Christmas morning came with footsteps at 6 AM and squeals of excitement.

It was followed shortly thereafter by kids hopping up on Namjoon's bed and pulling and pushing at him until he finally woke up.

Then he looked at the alarm clock.

6:03 AM

"No."

"PLEASE, DAD?!" Hobi yelled right into Namjoon's ear, giddy with excitement.

"No."

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE?!" Jin yelled.

"No."

There was a moment of blessed silence as Namjoon shut his eyes once again, thinking that they were going to let him get at least two more hours of sleep, but Jin, Yoongi, Hobi, Tae, and Jungkook had all turned to stare at Jimin.

They nodded eagerly at him, and Jimin broke after a few moments.

"Um, Dad?" he asked softly, biting his lip and widening his eyes as he tugged at Namjoon's sleeve.

Namjoon's eyes fluttered open. "Mmm?"

"Dad? Can we open presents now? Please?" Jimin asked, tilting his head down and looking up at Namjoon through his lashes while playing with his hands nervously.

Namjoon stared at Jimin.

Everyone stared at Namjoon.

After thirty seconds, Namjoon sighed. "Fine-"

"YAY! PRESENT TIME!" Hobi and Jin yelled, hopping off the bed and running into the living room, Yoongi close behind them.

Jimin smiled, and he, Tae, and Jungkook all went out together.

Namjoon smiled at the sight.

Then he closed his eyes again.

***

"DAD!"

More hands tugging at him.

He looked over at the alarm.

6:09 AM

"Fine, fine," he mumbled, not that he had a choice as he was dragged out of bed as forcibly seated on the couch.

"Okay, now you have to hand out presents," Yoongi reminded him, determined.

Namjoon sighed but smiled wearily as he saw six little faces looking at him in hopeful expectation. With a slight groan, he got up and started picking up presents from under the tree, squinting at the labels and handing them out to each of the boys.

After a few moments, he had handed out five presents: one to Jin, one to Yoongi, one to Hobi, one to Tae, and one to Jungkook. "I can't seem to find yours, Jimin..." Namjoon began, planning a small prank, but Jimin just nodded glumly.

"Santa probably doesn't know where I live," he answered seriously, and all five enlightened children stared at Jimin along with Namjoon.

"It's okay, Dad," Jimin went on. "I'll write him my letter next year and explain that I moved so he knows which chimney to put my present in."

Hobi started giggling. "Jimin, you know that there isn't really a-"

Yoongi slapped a hand over Hobi's mouth, not even looking at Hobi, still staring at Jimin. "That sounds like a good idea, Jimin. You should do that."

Jimin nodded, swinging his legs back and forth slightly and trying to hide his disappointment.

"Ah, well..." Namjoon blinked. "Maybe Santa got a little lost, but I still have a couple of presents for you," he said, still not sure if Jimin was kidding or not, but he was pretty sure that Jimin was completely serious.

Jimin still believed in Santa.

Jimin lit up like a Christmas light when Namjoon said that he still had presents. He tried to contain himself, but he was rubbing his feet together and squirming slightly while trying to contain his excitement. "For me?"

Namjoon nodded and gave the other kids a look, and Jin nodded, smiling as he caught on.

"We each got you a little something," he said.

"But...when?" Jimin asked, his eyes wide with wonder. "When did you have time? I've only been home for about a week..."

"We'd go shopping when you were home playing with another kid," Jin answered, and Jimin flushed happily.

"Thank you!" he said even though he hadn't unwrapped a single gift yet. But then his face fell. "I'm sorry...I don't have anything for you guys..."

"It's fine," Yoongi said, patting Jimin's head. "We weren't expecting anything. You coming home is a present in itself, okay? So don't worry about it. Plus, we each got to spend a whole day with you. That's like Christmas and a birthday rolled into one."

Jimin smiled so happily at Yoongi that Yoongi had to look away, putting a hand over his mouth to hide his expression.

Namjoon just laughed at his kids and let everyone open their presents, happy that they were all getting along again. Because everyone was still clingy with Jimin, they'd made him sit close to the middle, so they were lined up from Jin on the right to Yoongi to Hobi to Jimin to Tae to Jungkook on the left, coincidentally in birth order, and even though Tae and Jungkook had been screaming at each other just yesterday, they seemed to be fine today. They still weren't what they had been, but the rift between them was finally closing.

When it came time for Jimin to open his siblings' gifts, they all watched in private joy as Jimin tore off poorly applied wrapping paper to find a new (and super soft) blanket from Jin, a Kumamon stuffed animal from Yoongi, a motivational horse poster from Hobi that read ALWAYS BE YOU ON THE OUTSIDE BUT BE A UNICORN ON THE INSIDE, a box of blocks from Tae, and a sleep mask that looked like a bunny from Jungkook.

Everybody was excited to give Jimin their gift, and after Jimin had unwrapped all of them, he jumped up and gave everybody a hug, even Yoongi, who didn't even bother to pretend like he didn't want one.

***

Jimin carried all of his gifts back to his bed, taking them all in one trip and dumping them all on his bed before he dropped any, and as he turned around, he saw Tae enter their room. "Thank you for the blocks, Tae," he said, smiling before tilting his head, confused. "Although...um...it's not that I didn't like your present, but...why did you choose it?"

Tae gave Jimin an unreadable look. Jimin couldn't tell if Tae was happy or sad as he leaned in and ruffled Jimin's hair. "You might not remember much about back then, but now you can build all the towers you want, and nobody's going to knock them down."

Jimin's eyes lit up as he remembered his preschool days with Tae (and Jongup and Hyukk).

"Except maybe me," Tae added, smiling suddenly, and Jimin had to laugh as he gave Tae another hug.

"Thanks, Tae," he said, and his smile slowly faded as he became more serious. "For the blocks and for back then, always standing up for me, always protecting me. You always had my back."

"Pshhh. Had?" Tae shook his head, squeezing Jimin slightly. "Have. Then and now and always. Count on it. Count on me."

Jimin squeezed back, and that was all the response that Tae needed.

When they pulled apart, Jimin looked over to see Jungkook hovering in the doorway, watching them with a pained expression on his face. Jimin just grabbed Jungkook's hand, dragging him over, and forced him into a hug, one arm over Jungkook's shoulder, the other over Tae's.

"Me too," Jungkook said suddenly, looking down. "I've got your back too, okay?" He looked up. "I didn't back then. I'm sorry."

"Kookie, you don't have to apologize for it every day-"

"But I haven't said it enough," Jungkook argued softly with Jimin, the three of them still caught in a hug. "So I'll say it now and I'll say it again and I'll probably say it a million more times. I'm sorry for letting you down. But that won't happen again, okay? I might not have a deep scary voice like Tae-"

"Hey!"

"-but I'll do my best to look out for you."

Jimin smiled gently and squeezed both of their shoulders. They squeezed back, and again, that was all that he needed.

merry christmas to everyone! and if you celebrate a different holiday, enjoy that as well!