Pretty Please (with a Christmas Star on Top)

Pairing: Jisoo x Jeonghan (feat. Babies!Vocal Unit)

"Mommy, Seokminnie and Seungkwannie are being mean again!" Jeonghan peeked into the living room, fuzzy blanket draped around his shoulders, to find a teary Jihoon pouting from his seat in front of the fireplace while Seokmin and Seungkwan danced around him. Seokmin had managed to escape Jihoon's swiping paws, but Seungkwan wasn't so lucky, and he fell flat on his face.

Jeonghan acted quickly, patting Seokmin on the head and scolding him gently before picking up Seungkwan, who was beginning to cry, and squatting down in front of Jihoon. "What did they say, baby?" He asked, wiping away a few stray tears from Jihoon's cheeks and his head. Jihoon was reduced to a blubbering mess, and he mumbled about how they had teased his height despite him being older.

Jisoo had made his way into the room and was cradling Seokmin, quietly speaking to him in a strict undertone about how teasing his brothers rudely was never okay and that he should be more aware of how sensitive Jihoon could be. Seokmin nodded solemnly and pinky promised never to push Jihoon again before hopping out of Jisoo's lap and tackling his two brothers in a hug. 

The boys ran after each other, giggling and jostling each other with all hard emotions forgotten. Jisoo wrapped his arms around Jeonghan's torso from behind and rested his chin on his shoulder. An idea popped into Jeonghan's head. "Do you want to put up the Christmas tree? It's a little overdue, but the kids would like it, right?" Seungkwan overheard their conversation, interestingly enough, and began squealing about the Christmas tree.

"Mommy, Daddy, I want the Christmas tree!"

"Christmas tree? Do I get to put the star on top?"

"No, I do! I'm the oldest!"

Jeonghan smiled fondly at the three children who were exchanging banter and herded them together. "Everyone gets to help with the star," he organized, pressing a kiss to each of their cheeks. Jisoo came back from the garage carrying large cardboard boxes filled with festive decorations and ornaments, and he set up the plastic tree they bought a few years back. Jeonghan preferred the fake tree over any real evergreen, for even if it lacked the fresh scent that reminded him of faded teenage memories, it was much less of a mess. He already had three toddlers to clean up after; he wasn't going to put up with sweeping away pine needles every day.

Seokmin scrambled to get his small hands on an ornament, and Jisoo helped him in passing out the wooden ornaments and kept the fragile glass ones out of their reach. "Daddy, pick me up!" Seungkwan pleaded, fingers wiggling as he reached up towards Jisoo with bright eyes. When Jisoo looked at him with a sternly, he hastily added a "please?" and bounced on the balls of his feet expectantly. Jisoo complied, scooping Seungkwan up easily and holding him steady as he hung an ornament with a painting of the manger scene on a top branch.

Jihoon was sagely lecturing Seokmin on the importance of the correct placement of ornaments. Seokmin was earnest in following Jihoon and handed decoration after decoration to Jihoon with a giddy expression as the older boy draped ribbons and lights over the branches in a dignified manner. Jeonghan filmed their actions, covering his mouth with his sleeve in order to muffle his laughing. 

After most of the tree had been beautified, Seungkwan began skipping in the room, singing at the top of his lungs about the twinkling stars in the night sky. It wasn't long before Seokmin rose to his feet and joined him in harmony, while Jihoon curled up in Jisoo's lap, grumbling about little kids being immature. Jisoo combed his fingers through the child's hair, biting his lip to hold back a guffaw when he caught onto Jihoon's hushed speech. 

"Wait, what about the star?" Jihoon leapt up suddenly from his position, and Seungkwan and Seokmin froze in their footsteps. Everyone's gazes turned to the top of the tree, bare of any sparkling star, and the children picked up the light-up star collectively before turning to their parents for approval. 

Jihoon climbed up onto Jisoo's shoulders and Seokmin and Seungkwan were snuggled into each of his arms. They held the star between themselves and lifted it onto its rightful place. (Seokmin and Seungkwan fell a little short of the height, so they allowed Jihoon to adjust it from his place.)

Jeonghan was recording the scene once again, except this time he was beaming affectionately at Jisoo's paternal instincts kicking in. As Jisoo set Seokmin and Seungkwan down on the ground, Jihoon looped his arms around his forehead and hooted, "Yee-hah!" The younger boys began laughing and pointing at their brother elatedly, nudging each other. Jeonghan joined them in their tinkling laughter when Jisoo held Jihoon in place and swerved around, cooing airplane noises.

"Mommy, can I do that, too? Please, Mommy?" Seokmin was gazing at Jihoon in mild envy, so Jeonghan put down the camera in his hands to hoist the child onto his shoulders.

Seungkwan puffed out his cheeks angrily. "What about me, Mommy?" He whined, flailing his arms as if they had turned into jelly. Jeonghan knelt down beside him with an angelic grin and ruffled his hair lovingly.

"Come here, baby," Jeonghan said, opening his arms, and Seungkwan obediently cozied up into his embrace. He stood up again, facing Jisoo with a humored expression.

"You can be the pilot, Seungkwannie," Jisoo suggested, and Seungkwan seemed to warm up to the idea immediately. Jihoon asked if they could have a battle, and Jisoo smirked, eyes glinting playfully as his competitive spirit stirred up. Jeonghan agreed and revved up his engine (Seokmin) and enveloping Seungkwan into a more comfortable position before nodding.

"Three, two, one!"

I had a whole "light angst" fest going for a couple chapters, and I felt really bad because this was supposed to be a fluffy collection of disgustingly cute fluff that makes you want to throw up, so that's when I wrote this. I hope I succeeded in giving you a fuzzy, warm feeling with domestic parents!jihan and baby!vocal line because that was totally what I was aiming for.

I also realized that I said I'd be writing "drabble length" and this is one of the longest chapters I've written. But this kind of scenario was what I needed in the world(?) so I went all out. However, I believe my finals grade will be suffering quite a bit after this XD