Jaejoong fumbled with the keys in his pocket, struggling to take them out. His arms were too full to hold anything else and it was too cold for him to feel anything. He was forced to put the grocery bags on the ground before he was able to finally get his keys out. He grumbled to himself about investing in a stroller as he jiggled his keys in the lock, with a baby car seat hooked around his other arm and a toddler running around his legs complaining about how cold it was.

He felt a sudden sense of relief when the door finally opened.

“Cold~~!” His two-year-old son ran into the small apartment.

Jaejoong tiredly knelt down and picked up the grocery bags and entered the apartment, shutting the door behind him with the back of his foot. He quickly dropped the loaded paper bags on the kitchen table and placed the baby carrier onto one of the chairs. He lifted the blanket surprised to find that his 9-month-old was still fast asleep.

Today had probably been one of the worst days to go shopping. It was the coldest day of the season so far, but he didn’t have a choice. He’d been too busy with work that he didn’t have time to go out earlier, and he couldn’t wait any longer or else everything he needed would’ve been sold out. He was barely able to find everything he needed now, he had to travel to various stores. He didn’t mind shopping in the cold, but it was different when he had to take to young children with him.

He was afraid that one of the kids would get sick, so he bundled them up as much as possible, which neither of them liked too much. But he was relieved that his youngest baby fell asleep for most of their trip, his main concern ended up being his over hyper two-year-old who kept running around to get warm and continued to run around the apartment.

Jaejoong carefully picked up the baby from the carrier, cradling him gently in his arm. If he could get him to sleep for another hour that would give him enough time to at least start what he needed to get done.

“Daehyun, please don’t run around.” Daehyun called, unable to see where he ran off to, but could clearly hear the rapid pitter-patter of small feet against the hollow floors.

“But Appa I’m cold~!!” The two-year-old continued to run.

“Daehyun.” Jaejoong’s voice became firm as he stepped out the kitchen.

The toddler immediately stopped in front of him. However, his body continued to move and jitter, unable to stay completely still.

Jaejoong mentally chuckled to himself. “How about you help me put your baby brother to bed and then I’ll make you some tea?” He suggested.

The boy’s face lit up. “Okay!”

Jaejoong smiled to himself, following his son into the only bedroom in the apartment. Every little thing made the two-year-old happy. He was enthusiastic about every and anything. It was both nice and cute, however, it still concerned Jaejoong.

Daehyun was too trusting and it concerned him that it’d get him hurt one day. He knew he’d have to teach him, but he wasn’t sure just how to do so yet, without making him think the world is a scary place.

“Good Night Jaehyunnie~…” Daehyun pressed his ace against the crib as his father placed the infant carefully inside the crib. He watched the tiny human in awe, “Appa, why does Jaehyun sleep when it’s not nighttime?” he looked at his father who seemed far much bigger than his baby brother.

Jaejoong thought to himself before answering, “Because he’s still growing. He needs lots of sleep so he can grow big like you and me. And some babies tend to sleep more than others.” Jaejoong shrugged near the end.

Jaehyun was a calm infant and spent most of his time sleeping. He showed very little emotion except for when he needed to be tended to. Otherwise, getting his approval of a smile or laugh was like winning a grand prize. Daehyun on the other hand had been the complete opposite.

He was always full of energy and bubbly. He never wanted to miss out on any of the action. He was still hard to keep up with. Jaejoong was at least grateful that he had Yunho who was able to easily match the two-year-old’s energy.

“Oh…” Daehyun made an ‘O’ shape with his mouth. He was glad that he wasn’t a baby anymore.

“Come on. Let’s go get some hot tea.” Jaejoong held out his hand.

Daehyun grabbed onto his fingers and followed him out the bedroom. Little did he know that his father was luring him into a nap after a short snack.

Jaejoong helped the toddler climb onto the chair stacked with phonebooks before quickly heading to the stove to make some tea and a small snack. Jaejoong boiled the hot water and heated up a small bowl of homemade cinnamon maple apple sauce that he made earlier in the week while Daehyun sang random tunes to himself, some of what barely contained audible words.

Jaejoong kept a close eye on him, checking in on him every couple of minutes. His oldest son was notorious for running off when you kept your eyes of him too long and the last thing Jaejoong needed was him jumping off the chair and hurting himself.

