"All right, we've been here for six hours, we're going home," Namjoon said, sighing and trying to summon all the remaining energy he had left just to corral his children towards the car.

Until Taehyung said the words he dreaded most.

"Where's Jimin?"

"Shit."

"What's shi-"

"Don't say that, Tae," Namjoon immediately said, but Tae just tilted his head.

"But Yoongi says it too sometimes? And I wanted to know what it is?"

Namjoon turned to glare at Yoongi, who was in turn glaring at Tae for throwing him under the bus.

"Watch who doesn't buy you anything Gucci for Christmas," Yoongi snapped.

"No! I- I take it back! Yoongi never said shi-"

"Tae."

"I'm sorry."

Namjoon sighed, doing the millionth head count of the day.

Jin, his mouth surrounded by the sugary remains of long gone cotton candy, 1.

Yoongi, pissed off even though I won him a Kumamon plushie, 2.

Hobi, hugging Yoongi and yelling in his ear, 3.

Taehyung, still trying to slip in a swear word, 4.

Jungkook, tired and ready for his nap, 5.

Jin, Yoongi, Hobi, Taehyung, Jungkook. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

5.

Not 6.

Shit.

Namjoon inhaled deeply. "All right. We're missing Jimin." He waited for the panic to settle into all of them, but they sort of just looked at each other and shrugged.

"Five is enough, right?" Yoongi asked, deadpan.

"No! Okay, where was the last place you guys remember seeing Jimin?" Namjoon asked. His heart was beating rapidly and it felt as though his windpipe were being crushed.

Jimin is out there somewhere, alone, probably crying, scared...

Jimin, my beautiful, precious child, is alone, without me...

Jimin could be stolen by someone.

Namjoon was having a hard time thinking straight. He was pretty sure that there was something he was supposed to do in these situations, someone he was supposed to contact so they could send out an alert, but at the moment, all he could think of was Jimin's chubby little cheeks and the way his hair stuck out when he woke up and how he rubbed his eyes with his tiny hands when he was tired and Namjoon was scared to think that he would never see those little cheeks and those tufts of hair and those little hands ever again and he was terrified that-

"He was on the horses with us," Taehyung said, frowning as he turned to stare at the carousel.

Without pausing, Namjoon grabbed Jungkook in his arms, took Tae's hand, and started speed-walking toward the carousel, keeping an eye on Jin, Yoongi, and Hobi. "Keep your eyes peeled for your brother."

"Daddy? Do you peel an eye like you peel a potato?"

"No, I- just- look for Jimin." Now he was really scared. What if Jimin had found a potato peeler on the ground?

"I don't see him, Daddy."

Namjoon's heart dropped. He knew that the longer Jimin was missing, the lower the chance of finding him. Someone could have taken him...They could have just picked him right up and walked out, or shoved him in a backpack and left through the exit gate... He struggled to take in a breath. What am I going to do without Jimin?

His wife's conversation with him played back in his head.

I thought you didn't want to be bothered with the kids.

Not with all six of them. One is manageable."

But Namjoon couldn't handle losing any of them. If he didn't find Jimin...

He didn't know what would happen to him. Not just Jimin, but Namjoon himself. Jimin could be sold into a life of child slavery or forced to do disgusting things. It didn't matter what happened to Jimin; Namjoon was fairly certain that he'd die either way.

He's the guy with six kids, right?

No, he had six kids but he just let them all wander off one by one. The police are calling it negligence but no one can prove anything.

That's scary...

Yeah. Keep your kids close. You never know, he might try to steal them.

"Doesn't Daddy always tell us that if we get separated, we're supposed to go find important adults?" Taehyung asked, tilting his head so his bangs fell somewhat into his eyes.

Yes, but I'm afraid that if he's not there, we'll never find him, that if he's not there, all of my hopes will be crushed-

"Oh, look. It's Jimin."

"WHAT. WHERE?!"

Tae looked a little scared since Namjoon was yelling, but he pointed to the stuffed animal stand, where a female police officer was-

-was talking to a little boy.

Namjoon wasted no time in grabbing as many kids as he could and running over, already scanning the boy. Please be Jimin, please be Jimin, please be-

"Daddy!" Jimin cried, his head turning to lock eyes with Namjoon as he stuck his arms out. Namjoon immediately swooped Jimin up, hugging him close to his chest, afraid that if he let go, Jimin would cease to exist.

"I was so scared, baby," Namjoon whispered, his eyes closed as he tried to hold his tears back so his other children wouldn't realize how weak he was at the moment. They only had one parental role model instead of two, so he felt like he had to do the work of both and never show any weakness in front of them. "So scared..." he whispered.

"Oh, is this your son?" the woman asked, standing up to full height and staring at Namjoon suspiciously. "All of these boys just happen to be your sons?"

Namjoon opened his eyes and frowned. "Yes, ma'am. That's how I lost track of this little one."

"All right, what are all of their names?" she asked.

"Jin, Yoongi, Hobi - well, his full name is Hoseok, but we call him Hobi, Taehyung, Jungkook, and this little mochi in my arms is Jimin." He brightened. "Jin, sweetie, can you grab my wallet out of my back left pocket?"

Jin nodded and found Namjoon's wallet. "Now what, Daddy?"

"Open it and show the nice woman what's inside."

Jin did so and opened the wallet to expose dozens of pictures of each of them playing with each other, their school photos for every year, including Hobi as a ladybug, and a picture of all of them asleep. And then in the very back, the family picture they had taken, minus his wife.

"Oh," she said, blinking. "All right, I see. Sorry for my mistake."

Namjoon smiled, but his nerves were still shot from almost losing his kid. "It's fine, you were just doing your job. I was just terrified that I wouldn't be able to find him."

"Sorry about that...I tried to ask him questions about who he was with, but he just kept saying 'Daddy will find me.'" She smiled at Jimin. "Cute kid. All of them, really."

"Thanks," Namjoon said, smiling at his gaggle of toddlers.

"Is their mother missing too? Or-"

"I know where she is," Namjoon said tightly, his smile frozen. "She's not missing."

Jin put the wallet back in Namjoon's pocket and looked up at the police officer. "Mommy is just really busy right now so she can't come home ever."

"Oh..." She looked at Namjoon apologetically but with understanding. "I'm sorry to hear that she's...busy."

Namjoon shrugged. "What can you do?" He sighed. "All right, kids, we're going home before I lose any more of you."

"Daddy?"

"What is it now, Taehyung?"

"Where's Jungkook?"

***

Twenty minutes later, all six kids had been buckled into the car with the assistance of the police officer, who had quickly run after Jungkook as he had attempted to go back on the carousel. Then she had helped Namjoon back to his car, keeping his kids together and making sure they all got back safely.

"Thank you so much, and I'm sorry for all the trouble," Namjoon apologized profusely, but the officer just smiled.

"It's no problem. I love kids," she said, smiling at the children inside and waving before turning back to Namjoon. "And I don't mind men either," she said, smiling at Namjoon as she shook his hand and walked back to her post.

Namjoon paused before getting behind the wheel.

"Daddy? Aren't you going to put your seat belt on?"

Namjoon did so, but before starting the car, he opened his hand to see a little slip of paper with a phone number on it. He blinked before shoving it in his pocket and looking back at his kids. Taehyung was kicking his feet happily, and all the rest were already asleep.

"When we get home, can we watch a scary show?" Tae whispered, and Namjoon grinned.

"Sure thing, kiddo."

And then they left.