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The first time Yifan was alone with the boys was four months into his and Joonmyun’s relationship. It was a week before Christmas and the boys couldn’t be more excited. Not only was it Christmas so they’d get gifts but they’d be out of school until the next year, after the twin’s fourth birthday. Joonmyun was excited because this would be the first time he was spending Christmas with Yifan. Yifan was excited because this was the first time he was actually looking forward to spending Christmas in Korea. He always had the option to fly to Canada to spend the holidays with his family but he always had to be at work the day right after Christmas so it was never worth the hassle. It wasn’t like he never saw his family but it just kind of sucked spending Christmas by yourself.
Joonmyun had jumped at the chance to invite Yifan to spend Christmas with him and his family. They had only been dating for 4 months but not inviting him seemed wrong and he knew that not having Yifan there would be weird considering he spent at least 4 days a week with the man, him staying the night at least one of those days. His parents would be coming to stay at the house as well as Jongdae and Baekhyun and this time Yifan would be in the mix too.
The last official day before winter break was an exciting one for everyone. Yifan had the next week off, Joonmyun had the next month off, and the boys had the next 3 weeks off of school. Yifan was hanging around Joonmyun’s house while the younger male was finishing his last editing project before the break, waiting for the time until the boys would get home from school.
“You sure there’s nothing I can help you with?” Yifan asked, looking up from where he was scrolling through his phone. They were sitting in Joonmyun’s office on the couch, Joonmyun’s laptop perched on his lap and Yifan’s arm tossed across his shoulders. Joonmyun would usually be sitting behind his desk but since Yifan was there he’d thought it’d be nice to sit next to him.
“I told you, you should take a nap. The boys will be all riled up when they get home,” Joonmyun replied.
Yifan shook his head, “It wouldn’t be fair for me to nap when you aren’t able to.”
Joonmyun looked up from his laptop and smiled thoughtfully at the taller male. He couldn’t believe how sweet his boyfriend was. “I won’t mind, really! It’d make me feel better because I know how boring it is to sit here and watch me work.”
Yifan grinned, “it’s not boring, I like watching you.”
Joonmyun blushed at that, of course, and playfully pushed Yifan on the shoulder. “Whatever, I need to finish this.”
Yifan placed as kiss on the side of Joonmyun’s head and then went back to scrolling through his phone.
---
The two stayed like that for the better part of two hours and Yifan was starting to get restless. It first started with a hand trailing down Joonmyun’s back, just a soft touch at first, a ghost of fingertips down his spine. Then his hands made their way into Joonmyun’s hair at his nape, running his fingers through the short, dark strands. