Yeosang had been up for hours but he was still in his pyjamas. He’d thought about getting dressed but he hadn’t yet been able to work up the energy required. He’d thought about getting his son dressed too but that would have taken even more energy. Minhee was now three years old and very independent meaning he could do most of it himself. The problem was he wanted to do all of it himself, even the things he hadn’t mastered yet like button fastening, and Yeosang would rather leave that argument until later. It was something he needed to be a little more awake for. So he was going to stay on the couch a little longer, wrapped in his dressing gown that still smelled like fabric softener and finish the one cup of coffee that was his lot for the day. Yunho had tried to make him swap out his usual coffee for decaf but Yeosang had put his foot down. He was avoiding everything else you should avoid eating or drinking when pregnant and his doctor had said one cup a day would be fine. So until Yunho was the one struggling to sleep because he was hugely pregnant and needed to pee every half hour, and then had to get up and keep their three year old son occupied for the rest of the day, Yeosang was going to continue starting his morning with a coffee.

It was something Yunho would no doubt be nagging about if he was home, the fact Minhee was also still in his pyjamas. And not only was he not yet dressed but he was also sitting in front of the tv with his breakfast, something Yunho saw as a big no. Meals were meant to be distraction free and spent with family. No technology allowed. They were also meant to be eaten in the kitchen away from the carpets. And Yeosang would usually agree with him. He would never do the same over dinner. But this wasn’t dinner and Yunho wasn’t here. And breakfast in front of the tv had become part of their morning routine. Minhee looked forward to it and it gave Yeosang a chance to mentally prepare himself for the day.

And it wasn’t as if their son was sitting in front of cartoons, zoned out and vacant. He was digesting current affairs and national and international news along with his breakfast. He was currently watching a reporter talking to a manager on a factory floor about the slow in economic growth in this quarter of the year and was giving it his full attention. “What’s that on that man’s head?” He asked, pointing at someone in the background.

“It’s a hairnet.” Yeosang told him with a smile, lowering his coffee mug.  “It keeps his hair out of the food they’re packaging.”

Minhee nodded sagely and took a sip of his own ‘coffee’ (it was chocolate milk but it was easier to tell him it was coffee to avoid an argument, he was three and that meant he was a grown up). “Hair in food is def-nintly not good.”

Def-nintly wasn’t quite right but it was a good try. “Definitely not.” Yeosang agreed, wondering how he could be so adorable. “Hair in food isn’t very hygienic.”

“I hope he brushed his teeth.” Minhee said, expression still serious, linking the word hygiene to real life experience and again Yeosang couldn’t help smiling.

“Me too.” He agreed.

And Minhee nodded, mumbling a “with a proper toothbrush” before turning back to his breakfast.

He talked like such a little grown-up sometimes Yeosang mused, taking another sip of coffee. But then he spent most of his time with actual grown-ups he supposed. When Minhee had been born Yeosang had started working from home and on the rare occasion he needed to travel into the office he’d drop Minhee with either his parents or Yunho’s. He didn’t mix with children of his own age, or children of any age really, very often. It made Yeosang worry slightly about how he was going to react to having a baby in the house. Not only was he not very familiar with babies but he was so used to having their full attention. How was he going to cope when he had to share that with someone else?

Yunho kept telling him not to worry. Even if Minhee did struggle to adjust at first he’d soon get used to being a big brother. And once he got used to it he was going to love it. He was already so independent, all they had to do was make sure they got him involved in looking after the baby from the beginning. Once they gave him some responsibility he’d be in his element. And wasn’t as if they were going to love him any less. All they had to do was let him know that.

And Yeosang knew he was right. Minhee was a happy and well-adjusted little boy, he’d get used to his new reality soon enough. But that didn’t stop him feeling guilty. In a few weeks time he was going to turn the poor kid’s world upside down. He was going to be bringing a loud, demanding baby into the house, something Minhee hadn’t asked for. He felt guilty enough already, he hadn’t been able to play with him the way he usually would for a long time now. No chasing him round the garden, no jumping on the trampoline together, no rough and tumble. Yunho had to fulfil all of that and he was at work most of the time. Yeosang felt like Minhee was already missing out and it was because of him.

Before he could fall too far into a hole of self-chiding and self-pity though he was distracted by his son.

“Look, look, look!” He was chanting, bouncing up and down on his knees, arm outstretched and finger pointing at the television screen. “It’s Daddy!“

“Really?” Yeosang said, feigning surprise. Minhee did the same thing every weekday morning and Yeosang always gave the same response.

“It is! It’s Daddy!” He exclaimed, still pointing at the screen.

“So it is.” Yeosang confirmed, fighting a smile. Minhee was right, it was Yunho. It had cut back to the studio and there he was sitting on the couch next to the regular presenters. And that was the main reason breakfast tv had become part of their day. Yunho was a sports journalist, that was how the two of them had met. Yeosang had worked in HR for the same newspaper that Yunho had started with when he’d finished university, he’d helped him fill in the paperwork on his first day. He’d thought Yunho was pretty cute but had thought nothing more of it until the work Christmas party that year when Yunho had approached him, slightly merry and blushing. He’d asked him if he was seeing anyone, stumbling over his words as he did, his friends stifling their laughter in the background. Yeosang had told him no, told him if he was asking him out then yes, dinner would be nice. And that had been that. They’d been together ever since.

