"Babe?"

Hojoon ignored the calls of his name, the not so subtle nudges and shaking of his shoulders. He simply screwed his eyes tighter shut. If he didn't open them or fully wake up, then today wouldn't happen. 

"Joon, come on, you need to get up, its Sangwon’s fi-"

"Don't." Hojoon held his hand up to silence his husband, eyes still shut. "Don't say it."

Sangdo rolled his eyes; he knew Hojoon was having a difficult time accepting that Sangwon had to start school. That he would be alone for most of the day while they were all out. 

"You can't just sleep and pretend this isn't happening."

"Watch me."

Sangdo often wondered if Hojoon spent a little too much time with the kids, considering he acted like one himself most of the time. 

"Last week you couldn't wait for them to go back to school." Sangdo recalled Hojoon whining about how he couldn't wait for September as eleven kids on a sugar high ran around the living room screaming, narrowly missing knocking the TV off of the stand. 

"I didn't mean Sangwon." Sangwon was Hojoon's baby. He may be four in a couple of weeks, but he was still Hojoon's baby. He would always be Hojoon's baby. And he wasn't quite ready to let him grow up. "Why can't he just stay little forever?"

He honestly didn't know how he was going to cope without Sangwon to look after during the day. What would he do? Just sit around and wait for them to finish school? He knew it would give him more time to work, and he wouldn't have to put up with a clingy, screaming toddler distracting him. But that was no fun. He would much rather finger paint and watch cartoons and cuddle with his son than do actual adult stuff. 

"That's not how things work, babe. Come on, up." Sangdo threw the bed covers off Hojoon's curled up form, earning him a whine from the blonde as he scooped him up bridal style. "You don't want Sehyuk trying to make everyone breakfast again, do you?"

Hojoon groaned, memories of milk dripping from every surface in the kitchen as Sehyuk managed to spill every bottle they had. He couldn't deal with that again. 

He huffed out a 'fine', feet dragging as he began to get ready. He couldn't exactly let his kids starve just because he was moping. 

He made his way around the kids' rooms, waking up the ones that weren't already bouncing on their beds, far too excited for their first day back at school. 

He smiled softly as he made it to his two youngest's room. Sanggyun was already up, padding around the room, his favourite blanket dragging behind him, but Sangwon was still happily tucked up in bed, thumb in his mouth as he dozed. Sangwon usually woke up a little later than his brothers, Hojoon would let him rest a little longer, not wanting to deal with a bratty three-year-old later on in the day. 

"Sangwonnie." He sat down on the edge of his son's bed, fingers combing through the boy's hair to lull him from his sleep. "It's time to get up for school."

Sangwon cracked his eyes open, whining softly as he nuzzled further into his pillow, before fully registering that his father had said. 

"School?" Sangwon sat up straight, eyes wide. He was finally going to school. His brothers went every week day and left him with no one to play with. He was going to make new friends and play with new toys and learn new things. He couldn't wait. "Daddy, I gotta get ready, come on!"

Hojoon laughed softly to himself. He knew he was being selfish, wanting Sangwon to stay home when his son was so excited, but he just couldn't help himself. His kids were growing up way too fast for his liking. 

"Breakfast first, then we'll get your uniform on."

Hojoon had learnt from years of being a parent to so many young boys never to let them get dressed before eating. The amount of school jumpers he had to wash last minute when he and Sangdo were first starting out due to milk or porridge being spilled down someone's front was ridiculous. He didn't care so much if their pyjamas got dirty. 

"I can't believe Sangwonnie is coming to school!"

"Oh my god! We're all gonna be at school together!"

"We can all have lunch together!"

"Actually," Hojoon intervened, wishing he hadn't because that was the most adorable thing he could possibly imagine, "Sangwon is only going to be in school until just before lunch time."

For his first week Sangwon would only be doing half days, until he adjusted being away from home for a long period of time. Even though it as only going to be a few hours Hojoon couldn't help but worry. What if he missed home and his Daddy too much? What if he didn't make friends? Even worse, what if some of the other kids picked on him? These thoughts ran through his head with all of his kids, and he knew they had to grow up at some point, but he wished they didn't. 

Sangwon, however, didn't seem to have any qualms about the situation. 

"Why can't I be at school all day, Daddy? I'm a big boy now!"

Hojoon's heart leapt as his youngest defiantly folded his arms across his chest. Sangwon's stubborn side seemed to be coming out as he grew, and Hojoon was pretty sure that was because the two of them spent so much time together. Maybe some time apart would be good. Sangwon could meet new people that way, instead of picking up on all of Hojoon's bad traits. 

