“Minho?” Onew asked and the younger looked up from his magazine he was currently reading.

“Yeah?”

The older fiddled with his hands, looking like he was a bit nervous to voice what he wanted to say. “I…I…I would like to have a child,” he said and peeked at his husband who blinked dumbly.

“You…wait….what?” Minho asked overwhelmed.

“I would like to have a child,” Onew replied now a bit more confident and looked up. “I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time and I’ve already researched information and looked for orphanages but I wanted to talk to you because I didn’t know if you want a child too so…yeah…I just wanted to tell you,” he mumbled the last part quietly.

Minho gaped at his lover and needed a bit of time to get his thoughts back on the track. “Why didn’t you talk to me earlier?” he asked and Onew looked away from him.

“I don’t know…I was afraid you might wouldn’t want one.”

“Of course I want a child.”

Onew turned around to his husband with big eyes. “Really?” he asked hopefully and the other nodded.

“Of course!”

That’s how things were decided and the two lovers prepared everything they could before they drove to an orphanage around half an hour away.

“Oh god, Minho, I’m so excited,” Onew said and almost bounced next to his husband who chuckled.

“Me too,” he said and together they walked up to the front door of the big house where they rang the doorbell. An elderly woman opened the door smiling and welcomed them.

“Oh, please come in. I’m Mrs. Lee and you must be Choi Minho and Onew, right?” she asked and the two males nodded.

“This way, please. The kids are playing in the living room at the moment.” She led them through a hallway into a big kids-paradise where many children were running around happily and played together. Some women were playing with them and watching out so no one got hurt or bullied someone else.

“I’m always glad whenever someone decides to adopt from our orphanage. The children deserve to have a bright future ahead with caring parents,” Mrs. Lee said and the couple agreed with her.

“They are all so cute,” Onew said with a smile and Mrs. Lee nodded.

“Indeed, they are all little sweetheart although some of them like to make trouble.” She laughed lightly. “But that’s a part of being a child.”

They sat down and watched the children play, sometimes asking about one in particular and Mrs. Lee told them everything they knew about them. Some of them had been sent to the orphanage while others had been dropped off by the parents or relatives.

Minho and Onew hadn’t really decided on a gender but both of them tended to choose a boy since they had been boys themselves and they were afraid they couldn’t take care of a girl the right way. It may seem silly to have such concerns but who doesn’t have them?

Onew spotted a small boy who played with a fox plushy together with a girl that looked about his age and had a doll in her hand.

“Who is the boy over there?” he asked Mrs. Lee and pointed at the boy across the room.

“Oh that’s Kibum. He’s three years old, born 1991. Someone, probably his mother, dropped him off at our doorstep when he was about one and a half years old with a letter, saying she wasn’t able to take care of him anymore and to find some loving parents for her sweet, little angel.”

Onew and Minho both looked at the boy and how he seemed to explain something about the doll’s hair to the girl opposite of him.

“He’s really a very sweet child and has a strong personality. He hangs out more with the girls than with the boys but they don’t seem to mind. He’s quite the talker but also very shy around strangers,” Mrs. Lee explained with a smile.

“Could we talk to him?” Minho asked and she nodded.

“Kibum,” she called and boy looked around until he spotted the woman and smiled.

“Come over here.” she beckoned him over and Kibum stood up and ran over to her with clumsy, little steps, for now not minding the two strangers next to her. He still had the plushy in his hand as he hugged the woman’s legs.

She lifted him up onto her lap. “Kibum, say hello to Mr. and Mr. Choi, they wanted to talk to you.”

The small boy looked at the two males and hid behind his little fox that he clutched against his chest.

“Hello.” he mumbled quietly and the couple had to smile.

Kibum had dark brown hair and sharp, feline eyes. His cheeks were still chubby but it made him look even cuter. He wore some jeans, a small hoodie and colorful socks.

“Hi Kibum,” Onew said with a big smile on his face. “Is that your plushy?” he asked and pointed at the fox.

The boy nodded and looked like he tried to protect his fox from the adults.

“What’s his name?” Minho asked and Kibum’s eyes switched from them to his plushy and back again, not sure if he should answer or not. He didn’t know why those people were here but they looked friendly in his opinion…and a bit funny too.

“Kiko,” he said quietly, petting the fox’s head lovingly.

“That’s a very pretty name,” Onew said and Kibum smiled.

“I came up with it,” he said proudly and the two males smiled as his pronunciation which was still not completely accurate.

