The envelopes scattered as they hit the table, spreading out, adding to the mess that was already present. Chanyeol didn’t even bother opening the letters or looking at the return address. They were likely bills, asking for amounts of money he couldn’t pay.

“Papa is home!” Baekhyun’s cheery voice sounded from the kitchen, accompanied by the pitter patter of tiny feet.

Chanyeol broke out into a wide grin, his first smile of the day, as he awaited the scene that played five times a week without fail.

“Papa!” Sehun rounded the corner first, almost falling as he took the turn at full speed. Chanyeol held his arms open wide, waiting.

“Papa!” Jongin was next, always on his younger brother’s heels, his face characteristically smudged with whatever he had been eating last.

The boys, three and five years old, rushed into Chanyeol’s embrace, giggling as their father scooped them up and stood, hugging them tightly. “How were my little princes today? Did you give your Dad any trouble?”

A chorus of “No” followed by excited jabbering about toys and cartoons and Jongin explaining what happened during his kindergarten class rang in Chanyeol’s ears. He loved it though, the noise, the excitement. The way it made him feel to finally be home after a long day working construction.

As he set the boys down, Chanyeol glanced towards the kitchen, Baekhyun standing in the doorway. “Jongin skinned his knee, but it should be fine. Oh, your Mother called. She said that your Dad fixed the lawnmower, you can pick it up whenever.”

Chanyeol greeted his husband next, struggling to reach him as his kids clung onto his legs, playing around as usual. Chanyeol planted a kiss on Baekhyun’s cheek, a peck as he reached over and gave Baekhyun a half hug.

“We are having spaghetti.” Baekhyun always explained dinner like this, curt and pointed, announcing what was on the menu – which was never up for debate. The entire few minutes were a routine, in fact. Chanyeol, dirty, tired, would come home to the excitement of their children. Baekhyun would be making dinner, sometimes so stressed over what the boys had done he would be on the verge of throwing something (not that he ever did).

“Let go of Papa, I need to go wash up.” Chanyeol tried to pry his sons off his legs but they held on, laughing. He finally gave up, walking slowly to the bathroom as the children clung to him. He had scraped his knuckles pretty bad during the day. Washing them vigorously he scrubbed away the dried blood and dirt.

“What am I going to do with you two?” Chanyeol joked as the kids suddenly took interest in his movement. He unfastened his tool belt, the nails and hammer clinking loudly as he jimmied the leather belt off of him. He snatched the leather tool belt out of his children’s reach, putting it high up on the bathroom shelf.

“I wanna play with the hammer!” Jongin whined, jumping up as though he could reach the tool belt, now perched on a shelf six feet above him.

“If you want to play with the hammer you need to get a job with Papa. Will you do that?” Chanyeol asked, bending down to ruffle his oldest son’s hair. A loud sound of music filtered into the room, coming from the television.

“Pororo!” Sehun shouted, rushing out of the bathroom at the sound of his favorite cartoon. Jongin quickly forgot his fascination with the tool belt, following his younger brother out. Chanyeol chuckled as they left. It was good to be home.

***

“If he sleeps through the night it will be a miracle.” Baekhyun stared at the doorway, peeking over the open book he held in his hands.

“I don’t know what to do.” Chanyeol sighed. It had been like that, every night for the last week. Sehun would cry and whine until he could crawl in bed with his parents.

“I don’t either.” Baekhyun tried to focus on his book. It was his rare moment to relax, when the children were in bed and the lights out. He pulled the lavender comforter up, snuggling in.

Chanyeol cast a wayward glance now and then, peeking at his husband, not daring to disturb Baekhyun’s precious moments without the kids clinging to him. It had been a tough decision, deciding that Baekhyun would be a stay at home dad. It was financially motivated, entirely. Once the couple realized how much day care cost they knew that they both couldn’t afford to work, not when their lack of college educations limited their earning potential. Chanyeol earned more, so Baekhyun was left to take on the role of stay at home dad.

