“What happened?” Jinyoung asked when Shinwoo came back from the kitchen that night, it was already late and he was just finished wrapping the presents for the twins “Is everything alright?”

“I’m not quite sure” Shinwoo said “We had a little problem back there”

“Junghwan?”

“And the cake”

“The cake?” Jinyoung asked, alarmed

“Yes, it’s pretty bad but…” Shinwoo said before Jinyoung could get too nervous “don’t get too mad okay? You know that’s just the way he is, plus, your mom said she was going to take care of it”

“My mom catch Junghwan eating the cake in the middle of the night? Oh god, poor kid”

“In reality, she seemed pretty okay with it” Shinwoo said thoughtfully “She was even cleaning his face and all, and she even said something about how our family was pretty”

“Are you kidding me right?”

“It was pretty weird, actually”

Jinyoung sat in bed and looked up to Shinwoo, smiling. The weight of his shoulders magically lifted as he wondered something “Do you think she’s softening? Do you think we’re that lucky?”

Shinwoo sat down next to him and put an arm around his spouse, holding him hard “I don’t think lucky has nothing to do with this” he said “I think we really are a great family, I think you really are a special father"

Jinyoung snuggled down to Shinwoo’s chest and stayed there for a while, eyes closed. “Thank you, special mom” he said finally.

He got a kiss on his head in return.

***

His eomma and appa woke him up first in the morning, it was school day, so they had to get up extra early if they wanted to sing happy birthday and eat cake before leaving to school, but seeing his hyung’s expressions when they woke up to a lot of balloons and presents was worth it.

Jung grandma and grandpa were up, too. Grandma was in the kitchen, preparing breakfast, and god only knew what grandpa was doing. Gongchan had his presents ready; he had go with his appa to buy some candy for Junghwan-hyung and a cap for Baro, all with his savings, and he just wanted to see their faces when they opened the packages.

“I’ll wake up Baro-hyung!” he said outside their bedroom. He wanted to tickle his feet, so Baro would know what it felt like to be awakened by annoying tickles in the early morning.

“I’ll wake up Junghwannie then” said his eomma, who started giving the oldest brother kisses in the forehead as soon as they entered the room.

“Eomma, noo, I’m sleeeeeeepy” that was Junghwan, who didn’t want to open his eyes while he was carried to his twin’s bed. Baro was laughing because of the tickles his brother was giving him.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY HYUNGS!” Channie screamed and ran to give each one a hug.

“Happy birthday babies!” both parents said and then they gave their children the presents.

Sunwoo got a whole South Korean soccer uniform courtesy of his parents and the cap from Channie, while Junghwan got a Mike for karaoke and candies, their eyes widened with cheerfulness. Shinwoo eomma was taking pictures with his phone, Sunwoo trying on his uniform over his pajamas.

“How do I look?” he asked, his hair still messy from the pillow

His brothers gave him their thumbs-up “like a mmmh-star”

“Junghwannie leave those candies alone, we haven’t even had breakfast yet” said his appa, worried.

“Besides there’s cake hyung!” Channie told him, like giving him the most special news of the day. But Junghwan’s face went blank for a moment, and then he hurriedly gave his eomma a scared glare.

Shinwoo just smiled.

Junghwan couldn’t remember a moment when he was more relieved than when he saw the cake on the breakfast table, shaped like a star, each plate with a slice, not a clue of the bites he had taken. It even looked better than when it was just a regular circular cake, and Sunwoo was so excited when he saw it that he probably didn’t notice that he wasn’t cheering for the pastrie himself.

The boy looked around for his grandma, who was just coming back from the kitchen with a plate full of warm bread. She just winked at him.

***

“You’re not going to share?” Baro asked him when they were sitting in the backseat of the car in their way to school. Junghwan had a lot of candy, but he hadn’t offered him or Gongchan any of it.

