Siwon dragged his feet as he stumbled tiredly into his family’s apartment. It was late. So late in fact, that it could almost be considered early by some. 

The day had been long and tiring and he had one goal, which was to become one with his mattress. So he used his last bit of energy to toe off his shoes and then shuffled down the hallway to his bedroom as silently as possible. Passing by both his children’s rooms, he could see the faint glows of their night lights illuminating their walls and showing him that they were fast asleep.

Finally reaching his room, he lazily stripped himself out of his clothes, letting them fall wherever they may to the floor. Once left in nothing but his underwear he made his way to his side of the bed.

Once his eyes had since adjusted to the dark of the room, he could see Kyuhyun laying on his side of the bed, his stomach against the mattress. Siwon gave a weak smile as he saw his messy hair and slightly parted lips, signs that he had been asleep for hours now.

But try as he may, when Siwon lay down on the bed Kyuhyun immediately shifted and then slowly raised his head. Thanks to having two children now, he had become the lightest sleeper in the world.

“Wonnie?” Kyuhyun croaked out.

“Shhh baby go back to sleep,” said Siwon lazily as he slid down deeper in the sheets.

“It’s after five in the morning,” protested Kyuhyun. “You said you were getting off by eleven. They really made you work this late?”

“No, filming ended hours ago,” sighed Siwon reaching out to the back of Kyuhyun’s fluffy hair in an effort to get him to lay back down. “I stayed back to finish some extra things so that I wouldn’t have to go back in tomorrow.”

“But why? You started at eight in the morning yesterday, you must be exhausted,” said Kyuhyun shaking his head as he finally lowered himself back down.

“Because I want to spend tomorrow with you and the babies. Not thirty crew members,” breathed Siwon and he reached out and wrapped his arm around Kyuhyun’s waist so that he could snuggle against him.

Kyuhyun nodded in understanding before whispering a soft, “Happy Birthday.”

Siwon smiled when he felt a soft kiss pressed to the corner of his lips. It was the last thing he remembered before he passed out.

                                                            ~**~

Daerim tip toed down the hallway with a small plate gripped firmly between her hands. In the center of this plate held a small chocolate cupcake with a glob of rich chocolate frosting and a single unlit candle in the middle. Her movements were painfully slow so that she wouldn’t drop the cupcake nor alert anyone in her home as to what she was doing.

When she reached the end of the hall, she stepped into her parents’ room and walked over to Siwon’s side of the bed. Gingerly placing the plate on the beside table she glanced over at the two sleeping mounds that were underneath the sheet.

She smiled happily to herself when she heard their undisturbed soft snores, signaling there were still in a deep sleep. Her excitement with what was to happen next made the fact that the clock on that same beside table read 7:34 am go completely unnoticed by her.

Giddily, though still silent, Daerim made her way back out of her fathers’ room and across the hall into Hyunjin’s room.

Creeping over to his crib, she could see that he was still sleeping so she crouched down beside his face and started speaking softly to him.

“Jinnie-ah, wake up,” she whispered loudly.

It only took a few more calls like that to make his large eyes flutter open, much to Daerim’s delight.

Rubbing his eyes with one of his little fists, Hyunjin rolled onto his stomach before slowly standing up so that he could see Daerim properly.

“—Na!” he said reaching a hand through the bars of the crib to touch her.

“Shh!” Daerim said quickly as she glanced over her shoulder. “Jinnie-ah, we have to be quiet. Appas are still sleeping.”

“-ma-ma,” said Hyunjin looking towards the door and Daerim knew that he was looking for Kyuhyun who always came to him in the morning.

“Jinnie-ah, Kyu appa is sleeping,” Daerim explained again. “But Wonnie appa came home so we can give him his surprise now, okay?”

“Mmm –pa!” said Hyunjin recognizing Siwon’s name as Daerim stood up on her feet.

Running over to the side of Hyunjin’s room, she grabbed a chair that was sitting in the corner and moved it across the floor as quietly as possible. When she had it close enough to his crib, she stood up on it and then reached down to grab Hyunjin. Although he was heavy for her, she was able to lift him over the edge of the crib and into her arms. Placing him safely on the floor, she then hopped down and took his hand.

