"The triplets' bedtime is 8, but if they're being brats, you can make it earlier. The other kids can stay up til 8:30. Don't give them any sugar after 6 or they'll be up all night. The triplets get their diapers changed before bed. Hobi wears Spider-Man pull-ups. They're set next to his bed. Let's see, what am I forgetting...Jin gets a book before bed, and Yoongi will probably fall asleep early on the couch, so just carry him into his room and tuck him in after he's out. They each have their own stuffed animal...Jin can help you with that." Namjoon turned to his wife. "Am I forgetting anything, honey?"

She nodded. "Their vitamins. I put them on the counter. They need to take them with their dinner."

"At 6:30," Namjoon quickly clarified, correcting his wife. "They have to take them at the same time every day."

His wife just nodded, rolling her eyes slightly. The way it had worked out, she had kept her job and worked full time while he had spent the majority of his time raising the kids, feeding them, getting them all off to their respective schools, picking them back up, etc. He'd had to quit his normal job, but he still picked up occasional hours when his wife took off to watch the kids.

As for why he stayed home instead of his wife...He wasn't really sure. Well, he was, but it wasn't much of a reason. She'd simply always been the sort of outgoing social person who needed to be out there to feel complete. Namjoon, on the other hand, had wanted kids for a long time.

More specifically, he'd always hoped to have a daughter that he could treat like a princess.

Dumb luck - or unluck - had provided him six boys instead. Although he'd hit close to the nail with Jin as a princess.

Another part of the reason was that, in the words of his wife, she'd kept them all in her womb for 9 months each, so it was time for him to chip in. So he'd traded his job for hanging up scribbles of stick people and eggs on the refrigerator and watching ladybugs dance around on a stage.

But honestly, he didn't miss his job altogether that much.

Namjoon smiled anxiously at the sitter. It had been a little over a year since the triplets had been born, and Namjoon hadn't gone on a date with his wife in at least that long. But she'd asked him last night if he was free, and he'd said sure, and then she'd told him that she'd already booked a sitter and that they would be going out. He couldn't exactly refuse, but he was worried about his kids. They'd never had a babysitter before, or at least, not since the triplets had been born and Namjoon had been home full-time. Three babies was a lot more work than one baby, and he hadn't wanted to risk hiring anyone to take care of them.

But tonight was special. For what reason, he didn't know.

"Our cell phone numbers are on the pad by the phone. Call us if there's an emergency. If you have any questions, just text us," his wife instructed, and the sitter nodded. "All right, then. We'll be on our way." She gave each of the boys a kiss. Namjoon followed, tousling Jin's hair, rubbing Yoongi's back, stretching Hobi's cheeks, and tickling each of the triplets until they laughed. Then he followed his wife to the car and got in the passenger seat. Even as he buckled, though, he was looking out the window toward the house.

"They'll be fine, right?"

"Relax. They'll be fine."

***

"All right. What do you guys want for dinner? Frozen pizza or chicken nuggets?"

"PIZZA!" Hobi yelled, jumping up and down. "Pleasepleaseplease!"

Yoongi frowned. "Be quiet. You're too loud."

"Wait," Jin said seriously, turning to the boys before looking up at the babysitter. "This is important, okay? Are the chicken nuggets the regular ones or the dinosaur ones?"

The babysitter checked the package. "Um, the dinosaur ones-"

"I WANT THE DINOSAUR ONES!" Hobi yelled, instantly changing his opinion, and Jin nodded.

"Can we have chicken nuggets?" he asked sweetly, taking charge since he was the oldest.

She nodded, smiling at the little cutie. "Sure thing. You guys can play in the living room while I put them in the oven, okay?"

Hobi nodded, still bouncing up and down, and Yoongi toddled into the living room where the triplets were already playing, Jin following both of them.

When the babysitter came back in, Jin was staring at a puzzle, Yoongi was curled up on the couch, Hobi was looking over Jin's shoulder and occasionally taking pieces, and the triplets were playing with blocks.

