pairing: BaekLay
length: 1118 words

“Baek, did you buy the groceries yet?” Yixing called from the bedroom as he anxiously rooted around for an unwrinkled dress shirt. He internally cursed himself for neglecting his own laundry in favor of prioritizing everyone else’s clothing, since this lack of foresight was now biting him in the .

“Just—” A loud grunt was heard from the kitchen. “Just give me a moment! I’m warming up a bottle for Soomi! Once she’s fed, I’ll run to the store!”

“Okay, but quickly, please! I need time to cook dinner for tonight! If anything, just warm the bottle and I’ll feed her!”

“It’s fine, Xing! I’ve got it under control!”

The Chinese male just shook his head in wry amusement, knowing that his husband was probably running around like a headless chicken at the moment as he tried to quickly draw up a shopping list while also keeping an eye on their one-year-old daughter. Deciding that he’d search for a dress shirt later—or perhaps it would just be easier to borrow one of Baekhyun’s for the dinner party, since it wasn’t like anyone would know who the shirt actually belonged to—Yixing quickly made his way out of the bedroom and to the kitchen in order to save his husband from having a mental breakdown.

Just as he had predicted, Baekhyun was haphazardly writing down chicken scratch while his eyes darted between several open cabinets and their daughter sitting in her high chair, gurgling happily as she played with a soft penguin plushie. Meanwhile, the milk bottle sat on the marble counter, far away from its intended recipient. “Beef, at least five plates since Zitao doesn’t know what self-control is and he’ll eat most of it if we’re not careful,” the distracted Korean male muttered as he briefly turned to peek into the freezer before speedily shutting the door and noting how empty it was. “Three, maybe four boxes of tofu since Junmyeon is vegetarian right now and he’ll strangle me if I jokingly feed him any meat. And lots of lamb, so Yixing can make enough skewers for everyone and we can save a good amount for ourselves after everyone leaves.”

Yixing smiled when he heard how considerate his husband was being as the younger male wrote down what he’d buy at the grocery store later. He took his time, silently creeping up behind a clueless Baekhyun, before suddenly wrapping his arms around the shorter male and causing his husband to yelp loudly while dropping his pencil.

“Oh god, Yixing, you almost gave me a heart attack!”

The Chinese male snickered before dropping a light kiss on his husband’s right cheek. “Sorry, love, I couldn’t resist.”

“As if,” Baekhyun countered, but there was no real bite to his tone and he was trying to conceal his grin—quite unsuccessfully, Yixing noticed. “And I should be the one apologizing, Xing. I’m so behind on everything, even though I told you I’d do more this time around, especially since it’s the first time everyone will be together in months. I want dinner to be perfect.”

“It’ll be fine, Baek. Don’t worry.” The Chinese male then smiled sheepishly. “I think you’re catching my nervous energy from earlier this morning. I probably shouldn’t have been so gung-ho about everything right when we woke up. I didn’t mean to put so much pressure on you.”

“No, no! No pressure at all! Everything is completely under control!” However, Baekhyun’s voice was getting higher by the second and his hand immediately grabbed the pencil again to continue adding to the nearly unreadable shopping list.

“Okay, Baekhyun, I think you need a quick break before you go to the grocery store or else you’re going to suddenly combust in the middle of an aisle. I’ll feed Soomi while you—actually, why don’t you feed Soomi while I finish this list? It’ll go faster since I’m the one actually cooking dinner.” Before the younger male could protest, Yixing whisked the sheet of yellow lined paper from his husband’s hands and replaced it with the warm milk bottle while lightly pushing Baekhyun towards their happy-go-lucky daughter. “Take her to the living room. You’ll only stress me out if you stay here right now.”

“Thanks, Xing, you’re the best.”

“I know,” was the Chinese male’s cheeky response.

Baekhyun smiled as he deftly scooped his daughter into his arms and brought her to the living room, nuzzling her soft cheeks which made her trill with laughter.

--

Yixing was just about ready to rip out his hair when he heard the doorbell ring and he only had one arm through his dress shirt—Baekhyun’s navy blue dress shirt, to be exact, since he had ended up having no time to resume searching for one of his own. He already knew who was at the door: Sehun and Joohyun, always ever the early birds. As much as he loved his friends, Yixing wished they would be late for once in their lives, but he knew Joohyun would never allow that.

Just as he was about to call for Baekhyun to open the door, his husband already read his mind and shouted from the living room, “I got it!”

Thankful that the younger male knew him so well, Yixing resumed dressing himself so that he could quickly join Baekhyun in entertaining their guests. The Chinese male could hear his friends enthusiastically greeting his husband before loudly cooing over their precious daughter, which caused his heart to swell with love and pride.

He was then reminded that tonight wasn’t about throwing the best dinner party ever. Tonight wasn’t about neurotically making sure every last detail of the evening was perfect.

Tonight was about celebrating the most beautiful girl in the world, whose existence brought new meaning to Yixing and Baekhyun’s lives. The day that they had adopted Soomi into their family was one they would always remember and cherish, no matter how many sleepless nights and exhausting days they experienced in order to properly raise her.

After all, when she was older, Soomi wouldn’t remember the stressful preparations that went into making a perfect dinner party. Instead, she would remember the joyful laughter, kind smiles, and cozy hugs from the numerous aunts and uncles who doted on her as if she were theirs. She would remember how her two fathers gazed at her with pure love in their bright brown eyes, willing to run non-stop to the ends of the earth for her.

Yixing would never trade away this hectic life of raising a baby for anything else in the universe. Especially not when he had the best husband that ever existed by his side.

Yixing already had everything he needed.

♈♈♈