Thankfully Hyunjin remained quiet as Daerim helped him walk across the hall and into Siwon and Kyuhyun’s room. Daerim could still hear their steady breathing proving that they hadn’t woken up yet. So she led Hyunjin over to Siwon’s side of the bed and then knelt down beside him.

“Come on Jinnie, just like we practiced,” Daerim whispered loudly in Hyunjin’s ear.

She took both of his hands in hers and began clapping them together while singing. Hyunjin stared curiously at her before finally babbling along with the tune.

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Wonnie appa!

Happy Birthday to you!

Kyuhyun sat up in a panic when he heard the noise. He glanced over Siwon’s body and down at the floor where he saw his two children signing and clapping.

“What…” Siwon mumbled in his sleep. He groaned something else incoherently, shaking his head as the singing continued on.

“Daerim-ah!” hissed Kyuhyun as he glanced at Siwon. “What are you doing?!”

Daerim had begun a second verse of the song when she stopped to answer Kyuhyun’s question.

“Me and Jinnie wanted to give Wonnie appa his birthday surprise,” she said innocently.

“Aegi-yah,” sighed Kyuhyun as he looked at her and then the cake on the table. “It’s still really early, Wonnie appa just got home only a couple hours ago, he’s still too tired.”

Daerim bit her bottom lip as she looked at Siwon who had placed his arm over his eyes to block out the light.

“I’m sorry…are you mad?” she asked softly.

“No, sweetheart, I’m not mad. But we just can’t do this now. We should wait until later,” he sad running a hand over his head.

“It’s okay Kyu,” Siwon mumbled.

“What? Wonnie, you’re not even awake right now. Just keep sleeping and they can do this when you're ready to wake up,” said Kyuhyun placing a soft hand to Siwon’s chest.

“No, really,” said Siwon finally taking his arm away and sitting up.

Daerim smiled again when she saw Siwon rubbing his face and then looking over to her and Hyunjin.

“—Pa! –Pa!” said Hyunjin happily as he lifted his arms up to be held.

“Jin! Jin!” Siwon smiled tiredly as he leaned over and picked up his son. Much to Hyunjin’s delight, Siwon tickled his neck with a series of kisses, which made him erupt into laughter.

“Wonnie, you just got home two hours ago,” sighed Kyuhyun as he watched Siwon continue to tickle Hyunjin.

“Baby, really, it’s okay. I haven’t seen then in two days. I want them to stay,” said Siwon as he placed Hyunjin in between them.

Feeling he had no more room to protest, Kyuhyun nodded and he moved Hyunjin over to sit in his lap.

“Wonnie appa! Me too! Me too!” said Daerim bouncing on her feet.

“Of course you too!” said Siwon lifting Daerim up as well, making her squeal.

He planted a long and firm kiss to her cheek before pulling away with a loud pop.

“Happy birthday Wonnie appa!” she smiled giving him a tight hug.  “Guess what?! Me and Jinnie and Kyu appa have a surprise for you!”

“Really? A surprise? What kind of surprise?” asked Siwon as Daerim moved to sit between him and Kyuhyun.

“Kyu appa let us stay up really late last night—

“Really?” chuckled Siwon as he looked at Kyuhyun.

“Ten thirty,” said Kyuhyun shaking his head dismissively with a smile.

“Wow that is late,” Siwon said raising his eyebrows in amazement.

“Appa!” Daerim whined softly, frustrated that she couldn’t finish her story.

“I’m sorry baby, go ahead,” said Siwon putting his arm around her.

“So me and Kyu appa baked you something! Oh—and Jinnie helped some too, with the frosting,” said Daerim with a smile.

“Baked me something?” asked Siwon shaking his head gently. “But wait, don’t we usually just celebrate my birthday in April?”

“I know, but since you're special and have two birthdays I wanted to make you something this time. Do you want to see it?!” asked Daerim excitedly.

“Sure,” said Siwon.

