everything.”

“It’s helped in group projects, but not when we disagree on where we should go for snacks.”

“Are you saying you’ve been getting snacks without me?  Joon!”

“What?  Pfft, no I didn’t say that.”

Hobi grabbed his pillow and chucked it at Joon before laughing. “Seriously, the vending machines at the library suck though.”

——————–

“Appa.”

“Yes, Kookie?”

“Are you and Eomma gonna have a baby?” Kookie asked, his eyes wide.

Jin looked down at him in confusion. “Why are you asking?”

“Cause I want a baby.  Luke has a baby sister and she’s really cute.”

“Ohh I see,” Jin laughed. “We’re not having a baby right now, Kookie.”

“Ok.” Kookie pouted.  Then he ran off.

Jin smiled.  Kookie was so cute.  He was the only one in their big family who hadn’t been an older brother yet, and he loved babies.  They had room for one more in their family, didn’t they?  Jin wanted a little girl.  Even having five kids, they’d somehow all been boys.  Jin wouldn’t trade any of them for the world, but one more kid wouldn’t hurt, right?