"You are a big boy!" Hojoon pressed a kiss to his three-year-olds hair, picking the now empty bowl up from in front of him. "You can be at school all day soon, it's just while you adjust, baby."

"Not a baby!"

Hojoon smirked to himself as he gathered more bowls for them table. Pretty much all of them went through this phase of not wanting to be called 'baby', but Hojoon couldn't help it. They would always be his babies. All of them. 

"You're still my baby, Sangwonnie." He unclipped the smaller kids from their boosters, lifting them down from their seats so they could make their way back upstairs. "Now, come on, time to get ready."

Helping eleven kids get ready for school wasn't exactly easy. He was glad that some of them were a little older now, and could do most of it themselves, especially today when he wanted Sangwon to look perfect. 

"Babe, they're just about all don-" Sangdo appeared in the doorway behind him, a huge beaming smile on his lips as soon as he saw Sangwon in his little royal blue sweatshirt. "Oh my god, Sangwonnie, you look all grown up!"

Hojoon turned to smile at his husband. He was so glad Sangdo had asked to start work later today, he had never missed any of the kids' first day at school and he didn't want this to be an exception. 

"Doesn't he look precious?" Hojoon straightened out the collar of Sangwon’s pale blue polo, fingers brushing through his hair just to make sure it looked perfect. "We need to get a picture." 

"Already way ahead of you." Sangdo pulled out his DSLR from behind his back. He was known as the family photographer, it being a passion of his in university. Hojoon honestly couldn't count how many photo frames they must have littered across the house of the kids, but that was exactly what he wanted. Sangdo took amazing pictures and his kids were adorable; why wouldn't he want to show them off?

Hojoon squeaked, scooping Sangwon up in his arms so he could wrangle the rest of the kids up outside in their front garden. They had their back to school pictures in front of the house every year; right from the very beginning when Taeyang was the first to go to now, where all eleven of their kids were bundled into the garden in a sea of matching blue sweatshirts. They were the epitome of adorable. 

"Everyone smile!" Sangdo called out from behind the camera, snapping a few shots as the kids beamed back at him. He moved the camera away from his eye to preview the picture he had taken so far. He couldn't quite believe how perfect his family was sometimes. He had the eleven most precious boys anyone could ask for and the most amazing husband- 

"Joon, go join them." He loved taking pictures of Hojoon, always had, ever since they first met. The blonde was gorgeous, how could he not? Even after all of these years Hojoon was still stunning, he barely looked like he had aged. 

"Wha- Why? I look like trash." Hojoon whined. He had just thrown on an old t-shirt and a pair of jeans. In fact, he wasn't even sure the t-shirt was his. It was probably Sangdo’s. And he had barely even done his hair and his eye bags were-

"Babe, you look ing gorgeous. Go." Sangdo whispered low enough that the kids wouldn't be able to hear, nodding his head in their direction to urge Hojoon to get in the shot. 

"Yeah, Daddy, come on!"

"Get in!"

"Please, Daddy!"

"Can we have one with Appa too?"

"Yeah! Daddy and Appa!"

Hojoon groaned, figuring it was best to just give in and get involved. Plus, he would be lying if he said he didn't secretly love that Sangdo always wanted to take pictures of him. It reminded him of when they first started dating and Sangdo would try to take sneaky pictures of him, only for the flash on one of those old, wind-on cameras to go off and blow his cover. 

He crouched down in the background, smiling broadly with his army of tiny children before swapping places with Sangdo, almost dropping the younger's ridiculously expensive camera in the process. 

"Okay, photo shoot over. We better get going or we're going to be late." 

Hojoon ushered everyone back inside, bundling the kids into their autumn jackets. It wasn't that cold, being the beginning of September, but knowing his luck, he'd let him persuade him they didn't need coat and it would pour later on. 

Byungjoo was always the worst, insisting he didn't need a jacket because he was far too tough and manly to get cold. Hojoon merely shot Sangdo a look saying 'I have to deal with this every day, it's your turn.'

Both of their hearts fluttered at the boys all lined up in their little jackets and backpacks. It was no secret that the two of them often found the kids too much to handle, and that any normal people would have only adopted one or two. But it was times like this that made it all worth it. Nine of these eleven boys could still be stuck in foster care if it wasn't for them, without a real family, and here they were, all going off to get an education with a much better life than they could ever dreamed of. 

"You all ready?" Hojoon bent down to scoop Sangwon up in his arms as the rest of the kids shouted back an excited 'yeah!' "Let's go, then."

"Daddy, no!" They were barely out of the door when the three-year-old in his arms began screaming. 

"What's wrong, baby?"

"Not a baby! Wanna walk!"