“You did?” Minho asked with big eyes and the boy nodded.

“Kibum, honey, why don’t you show these two your room?” Mrs. Lee suggested and the boy nodded happily, climbing down from her lap. They all stood up and followed the boy who started walking out of the room towards the staircase.

He noticed Onew walking next to him and quietly reached up and grabbed onto one of his fingers carefully, making Onew’s heart swell and beat faster.

He helped the boy to climb up the stairs and soon they arrived at a room with two small beds. The walls were painted with chalk pictures, colorful drawings and some toys were shattered across the floor.

“That is Kiko,” Kibum said and pointed at a picture of a fox. Well, it didn’t really look like one but you could see what it was supposed to be. The animal had four lines as legs and huge eyes. Its tail spread across the whole paper while its tummy was way too big.

“It looks really good, maybe you’ll be an artist one day,” Minho said, sounding like he was awestruck by the picture.

“I wanna be an artist when I’m five years old,” Kibum said and held up five fingers. “Then I can stay in my room and draw many pictures and then I sell then for money and then I’ll buy chocolate only for myself,” he explained, gesturing around with his small hands and arms to bring his point across.

The two males had to bite their lower lip to prevent themselves from awing at his cuteness and Minho ruffled the boy’s hair.

“I’m sure you’ll earn lots of money with your drawings.”

Kibum nodded and sat his plushy down on the bed. He ran over to his cupboard to take out a piece of paper and kneeled down on the floor, choosing a blue pencil and started drawing a tall stick man with big eyes. Then he took a green one and drew another stickman with big, messy circles as hair on top of his head which looked like a bird’s-nest. Then he picked up a pink pencil and drew another small figure next to the two others. Once he finished he stood up, took a look at his drawing and handed it over to Minho.

“That’s for me?” he asked surprised and Kibum nodded.

“That is you,” he pointed at the blue stickman. “And that is you,” he pointed at Onew and then at the green stickman on the paper. “And that is me,” he pointed at the pink one with a grin.

“Wow, it really looks like me,” Onew said and bend down to inspect the drawing. “You have a good eye for this,” he praised and Kibum draped his hands over his cheek, turning his head to the side as if he suddenly went shy again.

Mrs. Lee chuckled as she watched the scene in front of her with a smile. Then she looked at her watch and noticed it was lunch time.

“Kibum, what about you going down to the others to eat lunch with them?” she asked and the boy nodded, quickly running out of the room, not caring for the two males anymore.

The three adults went to Mrs. Lee’s office and sat down at her desk.

The lovers had been talking on their way there and had come to a conclusion.

“We would like to adopt Kibum.” Minho said and Mrs. Lee smiled, having figured this much already.

“I’m sure he’ll be in good hands,” she said and took out some sheets of paper. “Then we should start with all the paper work.”

That is how the whole process began and it took four months to settle everything. Minho and Onew had continued to visit Kibum every Saturday for a few hours, talking with him, playing with and getting to know him.

The already thought of the little boy as a part of their family although Kibum didn’t seem to realize why they were always visiting him. He just thought of them as playmates for now but Mrs. Lee had assured them that it was normal.

At home they had already arranged a room for their baby boy. They bought everything he might need, filled some boxes with all different kinds of toys, sat plushies down on his new bed, placed an easel in one of the corners together with many colorful pencils and a small beanbag chair was also there.

They had really poured their hearts into decorating the room and had done everything to make Kibum feel comfortable in his new home.

Today was the day where they would pick up the boy and bring him home to their apartment.

And they couldn’t be more nervous.

“Oh god Minho, what if he doesn’t like he room or if he doesn’t like us? Or what if he’ll get sick and how should we explain all this to him?” Onew asked hysterically and Minho sighed.

“What if he are not good as parents or what if he’ll get really rebellious when he’s a teenager and-”

“Onew,” Minho said and his husband looked at him. “Calm down, okay? We talked about all of this and he’ll like it here, I’m sure of it. Please stop worrying so much. You should be happy instead.” he said with a smile as he watched his lover relax.

“You’re right,” the older mumbled. “I shouldn’t make such a fuss about this….Omo! Look at the clock! We’ll be too late if we don’t drive now. Hurry Minho!” he called and dashed towards the car, his husband chuckled and followed him quickly.

Kibum and Mrs. Lee were already waiting for them on the door step. The young boy clutched Kiko against his chest and held the woman’s hand, a small suitcase standing next to them.