Chanyeol regretted it, that he hadn’t done better for his family. Chanyeol thought back. It was six years ago when he met Baekhyun. Chanyeol had walked into a flower shop, deciding to surprise his mother with some flowers for her birthday. Baekhyun had been an energetic florist, full of life and smiles and fun. He had given Chanyeol his number, complete with a wink. Soon they were dating. Before long Baekhyun was pregnant.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun married quickly and started their family. Sometimes Chanyeol wished he had been more focused in his youth, gone to college, set up his future. Yet he didn’t regret meeting his husband or their children. Jongin and Sehun were the lights of his life and he knew Baekhyun felt the same way.

Though it was hard sometimes – definitely - especially financially. Chanyeol’s salary was on the lower end of the pay scale, and they lived paycheck to paycheck. If an emergency hit they were often asking their parents for money, which was only moderately successful as their parents were not much better off than they were. It was a hard life, but it was rewarding in some ways. They loved each other and that sustained them.

“Here he comes.” Baekhyun groaned, Chanyeol staring at the doorway. Sehun appeared a moment later, tears streaming down his face.

“Can I- can I...” the little boy cried.

“Come here, baby.” Baekhyun held the covers up, Sehun scurrying forward, letting his father lift him into bed.

***

Chanyeol groaned. What time was it? He looked at the alarm clock on his nightstand. It was four in the morning, he usually slept until five.

A retching sound came from the bathroom. Chanyeol sat up, noticing the bathroom light was on. Baekhyun was no longer in bed. Sehun was asleep, curled up in the middle of the bed.

“Honey, are you okay?” Chanyeol called out.

After a few moments Baekhyun answered, “Yeah. My stomach is just upset.”

Chanyeol laid back down, quickly falling back asleep. With a twelve hour workday ahead of him it was hard not to seize an additional hour of slumber.

***

“We need to choose – cable or internet.” Baekhyun held up the bill, pointing at the line that spelled out their delinquency. They hadn’t had the money to pay the bill for a few months, rent and groceries taking priority.

Chanyeol sighed. “Which one do you think?”

“So help me god, Chanyeol, if we lose cable then the kids are going to riot.”

Chanyeol nodded. “Get rid of the internet service then.”

***

Chanyeol held Jongin in his arms, the boy lying flat, giggling as Chanyeol rushed around the living room making airplane noises. “And he goes in for a nose dive!” Chanyeol dipped Jongin down, the boy flailing and laughing as his father grasped him in a bear hug.

“Me! Me next!” Sehun tugged at Chanyeol’s pants leg, not about to let Jongin have all the fun.

“You have to give your brother a turn.” Chanyeol set Jongin down, picking up his youngest son. As he repeated his erratic running about, Sehun giggling, he thought he heard something from the bathroom. After one last whoosh around the room he was out of breath.

“The airplane is exhausted.” Chanyeol set Sehun down, slumping down on the couch as his sons decided it was an opportune time to climb all over him. He sat, loose limbed and tired, his eyes flickering to the doorway as Baekhyun appeared. “Are you sick?”

“I think I might have the flu.” Baekhyun offered a small smile before baiting the kids to leave Chanyeol alone. “Who wants to color?”

“Me!” Jongin jumped off of Chanyeol, Sehun quick to follow.

***

“I don’t know what we will do.” Baekhyun wiped the tears away, trying to stop himself from crying too much.

Chanyeol sat in silence, digesting, and thinking. Baekhyun continued to ramble. It made him feel better to talk, to let it all out. “I…I…this is the last one. We can’t have anymore.” Chanyeol nodded, dumb struck. Baekhyun was sitting on the edge of their bed, bent forward as he continued to talk. “We will make it work, somehow. I can babysit for extra money. The Kims might need someone now that Luhan is going back to work.”

The pregnancy test was lying on the dresser. Two pink lines. Another kid. Chanyeol couldn’t pretend that he was happy. It was another mouth to feed, and they barely had enough money to make due as it was.

“Chanyeol, say something.”

He took a deep breath. “We will figure something out, we always do.”

Baekhyun nodded, the tears streaming down his face.

***

Chanyeol’s mother cooed at Sehun and Jongin, pinching their cheeks like some kind of nightmarish grandmother cliché. Sehun batted her away, clinging to Baekhyun.

“We will be back soon, baby, be good for grandma.” Baekhyun had to practically pry Sehun from his leg, Chanyeol trying to distract the boy so they could leave. Finally Sehun gave in to his grandmother’s offer of cookies, running towards the kitchen as Baekhyun and Chanyeol darted out the door.

