"Kyungie-poo, get up. You have school in an hour,"

Kyungsoo huffs out of annoyance, bringing his blanket over his head, still not cracking an eye open. The Sun is already bursting through his window, making him hate mornings even more.

His papa stands at the door, a teasing smile dancing on his lips before he calls softly once again. 

"Kyungie? If you don't get up now, your dad will cook breakfast for you, and then you'll be stuck with some burnt toast and soggy eggs."

"I'm up!" Kyungsoo yells from under a pile of blankets, before curling just one side up, peering at his papa.

"Do you have to do that every morning?"

But the elder crosses his arms, leaning on the frame, looking expectedly at him. "Well, as long as you're under my roof... And maybe even when you get married, who knows," The man casually shrugs, picking some imaginary lint off his shirt-sleeve. "I've heard they have these 'favorite-phone-number' packs nowadays, that can hook me up with talking to you for free, every day, all day." He grins like he just won the best prize ever, walking into the room to roam in Kyungsoo's closet.

"Ha-ha!" His son comments dryly from the bed, stretching his arms above his head with a loud yawn following behind. "Like you'd want to talk with me all day, every day. And besides, nobody says 'hook up' anymore, papa." Kyungsoo throws his blanket off, twisting his body around to sit at the edge of the bed instead.

"Of course I'd like that. You're my son, Kyungie-poo." His papa sits beside him, playing with his unruly, bed-hair, before softly cradling his face in his always warm palms. "And besides, you've been here for nine whole months," A quick tap to his still flat stomach, "And you didn't even want to go out of there. Must've been something so great that you leeched on me for over nine months, feeding off me like some—"

"Okay, father!" Kyungsoo interrupts, having heard that story over the hundredth time. That, and how Kyungsoo was this little pink and purple, swollen, ugly thing—his dad likes to add and then pouts as his papa hits him on the back of his head—bundle of joy that liked to drink his milk for 18 straight months. 

And it's too early for his papa to start happy-crying.

"That's the normal circle of life, and you were my little pink and all scrunched up—" And there it is. "—a bundle of joy, and if talking about my biggest love makes me annoying and embarrassing, so be it!" 

His papa stands up from the bed, following Kyungsoo to his closet, and already picking up his outfit for today. "And didn't I say that you can't call me 'father' or so!? I'm your papa, but I do miss a little Kyungie yelling 'pawpaw' and following me around." The elder looks ahead, like seeing the memory clear in his mind. Which he probably does, since he has a whole five boxes of photos, videos, and scrapbooks of Kyungsoo's life, ever since his birth, all the way to... well, probably last night or so. 

And he still watches all the DVDs in their bedroom, ugly-crying loudly at missing the times when little Kyungie would bounce on his two little feet, small chubby hands grabbing for someone to pick him up and play with him, always pouting when someone poked his full-cheeks. Just like he does now, as his papa's digit pokes at his baby-fat still holding up in his face.

"Okay, fine, then I'll just call you Baek. How does that work, huh, Baek?" And he emphasized his papa's nickname, giggling at his shocked and utterly broken state. 

"Yeol! Your son is being a brat again!" Baekhyun over-the-top yells from Kyungsoo's closet, sitting down once again at his bed and looking out of the open window. Kyungsoo could hear thunderous thuds along the stairs, before his dad's head pops in, looking franticly between the two other males in the room.

"What? What is happening? What's wrong with Satansoo?"

"He's just angry I called him by his real name," Kyungsoo checks what to wear for today, before leaving his parents in the room, as he goes straight for the bathroom to change.

"Oh, Baek... Why the long face?" Chanyeol sits down next to his husband, placing his head on the smaller's shoulder, looking up to his face with a shiny smile and innocently blinking eyes.

"He's just all grown up now, and I feel like he doesn't even need me anymore." Baekhyun huffs out, Chanyeol's face now. "And I told you million times not to call our son the spawn of you-know-who!" He stands up abruptly that his husband almost topples over, going for the door to finish up preparing breakfast for his little but deranged family.

"But he does hit me a lot!" Chanyeol whines from the bed, pouting at the floor, but when Baekhyun doesn't come back to kiss his pout away like he always does, he kicks at the imaginary dust of the floor, standing up and leaving after his adorable husband. 

