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Hyunki's first word: Iron Man.

When Lee Taemin and Choi Minho joined hands and got married in a small chapel overseas, they thought that life was as good as it could get. They didn’t know, at first, that their lives could be so much happier with just a little addition—until their good friends, Kibum and Jinki, also a married couple, showed them directions to an orphanage downtown.

And a month later with a hefty amount of preparations, Taemin and Minho went home with the newest addition to the family; Lee-Choi Hyunki. A two-month old baby, left at the doors of the orphanage by his mother a month ago, and he was the most adorable thing on the face of the Earth.

Although, he was a bit small for a two-month old, Hyunki was as healthy was a baby could get, and as cute as a person could be with a cute little nose and big brown eyes that stared up at his parents whenever he was awake.

Taemin, the self-proclaimed ‘umma’, instantly fell in love with he and Minho’s adopted child. He was constantly cooing over Hyunki every chance he got—which was every minute of every day even when he was at work. He instantly became a loving mother-slash-father to his son, and Taemin swore to himself that he would spend every waking minute of his life caring and loving his baby with all his heart. Hyunki was his life now.

On the other hand, Minho was not on a different page. He had been ecstatic when he and his boyfriend of five years exchanged rings in America, but when they adopted the cute little Hyunki a month later—he had been the most grateful man on Earth, swearing to himself that he would do everything to keep his family healthy and happy. He swore to himself that he, with all his might and passion, would care for his son and husband until the day he died.

Hyunki didn’t know it at that time, but he was probably the luckiest baby in the world to have parents like Taemin and Minho. Because the two men cherished their baby son night and day, and swore to God that Hyunki was going to be the happiest boy in the world.

But, of course—life couldn’t be that easy.

The cries of the two-month old baby boy broke through the serene silence of the night. One of the two lumps on the bed awoke, just slightly, and nudged the other lump that was still passed out despite their baby wailing in the other room.

"Your baby is crying.”

Minho rolled away from his husband's prodding hand, his brain less than half-awake at the ungodly hour of the night, "Before sunrise, he's your baby,” he muttered back, burying his face back into the pillows.

“Damn.”

Taemin sighed at the fact that it was his turn to wake up that night, for Minho had already done his turn a few hours ago. Slowly returning to consciousness, Taemin slipped into his fluffy slippers and dragged himself to Hyunki’s nursery.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Taemin cooed, eyes half-opened as he picked up his son from the crib. Hyunki continued to wail his little heart out, for reasons that his father had yet to find out.

“Are you hungry? Is that it? Or did you poop your nappy?” Taemin asked as he looked down Hyunki’s diaper, thanking God when he found it empty.

“Waaaaaaaaaah!” Hyunki cried louder. I’m hungry, dammit! Appa, feed me!

“Alright, alright.”

Taemin deduced from the lack of poop that his baby was hungry, so he went downstairs to fetch him a warm bottle of milk from the bottle rack. He gently put it to Hyunki’s small mouth, the baby instantly accepting the that produced his food.

Ah, finally, appa! Hyunki shut up and drank his delicious milk. Taemin sighed in relief when his siren of a son finally stopped wailing, and rested his head against the fridge as he waited for his baby to finish drinking.

“Why is being a parent so hard?” Taemin whined into the silence of the night, eyes getting droopier and droopier with each passing minute.

Because you chose this path, appa. Kekeke. Goodnight.

Taemin smiled down at his precious baby, who had finally fallen asleep after getting his fill of a late-night snack. He trudged back upstairs and put Hyunki back in his crib, before falling back into a coma beside his equally exhausted husband.

Neither of them was ever going to complain about the hardships of being parents to an eight-week old baby, but the eyebags were really getting serious.

Kibum snickered in amusement as he watched his best friend falling asleep while watching some mindless show on TV.

The novice parent had visited the Kim-Lee residence for his day-off, and because Minho had to go to work, he brought their son along with him for Kibum to take care of. Kibum had already gotten his parent training from his own adopted daughter, a seventh-month old baby girl named Jinri—so watching over another baby was as easy as pie.

