“Dinner’s nearly ready.” Were the words that greeted Kris when he came through the front door. They were quite often the first words to greet him when he got home from work so the words in themselves weren’t that strange. What was strange was the fact they’d come not from his husband but from his nine year old son.

“That’s good…” he said slowly taking in the distinct lack of Yixing in the living room. He could see into the kitchen from where he was standing and he couldn’t see him in there either.

“I’m making sandwiches. I wanted to make soup but I didn’t think Mum would like me using the cooker by myself.” Junchao explained. He looked a little put out about it. “I could use it, I’m nearly ten but he’d probably shout at me.”

“Yes, yes he would.” Kris assured him, extremely glad that his son had come to that conclusion. As grown-up as he was for his age he dreaded to think what might have happened if he’d decided to use the cooker unsupervised. “Where is your mother?” he asked. “And your brother…” he added when he realised he too was missing.

“Jingbao’s playing pirates or ninjas or something in his room and Mum’s sleeping.” Junchao told him. “Do you want a sandwich? There’s ham and there’s chicken and there’s jam.”

“In a minute.” Kris said more concerned by the fact that Yixing had left the boys to themselves so he could take a nap than by their dinner plans. Not that Yixing didn’t deserve a rest after dealing with the pair of them all day, they were a handful and he was twelve weeks pregnant after all, Kris couldn’t blame him for wanting to lie down for a bit. It just wasn’t like him that was all. No matter how tired he was or how sick he felt he was one of those people who would just get on with things regardless so Kris was a little worried. “What do you mean he’s sleeping?” he asked.

“I mean he’s sleeping.” Junchao told him giving him a look that clearly expressed how stupid he thought the question was.

“How long has a he been sleeping for?” Kris asked next trying not to be too offended by the fact his son clearly thought he was an idiot. It wasn’t that hard; to be honest he was used to it. He was a doctor but for some reason both of his children were under the impression he was a bit stupid. It was something he’d come to terms with a long time ago.

“Since we got back from Uncle Luhan’s. He told us to go play and he went into his room. He hasn’t been out since.”

Kris did some quick calculations. The kids had been at Luhan’s because Yixing had had a hospital appointment. Kris had wanted to go with him, it was his first scan, the first time they’d get a glimpse of the newest addition to their family but he’d been booked in for a conference and he hadn’t been able to get out of it. That had been at one o’clock, which meant he’d probably have been home by three at the latest. It was now nearly seven. He’d been up there for four hours. “Right, well I’m going up to check on him.” Kris informed his son and he headed for the stairs.

“Tell him I made him a peanut butter and cheese sandwich!” Junchao shouted after him and Kris froze in his tracks.

Well that sounded… disgusting. Maybe he’d misheard him. “Really?”

“That’s what he had yesterday for breakfast.” Junchao shrugged.

“Hmm.” Well fair enough then. If that’s what his husband wanted to eat then who was he to stop him?

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

Kris was five steps away from his bedroom door when he was almost bowled over by an over-excited four year old wearing a pirate hat. “No running inside!” he shouted automatically and then he noticed what he was carrying. “Is that one of the bamboo canes from the garden? Because if it is those are for the peas!”

Jingbao who was now at the other end of the hallway skidded to halt. “But Daddy…” he whined, “…there are no peas. And I’m a pirate ninja! Pirate ninjas need fighting sticks.”

Kris was fairly sure fighting sticks wasn’t the correct term, he was also fairly sure letting Jingbao have one would only end in disaster. But his son did have a point; there were no peas, not yet. Yixing had bought them because they’d been on sale and they were keeping them for the spring. It was only the end of January. “Fine, you can keep it.” He sighed. “But be careful, and make sure you hide it from your mother. He’ll take it away from you if he sees it.”

“Thanks Daddy!” Jingbao squeaked, clearly thrilled and then he was off again.

Kris shook his head and made his way into his bedroom. And sure enough the curtains were drawn and Yixing was curled up in a ball in the middle of the bed, a cushion hugged to his chest. He wasn’t sleeping though; even from the door Kris could see his eyes were wide open. He was lying there staring at nothing and that was far more worrying than the prospect of him sleeping during the day. He closed the door behind him and made his way slowly into the room, his stomach dropping when Yixing didn’t even bother to look up. “Is everything okay?” he asked as he took a seat at the foot of the bed. What if they’d picked up something at the ultrasound, something bad? The thought of Yixing having to deal with getting that kind of news on his own made him feel sick.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Yixing mumbled, still not looking at Kris.

Kris was far from convinced. “And the baby? The baby’s fine?” he pressed.

And that seemed to break Yixing out of the trance he was in. He blinked, he looked at Kris, he frowned, he sat up. “You sound worried.” He observed.

“Of course I’m worried, I get home expecting you to be excitedly waving an ultrasound picture in my face and instead you’re up here ignoring everyone and everything. Something’s obviously wrong. So just… tell me how bad it is.”

“Oh god, no…” Yixing exclaimed, and he shuffled forwards to sit beside his husband. “…don’t look so scared, nothing’s wrong. I’m sorry, I just… I got a shock this afternoon that’s all so I came up here to think about things. But it wasn’t anything bad, not really.” He stopped, his forehead creasing in thought. “Well it is, but it isn’t. It depends how you look at it.”

