"Luhan, please don't make that face. The service is only an hour and fifteen minutes." Kris nudges his scowling son gently on the back as they shuffle along an empty row near the front of the church.

"But Daddy, church is borrrring and it's too earlyyyyy." Chen, who is between Xiumin and Luhan, whines loudly as he sits down.
Xiumin hisses and smacks Chen's arm.
Kris knows, because he's been there himself.
As a kid, getting up at eight in the morning to go to an early service is a pain in the .
But without God, how would he have been able to make this far with being a single father of five kids?

"ChenChen, another disrespectful comment and it's timeout when we get home. You too Luhan, if you keep making that face." Kris narrows his eyes at Luhan threateningly, and the latter sighs before returning to a neutral expression.
Kris turns to Lay beside him, and sees him silently packing his music player away and pulling his hood down before looking up ahead.
Kris pats his knee appreciatively, earning a nod in return from his son.
Lay is always attentive in church; Kris reckons it's the organ music, but hey, it's better than whinging.

"Baby, please try to stay awake." Kris whispers against Tao's soft thick locks.
The groggy and sleepy panda makes whining sounds, the kind that makes Kris want to squeal like a little girl and pull his imaginary pigtails.
He's too young to understand the sermon anyway.
Kris, as he does every Sunday morning, tells himself that and sighs defeatedly.
Tao's baby dinosaur noises will be the death of me one day.
Kris holds Tao closer to his chest and lets him clutch onto the front of his shirt tighter.
The ling sound Tao makes with his binky echo in the fairly empty church hall.
Kris always likes to be extra early so he can catch up with the pastor, but he is nowhere to be seen, and it seems like they're not the only ones early today.
There's is an unfamiliar family of six at the back he sees.
A man and five kids, no mother to be see anywhere.
Kris feels a strange pang to his chest as he studies the five children.
They all look about his own kids' ages, although they seem a lot less... mature?
The youngest one is on one of the older boy's lap, mumbling to himself while another teenager is being punched by a child around Chen's age.
And there's a kid beside the child with a silent aura around him like Lay, except a lot darker.
The father looks like he's just given up on life while his children smack each other with hymn books.

"That looks fun."
Kris turns and sees Chen perched backwards in his seat, a mischievous spark in his eyes.

"Don't you dare get any funny ideas." Kris says less harshly than he intended and reaches over to tap Chen's shoulder.
To his horror, Luhan turns around too and stares at the family at the back.

"Kids, no staring! It's rude." Kris forcefully pulls Chen back so his little bum is seated again, but as he reaches over to Luhan he lets out a surprised gasp.
Luhan is waving to one of the kids.
Which one, he doesn't know, and he doesn't want to know.
But he makes himself look anyway.
Against his assumptions, the youngest child, no older than Tao, waves with a neutral expression on his face.
What the-?
Kris raises an eyebrow at the strange child and forces Luhan to sit properly.
The hall then is starting to flood with people, and soon the family is blocked by town people.
Kris makes sure his children (minus Tao) are all anticipating the service in a proper manner.

"Mr. Wu, can I speak to you for a minute?" The pastor's voice startles Kris.
The service ended a little while ago, and his children are all looking a lot more refreshed.

"Uh, sure." Kris passes a half conscious Tao over to Lay and follows the pastor to the corner of the hall.

"Are you aware of the Kims who have joined us today?"
The Kims?
There are like fifty different Kims in our town.
Kris frowns and shakes his head.
What's he got to do with them anyway?

"Ah, well, they are right there." The pastor points past Kris's shoulder.
Kris turns, and through the crowds that have gathered, he sees the family from before, looking strangely uneasy, all of them.

"You see, Suho-sshi, is a single father of five too, and they've just moved to our town a little while ago. I'm sure you're aware of the single parent partnership program we have at our church, Mr Wu. I thought since you have five children too, you might be able to welcome him and his children for us and offer fellowship?" The pastor looks up at Kris with hopeful eyes.
Uh... What the .
Kris is a little taken aback by the elderly pastor pulling a puppy pleading expression.

"N-No problem." Kris looks away, and the pastor scurries away to the Kims.
Kris, feeling nothing but confused, walks back to his children.