“Onew, Minho!” Kibum squealed as he saw them and quickly ran towards them. He really liked these two, they were funny and made him laugh.

“Hey there, big boy,” Minho said and lifted him up. “Are you ready to go home?” he asked and Kibum crooked his head.

“Home?” he asked and the male nodded.

“Yeah, you’ll be living with us from now on.”

Kibum blinked surprised. “Not here?” he asked and Minho shook his head, placing him back onto his own feet.

“We are now you’re new parents,” Onew said with a smile. They had already tried to explain this to Kibum but it seemed he hadn’t really understood what they met.

The small boy looked at Mrs. Lee who smiled and nodded encouragingly. “You always wanted parents, right?”

The boy nodded.

“Now you have them,” she said. “They’ll take care of you from now on and you’ll be living with them.”

“Really?” Kibum asked with big eyes and she nodded.

“Can Kiko come too?” he asked excited.

“Of course,” Onew said. “He can even sleep in your new bed.”

The boy squealed excited and jumped up and down.

“When are we going.” he asked impatiently and tugged on Minho’s pants, looking up at him with big, shining eyes.

“As soon as you said goodbye to Mrs. Lee and thanked her for taking care of you until now.” Minho said and Kibum turned around to the woman.

“Goodbye Mrs. Lee and thank you for taking care of me,” he repeated and bowed a bit before he turned around again and ran over to the car, inspecting it and not caring for the woman anymore who had already tears in her eyes. He still didn’t understand he would probably never see her or the other kids in the orphanage again.

“Please take good care of him,” she said towards Onew and Minho who both nodded. “I’m sure you three will be a very happy family.”

“Thank you for everything,” Onew said and she nodded, sniffling quietly.

“Goodbye Kibum!” she called and waved at the boy who looked up from the door handle he was staring at and waved back with a grin.

They bid each other farewell after they had put the suitcase in the trunk and Minho helped Kibum get into the car and fastened the seatbelt. Then he and Onew also got into the car and he started the engine, slowly driving away.

Kibum looked outside the window with big eyes since this was the first time he ever was in a car. Kiko was still in his hand and pressed against the window as well, both of them watching the scenery pass by.

The two lovers occasionally looked back at their new child to make sure they weren’t dreaming and everything was alright.

Kibum was too busy taking all of this in so he didn’t say anything besides mumbling small sentences to his plushy. His eyes widened from time to time in amazement as he saw cool cars, colorful shops or big buildings. He had never gone far away from the house he had lived in until now so this was all very overwhelming for him. 

They arrived home rather quickly and Onew picked Kibum up, carrying him the way to the apartment while Minho carried his small suitcase with clothes.

The young boy was sat down in the living room where he ran around, touched everything, climbed onto the couch and did everything a child at his age could possibly do in a new environment.  

They showed him his room and he couldn’t be any happier about it. In his happiness he totally forgot to thank his new parents but they didn’t care at all. The sweet, little boy didn’t have to thank them for anything. They would take care of him from now one and do everything they could to make him happy and raise him well.

The next years were full of happiness, laughs and new adventures for their baby boy.

Onew and Minho rarely had to be strict with him, but beware, puberty was still about to come. Kibum was a smart kid and listened well to his parents. Others were often jealous of his good manners and politeness while their children ran around screaming and made a fuss.

Sure, Kibum had his days as well where he threw toys around and argued with the two males, angry because they wouldn’t buy him ice cream or another plushy.

It was unfair in his opinion but they always made up after a bit and found a solution for every problem. He wasn’t ashamed of the face that he had two dads while others had only one and a mother instead. It seemed more like he was proud to brag about it and the couple couldn’t be happier.

They had feared Kibum would get bullied or would get upset, but he rarely was. First he hadn’t understood why he didn’t have a mommy as well, but after a bit of explaining he had accepted it and now it was clear for him. His dad and daddy loved each other as well so there was no problem.

“Dad?” the four year old Kibum asked and Minho dropped the clothes in his hands he had wanted to bring to the washer.

“What did you just say?” he asked quietly and turned to his son who looked at him cutely.

“Dad.” He repeated and Minho swore he almost started crying that moment. It was the first time Kibum had referred to him as dad and it was probably one of the most beautiful moments in his entire life.

He quickly picked up the small boy and spun him around, pressing a small kiss on top of his head. He felt so touched and his heart jumped. He had feared Kibum would always call them Onew and Minho but it seemed like he had finally understood.

