Taekwoon was making breakfast when Seojun strolled into the kitchen, washed and dressed.

“Hey, kiddo…” He ruffled his hair gently, bending down to hug him when he felt him tugging on his sweater, and Seojun leaned against him with a grin, giving him a peck on the cheek.

“Hi, appa. Are you making pancakes for breakfast?”

“Mhm.” Taekwoon hummed in affirmation, and the child gasped, hugging his neck to the point of almost strangling him. Taekwoon didn’t mind.

“I love you, appa!”

Taekwoon laughed, squeezing the boy tighter before letting go.

“I love you, too, sweetie… Are the others almost ready, too?”

Seojun nodded, stepping out of Taekwoon’s embrace to sit down at the table already.

“Appa is helping Heejoonie get dressed and Hyejin is done already but doing something in her room.”

Taekwoon nodded in acknowledgement, saving the milk before it boiled over to finish Seojun’s hot chocolate while Seojun waited rather patiently for his standards. Once Taekwoon handed it to him, he didn’t get to drink much before the doorbell rang, though, and he jumped up.

“Eunhyun!”

Before Taekwoon could so much as turn around, Seojun was already out of his chair and the kitchen altogether, running to the front door to welcome his cousin. Taekwoon took the frying-pan off the stove and followed him at a more moderate pace, just to make sure he hadn’t opened the door to a stranger but really Sanghyuk and his nephew. He needn’t worry, as the squeals of delight about seeing each other from the boys gave him all the reassurance he needed.

“Eunhyun, shoes!” He heard Sanghyuk remind the boy, who was chattering non-stop and at the same time as Seojun. Taekwoon wondered if they even listened to each other, but somehow, they managed to carry a conversation.

“Jacket, Eunhyun. You can run off to play in a minute, just get out of your outside clothes first, ok?” Sanghyuk bargained, and Taekwoon stopped in the doorway.

“Good morning, guys.” He greeted, and Eunhyun slipped out of Sanghyuk’s arms, still having his jacket dangling from one arm as he rushed past Seojun, too, to hug Taekwoon.

“Uncle Taekwoon! I missed you!” Taekwoon laughed, hugging the boy back.

“I missed you, too. You should let Sanghyuk help you out of your outside clothes first before greeting everyone, though.”

“Right!” Eunhyun let go and went back to Sanghyuk, who helped him out of the jacket and scarf and hung them up while the two boys darted past Taekwoon into the living room.

“Why does he listen so well to you and ignores me completely?” Sanghyuk complained as Taekwoon gave him a one-armed hug in greeting. Taekwoon shrugged.

“Real parent power? No idea.”

Sanghyuk shoved him, unbalancing him slightly.

“Yeah, whatever.”

Taekwoon huffed, rubbing his shoulder.

“You come into my house just to bully me not even three minutes into your stay…! Come on, make yourself useful and help me finish preparing breakfast.”

“What do you mean, help you finish preparing? I thought it was already done and ready to be dug into?!” Sanghyuk teased, and Taekwoon narrowed his eyes at him.

“Don’t come at me, boy. I haven’t even had time to wash my face yet today. Grab yourself a tray and get the toppings out of the fridge and to the table, and then wash the fruit and cut it up. Each apple into 8 slices, or else Heejoon will throw them at you rather than eat them.”

Sanghyuk saluted sharply, going to work as Taekwoon returned to the pancakes.

“You let this brat cook and not me?” Hakyeon huffed indignantly as he wandered into the kitchen a while later, jabbing first Sanghyuk and then Taekwoon in the side with a pointy finger, making both of them squirm.

“He’s not-… cooking, he’s cutting fruit. You are on the same level of inaptitude in the kitchen.”

“Tss, I can’t believe this… Can you believe I married this bully?” Hakyeon stemmed his hands into his sides, shaking his head and turning to Sanghyuk.

“‘This brat’ feels at fault, since I didn’t leave you an option after turning you down again and again, but not the tiniest bit remorseful.” Sanghyuk laughed, and Hakyeon waved dismissively.

“At that time, I simply wasn’t ready to take special care of a child yet, anyway, so, no harm no foul.”

Sanghyuk squawked indignantly while Taekwoon laughed, and Hakyeon grinned triumphantly.

“I come into your house just to be bullied from all sides the whole time and to be forced to work like a slave. I should leave again!”

“Nooooo!” Sanghyuk’s ‘plans’ were nullified that same instant as Seojun and Eunhyun came running into the kitchen, immediately clinging to Sanghyuk’s legs like koalas and rooting him in place.

“We can’t leave yet! Please!” Eunhyun wailed, and Sanghyuk patted his head soothingly.

“It was an empty threat to scare my hyungs, sweetheart. We’re not leaving yet.”

That soothed the boy’s worries, but not enough to make him let go of Sanghyuk’s leg. Neither child did, in fact, making a game out of forcing Sanghyuk to walk around with them holding on.

Taekwoon rolled his eyes fondly at those antics, but they were really interfering with his breakfast making.

“All of you, go play in the living room or somewhere else, but not in my kitchen if you’re not going to help. Go, shoo, out with you!” He shoved Sanghyuk lightly between his shoulders, not enough to unbalance him and his precious freight, but enough to show he meant what he said.

“Let’s go, boys, rude Taekwoonie doesn’t want our help anymore.” Sanghyuk exaggerated an offended expression, waddling out of the kitchen with the kids still clinging on, squealing and laughing in joy.

Taekwoon rolled his eyes, groaning and returning to the pancakes.

“Hakyeon, can you get the fruit, please?” He sighed more than asked, just to see out of the corner of his eyes that Hakyeon was already on it.

“Thank you…”

Hakyeon smiled quietly, hoping that he’d be able to finish cutting up the fruit before the next big emergency interrupted him again.

“The kids really love Sanghyuk…” He commented as he was cutting some apples up into small dices for apple pancakes.

“They recognize one of their own, it’s not much of a wonder…” Taekwoon mumbled over the hiss of the pan. Hakyeon chuckled.

“So mean. Sanghyuk did grow up a lot the past couple of years.”

Taekwoon gave his husband a doubting look while accepting the diced apples to stir them into the rest of the pancake batter.

“You’re confusing being able to tie his shoes on his own with growing up again, honey.”

Hakyeon shook his head, stepping closer to Taekwoon, leaning against him as he reached up and pulled on his ear slightly, mockingly chastising.

“Now, now. Don’t be mean to the other kids, Taekwoonie!”

Taekwoon grunted, but didn’t complain when Hakyeon manhandled him to turn around more so he could plant a kiss on his lips.

“I’ll go call the rascals for breakfast. You have two pancakes worth of time before it gets loud in here again.”

Taekwoon huffed.

“In which alternative reality is that supposed to happen?”

“In the one where I find everyone at first try and everyone listens to what I tell them immediately.”

Taekwoon heaved a mocking sigh, staring wistfully out the kitchen window.

“My poor husband, he must have lost his mind… How would he come up with such a ludicrous scenario otherwise?!”

Hakyeon jabbed a pointy finger into his side before walking out of the room. Taekwoon squirmed, but there was a fond smile playing on his lips the whole time it took him to finish making the last of the pancakes.

He was just finishing up the last of the pancakes when four children piled into the kitchen, closely followed by Hakyeon, who was carrying the baby, and Sanghyuk.

“She woke up from all the ruckus.” Hakyeon explained to Taekwoon over the heads of the chattering children.

Taekwoon turned around wordlessly to start on her baby bottle, but Hakyeon intercepted him.

“I’ll make it. You’ve been standing here long enough, go ahead, sit down and eat something.”

Taekwoon gave him a grateful look, turning to sit down and eat. There was a squabble over who sat where since there weren’t enough chairs, and Heejoon as the youngest hadn’t managed to secure a chair quickly enough and was left to stand. Tears threatened to disturb the breakfast harmony, until Sanghyuk picked the boy up and sat him on his lap.

“Hyung?” He gave Taekwoon a questioning look, and Taekwoon sighed. Heejoon wasn’t normally allowed to sit on anyone’s lap for the meals anymore, since he was big enough to sit on his own.

“Just this once. I won’t take responsibility if you end up with food everywhere from your hair to your socks, though.”

Sanghyuk grinned at him, definitely willing to take that risk.

“Heejoonie would never get food all over me, would you, Heejoon?”

Heejoon looked doubtful for a moment.

“You’re a big boy already. Big boys don’t mess around with food anymore.”

Heejoon nodded then, looking determined. Taekwoon didn’t buy it, though, already trying to remember where they’d stored Sanghyuk’s change of clothes for emergencies and if it was clean and ready to use.

