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Summer was now becoming extremely hot as July started, and the boys’ friends were gearing up to celebrate The Fourth of July.  JoJo’s birthday was coming up as well, considering he was born the day after the nation’s birthday.  This called for two celebrations in the beginning of July, but the most important thing to the boys was the pool.  Specifically, the massive pool in JoJo’s backyard.

“Cannonballllll!” Xander exclaimed as he jumped off the ground and catapulted himself into the water.

“What are you doing?” Tae asked as he got pelted by water.

“Xander, that’s not what you’re supposed to do!” Tyler exclaimed. “You’re supposed to do this!”

He then demonstrated by bellyflopping into the pool.

“Ow!”

“Tyler, I told you not to bellyflop into the pool!” JoJo exclaimed as he walked outside with a plate of watermelon.

Tyler combatted this by squirting JoJo with the water gun, which in turn had Jimin throwing the beach ball at Tyler.

“Why is everyone always ganging up on me?” Tyler asked.

“You started it!” Jimin protested.

“Boys!  Mom said not to get into the pool until an adult is out here!” JoJo’s older sister, Rosa, exclaimed as she walked onto the back deck.

Tae clicked his tongue. “You heard her.  You guys have to get out of the pool.”

“I’m an adult!”

“You’re fifteen,” Tae argued. “You can’t even drive a car.”

JoJo snorted. “Yeah, Rosa, go get Mom.”

Rosa rolled her eyes and walked back inside, muttering something in Tagalog as she went.

“What did she just say?” Jimin asked.

“She said you guys are annoying…with more swear words.  I’ll tell Mom.” JoJo turned to the pool. “Tyler, Xander, get out!”

“What if I don’t want to?” Tyler asked.  This earned him another smack in the head with the beach ball, this time delivered by Xander.

“Get out before we’re not allowed to swim.”

——————–

That afternoon was spent eating watermelon and fighting with pool noodles and water guns.  Kyra appeared around four, when the boys were all tuckered out from spending five hours in the water.

“Does this mean I get the whole pool to myself?” she laughed as she jumped into the pool.

The boys were all sprawled out on the pool chairs, and Tae was sound asleep wrapped in his towel.

“We should probably go inside, honestly,” Xander said. “We haven’t put on sunscreen for at least two hours now.”

“Honestly, I want a nap,” JoJo sighed. “I’m tired.  I don’t think dinner is going to be ready until six at least, so maybe we should all go inside and nap.” He glanced at his dad, who was currently the dedicated parent on the porch. “When is dinner?”

“Six or seven,” his dad replied. “Depends on when Kyra’s dad brings the meat.”

“Yeah,” JoJo shook the water out of his curls. “Let’s go inside and take a nap.”

“Tae’s right there with you, I think,” Jimin laughed as he pointed to his brother. “I should go get Appa.”

——————–

The boys showered consecutively before gathering in JoJo’s bedroom.  Tae had simply changed before going straight back to sleep on JoJo’s bed, and the other five kids were sitting on the floor playing Uno.

“Are you excited to be nine tomorrow?” Jimin asked JoJo.

“Yeah!  Sophia keeps saying that nine is the best age.  I don’t know why or how she knows that.”

“Nine isn’t different from eight,” Xander told him.

“Of course, you’d say that,” Kyra rolled her eyes. “You’re ten.  That’s so much cooler.”

“Does that mean I’m cooler than you?” Xander grinned.

Kyra rolled her eyes again.

“Where is Sophia?” Jimin asked suddenly. “Usually she’s bugging us.”

“She wanted to play with the babies,” JoJo explained. “She’s mad we don’t have one.”

“Do your parents not want more babies?”

JoJo shook his head. “Nah.”

“That sucks,” Xander commented.

JoJo shrugged. “I don’t really want a baby in the house, honestly,” he laughed.

“Bom is loud,” Jimin nodded. “Kookie likes to get into screaming contests with her.”

JoJo cringed. “That sounds awful.”

“I join them sometimes,” he admitted with a laugh.

“Sam does that on his own.  He likes to scream.  Our cat doesn’t like it,” Kyra put in her two cents.

Xander looked around. “Ella never did anything like that.  She likes to hit us, though.”

“And throw blocks,” JoJo said with wide eyes. “She and your cat just don’t like me being there.  You know what Tae said last year?  He said your cat is nice to him!”

Xander furrowed his brow. “Orange is always nice.  What are you talking about?”

