After what felt like the longest week of my life, it was finally Saturday.  Classes had just started for the semester and the workload was killer. Plus, it didn’t help that Kyungbin had come down with a little cold and had been up half the nights wailing.  Although I still wasn’t ready to admit it out loud to anyone, the meetings were turning into one of the highlights of my week.

            For once, the three of us weren’t late and were actually only the second people there. When we opened the door, the only others we saw in the room were Yixing and Bing. Bing was his thumb while staring off into space while Yixing seemed to be in the middle of practicing dancing.

            “Oh good,” Yixing said as he saw us come in. “I thought I had the wrong date or something. Where is everybody?”

            “This is strange.” Kyungsoo said, slowing the pace of his steps as he went to put Kyungbin down by some toys. “I don’t remember the last time I ever saw this room so… empty.”

            “Or quiet.” Yixing added before resuming his dance.

            “Is that for your class?” Kyungsoo asked.

            “No,” Yixing said. “I just started doing some other dancing again. I forgot how much I liked it.”

            I watched him for a moment while he moved to a beat in his head, even without hearing any music, his moves just seemed to flow like water.

            “I didn’t know you could dance that well, Yixing.” Kyungsoo remarked.

            “And I didn’t know you could sing!” Yixing quipped back. “We all have our little secrets.” He added with a small smile as he went to go say something to his son in Mandarin.

            “Ugh, I’m really not looking forward to having to sing with Baekhyun.” Kyungsoo sighed.

            “He’s not that bad.” I tried to console.

            “I’ve known his for a while sis, and trust me, he is. Cocky little thing, if he wasn’t so good or had such a pretty face he would definitely have gotten beaten up by now.” Kyungsoo said, and as if summoned by the sound of his name, Baekhyun swung open the door. With Baekha perched on his hip, he threw us all a wave as he sauntered into the room.

            “Helllllo! Everybody!” He sang before he realized how empty it was. “Wait… where the hell is everyone??!”

            “Hey watch the language.” Yixing said, trying to cover Bing’s ears.

            “Ahh, kkaebsong, Bing.” Baekhyun continued. “But seriously, is it the wrong time? Usually by now, the twins wouldhave broken something, Kara would be whining about Jaehan teasing her, Junmyeon would be complaining about god knows what…”

            “For the love of all things holy, Junmyeon, I am not making my children wear laytex gloves and face masks!” Kris complained as the pair suddenly entered the room, kids trailing behind them.

            “But it’s cold and flu season!” Junmyeon bickered back. “I suggest if you don’t want your children to come down with something, you keep them protected. Better safe than sorry!” He waggled his finger at the taller boy.

            “There is a difference between being prepared and believing absolutely everything you read in a stupid magazine.” Kris said back.

            “Hey! Mother’s Weekly is not a stupid magazine! I get so much helpful advice from it!” Junmyeon responded, sounding appalled.

            “That’s more like it.” Kyungsoo chuckled to himself.

            As the pair continued to bicker, the rest of the boys began to filter in. Finally, with the arrival of Minseok and Jin, everyone was here.

            “So,” Junmyeon began once everyone was seated, “With the passing of our first weeks bonding with our children, how does everyone feel? Can’t you all just feel yourselves getting closer to your kids?”

            “Actually,” Jongdae began, “Minseok and mine’s hasn’t started yet. Taekwondo classes don’t start until this week.”

            “Well, with the exception of you five then, how is it going?”

            “Terrible.” Chanyeol complained. “I absolutely loathe ballet.”

            “Hey, watch it.” Jongin defended.

            “Oh, I’m sorry,” Chanyeol drawled, “I’m sorry we can’t all be Mr. Perfect Ballerina and be able to plee-yuck on command like some wind-up doll.”

            “It is not plee-yuck! It’s plie!” Jongin shouted, standing up and causing Hyein to look up at her dad with a worried look.

            “Whatever, I still don’t want to do them.” Chanyeol muttered.

            “Well what does Chanyong think of the classes?” Junmyeon asked the little boy.

            “Dance dumb!” Chanyong said. “Dancing borrrring.” The little boy pulled down his eyes and stuck out his tongue.

            “So do you want to stop going to the classes?” Junmyeon asked the boy.

            “Huh? Nooo!!!!!!!!” Chanyong screamed, suddenly jumping as Daehyuk had appeared at his side and started to tug on his shorts.