It was fortuitous that Baekhyun was able to snag a doctor’s appointment on a Saturday morning. If the appointment had been during the week Chanyeol would never have been able to attend, his twelve hour workdays and subsequent paycheck too important for him to miss out on.

Chanyeol drove their beat up car to the clinic, worrying that the muffler sounded too loud, worrying that the car might die almost the entire way there. He didn’t say anything to Baekhyun though, as he didn’t want his husband to worry. He would have to rig the muffler when they got home, when Baekhyun was busy with the kids.

The doctor was the same man that had delivered Sehun and Jongin, an elderly gentleman that had seen half of the town birthed, including Baekhyun and Chanyeol.

“Any guesses on the of the baby?” the doctor asked.

Chanyeol didn’t dare wish for a daughter. If they were going to have another child he hoped it would be a little girl, though honestly a boy would be fine too. Now that another baby was on the way anything would be fine as long as it was healthy.

“A girl.” Baekhyun answered boldly, remembering full well how much the two of them had squealed over the thought of a daughter the first time they got pregnant.

“We shall see if you are correct.” The doctor moved the ultrasound equipment over Baekhyun’s abdomen, the echoing heartbeat entrancing the parents as the image came into focus. A grainy black and white, hard to decipher.

“It looks like you will be having a girl. Congratulations.” The doctor smiled.

Chanyeol’s hand found Baekhyun’s, squeezing, a bit of delight shared between them.

“Is she healthy?” Baekhyun asked, eyes trained on the ultrasound image.

“Yes, she appears to be developing normally,” the doctor replied.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol cooed over the ultrasound pictures on the way home, overjoyed that they would be having a daughter. Chanyeol almost forgot his worry over the car as Baekhyun launched into a ramble of what they would do now that they were having a daughter.

***

“A girl?!” Jongin frowned.

“Can we name her Rainbow Bright?” Sehun asked, referencing the most girly thing his young mind could think of.

Chanyeol laughed. “Maybe. We have to think carefully about a name.”

“How about we name her Jongin?” Baekhyun teased, watching as Jongin squirmed and made a pouty face.

“Will she be pretty?” Sehun asked, “Girls are supposed to be.”

“If she looks like your Dad she will be.” Chanyeol smirked, enjoying the way Baekhyun blushed at his comment.

***

Baekhyun was sick, a lot. Chanyeol worried how he was able to keep up with Jongin and Sehun in his current condition.

“You throw up so much.” Chanyeol rubbed Baekhyun’s back one night as they were lying in bed, his forehead furrowed as he took in the sight of his husband.

“I will be fine.” Baekhyun assured him.

“Should we see if my Mom can watch the boys one day?” Chanyeol suggested. He knew his mother would complain if she had to watch them too much, that was her nature. Though one day wouldn’t hurt.

“No, I will be fine.” Baekhyun smiled, patting his growing baby bump.

***

Chanyeol felt like he was on top of the world. A one dollar an hour raise, his boss patting his back, a weekend ahead of him. When he walked in the front door he was greeted by Jongin and Sehun, Baekhyun with his growing stomach, a smile on his face.

“Were you sick today?” Chanyeol asked immediately, his raise moving to the background.

“I am feeling better.” Baekhyun, spatula in hand, smiled. “We are having omelets.”

Later that evening, when the kids were in bed Chanyeol rubbed Baekhyun’s back, waiting to tell him the news. When Chanyeol noticed his husband drifting off to sleep, his eyelids growing heavy, Chanyeol sprung the surprise.

“I got a raise.”

“Hm.” Baekhyun hummed, only half hearing his husband.

“A dollar an hour.” Chanyeol announced proudly.

Suddenly Baekhyun perked up, turning to Chanyeol, wide eyed. “A dollar?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh!” Baekhyun moved quickly, his stomach making it awkward as he clung to his husband’s neck, peppering his face with kisses.

“Didn’t I say it would be okay?” Chanyeol grinned, feeling like he was on top of the world.

“I love you.” Baekhyun cooed, Chanyeol echoing the sentiment.

They would be okay, the four – no the five of them, as long as they had each other.

End.