Kibum was, after all, almighty.

However, he didn’t fail to notice that Taemin seemed to be getting pushed to the edge with being a new parent. The once lively twenty-three year old now had dark bags under his eyes from the late night wake-up calls, a slight slouch in his standing that Kibum greatly disapproved of, as well as the constant falling asleep wherever he went to during the day.

Kibum felt sorry for his friend, but that was just the way it is. There was no easy way around being a parent, and he learned that the hard way with his own baby. But no matter how hard it was to be a good parent, it was always worth it in the end.

Kibum put Hyunki to bed for an afternoon nap, and then let his best friend sleep on their couch. His husband was at work, too, while Jinri was at her grandmother’s, so he practically had nothing to do but watch over his two babies.

He decided to make dinner for his husband and friend, and probably Minho, too if he wasn’t too tired later. It had been a while since their last dinner as a group, and Kibum missed hanging out with his old friends.

"Kibummie, I'm home!" then came the familiar voice of his husband. Jinki then regretted crying out and slamming the door when he saw Taemin sleeping on the couch, the dark bags under his eyes making Jinki feel sorry for the younger man.

"In here," Kibum called from the kitchen, "Quiet, Taeminnie's asleep."

"Yeah, I saw," Jinki replied as he set his coat down on one of the chairs in the kitchen, "What's up? Is he staying for dinner?"

"But of course, my dear husband," Kibum smiled, "Call up Minho while Taemin's asleep. The poor boys haven't been getting enough sleep with Hyunki around; Taemin's falling asleep whenever he has the chance! I even saw him drooping when we went shopping last weekend."

"Oh," said Jinki, "Isn't it the same with what we experienced when we adopted Jinri?" he said, chuckling at the memory of the both of them practically being walking dead while getting used to the parent life.

"Yep, but Jinri was way harder to take care of than Hyunki. She's a feisty little one, I tell you. Just like me."

"That's right. People wouldn't even ask if you two are blood related or not when she grows up."

Kibum smiled, "Yeah, but I just hope she doesn't get your sangtae."

"A Kim-Lee is not a Kim-Lee without sangtae."

"No! Don't doom my daughter with your curse!"

"Yah, she's my daughter, too."

“Waaaaaaaaahhh!”

Taemin groaned as Hyunki woke him up for the second time that night. He made to stand up to attend to his son, but a hand shot up from the covers and stopped him before he could sit.

“I got it, baby. Go back to sleep,” Minho said to him lovingly, pushing his husband back down. Taemin complied without another word, and fell asleep as Minho shushed their crying son in the other room.

Appa, I peed! I peed! Change meeeeee!

Minho scrunched his nose when the familiar smell of urine hit his nose. Carrying his baby to the changing table, he replaced Hyunki’s wet nappy with a new one, after wiping Hyunki’s with baby wipes. “Let your daddies sleep, ne? We need to be awake at work so you’ll have a wonderful life, Hyunki~” Minho cooed as he cradled his son in his arms.

But appa, I can't help it. I pee and poop and eat. Get used to it!

Minho started singing a lullaby to his son; a familiar song that his own mother used to sing to him when he was little. His voice enchanted the baby's eyes to droop and breathing to steady, and after a few more minutes--Hyunki was asleep in his father’s arms. Minho carefully placed him back in his crib, then went back to the other room to resume his much needed sleep.

"Finally," he groaned into his pillow.

He had been thinking of adopting another child after Hyunki had grown up a little, but right then, Minho wasn’t so sure if he wanted to go through with it all over again.

Nevertheless, he liked the challenge. And he loved Hyunki and his husband too much to give up on them—no matter how the interruptions in his sleep slowly took a toll on his health.