“That’s right,” he whispered and quickly walked towards the kitchen.

“Onew!” he called and the older looked up surprised.

“Kibum, how did you call me?” Minho asked, causing Onew to frown slightly.

“Dad.”

Onew’s mouth opened into a silent gasp and he looked at a widely smiling Minho.

“And me? How do you call me?” he asked hopefully, pointing at himself.

Their son smiled happily. “Daddy.”

Onew nodded furiously and was so touched he started to cry a bit. “Yes, yes, yes, that’s right,” he said and took his son out of his husband’s embrace. He kissed the boy’s cheek and hugged him close.

“He called me daddy,” Onew whispered and Minho nodded, still touched because of those simple words that had left the boy’s mouth.

“Daddy, why are you crying?” Kibum asked and poked his father’s cheek with his chubby fingers.

“Oh…that,” Onew said and smiled, wiping his tears. “I’m just a little bit emotional right now, nothing to worry about.”

The small boy nodded and wiggled around until he was sat down again. “Can I have ice cream?” he asked since that was what he had wanted to ask all this time but his dads wouldn’t listen.

“Of course, honey,” Onew quickly said and took a small popsicle out of the freezer and handed it to his squealing son who quickly ran off with it.

“What do you say, Kibum?” Onew called because he wanted to make sure his son would have good manners later on.

“Thank you!” the small boy called while he was climbing onto the couch.

Onew smiled and nodded. “That’s right,” he said quietly and his husband came over to him to wrap his arms around his lover.

“I can’t believe it he called us dad and daddy,” the older said and Minho nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Kibum, go and say hi to your grandma,” Minho said and urged the small boy to step forward gently.

He looked at his dad a bit unsurely and Minho gave him a reassuring smile. He looked over to the smiling woman and pressed Kiko tightly against his chest.

“Hi grandma.” he said quietly and the woman’s smile widened.

“Hi sweetheart.” she said and patted the boy’s head, making him grin.

“He’s so precious.” she said with love in her eyes and Onew and Minho smiled.

The two adults had decided it was time for Kibum to meet the rest of his new family and they were currently at Minho’s parents’ house but his dad wasn’t home at the moment.

“He is indeed.” Onew said with a soft smile on his lips as he watched his son walking around carefully and looking at everything in the room.

“Kitty!” he suddenly squeaked as he saw his grandma’s main coon cat and stared at it in awe. He carefully walked closer and extended one hand, petting the big cat that looked at them curiously.

“She normally doesn’t like it when people pet her.” Minho’s mom said and looked at the unique pair.

Kibum had already sat down on the ground and pulled the cat in his lap, her fur and telling her about how much he wanted to be a cat as well.

“I guess Kibum is an exception.” Minho said and the three adults all laughed lightly before they settled down on the couches and had on eye on the small boy together his new best friend.

Later on Kibum even fell asleep together with the cat, hugging her close to his chest and the animal had her legs wrapped around the small boy.

Of course Minho had to take a photo of this adorable moment before they went home.

“I made a new friend,” Kibum said proudly as Onew came to pick him up from kindergarten.

“You did?” he asked as he went home with his son who happily carried his small backpack.

“Yes Taeminnie and I are friends now.”

“Do you want to meet up with Taemin then?” Onew asked, figuring the kid’s name couldn’t be Taeminnie so it had to be Taemin.

“I have to ask him tomorrow,” Kibum said and turned around to his daddy with a happy grin.

A few days later said Taemin was walking home with them. Kibum and he were chatting happily, pointing at different things and bragging about their toys.

“But I have sooo many plushies!” Kibum said and made a big circle around him with his arms, making Onew chuckle.

“And I have a computer I can play on,” Taemin said proudly. He was a bit smaller than Kibum and also a bit younger. His hair looked like someone had placed a bowl on his head and just cut the edges off but he was just too adorable with his big round eyes and still chubby cheeks.

“But I’m older than you!” Kibum suddenly said making Taemin pout.

“But we’re still friends.”

“That’s right.”

The two boys hugged each other and Onew shook his head with a smile on his lips. Children were just so easy, he sometimes wished adults were like that as well.

“Daddy, can Taemin and I have ice cream at home?” his son asked and Onew thought for a few moments.

“If both of you eat everything what is on your plate than you can have ice cream later on,” he promised and both kids jumped up and down happily.