“What do you want on your pancake, Heejoon?” Sanghyuk asked the boy as he placed two pancakes on his plate, one for each of them.

“Apple.”

Of course; Sanghyuk could have known that before. Heejoon dug in as soon as Sanghyuk finished putting the apple on his plate, and before Sanghyuk could lather his own pancake in honey.

Taekwoon’s worried look returned to them constantly, but he needn’t worry. Heejoon was actually making an effort, and if a piece of apple fell to the floor at one point, it was definitely an accident. Sanghyuk stayed clean throughout breakfast, the only drawback being that he wasn’t as fast at eating as usually since he only had one hand to eat.

The children were done eating faster than the adults, as usually, and it was hard for them to stay quietly in their chairs once the distraction of food no longer held any appeal. Hakyeon dismissed them, allowing them to get up before the rest of them were done eating for the sake of peace.

“Sanghyuk, have you ever considered moving in with us?” Hakyeon asked after the last of the children, aside from Jieun, had left the kitchen.

“Huh?”

Hakyeon placed a hand on his heart, looking deeply moved.

“I can’t believe we don’t have to deep-clean the entire kitchen for once after a meal. I’d like to hire you for your services, to keep the children -especially Heejoon- from redecorating the kitchen with splatters of food from floor to ceiling.”

Sanghyuk laughed loudly.

“I think that effect would wear off quickly after a few meals, hyung. I’m sorry.”

Hakyeon sighed.

“You’re probably right. A parent can dream, though…”

They moved to the living room after cleaning up rather quickly once they were done eating. Taekwoon sat on the floor, playing with Jieun on her blanket while Sanghyuk collapsed on the couch, taking up almost all of it until Hakyeon shooed him over to find a place to sit, too.

“How’s it going at the school, this close to the holidays? Still lots of kids coming to classes?” Hakyeon asked Sanghyuk after a moment they’d taken to appreciate the relative quietness, since the older kids were playing rather quietly upstairs.

Sanghyuk groaned.

“More than ever, in fact. Parents keep asking for extra classes for their kids to practice for school performances. It’s not enough that we have our own holiday performance at the school and the trimestral dance competition to practice for already, apparently.”

Hakyeon frowned.

“How do the kids even keep up with all that?”

Sanghyuk sighed.

“Some do, some don’t. There are a couple that are starting to dislike dancing at all with the pressure put on them. Not to mention those who never liked dancing in the beginning and are only there because their parents insist.”

Taekwoon grimaced, looking up from where he was entertaining Jieun with a plush toy.

“That’s just stupid…”

Sanghyuk sighed.

“Tell me about it… There is one mother who always asks her son to dance the whole routine for her when she comes to pick him up, and she gets so mad when the kid messes up even just slightly…! Poor boy gets so nervous he can barely walk the moment his mother comes in to pick him up, no wonder he messes up. And even when he makes it through the routine without messing up his mother goes off on how sloppy he looks, how he lacks grace, how stiff he is and so on… The kid is five, for crying out loud!”

Taekwoon shook his head.

“I’ll never understand parents like that…”

Hakyeon shrugged slightly, looking pensive.

“She probably just wants the best for her son… And for her son to become the best, so he has the best chances later on…”

Both Sanghyuk and Taekwoon frowned at him.

“Hyung, I swear on everything holy, if you ever act like that with any of your kids, I’ll personally beat some sense into you…!”

Hakyeon reached out with his foot and kicked Sanghyuk’s thigh.

“Chill, brat. I never said I condone her way of thinking and acting, I was just musing about her way of reasoning. I’d never do that to our children. Besides, they put enough pressure on themselves as it is, there’s no need for any of us to add to it.”

Sanghyuk relaxed, and Taekwoon went back to playing with Jieun.

“Is Seojun still freaking out about his play?”

Hakyeon hummed.

“Very much so. He knows every single line from every single role by heart by now and could probably stand in for all of his peers if he had to. Heck, he could probably act out the whole play by himself! But he keeps insisting he needs to practice more and more… I wonder if he’s not just doing that to avoid doing his math and writing homework.”

“He brought a note home yesterday that he hadn’t done his writing homework twice this week…” Taekwoon remarked, and one of Hakyeon’s eyebrows shot up.

“He did?”

“Hmm… I already talked to him about it, though. Won’t happen again.”

Hakyeon sighed, shaking his head.

“That child…”

Taekwoon nudged Hakyeon’s thigh a moment later.

“Can you keep an eye on Jieun? I want to get a headstart on lunch and put the roast in the oven…”

Hakyeon nodded quietly, watching distractedly as Taekwoon sauntered out of the room.

“Seojun was practicing with Jaehwan earlier this week, wasn’t he?” Sanghyuk’s question almost startled Hakyeon.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. He did.”

Sanghyuk couldn’t hide a chuckle.

“Seriously, hyung, one would think you’d have had enough of ogling Taekwoon after so long…”

Hakyeon pursed his lips.

“This once again proves you are clearly blind, Han Sanghyuk.”

“Or maybe it’s you who is? I mean, what are you even looking at? He doesn’t even have an a-… bum.”

Hakyeon waved dismissively.

“I’ve got enough of that for both of us. It’s the whole concept that matters, anyway.”

“You’re so gross, hyung.”

“You’re so single, Hyuk.”

“At least I’m not gross.”

“But forever alone.”

“Hey! I wouldn’t be alone if I didn’t want to!”

“Sure.”

Their bickering was interrupted when Taekwoon returned from the kitchen, shaking his head at both of them.

“Jaehwan and Wonshik just arrived.”

Sanghyuk’s eyes widened.

“Together?!”

Taekwoon rolled his eyes.

“At the same time, but not together… Seriously, Hyuk, what are you even-… Never mind.” He passed through the living room and went to the front door to open them for the others.

Hakyeon gave Sanghyuk a questioning look.

“Are you still thinking Wonshik and Jaehwan have something going that they’re hiding from us?”

Sanghyuk shrugged.

“It’s possible. I mean, once again, they arrive at the exact same time, isn’t that suspicious?”

Hakyeon shook his head.

“Wonshik went all the way over to his sister’s this morning to pick up the twins. I doubt he had any chance to hash something out with Jaehwan. And before you say it, I doubt even more that Jaehwan went with him to pick up the girls. You are delusional, Hyuk.”

“One day. One day you’ll see. If they ever come out, that is. Cowards.”

Hakyeon kicked Sanghyuk again before getting up.

“Leave them alone, Hyuk. If there is something between them I’d be the first to know. Before them, even, most likely. You are seeing things where there are none.”

Sanghyuk swallowed another reply when Wonshik’s twin nieces stepped through the front door to greet Taekwoon, who was waiting for them. The look he gave Hakyeon told him this conversation wasn’t over yet, though. Hakyeon made sure to reply in the same way that it was over, indeed, before going to greet the girls, too.

“Uncle Hakyeon!” Yeri ran and hugged him as soon as he appeared in the doorway.

“Hi, precious! How are you?”

“Great! Uncle Wonshik took us out for breakfast to a really cool cereal café! They had so many types of cereals I didn’t even know what I should choose. He promised we’d go there again another time so we could try more!”

“That’s really nice of him.”

“It is! Oh, uncle Sanghyuk!” She let go of Hakyeon to go greet Sanghyuk, and Hakyeon stepped around her to greet her sister.

“Hi, Yuna.”

Yuna finished hanging up her jacket and turned towards him, hugging him a lot calmer than her sister.

“Hi, uncle Hakyeon. Thank you for inviting us.”

“Any time, lovely. Did you have a nice morning so far?”

She nodded.

“It was lovely. Oh, is Eunhyun here already, too?” She asked when she spotted Sanghyuk.

“He is, indeed. Everyone is upstairs.”

“Yuna, come! Let’s surprise them!” Yeri whisper-yelled, grabbing her sister’s hand to drag her with her. The calmer one gasped, waving at Sanghyuk over her shoulder as she stumbled after the other.

“Hi, uncle Sanghyuk! I’ll hug you later…!”

Sanghyuk chuckled at the pair as they disappeared up the stairs. In the meantime, Wonshik appeared in the doorway with the girls’ over-night bags.

“Damn, Wonshikkie… Are you planning to move in?” Taekwoon shook his head as he took the bags from Wonshik so he could step inside comfortably.

Wonshik gave him a chastising look.

“Their mom and I agreed that it would be wise if they brought their snow gear, in case it really starts snowing this weekend. Plus, two changes of clothes each, in case they get dirty for some reason. Also, Yeri can’t sleep without her plushie blanket and of course Yuna got to bring her own pillow if Yeri gets to bring the blanket.”

