Chanyeol tried to think back on the days when Jaxon and Mina were born.

He remembered that Baekhyun had been in excruciating pain, especially when he gave birth to Mina. He had threatened to castrate Chanyeol once but that was about it, nothing too serious.

When Jaxon was born, on the other hand, Baekhyun had been surprisingly calm and collected throughout. It was like he was a pro at giving birth by the 2nd baby. Looking back on the births of his children, there was just something that didn't add up to the 25 year old. Baekhyun should have had a high pain tolerance after childbirth, shouldn't he?

But with every press of the needle, Baekhyun swore and bit down hard on his lip. It seemed as if he had never been in so much pain before.

Chanyeol held back his laughter and didn't dare smile but said, "You've been through childbirth, Baek. Twice. Getting a tattoo should be a piece of cake."

Baekhyun glared at his husband who wouldn't have been surprised if his older husband's eyes could have suddenly shot out deadly lasers.

"Say another word and I won't let you lay a ing hand on me this weekend." This weekend, the weekend of their camping trip.

Chanyeol chuckled but held up his hands in surrender. "I won't say another word."

The tattoo artist chuckled to himself as he continued Baekhyun's right shoulder blade tattoo. Chanyeol did have to admit that a shoulder tattoo probably hurt a lot more than his wrist tattoo.

Baekhyun buried his head in the soft dentist-like tattooing chair where he had been lying facedown. The headrest muffled his shrieks of pain. 

Hoping to ease the pain, Chanyeol reached over to Baekhyun and grabbed his outstretched hand. He placed a kiss on Baekhyun's soft hand before giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Almost done." Chanyeol murmured as he glanced at Baekhyun's tattoo. After much contemplation, the 26 year old had decided to get Chanyeol, Mina, and Jaxon's names tattooed on his shoulder inside an infinity symbol design. 

Like Chanyeol had wondered when he was getting his own tattoo, Baekhyun contemplated where he would put a tattoo of another name if they had another baby. But Baekhyun couldn't think about babies for too long. His mind was on everything but having more kids. Chanyeol felt the same way.

Finally, after Baekhyun's tattoo was done and bandaged and his excessive cursing stopped, he and Chanyeol left to get the kids from Kang-Joon's place.

Baekhyun avoided touching anything with his shoulder and was still cursing under his breath when he leaned forward in the passenger's seat of their car and put his head in his hands.

"ing tattoo. Why the hell did I get that?"

Chanyeol smiled in amusement, hoping Baekhyun wouldn't see his smile. Alas, he saw the smile all too clearly.

"You think this is funny?" Baekhyun looked up and growled. The smile dropped from Chanyeol's face.

The taller shrugged sheepishly. "Kind of. It's just that you've already proven you're tougher than me so I expected you to take the tattoo easily."

"Fine." Baekhyun crossed his arms. "Don't even think about touching me or kissing me until I say so."

Chanyeol shook his head. "Tattoos aren't supposed to come with mood swings."

But in Baekhyun's case, tattoos and mood swings were synonymous. He was just one of a kind.

Once the topic of tattoos diminished, the topic of babies popped up when Chanyeol and Baekhyun arrived at Kang-Joon and Nana's apartment. 

"How did things go?" Baekhyun asked when Kang-Joon opened the door for them.

The younger smiled. It was his and Nana's first time babysitting Mina and Jaxon together. 

"Great. I think Jaxon has a little crush on Nana." He gestured for them to come inside where Nana was holding Jaxon on her lap.

He was playing with her long hair and giggling. Hearing his parents, he turned around and said, "She's pretty!"

Baekhyun chuckled. "I think she's taken, Jax."

Nana smiled and kissed Jaxon's forehead. "I'll make an exception for you, sweetie."

Mina, having heard her parents as well, came into the room from the direction of Nana and Kang-Joon's room. She held a red tube of lipstick in her hand and a palette of eyeshadow colors.

"Mommy, can we stay until after Nana gives me a makeover."