~*~

"And you have a dentist appointment this afternoon, so don't forget about that!" Baekhyun finally sits down after preparing everything and placing it on the table between the two men of his life. And just as he digs into his scrambled eggs, Chanyeol calls for him.

"Baby, you forgot the milk." The said male huffs out, getting up to walk across to the fridge, that's just at the arms reach for certain tall and lanky, and totally lazy male before he grabs the carton and aims it at the certain annoying brat No.2's head, when he adds 'Again', under his breath.

"I won't forget it, don't worry!" Kyungsoo sips at his juice quickly, downing his eggs and toast faster than Baekhyun could scold him. "Besides, Nini is coming with me, so we'll go together after school."

"Oh yeah. Lulu made an appointment for him the same day as I did for you," Baekhyun finally sits down to eat, but just as he throws a mouthful of toast in between his lips, Pororo, their black and white Pomeranian, nibbles on his toes under the table, obviously wanting to be fed too. 

Their family dog doesn't live from scraps and leftovers anymore, that Kyungsoo used to give him under the table when no ones was looking, instead of having healthy dishes to eat, ever since the vet said that the Pomeranian needs to lose some weight. Fast. 

So ever since that, Pororo is stuck with steamed vegetables and low-fat meat, looking sad and pitiful when he's revoked from his usual treats. Baekhyun thinks that the dog is eating better than his family, but doesn't dwell much on it when Pororo climbs the first two stairs and then huffs out, dropping down like a kneaded dough. 

"Yeah, and Nini is scared to go to the dentist alone, so it works for both of us!" Kyungsoo gulps down a mouthful of eggs and downs his juice, already picking up his shoes from the rack. 

"I told you not to eat that fast! It goes straight to your hips," Baekhyun points to his own, obviously showing what life made out of his body, and then smacks his husband's hand as the man tries to pinch the skin for his own pleasure. 

"I can't. Nini is already waiting for me, see!" And there's his best friend just outside the gates, waving at the curtain-covered windows, even though he can't see anybody inside. 

"Say hello to Nini, and call me before the dentist, okay?" Baekhyun calls for him to kiss him, and sure enough, a smiling Kyungsoo is kissing him goodbye, then proceeding to get smothered by his dad and even sending flying kisses to Pororo.

"Bye, papa. Bye, dad! And bye to you too, Pororo." But the poor dog only barks softly, spiting out a steamed avocado from his mouth, looking pointedly at Baekhyun as he leaves the room and goes for the doggy-door indoor backyard. Before he gets stuck, and yelps for Baekhyun to pull him out.

~*~

"Hey, Soo." Jongin is waiting for him when he opens the door to leave, still waving from the gates. Kyungsoo smiles his cute smile when his eyes crinkle up into tiny crescents, and his mouth forms that famous heart shape. The smile is reserved only for Jongin and Jongin only. But his best friend doesn't need to know that.

"Hey, Nini. What's up?" They started walking together to school, occasionally brushing their swinging arms in the process. 

"Nothing much.." Jongin kicks at the rock, avoiding Kyungsoo's eyes.

"Come on, spill it out!"

"It's just... My parents are really embarrassing, you know." Kyungsoo only nods, a shiver running down his spine at the slobbery mess his parents created this morning just before he came down for breakfast. Or, as they liked to call it—we were kissing, and that's pretty normal for a married couple, grow up Kyungsoo! 

"My dad bought yet another deer onesies for my appa, and he said that he wanted to buy him some wolf ones, and me some bear ones too—" Jongin shivers at the thoughts, making Kyungsoo chuckle. "—and get our Christmas pictures taken in them."

"Well, that's better than what we did for our Christmas cards last year— And you know how hard washing away all that glitter was. It even got stuck in my—"

"Soo!" Jongin yells, but when Kyungsoo burst out in loud laughter, he throws his arm around the smaller's shoulder, already feeling better.

"Oh! I almost forgot. Today's our dentist appointment." Kyungsoo reminds, holding onto the hand around his neck, a pink hue swallowing up his cheeks and ears.