“Don’t worry, daddy’s cooking is the best,” Kibum reassured the smaller boy but the latter looked like he’d eat anything as long as it was food.

And that turned out to be right. Both of the boys didn’t leave anything on their plates and waited for their promised ice cream patiently, digging in like hungry lions once the package was on the table.

“Thank you for the food, Mr. Choi.” Taemin said and smiled at Onew.

“No problem and just call me Onew, I’m not that old.” he said jokingly and both children snickered before they run off to Kibum’s room to play.

It was somehow a good feeling to see his son with his first real friend coming home and playing with him like this. He just hoped their friendship would remain a few years longer since both of them seemed to like each other quite a lot even after just a few days.

“Why is your daddy home and not at work?” Taemin asked curiously as they played with Kibum’s plushies on his bed.

“My daddy is always home, but my dad always goes to work,” Kibum explained and the younger looked at him confused.

“And your mom?” he asked.

“I don’t have a mom.”

“Why?”

Kibum blinked slowly. “I don’t know, but I have two dads and they are the best,” he said with a grin and Taemin shrugged it off, asking his mom later on how someone could have two dads and the woman was a bit overwhelmed by that question. She choose to tell him he’d understand one day.

“Taemin, look, this is my dad,” Kibum said and pointed at Minho who was helping Onew to dry off the plates in the kitchen. Today was Saturday so he didn’t have to go to work and Taemin, Kibum’s new friend, had come over again today.

The small boy looked at the male with big eyes and it looked like he was staring at a huge mountain.

“Hey there Taemin,” Minho said and crouched down in front of his son and his friend. “Nice to meet you.”

“Hello….Mr. Choi,” Taemin said quietly, thinking it was weird not to say Mr. and Mrs. but Mr. and Mr.

Minho chuckled. “Minho is okay, Mr. Choi is too formal for young gentleman like you.”

Taemin snickered behind his hand.

“Dad.” Kibum complained and slapped his father’s arm.

“What? What did I do?” the adult asked with a pout and Kibum rolled his eyes, causing Taemin to snicker even more.

“You were acting strange. Now give us the cookies.”

Minho looked at his son for a few seconds.

“…please.”

There we go. The male stood up with a sigh and took the cookies out of a cupboard, handing them to Kibum who quickly grabbed them and ran off with Taemin towards their yard.

“It’s nice to see him making friends,” Onew said and Minho nodded.

“Yeah…I have the feeling he’ll be a social butterfly later on,” he said and laughed quietly.

It was right, Kibum always told them about different people he had met, but with most of them he just had some ‘small talk’, like he said. They had never visited him so Taemin was the first who got beyond that ‘small talk’ buddies state.

“Ow!” came a painful yell, followed by loud cries and Onew and Minho were quick to interrupt their small lovey-dovey moment and ran towards the living room where Kibum was lying on the floor behind the coffee table.

“Oh god, Minho!” Onew almost screeched and grabbed onto his husband’s arms who lifted the heavily crying Kibum.

“Go take a cloth or something.” the younger instructed and sat down on the couch with his son in his lap. It seemed like Kibum had hit the corner of the table which had barely missed his eye. Some blood was running down the side of his face which Minho carefully wiped off once Onew came with a damp cloth.

“We have to go the hospital,” the older said hysterical and Minho nodded, trying to calm his lover down as he drove and almost crossed the speed limits on every single road.

Thankfully they arrived quickly and a doctor immediately helped them. He told them Kibum was lucky since the edge could have struck his eye as well which would have made him blind on one side.

After Onew had survived his heart attack and Kibum’s would was cleaned and treated properly they went back home, the small boy still sniffling quietly in the backseat.

“Don’t touch it Kibum.” Minho scolded as a small hand came up to touch the covered injury on his face.

“But it hurts.” Kibum whimpered and his dad sighed.

“I know it hurts, but you have to be a strong boy and bear the pain, okay?”

Kibum sniffled quietly and wiped his teary eyes, nodding softly and making his dad smile.

They watched out so Kibum wouldn’t touch the wound on every occasion and told him to be careful so it could heal quickly.

Thankfully the boy listened to his parents and soon the open wound was covered by new, still sensitive skin and after two weeks it had faded into a scar. The doctor had told them it would stay that way and there was nothing they could do about it.

Kibum always told everyone he had been attacked by a dino, that’s why he had this scar.