"Sure, honey." Baekhyun said and sat down on the couch next to Nana. Jaxon reached for Baekhyun and he picked up his son cautiously. But of course, the 2 year old put his hand right where Baekhyun's new tattoo was and he winced. 

"How's the tattoo?" Kang-Joon questioned and Baekhyun glared. 

"What do you think?"

He shrunk under Baekhyun's glare and turned around to face Chanyeol who chuckled. 

Suddenly it seemed as if Baekhyun's tattoo was forgotten and Kang-Joon asked in a serious voice, "Can we talk in private?"

Chanyeol stopped laughing and nodded. He and Kang-Joon weren't as uncomfortable with each other as they had once been but Chanyeol didn't think their relationship was strong enough for them to talk about something important in private. Kang-Joon seemed pretty serious then. 

The older followed the younger out to the balcony. Kang-Joon and Nana's apartment had a great view of Boston and the harbor and the balcony was a peaceful place to talk.

Chanyeol shut the door behind him and leaned on the railing with Kang-Joon. They both looked out across the city.

"What's on your mind?" Chanyeol spoke up when Kang-Joon was hesitant. 

"Nana and I have been doing a lot of thinking about how much we love kids. Especially today, babysitting Jaxon and Mina."

Chanyeol nodded.

"And, we're thinking about having a baby."

Chanyeol smiled and patted the younger on the shoulder. "Congratulations."

Kang-Joon smiled too but it was short lived. "The problem is, I'm absolutely terrified. I don't even know if we're ready. I don't even know if I'm ready." He sighed. "I just want to talk to you. You have plenty of experience."

Chanyeol looked out across the city, trying to think of how to respond and what advice to give.

"Whether you're 18 or 30, I don't believe it's possible to be 100% ready for a baby. No matter how prepared you are, you will always run into a situation you're not prepared for. Don't base your decision to have a kid on whether you think you're ready. Base it on whether you want to have a kid or not."

Kang-Joon nodded slowly."I want to and Nana wants to."

"So what more do you need?"

"We're not even married."

"But you've been together for almost 3 years. Marriage isn't the deciding factor. Baekhyun and I didn't get married until Mina was 5."

Kang-Joon unexpectedly sat down on one of the outdoor balcony chairs, as if he could no longer stand. The conversation was overwhelming. "The idea of being a father is so scary."

Chanyeol sat next to him. "Yeah. You're responsible for someone else's life. The best thing I can say is you're going to make mistakes. But your children will always love you by default."

Kang-Joon chuckled and Chanyeol continued. 

"You and Nana have nothing to lose. It's a learning experience but it's worth more than I can explain."

Kang-Joon looked down and played with his hands. "I hope I'm as good a father as you."

Chanyeol laughed harder than he had laughed before. "I've made enough mistakes already. Be a better father than me, please."

Kang-Joon nodded and looked up at Chanyeol. The serious talk was over and by the way Kang-Joon seemed nervous, Chanyeol assumed the awkward talk was just beginning. 

"So, um." Kang-Joon played with his hands again. "How much, uh, should we have? You know, before she gets pregnant." Asking a friend who you weren't super close to about was really embarrassing.

Chanyeol laughed to make Kang-Joon feel more at ease to talk about with him. "Sorry. I don't have an answer for that. Every couple is different."

"What about you and Baekhyun?"

"It took about a year before he was pregnant with Mina and about 6 months before Jaxon."

"So what you're really saying is to just keep having unprotected because it's impossible to know exactly when she'll get pregnant."

"Basically."

At that moment, Baekhyun opened the door to the balcony with Jaxon in his arms.

"Sorry to interrupt but I think we should get going. It's a bit late and it's going to storm soon." Baekhyun gestured to the darkening raincloud filled sky.

Chanyeol nodded, as did Kang-Joon, before making their way inside. 