She smiled at them, thinking What a cute family, before going over to the youngest three. "What are you guys doing?" she asked, smiling. She'd had a lot of experience with little kids since she had five younger siblings.

"Smming," one of them said. Taehyung was his name, she thought.

"Something?" she asked, smiling.

He shook his head. "Smming."

She just smiled. Probably just spewing nonsense syllables. She watched them arrange blocks for a while before the timer went off and she pulled the chicken nuggets out of the oven and set them on six different plastic plates.

"I get the pink one!" Jin yelled, running into the kitchen, his face tense with worry. "That one is mine. No one else can have that one, okay? Promise? Okay?"

She laughed and nodded. "This one can be yours."

"It is mine," he said, still tense as she handed him the plate. Then he relaxed. "Thank you," he said, as though just remembering what his parents had told him to say.

She doled out everyone else's and brought the triplets in one-by-one and put them in their high chairs. Taehyung was the last child, but as she went to pick him up, she noticed that the blocks formed a strange but noticeable pattern. Maybe he copied it from something he saw? she wondered before taking a picture on her phone and deciding to search for what it meant while the kids were eating.

She scrolled through the more popular images of trinity knots and Chinese characters for prosperity and longevity and happiness and luck before landing on what looked to be the same symbol.

She clicked on it automatically and paused.

What the hell?

Demonic symbols?

It's a mistake, she thought at first, shaking it off and deleting the tab on her phone. Obviously. He probably didn't mean to make anything. It's just a coincidence that the shape he made looked like a shape that already exists.

But then she thought about his words from earlier.

Smming.

Smming.

Not something.

But summoning?

She paled and slowly looked over to the middle triplet.

He bit the head off a dinosaur.

She picked up her cell phone and dialed.

***

"So what's the special occasion?" Namjoon asked, looking across the dinner table to his wife. "It's not our anniversary or anything, is it?"

"No, it's not our anniversary."

"Oh, good-"

"Because our anniversary was last month." She took a sip of her drink. She was perfectly calm.

Oh, shit. "Honey, I'm so sorry, I-"

"-forgot. I know." She set the drink down.

"I've just been really-"

"-busy with the kids." She looked up at him. "I know. You've been doing a great job. But you've been so busy with the kids lately that you haven't had any time for me."

"I'm really sorry about that...it's just, their schools have been so busy...Did you know that Jin's drawing was hung up on the teacher's desk this week? His classmates picked it as the best. And Yoongi...well, his teacher has sent a few complaints, so I'll have to meet with her next week. And I told you about Hobi's class performance...And you've been working late so often..."

She swallowed and looked away. "Namjoon..."

"Yes, honey? What is it?"

"Namjoon, you're a great dad, but...as a husband-"

She was cut off by the ringing of her cell phone. She sighed before accepting the call. "Hello?" She frowned. "What's wrong?" She pursed her lips and trailed the index finger of her free hand around the rim of her glass. "All right. We'll leave as soon as possible." She hung up, slipped the phone back into her purse, and frowned at him. "Our sitter is bailing. She sounded scared."

"Oh, it was probably just Taehyung," Namjoon answered easily. "When you were working late earlier this week, he couldn't sleep, so I let him watch part of this movie with me."

"And just what was the movie about?"

"...A cult of demonic worshipers."

"...I take back what I said about you being a great dad."

"It was just until he fell asleep! You know he refuses to watch all that Disney channel crap."

She just sighed and stood up. "We're going home."

"All right. But you never told me what the occasion was," Namjoon said, grabbing his jacket and leaving the money on the table.

She turned away. "I will later. Don't worry about it."

"All right."

Namjoon drove the way home. Spending time with his wife was nice and quiet, but he just didn't feel right if there weren't broken crayons and wooden blocks flying through the air. He couldn't remember how he'd ever been able to sleep with complete silence, because now, he couldn't sleep without hearing the faint breaths of six little lungs exhaling just a few doors down from his own.

***

The babysitter left in a hurry.

Taehyung just smiled.