The process of adopting was slow.
Lucy was happy when they announced their intention to adopt Minseok, but in addition to hundreds of pages of paperwork that had to be filled out and then approved, Kris and Junmyeon would also be required to appear in court as soon as the paperwork went through.

Because of that, they hadn´t told Minseok about the proceedings. The six year old was more excited by the prospect of starting school anyway, and how soon Junmyeon would buy him new sneakers since he had already grown out of his last ones.

On a Saturday morning, Junmyeon was just dressing Minseok while Kris made breakfast, the phone rang. Nervously, Kris answered it.

“Hello?”
“Hello, this is Lucy”, Kris heard.
“Good Morning, Lucy”, Kris replied, “is everything alright?”

Although Lucy had assured them multiple times there was no reason anything should go wrong with Minseok´s adoption, the couple was reasonably nervous.
As long as Minseok wasn´t officially their son, something could still happen.

“Is Junmyeon nearby?”, Lucy asked, “don´t worry, though. It´s not about Minseok.”

“Junmyeonnie?”, Kris called, “can you come downstairs for a minute?”

Junmyeon entered the room, Minseok clutching his back and giggling.
“What is it?”, he wanted to know.
“It´s Lucy”, Kris said, and Junmyeon´s expression immediately became serious. He sat Minseok down and ruffled his hair.

“Minnie, go play in the living room for a bit, okay? Hyung will be right there.”
“Okay”, Minseok said, hurrying away. His new fire truck was more interesting than the business of adults anyway.

When Minseok was gone, Kris switched the phone to speaker.
“Alright, Junmyeon is here”, Kris said.
“Good Morning, Lucy”, Junmyeon greeted, “what is the matter?”

Junmyeon´s English was almost accent free by now, Kris noticed. Pride filled his chest.

“I have a boy here”, Lucy said, “I need a place for him right now, and preferably one without women. You immediately came to mind.”

“No women?”, Junmyeon echoed, confused.
“He´s been in foster care for five months and three households have told me they can´t take care of him”, Lucy said, “he´s only five years old.”

“What happened to him?”

“We don´t know yet”, Lucy said, “he hasn´t stayed in one foster home long enough to start seeing a therapist, but he has severe issues with women and femininity.”

Kris could see why they would be the perfect household for such an issue.
“Is he dangerous?”, Kris asked.
There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone. “Generally, no”, she said, “however, towards women and girls, he tends to have violent outbursts. The other families complained about yelling, scratching, biting and general disrespect.”

Junmyeon and Kris exchanged a look.

“I know it is a difficult case”, Lucy sighed, “but I need him to stay somewhere, at least for tonight.”

“Alright”, Junmyeon said after Kris nodded, “when will you be bringing him?”
“Tonight”, Lucy said, “would that be okay?”
“Of course”, Junmyeon said.

After exchanging the usual pleasantries, they ended the call. The couple looked at each other and Junmyeon sighed.
“Well”, he said, “we planned to go shopping today anyway.”

Kris and Junmyeon´s house had three spare bedrooms. One of them had been cleared out for Minseok, and now Kris pushed boxes after boxes into the remaining free room to make space for their new foster child.

Junmyeon was assembling the furniture while Kris listened for any yelps of pain. His husband had many talents, but woodwork was not one of them.

“Hyung, why are you building a bed?”, Minseok asked.
He was clutching his new teddy bear, a purchase of their newest shopping tour. The boy had also gained coloured pencils, a backpack, and new sneakers for a successful school start.

“Your social worker called”, Junmyeon said, “we will welcome a new foster child today. He is younger than you, so you have to look after him well, alright?”

“Okay!”, Minseok said brightly, “we can play with my firetruck, and my playmobil, and my teddy bear!”
“That´s a good boy”, Junmyeon said absentmindedly, mustering the instructions for the bed. Then, he looked at what was supposed to be the bed, but had some pieces stick out at rather odd angles.

“I think I did it wrong.”

In the evening, Kris and Junmyeon were well-prepared. Their house was clean, the new boy´s room was prepared, and Minseok was buzzing with excitement to get a playmate.

“I hope he´s nice”, Minseok said, “he should be nice and play with me.”
“I am sure he will be nice”, Junmyeon said.

Kris could see he was nervous. From what they knew, their second foster child wouldn´t be as easy to handle as Minseok.

Their little boy sprung up when the bell rang, running to open it.
“Lucy!”, he exclaimed.
“Hello, Minseok”, the tired-looking woman said, “how have you been?”
“Good”, Minseok said in English, “Kris-hyung is teaching me English!”

“I see, you have improved a lot”, Lucy complemented, “where is your Kris-hyung?”

“Right here”, Kris said, stepping to the door with Junmyeon by his side, “where is our new arrival?”

Wordlessly, Lucy pointed to a small boy standing next to her, but a bit further away from the door. He had his arms crossed and an expression on his face that was half pouty, half angry.