"Ugh!" Jongin groans, throwing his head back and just walking like that for a few seconds. "I hate them, I hate them!" They round the corner, their school building coming in their vision. "Oh! Did I say just how much I hate them?"

"Don't worry, Nini. I'll be there with you the whole time!" Still huddled up together, they climb the stairs, going for the same floor. "And besides, you'll just have your regular check-up, right?"

Jongin nods and then frowns when Kyungsoo slips away from him and his one-side hug since they have their first-class separated, with Kyungsoo having Calculus, and him having English.

"So, don't worry. I'll be there to hold your hand when the scary guy asks you to open your mouth and— Say Ahh!, Nini!" Kyungsoo giggles, and Jongin ducks his head down, feeling warm all over from the sight of his best friend all smiles and mochi cheeks.

"See you at lunch?" He asks shyly, smiling when Kyungsoo nods and waits for the shorter to enter his classroom, before scrambling down the hall, already late for his own class.

~*~

On Mondays, they don't have that many classes together, so the only time for them to talk a bit longer than recess time of five minutes is Lunch. 

So when the bell rings, Jongin is the first one to leave the classroom, speeding down the hall to their cafeteria. 

The line to the lunch ladies is pretty long, so he weighs his options, and decides to just wait for Kyungsoo to wait in the line with him, and opts to sit at their usual table instead. But when he walks down to their table, it's already occupied, and by Kyungsoo nonetheless.

"Nini, come meet my new friends!" Kyungsoo is all smiley and full cheeks, as he sits with his tray already before him with two people at his sides.

"They are new students in my class," He starts as Jongin nods curtly, sitting across them. "This is Jonghyun, and this is Minho," He points to two of them, both of which smile widely, stretching their hands to Jongin. 

But he ignores them both, talking to Kyungsoo. "Soo, I wanted to wait for you so that we can grab our lunches together, but you're already here," He picks at the French fry laying on his plate, instead of looking straight at any of them.

"I'm sorry, Nini, but Minho and Jonghyun here didn't know where the cafeteria was, and I wanted to show them," Kyungsoo points at the two boys again, smiling apologetically to both of them. 

"We're sorry, Nini was it?" The guy on his right says, Minho, as Kyungsoo pointed earlier.

"Jongin," He corrects since only Kyungsoo's allowed to call him that. 

"Right, Jongin. Um, again we're sorry for taking Kyung away from you—" How dare he gives him a nickname already? "—but we just transferred here from Busan, and we really needed some guidance, right Hyun?"

"Right," The guy on Jongin's left confirms, digging into his lunch, totally not fazed with anything happening.

"It's okay," Jongin whispers half-heartedly, stuffing his face with some more fries, before standing up and going for the line all by himself. 

From where he's standing, the new guy, Minho, was it?—he mocks him in his head for his previous antics, even though he remembered the names pretty well—is touching Kyungsoo's arms as he speaks, and smiling down too closely if you asked anyone here. Mostly, if you asked Jongin, but he's not a jealous type, mind you...

...Okay, maybe a little, since Kyungsoo is his best friend and only he can touch and be that close to him! Yeah, that's why...

"What do you want, sweetie?" He's next in line, but he's glaring so harshly at the new guy that he misses when the lunch lady asks him. After she clears his throat and asks again, does Jongin realize the situation?

"I want for all those tall and broad-shoulders guys to vanish from this planet!" He practically yells at the poor woman's face, before openly glaring at the table once again.

"E-Excuse me?" 

"And who does he think he is? Huh? Walking in here, and being all touchy with my Soo. Mine!" He throws the money on the counter, not even realizing that the whole line and passers stopped to stare at the scene. "And do you see him? Do you see his smile? Isn't he the cutest when he smiles like that?" Jongin points to Kyungsoo now, glaring at the cheeky-eye-smile, that was once reserved just for him.

"And I ask you, you—" And that's when the realization hits him, as he looks around him with wide eyes, spluttering for some coherent words.

"Sweetie, I can't make that happen, but I can wrap a killer ham sandwich for you if you want?" The lady behind the counter laughs softly, totally not fazed with his little outburst. 