“Come on, Kibum, you have to kick it!” Minho encouraged his five year old son who was casing a soccer ball in their front yard.

Kibum ran after the ball as fast as he could, but the stupid ball continued to flee from him, rolling over the ground and not stopping for the poor boy who wasn’t fast enough to reach it.

Minho decided to help and stopped the ball with his foot. “And now kick it,” he said as his son came running, kicking the ball and causing it to roll a few meters.

“There you go!” his dad called, praising the boy who grinned up at him.

“Can we play house now?” he asked pleadingly and his dad sighed. The boy just wasn’t interested in soccer or any other ball sports and he was a bit sad about that. Shouldn’t a boy his age be interested in such things?

“Sure.” he said with a weak smile because he just couldn’t resist his son’s begging eyes.

That’s how they played house in their yard and Minho had to sit at the ‘table’ while Kibum prepared dinner. It was a bunch of grass, some small flowers, dirt, some small stones and a bit of water mixed together in a little bucket and Minho started ‘eating’ once it was finished.

“Mmmhh, it’s really good,” he praised and his son grinned happily, proud of himself.

The six year old Kibum held onto his daddy’s hand as they went over the schoolyard towards a big building. There were many other children that were about his age, all of them standing close to their parents and looking around curiously.

Kibum’s dad hadn’t been able to come because there was a very important meeting he had to attend and the small boy was a bit sad but his daddy was still there so it was okay.

It didn’t take long until he spotted Taemin and quickly ran over to the slightly younger boy.

“Tae, Tae, look at my school bag,” Kibum squealed excited and showed the smaller boy his brand new bag.

“Mine is prettier,” Taemin announced proudly and the two started arguing about which bag was prettier.

Onew talked a bit with Taemin’s parents until the ceremony for the new first graders began.

It didn’t take too long and soon the kids were divided into different classes and went with their teachers to their new classrooms.

Thankfully Taemin and Kibum were in the same class and it seemed like they had already made a new friend who was talking with them. They didn’t even say goodbye to their parents because they were so excited about going to school for the first time.

Kibum had been talking about this for weeks already and his parents both hoped he wouldn’t have much problems with learning new stuff but it seem like the small boy was a rather smart kid.

“Daddy!” Kibum called excited and rushed over to his father who was standing in the hallway just like the other parents.

“Hey honey. How was your first day?” he asked and Kibum started babbling immediately.

“It was awesome and I made a new friend, his name is Mir. He’s a bit strange but he’s funny,” the boy said with a big grin on his face.

He explain his daddy every little detail of the day and told him they had already homework. They had to paint a schoolbag for the next day.

That evening Kibum told Minho everything he had experienced during his first school day and showed him his colorful school bag he had painted right after lunch.

The first grade wasn’t much of a problem for Kibum and he learned new things fast, making his parents proud and was promoted to the next grade without any problem. That’s why he and his parents were currently at a toy store that sold all different kind of toys and other kid stuff.

“I want that one!” Kibum squealed and jumped up and down happily, pointing at the new plushy he wanted.

“But Kibum…that’s…pink,” his dad said, sounding a bit bewildered.

“I know and pink is pretty. I like pink,” the small boy said, making Onew laugh at his husband’s horrified expression.

“But…what about this one?” Minho asked and picked up a soccer ball plushy but Kibum scrunched up his nose.

“No dad, that is the one you want,” he said. Onew was almost toppling over with laugher and had to hold onto Minho’s shoulder. Some other parents looked at him rather oddly but he didn’t care. These two were just too precious.

“And this one?” Minho asked picking up a dolphin. It was neutral, right?

“No,” Kibum said determinate and stomped his food. “I want that one,” he said and picked up the pink giraffe and holding it to his chest while glaring at his dad who sighed in defeat.

“Well honey, I guess you have to give up,” Onew said, walking with his son towards the counter to pay for his new, pink plushy while Minho trailed behind them.

“He rejected a soccer ball,” he whispered to himself, too shocked to really grasp what had just happened.

The three of them sat on the couch in the living room as a small family and watched ‘Rise of the Guardians’. Kibum was seated in between them, focusing fully on the movie and not even noticing or caring that his parents held hands and sometimes shared sweet kisses behind his back.

Kibum gasped as the boogieman of the movie appeared behind Jack Frost and threatened him with a scary shadow scythe. Luckily Sandy came to the rescue and together with the children they beat the evil boogieman who wanted everyone to have bad dreams. That had been his plan, right?

