He opens his eyes and stretches, reveling in the sudden pops of his spine and the relief they bring. Yixing and Jongin are still in the bed, sleeping soundly.

He gets up and makes a quick breakfast; carefully remembering what Yixing had told him about the milk and cereals that gave him trouble.

He hears his phone ringing from the bedroom, and as he moves to go pick it up, Yixing shows up at the kitchen with the device on his hands.

“Morning Appa,” Yixing he says handing the phone to him. He has Jongin’s hand in his, the smaller one rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Hello?” he answers the call.

“Junmyeon, hey, I was hoping you were awake,” the voice at the other end speaks.

“Luhan, hey, yeah you caught me making breakfast,” he laughs. “What’s up?”

“Minseok told me about Yixing, is he ok?” His friend asks and Junmyeon is thankful for the concern. Luhan and Minseok were probably the best friends they could have asked for.

“I think he will be, we just gotta be more careful about what he eats.” He decides Yixing’s other part of the story is better told in person, so he’ll wait until dinner on Friday.

“That’s good I was worried sick. Zitao had commented about Yixing not feeling good during lunch breaks.” He still sounds anxious and Junmyeon wishes he were right in front of him, to talk face to face. “Minseok also told me about tomorrow. We can take Jongin in tonight if you want, I’m sure the kids would be thrilled to have him for the night, and so you can go to the hospital early tomorrow without worries.”

“That would actually save my life, thanks a lot, Luhan. I’ll drop him off later this afternoon. Is that ok?” He’s grateful they are willing to take him since they’ll probably spend all of tomorrow in the hospital with Yixing. If everything goes well then they’ll be back home by nighttime.

“No problem, man. What are friends for? Ok gotta finish breakfast. Talk to you later Junmyeon. Bye!”

“Bye, Lu.” He puts the phone on the counter. “Morning baby, how was your night?” Junmyeon asks Yixing. He moves around the kitchen expertly while Yixing settles Jongin in a chair and then moves to set bowls and cutlery on the table.

“It was good,” he smiles.

“I’m gonna talk to Baekhyun today, ok?”

“Ok.” Junmyeon thinks Yixing looks like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders and it makes him feel happy.

“Is Daddy picking us up today?” Jongin asks.

“He is,” Junmyeon answers. He goes to kneel before Jongin. “How would you like to go over to Uncle Minseok and Uncle Luhan’s for tonight?”

“Can I, really?” Jongin grins with clear excitement in his face.

“Of course! Zitao and Sehun are expecting you with lots of games,” he adds.

“Yay!” He hugs his Appa tightly then, and Yixing smiles from the other side of the table.

-

“Ok, class dismissed,” he shouts to the group of students chatting loudly inside the classroom. He likes this group, but they were especially noisy today.

Everyone quickly empties the room while Junmyeon clears his desk. As he goes to clean the board, Baekhyun beats him to it and starts doing it himself. The board is pretty large, but he only used a small part of it.

“A bit of a hectic class today, huh?” He says conversationally and Junmyeon laughs. It echoes through the big classroom.

“Were they high on something?” He finishes organizing everything and sits on the desk watching Baekhyun clean.

“We handed in a pretty big project this morning so everyone was hyped,” he explains. “Uhm, Mr. Kim, do you have a second today, you know, to talk?”

“I think I already know what you want to talk about,” Junmyeon adds. “Come, sit down.”

Baekhyun moves from the board to sit on one of the chairs in front of the desk. “You do?”

“We took Yixing to the doctor yesterday. I think you know which doctor I’m talking about,” Junmyeon says with a cheeky grin.

“Oh,” Baekhyun blushes between a few shy chuckles. “Yeah, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. And I didn’t know you were Yixing’s dad until a few days ago, but I did know about Yixing’s other dad being Jongdae’s friend from that picture Jongdae has on the living room.”

“Ah, yes, it was taken on Yifan’s birthday a few years ago. I took that picture, actually.”

Baekhyun smiles. “I hope you won’t think I’m intruding or anything.”