"Is something wrong?" Lay asks, for once curiously, as he hands Tao back to his daddy.

"Pastor Yoo wants to introduce us to the new family in town." Kris pats Tao's back as the baby panda rests the side of his head on Kris's shoulder.
Lay his eyebrow at Kris, then turns to announce the news to his equally curious brothers.
Xiumin makes a horrified face while Chen and Luhan ignore the fact that they're in a church hall and start yelling 'woohoo's.

"Daddy, I'm scared." Tao says softly with a shakey voice.

"Don't be. Daddy's here." Kris, despite being horribly anxious for no reason, tries to reassure Tao by pressing a small kiss to the crown of his head.
Tao must have sensed his daddy's own discomfort, as he whines and hides away in the crook of Kris's neck.
The pastor approaches Kris and his family with the Kims trailing behind him warily.

"Mr Wu, this is Suho-sshi. And these are his children Bakhyun-"

"Baekhyun." The raven haired boy holding his youngest brother frowns and grumpily corrects Pastor Yoo.
He smacks his tall brother, who's giggling at the pastor's mistake.

"Right, Baekhyun. Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Kai, and little Sehun." Pastor Yoo waves his hand at each child as he introduces them.
He then turns to Kris and starts his introduction on his family.

"This is Mr Wu-"

"Kris. Kris will do." Kris deadpans.
It's a reflex, really, because when someone calls him Mr Wu, it's ChenChen's homeroom teacher when he's at yet another "let's discuss your child's unacceptable behavior in class" meeting.

"Right, Kris. This is Kris, and his children Xiumin, Lay, Luhan, Chen and Tao." Pastor Yoo ends his introductions by giving Tao a small pat on the back of his head.
Tao scrambles closer to Kris and clutches onto his shirt tightly, seemingly displeased by the pastor's friendly gesture.
Kris feels oddly triumphant at his son's clinginess.

"Well then, I shall be heading off. Have a nice day, Suho-sshi and Mr. Kris." Pastor Yoo scurries away once again, completely out of Kris's sight.
Before Kris can mentally swear the the pastor, his son's voice catches his attention.

"Daddy, I know this mister! I saw him on the newspapers!" Chen shouts loudly in Chinese, pointing at Suho.

"His wife ran away with the milkman! I remember too, Daddy!" Luhan mimics his younger brother's actions except for the cheeky grin.

"Yah! How many times do I have to tell you you can't speak in Chinese in front of other people? It's very rude." Kris scolds, and his sons immediately pipe down.
He doesn't miss the faint "timeout" Xiumin whispers to the two and Lay's eye rolling.

"Ehem, I apologize. You see, my children speak Chinese at home." Kris desperately hopes that Suho doesn't think he's weird.
Tao's tightening clutch near the collar of his shirt isn't helping either.

"It seems that my children have recognized you from the papers too... I'm sorry?"

"Nah, it's okay... I get my five kids to myself, so it's a good thing in a way." Suho shrugs as if he doesn't care, but Kris notices the hurt seeping through his gaze.
He's been there before, so he knows.
But he decides to not talk about it in front of the kids.

"I understand. Right, baby? You wanna say hi to Uncle Suho?" Kris bounces Tao a little, in hopes of lightening the maknae's mood a little.
However, the stubborn little panda simply hides further into the bundle of fabric and Kris's long neck.

"Sorry. Tao is a little shy and wary of strangers." Kris gives Suho a bad grin, and is met with an equally bad one from Suho.

"Er, it's okay. So... How bout we talk over some things and let the kids bond a little?" Suho and points to an empty row at the other end of the church hall.
Kris gulps.
Ten kids alone?
Even though there's Xiumin and Lay...
Can I trust my kids with his?

"Uh... Yeah, sure. Xiumin, can you take Tao for a bit?"
Xiumin moves beside Kris and wrestles Tao off of Kris.
Before the baby panda can whine, Xiumin takes his pacifier and stuffs it in his mouth in one swift action.
Smooth.
Kris makes a 'not bad' face at Xiumin, then turns away.
Breath.
Inhale, exhale.
Good, you can do this.
You can be away from Tao for fifteen minutes.
Kris mentally prepares himself as he follows Suho to the other end of the hall.