Taekwoon shook his head.

“Alright, alright. Get in here before Jaehwan becomes a popsicle. It’s getting cold in here with the door open all this time, too. Hi, Jaehwan.” He hugged the other with one arm, the other still holding the blankets.

“Hi, hyung. Thank you for showing mercy on poor cold old me.”

Taekwoon huffed.

“You could have dressed for the weather, you know. An actual coat does wonders in sub-zero temperatures.”

Jaehwan gave him a crossed look.

“Hyung, this is a Y. S. Laurent jacket-…”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. What good is it if you freeze your behind off in it, huh?” Taekwoon interrupted him, closing the door behind him.

“Pfff… You wouldn’t know brand apparel if it slapped you in the face…” Jaehwan huffed as he took off the expensive jacket to hang it on the jacket hooks.

“Possibly. I would know in which clothes I’d freeze to death once I step out the door and in which I actually have a chance to survive, though. Now you tell me who’s got an advantage in life between the two of us?”

Jaehwan rolled his eyes, going to greet Hakyeon instead of answering.

“Hi, hyung. I brought a cake, but it’s still in the car, since that’s basically a fridge in this weather anyway. It’s supposed to be a surprise for the kids.”

“Thanks, Jaehwanie. That’s nice of you.”

“Or is it? Hyung, did you bake the cake yourself or did you let a professional do it instead? Please tell me it was a professional!” Sanghyuk pleaded, interrupting them.

“Hey, you brat! Be thankful I brought cake at all!”

Sanghyuk feigned a shocked expression, eyes blown wide.

“Oh no, hyung! You really baked it yourself, didn’t you? And here I thought you loved us, but turns out you want to see all of us dead! How could you! We have so much to live for!”

Jaehwan lunged at the younger, who jumped out of reach quickly, cackling, and Jaehwan ran after him. No one bat an eyelash when they disappeared down the back hallway, but Hakyeon felt like sighing in relief at the momentary silence.

Meanwhile, Wonshik and Taekwoon had already gotten comfortable on the couch, and Hakyeon joined them.

“I love the girls, I really do, but they have a way to exhaust me in a matter of hours, I have no idea how they do it.” Wonshik sighed as he sunk against the back of the couch.

Hakyeon tutted at him.

“Come on, they’re not that bad. It’s even only Yeri who can be a handful, Yuna is so quiet and well behaved…”

Wonshik blinked one incredulous eye open.

“You don’t know them like I do. Yuna has her own way of being devious beyond belief. And together with Yeri she gets up to all sorts of trouble, too. Don’t let her sweetness fool you.”

Taekwoon made a dismissive noise as he picked up Jieun from the floor, where she’d fallen asleep in the meantime.

“That goes for pretty much all children, Wonshik. Better get used to it and learn to deal with it.”

A crash from upstairs made all of them jump before Sanghyuk’s laugh filled the air and both he and Jaehwan appeared at the top of the stairs, still chasing each other.

“No running on the stairs!” Hakyeon barked as the two of them took three steps at a time on their way down. Promptly, Jaehwan stumbled and barreled into Sanghyuk’s back, sending both of them stumbling on the landing. Hakyeon hadn’t even noticed that he’d gotten up when he was already stalking towards them.

“That’s enough, you two! I swear, if any one of the children uses you two running on the stairs as an excuse to do it, too, I’ll serve you your behind on a platter! What kind of role models are you, huh?”

Jaehwan had the decency to look at least somewhat contrite as he panted an apology while punching Sanghyuk in the side, but the latter merely laughed, both at Hakyeon and the punch. That landed him a jab in the ribs from Hakyeon that made him gasp for air.

“Behave, you brat. I can still fling you across the room if I chose to, and if I have to get a week of physiotherapy to fix my back afterwards that’ll be a small price to pay. Now go behave a little bit more your age and keep your feet still for five minutes, alright?”

For once, both of them actually listened and went to join Taekwoon and Wonshik on the couch.

“Is Hongbin not coming this time?” Wonshik asked after a moment, surveying those gathered.

“He will come, but he’ll be a bit late. After lunch, he told me.” Hakyeon informed him. Wonshik nodded pensively.

“What is he doing right now?” Wonshik wondered further.

“Filming some historical action drama in the mountains. He’s playing a crazed healer slash secret martial arts master or something. Definitely a villain, though. Last time we talked he was almost done filming his scenes, though, if I got that right.” Jaehwan knew to answer.

“Why’s he only coming so late, then?” Sanghyuk wanted to know, and Jaehwan answered him with a knowing smile.

“Our Hongbinnie is busy courting some pretty bird he met on set…”

Sanghyuk and Hakyeon spluttered simultaneously.

“What?!”

“Seriously?”

Jaehwan’s grin widened.

“Dead serious. He’s got such a huge crush it’s almost ridiculous. Don’t know if it’s the reason he’s late today, but that’s definitely what’s keeping him busy these days.”

“I don’t believe you! Our Hongbin? You know, the awkward nerd that cringes at every mention of anything close to romantic has an actual crush?!” Hakyeon all but squealed.

“That very same one. Hold on, let me show you who it is. Once he told me I couldn’t help but look her up immediately. Quite pretty, the girl, even if not as pretty as our awkward cringe-bean himself.” Jaehwan shuffled over, closer to Hakyeon, pulling his phone out to show him. Hakyeon leaned in, eager to see.

“Let me see, too, hyung. This is prime blackmail material!” Sanghyuk wedged himself against Jaehwan’s other side, peeking down to his phone to catch the name of the actress, too.

Hakyeon leaned over Jaehwan’s lap to chop at Sanghyuk’s neck.

“Hey, you! You’re going to leave Binnie alone about this! If you ruin the one time he actually finds he likes someone for him I’ll beat your ugly hide all the way to the north pole and back!”

Sanghyuk evaded Hakyeon’s attack expertly.

“No fair, hyung, you’re choosing sides! You said you’d always treat us fairly!”

Hakyeon narrowed his eyes.

“Damn right I am, and it’s not your side! I’m going to protect my favourite maknae from you any day!”

“Here, this is the girl!” Jaehwan announced then, effectively distracting the two fighting over his head. Wonshik and Taekwoon closed in, too, peeking over the other’s shoulders.

“Wow, she is pretty.” Sanghyuk noted.

Hakyeon hummed, a slight frown on his face.

“She is… But she looks a little haughty, don’t you think?”

Taekwoon patted his shoulder.

“It’s not important what we think, but what Hongbin thinks, though…”

“You’re right when you said she isn’t as pretty as Hongbin, though…” Wonshik mumbled, shrugging and going back to sitting in his previous spot, clearly unimpressed.

Hakyeon tilted his head as he looked at more pictures of the actress over Jaehwan’s shoulder.

“Is she engaged? It looks like it… Jaehwan, look that up.”

Jaehwan complied, pulling up the information Hakyeon wanted.

“Ah, no, she was but broke it off after only 2 months. That was years ago, though.”

Hakyeon’s frown grew, taking the phone out of Jaehwan’s hands.

“She really does look haughty, though. Look, here… Also, what’s with that arrogant sneer? Tss…”

Taekwoon chuckled, taking the phone out of Hakyeon’s hand and passing it back to Jaehwan.

“Stop making her out to be worse than she is, Hakyeon. You don’t know her, and if Hongbin likes her, that’s his business.”

Hakyeon huffed.

“I hope he knows what he’s doing and she’s worthy of him…”

“You sound like an evil stepmother, hyung…” Jaehwan shoved him lightly, and Hakyeon pouted.

“I don’t! I just worry about Hongbinnie, you really can’t say he’s got the most experience with crushes and dating and all that! He could be making a big mistake.”

“That’s his mistake to make, then. We’ve all been through it, time for Bin to taste the bitter-sweetness of life for himself, too.”

“It’ll be a wonder if the whole thing goes beyond the Hongbin-has-a-crush phase, anyway. That nerd doesn’t know how to flirt to save his life!” Sanghyuk mocked, laughing.

“Hongbin doesn’t need to flirt to win someone over, though. He has enough going to save himself without even opening his mouth.” Wonshik defended his friend, and Taekwoon sighed.

“It’d probably be for the best if he really didn’t open his mouth at all if he wants to woo the lady, though. No one knows how to trip over his tongue like Hongbin does…”

“Hey, he’s not incapable, you know?! He’ll do fine if he’s serious about this!” Hakyeon felt the need to defend Hongbin even if he doubted his choice of woman.

“Appaaaa, we’re hungry!” Everyone turned towards the stairs, seeing Hyejin and Yuna stand halfway down the stairs, Hyejin sticking her head through the railing as she whined.

