Daehan did not even look up from his homework when he called up to his uncle.

He paused wiping down the dishes to look at him while still holding onto his towel and dish, “What is it?”

“I think my daddy is not happy,” He spoke slowly, concentrating on writing the alphabet and on speaking with him.

“Yeah, uncle. He keeps making this face,” Daehyun quickly sketched out a face on a plain paper and ran towards his uncle.

JongIn tried to stifle a giggle. Kim Jongdae looked really ugly when he was mad. “Why is your daddy’s face green?”

“It should be green, uncle. Green means anger,” Hyunsik replied confidently.

When he did not supply anymore, JongIn laughed. “Shouldn’t it be red?”

Chanyong peeked at the older boy through his eyelashes. “Really?” He raised his eyebrows. “Can I have the paper?”

JongIn blinked and hesitantly gave the paper to his nephew. He did not know what the younger boy was up to.

The big-eared boy grabbed a red crayon and hastily coloured the face. “Uncle, look!”

Every muscle of his body just froze before a grin crept onto his face, it soon stretched from one side to the other showing every single teeth. Kim Jongdae had purple skin now.

Daehan gave him a confused look. “Uncle, you have to help me. I want daddy to be happy again!”

The said male cocked his head to the side, confused at his behaviour. “Okay.” He said simply.

Hyunsik laughed, “Just give him bacon. My mummy gives daddy bacon and he is happy.”

Daehan’s expression shifted into a frown and he glanced at Hyunsik. “You are not helping,” He whined.

“Hmmm,” JongIn started as he placed his elbows on the table and propped his chin on his hands.

Behind Chanyong, he noticed Baekhyun walking into the room. He pulled a chair to sit beside Daehyun.

Baekhyun’s eyes lit up better than a christmas tree. “Hyung, did we forget anything important?”

For the next few minutes there would be no chit chat.

As usual the buns were spreading cartwheels, swirls of gold and brown. The icing was drizzled on in zigzags, dripping down the sides where the points met the edges. Baekhyun started with the small icing pools on his plate. All his concentration went into the bun, into the flavours that took him back to an earlier stage of his life.

“Hyung,” Chanyong giggled as he heard his uncle drawled out the word.

Zhang Chanming tore the cinnamon bun in half. Inside the delicate swirl of butter-rich dough were apple chunks coated in the cinnamon sugar. He began to salivate at the fillings of the bun. “Is Uncle Camel not happy because no one remembers his birthday?”

His answer cut of JongIn’s train of thoughts and he turned to stare at Yixing’s son. “Yah. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I’m not laughing uncle. So I’m being serious,” Chanming said, exasperatedly.

JongIn swallowed. “What’s the date today?”

“21^st September,” Joonhyuk replied, mouth stuffed with cinnamon buns.

“Are you sure?”

Daehyun swung his legs under the chair, “Yeah, I wrote it on my paper. See!”

“It can’t be!” JongIn gripped the ends of his hair.

Minhyuk felt a bubble of annoyance in him. He pressed his lips into a thin line and leaned back in his chair with a sigh. He walked towards the calendar that was placed on the coffee table and marched up towards Baekhyun.

His eyes widened. It was whooping cough for sure. He was hacking continuously for a while then taking in a sharp gasp of breath.

He paused before looking at JongIn. “He’ll never forgive me. Byun Baekhyun, what did you just dooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

“Daddy’s silly,” Hyunsik giggled as his father continued to whine.

“Oh no,” JongIn muttered slightly.

Joonhyuk glanced at JongIn over his homework. “It is not that bad right?” Even at a young age, Kim Joonhyuk knew how sharp his Uncle Baekhyun’s tongue were.

Baekhyun shook his head, hair flying wildly. “I’m doooooooooooomed.”

“It should be bad,” Chanyong laughed.

“Hyung,” he stuttered as he called out to him. “What did you say?”

He lifted his head when he heard his name being called. His face was flushed as he recalled what he did a few days ago.

…

Baekhyun always said Jongdae was a freak. On the days that had everyone else frozen and heading for the nearest hot chocolate or coffee, he was off for ice cream at the creamery. With gloved hands he'd tug him towards the corner cafe and he'd pretend he didn't feel a thing. Then when they reached the glass front he'd just stop, staring at all the flavours. 

I can’t believe he has twin boys.

Then he'd turn to him with that face he could always refuse but couldn’t, his breath rising in miniature clouds. A few minutes later they'd have a large raspberry sundae between them and two long handled silver spoons. After one bite all was forgiven, even in its coldness the reality was utter bliss.

“So, I think we have a birthday coming up,” Jongdae started playing with the spoon.

“Oh,” Baekhyun murmured, his fingers pressing hastily over his phone screen. Totally engrossed in the game. “What do you want to do?”

Jongdae started talking about what his ideal birthday presents were, what type of cake he wanted and so on. Baekhyun sighed inwardly. Not again. This had been going on for two days already.

"Your problem is that you expect too much. Every year you wait like an expectant puppy for a juicy bone and every year all you get is the same old bowl of dry kibble. Grow up. Your just a year older, flabbier and wrinklier. No-one cares!" The words came out in a rush before he could stop it.

“I-I didn’t mean –” his words were cut off when Jongdae shoved his chair back violently and left the café in a huff.

He unlocked the screen and pressed a few buttons on his cellphone screen. “Changmin hyung, I’m so gonna get a higher score than you..”

…

“Uncle, you’re so mean!” Minhyuk commented and wagged a finger at him.

JongIn nodded his head. “You shouldn’t have done that.”

Daehan turned. “Oh, mummy will tell you to eat your vegetables forever.” The boy smirked.

Baekhyun made a face.

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

Yay! An update! Do leave comments - they are what motivates me to write :D