jin - 7, yoongi - 6, hobi - 5, jimin - 4, taehyung - 4, jungkook - 4

"That's...blood?" Jimin asked, staring at the red liquid bubbling out from his elbow. He'd been crying a few moments earlier until Namjoon had explained to Jimin that he'd get a band aid and a Popsicle if he was brave about it.

Now he just looked curious.

"Right," Namjoon said, dabbing at Jimin's elbow with a wet paper towel, trying not to tear the skin any more than was necessary to get all the dirt out. "That's blood. The name of the game is to keep it inside you."

Jimin blinked. "How do you play the game?"

"Huh?"

"You said there was a game called 'to keep it inside you.' How do you play? Did I win?" Jimin pushed his head forward slightly. "Did I win, Daddy?"

"Um..." Namjoon stopped dabbing at his scrape for a moment. He'd forgotten that he couldn't use idioms or expressions with children who would take everything literally. "Right, the game, the game...well...you're supposed to keep the blood on the inside, so...no, you didn't win."

Jimin's mouth fell open, tiny white teeth framed by lips with tiny indentations in them from where he'd bit down. "I lost?"

"I'm sorry Jiminie, but yes," Namjoon said, turning back to the wound and trying to avoid eye contact with Jimin. Of course he wanted to tell Jimin that he was a winner, but then Jimin might start pricking himself on everything just to draw blood so he could win a game that didn't exist, and Namjoon didn't think it would go over very well. "But you can try again next time, okay?"

Jimin sucked his bottom lip in, his eyes watering. "Did Tae win?"

"Um...well, Tae isn't bleeding, so...I guess he sort of did," Namjoon said before wincing. "It's...less about winning and more about not losing."

Jimin's eyes widened as he tried to process something too complex for his little brain to handle. "But- but I want to win," he repeated, his eyes downturned as he pouted.

"But," Namjoon began, digging through their first aid box before pulling out an object with a victorious smile. "You get a Scooby Doo band aid on your elbow! And guess what, Jimin? Tae doesn't get one, and none of your other brothers get one, either."

"You mean..." Jimin stared at the band aid, tears forgotten although his lashes remained damp. "It's...just for me? It's mine?"

"A special band aid for a special boy," Namjoon agreed with a smile, and Jimin stared at the band aid, entranced. Namjoon peeled off the adhesive strip and went to put it over Jimin's elbow when Jimin moved his elbow out of the way.

"What are you doing with it? It's mine!" Jimin protested, reaching for the band aid.

"I'm going to put it on your boo boo, okay?" Namjoon said, reaching for Jimin's elbow once more, but he threw his arm in the air.

"But- if you stick it on my arm, I can't hold on to it!" Jimin said, pouting once more, and Namjoon exhaled, rubbing his temple.

"But you can still look at it," Namjoon reminded him, but Jimin shook his head, crossing his arms and sitting on the ground crisscross applesauce style.

"I want to hold it!" he insisted.

"Okay, okay," Namjoon sighed, giving in (like always). He pressed the band aid against Jimin's right index finger.

Jimin stared at it in a second, transfixed by the special object, but then his eyes widened. "DADDY! IT'S STUCK!"

Namjoon closed his eyes for a moment before opening them back up. "Honey, that's what a band aid does."

"D-DADDY!" Jimin began crying, and Namjoon quickly wrapped the Scooby Doo band aid around his index finger so it wouldn't stick to any of his other fingers.

Jimin stopped crying as he stared at the band aid before looking back up at Namjoon. "A-And it's mine? All m-mine?"

Namjoon nodded, on the ready for a third wave of tears.

"It's s-special? I'm special?" Jimin whispered as he tears finished rolling down his cheeks.

"Very very special," Namjoon promised while secretly putting a plain band aid on Jimin's elbow to seal up the cut. When Jimin seemed satisfied with his special band aid, Namjoon rubbed his back gently. "Now, Jimin? Can you please tell me how you got hurt?"

Jimin looked up at Namjoon with innocent eyes as though having not at all realized that Namjoon hadn't been outside with them but instead in the kitchen doing dishes. "Yoongi dropped me from the play set," Jimin answered as though the fact were obvious.

Namjoon turned his eyes to the kitchen window. He could see the small play set in their backyard - two swings and a two-story wooden structure. On the second story was Yoongi, looking directly at the kitchen window with a perfectly innocent smile on his face.

"We were playing pirates," Jimin explained easily, still playing with the band aid on his finger. "Yoongi said he was the captain and I was the anchor and of course the ground is the water and our ship wouldn't stop if he didn't drop the anchor so..."

Namjoon tuned Jimin out as he shook his head at Yoongi, who just gave him a captain's salute.