14^th April 2018

Baekhyun didn’t know what had woken him up, but what he did know was that it was too damn early on a Saturday morning to be one of the living, which was confirmed by the fact that Jongdae was still peacefully sleeping beside him.

On the weekend it was highly unusual for Baekhyun to be awake before his husband. Baekhyun used the weekends to sleep in and recharge from a busy week at the station. After lying on his back and staring at the ceiling for a while he turns towards the clock on the bedside table and groans at the numbers that flash back at him.

6:13 am

Yep. It’s definitely too early. Rolling back onto his side so he’s facing Jongdae, he closes his eyes and tries to go back to sleep, only for them to open again moments later. Looks like there’s no sleep in for him this morning. However he’s too comfortable to get up just yet. Instead, he chooses to gaze at the beauty that is Byun Jongdae.

His pale and blemish free face is completely lax in sleep. Eyelashes that were impossibly long kissed his killer cheekbones which Baekhyun whole heartedly believed were crafted by the gods – Jongdae would disagree, saying that he inherited them from his father but Baekhyun would have none of that. His lips formed a slight pout and the upturn of the corner of his lips made it seem like he was always smiling, even in sleep. His breathing was steady, chest moving up and down fluidly. His hair was all over the place, sticking out in every direction.

It was endearing. He was endearing. Jongdae was his everything and in return, Baekhyun was Jongdae’s everything. Baekhyun lightly rests his palm against the side of Jongdae’s face, brushing his thumb over his cheek and trailing it down only to stop at the corner of his mouth. Jongdae’s face twitches at Baekhyun’s touch. Baekhyun freezes, scared that he had woken him up but Jongdae just settles.

Baekhyun lets out a breath, doing a little congratulatory dance is his head over the fact that he had succeeded in not waking him up. Jongdae deserves his rest.

As carefully and as silently as possible, Baekhyun slides off the bed and tiptoes out of the room, lightly closing the door behind him. He’s about to head downstairs to make himself a much needed cup of coffee but he hears a little noise coming from Junmyeon’s room.

Backing away from the stairs he walks into his youngest son’s room. He stands beside the crib and there he sees Junmyeon, who gives him the biggest smile when he sees that his father is now in the room.

“Hey baby~” Baekhyun says, tickling his stomach. “Look who’s awake~”

Junmyeon simply giggles. It amazes Baekhyun how kids could be so happy in the mornings. It’s not even 7:00 yet and Junmyeon is already bright eyed and wide awake.

Junmyeon squeals when Baekhyun pokes his noise and starts blowing bubbles with his drool. It’s slighty gross but Baekhyun thinks it’s cute. Really, basically anything little kids do can be considered as cute. They could kill a man and probably still be cute while doing it.

“Come on, come to Appa.” Baekhyun says as he lifts Junmyeon from the confines of his cot. As soon as Junmyeon is in his father’s arms he sticks the sleave of his shirt into his mouth. Junmyeon is always chewing on something and this morning he seemed to have deemed Baekhyun’s shirt as worthy enough to stick in his mouth.

With Junmyeon glued to his hip – and shirt – Baekhyun finally heads downstairs and immediately starts the coffee machine. 5 minutes later he has a steaming cup of coffee held in his grasp which he takes a large gulp of it before setting it down on the coffee table in the lounge room and slumping down onto the couch. He sits Junmyeon on the floor beside his feet and watches as he crawls away, heading towards the stacking blocks.

Baekhyun flicks on the TV, making sure to keep the volume low to as to not wake up the three other sleeping bodies in the house.

At around 7:30 a drowsy Minseok comes down the stairs, rubbing his eyes with one hand and cat clutched in the other. Baekhyun wants to laugh because Minseok’s bed hair is absolutely insane. His fluffy strands, like Jongdae’s, are everywhere.

“Come here baby.” Baekhyun calls and Minseok immediately comes over. When he gets to his father he crawls into Baekhyun’s lap and cuddles into him, eyes still blinking slowly, heavy with sleep.

A few minutes later they are joined by Luhan, whose hair is in the same state as Minseok’s. He to, cuddles up to Baekhyun who changes the channel to the children’s’ favourite channel.

“Where Mama?” Luhan asks, ending it with a yawn.

Baekhyun tries smooths out Luhan’s hair and laughs as it stays just as wild. This was something that couldn’t be tamed.

“Mama’s still sleeping Lulu.” He answers.

“Why?” Luhan blinks curiously. Mama’s always the up before them.

“Because Appa let him sleep in.”

“Why?” Pipes up Minseok and Baekhyun internally groans.

“Because Mama’s tired, baby. He needs his rest.”

Two sets of eyes blink up at him and Baekhyun looks back at them in curiosity. It feels like they’re assessing him or something.

“Okay.” Says Luhan finally, seemingly satisfied with his father’s answer.

Finished with their interrogation, their attention is now directed at the TV so they can watch their favourite cartoons. Even though they’re just spending some silent time together Baekhyun cherishes moments like these.