His reply didn’t make Kris feel much better mostly because it didn’t make any sense. “I don’t get it.” He said bluntly.

“There’s nothing wrong.” Yixing repeated. “But I did find out something today that I wasn’t expecting to.”

“What kind of something?” Kris asked when Yixing went quiet again.

Yixing didn’t answer; instead he started worrying his bottom lip with his teeth something he always did when he was nervous.

Kris took his hand, interlacing their fingers. “Go on.” He said quietly. “You can tell me.”

Yixing nodded and took a steadying breath. “There wasn’t just one baby on the screen.”

Kris blinked. Yixing squeezed his hand and went back to chewing on his lip. Kris realised he should probably say something. “There were two?” he asked.

Yixing slowly shook his head.

“Three?” Kris rasped, his throat suddenly dry.

Yixing nodded almost imperceptibly.

“Well .” Kris breathed. It seemed the only appropriate response. No wonder Yixing had looked so out of it when he’d come in. This baby hadn’t even been planned, they’d both been happy to stick with the two kids they had and he’d just been told he was expecting triplets. It was a wonder he hadn’t had a complete mental breakdown.

“Tell me about it.” Yixing said. “I mean where are we going to put them? The nursery is in the box room.”

“And the boys share the other room…” Kris added. “… oh god we’re going to have to upsize aren’t we?” Money-wise it wasn’t a problem, they had savings. It was the idea of moving house with two kids in tow that was making his face blanche.

“I’m sorry.” Yixing mumbled, his gaze dropping to the floor. “I know you’re really busy at work right now, you don’t need the stress of moving on top of everything else.”

And that was when Kris noticed the fact Yixing’s eyes were starting to water. “Hey, it’s hardly your fault.” He told him, dropping his hand and sliding an arm around his waist instead, pulling him closer. “And look on the brightside, at least we know why you’ve been so sick in the mornings, you must be drowning in hormones right now.”

Yixing sniffed and looked up at him. “I’d hardly call that the brightside.” He said clearly unimpressed. He no longer looked as if he was about to start crying though and that was what Kris had been going for so he couldn’t help being pleased with himself anyway.

“And we know why you’re showing earlier this time too.” He added, his hand going to rest on Yixing’s just visible baby bump. “It’s because there’s three times the baby in there.” Yixing had been lamenting the fact his skinny jeans had been relegated to the back of the wardrobe already just the other day, blaming it on not keeping up with the gym after having had Jingbao. It’d taken ages for him to start showing with the boys and each time the doctor had told him it was because he had such good stomach muscles so he’d been feeling a bit down about getting such a defined bump so early on this time.

“I’m going to get huge.” Yixing groaned, dropping his head onto Kris’ shoulder, a hand going to cover the one Kris still had resting on his stomach. “It was hard enough dealing with Junchao when I was pregnant with one baby, how am I going to cope with two kids when I’m carrying three?”

“You’ve got me.” Kris reminded him, dropping a kiss on the top of his head. “And Junchao’s older now. I’m sure he’d love to help. He made us dinner tonight you know.”

“How did we end up with an angel as our firstborn?” Yixing asked. He pulled Kris’ arm so he’d tighten his grip and burrowed in closer to his side. “He filled the dishwasher this morning without being asked.”

“He takes after you, that’s what it is.” Kris told him. And he did, he was the spitting image of Yixing with his mop of curls and his dimples and he shared the same personality too being far more thoughtful and considerate, far more easy going than any nine-year old had the right to be.

“Then who does Jingbao take after?” Yixing asked and Kris frowned.

It definitely wasn’t Yixing and he was pretty sure he hadn’t been that hyperactive when he’d been that age. “I’m going to go with Luhan.” He said after giving it some careful consideration. “Yeah, let’s go with that. He’s spent too much time around Luhan. When the next three come along he’s getting minimal contact.”

“He’s my best friend.” Yixing protested.

“He’s a nightmare.” Kris countered.

“Yeah,” Yixing conceded with a sigh. “He kind of is. But the kids love him.”

Of course the kids loved him, he was basically a kid himself. “Tell you what, let’s talk about it later. Dinner’s waiting.” And he got up from the bed and pulled Yixing to his feet. “Junchao made you peanut butter and cheese or something.”

Yixing’s eyes immediately lit up. “Seriously, he is, he’s an angel.”

“Yes I know. So why don’t you go downstairs and tell him that and I’ll go and fetch our pirate ninja.”

“I’m not even going to ask.” Yixing said as he headed for the door.

“It’s probably best if you don’t.” Kris agreed. Yixing seemed a lot happier now and as long as their next three kids took after their eldest brother and not their second eldest he was sure they’d be fine. He heard a thump from the hallway followed a shout of  'Nothing's broken!' and he winced. Fingers crossed they would or else they were going to be in big trouble.

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

AN: This is for ededele who asked for Kris and Yixing next. I couldn't resist, they're both so adorable. Anyway I hope you like it.

Thanks to everyone for the comments and the subscriptions, they made my day and thanks for laughingvirus for letting people know about this story.

Also I didn't remember she'd given Kris and Yixing triplets too until this was written and I went back to reread her Kray one shot. Obviously Kris and Yixing were just made for them.