“Lunch will be done soon, love. I’ll call you when it’s ready.” Taekwoon reassured her, but Hyejin made a face.

“We’re hungry now, though…!”

Taekwoon sighed.

“You’re not going to eat now when lunch will be ready in fifteen minutes, Hyejin. Go back to play and we’ll call you down in time.”

In that moment, Seojun and Eunhyun appeared at the top of the stairs.

“Is lunch ready yet?”

Taekwoon groaned quietly.

“In fifteen minutes. Don’t worry, we won’t forget to call you down when it’s time.”

It was too late, though, the children all filing down the stairs now to mingle with the adults. Yuna finally got to hug Sanghyuk, Yeri showed Jaehwan a magic trick she’d recently learned, Eunhyun went into a deep-note contest with Wonshik and Seojun took the chance to get some cuddles from Jieun when she woke up from the noise they all made.

It was loud, and as much as Hakyeon loved seeing that many people he loved together and having fun, the beginnings of a headache were everything but fun and he escaped to a quieter place, which presented itself in the form of the kitchen. Since he was already there, he figured he might as well pull out the table to accommodate everyone and start setting it.

“Hey… Need any help?”

Hakyeon turned around to find Wonshik standing in the doorway. He smiled softly at him.

“If you could get cups for everyone that would be lovely.

Wonshik nodded, going to do as told.

“Are you doing ok, hyung? You look tired…”

Hakyeon’s smile weakened slightly.

“I am tired. It’s ok, though. I’ll get to rest eventually.”

Wonshik gave him a long, contemplative look, until Hakyeon walked past him and bumped his shoulder lightly.

“I’m ok, Wonshik. Don’t worry about it.”

Wonshik sighed softly, catching his arm before he could brush past him.

“Don’t overdo it, hyung, ok? Tell us when you need help, or even just a moment to nap.”

Hakyeon placed his hand on Wonshik’s shoulder, squeezing lightly as he gave him a grateful but closed-off smile.

“Thank you, Wonshik.”

Wonshik huffed.

“You won’t do it… Stubborn hyung…!”

“The kids are asking for you two; hiding doesn’t count. Go back out there so I can finish cooking in peace.” Taekwoon interrupted them, shooing both of them out again. Wonshik didn’t miss Hakyeon’s slight flinch at the noise level once they stepped back into the living room, but chose not to comment. For now.

Lunch itself ended up passing in a flurry. It was loud, but surprisingly un-messy; at least for Cha-children-standards. They were still in the process of cleaning up after it when the doorbell rang and Hongbin arrived. As soon as he stepped into the living room, he was immediately surrounded.

“What do the shortlings love him so much for? I will never understand it. He’s as awkward around them as he is with every other human being…”

Jaehwan patted Sanghyuk on the back as he jealously stared at the commotion on the other side of the living room.

“They appreciate someone who holds out for longer than five minutes in any kind of video game, Hyukie. You gotta practice more.”

Sanghyuk glared at Jaehwan.

“And you do?”

Jaehwan cleared his throat.

“I know to accept my defeat with grace and dignity when I go down facing their obviously superior skills. They respect and appreciate that, too.”

“Hyukie, if you want the kids’ attention off Hongbin, go and plant Jieun in his arms. Once he only has eyes for the baby, they’ll no doubt lose interest in them.” Hakyeon hadn’t quite finished speaking when he already planted said baby in Sanghyuk’s arms, leaving him with her as he went to fold the table back together with Wonshik.

“Should we give it a try?” Jaehwan mumbled so only Sanghyuk could hear him.

Sanghyuk gave him a doubtful look but upon seeing Jaehwan’s mischievous expression he couldn’t help but mirror it.

“Let’s. Jieunie, help us out!”

Jieun gurgled as she looked up at them, unfazed by their plan and neither denying nor confirming she’d help them.

“Hey, Hongbin. Look who wants to say hi to you, too!” Sanghyuk grinned as he greeted Hongbin, holding Jieun out for him to take.

Hongbin’s eyes lit up immediately, taking the baby from Sanghyuk.

“Jieunie! Hi, little girl. How are you? Have you grown since last week? You feel heavier… Aww, that’s such a cute smile you have there!”

“Will you play with us, uncle Sanghyuk?” Seojun turned away from Hongbin, pulling on Sanghyuk’s sleeve.

“What are you playing?”

“With Legos. Uncle Jaehwan, you too?”

Sanghyuk and Jaehwan shared a knowing look.

“It worked!” Jaehwan mouthed, and Sanghyuk bit his lips to keep from laughing.

“Sure, Seojun. Did you build something already?” Sanghyuk turned to the child tugging on his sleeve instead, letting him drag him upstairs amidst the other kids.

Meanwhile, Hongbin wandered to the kitchen, still cooing at the baby.

“You’re so predictable, Hongbinnie…” Hakyeon sighed, greeting Hongbin as he stepped inside the room.

“Huh? Why?”

Hakyeon shook his head.

“The moment you see Jieun you forget literally everything else around you.”

A frown formed on Hongbin’s face, just to melt away again seconds after when Jieun grabbed his finger and went to chew on it.

“Can you blame me, though?” He laughed, and Hakyeon chuckled.

“Not at all. The other kids, on the other hand… They might get jealous. Especially the adult kids…”

Hongbin gave him a confused look.

“Sanghyuk and Jaehwan.” Wonshik helped out, and Hongbin rolled his eyes.

“Of course they would. It’s not like they are Heejoon and Seojun’s favourite uncles already or anything. Figures…” He pulled one of the chairs out from where Wonshik and Hakyeon were organizing them around the table again and sat down.

“Just keep on lavishing attention on Jieunie and you’ll be someone’s favourite uncle soon, too.” Taekwoon appeared behind him, patting his shoulder and making him jump slightly. Jieun gurgled happily at that.

“I want to be someone’s favourite, too!” Wonshik pouted, and Hongbin gave him an incredulous look.

“If you honestly think you aren’t already, there’s really no helping you.”

“I have to agree with Hongbin. Come on, Shikkie!” Hakyeon gave him an incredulous look, but Wonshik frowned and stared out of the window pensively. Three people couldn’t help but shake their heads at their oblivious friend.

For a moment, they were fooled into believing Wonshik had finally found the (obvious) answer through his ponderings as his face lit up, but were distracted immediately upon Wonshik’s surprised yelp.

“It’s snowing!”

“What!”

“It must’ve been snowing for a while! Look at that!”

Wonshik pointed through the window, and indeed, the whole lawn was covered in a thin layer of white.

Taekwoon whistled lowly.

“If you go upstairs and point that out, you’ll instantly become six people’s favourite person in the world, Wonshikkie…”

Wonshik grinned, not needing to be told twice, and hurried out the door and up the stairs.

Hakyeon exhaled deeply.

“Prepare for impact in three… two… one…”

A collective cheer sounded from upstairs and Hakyeon winced at the noise. It took only a few seconds for the kids to come rushing down, Sanghyuk and Jaehwan doing what they could to keep them from running on the stairs out of fear of being maimed by either Hakyeon or Taekwoon.

“Appa! It’s snowing!” Hyejin exclaimed, breathless as she came to a stuttering halt in the kitchen doorway.

“I know, love.”

“Can we play outside?”

Hakyeon nodded.

“Sure. Dress warmly, though!”

Hyejin squealed, turning around.

“We can play outside!”

Hakyeon once again winced at the ensuing noise, and Taekwoon placed a comforting hand on his back for a moment before stepping out of the kitchen.

“You can play outside if you all get dressed warmly and keep the noise down while doing so. We’re inside, there’s no need to yell!”

Immediately, the noise level dropped and the kids piled into the hallway.

“This won’t do…” Taekwoon mused as he surveyed the chaos in the much-too-narrow-for-six-children-to-get-dressed-at-the-same-time hallway.

“Alright, everyone! Seojun, go get your spare snow gear from your room, please. Heejoon, here, go ask Sanghyuk or Jaehwan for help to put all this on, ok, baby? Let Heejoon through, please, everyone. Yeri, Yuna, you brought your own snow gear, didn’t you? Go ask Wonshik for it, he put it somewhere… Hyejin, you can put your own gear on, can’t you? Where’s Eunhyun…? Eunhyun, here, you can have Seojun’s… Come, I’ll help you.”

The hallway emptied somewhat enough to move again, most of them getting dressed in the living room with the help from whoever was available until all of them were suited up enough to face the cold and wet mush outside.

“You come, too! Pleeeease!!” Seojun’s beg directed at Jaehwan soon found echoes everywhere around, everyone being roped into going outside, too.

