Word count: 1,779

Note: Just a random idea of the boys making breakfast for their father. Why? Because it’s cute. That’s why. (And also because I finally finished with my thesis and two days ago I successfully presented it. So I guess this is kinda a celebration of my freedom. LMAO. Also the fact that ‘Noriter' got updated, it sparked my will to write something in this AU which I love so very much.) But first...

HI! I HAS BEEN TWO YEARS HASN'T IT?! But lemme assure you, I'm not done with Neo yet!

“Hyung… Wake up!”

It was only 6 o’clock in the morning and in the shared room of Hongbin and Sanghyuk, a tiny pair of hands of the maknae were determined to wake up his older brother by shaking the latter up continuously. “Hyuuunng… Wake up! Appa’s breakfast… Let's make it… Hurry!”

Sanghyuk’s efforts paid off this time around, because his older brother finally stirred and scrunched up his face while trying to rub the sleepiness off his eyes. Once he’s fully awake and remembered what he and his brother had planned to do, Hongbin sat up, looked at his brother, and excitedly smiled.

“Hyuk-ah! Let’s prepare appa’s breakfast!”

It was several days before Christmas, and Taekwoon had been working overtime continuously as he wanted to finish his work before Christmas actually came. If he managed to finish everything as he was planning, he’d be able to take some time off starting on the 25th all the way to the beginning of January to spend more times with his boys and Hakyeon.

Taekwoon had explained this to both Hongbin and Sanghyuk (with the help of his boyfriend of course) and both little boys understood why their father had to came home late almost every single day. But it still didn’t change the fact that it made the siblings felt sad to see their father being so tired all the time. That’s why they made a plan to prepare a surprise breakfast for their father, in order to cheer him up.

They decided the breakfast menu would be consisted of three things:

Two slices of toasted bread with butter spread on it, courtesy of little Binnie. (He’s seen his father made toasts before, and he thought it’s easy enough for him to do it all by himself. He figured all he needed to do was to put two slices of bread into the toaster, push the lever and then wait until it goes ‘ding!’ then it’s the time to spread the butter. Hongbin hadn’t figured it out how he supposed to spread the butter though.)

Meanwhile, Maknae Sanghyuk chose to prepare a bowl of cereals, containing a mixture of his and Hongbin’s favourite cereals. (Sanghyuk rarely saw his father ate cereals, because Taekwoon usually opted for toast and coffee almost every morning. But Sanghyuk couldn’t understand his father decision because in his little innocent mind, cereals were the best thing to eat every morning. That’s why he decided that his father needed to eat it in order to be strong for his work.)

The last thing they need to prepare was a glass of milk. All they need to do was to pour it directly from the carton to their father’s favourite mug — which usually filled with coffee. (Hongbin actually wanted to make coffee but he realised he didn’t know where the coffee that his father drinks every morning came from. He usually would just saw his father pouring out steaming hot coffee from the jug that’s currently placed under a strange looking machine on the kitchen counter, but today the said jug was empty and Hongbin didn’t know how to make the black liquid appear inside the jug.)

With that plan in mind, both boys marched along from their room to the kitchen, bringing along their mini stool and ladder to help them being tall enough to actually access the kitchen counter.

———

On the other room, Hakyeon being a light sleeper that he is, woken up from the busy sound coming from the kitchen. He glanced at his right side and saw Taekwoon was still deep asleep beside him. He realised that the sound wasn’t coming from his boyfriend’s doing in the kitchen so he decided to check up on it. Hakyeon carefully removed himself from his boyfriend’s embrace and get off the bed before tiptoeing all the way across to exit their shared bedroom.

(By the way, that’s a thing right now. Hakyeon, while not being officially moved in with Taekwoon and his sons, spent about five days a week in Taekwoon’s apartment that he’s practically living there. No one’s complaining about that though. Not Taekwoon, not the boys, and surely not Hakyeon himself.)

Once Hakyeon arrived at the kitchen’s entrance, he was met by a cute scene made of the two little siblings doing their own work. Hongbin was busy staring at the toaster, seemingly waiting for it to finish its job toasting the bread. While Sanghyuk made a mess of aiming to pour his favourite cereal into his bowl of choice yet successfully pouring it into everywhere but the bowl. The adult chuckled at the scene happening before him.

“Boys, do you need help?” Hakyeon asked, grinning. Both little boys’ head perked up from their own tasks and saw their favourite coffee hyung leaning on the fridge, amused expression pasted on his face.

“Hyung!” Maknae Sanghyuk was the first to left his job of pouring out the cereal and ran towards the adult. Hakyeon leaned forward to let the little boy hugged him and then swooped him into his embrace.

“What are you doing?” The adult asked again, after kneeling before the little boy and gave him a ruffle on the head. The maknae didn’t answer though, only gave him giggles and a pat on his right cheek as a response. Instead, the older of the two little boys looked up and grinning at Hakyeon, who now had already standing right beside him, also paying attention at the toaster. “We make this for appa!” Hongbin answered while pointing at the toaster.