Time flew by fast, and Hyunki turned six months old. He rarely woke up in the middle of the night now as a result of his growth, and he became cuter and cuter everyday. Taemin and Minho then took thousands of pictures of their adorable baby boy, completely in awe of their son’s milky skin and adorable doe eyes. If it weren’t for the fact that Hyunki was adopted, Taemin would’ve proclaimed to people that he was the one who had been pregnant with their baby—because Hyunki looked a bit like them, with Minho’s doe eyes and Taemin’s fair skin.

They couldn’t be more grateful for an angel like their baby, as Hyunki made his parents happy each and every day even just with his angelic smile.

“Minho, when do you think he’ll learn how to talk?” Taemin mused on a certain afternoon, as he relaxed on the bed with his husband, with his head laid on the older’s shoulder.

“I don’t know. When he’s one, I guess,” Minho replied, twirling a piece of Hyunki’s hair with his finger. Their son was lying comfortably on Minho’s chest, on his stomach and looking like a cherub laying on the clouds with the position.

“Time sure goes by fast, doesn’t it? It seems as if it was just last week when he was so small,” Taemin pouted, “Now he’s so big and getting cuter everyday.”

“I know,” the older man agreed with a smile, “Next thing we know, he’s already starting school and leaving us alone all day.”

Taemin shook his head, “No! I don’t want him to grow up yet! Can’t we just keep him like this? I want him to be a cute baby forever~”

“Don’t worry, Tae. We still have a lot of years to go,” Minho assured him, “And it just keeps getting harder and harder, remember that. Toddlers areway more of a handful. I mean, just look at your nephew, Yoogeun.”

“Yeah, but toddlers are fun to raise, Yoogeun's just been given too much candy by his father,” Taemin giggled, “I bet Hyunki will be the cutest boy at the playground when he grows up to Yoogeun's age. Girls will be chasing him all around, he’ll be the most popular kid in preschool.”

“Ahh, I can just imagine it. He would be just like me, popular and well-liked," Minho said smugly, "We’ll dress him up in a blue jumper and polo shirts. And then we’ll keep his hair a bit longer so he’ll be cuter.”

“And a froggy backpack with a matching lunchbox, so he’ll always be reminded of you~”

Minho rolled his eyes, “Yes, that, too. And he’ll have Power Rangers shoes like Yoogeun.”

“Nah, I want him to be raised with superheroes by his side. Like the Avengers. He’ll love the Avengers.”

“Mmm, especially Iron Man,” the older agreed, “And he’ll play soccer like I did when I was a kid, as well as basketball and ice hockey. And then we can all go out in winter to play at the lake, so he can beat his own umma at hockey.”

“Yah, I’m not that bad,” Taemin whined.

“Mmm, sure you are.”

“Ani.”

There was a pregnant pause in their conversation, but not one that was awkward. It was one of those times that they just ran out of things they could talk about, and it happened often since husbands talk about everything. Well, at least the two did.

The silence continued until there was a small stirring on Minho’s chest. Smiles broke into their faces as they watched their pretty little angle stir awake, slowly opening his diamond almond eyes.

“Goodmorning, baby~” they both cooed.

What? When did I fell asleep? Appa and his lullabies! Unfair!

Hyunki, although waking up on a warm ‘bed’ and in the presence of his two dads, began crying as he was met with a hunger in his stomach. Minho and Taemin immediately scrambled downstairs to feed their baby, as well as settle peace in the entire house.

“Ah, he sure is hard to satisfy, isn’t he? Always wanting breakfast as soon as he wakes up,” Minho commented with a click of the tongue.

His husband chuckled and agreed, “It’s our fault anyways—we treat him like a little prince.”

“Well, that’s because he is.”

“Mmmhmm, Prince Hyunki.”

Hyunki looked at the both of them curiously as he drank his warm breakfast, as if contemplating on the idea.

Well, it was no wonder if he grew up to be a prince. To have parents like Taemin and Minho--no child would be spared with the amounts of love they had to give, just like what they have given their beloved little boy.

"A prince? Only our baby Hyunki."