“Sorry, loves, someone has to stay inside with Jieunie. I’m out.” Hakyeon shook his head, taking a step back. It was a reasonable excuse, one no one could argue against.

“But Hongbinnie is coming with us!”

Hongbin spluttered, but a pat on the back from Sanghyuk that almost sent him flying stopped him.

“Yes, Hongbinnie! You come with us!” Hongbin sent Sanghyuk a murderous glare, but smiled helplessly at the gathered kids.

“I don’t have a snow gear, it’s too cold.”

“Excuses. You can wear Hakyeon’s snow gear. Wonshik brought his own. I’m sure Hakyeon has a spare Jaehwan can use, too, and I’ll use Taekwoon’s spare. We’re all good!” Sanghyuk decided, and it was pointless arguing against him.

“I’ll get the spares…” Hakyeon offered, slinking past everyone to the stairs.

“Alright, while the rest of us get dressed, everyone who’s already dressed, put your shoes on and out with you! We’ll come soon!” Taekwoon herded the kids out, helping with a few shoes before dismissing the loud group into the garden.

Hakyeon returned soon after with the spare snow gears, handing them out, while Wonshik put on his own.

Taekwoon took the chance to take a step back, separating from the group.

“Hyung, what about you? Come on, get dressed!” Jaehwan threw Taekwoon’s gear at him, but Taekwoon shook his head.

“No, no. I’ll pass. I have dinner to prepare and a couple other things. I trust you all to keep enough of a watchful eye on the kids, there’s no need for me to come, too.”

“Old people… You’re no fun…!” Sanghyuk complained, throwing dirty looks. “Or, perhaps… Are you just using us so you can have some… other kind of fun?” He wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Taekwoon groaned, rolling his eyes.

“Grow up, Sanghyuk…”

“So, it’s true? Oooh! Do you even know how it works anymore? If not, there are some great tutorials on the internet. Might need to turn off child protection to view, though…”

“Sanghyuk, I swear… Get dressed and shut up, will you?”

In that moment Jaehwan walked past Taekwoon, patting his shoulder and winking at him.

“Have fun, hyung. And good luck!”

Taekwoon shook his head.

“I hate you.”

“Hurry up, Bin. The hyungs are waiting for their alone time. You don’t want to witness this.” Wonshik urged Hongbin on, who grinned back at him.

“I’m all done. Let’s go, I’ve already heard more of what’s about to happen than I care for in all my life. Won’t be caught dead to hear more of it if I can somehow avoid it!”

“I hate all of you…” Taekwoon sighed, turning his back to all of them, just to run into Hakyeon, who gave him a knowing look and pulled him into a hug with one arm, cupping his face with the other.

“They are taking too long… Mind if we get it on while they finish up?” He rose a suggestive eyebrow at Taekwoon, and Taekwoon gave him a doubtful look before he understood. His answer was to bend down and bury his face against Hakyeon’s neck.

Sanghyuk shrieked ear-shatteringly, darting for the door, and the other’s followed just as quickly.

“Gah, gross!”

“Why are they doing this to us! I thought they loved us!”

“Hurry up, I want OUT!”

In no time, the door fell shut behind them, and Taekwoon relaxed in Hakyeon’s hold. Hakyeon sagged, too, closing his eyes as he leaned his head against Taekwoon’s shoulder.

“Nap?” Taekwoon murmured, and Hakyeon hummed affirmatively.

Taking Hakyeon’s hand in his, he led him upstairs, to their bedroom, and together they collapsed on it. It took no time at all for Hakyeon to fall asleep on Taekwoon.

-----

Down in the garden, the four younger adults frowned as they found no children in sight or hearing range. Slightly worried and not cautious enough, they rounded the house to the back yard, and if they hadn’t been calling out for the kids, they might have heard the muffled giggles. As it was, they didn’t, and the shower of snowballs came as a complete surprise.

Hongbin had it worst, getting hit straight in the face with a snowball, yelping helplessly. Jaehwan dissolved into laughter.

“You! Rascals! You scared us!” Sanghyuk yelled, running at the kids, who laughed and dispersed quickly.

“Uncle Wonshik! Look, we found a pretty leaf!” Yeri broke out of the group to come to Wonshik, holding up a red acorn leaf covered with a thin sheen of frost.

“That’s really pretty! Where did you find it?” Yeri pointed at the tree behind the garden shed.

“There are some more, but they’re not as pretty as this one.

“Do you want to show me, still?”

“Of course!”

“Can I come, too?” Hongbin asked, and Yeri nodded, leading the way. Wonshik and Hongbin had to jog to keep up with her.

They found a couple more pretty leaves and even a whole bush looking magical in its delicate and frail beauty, covered in a sparkly ice sheen, keeping them distracted for a while.

From the other side of the shed, squeals of joy and laughter sounded, and Yeri eventually dragged them with her to join the others again.

There wasn’t enough snow for a snowball war yet, but there was enough on the ground to draw shapes into it. Of course, Sanghyuk would be the first to lie down and show how to make a snow angel, quickly followed by both Heejoon and Eunhyun to make their own.

“Let make a snowman contest! There’s enough snow for a couple small ones in the dip over there by the fence!” Hyejin shouted as she spotted Yeri. Her and Yuna quickly dragged not just Yeri, but also Hongbin and Wonshik with them to the said dip in the ground where the snow had gathered in a thicker layer.

They split naturally into two teams to start building their snowmen, their uneven number posing no problem at first. It didn’t take long before they were joined by first Heejoon, and later the other two boys as well as Jaehwan and Sanghyuk. It was then that Yuna decided the contest should be held between adults and children, promptly confiscating the better-looking snowman Wonshik had arduously been working on.

No one heard Wonshik’s protests, but everyone’s competitive nature came to the forefront as they went to work to finish building their two cold new friends.

Plenty of snow was ‘stolen’, body parts ‘kidnapped’ and more sabotage happened than between warring countries. The snowmen grew, a contest for the prettiest snowman quickly becoming a contest for the biggest as snow from all over the garden was carried into the dip by the fence.

Eventually, the children’s snowman collapsed, eliciting wails of horror from everyone in the group except Yuna. She quietly picked up the head of the snowman, a very compact, very round ball that had survived the fall, and lobbed it at the opposing team’s snowman. It hit it right in the chest, and after a second where everyone waited with bated breath for what would happen, that snowman collapsed, too.

The children cheered, and Sanghyuk glared, retaliating by taking some of the snow from the broken snowman and throwing it at the kids.

The snowball war was on.

The first loser of the war was once again Hongbin. Running away from Seojun, who was chasing him with a particularly soggy looking snowball, Hongbin didn’t look where he was going and stepped too close to the small garden pond. He slipped, landing on his in the middle of the pond. The freezing, muddy water only reached up to his navel as he sat, but he had enough.

Seojun laughed so hard he dropped the snowball as Hongbin climbed out of the pond again, and Hongbin couldn’t even be mad at him.

“Go back to the others, I’m going to change into something dry.” Hongbin patted the kid on his shoulder as he reached him, and Seojun stopped laughing for a moment.

“Are you ok, though? Did you hurt yourself?”

Hongbin shook his head.

“I’m fine, don’t worry. Just really cold.”

Seojun chuckled.

“Ok. You-… you have a brown bum.” Seojun giggled, pointing at the back of Hongbin’s pants, and Hongbin groaned.

“I know, I know. Very funny. Why don’t you see if you can chase someone else into the pod as well, hm?”

Seojun liked that idea, running off to where the others were still hurtling snow at each other.

-----

Hakyeon woke up with a start when something thumped against the bedroom window.

"The kids are having a snowball war…” Taekwoon mumbled, informing him, and Hakyeon relaxed against his side again. He wanted to go back to sleep, but wasn’t sure he could afford the luxury.

“What time is it?” He mumbled into his chosen pillow, Taekwoon’s shoulder.

“Quarter after four, or something…”

Hakyeon lifted his head, giving Taekwoon and incredulous look.

“I slept for almost three hours?!”

Taekwoon his back comfortingly.

“You needed it.”

Hakyeon exhaled slowly, sinking back down on top of Taekwoon.

“It felt as if I’d only just fallen asleep…”

Taekwoon hummed, continuing his back.

“Feeling better now, though?”

Hakyeon nodded, then sighed as he stretched.

“We should go back downstairs. Can’t be long before they’re coming back in.”

Taekwoon agreed, but neither of them moved.

“Did you sleep at all?” Hakyeon eventually asked, and Taekwoon nodded.

“About an hour, I think, before Jieun woke me up. It feels weird to get to sleep during the day.”