“She always comes over and tries to sit on me when I come over!”

“Yeah, because she likes to cuddle.  Haven’t you met Kyra’s cat?  He scratches and bites!”

“Yeah, that’s because you tried to throw him!” Kyra exclaimed.

“Correction: I did throw him.  He was being annoying,” Xander defended himself.

“I don’t think throwing cats is a good idea,” Jimin laughed nervously.

——————–

Dinner was done at seven, and everyone gathered in the living room and on the deck to eat.  It was about an hour until they could start doing fireworks, so everyone just chatted.

Kookie dumped a massive pile of chips on his plate.

“Ohh!  That’s a lot of chips!” Luke exclaimed with wide eyes.

“We can share them,” Kookie offered.

Luke took this offer immediately, grabbing a handful of chips off of Kookie’s plate and shoving it into his mouth.

“They’re good chips,” he nodded in approval.

“Kookie, I don’t think you can eat that many chips,” Chaeha commented as she walked by.

“It’s ok!  I’m sharing them with Luke!” Kookie reassured her.

She raised an eyebrow. “Ok.  If you don’t finish them, bring them to me, ok?”

Kookie nodded. “Ok!”

Meanwhile, Jimin was trying to see how many burger patties and buns he could stack.  So far, he’d basically made a Big Mac without the toppings.

“Are you going to eat all of that?” JoJo asked.

“No. Wanna share it?”

“Not really.”

“Dude, that looks sick!” Xander exclaimed. “I’ll share it with you!  Can we add toppings to it?” He was already reaching for the onions and sauces as he asked this.

“Sure!” Jimin agreed.  He wasn’t very picky.

“I’m going to go get a hot dog while you guys make…whatever that is,” JoJo told them before wandering off.

Jimin and Xander took turns putting a copious number of sauces and toppings on the burger.  In the end, it had onions, lettuce, tomato, cheese, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, and the littlest bit of relish on it.  Neither of the boys were sure they liked that, so they both avoided it.  It was the size of just about two burgers stacked on top of each other, so this seemed like a good amount of food for the two of them to share.

“What kind of chips do you like?” Xander asked as Jimin carefully cut the burger in half.

“I like all of them,” Jimin replied after sparing a glance at the massive collection of chips on the table.

Xander took this as his chance to eat every single kind of chips they had, so he dumped a little of each onto a plate.  Then the two of them headed out to the porch to eat.

“What on earth is that?” Hobi asked as he noticed the two of them. “It looks delicious!”

“We just put everything on it,” Xander informed him.

“Awesome!  I’m going to go make one.”

The two of them sat down just as Kookie and Luke wandered out with their massive plate of chips.  Xander and Jimin shared a glance before looking back at their brothers.

“Hey!  Why do you have so many chips?” Xander asked.

“Because they’re good,” Kookie replied. “You have a lot of chips too.”

“We’re older than you.”

Kookie shrugged and walked off with his plate, Luke hot on his heels.

——————–

Tae wandered out around eight-thirty, just before the fireworks started.  He had a sour look on his face, and he went straight to Jin instead of searching out the boys.

“Can you pick me up, Appa?” Tae asked quietly.

Jin was about to protest, saying that Tae was a little big for that, but he did not look well at all.

“Are you feeling ok?” Jin asked as he picked him up.

Tae just let out a low whine and buried his face in Jin’s shoulder.

“Do you want something to eat?  I think we have more burgers in the fridge.”

“No.  I wanna go home.”

Jin combed his fingers through Tae’s hair. “You don’t want to stay for fireworks?  Or stay the night?  Jimin, Xander, and Tyler are staying here tonight.”

Tae shook his head.

“You want to go home now?”

Tae nodded.

“Ok.  Let’s go find Eomma, then.”

Chaeha was sitting on the couch with the other moms when Jin entered the living room.

“Chae, I think it’s time to go home.  Someone isn’t feeling too great.”

“Aw, that’s not good.” Chaeha stood up to pat Tae’s cheek.  She winced. “Ooo, Jin, he’s warm.”

“Is he?” Jin leaned his cheek against Tae’s forehead. “Oh, you’re right.”

Chaeha picked up Bom’s carrier and set it on the couch before strapping Bom into it. “Kookie has a booster in the other car, right?  We can leave him with the boys, and they can bring him back with them.”

“I can check,” Jin offered, “But yes, I think so.”

Bom clapped her hands together as Chaeha pulled her dangling star down for her.