Hearing the answer, Hakyeon’s expression softened and he smiled at the older boy. “You’re preparing breakfast for appa?” And it was quickly replied with excited nods from both siblings. “Ng!” Hongbin answered again, “Appa worked very hard, so this is a present for appa!”

Hakyeon chuckle again at the excitement from the siblings, so he decided to help the little ones preparing their surprise for their father. If they let him help, that is. “Can I help?” The adult asked expectantly at the two boys which was responded with a grin and nods from them.

“Hmmm… Let’s see.” Hakyeon said again as the two siblings curiously looking back at him expectantly. “Binnie-yah, you keep an eye on the toaster, okay? Once the toasts popped out, let me know and I’ll help you to plate it. Don’t try to do it yourself, it’s really hot! Understand?” The adult asked while patting the round-eyed boy’s hair.

“Okay!” 

Hakyeon then shifted his attention at Sanghyuk who now sat on his mini stool, already holding his box of cereals again. “Hyuk-ah,” The adult called, “Sanghyuk want to prepare this cereal for appa?” He asked, which was responded with a nod from the maknae. “Alright.” Hakyeon took the bowl Sanghyuk had chosen earlier and set it on the floor to make it easier for the (now) 5 years-old to put in the cereal.

"Have you washed your hands?" Hakyeon asked again, and was responded with another nod from Sanghyuk. "Hongbinnie hyung said I should wash my hand so appa won't get tummyache." The maknae explained.

The older chuckled at maknae's innocent answer and patted his head, "Good boy." He then explained to the maknae, “Hyukkie wants to prepare a bowl of cereals for appa, right? Follow what hyung do, okay. Take the cereal out from the box with your hand like this,” Hakyeon gave the maknae an example of what to do with Sanghyuk mirroring his action right away, “And then put it the bowl. When you're done, hyung will pour in the milk. Do it carefully, okay?” Sanghyuk giggled and nodded at Hakyeon’s question, and with that Hakyeon left the two boys to do their own tasks.

“I better made coffee from Taekwoon now.” Hakyeon mumbled to himself. Because a Taekwoon without a proper coffee in the morning is a grumpy Taekwoon and no one wanted to deal with that.

———

Around 20 minutes later, with everything plated and set up tidily on the table (Hakyeon cooked some eggs and sliced half of avocado to be served with the toast Hongbin made), and the kitchen had been cleaned from the mess Sanghyuk made earlier with his attempt at preparing cereals, the surprise breakfast for Taekwoon were ready to be served. Hongbin was happily running around the kitchen saying “We made breakfast for appa!” in a sing-songy tone while Sanghyuk was busy giggling watching his hyung doing his antics.

Hakyeon glanced at the clock and it wasn’t even 7PM so there would still be another 10-15 minutes until Taekwoon would wake up. But both Hongbin and Sanghyuk were so excited about the breakfast that they kept asking why their father hadn’t woken up already. So Hakyeon sent both brothers to wake their father up while he waited in the kitched. As he expected, five minutes later a half-asleep Taekwoon walked out from their bedroom with both Hongbin and Sanghyuk running excitedly back to the kitchen ahead of him.

“What is it, Hongbin-ah, Sanghyuk-ah…?” Taekwoon croaked with his raspy morning voice, exhaustion apparent in his voice. His eyes perked out once he entered the kitchen though, as he saw both of his sons sitting happily on the dining table and Hakyeon standing near the kitchen counter, holding a cup of steaming coffee.

“Good morning.” Taekwoon heard his boyfriend greeted.

“Morning,” Taekwoon replied, still curious. He took a look at the breakfast served on the table. He shot a questioning look at his boyfriend but Hakyeon just nodded while smiling knowingly, and then motioned for the young father to just sit and wait.

“We made this, appa!” Hongbin exclaimed as soon as Taekwoon sat, and Sanghyuk also followed suit by giggling and nodding at his brother’s explanation. “Appa worked very hard everyday…” Sanghyuk started, “This is present!” He ended as soon as he started, so his brother stepped in to explain it further. “Appa looked tired, it made Hongbin and Sanghyuk sad. This is our present for appa!” Both boys smiled at their father, who looked back at them with glassy proud eyes.

“Thank you, Bin-ah, Hyuk-ah.” Taekwoon ruffled both boys hair lovingly and the leaned forward, “Give appa a hug?” He asked, which immediately rewarded with a crushing hug from both of his sons. Taekwoon laughed happily and looked up at his boyfriend, who was also laughing at the scene of the father and sons hugging. Because this is why Taekwoon worked himself out to the edge in the first place, in order for him to be able to have this kind of moment with his little happy family like this.

———

• I'm sorry if the sentence, structure, and flow of the story is a bit awkward. It's been a while since I write this kind of thing with most of my time spent with writing thesis, which has a very different structure from things like fanfic or a story in general. Hope you’ll still enjoy it though! :)
• 2017/01/21: I edited some bits of this chapter, but it doesn't affect the story that much. Just a fix to the overall timeline and age of the character.