“He doesn´t like me”, Lucy said, “Luhan, don´t you want to come and say hello to your new foster parents?”
“No”, Luhan said.

Kris realized the boy was Asian, like all of them, but his English was fluent.

“But don´t you want to play?”, Minseok exclaimed, “I can show you my fire truck! Come on!”

Luhan´s eyes found Minseok´s. Although Luhan was a year younger, Kris guessed they were about the same height.

“Fire truck?”, Luhan echoed.
Minseok nodded eagerly. “Come on!”

He held out his hand to Luhan and, after a few seconds of consideration, the boy took it, letting Minseok pull him inside.

As soon as the children had disappeared from sight, Lucy sighed deeply, her stance relaxing.
“He´s”, she started, “grumpy.”
“What happened to him?”, Kris said.
“From what we know, he was adopted from China by a couple trying for son”, Lucy explained, “at some point, the mother left with his sister. Luhan was taken in by social services after the neighbours called the police because they heard screaming and breaking glass from inside the house. His father was deemed unable to care for him and his mother put him up for adoption.”

Junmyeon gasped. “That´s terrible!”
“Luhan needs a long-term foster home so he can start seeing a therapist”, Lucy said.
“We will try our best”, Junmyeon said, “but if he hurts Minseok, he can´t stay here.”

From upstairs, the adults heard laughter.
“It seems to be going well”, Lucy said, “Luhan hates women with a passion, but we don´t know why. Towards males, he is generally very friendly.”

She handed Kris Luhan´s paperwork and a small plastic bag.
“There are a few clothes and toys”, Lucy said, “everything else should be documented in the paperwork.”

“Thank you, Lucy”, Junmyeon said, “excuse the question, but…is everything else going well?”

“With the adoption?”, Lucy asked, “of course! And, by the way, congratulations. Minseok seems to be very happy here.”
“I hope so”, Junmyeon said.

“You are going to be serial adopters, I can already tell”, Lucy said, “people with bleeding hearts like you, they always end up with a whole football team.”
“Ahh, no”, Junmyeon said, blushing wildly, “I think two children is quite enough.”
Lucy only gave him a look. “We´ll see”, she said, “I have to go now, boys. Be nice to the children, alright?”

Kris spluttered at Lucy´s tone, but Junmyeon only smiled warmly.
“Have a good night, Lucy. We shouldn´t leave the kids alone for too long anyway.”

As soon as the door fell shut, the couple shared a glance. Kris quietly put down the papers and the plastic bag and silently, they crept upstairs.
They wanted to observe Luhan now that Lucy was gone. Was the woman right, and Luhan would brighten up now that she was gone?

The two men stopped beneath the open door of Minseok´s room, listening.

“And Kris-hyung works a lot but when he is home you can sit on his lap and he will watch cartoons with you”, Minseok was just saying, “but when the bedroom door is locked, we are not allowed to come in.”

“Why not?”, Luhan inquired.
“Junmyeon-hyung said when the door is locked, he is playing an adult game with Kris-hyung”, Minseok said.

Kris gave Junmyeon an incredulous look; his husband only shrugged helplessly.

“And where is the girlfriend?”, Luhan asked.
“Girlfriend?”
“Yes, don´t Junmyeon-hyung and Kris-hyung have girlfriends?”

Kris was surprised to hear Luhan calling them hyung. Wasn´t he Chinese? Had he adopted the habit from Minseok that quickly?

They heard Minseok giggle.
“Junmyeon-hyung is Kris-hyung´s boyfriend, silly”, Minseok said.
“You can have a boyfriend?”, Luhan said, completely amazed, “that´s so cool!”
“I know, right?”, Minseok said, “someday, I want to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend, too.”

“I want a boyfriend”, Luhan said determinedly. Minseok didn´t comment on that, but suddenly changed the topic.
“Hey, do you think that now you are here, hyungs will buy us a police car for the fire truck?”

“Maybe tomorrow”, Junmyeon said, stepping into Minseok´s room, “you need to eat dinner and then go to bed.”
“Already?”, Minseok whined, raising his arms for Junmyeon to pick him up.

Junmyeon did with visible difficulty. Minseok was getting too heavy to lift.
“You can play with Luhan tomorrow”, Junmyeon promised, “I´ll even buy you the police car if you promise to eat all your vegetables.”

Minseok pulled a face. “But they´re yucky”, he complained.

“They´re yummy”, Kris disagreed, taking Minseok from Junmyeon, “everything Junmyeon cooks is yummy, isn´t it?”

He leaned closer to Minseok´s ear. “You have to say yes or he will be sad, Minnie.”
Minseok gasped. “Don´t be sad, Junmyeon-hyung! The vegetables are yucky even when you don´t cook them!”