Hakyeon chuckled with a dry, weary humor, looking at Jieun who was playing with Taekwoon’s sweater on his other side, before they finally dragged themselves out of bed and they went back downstairs. They’d only just stepped off the stairs when Hakyeon spotted Hongbin in front of the sliding glass doors of the living room. He looked worse for wear, and Hakyeon hurried over.

“What happened to you?”

“Fell into the pond.”

Hakyeon’s eyes widened.

“Oh snap. Get in here, you’re going to catch your death out there!”

Hongbin winced.

“I’m covered in mud…”

Hakyeon huffed.

“So, what? I’d rather clean up some mud off my living room floor than attend your funeral in this cold! Get in here!” He reached out and caught Hongbin’s arm, dragging him over the threshold and closing the door so fast behind him Hongbin feared he might catch his coat-tails.

“Take off those clothes right there! All of them. And then you’re going to take a hot shower. Taekwoon? Can you go get a towel?”

Taekwoon was already on his way over, holding out a blanket instead of a towel, which Hakyeon was just as content with.

Hongbin stripped quickly, glad to rid himself of the wet clothes, and was wrapped in the blanket immediately. Hakyeon made sure to guide him all the way to the guest bathroom next to Taekwoon’s studio in the back of the house, even turning the shower on for him and testing the temperature.

“Hyung, I can shower on my own…”

Hakyeon gave him an unimpressed look, lips pursed.

“Well, I’d hope so. Make sure to stay in there long enough to warm up for real. Fifteen minutes, minimum. I’ll go get you some clothes to change into.”

To Hakyeon’s satisfaction, Hongbin stayed in the shower longer than just fifteen minutes, and didn’t complain about the sweatpants and hoodie Hakyeon had put out for him being too fluffy or warm.

When Hongbin returned to the living room, it’s layout had changed considerably. The coffee table had been pushed to one corner, the couch further towards the edge of the room, and the open space in front of it was being covered with mattresses.

“Want to give us a hand? We’re setting up the sleepover landscape.” Hakyeon announced, and Hongbin went to help promptly. Mattresses were taken out of all children’s and guest beds and puzzled together in the living room, soon followed by sheer endless piles of blankets and pillows, transforming the whole living room into one big bed.

“You’ll have to take the bed-couches in the offices tonight. This is the easiest sleeping arrangement to make all the kids happy.”

Hongbin didn’t have a problem with that, even if it meant he’d have to share the bed tonight. He could live with that.

“It’s snowing harder than before…” He remarked after a while, when he was just returning downstairs with his arms full of towels and dry clothes for the kids to change into, and Hakyeon’s worried gaze went to the windows.

“It’s also almost dark out… Don’t they think it’s about time to come back inside?”

It didn’t seem like anyone was thinking about coming back inside just yet despite the heavy snowfall and fading daylight.

“Hongbin? Mind getting the cake from Jaehwan’s car?” Taekwoon called from the kitchen just as Hongbin put down the clothes. He sighed, but went and dug the keys out of Jaehwan’s jacket to go and get the cake. Thankfully, the car was parked in front of the house, and the kids were all in the backyard.

“Damn, it’s freezing outside!” His teeth were chattering when he rushed back inside the house, Hakyeon holding the front door open for him.

“You could at least have put on a jacket!”

Hongbin shook his head as he kicked off the borrowed shoes.

“I didn’t think it’d be that cold, and the car is right out front…”

Hakyeon gave him a dry stare.

“Hongbin. There’s literal ice falling from the sky. What about that says: ‘not that cold’?”

Hongbin rolled his eyes where Hakyeon couldn’t see it as he carried the cake into the kitchen.

“Alright, alright, mom! I get it. Next time I’ll wrap up like a Christmas present before sticking my nose out!”

Hakyeon was too used to that kind of response to be offended, choosing not to reply and get his actual children inside before it got completely dark outside. Hongbin was about to follow him when Taekwoon held him back.

“Hongbin, help me with the drinks. Carry that tray over there over to the living room, please. Put it on the coffee table in the corner, and the cookies on the TV shelf.”

When he returned to the living room, he spotted Hakyeon through the glass doors, standing outside in his slippers and jumper, clearly cold.

“Hyejin, Seojun! It’s getting dark, come back inside! Jaehwan! Wonshik! Damn it, where the heck are they?”

Hongbin shook his head, putting down the tray and grabbing one of the blankets off a nearby mattress. Wordlessly, he draped it over Hakyeon’s shoulders as he continued calling for the kids and their friends.

Hakyeon stuttered for a moment, turning back to see who’d been his saving grace, and Hongbin couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“You could at least have put on a jacket!” He mocked Hakyeon’s earlier words, shaking his head and going back inside. It was really damn cold outside!

“Shut up…” Hakyeon mumbled behind him, continuing to call for the kids. His tone adopted a quite more serious not now, and it didn’t take long before noises could be heard from the other end of the garden.

“Eunhyun, Hyejin, come! I’m sure we can go back outside tomorrow and finish the fort, but it’s getting dark. Let’s go inside.”

Weak protests answered Wonshik, and a first figure came into Hakyeon’s view. It was Sanghyuk, carrying Heejoon on his back. After him followed Yuna, who overtook him on the last meters to dart towards Hakyeon.

“Take off your wet clothes by the door please! Ask Hongbin for a towel and some dry clothes.” Hakyeon instructed, letting the child slip past him.

“Hyung! Why aren’t you wearing a jacket?! It’s cold!” Sanghyuk huffed as he lifted Heejoon off his shoulders and put him on the ground.

“You don’t say…” Hakyeon all but growled. “If anyone actually listened to what I say the first time, I could have been back inside an hour ago!”

Sanghyuk shrugged apologetically.

“We were building a fort by the tree line. The sound doesn’t carry well to over there.”

Hakyeon huffed.

“I shouldn’t even need to call for the lot of you. One would expect darkness falling to be enough of an incentive to go back inside on your own…!”

Sanghyuk grinned, stomping the snow off his boots.

“Not when you’re building a fort, hyung. Come on, you should go back inside, too. Your lips look way too blue already, it’s not cute. The others are coming, too, I promise.”

Hakyeon grumbled when Sanghyuk made him turn around and step back into the living room. There, Hongbin was helping Heejoon out of his snow gear while Yuna was melting the snow out of her hair by the heater.

“Appa! We built a fort!” Hakyeon was called from behind, and he turned around to find Seojun rushing in behind him. He had to reach out and catch him to avoid him stepping on the carpet with his muddy winter boots.

“So I’ve heard. And who’s the enemy you had to build a fort against?” Hakyeon entertained his son as he pointed at his boots, motioning for him to take them off, along with the rest of the snow gear.

“Ice monsters! Jaehwan said they don’t like walls, and they hate roofs, so all we had to do was build a fort to be safe from them!”

“That’s very smart of Jaehwan. Seojun, did you put mud in your pockets?”

Seojun bit his lip, looking at his jacket in Hakyeon’s hands.

“Ooops… I must have forgotten the snow-ball in there when we stopped the snowball war…”

Hakyeon took a deep breath, exhaling slowly, controlled, to keep his calm. There was no use lecturing Seojun on the drawbacks of putting snow in your pockets. He might as well keep his calm… put the jacket in the washing machine later… then the drier… deep breaths… no stress.

“Appa, where’s a towel? My hair is all wet!”

Hakyeon turned towards his daughter, then to where Hongbin had put the towels earlier.

“Over there, on the armchair… There are dry clothes there for you, too. Wait, Hyejin! Take off your wet socks, please. Hold on; did your shoes soak in the snow?”

Hyejin shook her head as she took off her socks, replying when she was already half-way through the living room.

“Nope, I stepped in the pond earlier!”

Hakyeon’s shoulders sagged and he shook his head, again. Of course she did. And of course she didn’t let that stop her fun.

“Hyung, can you get a laundry basket or something? I think most of these need a washing.”

Wonshik was absolutely right, Hakyeon found as he followed where he was pointing at and found the muddy pile of snow gear by the door. He turned around wordlessly and got the laundry basket.

At least everyone was in dry clothes by the time he got back, snuggling on the couch or the mattresses, wrapped in blankets and sipping tea and hot chocolate. Coincidentally, he chose the moment Taekwoon brought out the cake to return to the living room, stepping right into a round of cheers. He almost staggered right back outside.

“Here, let me get that. Get yourself some cake, hyung.” Jaehwan offered, taking the basket out of Hakyeon’s hands, visibly pleased that his surprise was a success.

For once, Hakyeon accepted his offer without complaint. He managed to get some cake and retreated to the couch, where Hongbin was slouching in his favourite crease and playing with Jieun.