“No, they’re mmmmh-ine” the kid said chewing pieces of chocolate. “You had cake in the morning, Baro-yah”

“Huyng” Gongchan interrupted “You had three slices”

“It’s my birthday”

“It’s also mine” Baro whined

“But these are my candies”

“Fine, but don’t come to me when you get a stomachache”

“Fine”

In the front seats, Jinyoung was giving Shinwoo a worried look. He didn’t want to have and take Junghwan to the doctor because of his belly aching. Shinwoo just kissed his hand and smiled, focusing again on the road ahead of them, he’s gonna be alright.

Sunwoo tought that the best present he could ever get on his birthday was a kiss from Miss. Cho, he didn’t even noticed that his brother got one too. He just felt the butterflies on his tummy once again when the pretty lady ruffled his hair and put on his hat again, telling him he was becoming a ‘handsome young man’. Maybe that meant he was one step closer to have her heart.

“Attention, class!” Miss Cho called, snapping Baro out of his daydream, he noticed how she was looking specially at him, so he sat straighter in the chair “As you know, we’ve been preparing the Happy Prince play for the last few weeks”

A group ‘yes, Songsaengnim’ was heard in the classroom. Miss. Cho smiled, making the butterflies inside Baro go crazy.

“I’m happy to announce you that you are going to perform it this Saturday on the school theatre!” she seemed pleased with the cheers the kids gave her “I want you to invite your families, so they can see how hard you’ve worked”

Now, she was really looking at him. Sunwoo knew he was the most important character on the play, so Miss. Cho was probably expectant about how his acting would turn out. He wasn’t going to disappoint her.

He didn’t notice he was smiling until his cheeks started to hurt after a while.

Channie’s puppy eyes were looking at them from the door, Sunwoo waved at him from his desk, inviting him in. Luckily, Gongchan wasn’t a shy kid, otherwise he would be pretty ashamed of walking into a classroom full of older kids.

“Hyung!” he said happily “I’ve heard you’re going to perform the Happy Prince this weekend. Congratulations”

Baro liked how Gongchan seemed genuinely proud of him. It made him feel like a star. “You have to be there, first row, taking pictures!”

“Of course Hyung! You’ll be the best prince ever and eomma and appa will be so happy about it” Gongchan had a sudden thought “yah, are you going to tell Grandma and Grandpa?”

“Grandma would be alright, but grandpa…”

“Yes I know, I don’t think he might want to come…” Channie said, blue. “Hyung, what’s wrong?” he asked his oldest brother, he hadn’t said a word since he arrived.

“Nothing” Junghwan replied, hurriedly. But his eyes were teary and his hand was on his tummy, suspiciously.

Baro frowned. “Deul-ah, do you have a stomachache?”

“No” the boy said but something twinge inside him, making him go ‘ow’

“I told you not to bother me” Baro said, mad

“I’m not bothering you!”

“Yah, Hyung, you should’ve listened to Baro-hyung” Gongchan sighed.

Junghwan just pouted in response. “I think you should tell both grandma and grandpa, you have to be polite” he held his tummy tighter.

Baro wanted to be mad, but he didn’t even noticed when he sat down next to his twin and started patting his shoulders “I know but I really hope he would fall in a hole and die eaten alive by carnivore worms.”

“That’s gross” Sandeul said, half smiling

“Gross is you farting in the middle of the night, shut up”

“Maybe if he comes, and sees how awesome you are…” Gongchan tried

“We already tried that, remember? There’s no use with grandpa, and even if he likes me –I can’t blame him- I wouldn’t like him because he doesn’t like eomma and appa being in love”

***

Baro waited until dinner to give them the news.

They were all sitting at the table, their appa and eomma going and coming with trays full of food to celebrate their dinner party. His grandma and Gongchan were chatting lightly, Junghwan had his eyes fixed on the food, his stomachache long forgotten. The only one who seemed bitter was his grandpa, but he was always like that, so Baro guessed it was a time as good as any.