“I’ll go talk to Jimin and tell Joon and Hobi that we’re going home, and then I’ll meet you at the car, ok?” Chaeha asked as she set Bom’s carrier on the floor.

“Sounds good.”

——————–

“Tae isn’t staying?” Jimin asked in disappointment after Chaeha found him on the deck.

She shook her head. “He’s sick, Min, I’m sorry.  Do you want to stay since he isn’t?”

Jimin glanced at Xander, who made a pleading face at him. “Come on, it won’t be fun if you don’t stay.  You know JoJo and Tyler are going to fight over the fidgets all night.”

Jimin laughed. “Ok, I’ll stay.  Is Kookie going home with you guys?”

“No, he’s staying with Joon and Hobi.  If you change your mind about staying before they leave, just let them know, and you can go home with them.”

Jimin nodded. “Ok!”

Next, Chaeha went to find Kookie.  He was still trying to demolish the chip mountain with Luke.

“Kookie, you’re gonna go home with Hobi and Joon, ok?”

Kookie nodded. “Ok.”

——————–

Jin had to coax Tae into the shower when they got home.  He was covered in sunscreen and chlorine from the pool still.  Chaeha set Bom down in the living room in the playpen so she could go do dishes.  Jin walked into the living room to find Bom on her stomach.  She let out a loud squeal when she saw him.

“Hi there.  Should I rescue you from the playpen?”

She rolled over onto her back and giggled before reaching up her arms to him.  He laughed and reached down to pick her up.

“You’re in a good mood.”

She reached out and slapped him in the face.

“Ok, maybe too good of a mood.  What is your Eomma doing?”

Jin walked out to the kitchen to find Chaeha doing a mountain of dishes.  The older twins had decided to make a red, white, and blue cake for the party, and they hadn’t had time to clean up before they all had to leave.

“Darling, you should leave those for the boys to do.  They’ll be home long before they’ll be in bed.”

Chaeha shook her head. “It’s all right.  I’ll just do them now and they can put them away when they get home.”

A few moments later, Tae wandered into the kitchen with his pajamas on.  Jin patted his still wet hair.

“I think we should dry your hair, bub.”

Tae nodded and leaned his head against Jin’s side.  Jin patted his back.

“Chae, can you take Bom?  I’m gonna take Tae to the bathroom to dry his hair.”

Bom was very happy to be held by her mom again, and Jin picked Tae up and carried him to the bathroom.  There, he dried the eight-year-old’s hair after sitting him on the counter.

“We should take your temperature,” Jin told Tae as he put the blow dryer back in the drawer.

Tae groaned. “I don’t want to.”

“That’s ok,” Jin replied as he pulled a thermometer out of the drawer.

“I just want to go lay on the couch.”

“Ok, go get your blanket and head to the couch.  I’ll meet you out there.”

These words had Tae the most energetic Jin had seen him tonight, bouncing off the counter and running to his room.  Jin laughed and dug through the medicine cabinet.  He knew he was going to have trouble getting Tae to take anything, but he was going to try.

He walked out to the living room to find Tae laying on the couch.  Bom was rolling around on a blanket on the floor.

“Are you gonna get the toy, Bom?” Tae asked, laughing as she did another full roll.

She grinned up at him and wiggled.  Jin laughed.

“Are you guys having fun?”

Bom let out an excited yell in confirmation.  Jin chuckled before kneeling in front of Tae on the couch.

“Will you let me take your temperature now?”

Tae sighed, but willingly let Jin put the thermometer in his mouth.  When Jin checked it, it said 38 degrees.  He patted Tae’s head.

“You’re fine.  It’s not too high at all.”

“Can we watch TV now?”

Jin laughed. “Sure.  What do you want to watch?”

——————–

Kookie threw a popper at the ground, grinning triumphantly when it made a loud cracking sound.  Luke was standing in the garage with his fingers in his ears.

“Lukey!  Come out here!” Kookie yelled.

Luke shook his head, his eyes wide.

“Luke doesn’t like loud noises, Kookie,” Xander told him.

“He’s not going to watch the fireworks?” Kookie asked in horror.

“Probably not.”

“It’s ok, Kookie, you can sit with us,” Jimin offered.

“Yay!  We’re going to make big fireworks tonight!”

Jimin laughed. “They’re not big ones.”

Kookie glared at him. “Yes they are!”

Jimin shrugged. “If you say so.”