“Want some cake?” Hakyeon offered, and Hongbin looked over skeptically.

“Just to try.”

Hakyeon fed him a bite, and Hongbin chewed pensively.

“It’s good. Quite sweet, but good.”

“Do you want this slice? I can get myself a new one…” Hakyeon held his plate out, but Hongbin shook his head.

“I’m good, hyung, thank you. I already had a cookie, that’s enough sweet stuff for today.”

Hakyeon shrugged.

“Sometimes I wonder if you and Heejoon are related. Anyone trying to bribe either of you with snacks is in for a disappointment.”

Hongbin chuckled.

“It’s all balanced, though. While Jaehwan is responsible for eating my share of snacks, Seojun will gladly take Heejoon’s share. Nothing’s left to go bad.”

Hakyeon huffed lightly.

“Except Jaehwan and Seojun’s teeth.”

“Well, true. Does Jieunie like sweets?”

Hakyeon shook his head lightly.

“We haven’t given her any sweets yet. She’s still too young.”

Hongbin wasn’t listening to Hakyeon’s answer, though, all his attention on the baby again. Hakyeon didn’t mind; if he could have two seconds where no one wanted his attention, that was fine with him, too. Moments where that happened were rare and short, even more so when the house was bustling with even more people than those that lived there usually.

Not a whole minute later, Heejoon stalked over the mattresses, wobbling precariously on unsteady feet while clutching half an apple in one hand and a sippy cup with tea in the other. Hakyeon made a mental note to personally thank whoever had the brilliant idea to put Heejoon’s tea in a sippy cup later as he helped Heejoon onto the couch next to him.

The child was almost asleep on his feet after playing outside all afternoon, ling more on his apple than eating it as he leaned against Hakyeon’s side, but he refused the idea of sleep when the others started calling out for a movie. He didn’t actively participate in the debate what movie should be watched, but he followed the scene in front of the TV where Jaehwan stood with interest.

Both Hakyeon and Heejoon were distracted from the scene when Sanghyuk plopped down on the couch on Heejoon’s other side. Hakyeon frowned.

“Hyuk, your shirt is wet. And your hair, too.”

Sanghyuk laughed, shaking his head and making droplets fly everywhere.

“Just a little. It’ll dry.”

Hakyeon huffed, sitting up.

“Right. And in the meantime, you catch your death. Take that shirt off!”

Sanghyuk rolled his eyes.

“Hyung…”

Hakyeon would have none of it.

“Han Sanghyuk! That shirt. Off. Now!”

Sanghyuk’s eyes widened slightly at that tone of voice, and he pulled his shirt over his head.

“Hongbin; towel, please.”

Hongbin passed him a discarded towel that lay next to him wordlessly, watching the scene with as much interest as the rest of the room was by now. Hakyeon completely ignored their audience as he took the towel to Sanghyuk’s hair and stared rubbing it dry.

“Hyung, I can dry my hair alone.”

“You had your chance.” Hakyeon shut down Sanghyuk’s weak protest, who sighed and let Hakyeon finish. It was pointless trying to dissuade Hakyeon, and he wouldn’t bring out the arguments that would change his mind in front of the kids.

The kids were soon distracted when Jaehwan put on the movie they had chosen, and Sanghyuk sank back against the couch, too. Hakyeon eventually discarder the towel, fluffing Sanghyuk’s hair up with his bare hands, and Sanghyuk didn’t protest when Hakyeon kept playing with the damp strands for a while.

It didn’t take long for all of the kids, plus Sanghyuk and Hongbin, to fall asleep in front of the TV. Jaehwan turned the TV off eventually, noticing Hakyeon taking the chance to slink off upstairs. Jaehwan followed him.

He found Hakyeon in his bedroom, sprawled diagonally across his bed. The door was wide open, and Jaehwan stepped inside without bothering to knock. He sat down quietly on the edge of the bed next to Hakyeon, and an uncharacteristic silence hung between them. It was broken eventually by a sigh from Hakyeon.

“That hard, huh…” Jaehwan stated, and Hakyeon hummed.

“You have no idea…”

Jaehwan shook his head slowly.

“Looking at you, I don’t want to, either. You need to rest more, hyung.”

Hakyeon sighed again.

“I know. How, though?”

Jaehwan gave him a questioning look, and Hakyeon shrugged, staring up at the ceiling.

“There is no time to rest… I can’t let Taekwoon do everything alone around here, it’s not fair. Even if there’s nothing I want more than collapse into bed and sleep for fourty-eight hours straight when come home from work. But he can’t do everything on his own, either…”

Silence settled over them again for a while.

“Hyung… There has to be a solution. You’re not in your twenties anymore. Heck, not even in your thirties! You need to take things easier; take on less jobs. Stay at home more. Take breaks. And… let me and the others help you, too.”

Hakyeon sighed.

“Jaehwanie…”

Jaehwan shook his head.

“I know what you’re going to say; ‘there are no breaks when you have kids, and we didn’t adopt kids to let others take care of them.’ I know, hyung. But who’s going to take care of you?”

Hakyeon grimaced, but Jaehwan continued.

“You’re not bad parents if you let someone else look after your kids every once in a while so you can rest. What do you think Wonshik’s sister is doing today, hm? Or Sanghyuk’s? Are they bad mothers for letting others look after their kids and resting for a bit?”

Hakyeon bit his lip.

“Of course not, but…”

“But nothing, hyung… We’re here for you, you know that. It’s time you start to shamelessly take advantage of that!” He nudged Hakyeon’s side playfully, and Hakyeon squirmed, but smiled lightly at him.

“I’ll think about it. And talk about it with Taekwoon.”

Jaehwan huffed, but nodded.

“Do that. I expect you to start planning a kid-free vacation by the second week of next month, though.”

Hakyeon snorted, laughing, and shoved at Jaehwan, who grinned and let himself fall down on the bed next to Hakyeon. They lay in comfortable silence for a while, but Jaehwan poked Hakyeon’s side weakly after a while.

“I’m serious, hyung.”

Hakyeon hummed.

“I know.”

------

Wonshik had followed Taekwoon out of the living room while the movie was still playing. No one noticed them leaving, though.

Taekwoon was sitting in the desk chair in his home studio when Wonshik entered it, staring blankly at the dark computer screen, unseeing.

“Taekwoon… is everything alright?”

Taekwoon hummed non-committedly, and Wonshik closed the door, walking over to sit on the couch and staring at Taekwoon.

“What’s bothering you?” There clearly was something, Wonshik knew, and Taekwoon knew it was pointless trying to hide it from Wonshik when he already knew something was up.

“I miss composing…” He eventually admitted. “I barely have time to even sweep dust in here, never mind work on something…”

Wonshik stayed quiet, waiting for Taekwoon to continue.

“Hakyeon is so busy lately he barely has time to be at home at all, so I’ve kind of become a full-time dad, no-time composer. It’s frustrating, but… If it was the other way around and I had a lot of work to do, Hakyeon would be the one being the full-time dad, and he wouldn’t complain even though it’s much harder for him… So, I feel like I don’t have a right to complain, either, you know?”

Wonshik hummed, but Taekwoon was already continuing.

“I don’t even have time to go present-shopping myself, and it really bothers me… But… That feels like such a stupid thing to be upset about when I see how sad Hakyeon gets when he comes home and finds out he missed yet another milestone from one of the kids because he had to be somewhere else when it happened. He still does so much when he comes home and is completely exhausted, too. He’s overworking himself…”

Wonshik sighed quietly.

“You’re both overworking yourselves. You both need to rest.”

Taekwoon shook his head, running his fingers over the keys of the muted electric piano distractedly.

“There is no rest when there are kids.”

“That’s wrong, though. You are human, too; parents or not. You need to rest. You need your alone time, your time to do what you want, for you.”

Taekwoon sighed.

“Maybe in twenty years…”

Wonshik huffed, shaking his head.

“At this rate, you won’t make it another twenty years. I feel like you haven’t taken a single day off in the past twenty years, either! Taekwoon, you can’t go on like this!”

Taekwoon shook his head, looking up for the first time and fixing Wonshik with a piercing gaze. Twenty years ago, Wonshik might have flinched, but now he was more than immune to that gaze of Taekwoon’s.

“And what do you suggest we do?”

“Accept our help when I and the others offer it. Compared to you, we have the easiest life with nothing as much as free time to spend on our whims.”

Taekwoon shook his head.

“Hakyeon and I have a responsibility, Wonshik. And we’ve always been aware of that and taken it seriously…”

“It’s your responsibility to take care of yourselves, too, to be able to take proper care of the kids.”

