Saturday mornings were the best mornings, especially in the Wen household. This usually meant sleeping in, cooking extravagant breakfasts, watching the morning cartoons, you name it. It was the perfect setting. A beautiful winter day, in fact. The sun was peeking in slightly through the blinds. Snow was probably falling. Birds were chirping outside the windows, supplemented by the occasional honking of cars on the road below them.

Minghao wakes up slowly, feeling the warmth of his husband’s arms wrapped gently around him. He sighs happily at this realization, and is even more content when he remembers that hey, it’s a Saturday , no work today. Him and Junhui can enjoy some well-deserved peace and quiet in their bedroom.

This peace and quiet lasts a total of five minutes. Soon enough, Minghao hears the familiar sound of little footsteps running towards their bedroom. They gradually get louder and louder, and are soon followed by yet another pair of even littler footsteps. The noises stop. Minghao knows they’re standing directly outside their door.

“Are Daddy and Baba awake yet?” a tiny voice asks from outside the door.

Another little voice scoffs. “I don’t know, Chunhua, I’m not some---Daddy and Baba expert !”

Minghao sighs and reluctantly untangles himself from Junhui’s sleepy embrace. He sits up in the bed and stretches his arms out, trying to wake himself up.

To his left, Junhui stirs, aware the fact that Minghao has removed himself from him, and he groans miserably.

“Hao,” he calls sleepily. “Come back.”

Minghao leans back down and presses a kiss to the top of Junhui’s head.

“The kids,” Minghao mumbles into his hair.

Junhui emits a groan and rolls over, pressing his face into his pillow. Despite such little context, he knows exactly what those two words imply.

Minghao could never wrap his head around the fact that his own kids could wake up so early in the morning, considering neither him nor Junhui were morning people.

“Five more minutes,” Junhui whines, his voice muffled by the pillow.

Minghao begins to shake his spouse awake.

“ Juuuuuuuuuuuuuun . Please get up.”

From outside the door comes a small gasp, followed by:

“Renshu! I hear them talking! They must be awake!”

Minghao could hear some incoherent chatter between the kids. He attempts to decipher what they were saying, when he finally hears, very clearly:

“Okay, okay, count of three, Chunhua, one two--”

“ THREE !”

The door bursts open. They come in shrieking what sounds like a battle cry. Chunhua is the younger one by two years, dressed in her Minnie Mouse pajamas with her hair in two little pigtails Junhui had tied for her last night. She comes sprinting in as a running start so she could jump on top of Minghao's legs.

Minghao lets out a yelp upon impact and musters a strained“AAaAaAAAH gOOd mOrning hONey,” in between her jumps. For a three year old, his daughter could bounce with quite some vigor.

Between giggles, Chunhua replies, “Teehee! Good morning Baba!”

Renshu, aged five, has somehow kept his toy lightsaber in his dinosaur pajama pants and begins to forcefully whack Junhui with it (“Come on Hao, what’s the worst that could happen if we buy this for him?”) who was still engulfed underneath the sheets.

“WAKE UP DADDY!” Renshu shouts in between swings of his lightsaber, his small head of black hair swishing back and forth. 

Startled, Junhui sits up, swatting his hands in front of his face. He attempts to snatch the toy away from Renshu, but unfortunately their son has the agility of both him and Minghao combined, therefore making this task impossible (especially at 7:30 in the morning).

Chunhua is still bouncing excitedly on Minghao. Renshu will not stop whacking his daddy with the lightsaber. It was chaos; the lesser appreciated aspect of Saturday mornings, but nevertheless, Minghao found it endearing.

He knew that one day, their kids would grow too old for these shenanigans, so he knew it was best to appreciate the little moments as they came before the day came where it would all just stop.

“Renshu,” Junhui scolds, stifling a yawn. “Honey, put the lightsaber down.”

“Okay,” Renshu complies, throwing the toy on the ground before pulling Junhui into an embrace.

“Get up, Daddy!” he pleads, shaking a sleepy Junhui slightly with his small body pressed against his chest. As if they’d planned it that way, Chunhua ceases her bouncing to do the same. Her tiny arms barely fit around Minghao’s waist as she gazes up at him with eyes that are all too similar to Junhui’s.

“Last night you said you would take us to the park today, Baba! Remember?”

Minghao chuckles slightly, glancing over at Junhui who still appea