And that's how he skips his lunch and eats an apple in the toilet on the second floor, that some kid pushed in his hand on his way out of the cafeteria. Out of pity, of course. 

~*~

"Nini, where have you been?" Kyungsoo suddenly appears before him, as Jongin tries to wiggle his way out of the classroom and escape home. "I've been looking for you all day, you missed lunch.." He's slightly out of breath, and his plump cheeks are having that pink hue from running and Jongin does not want to brush and maybe squeeze them. Damn Kyungsoo and his chipmunk cheeks.

"We've got to see the dentist in half an hour, and I don't want to fight with your appa again and— Hey! Where have you been going without me?" Kyungsoo only then realize that they were at the front gate, with Jongin just inches away from the gate. "Were you trying to ditch this appointment? Uh-uh, Mister, you're not delaying this any further! I don't want your teeth to start falling out, come on!" And he's being dragged out of the schoolyard, with a surprisingly strong Kyungsoo leading him out. 

.

.

.

"Relax, Nini. It's not gonna hurt!"

Kyungsoo dragged him to the dentist's office and made him sit in the waiting room of some family-friendly clinic, or as their dads like to call it 'The place where the doctor Smexy works at'. Whoever that is.

Kyungsoo is sitting completely still, not even shaking a little bit since his papa used to bring him here for check-ups and whenever he'd been sick, so he's not really afraid of the doctors. His motto for them is 'Better painful for ten minutes, then waiting for it to hurt badly'. 

As for Jongin; he's not that optimistic about any of this.

"It's just that I hate everything about this. The smell, the clean-looking floors, the sterile walls, and the blank doors. People walking around with their gowns and capes on and those hanging cold things around their necks.." He sighs loudly, slumping down in his seat, but not dropping their intertwined hands from his thigh.

"Those cold things are called stethoscopes, and it's for hearing your heart and lungs and—"

"You're not making it better!" Jongin hisses under his breath, his voice getting caught in his throat when the door in front of them opens widely. 

"The doctor will see you now," The nurse dressed in pink smiles down upon them, opening the door for them both to get in. "He's just around the corner, but make yourself comfortable, and you can discuss who's going first." It's the usual ordeal for them to go and get their check-ups and examinations together, so the doctor allowed them to work in pairs. 

But only for cry-babies like Jongin sometimes gets.

"I-I can't do this! Soo! Please, let—let's get out, and we can check each other out— Yeah, we can totally do that, and then maybe—"

"Nini, listen, I'll go first, and you'll see that it doesn't hurt at all. And again, I can't let you come home to your appa without getting this done... You know how he can get." Kyungsoo shivers, but smiles quickly at Jongin, before sitting down on the dental chair in the middle of the spotless-clean room. "Now, get here and gimme your hand," 

Just as Jongin sits down on the stool on the left side of the chair Kyungsoo is laying in, the opposite door opens up, as a handsome doctor walks in.

"Well, hello there, you two. How's it going?" Their dentist, Doctor Zhang, is a middle-aged man, but pretty good-looking for his years. The good-looking type like Kyungsoo would say for Jongin's dad, and vice versa. 

"Are you ready for your appointment?" He's already dressed in crisp white, with his shoulder-length hair pulled back, a dimple dancing across his cheek from soft-smiling. "I promise, once again—" Pointed look to Jongin, really quick. "—that I'm gonna be gentle and not poke you with different kinds of pointy things," Both him and Kyungsoo chuckle, but that only makes Jongin pout.

"That was one time, and I was ten!" 

"Sure, champ. Whatever works for you," He then smiles down to Kyungsoo, taking his latex gloves and slipping them on. 

"Your fathers called up to schedule this for you at the same time, so that you get to be together, once again, for the usual check-up," He picks up the little circle-mirror and a pointy thing that makes Jongin look away as he lights up the lamp above Kyungsoo's head, making final fixing of the dental chair, before gesturing to him to open his mouth and start with the examination. 

"And both Mr. Park and Mr. Oh apologized for not being here with you today. And then I got some more crying into the phone from Baekhyun as he explained that he didn't see me for so long— Oh, and Luhan even asked me out on dinner as an extra payment for today, but I told them both that it was fine. Really." Doctor giggles softly, turning around for another instrument, Kyungsoo, and Jongin sharing a look.