“Wonshik…”

“It’s quite irresponsible, actually, for you to exhaust yourselves like this. You’ll end up making avoidable mistakes like this, and regret it deeply.”

Taekwoon stayed quiet, despite wanting to argue with Wonshik. His words rubbed him wrongly, though, and he dwelled on them for a while.

“I’ll think about it, Wonshik. I can’t promise you more than that.”

Wonshik exhaled a breath of relief.

“That’s all I can ask for right now. I hope you end up coming to the right conclusion.”

Taekwoon hummed, and after another moment of silence he got up.

“I need to finish up dinner…”

Wonshik nodded, getting up, too, and following him back to the kitchen. When they passed the living room, only Hongbin and Jieun were still sleeping on the couch, while Hakyeon was just coming down the stairs.

“They went up to play so those two could sleep…” Hakyeon explained quietly, and Wonshik nodded, slipping past Hakyeon to go upstairs, too.

Hakyeon followed Taekwoon to the kitchen, where he started setting the table while Taekwoon worked on the food.

“Did Wonshik corner you, too?” Hakyeon eventually asked, and Taekwoon froze for a moment. He hummed affirmatively, and Hakyeon let out a small chuckle.

“Brats… They probably planned it, too…”

Taekwoon rose a questioning eyebrow, and Hakyeon motioned the upstairs with a jerk of his head.

“Jaehwan.”

Taekwoon turned back to the stove, and they worked in silence for a while.

“What do you think?” Taekwoon eventually asked, quietly, and Hakyeon sighed as he set the heavy stack of plates he’d just been carrying down on the table.

“They might be on to something… But I don’t want to admit it.”

Taekwoon hummed, and Hakyeon knew his husband’s thoughts were probably similar to his own.

“What do we do?” Taekwoon asked after a while, and Hakyeon’s answer resembled a whimper.

“What can we do?”

Taekwoon exhaled slowly.

“We can trust them… Right?”

“At least that their concern is genuine, and so is their offer to help. Now, the question is, can we trust the children with the kids?”

Taekwoon frowned, wanting to ask what exactly Hakyeon meant, but the answer came to him on its own. Either way worked.

“We’ll see, eventually, I guess…” He shrugged, not knowing an answer.

Hakyeon hummed.

“How do we find out?”

“Bit by bit?”

Hakyeon sighed.

“I don’t know if I’m ready…”

“Me neither… We have to be, eventually, though.”

Hakyeon groaned lowly, closing the distance between them and leaning against Taekwoon’s back, looping his arms around his waist.

“Do we really?” He all but whispered.

Taekwoon hummed.

“We do. We’re both too exhausted to keep going like this for long. And you know it.”

Hakyeon buried his head between Taekwoon’s shoulders.

“Am I a bad parent for wishing it was just the two of us sometimes? It’s not that I don’t love our kids, but sometimes I just want… one day. Or even half a day; twelve hours. Twelve hours just with you, without having to constantly having to look after them…”

Taekwoon shrugged.

“If you are, so am I. But if we want that, we have to trust the kids with the children.”

“There’s no way around it, huh?” Hakyeon sagged more against Taekwoon, and Taekwoon finally turned around and hugged Hakyeon back, placing a chaste kiss on his forehead.

“There isn’t…”

----

The children were rather quiet during dinner, having exhausted themselves during the day to a point where a short nap could only do so much. They still insisted on another movie afterwards, cuddling together in the living room after they’d been made to change into pyjamas and brush their teeth.

Most of them made it until the end of that movie before they fell asleep, at least. Sanghyuk, on the other hand, fell asleep on the couch behind them almost as soon as he sat down. Hakyeon helped him lay down when they eventually got up around him, covering him with a blanket and deciding to let him sleep there.

“Alright, who sleeps where? We only have the couch in my office and the other one in Taekwoon’s studio, since the mattresses are all in the living room.” Hakyeon explained once they were out of immediate hearing range that could disturb the children’s sleep.

“I’ll take your office; alone!” Jaehwan shot immediately, earning a frown from Wonshik.

“Why do you get to sleep alone?”

“Because I said so first!” Jaehwan stuck his tongue out at him, sauntering off to Hakyeon’s office while swaying his hips exaggeratedly and flipping his imaginary long hair.

Hakyeon rolled his eyes.

“Do you mind sharing the pull-out couch in the studio? It’s bigger and more comfortable than the one in my office, anyway.”

Both Hongbin and Wonshik shrugged.

“It’s not like we haven’t shared beds before…”

“I don’t mind. I’ll just kick Wonshik when he snores.”

“I’ll throw you out of bed if you do that!”

Hakyeon shook his head at their antics, leading them to the studio.

“I haven’t had time to put a sheet on, but there are duvets and pillows ready to use in the top cabinets up there. I’ll go get a sheet.” He motioned at the cabinets above Taekwoon’s book-case before heading out.

Hongbin gave Wonshik an expectant look.

“You take the duvets down? You’re taller.”

Wonshik rolled his eyes, but went to get the sheets. He ended up having to climb on a stool Taekwoon kept in a corner for that exact purpose to get them down. In the mean-time, Hongbin pulled out the couch and sprawled across the whole bed it made.

“Ah, this is nice. I think I’ll just stay right here…” He sighed, earning an unpleased look from Wonshik. Instead of protesting verbally, Wonshik opted to just throw the whole load of duvets and pillows on Hongbin from where he stood.

Hongbin spluttered, thrashing out to keep the masses of fabric from landing in his face.

“Wonshik! What are you doing, be careful! You’re going to hit Taekwoon’s stuff!”

Wonshik halted, holding on to the last pillow and checking the veracity of Hongbin’s statement.

“No, I’m not!” He found, flinging the last pillow at Hongbin extra hard. Hongbin rose his hands to deflect the attack, and the pillow bounced off and hit the screen of Taekwoon’s computer. It shook precariously, and it felt like slow motion to the two as they watched it tilt forward, unable to do something to catch it; thankfully, it fell back again, wobbling slightly but standing firm again after a moment.

Wonshik and Hongbin exhaled sharply in relief.

“You idiot!” Hongbin hissed.

“What! It was you who threw it at the desk!”

“I did not! I just defended myself.”

“Could have just taken the pillow to the face like you deserved it, though.”

Hongbin snorted, kicking at Wonshik’s chin as he stepped down from the stool and walked past him. Wonshik only grinned when he sat down on the bed-couch next to Hongbin.

“That was really damn close.”

“Taekwoon would have killed us.”

“Taekwoon and Hakyeon both would have killed us.”

“Good thing nothing happened and we don’t have to tell them.”

“Tell who what?” Hakyeon appeared in the door with a sheet for them.

“Nothing!” Both replied in unison, and Hakyeon frowned at them suspiciously.

“Right… Why do I not believe you one bit, huh? Anyway, good night! And leave my house intact!”

“Good night!” They replied, waiting with bated breath until Hakyeon walked out.

Hongbin hit Wonshik’s shoulder.

“You almost got us caught!”

“Ouch! So did you, idiot!” He shoved at Hongbin, who decided to get up.

“Alright, move. We have to put the sheet on.”

Wonshik got up, and together they made the bed.

“Which side do you want?” Hongbin asked, and Wonshik shrugged. They took the sides they were standing on anyway, snuggling into bed after turning the lights off.

“This kind of always feels like idol days, doesn’t it?”

Wonshik hummed questioningly.

“What does?”

Hongbin shrugged.

“Sharing rooms. Sharing beds. Knowing everyone is just a few rooms over…”

Wonshik had to agree.

“It feels nice, though…”

Hongbin yawned.

“It does. I miss it.”

Wonshik nodded in the darkness.

“I do, too. I didn’t think I would, at the time, though.”

“I knew. Like hell would I admit it to Hakyeon, though.”

Wonshik snorted.

“Of course not. You’re such a brat.”

Hongbin chuckled.

“I’m loved, anyway, though.”

Wonshik huffed.

“Lucky you.”

Silence hung between them for a moment.

“Wonshik? You know you’re loved just as much, though, right?”

Wonshik nodded, the darkness hiding his content smile.

“I know.”

“Good… Good night, Shik.”

“Sleep well, Bin.”

------

Peace reigned until the early morning hours. Or so they thought.

A quiet morning was never not suspicious, and it was Sanghyuk who had to learn it the hard way when he stepped into the bathroom and found he’d been gifted with a Rudolph face painting. His yell attracted everyone’s attention, and despite it resulting in a lecture for the kids to not paint people’s faces with felt-tip markers, a picture of Sanghyuk as Rudolph landed framed on the living room wall among other family pictures, where it stayed for years to come as a treasured keepsake from that weekend.