Just past 9:00 Jongdae comes stumbling down the stairs, hair a mess and eyes half lidded. He lets out a big yawn and stretches his arms out wide and heads over to the coffee machine like Baekhyun had done hours before. When it’s done he comes into the lounge room, plopping himself beside Baekhyun, joining the Byun pile.

Baekhyun tries not to shiver at Jongdae’s attire. He’s wearing a long, baggy shirt but that’s not where the problem lies. No. The problem lies with the fact that it’s pink. So pink that it physically hurts Baekhyun’s eyes and he tries his hardest not to turn away from the monstrosity that lays before him.

Now, don’t get him wrong, he doesn’t exactly hate pink, well pale pinks anyway. But hot pink, hot pink he hates. Baekhyun is pretty sure Jongdae bought that shirt just to spite him.

After a while Minseok and Luhan start wriggling, indicating that they wanted out of the Byun pile. Baekhyun lets them and they jump off, going off to their play room. When they go Jongdae takes their place, plastering himself to his side and resting his head on Baekhyun’s shoulder.

Baekhyun kisses his hair and wraps his arm around Jongdae’s shoulder, who only snuggles in closer.

“When did you get up?” Jongdae asks, voice still thick with sleep.

“Around six.”

“Why so early?”

“I don’t know.” Says Baekhyun. “I woke up and just couldn’t fall back to sleep.”

“Is that so?” Jongdae says. “Thankyou for letting me sleep in then.” He kisses Baekhyun’s shoulder.

“You’re welcome.”

They sit there for a while, just listening to the sounds of the kids playing and their own breathing until their tummies growl in hunger which is their que to separate and make breakfast to fill their bellies.

“Is there anything we need to do today?” Baekhyun asks after they had all eaten.

“Nothing really.” Jongdae answers as he puts his dirty dishes in the sink. “We just have to pack up one of the twins cribs to get ready to be given to Kyungsoo for the surprise.”

In the short time that they have known Kyungsoo they have already grown quite close the young man. A couple of weeks ago they had gone to the café to help Jongin move in with Ryeowook and that’s when they had encountered Kyungsoo.

When Kyungsoo had first laid eyes on Baekhyun his eyes had widened, recognising the detective from their first meeting. Jongdae’s eyes were also widened, having recognised him as the upset boy from the doctors a couple of months ago. He stooled his reaction, not knowing if Kyungsoo remembered or wanted to remember. It obviously wasn’t the brightest moment in his life.

Despite the tense and wary meeting, Kyungsoo soon warmed up to them, especially the kids. While Baekhyun and Jongdae were moving boxes with Ryeowook and Jongin, Kyungsoo was playing with the Byun kids.

By the time Jongin had been completely moved in, Kyungsoo and the boys were well attached to each other. So much so that Minseok and Luhan had taken to calling him either ‘Owl hyung’ or ‘Soo hyung’. Both parents were surprised by how quick Minseok became comfortable around the boy.

They hadn’t learnt much about his past, or his situation yet but they weren’t going to pry. He would tell them when his was ready. 

Now, about the surprise, Ryeowook wanted to help Kyungsoo prepare for the baby. He knew that Kyungsoo didn’t own much and he also knew that he didn’t have a large amount of money to get what he needed so Ryeowook had decided to help him out, secretly of course. Kyungsoo wasn’t one to ask for help and Ryeowook felt the need to step in.

When Ryeowook had announced his plan, everyone had jumped at the opportunity to help, pitching in what they could and they had accumulated a decent amount of stuff. Pretty soon they were going to fill Kyungsoo’s apartment with everything, Ryeowook just needed to get Kyungsoo out of the house for a couple of hours.

“I’ll do it soon.” Baekhyun says and Jongdae hums in acceptance. At least he didn’t have to do it seeing as Baekhyun had offered. Though it wasn’t like Jongdae was going to do it anyway, Baekhyun was the designated handy man so it was always his job, even his he didn’t realise it.

“You think the boys would be up for a trip to the park later?” Jongdae asks, wanting to get out of the house.

“I think they would love it.” Says Baekhyun. “It’s a nice day outside and I think we could both benefit from a little sun exposure.”

“Well, the sooner you pack up the crib the sooner we can get out there then.”

“Whatever you say, my liege. I live to serve you.”

“You’re damn right.”

Here you go guys. It's a bit of a fluffy chapter this week. I'm sorry if this chapter isn't up to the usual standards. I haven't really been having a great week. My sister boyfriends had a car accident (thankfully he's okay) and there's been some family problems that I had to deal with which hit the last night. I won't say more than that but it was bad enough that I spent the night and the majority of today at my friends house. So if the second half of the chapter falls off a little that's probably why. I wasn't really feeling it but things are better at the moment.

On a lighter note the EXO'rdium tour in Seoul has successfully finished and EXO just keeps on breaking records. It's a shame about what's happening between South Korea and China though. That's seriously going to affect Korean entertainment.

Anyway, see you guys next week!