"My papa really has no shame, huh.." Kyungsoo tries to joke, as Jongin adds.

"I really need to talk to my appa about this..." 

.

.

.

"Alright, Kyungsoo. Everything seems fine, no cavity, no red alerts, so you're good to go," The Doctor pats his shoulder lightly, shaking off his gloves and preparing for the next patient. "You are really taking care of your teeth, and I'm proud of you!"

"Thank you, Doctor!" Kyungsoo blushes a little bit, making Jongin eye him for a second too long, the actions from before flashing in his mind before he freezes as Doctor Zhang calls for him.

"Um, I'm fine, really.. Um—I just got here to-to to be with Kyungsoo, yeah!"

"Mr. Oh! Please, sit down, or I'm taking out my restraints again!" And before Jongin could say 'God, burn me!', he's in the dental chair, now thinking about the restrains Doctor Zhang has behind the chair, for children that couldn't help but kick and bite him. He, may or may not be both of those kids throughout his time. 

"Nini, I'm here. Relax," And he believes Kyungsoo for a second, only for a second, as he grabs his hand and squeezes it reassuringly. But then, the Doctor is taking out the instrument, and he might just faint there and then.

"Say Ah!" Jongin wants to scream and run, but the cold sweat is breaking out and he's paralyzed in the spot, looking up to the blinding light, and probably seeing the end of the tunnel in the middle of it. 

But while he tries not to bite any bit of the Doctor's hand, he looks to the left to see blindingly-smiling Kyungsoo looking down upon him, and his heart skips a beat. 

"Alright, Jongin. Everything seems fine, but we have a little problem," Jongin looks back at him, already shifting his leg over the edge. "A-ah! Wait there, it's nothing big, but we'll need to take care of this today.." 

"Um, Doctor?" Kyungsoo struggles to keep Jongin in the room, as the boy bolts out of the chair, grabbing the doorknob and shaking it to open. "Little help?"

"Jongin, get back here, or else—"

"He's gonna call your appa!" Kyungsoo whispers in his ear, and Jongin at least relaxes in his hold. He looks back to where the Doctor is still standing and with a lowered head, goes back. 

"That was a low-punch, even for you.." He grumbles under his breath, sitting down on the chair with the biggest pout Kyungsoo has ever seen on his face. And the smaller wants nothing more than to smother that pout with his kisses. 

"The man gotta do what the man gotta do!" Doctor comments chuckling, picking up a syringe with clear liquid in it. "Now, lay back and let me do this the right way, okay?" 

~*~

After two hours, they're walking home, with Jongin sporting the biggest lump on his left cheek where the piece of cotton gaze is pushed against his bleeding hole that was once a tooth. 

Kyungsoo was holding his hand throughout everything, even though at one point Jongin has almost fainted out of the pain, excruciating pain, as Jongin overreacted it while drooling on the floor, but Doctor Zhang confirmed that the local anesthesia that he was given worked.

But Kyungsoo believed Jongin, nodding to whatever he was spiting out to him, literally, since his lips and cheek were numb, and then assured their Doctor that he would take him home. 

And they were walking in silence to their homes, only a couple of minutes left, but Kyungsoo was still holding his hand, as he promised. And Jongin felt like he could conquer the world.

"Thoo," Jongin lisped out, calling softly for him. 

"Yes, Nini?"

"How com you wat to thend time with that new guy, and not wit me?" Kyungsoo tried not to laugh at his speech, but then saw the cotton gauze being soiled with blood, so he kept his laughter under control.

"What new guy? Minho?" Jongin only nodded, swallowing thickly around the glob in his mouth. He could taste iron, and his own spit, and something sticky and sour, and he just needed to wash his mouth with some soda or mouth-wash. Yeah, the latter would be better.

"Well, he and Jonghyun-hyung are new in school, and we got to talking in our class, and we just clicked well..." Kyungsoo shrugs, slowly swaying their intertwined hands between them.

"Buth, he'th thoo toutchy wit you, and I don' like ith!" He tried way too hard to stay calm and relaxed, but he was feeling so pissed, and Kyungsoo would be fine with it after explaining that he doesn't like when people were being touchy with the shorter.

