Padding out to the kitchen with his toothbrush hanging out of his mouth, Kim-Zhang Yixing rubbed one eye with the back of his hand and blinked at his husband who was on the phone. 

'Yeah... yeah, okay... sure, no problem! ... Yeah, don't worry. Just leave them to me, Minseok-hyung!'

Yixing turned and lazily retreated to the bathroom to rinse. A few minutes later, he returned and grabbed a mug of coffee. 

'What's going on?'

'Minseok-hyung's got a new client - he's signed up as an architect for some villa in Gangnam-gu. He'll be there for a week. Jongdae-hyung's busy with a project at your production house with Chanyeol. Someone's gotta take care of the kids, right? Since we'll be home for the week...'

Yixing nodded brightly, picking Zitao up when the toddler head-butted his legs. 

'APBA~!' the boy squealed, his father's hair. 

'Why is your hair like Uncle Yifan's?'

Yixing chuckled and pecked his son's cheek. 

'Apba wanted a change so he coloured his hair.'

'Can I also colour my hair, apba?' 

'Maybe later, okay?'

'Apba,' Sehun walked in, his thumb. Junmyeon picked him up and pecked his nose. 

'No your thumb, Hunnie,' the elder waggled his finger and sat him down. 

'Who wants milk?'

'ME!' the children chorused, making grabbing motions and grinning when they got their glasses of milk. 

'Happy New Year, Junmie,' Yixing grinned and kissed his husband's hand that was cupping his face, looping his arms round the shorter's waist. Junmyeon turned his head to the right and kissed Yixing's dimple. 

'Happ---'

'EW~!!!' Sehun grimaced, pointing at a wide-eyed Zitao whose lower lip trembled and he bawled loudly. Junmyeon set the stove to simmer and turned and Yixing fawned over the younger child. 

'What happened, baby?' he cooed. 

'Milk came out of his nose!' Sehun exclaimed bouncing in his seat and pointing at Zitao. 'Like this~!' he took a huge sip of milk and squirted it out. 

'Hey, hey!' Junmyeon laughed, grabbing a wad of paper towels and handing half of them to Yixing. He cupped Sehun's grinning face and nodded as the child ranted on about milk, dabbing at the milk all over his face and the table. 

'Don't spit milk out and no pointing, okay, Hunnie?'

The child slumped back in his seat and huffed, crossing his arms with a small frown that disappeared as he was made to drink the remainder of his milk. Yixing, who was bobbing Zitao in his arms, set him down and helped him finish the rest of his drink. 

Junmyeon switched the stove off and served each member their breakfast. 

'Mm, Italian today?' Yixing took a deep breath and smiled. 

'Yeah,' Junmyeon nodded distractedly, checking his phone for the time. Yixing caught an uneasy glint in the elder's eyes but chose not to comment on anything for the moment. The Kim-Zhangs had their breakfast and went about their daily hour. 

Making sure that the children were busy with their robots in the living room, Yixing headed to the kitchen where Junmyeon was seated with his head slumped on the table. He stood behind the elder, massaging his shoulders silently to ease the knots. Junmyeon closed his eyes and let out a low sigh, not moving his head from his position. 

'I'm thinking of quitting the law firm,' he finally spoke. A few more minutes passed before he reasoned out. 

'This is not what I wan--- I mean, I've loved being a lawyer, yes. But... the new head of the law firm's... his strategies, his methods... I can't get with them, Yixing! I mean, he's cheating them! Just two weeks ago, for example. His neighbour filed a small case against him for swindling him - know what he did? He got Yifan to act in his defense. The neighbour lost the case for no reason, no fault of his. He had to pay up, too! Yifan and I were just talking about it that day - some have already quit. This is too much,' the elder groaned. Yixing knelt beside him and squeezed his knee, peeking from under his arms.

'Hey, listen.'

Junmyeon slowly opened his eyes and looked at his husband. 

'Whatever you do, I'll support you, okay? If you wanna quit, it's all right.'

'But where will I get a new job from? At least---'

'We'll find something, darling. We'll get through this together,' Yixing cut in, grabbing a hand and placing a kiss to each finger. They looked into each other's eyes quietly and Junmyeon nodded. Just then, the door bell rang. Yixing headed out the kitchen and answered the door. 

'UNCLE XINGIE~!' Luhan squealed, hugging the adult's knees together. Jongin stood aside, making circles on the ground with his foot. 

'I'm really sorry for this... Min's busy in Gangnam and I've to go perform at a concert - really have to practice now.'

'No worries, Jongdae,' the Chinese male waved off with a dimpled smile. 

'By the way, did Chanyeol contact you?'

'Huh? Oh, yeah. To produce the music of a new drama.'

Jongdae nodded and the two spoke some more. Jongdae left with another apology and Yixing poked Jongin's cheek, making the child blush. 

'Let's go in, kiddo,' he laughed, letting the tanned boy hold his index finger. Luhan ran into the living room, only to find abandoned robots. 

'Where's Hun?' he whined. Almost immediately, Zitao ran down the stairs and tackled Jongin. 

'Hyung~!' he chirped, grabbing his hand and leading him to the room. Sehun appeared from behind the yellow door and his face lit up upon seeing Luhan. 

'Lulu!' 

The two children scrambled toward each other and were caught in a tight hug, much to Yixing's amusement. He quietly took his phone out and snapped three pictures, chuckling to himself. Junmyeon entered the living room, only to be called by Zitao. 

'Apba~!' he squealed. 'My blue crayons are missing!' 

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the four children playing medieval with the play house Junmyeon and Yixing had bought as a Christmas gift for Sehun and Zitao. 

'I have to finish up preparing lunch,' Junmyeon whispered to Yixing, who was busy rebuttoning Jongin's shirt. He nodded to his husband and bit his lower lip in contemplation. 

'Follow me, kids!' he piped up. The children obediently followed him into his sound-proof room. 

'Don't touch anything, okay?'

'What are we doing here, uncle?' Jongin his thumb with wide eyes. 

'I'm going to teach you some of my favourite nursery rhymes, okay?' he replied, setting his keyboard up and gently pulling Jongin's thumb out.