Uncle Namjoon

What happened to Doggopup? (CH 15)

T/W: Mention of death
A/N: I try to make this story very family friendly, but I sadly have to mention Jackson every once in a while.

After dinner Namjoon helped to clean the table and set the dirty dishes aside, while Seokjin quickly put them into dishwasher. The mess was quickly set aside.
In the meantime, the children knew where to go, dragging Jungkook along, they went to their large toy box. Jimin proudly showed off his new toys and Taehyung brought out a massive Lego truck, telling with pride in his chest how he built all that by himself, skipping the unnecessary information about his father's help.
Jungkook was gasping, astonished at the amount of arduous work this piece of truck carried.

The two adults could hear the children through the open doors. Both adults snickered at their conversations, which were filled with usual child mind. They conveyed no meaning, full of naive questions and vacuous talk. Currently they were questioning of the possibilities of eating a fly while it being midair. It was Jimin and his loud "EW!" which put an end to the debate. They jumped to another topic.

Yet Seokjin got red ears as he heard how Jimin asked where Jungkook's father was. He slowly dried his hands to approach them and aimed to stop that dialogue, because he didn't know how Jungkook coped with that topic yet.
"Uncle said death took him away." He heard Jungkook's voice from the kitchen and came eye to eye with Namjoon as he froze on his spot.
"I just told him the truth without hiding anything." Namjoon explained in a whisper tone, staying unfazed.
He didn't even try to sugarcoat it. Now or later, why did it matter? Jungkook would eventually know the truth one day. His uncle didn't see a reason to tell him a made-up story. He talked to him openly and repeated each time the same sentences when Jungkook asked about Jackson. Even if Jungkook never really understood the whole context.
The next part of their conversation proved this as well.

"Who is death?" Taehyung wanted to know, raising his head from his colorful truck to look at Jungkook, who didn't reply for a second. Jungkook was busy pushing the Lego truck on the carpet, while Jimin picked up other Lego pieces to build another vehicle.
"I don't know. Uncle says, it is not a human." Jungkook went through these questions with Namjoon already. "AND.." he immediately added before Taehyung could even ask. "...not an animal either. Uncle says if death comes, you will not be around anymore." He sounded convinced and made Jimin gasp with his straightforwardness.

Even if they were asking with pure intentions and with an honest curiosity, Seokjin had to interrupt the conversation at this point, feeling uneasy about this topic in innocent children's mouths, not comprehending the rules of this world so easily.
"Let's watch a movie! Come to the living room please." He called them, but as he expected his curious son carried the conversation even further.
While Namjoon sat on the couch with Jimin and Jungkook on his sides, Taehyung pinched the hem of Seokjin's cardigan.
"Did death also take away Doggopup?" Taehyung wanted to clarify some confusion too. Seokjin gulped softly and sat on the couch, while he nodded sheepishly.

"Y-Yes." He just had hoped that this topic was closed and forgotten forever but the kids always kept remembering the finger puppet, which Seokjin had to remove into the trashcan in secret, after a tragic event.
"Doggopup..." He stared into Jimin's and Taehyung's eyes with remorse, acting as the last person to be suspected about the loss of the so called Doggopup. "... was taken by death."
"Oh... that's sad. Hopefully death brings it back, because we love Doggopup, and death is no fun if he just takes away people's toys without asking." Jimin huffed as he leaned back to Namjoon's side and crossed his legs, destroying the boundaries between them.

"Uhm.. yeah.. yeah... really." He tried to fake having an insight.
"Doggopup was a particularly important member of our finger theatre." Seokjin reassured it once again for Namjoon as his kids nodded in unison. Namjoon and Jungkook were just listening with a sentimental expression.