“Are you sure that you’ve packed his water bottle?”

Chanyeol looks up from where he’s kneeling on the parquet, hands pausing in their careful manoeuvring of Yifan’s arms into his school uniform. “I’m pretty sure I packed it. If it’s not inside the bag, check its side pocket.” A muffled groan from his son (whose head is still within the shirt) gets Chanyeol’s attention, and he coos a soft apology before resuming what he was doing before.

The rip of velcro fills the silence of the living room after several sounds of zipping, and Kyungsoo’s more-than-audible ugh there it is tells Chanyeol that his husband has found the green water bottle. The tinge of annoyance Chanyeol hears in Kyungsoo’s words also alerts him to his husband’s mood. He speeds up his dressing of Yifan, manhandling his son’s legs into the pair of black shorts even before his head is pushed through the collar of the shirt.

After pressing his lips in apology to a cheek of a pouting Yifan, Chanyeol uses his fingers to quickly brush his son’s hair into a presentable state. He then gently pushes Yifan towards the front door, telling him to wear his shoes while Chanyeol pointedly turns his head a little towards Kyungsoo, points at him, and frowns exaggeratingly. Although only four years old, Yifan is exceptionally bright, and (like every other time Chanyeol silently gestures to him) he seems to understand his father, nodding his head before whispering, “Make dad smile again, ba-ba.”

Chanyeol smiles and playfully pinches his son’s cheek—much to Yifan’s protests—and sends him off to wear his shoes. Turning his head away from the front door area where Yifan has seated himself to embark on the challenge that is donning socks and slipping on shoes, Chanyeol redirects his fond smile to his husband, who is currently still standing at the dining table. The smile falters a little when he sees how distressed Kyungsoo seems to look, and Chanyeol quickly pushes himself off the parquet to make his way to his husband.

“Soo?” Chanyeol circles his arms around Kyungsoo’s waist, rests his chin on a shoulder. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

Kyungsoo sighs, and Chanyeol feels the familiar sensation of Kyungsoo’s fingers slipping between his own; Chanyeol clasps them tightly. He shifts a little, moves himself to be able to see Kyungsoo’s face better. The same distressed expression is still etched on his husband’s handsome face. Chanyeol frowns, but he soon smiles a little when Kyungsoo makes eye contact with him.

“Aigoo, is our dad so worried about Yifan that he’s not going to smile while sending his son off to school?” murmurs Chanyeol as he nuzzles his nose against Kyungsoo’s cheek, his lips grazing Kyungsoo’s jaw. “Yifan is going to be so sad. Boo hoo hoo!”

The distress on Kyungsoo’s face wanes, and a soft giggle slips past Kyungsoo’s lips. Much to Chanyeol’s relief, Kyungsoo giggles again when he sees the disbelief on Chanyeol’s face. Absolutely delighted, Chanyeol (over)eagerly presses his lips against his husband’s. He swallows another of Kyungsoo’s giggles, and Chanyeol’s urge to take this kiss to the next level mounts when he feels his fingers being clamped by his husband’s. Chanyeol parts his lips, tongue about to slide out and seek entrance–

A loud (and annoyed) clearing of throat startles both Chanyeol and Kyungsoo, and Chanyeol instantly separates his lips from Kyungsoo’s. As someone who has no qualms about being affectionate with others in public, Chanyeol knows that his cheeks are fine, normal. But, Chanyeol does know someone else who doesn’t share the same thought. He hazards a glance at said someone—Kyungsoo’s blushing absolutely furiously.

Biting back a laugh, Chanyeol turns in the direction of the sound, and he’s not at all surprised to be greeted by his son who is staring at them, seemingly unimpressed, with his arms folded across his chest. Chanyeol sheepishly avoids his son’s judging stare to look down at his son’s shoes, and pride washes over him when he sees (probably) correctly-worn socks and shoes. All those arduous months of teaching Yifan to wear them paid off. Chanyeol feels like crying.

“Ba-ba, dad, I’m going to be late for school if you two keep kissing,” Yifan deadpans.

“W-Well, we can’t be late,” stutters Kyungsoo. He removes himself from Chanyeol’s arms, fingers gently pinching Chanyeol’s side when Chanyeol softly whines in protest. The behave yourself look that Chanyeol promptly receives from his husband immediately shuts him up, and Chanyeol sulkily watches as Kyungsoo walks over to Yifan before leaning down to plant a kiss on the crown of the boy’s head. Kyungsoo then herds their son back to the front door, only to whirl around a moment later to say, “Dear, mind grabbing Kris’ bag? We can’t forget that.”

Although a little taken aback by Kyungsoo’s abrupt action, Chanyeol nods a second later, then smiles. Satisfied, Kyungsoo trails after Yifan to the front door where Yifan has already retrieved two pairs of shoes, and the smile on Chanyeol’s face grows fond as he watches his husband dips down to press his lips to their son’s cheek. While Kyungsoo is (a little) against displays of affection towards Chanyeol, he’s not at all shy to show how much he loves Yifan. (Chanyeol gets rather jealous at times.)

“Ba-ba!”

Yifan’s call snaps Chanyeol out of his daze, and he replies with a coming! Grabbing Yifan’s bag from the dining table, he drapes it on a forearm before deciding to heft it up to his shoulder. The action is completed with difficulty, as Chanyeol’s adult shoulder is much too large for his son’s child-sized bag straps. (Duh.)