Junmyeon couldn´t help but laugh. He held a hand out to Luhan.
“Come on, Luhan”, he said, “let´s see if those vegetables are as yucky as Minseok says.”

After a few tense seconds, Luhan slipped his hand into Junmyeon´s and followed the others downstairs.
Kris sat Minseok down with a huff – were six year olds supposed to be that heavy? – and pulled out the dinner plates from a cupboard. He set the cutlery while Junmyeon placed the food on the table and put some of it on Minseok´s and Luhan´s spill-proof plastic plates.

Both of the boys were thankfully not picky eaters, even if Minseok pulled a face again when Junmyeon held out a spoonful of spinach to him. After dinner, Junmyeon concluded they had been good enough to warrant buying the police car as a reward.

“Will you be okay with both boys tomorrow?”, Kris asked when they had put them to bed, exhausted after a long evening of playing with each other, “we can go shopping together next weekend.”
“Tomorrow is Sunday, love, the stores won´t be open”, Junmyeon reminded him gently, “I will go with them on Monday. Luhan has been nice so far, there is no reason it shouldn´t work out.”

As it turned out, Luhan was not picky when it came to food, but he made up for it by being extremely picky with his clothes.
“It´s pink”, he stated, drawing a confused look from Minseok.
“I like it”, the older boy said, holding up a simple, light-pink shirt with a cat logo on the front, “it´s cute!”
“Pink is a girl´s colour”, Luhan insisted.

Junmyeon listened attentively. Lucy had called, saying that Luhan´s first appointment with his therapist wouldn´t be until four weeks later. Junmyeon wanted to be able to tell the therapist what exactly the problem was.

“It´s pretty”, Minseok said.
“It´s a girl colour and I am not a girl!”, Luhan yelled and, to Junmyeon´s horror, burst into tears.

He gathered Luhan into his arms.
So far, Luhan had been distant with touching, more so with Kris than with Junmyeon, but now Junmyeon couldn´t help himself.

Luhan stiffened for a moment and his tears abruptly disappeared. Junmyeon held him for a few more seconds before he set Luhan down, unsure how to handle the situation.

“Are you okay?”, he asked the five year old.
“I didn´t cry”, Luhan suddenly said.
Minseok cocked his head. “Yes, you did”, he stated unhelpfully.

“No”, Luhan insisted, “I am a boy and boys don´t cry.”

Slowly but surely, Luhan´s behaviour was starting to form one giant, unpleasant picture. Junmyeon and Luhan eventually settled on some clothes in green and blue, as well as a few toys (including Minseok´s beloved police car).
When they came home, Junmyeon asked Luhan to come to the living room with him.

“Did I do something wrong?”, Luhan asked meekly. His mood swings where giving Junmyeon whiplash. In one moment, he was loud and confident, in others, he turned shy and reluctant.

“No, no”, Junmyeon was quick to say, “I just want to talk to you about something.”
“Is it because I cried?”, Luhan said with wide eyes, “I´m sorry! I won´t do it again!”

“Luhan”, Junmyeon started, then sighed and caught himself, “Luhan, if you feel sad or angry or frustrated, I want you to tell me, okay? It´s okay to cry, but I need to know why so I know you´re not hurt.”
“But boys don´t cry”, Luhan said, a bit unsure now.
“Of course they do”, Junmyeon said, “should I tell you a secret?”

Luhan nodded.
“When I was younger, my parents were really, really mean to me. I cried a lot because that hurt me.”
“Why were they mean?”, Luhan frowned.
“They wanted me to have a girlfriend, not a boyfriend”, Junmyeon explained, “they didn´t like Kris-hyung. Kris-hyung hugged me until I didn´t feel like crying anymore. And do you know what would have happened if I hadn´t cried?”

Luhan looked at him questioningly.
“I would have stayed sad for a long, long time”, Junmyeon said, “that is why it´s okay to cry. You need to let out all the sadness.”

“But my dad”, Luhan started, “he always said I look like a girl and o-only girls cry like –“

Luhan broke off, sniffling. “Girls are weak”, he said.
“Luhan”, Junmyeon said, “your dad probably said things to you that made you feel really hurt, didn´t he? And he was wrong doing that. You should never hurt another person and not feel sorry afterwards because that makes you a bad person. And should you listen to bad people?”

“No”, Luhan whispered, and then, “was my daddy a bad person?”
“I don´t know, Luhan”, Junmyeon said, “maybe he was sad himself and didn´t know how to handle it.”

“He was mean”, Luhan said, “he said I look like a girl, that he wanted a son, and not a girl.”
“Oh, Luhan”, Junmyeon said, pulling the boy into his lap, “I am sorry he was mean to you. There is nothing wrong with being a girl, but if you feel like you are a boy, then you are a boy no matter what you do.”

Luhan sniffled again, then nodded.
After a few minutes, he stood up. “I need to think”, he announced, a strange sentence from a five y