Once inside, they saw that Nana was finishing up a light coat of red on Mina's lips. Although the makeover wasn't entirely finished, it had to come to an end in the hopes of beating the storm. Everyone said their quick goodbyes before Jaxon, Chanyeol, Mina, and Baekhyun got ready to leave.

"What were you and Kang-Joon talking about?" Baekhyun asked once they had gotten on the road.

"Babies."

"Babies?"

Chanyeol nodded and kept his eyes on the road when he said, "I think Kang-Joon and Nana might become parents soon."

Baekhyun smiled but it eventually turned into a frown. "Why didn't he talk to me first? I'm more of his friend than you are."

"Kang-Joon just needed some quality advice on how to be a dad. He's not obligated to come to you for everything. Don't be so self-centered." Chanyeol teased. 

Baekhyun rolled his eyes playfully, calling his husband an asswipe in the process, but he immediately slapped a hand over his mouth for three reasons. The kids were in the backseat, Jaxon liked to repeat whatever his parents said, and Mina had taken it upon herself to scold her parents when she heard them swear. 

And sure enough, the 7 year old spoke up first. "Mommy said a bad word!"

Chanyeol nodded. "He sure did, sweetheart. Maybe we should make a swear jar. I'm sure mommy will put the most money in it."

Baekhyun opened his mouth to apologize before a loud boom of thunder cut him off. He glanced up at the night sky, seeing darker clouds against the dark sky.

He sighed as the rain started to beat down on the car and Chanyeol was forced to slow down. With the camping trip fast approaching, Baekhyun hoped poor weather wouldn't ruin it.

Jaxon had been asleep in the backseat the whole time, thankfully missing the swearing incident, however, the thunder woke him up and he began to cry.

Baekhyun turned around in his seat to convince Jaxon everything was okay. He was able to quiet him down eventually and reduce his cries to sniffles. Mina, equally as scared as her brother, began to cry silently when lightning lit up the sky.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun both had a good feeling their bed would be full that night. 

**

By the time they arrived home, the rain was pouring harder, the thunder was booming louder, and the lightning was flashing brighter. Jaxon was crying in Chanyeol's arms while Mina was hanging off of Baekhyun's arm. 

There was absolutely no use trying to get them to sleep in their own rooms. 

After helping them get ready for bed, Baekhyun and Chanyeol simply led them into the master bedroom and into their bed.

"Is it gonna storm when we camp?" Mina wondered, apprehensive.

Chanyeol shook his head. "I don't think so, honey."

He was in his pajamas lying in bed with the kids. Jaxon snuggled up to his chest and Mina snuggled up to her brother as they tried to block out the sounds of the thunder.

Baekhyun had just finished getting ready for bed and crawled into bed. He laid on his stomach and rested his head on crossed arms.

He winced at the pain in his shoulder. "Maybe getting a tattoo there was a bad idea."

Chanyeol laughed. "At least you can cross it off your list."

Baekhyun nodded and reached over to grab his list from his bedside. He laid on the side of his body that had not been tattooed hours earlier with a pen in his hand. He quickly crossed getting a tattoo off his list.

Mina turned around and looked at the list curiously. "What's that?"

"It's a list of the things I want to do in my life."

"Like what?"

"Camping. I've always wanted to go camping in college but I couldn't at the time because you were just a baby."

"Oh." Mina looked down. "I'm sorry for not letting you go camping."

Baekhyun smiled. "Don't apologize. A lot of the things I wanted to do before you were born I can do now. But it's even better because I can do them with you and Jaxon."

"And daddy." She smiled. 

"And daddy." He confirmed as he put the list away. The loud thunder boomed once more and Mina buried her head in Baekhyun's chest. 

"I think we should all just try to sleep." Chanyeol stated as he comforted an equally scared Jaxon. Baekhyun nodded and Chanyeol turned off the lamp but not before asking, "You weren't serious when you said I couldn't kiss you, were you?"

Baekhyun smirked. "Tonight I'll make an exception." He accepted a quick kiss from his husband who then turned off the light.