Onew and Minho had agreed on watching this movie with their son since they often did something together as a family and they just couldn’t resist their son’s begging eyes as he had held the movie in his small hands back at the store.

“So, sweetie pie,” Onew said and lifted the 7 year old boy who was yawning loudly. “Time for bed.”

“No,” Kibum whined. “I wanna stay up for a bit longer,” he said and his parents chuckled as his eyes almost fell shut.

“Maybe another time,” his daddy promised. “Say good night to your dad.”

“Night dad,” Kibum mumbled and got a small peck onto his cheek.

“Sweet dreams Kibum.”

Onew tugged the already half asleep Kibum into bed once he had changed and brushed his teeth properly. He kissed his forehead and turned off the lights with a small smile.

He and Minho went to bed as well around two hours later and didn’t expect anything to happen. But at around 1am their door was opened and Kibum peeked inside their room, Kiko squeezed against his chest and he tiptoed over to his parents’ bed, shaking his dad’s shoulder carefully.

“Dad,” he whispered but the other just shifted a bit and didn’t wake up.

“Dad,” Kibum tried again, shaking the male more and this time Minho opened his eyes lazily.

“Kibum?” he asked groggily. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you in bed?”

“I can’t sleep,” Kibum whispered and Minho sighed quietly, not wanting his son to hear.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“I’m scared that the boogieman is hiding under my bed,” the boy said quietly.

“There is no boogieman under your bed, Kibum. Go back to sleep,” his dad whispered back.

“But what if he’s in the closet?” Kibum asked, sounding really scared and Minho sighed.

“What’s going on?” Onew voice piped up, sounding hoarse from sleep and he shifted to see his son standing at their bed.

“Kibum?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m scared of the boogieman,” Kibum whimpered. “Can I sleep with you?” he pleaded, grabbing onto the sheets with one hand while the other was still holding onto Kiko.

“Come here,” Minho said and lifted the covers. Kibum quickly crawled onto the bed and snuggled into the sheets while his dad closed the door. Once he was back under the covers as well he felt a small hand searching for his bigger one and holding onto his thump.

He smiled softly and draped one arm over his son as if to protect him from any harm. Onew followed his example and kissed the boy’s head.

“Good night Kibum,” he whispered.

“Night dads.”

“Dad?” the nine year old Kibum asked while they ate breakfast.

“Hmm?” Minho responded, reading an article in the newspaper.

“What’s ?”

Onew chocked on his coffee and Minho dropped the toast he was eating. The two males looked at each other across the table with similar shocked expressions and didn’t really know how to respond.

“Well…you’ll learn that in school one day,” Minho said quickly, hoping Kibum would be satisfied with this answer but of course the curious little boy wasn’t.

“But I wanna know now,” he said with a pout. “Mir said everyone has .”

Of course, who else would say something like that?

“Can I have too?” Kibum asked.

“No…at least not now,” Onew said, hoping to talk his way out of this mess. Now he could finally understand why every parent tried to avoid this topic as much as possible. Who knew what Kibum would tell his friends or do when he knew what he had just asked. He loved gossiping about everything and it was better if he didn’t know about some things in particular.

“And don’t talk about this with your friends. This is not something you talk about with everyone,” Onew added, getting a thanks-for-saving-me look from Minho.

“But-”

“End of the discussion,” Minho said and Kibum shut up, pouting at his toast and continuing to eat in silence.

“No, absolutely no,” Minho said and his son pouted.

“Why not?” he whined and his dad shook his head.

“Because a snake is not a pet,” he said.

“But I saw them on TV and they had snake pets too,” Kibum said and stomped his foot.

“What do you want to do with a snake anyway?” his dad asked confused because he didn’t know what he would do with such an animal in the house. He wasn’t even sure if they were available around here. But he was sure they’d cost a lot.

“I can talk to it and train it to do funny tricks and it’ll protect our house.”

Minho sighed and massaged his temples. How did his son always get these strange ideas?

“Kibum, I know you would like to have a pet-”

“I wanna have a snake.”

“But your daddy and I don’t want one. You have to understand that you can’t always have everything you want,” he tried to explain.

“Fine…can I have a fish then?”

Minho groaned and shook his head.

“Dad?” the now eleven year old Kibum asked while they ate dinner one evening.

“Hmm?” Minho responded, still dressed in his suit he had worn to work and now stuffing his mouth with his husband’s delicious food. He was really hungry after such a tiring day full of working and signing papers.