“You’re going to spoil my bag, ba-ba...”

“Uh...”

“This is probably what Xing meant when he said that I’ll be raising two kids,” Kyungsoo muses, his large, beautiful eyes glinting with amusement.

Chanyeol slaps on an exaggerated offended expression and, amidst Yifan’s high-pitched laughter, he attempts to noogie his husband. But, of course, he’s quickly subdued by the ever-impressive Kyungsoo, whimpering in mock pain when Kyungsoo’s arms around his neck tightens.

(Chanyeol’s whimper earns him a kiss on the lips from his husband [when Yifan isn’t looking, of course]. And, Chanyeol returns the favour [when he knows that his son is looking at them].

Kyungsoo puts him in a chokehold, again.)

---

“Hunnie!”

Yifan wrenches his hands out of his fathers’ to run ahead, to where two adults and a kid are waiting.

The shocked and betrayed expression on Chanyeol’s face causes Kyungsoo to burst out into laughter, and his husband’s beautiful laughter is all Chanyeol hears as he gets pulled over to where his son has run off to.

“Yeol, wipe that dumb expression off your face.” is the first thing Chanyeol hears after Kyungsoo’s laughter die down and the faces of Baekhyun and Yixing enter his field of vision. “I don’t need to see that first thing in the morning.”

Although still rendered speechless (and oh-so betrayed) by his son’s unexpected action, Chanyeol manages to throw a sneer at his friend. “Don’t make me swear in front of the boys, or tell you off in front of your son, Byun.”

Baekhyun sneers back. “You don’t scare me.”

“Boys, behave,” Yixing warns. He ends up smashing a hand onto his husband’s face after Baekhyun ignores him, having chosen to continue to glare at Chanyeol instead. The muffled yelp of pain from his father causes Sehun to cackle, and Yifan laughs, too, while both Chanyeol and Kyungsoo bite back their own cackles at the sight of Baekhyun being reprimanded by (the ever-unassuming) Yixing.

“Anyway,” Chanyeol starts. “Did the preparation of Sehun’s first day of school go well for you two?”

Baekhyun shrugs while Yixing just smiles. He silently points to Sehun, mouths, “Ask him.”

Chanyeol gets the hint, darts his eyes down to his friends’ son and bends down to see him eye-to-eye. “Sehunnie, any problems while packing your bag?”

Unable to see how his fathers are smiling down fondly at him, Sehun smiles, his eyes forming crescents and he’s simply adorable. Chanyeol resists pinching his cheeks.

Shaking his head, Sehun answers, “Nope! Ba-ba packed it for me yesterday! Daddy… Uh… He…”

Chanyeol doesn’t miss how Sehun glances up at Baekhyun who returns the glance with a pointed look. “Uh, daddy he… He woke me up this morning!”

Baekhyun immediately screeches, “What!? Se–“ His words are interrupted when Yixing’s hand comes to smash his face once again.

“Very nice, Hyun. Only waking your son up while Xing does everything else,” Kyungsoo drawls, a smirk on his face. Chanyeol hides his smile behind a large hand, and Yixing disguises a bout of laughter as a cough; Baekhyun’s face visibly darkens.

Yifan suddenly slips his hand into Baekhyun’s. “Uncle Baekhyun,” he begins to say. “Ba-ba packed my bag, too, while dad woke me up this morning, too!”

The intent, although innocent, is clear: Kyungsoo hadn’t helped much in the preparation for Yifan’s first day, either.

This time, it’s Kyungsoo’s face which darkens. He leans towards his son, fist clenched and about to be raised, only to be stopped by Chanyeol who quickly wraps his arms around his turning-livid husband. Yixing steps in front of Yifan.

“Let go of me! I have a son to scold!”

“Soo!”

Baekhyun cackles.

---

From the corners of his eyes, Chanyeol sees movement. Then, warmth presses against his arm and a familiar weight rests on his shoulder.

“Is it time to pick up Kris yet?”

Smiling at Kyungsoo’s sleep-addled voice, Chanyeol fondly murmurs, “Not yet, sweetheart.” Not taking his eyes off his laptop screen, he reaches up to his husband’s head with his available hand, fingers carding through soft, black strands. Kyungsoo hums in satisfaction.

Silence retreats into the background of the kitchen as the sounds of Chanyeol’s mouse-clicking and key-typing make up the white noise that Chanyeol hears for an indefinite amount of time.

Suddenly, hair tickles the underside of Chanyeol’s jaw as Kyungsoo pipes up, “How about now? Is it time, Yeol?”

“Nope.”

Silence. Then–

“Now?”

Chanyeol chuckles, the same hand reaching up to Kyungsoo’s head to once again thread his fingers through his husband’s hair. “Not yet, Soo. There’s still two more hours,” he replies.

The lack of a satisfied hum (or a response, really) from Kyungsoo should have alerted Chanyeol. For in the next second, the familiar warmth against his arm and weight on his shoulder leave him completely, and Chanyeol immediately snaps his head towards Kyungsoo. Although he’s pretty sure that he ought to be worried (and he is, don’t misunderstand him), but Chanyeol feels more affectionat