"What?" Apparently not. "Why would that bother you? I'm allowed to have other friends than you, and if anyone wants to become friends with me, I don't want to push them away just because you don't like it!" He dropped their hands and crossed his on his chest instead.

"Buth-"

"No buts!" Kyungsoo calmed down a bit after that, taking a hold of his best friend's hand once again, halting their walk. "I'm sorry for not eating lunch with you today, but that wasn't Minho's fault.."

"Stupith Min'o!"

"—And besides, if you try to befriend them too, you'll see that they're really cool guys—"

"Yea, wrighth!"

"—So what do you say? Can you try to be nice to them? For me?" Kyungsoo was sparkly eyes, and flashing teeth, and who made this boy this cute and perfect.

So Jongin had to nod, pouting deeply, but stopping himself with a hiss when the gauze pushed into the empty lack of teeth; still a bloody hole. 

~*~

"Baby? Baby!!" His appa was screaming when he spots Jongin entering their house, running from the living room and cradling still full-cheeked Jongin to his chest.

"Who did this to you?! Tell me names, Jongin, or I swear, I'll call school right now and demand all the names of kids—"

"Appha. Appha!" He tried to calm him down, but Luhan only continued cradling him, whispering 'I'll kill them' softly in his ear. 

"I was at the denthith—" After pulling away from his appa, and throwing the gauze in the kitchen bin, he continued. "I was at the dentist, and he had to pull one of my teeth out since Doctor Zhang couldn't fix it.."

"Ah... Doctor Zhang Yixing.." Luhan leaned down on the kitchen counter, having a dopey smile on his face, looking out in the distance. Or checking the dust that collected on the top of the cabinets. Anyhow, Jongin shrugged, waving a hand in front of Luhan's face.

"Appa?"

"Ah, right. So, Yixing had to pull it out?"

"Since when are you on a first-name basis with Doctor Zhang?" Jongin picked up a cold drink from the fridge, holding it pressed on his left cheek, making an impromptu compress, hissing at the contact. 

"Since that time I and Baekhyun went in to see him without you kids, and he pinched my cheek saying how cu— Uh... Not important!" Luhan coughed like he was just caught doing something inappropriate, and quickly composed himself.

"So, baby, what do you want to eat? Does it hurt a lot?" 

"No, this doesn't hurt at all—" But Kyungsoo betraying me hurts like a , his mind offered afterward. "—and I can't eat for another two hours, so I have to get a rain check on lunch.." He pecked his appa's cheek, going around to sit in the living room instead.

"Alright, sweetie. But when you're hungry, I'll make whatever you want, okay?" Luhan followed him out, already planning to bail out on today's lunch, and maybe go to the Parks for some Facebook stalking Doctor Zhang with Baekhyun.

"Where's dad, by the way?" Jongin flipped through the channels, not interested in any of them, a certain short boy with heart-shaped lips still occupying his mind.

"Oh, Sehun said something about going for a quick basketball practice with Chanyeol or something like that," Luhan shrugs, sitting next to him, holding a bag of frozen peas to replace the now lukewarm bottle of water in Jongin's hand. "But they go out for a beer and then Chanyeol sprays him with some tap-water so that it looks like he sweated playing the game," And he's super laid-back with this, that Jongin has to laugh out loud.

"Why is he hiding from you that he goes out for a drink?"

"Chanyeol does the same thing, but Baek and I pretend that we don't know anything... And for your question, sometimes it helps to give some white lies to your partner so that you don't hurt them in any way. Or pretend to do something they ask of you, for them, again for the same reason. That's why relationships and marriages stay strong. Mutual understanding." Luhan kisses his bruised side of the face, patting his head and going around to prepare lunch for them nonetheless.

Just because.

~*~

"And then the lady said how I couldn't be underage, at least not with this body." Minho finishes, and even the next table is laughing with his silly story that Jongin didn't even pretend to listen to.

"Oh my Gosh, that's hilarious!" Kyungsoo comments, wiping his laughing tears away and leaning slightly on the tall guy's shoulder. "And how you dealt with