“Baekhyun, Jongdae may not have introduced you to us yet, and we might make his life hell for it, but Jongdae is family to us, so that makes you family. You sure make him happy and that makes us happy, too.” Junmyeon smiles broadly, hoping Baekhyun gets the point.

“Thanks a lot, sir–“

“Junmyeon, you can call me Junmyeon, just,” he lowers his voice to a whisper, “don’t let the others know.”

“Thanks, Junmyeon.” Baekhyun grins happily. “About Yixing, though.”

“I know you’ve been helping him and Kyungsoo. I bet Yunho will be delighted to hear you’ve been looking after his son,” he adds.

“Jesus, Yunho as in the Vice Dean?” Baekhyun seems shocked.

“Yeah.” Junmyeon laughs and Baekhyun joins him.

“Well, I just feel terrible that Yixing is getting crap for this. Pardon my French.”

“No worries.”

“I have a plan to keep these kids away for good. It involves my cousin Taecyeon and Jongdae’s friend Chansung.”

“Are you planning on scaring these kids by any chance?”

Baekhyun laughs sheepishly. “I am. I think it’s the only way.”

“I agree.” Baekhyun lets out a breath and Junmyeon stands up to pat him on the back. “I just want Yixing to stop hurting. Let me know if you need any help.”

“I will,” Baekhyun nods.

“Oh, and tell Jongdae that if he doesn’t make an official introduction in the next few days, I’ll personally shove my foot up his .”

-

“Dude,” Minseok whispers in Yifan’s ear. “Wake up.”

“What,” he groans loudly. “Please tell me someone’s dying, because I see no other reason for you to wake me up.”

“Not really. But I’m sure you wanna hear about Jongdae’s boy toy coming for a visit.”

Yifan sits on the bed in a heartbeat and Minseok gives him a knowing grin. “He came to the hospital?”

“Yup, I saw them on my way up from a consult. They look pretty good together. Jongdae certainly seems happier lately.”

“It’s good that he’s happy. He deserves it.” Kris tries fixing his messy nap hair and stands up. “Hey, didn’t you have a day off today? What the hell are you doing here? Do you want Luhan to chop your head off?”

“I got called in because the new guy can’t work the system yet,” he sighs. Yifan sees the tired look on his friend’s face but he also looks a lot less stressed than the past few weeks. Yifan can’t imagine putting that amount of hours in and live to tell it.

“That ,” he comments. “Looks like a nice guy, though. Is he?”

“He is. He showed me a picture of his wife and baby. Cute family.” Minseok stretches his limbs. “I should get going. Gotta go pick up the kids.”

“Oh, yeah, me too. Let’s head out together. I’m sure Zitao and Sehun will be happy to see you there. You know, Sehun asked me the other day why was I keeping you in the hospital for so long.”

“He did?” They start walking towards the parking lot in unison.

“Yeah. I told him you were helping a lot of people, but he said he needed help with his math homework too. Thank uncle Yifan here for taking him home and helping him with his homework.”

“Ah, that’s why he’s been struck with the sour-puss syndrome lately, he’s been spending time with you.”

Yifan punches Minseok in the arm as revenge. Not strongly, though. He knows Minseok has a mean right hook even though he looks tiny in comparison.

“Thanks for that, Yifan,” Minseok adds. “It’s been a tough couple weeks.”

They get to their cars, which are parked right next to each other, parking spots courtesy of the head of the hospital’s board. It’s not their fault that the guy took a liking to them after they saved his wife. Well, maybe it is.

“We’re friends, right? Your kids are practically my kids. Hell, if you die, they will be my kids.” Yifan smirks at him.

“Shut it, you moron.”

They laugh for a while and then Yifan leaves, but not before punching Minseok in the arm and making a run for it to his own car. He knows he’ll pay the next time they see each other. Which is in a few minutes at the school’s entrance.

Damn it.

---

a/n: Ok, this took me a bit longer than intended. I'm sorry ;A; I hope you guys like it! As usual any comment/question/suggestion is more than welcomed c: