“Hey, Baek,” the tall blonde standing at the entrance greets with a smile. Standing at six feet two, Kris Wu was a force to be reckoned with. The model demanded attention, even as he just stood there without saying a word. Baekhyun’s throat constricts as he finds himself subconsciously taking a step back, closer to Jongdae. 

“K-Kris…” he croaks, looking at the man before him with wide eyes, his mouth slightly agape. 

“What are you doing here?” Jongdae cuts in, taking a step forward and to the side to slightly hide Baekhyun behind him. 

The blonde laughs and walks over to one of the tables, leaning onto the tabletop as he folds his arms across his chest. “It’s nice to see you again too, Jongdae. Still as grumpy as ever, I see.” The glint in his eyes give away that he’s messing around with the barista; but Jongdae wasn’t having any of the Chinese man’s jokes. 

“I asked you what the you’re doing here,” Jongdae demands again, balling his hands at his side. 

“Geez man, calm down,” Kris says, the smug smile never leaving his face as he pushes himself off the table and holds both of his hands up in the universal sign on surrender. “I’m in town for a shoot, and I heard that there was a pretty good new bakery that recently opened. Imagine my surprise when I heard that the owner of the bakery was none other than the cute lovesick puppy that used to follow me around way back when.” Kris shoots a look towards Baekhyun, who’s still standing, frozen in his spot, behind his friend. “I just wanted to come try out some of the goods and catch up with old friends,” the blonde continues, taking a step forward towards the two. 

“No one here is your friend,” Jongdae seethes. Baekhyun can tell he was doing his best to hold himself back; he takes a step forward and rests his hand gently on Jongdae’s shoulder. The brunet can feel Jongdae’s shoulders instantly sag as the tension leaves his body with Baekhyun’s touch. His hands, however, remains curled up into fists, and his eyes never leave the tall model. 

“I’m hurt, Jongdae,” Kris chuckles as he walks forward, and both Jongdae and Baekhyun shuffle sideways as he walks pass them towards the display of baked goods. “And here I thought we were besties, right Baek?”

Baekhyun flushes and looked down at his feet. “I’m gonna go check on the bread,” he mumbles before making a beeline towards the kitchen; unaware of the mirrored pining expression on the faces of both men he left behind. 

Kris clears his throat after a moment and points to a random pastry in the window. “I’ll have that one.”

“I thought you didn’t like sweets,” Jongdae raises his brow, walking behind the counter to box the raspberry filled chocolate cupcake with chocolate creme frosting. 

Kris looks caught off guard for a moment before flashing his confident smile once again. “People change, Jongdae, and so do their tastes. I love chocolate now.” Jongdae shrugs and grabs the cash from the model’s hand, then gives him back his change with the boxed cupcake. “Thanks man. See you again.”

“I hope you choke on that…” Jongdae mumbles as he watches Kris exit the bakery. He turns and heads into the kitchen to find Baekhyun, and misses how Kris tosses the cupcake into the trash bin right outside the bakery before walking off. 

Chanyeol holds Sehun in his arms propped against his waist as he stands leaning up against his car. A look down at his wristwatch tells him that the bell would soon ring and Jongin would be filing out with the rest of his classmates. The toddler in his arms is getting antsy when he lifts his head from his dad’s shoulder and looks around, and still did not see his brother.

“Daddy, when will Nini hyung come?” Sehun whines, squirming in Chanyeol’s hold. 

“Any moment now.” Just as Chanyeol finishes his sentence, the school bell rings and the doors of the school open not a moment later. Chanyeol watches as the teachers from each class lead the younger students out, leading them towards the designated area to wait for their parents to pick them up. He notices Jongin towards the back of the line with Taemin, both laughing about something as they walk down the steps. When Jongin notices him and Sehun, he raises his hand and waves enthusiastically. 

“Daddy, it’s hyung!” Sehun giggles, turning his body around as he reaches his arms out towards Jongin. Chanyeol laughs and pushes himself off of the car and makes his way towards Jongin’s teacher to sign his name for pick-up. “Daddy, put Hunnie down! Down!” Sehun cries, and as soon as Chanyeol lowers him to the ground, the boy toddles over towards his older brother and envelopes him in a hug. 

“Good afternoon, Mr. Park,” Jongin’s teacher greets him, handing him the clipboard and pen, “you brought Sehun today.”

Chanyeol nods and chuckles as he scribbles his initials next to Jongin’s name. “Yeah, I had the day off today.”

“It’s always nice to see him,” the teacher smiles, taking the clipboard back from Chanyeol. “They’re so very close, it’s very heartwarming. You’re doing such a great job raising your kids, Mr. Park.”

“I’m trying,” Chanyeol smiles, turning to look at his two sons. Jongin is haunched over as Taemin helps Sehun climb onto his brother’s back, and once he was situated, Sehun clings onto his brother like a koala. He nods a goodbye to Jongin’s teacher and walks over to the three boys, ruffling Taemin’s head affectionately as he leans down and picks up Jongin’s backpack. 

“Hi Uncle Yeol!” Taemin greets, smiling up at him. 

“What’s up, kiddo? Your parents aren’t here yet?” Chanyeol asks, looking around.

The seven-year-old shakes his head. “Daddy said he’d be late this morning.” 

“Do you want to come home with us?” Chanyeol asks, grabbing his phone from his back pocket when Taemin and Jongin start nodding eagerly. “I’ll give your dad a call.” Chanyeol watches as Jongin piggybacked Sehun and runs from Taemin, who runs after the brothers pretending to be a monster. He leaves a message for Jonghyun when the man doesn’t pick up, and sends a quick text to Key as well for good measure. Pocketing his phone again, he walks over to sign Taemin out as well. The teacher, who’s used to having the boys’ parents picking them up in the other’s place, simply nods and smiles when Chanyeol tells her that Taemin would also be going home him. Chanyeol bids goodbye to the teacher once again and calls the boys over, leading them towards the car. He buckles Sehun into his carseat and makes sure Jongin and Taemin are both safely buckled in as well before getting into the driver’s seat, “So, what do you boys want to do today?” 

“Can we go to the park and swim, Daddy?” Jongin asks, leaning forward hopefully. 

“I don’t see why not,” Chanyeol nods, “how does that sound boys?” he asks Taemin and Sehun, who both agree happily. “How does a picnic in the park sound?”

All three boys yell their approval as Chanyeol pulls out of the parking lot and drive home to prepare for their outing.

Once home, Chanyeol leave the boys to play on their own while he rummages through the fridge for things to take along with them on their picnic. He pulls out the remaining half of the watermelon in the fridge and a few apples and grapes to makes a fruit salad, and was washing the fruits when his phone vibrates in his pocket. A smile instantly spreads across his face when he sees whose name appears on his phone screen. 

“Hey baby,” Chanyeol greets, anchoring the phone between his shoulder and chin. 

“Hey you. How’s your day off going?”

“Good. Seh