Minseok: 11

Luhan: almost 11

Joonmyun and Jongdae: 8

Baekhyun: almost 7

Chanyeol: 5

Tao: almost 5

Sehun: almost 4

Hayoung: 2

Jiejun: 14 months

Kyungsoo was out with Yixing shopping for shoes for the girls, Jiejun had just started walking and Hayoung was going through a growth spurt so they’d decided to go together. They’d taken Zitao and Sehun with them too because both of them would have spent the whole afternoon following Jongin around telling him how unfair it was that the babies got to do everything if they’d been left behind. So that left Jongin with six children to look after. He’d been a bit worried at first, Baekhyun was going through a whiny phase and Chanyeol had been throwing some pretty impressive tantrums lately but so far it had been fine. Joonmyun was sitting at the kitchen table with his homework, keeping him company while he made dinner and Jongdae was sitting opposite him working on a lego set his grandma had gotten him for Christmas. Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Minseok and Luhan were out in the garden getting rid of some excess energy. All was quiet, and all was good.

And then the silence was broken by an ear-splitting scream from the garden. Jongin froze, carrots he’d been about to drop in the pot still in his hand. No further scream followed. He didn’t know if this was a good sign or a bad sign. Probably a bad sign he decided, dropping the carrots and hurrying for the door. A lot of screaming, that meant an argument over a football or a some kind of chasing game. But one scream followed by silence? That surely meant trouble. But before he could make it to the door and out into the garden his six-year-old son was barrelling into his legs “Dad!” Baekhyun shouted as he fought to keep his balance, out of breath and eyes wide. “He says it isn’t broken but it is, it’s so so broken. I think it might even fall off.”

“You think what might fall off?” Jongin asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

“His arm.” Baekhyun told him, as if he should have known that already. “I think we need an ambulance.”

Okay, that didn’t sound good. Baekhyun had a flare for dramatics it was true but even if only a small part of what he said was right then that was very, very bad. Kyungsoo and Yixing were not going to be impressed if they came home to find children with broken bones.

“Minseok hyung's really sad about it.” Baekhyun said as he followed his father into the garden. Jongdae and Joonmyun had hopped down from the table and were following too, obviously hoping for some drama. “But it wasn’t his fault, it was Chanyeol’s. He was the one who threw the ball in the tree.”

‘Really sad’ was an understatement. Minseok was standing in the middle of the garden, crying his eyes out. Luhan was standing on his right, looking worried and a confused looking Chanyeol was patting him on the back telling him “it’s okay Hyung, it was a accident,” as Minseok tried to catch his breath.

And since Minseok was the one that was in pieces Jongin automatically assumed he was the one who’d broken his arm. “Hey,” he said softly, trying not to scare him and make him jump. If his arm was broken he shouldn’t be moving it, making him jump wasn’t going to help there. “It’s okay. Show me your arm and we’ll see how bad it is.”

“His arm’s fine.” Baekhyun scoffed, coming to stand beside him and giving him a look that clearly said he thought he was an idiot. “He didn’t fall out of the tree.”

“Then who…” Jongin started to ask. Then his gaze fell on Luhan. Luhan who was standing beside Minseok, his face pale and tear streaked, cradling his arm against his chest. No. No, no, no. It had been bad enough when he thought it was Minseok. Kyungsoo would have been absolutely livid. But Luhan… what was Yixing going to do when he found out Jongin had let his first born climb a tree and break his arm? He might never forgive him. But no, he needed to calm down, it might not be so bad. Baekhyun had said it was ‘so so broken’, but what