Hojoon's eyebrows shot up under his fringe. He had automatically picked Sangwon up because his youngest would always complain if he wasn't attached to one of his parents in some way. He would whine and cry to the point he managed to avoid walking just about anywhere. 

"Oh- Okay." He placed Sangwon on the ground, face falling a little now his arms were empty, earning him a sympathetic look from his husband. 

He would always make the kids pair up and hold hands on the walk to school, to ensure none of them would wander off, but now he had an odd number. He split Taeyang and Hansol up, asking the younger of the pair to hold hands with Sangwon. He was pretty sure he could trust Taeyang to walk on his own, his eldest wasn't as hyperactive or easily distracted as most of his kids. 

As much as he missed having Sangwon propped up on his hip, stubby fingers gripping into the soft material of his t-shirt as they walked, it warmed his heart a little to see his baby plodding along with the rest of his brothers. God, why were they so ing cute?

The boys all broke up as they made it to the school yard, running to find their friends that they had barely seen over the six week holidays. 

That's when Sangwon began to hesitate. He didn't know anyone, opting to stay beside his parents. 

"It's okay, sweetie." Sangdo crouched down so he was eye level with Sangwon. "You're gonna make lots of friends today."

Sangwon whimpered, maybe he wasn't as ready for school as he first thought. He turned around, arms wrapping around Hojoon's leg, burying his face in the dark material of his jeans. 

"Baby!" Hojoon joined his husband on the ground, repositioning Sangwon so he could see his son's face. As much as he would have loved to keep Sangwon at home with him, he knew how important this was for his development. "It's gonna be okay, you're gonna have so much fun!"

"M'scared." Sangwon held his arms out, begging to be picked up. Hojoon couldn't help but indulge him, standing back up with Sangwon cradled in his arms, ignoring the look Sangdo shot him. His baby was scared and he needed comforting. 

"It'll be fine; me and Appa are going to come in with you." That was standard procedure for any first day of school, taking the kids into their classes so they wouldn't feel too lost or scared. It's not like they were just going to abandon him on the school yard to fend for himself. "You'll get to play some games and make some friends an-"

"No! Wanna stay with Daddy!" Sangwon began to cry as the older kids got into lines for their respective classes. Hojoon tried to shush him while simultaneously waving the rest of his kids goodbye, wishing them a good first day back. 

"Baby, you can't stay at home with me forever, you need to go to school." He and Sangwon had completely switched places from this morning. His son couldn't wait to start school and be a big boy like his brothers, while Hojoon just wanted to wrap him up in a blanket and keep him home. Now he was the one trying to convince Sangwon to let go of the collar of his shirt and stop crying to leave. 

"You were so excited before, Sangwonnie. Don't you wanna go to school like all of your brothers?"

"No! Wanna go home!" Sangwon sniffled, nuzzling further into his father's chest. The last thing he wanted to do right now was leave Hojoon's arms. 

"It'll be fun, sweetie, come on." Hojoon made his way into the school anyway, Sangdo following. They couldn't very well just stand on the playground until Sangwon stopped crying. And there was no chance of him getting his own way and getting to go home. Their kids may be spoilt, but they weren't that spoilt. 

Stepping into the school only made Sangwon sob harder. Everything was so...big and there were so many people. He wasn't used to anything like this. Sure, his house was always full, but they were his brothers. It wasn't the same. He didn't know these people. 

"Hi! What's your name?" Sangwon’s teacher greeted him as they entered what would be his new classroom, a welcoming smile on her face. But Sangwon didn't seem to take it that way, curling in on himself, away from this weird woman. 

Hojoon sighed, trying to coax Sangwon out of hiding. "His name is Sangwon. He's a little...shy."

The smile never left his teachers face; she was probably used to this, after all. "It's okay, Sangwon, everyone is a little nervous on their first day. Your big brother Sanggyun was too last year."

Sangwon’s ears pricked up at the sound of his brother’s name, head tentatively turning to look at his teacher. "Gyunnie?"

"Yeah, he was a little scared of meeting new people too, but now he has lots of friends."

Sangwon seemed to think that over for a second. Sanggyun was a lot louder and confident than he was, but if even he was scaredthen... That called him down a bit. Everyone was nervous on their first day. 

"Daddy?" He turned back to look up at Hojoon with watery eyes, still a little unsure. 

"It's gonna be fine, sweetie, I promise." Hojoon pressed a soft kiss to dark hair before passing the three-year-old over to his husband for a quick kiss and cuddle from his Appa, hoping that the transition between his two fathers would be less likely to make Sangwon scream and cry to be back in Hojoon's arms. 