And now, six years on they were married with a son and expecting another. Yeosang no longer worked in HR but did admin for a publishing company, mostly from home and Yunho was a still a sports journalist, only he’d moved into tv work and had recently landed himself a job as a sports correspondent on their local tv channel. And a big part of that job was giving a sports roundup on their morning breakfast show. That’s why Minhee was watching the news and not a kid’s tv channel. They’d been waiting for Daddy to appear.

Minhee went quiet for a second, happy with his mother’s answer, eyes trained to the tv screen. And then he was bouncing up and down again and pointing at the screen. “Minhee did that!” He shouted, loud enough to make Yeosang wince.

“Did what?” He asked, once he’d gotten over the auditory shock.

“I painted that!” Minhee exclaimed, volume level still high.

High enough to have woken his baby brother who protested at being disturbed by digging a foot into Yeosang’s ribs. “You did,” he confirmed with grimace, hand going to rub at his belly in a bid to calm his youngest son down, gaze travelling to the brightly coloured mug Minhee had spotted on the studio table. Whenever Yunho had had some time off lately he’d been trying to spend it with Minhee. He wanted to get in some quality one on one time before the baby arrived. And their most recent father and son day out had been spent at a ceramics café. Yeosang had struggled to sleep the night before so he’d been left at home to rest and Minhee and Yunho had had a great time just the two of then, painting mugs for each other and eating lunch out. And Minhee had been incredibly proud of his work, showing it off to Yeosang as soon as he got home. ‘That’s you and me and baby!’ He’d chirped, pointing to each individual blob of colour, ‘Cause we’re all Daddy’s favourites. And that’s a shark…’ he’d added, pointing to a swirl of blue, ‘… cause I like sharks.’

“Look Daddy!” Minhee was saying now, picking up his own mug from the coffee table and holding it out towards the image of his father on the television screen. “We match!” It was the mug Yunho had painted for him in return, Minhee’s name in bright green letters (his favourite colour), Yunho’s own attempt at a shark on the other side of the mug.

And again Yeosang wondered how his son could be so adorable. It was making his heart hurt. It was Yunho’s doing he decided. Minhee didn’t look a lot like his father, everyone was always remarking how much he resembled Yeosang, Yeosang’s own mother especially, she was always commenting on how much her grandson reminded her of her son when he’d been little. The enormous levels of cute he possessed however, Yeosang was sure he’d inherited those from Yunho. Yeosang hadn’t been the most extroverted or talkative child himself but he’d heard enough stories from his in-laws to know that Yunho had been both of those things.

“Our cups are the best ones.” Minhee continued, happy to take the nod and the smile Yunho had given to Seonghwa, his fellow presenter as confirmation that Yunho had heard him. “Not boring like those white ones.” He said, nodding at the other mugs on the studio table.

“Definitely the best.” Yeosang agreed firmly. “You did a very good job.”

“Thanks Mummy!” Minhee chirped, smile lighting up his whole face.

And then Yunho was talking and Minhee was distracted. He watched as Yunho talked about baseball and then moved onto golf, totally captivated. And then Seonghwa was commenting on the mug on the table.

“Oh, my son painted it,” Yunho said proudly, picking up the mug so Seonghwa could see it better. “Do you like it?”

“Tell him I love it and I want one. He could be an artist one day if he keeps that up.”

“That’s me!” Minhee exclaimed excitedly, volume rising even louder than before. “I’m Daddy’s son!”

“You most definitely are.” Yeosang told him, glad they lived in a detached house and didn’t have immediate neighbours.

“And Uncle Seonghwa wants one too!”

Minhee calling his father’s work colleague ‘uncle’ wasn’t as strange as it sounded. Yunho had known Seonghwa for a long time, before he’d started working with him. They’d gone to college together and Seonghwa had been the one to get him an interview at the tv station. They were pretty close friends and Seonghwa came round for dinner at least once or twice a month and when he did he had all the time in the world for Minhee. He thought he was the cutest thing and it wasn’t as if Yeosang could disagree.

“But I can’t make him one.” Minhee continued when Yeosang didn’t answer straight away. “The cup painty place is very far away.”

He sounded very sad about it. “Then why don’t you make him something else?” Yeosang suggested, trying to cheer him up.

And it instantly did the job. “I can! I can draw him a picture!” He said and he was jumping to his feet.

“Not now you can’t.” Yeosang told him, “You need to finish your breakfast first .”

“I’m done.” Minhee said, pushing his bowl back from the edge of the table.

“No you’re not.” Yeosang told him but Minhee was already out the door and running up the stairs, no doubt to raid his art drawer.

Yeosang thought about getting up to follow him but decided it wasn’t worth the effort. By the time he hauled himself to his feet and made it out into the hallway Minhee would be on his way downstairs, pen and paper in hand. It was hard to be quick on your feet when you were carrying an almost full term baby around in your belly. He was five weeks away from his due date and he was hoping the his son wasn’t going to do much more growing between now and then. Minhee hadn’t been a particularly big baby but Minhee took after him and he’d been fairly small when he was born. Baby number two though clearly took after his father, he was running out of room in there and it was all because of Yunho and his stupid tall people genes, Yeosang was sure of it. If Yunho had been an average sized human it wouldn’t be such a struggle to get up and he’d have been able to grab Minhee before he could ru