“I know what is now.”

The two adults stopped eating and looked at their son with big eyes.

“You do?” Onew asked and Kibum nodded, explaining what they had learned in school.

“Do you and daddy have too?” he asked curiously.

“That is not something we would talk about with you,” Minho responded.

“So you do have .”

“No we don’t,” his dad said and Onew gave him a look, which was caught by Kibum’s watchful eyes.

“Daddy’s look says you do have ,” he shouted happily and Minho looked up at a glaring Onew.

“No, daddy’s look says that dad should stop talking about with his eleven year old son if he wants to get a proper meal tomorrow.”

Kibum snickered behind his hands. “Right! Dad, stop talking about ! That is not something you talk about with everyone,” the boy scolded and Minho nodded regretfully.

“I’ll remember that.”

“Daddy? Can Taemin and Mir sleep over tomorrow?” twelve year old Kibum asked pleadingly and Onew nodded while he was fixing up something for dinner.

“Sure, just don’t sneak into our bedroom again,” he scolded playfully and Kibum nodded.

“Kay,” he said and quickly ran back to his room, picking up his stylish cell phone and writing a text to his best friend that he could come over tomorrow.

Just as he had hit the send button he heard the front door opening and quickly rushed into the hallway to see his dad taking off his shoes.

“Dad!” he shouted and ran into Minho’s arms, happy to have him back again after his two day business trip.

“Hey there Kibum. Did you miss me?” he asked and Kibum nodded, hugging his dad around the waist because he was still too small to hug him properly.

“Hey Minho,” Onew said and kissed his lover as he entered the kitchen.

Their son scrunched up his nose in disgust and covered his eyes. “Eww, don’t do that in front of me!” he shouted. “That’s gross!”

“You’ll do that too one day,” Minho said with a chuckle and Kibum shook his head furiously.

“No! I will never do that! Only old people do that.”

“Did you just call us old?” Onew asked with his typical how-dare-you tone and Kibum grinned.

“Yeah, you and dad are really old and you already have wrinkles everywhere. I’m still young and pretty but you two will soon get grey hair and then you’ll just sit on the couch and watch TV every day. You’ll get really fat with huge bellies and- Aaahh!” the boy shrieked as Onew started chasing him with a cooking spoon, spanking his once lightly and Kibum yelped in protest.

“Daddy!” He glared at Onew who stood there with a smirk on his face.

“Anything else to say about how old we are?” he asked and Kibum shook his head. “Good. Now help me set the table.”

Their family was full of teasing and joking and some people might not understand, but to them it was how they showed their affection towards each other.

The next day Taemin and Mir came over with small bags and sleeping bags under their arms. The three boys settled in Kibum’s room and played all different kind of games and stories. They build a cave out of blankets and pillows, told each other scary stories and took a bunch of sweets with them.

Minho and Onew only chucked whenever someone came to them into the living room, did something strange like telling them he loved them before they ran away again. It was obvious the three boys were playing truth or dare.

Minho was standing in front of the door and listened to Mir who was telling a scary story about a girl that had been kidnapped and killed by her own shadow and shook his head. He decided to scare the three boys a bit and opened the door forcefully, growling loudly in a deep voice and three high pitched scream followed.

The adult laughed and switched on the lights, revealing three boys that sat on Kibum’s bed, clinging to each other and looking at him with wide eyes.

“Dad!” Kibum said angrily once he had recovered from the shock.

“Sorry boys but I’m only a conveyor of news.”

“I give you permission to speak,” Taemin said and started giggling afterwards. That boy had seriously drunken too much cola.

“Your daddy says it’s time for bed.”

The three boys groaned. “But it’s only…half past…1,” Mir said, only then realizing how late it really was.

“Exactly. The perfect time to go to bed,” Minho said and started shooing the boys towards the bathroom so they could brush their teeth. He opened the widow in Kibum’s room because the air was kind of stuffy and smelled like chips.

Kibum, Taemin and Mir went to bed around 10 minutes later, all of them yawning and settling in their beds without complaining any further and Minho wished them good night before he turned off the lights and closed the door.

This is only the first part because the story was just too long to update it as one chapter (56 pages!).

I hope you enjoyed it~

7,399 words for those who are interested

Second chapter will come next Saturday~

*I tried to correct as much as possible but it's just sooo much so I apologize for mistakes that hadn't been corrected*

Beta'ed by: Princess-Unicorn