"You can do this Sangwonnie, just like all of your brothers did." Sangdo dabbed Sangwon’s face dry, kissing the boy on the tip of his nose. "You're a big boy now, right?"

Sangwon’s eyebrows furrowed, a look of determination on his face as he nodded. He could do this. He wasn't a baby anymore. He was a big boy and going to school just like the rest of his brothers. 

"Right! Appa, put me down!"

Sangdo laughed at the stark contrast between the clingy little baby that wouldn't let go of Hojoon's t-shirt just seconds ago to the now self-assured big boy determined to start his first day of school. 

"He'll be fine, don't worry." Sangwon’s teacher smiled at Sangdo and Hojoon before guiding their youngest son to show him where to hang his jacket up. 

"I'll pick you up at lunchtime, Sangwonnie!" Hojoon called out, still not 100% sure Sangwon was ready for this. He had to let him go, though. He knew that. He would get used to being away from home in time. 

"Bye, Daddy! Bye, Appa!" Sangwon waved back to his parents, both of their hearts swelling as he toddled off further into his classroom to find someone to sit next to. A boy with light hair and freckles caught his attention, introducing himself to Sangwon who seemed to hesitate for a second before smiling back. 

Sangdo laced his fingers with Hojoon's after hearing the slightest whimper bubble in his husband's throat. "He'll be fine, babe, come on."

Hojoon pouted for the majority of the walk home. He missed Sangwon already. It would only be about three hours until he has to pick him up, but that was still too long for his liking. He was going to be bored out of his mind until then. 

"I have to get to work." Sangdo finished buttoning up his shirt as he jogged down the stairs, rolling his eyes as he found Hojoon curled up on the sofa with Sangwon’s favourite panda plushie hugged tight to his chest. "Are you going to be okay? 

Hojoon didn't respond, bottom lip jutted out as he avoided eye contact with his husband. 

Sangdo sighed, kneeling down beside the sofa. "Come on, babe, he's gonna be fine."

"I'm not."

"Joon-" Sangdo started. His husband could be a little over the top at times. 

"They're all growing up too fast. Soon they're gonna be gross sweaty teenagers with acne and mood swings and moving out and knocking people up - oh my god - I'm too young and pretty to be a grandfa-"

"Hojoon." Sangdo ran his fingers through blonde hair, trying to calm the elder down. "He's three."

"That's not the point!" Hojoon groaned, rolling onto his back, arms outstretched to hold the cuddly panda out like Simba during the Circle of Life. "It's just me and Bamboo now."

Sangdo took back the little over the top comment he made to himself earlier, Hojoon was the definition of melodramatic. 

"They're all leaving me."

"They're at primary school, like, ten minutes down the road."

"And I'm here on my own. All day. Just waiting for you all to come home. All alone."

Sangdo couldn't help but smile; he knew how much Hojoon loved his family, his need to look after them all. 

"It's only for a few hours. You can get some work done in peace and quiet for once."

Hojoon hummed. Some logical part of his brain knew that. It was difficult going out to his properties with Sangwon hanging off him at all times, and a building site wasn't exactly the best place for a three-year-old. 

"How about I take the day off and we go look around that auction place you like?"

Hojoon's eyes widened. Was Sangdo suggesting what he thought he was?

"Y-you want me to get another house?"

"Well, I don't want you to be bored, babe. Maybe you need a new project."

That had been his dream since he began property developing, to buy some dilapidated, run down little house at auction and make it his own. He didn't have time for that before, opting to go for places with little-to-no work needing done on them to rent out to students. But that was getting boring. He kind of liked the idea of ripping walls out and spending the entire day trying to find the perfect shade of lavender paint to compliment these curtains he had fallen in love with and bought on a whim. 

"Can we afford it?"

"You'll make a profit, I know you will."

Hojoon squeaked, arm wrapping around the back of his husband's neck to pull him into a kiss, mood suddenly skyrocketing now his life had a purpose again. Not that he was as melodramatic as Sangdo made out, or anything. 

"Is it weird that the idea of you bidding against someone in an auction house is ?" Hojoon bit down on his bottom lip, finger hooking in the collar of Sangdo’s button up shirt. 

Sangdo laughed; trust Hojoon to go from pouting like a baby to ever so slightly arching his hips off the sofa in a way of offering himself up to his husband. 

"We could always go another time. I mean, we only have a few hours til I have to go pick up Sangwon." Hojoon undid Sangdo’s top button, throwing Sangwon’s panda across the room to the other sofa. He didn't want Bamboo getting caught up in this. 

Sangdo knew exactly what Hojoon was hinting at, he wasn't exactly the most subtle of people, latching back onto his husband's lips, earning him a giggle from the blonde. 

This was way better than going to work.