            “See, he still wants to go to the classes!” Junmyeon said, sounding satisfied as Jongdae pounced on his kid, trying to make him let go of Chanyong’s pants.

            “Hyung, I don’t think that’s what he meant-“ Chanyeol said as he tried to yank his son’s pants out of Daehyuk’s grubby little hands. But, Junmyeon ignored the little scene and moved on.

            “Sehun, how did it go at work?” Junmyeon asked the younger boy.

            “Fantastic! I got a promotion!” Sehun replied.

            “Um, that’s great, but I meant with Sehee.” Junmyeon said.

            “Oh, that was wonderful too, of course, everything she does is perfect, but I have made an executive decision to not bring her with me to work again.” Sehun said, a serious look on his face. Luhan, who was sitting next to him, looked like he was turning into a tomato.

            “Oh please!” Luhan interjected. “Executive decision my , Sehun had to promise the directors he wouldn’t bring her again. It all caused way more trouble than it was worth.”

            “Hyung it wasn’t that bad!”

            “You didn’t have to reprint a 50 page report and explain why the first one was chewed up and soggy in the copyroom, or walk around with a huge orange blotch on you shirt, or have to go out with that girl I begged to watch you daughter for you!” Luhan yelled.

            “Hey I thought you liked that girl?” Sehun said, trying to change the subject.

            “All she talked about was cats!” Luhan fumed. “Did you know most calico cats are female? Or that the Maine Coon is the largest breed of domestic cat? Well I didn’t either, until I had a three hour dinner with freaking Animal Planet.”

            “Sorry hyung,” Sehun said, but his faced said he wasn’t sorry at all. “Anyway, I need a new thing to do with Sehee now. I was thinking of trying to learn a new hobby or skill or something useful.”

            “Like what?” Kris asked.

            “I want to learn how to cook!” Sehun said.

            “Dude, that’s even worse than your first idea.” Jongin said.

            “What? Why?”

            “Sehun, you nearly burned my house down trying to boil water!” Jongin said.

            “That was one time!”

            “Yea, and now my parent’s house has an entirely renovated kitchen.” Jongin muttered.

            “Maybe that’s a good idea, then.” Kyungsoo mused. “If your that bad, learning some basics might be a good thing to do.”

            “Could you help me, Hyung?” Sehun asked my brother with pleading eyes.

            “Oh, well, I am kind of busy…” Kyungsoo trailed off as Sehun kept looking at him with a face like a kicked puppy. “…But I think I could make some time to help.” He finished, starting to punch the side of his leg, an antic I know he had for when he was feeling uncomfortable.

            “Thanks Hyung! You’re the best!” Sehun cheered, obviously knowing that his pout could get him anything he wanted.

            “Yea, I know, but we can’t start just yet. Kyungbin’s caught a cold and he’s been really finicky lately.” Kyungsoo said, giving the tired boy in his arms a concerned look.

            “Kyungbin is sick??” Junmyeon gasped. “Kris, this is exactly what I was trying to warn you about! Kyungsoo, be careful with him! I don’t want any of the other kids to catch what he has!”

            “I don’t think he’s contagious anymore…” Kyungsoo started but stopped as he noticed all of the boys subtly trying to scoot their chairs away from him. When he saw Baekhyun wrap his arms protectively around Baekha and cover with his hands, Kyungsoo realized any reasoning he tried to make would be lost on the paranoid dads.

            “Does anyone else have news about their projects?” Junmyeon asked. “Tao, have you decided what you want to do yet?”

            “Why actually, I am glad you asked!” Tao said. “Nabi and I went to this fabulous little art gallery this past week and I really found some inspiration for my work.”

            “So your thing has to do with art?” Kris asked. I may have been hallucinating, but I swear I saw him get a jealous look on his usually stoic face.

            “Yes!” Tao cheered as Nabi began chewing on the sleeve of her dress. “But that’s all I’m saying for now. The rest is a secret.”

            “Okay,” Junmyeon said, looking at a bit of a loss for words. “Well, I know we are all excited to hear what it is.”

            “Eh, I’m actually not that interested.” Luhan butted in.

            “Yea, me neither.” Baekhyun added.

            “Same.”

            “Yea.”

            “Me too.” Came the chorus of responses from the rest of the boys.

            “You all are so uncultured!” Tao huffed, crossing his arms.

            “Hey, I think it’s a good idea.” Kris added quietly. “If you need any help, um, just let me know.”