“It’s there,” Daerim pointed to the bedside table beside Siwon.

He turned to look and realized he had neglected to see the plate resting there. He chuckled as he grabbed the plate and observed the pitiful looking little cupcake.

“Happy birthday Wonnie appa! We love you!” said Daerim hugging him again. She was so proud of the work that she had done and she was nothing less than excited to give it to him now.

“Thank you sweetheart, I love you too,” said Siwon returning her hug.

“Were you really surprised?” asked Daerim, still smiling as Hyunjin broke free from Kyuhyun and began crawling over their legs to reach Siwon again.

“Yes aegi-yah, I can truly say I was. I can’t wait to try it. I know that it has to be the most delicious cake ever,” he said slowly as the tiredness began to take over again.

“You have to make a wish and blow out your candle,” Daerim said pointing to the still unlit candle.

Siwon smirked as he glanced over at Kyuhyun, who returned it.

“Okay,” said Siwon closing his eyes tightly. “Will you help me blow it out?”

Daerim nodded eagerly already filling her cheeks.

“Jinnie-ah, are you going to help too?” asked Siwon when he felt Hyunjin crawling on him.

He watched as Hyunjin finally made it over to him, but he soon realized that Hyunjin wasn’t focused on him. He was staring directly at the cupcake.

A collective gasp was heard from Daerim, Kyuhyun, and Siwon as Hyunjin reached forward with his hand and grabbed for the cupcake. Hyunjin looked at them all with big eyes before sticking his now frosting covered hand into his mouth.

“Jinnie-ah!” laughed Kyuhyun as he watched Hyunjin try to reach back for even more.

Siwon had almost dropped the plate from laughing so hard as he watched Hyunjin concentrate on his chocolately fingers clean.

“Yah! Jinnie-ah! That was the best one and it was for Wonnie appa!” Groaned Daerim as she watched Hyunjin’s innocent face while Kyuhyun lifted him up from Siwon’s lap.

“—ma!” squealed Hyunjin offering his hand out to Kyuhyun.

“Well, I guess he was taking too long to eat it for your brother. Come on Jin-ah, I guess now is as good a time as any to get you cleaned up,” he said with another small laugh as he took Hyunjin to the bathroom to clean his hands.

This left Daerim pouting alone with Siwon who was still smiling as he put the cake back on the bedside table.

All of the excitement she had shown earlier seemed to have all but disappeared.

“Oh baby, it’s okay, it was just one cupcake. You made others didn’t you?” he asked softly as he put his arm around Daerim to comfort her.

“Yes, but that one was the best one and I wanted you to have it,” said Daerim softly.

“I can still eat it sweetheart, Hyunjin just helped me start it off,” said Siwon reaching back for the plate.

He took some of the frosting on his finger and tasted it.

“Mmmm, you did an excellent job aegi-yah. It’s really delicious,” he said kissing the top of her head.

“Really?” asked Daerim softly again.

“Yeah, try some,” said Siwon handing her the plate.

She skimmed her finger across a bit of the frosting that was left on the plate and then brought it to .

“Good?” asked Siwon leaning his head down close to hers.

She giggled as she nodded. A smile returned to her face as she leaned her head against Siwon’s chest and continued eating the frosting from the cake. Happy to share just these few quiet moments with her Wonnie appa, Daerim sat and continued eating as Siwon’s breathing slowed.

When Kyuhyun and Hyunjin finally emerged back into the bedroom minutes later, Kyuhyun glanced over at the bed and stifled a laugh.

Siwon had fallen asleep once again, propped up against the pillows.

Getting Daerim’s attention, Kyuhyun silently beckoned her over to him. Daerim glanced up at Siwon and quickly realized what had happened. Laughing silently behind her hand, she slowly slid away from him and crawled off of the bed before bouncing over to Kyuhyun.

“Wonnie appa needs to sleep some more, okay?” he whispered more so to Daerim as Hyunjin was now preoccupied with chewing on his blue blanket.

Daerim nodded and then led the way out of the bedroom, leaving Siwon to finally sleep in peace.