The fireworks were spent soon enough, and it was time for everyone to go home.

“Hobi!  Hobi!  Can Lukey stay the night at our house?” Kookie asked as he bounced to the front door where his brother was standing.

“Not tonight, Kookie.  Joon and I can’t take him home, and Tae is sick.  Maybe in a few days.”

Kookie frowned. “Aw, man.”

“Are you guys leaving?” Jimin asked.

“Yeah in a couple minutes here.  Joon was in the back looking at the pool with JoJo’s dad, but as soon as he’s done, we’re going home.”

“Ok!  We’re playing Uno in JoJo’s room.  See you tomorrow!”

Jimin was down the hall before Hobi or Kookie could even say goodbye to him.

“Get your shoes on, Kookie.  We can head out to the car and wait for Joon.”

——————–

“Tyler!  I said not to jump on the bed!” JoJo yelled.

“Beds are made for you to bounce on them.”

“No, you’re going to break the bed if you keep it up!”

Xander pulled his pajama shirt on before grabbing a pillow off the floor and throwing it straight at Tyler’s head.

“Get off the bed, dude.  That’s not cool.”

Jimin wandered back in the room with his pajamas on.

“What are we going to do tonight?”

JoJo grinned. “I stole some of Rosa’s nail polish!  We can paint our nails!”

“Is that really a good idea?”

“Why not?  I’ve helped Sophia paint her nails before, so if you guys need help I’ll help you.”

“Awesome!” Xander exclaimed. “Let’s do it!”

JoJo had been more prepared for this than had been initially clear, because he had a stool specifically for them to paint their nails on so they didn’t get the carpets dirty.

JoJo had already picked out a sleek black to paint his nails.  Tyler picked a bright red, and Xander picked an offensive neon orange.  Jimin spent longer digging through the many colors JoJo had taken, and he finally decided on a sky-blue polish.

“Is this how the girls feel at sleepovers?” Xander asked as he fanned his hand in the air in an effort to dry the polish faster.

“Girls don’t paint their nails at sleepovers,” JoJo assured him. “Rosa and her friends like to see how much they can annoy me without our parents knowing.  Last week, one of her friends threw a massive wad of half-melted cheese on my floor.  She’s not allowed to come over anymore.”

“Is that why the carpet in the corner is crusty?” Tyler asked, wrinkling his nose.

“Yeah.  My dad had to cut it out of the carpet because it dried too much before we realized it was there.”

“Ew.”

“Yeah, it was pretty gross,” JoJo nodded as he painted Jimin’s nails. “My sister always says boys are gross, but her friends are grosser than me.”

“No kidding!” Xander exclaimed. “What else have they done?”

JoJo shuddered. “Don’t ask.”

——————–

“We’re sleeping on the couch tonight?” Kookie asked in excitement as he bounced into the living room. “Awesome!”

“How much sugar did he have tonight?” Jin asked Joon.

“I have no clue.  Hobi was the one who was with him all night.”

“I think he had three pieces of cake,” Hobi admitted.

“You’re the one putting him to bed tonight,” Jin told him.

“Kookie, stop jumping!  You’re making my head hurt,” Tae whined from the couch.

“Yeah, Kook, go get ready for bed!” Hobi exclaimed, chasing Kookie out of the living room.

The TV had been turned down by the time Kookie was out of the shower, and Chaeha had disappeared into the bedroom with Bom.

“Can I trust you two to get the boys to sleep out here?” Jin asked the older twins.

“Sure!  I’ll sleep in the recliner if I have to,” Hobi offered. “Can we leave Avatar on?”

“That’s fine.  If Tae falls asleep and you don’t want it on, you can turn it off.”

Kookie was bouncing on the couch by now.  He’d changed into his pajamas, but he was nowhere near ready for bed.

“Kookie, if you don’t settle down, you’re going to your bedroom,” Jin told him as he turned off the kitchen light.

This got the six-year-old to lay down and pull his blanket over himself.

“Go to sleep, Kookie,” Tae whispered.  He was clearly almost asleep now.

Kookie wiggled around on the couch, but he stayed as quiet as he could.  Hobi sat down in the recliner as Jin headed to bed.

“Goodnight, boys.  Go to sleep soon, Kookie.”

The quiet play of the TV made for good white noise, and Kookie was soon fast asleep along with Tae.  Hobi didn’t bother to turn off the TV, instead settling into the recliner with a blanket he’d found in the closet.

“Goodnight, boys.”