The little boy’s eyes lit up when the small bowl of apple sauce and tea were placed in front of him. Jaejoong sat down next to him with his own larger cup of tea. He wrapped a white and red gingerbread themed bib around his son’s neck before allowing him to finally eat.

“Appa, I can feed myself.” Daehyun told his father when he reached for the spoon.

Jaejoong paused trying to process what he just said.

“Appa, I can feed myself.” Daehyun repeated innocently.

Jaejoong looked at his son, who smiled up at him expectantly. He retracted his hand, feeling somewhat disappointed, but he had to let him start growing up. “Sure. Go ahead.” He encouraged.

Daehyun excitedly reached for his Pororo spoon.

Jaejoong watched him as he happily scooped the apple sauce and shove the spoon in his mouth. He quickly stuffed his mouth as full as he could.

“See Appa. I can feed myself.” He smiled proudly through stuffed cheeks; his face covered in sauce.

Jaejoong chuckled at how cute and proud the boy was. “Yes Dae. I see. You’re doing a great job.” He grabbed a napkin and gently wiped the residue of food off his face. “But you need to eat slower, so you don’t choke and don’t make a mess.” He advised.

“Yes Appa.” The two-year-old turned back to his snack.

He still continued to make a mess, but eventually got the hang of it. Jaejoong assisted him in drinking his tea to prevent him from burning himself.

Thankfully, Daehyun felt sleepy after his snack, so Jaejoong didn’t have any issues putting him to bed for his mid-day nap. After putting him to bed, Jaejoong suddenly felt exhausted but he couldn’t go to sleep yet, he had to wrap gifts while the boys were sleep and while Yunho was out. The younger will be home any minute now.

He gathered the gift-wrapping supplies and quickly took out his hidden gifts. He had to be creative in how he hid them since he lived in a small space and Daehyun and Yunho were impatient and notorious for snooping around, especially his husband who sometimes used their son to find his gifts. But the two of them were no match for him. Jaejoong was a pro at hiding gifts, after living with his brother and mother most of his life, and they were the nosiest people he’s ever known.

His phone suddenly rang in the middle of his gift-wrapping. He quickly answered the phone, afraid that it’d wake up his sons. He mentally cursed himself for forgetting to lower the volume. “Hello?”

“Jae.” It was Yunho, he clearly sounded cold.

“I finally got a tree!” He announced. They were a little late on Christmas this year. They’d been busy with their work and their two new additions to their family that they’d lost track of time, as a result it was difficult for them to find what they needed, especially a Christmas tree. However, there was no way they could go the season without a tree. Their son had been talking about it all year. Yunho spent the last few days hunting for a tree.

“Great!” Jaejoong sighed in relief. He was afraid to break the news to the toddler about not having a tree, especially since that was all he asked for. “Are you here?”

“Yeah, but um…I’m gonna need help bringing it inside.” His husband said.

“I’ll be right there.” Jaejoong hung up and quickly put his gifts away. He made sure that there was no trace of gift-wrapping before heading out the apartment.

He walked across the second floor to the next set of stairs. He was going to head to the parking lot when he spotted Yunho having a large tree up the stairs.

His eyes slightly widened. He ran into the middle of the stairs and lifted the other end of the tree, afraid that he’d hurt himself. “I told you I was coming.” He slightly scolded.

They stopped when they reached the door to their apartment. Jaejoong studied the tree as Yunho went to unlock the door. “Yunho.” He finally said, the sharpness of his tone nearly startling the younger. “This tree is way too big.” He said when his husband turned to face him. “How were you even able to afford this?” He questioned, already ready to panic.

“It was the last tree and I got it at a really good price.” Yunho quickly assured him, but he wasn’t convinced. But he decided not to argue about it now, it was too cold. They’ll have to talk about it later.

“How are we going to get this inside? It’s too big to fit through the door. Deals are useless if you can’t even use the item.” Jaejoong placed his hands on his hips, knowing well that his husband didn’t consider that.

Yunho stared at the tree for a few seconds before shrugging. “It’s just a tree. Its branches will bend anyway.” He didn’t see the problem.

Jaejoong sighed. He doubted the logic, but it doesn’t hurt to try.<