Hold on he told his twin with his gaze when the food was set on the table and everybody was ready to eat. Junghwan frowned but stayed on his seat. Baro coughed, then again, until every pair of eyes was focused on him.

“We’re going to perform the Happy Prince on the school theatre” he said, as if it was nothing

“I love that play” Grandma said “Your grandfather used to see it all the time”

“Baro hyung plays the part of the prince” Gongchan said, proudly.

“Is that true?” his grandma seemed particularly pleased “I didn’t know you liked to act”

“I like it a lot. And, we’re performing this Saturday, I want you all to come!”

Jinyoung smiled “We wouldn’t miss it, right Shinwoo?”

“Right”

“Are you coming grandma? Grandpa? I’ll play the piano” said Junghwan, who was proud of himself, too.

The old man didn’t say a word, but his wife held his hand and spoke for the both of them “We’ll be there”

It was almost time for bed and Jinyoung was preparing the boys to sleep, putting them on their fluffy pajamas and listening to everyday-excuses for not going to bed just yet.

“I’m not sleepy” Baro said, jumping in bed “I want to watch Pororo”

“Pororo is asleep and so should you” Jinyoung remembered him “You are going to need extra energy to practice tomorrow”

“Can I have a yoghurt? A sandwich?” Junghwan asked with an angelic face “Is for extra-energy”

“Nice try, but you don’t need it” Jinyoung tickled him in the belly and put him in bed “Try to sleep”

“Appa! I want a bedtime story!!”

Gongchan almost never asked for anything, so Jinyoung was surprised when he heard his littlest child speak from his bed, well tucked but wide awake. It was already late, but maybe a bedtime story wasn’t a bad idea.

“Let me do this”

“Grandma!”

Jinyoung turned around just to see his mom entering the room, she was smiling, a thing Jinyoung had to still get used to. She put his hand on his shoulder, comforting.

“Your appa loved it when I told him stories” the lady said “I still have some stories untold. But…” she made a pause “before that, I have to ask you something boys, I know I haven’t given you any presents in a long time, and considering the twin’s birthday was today and the fact that I’m feeling a lot better, I was wondering if you wanted to spend tomorrow’s evening with me”

The boy yelled ‘YES’ in a chorus.

Gaining their grandma was probably the best thing they’ve ever done.

***

Shinwoo entered his room from the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel on his waist, his wet hair dripping water to his shoulders. Jinyoung was in bed, watching TV, not really focused.

“Nice belly” he told him, eyeing him from the corner of his eyes

“I used to have abs” Shinwoo laughed, putting on his boxers “you know, when we were young”

“When you used to rap”

“That, too”

“What are you doing?” Jinyoung said when he saw Shinwoo choosing a shirt to sleep on “Don’t dress, I want a close up”

“To what?”

“Kids are sleeping” Jinyoung said instead.

“Your parents are here” Shinwoo said, amused.

“You ert, I wasn’t thinking about ”

“Liar” Shinwoo sat down in bed next to Jinyoung, just a tank top and boxers and wet hair. The skinny man was all the same, except that he was dry and warm, perfect for Shinwoo to cuddle with. “I think our kids are trying to impress your dad”

Jinyoung sighed “I don’t think my dad’s heart will ever soften”

“Don’t say that, everybody can change”

“I don’t know, Shinwoo. I seriously don’t know anymore”

Shinwoo leaned over and kissed him softly on the forehead, his hair gently. He didn’t know what to say, and sometimes, all you can do is be there, so he tried to be.

 Next day…

Baro, Junghwan and Gongchan were waiting outside school, but their grandma didn’t appear anywhere. They were getting worried when they finally saw their car approaching to the sidewalk, but it wasn’t their eomma who was driving.

It was his grandpa. And their grandma was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m not going in the car with him” Baro told his brothers.

Inside the car, the old man was probably thinking the exact same thing.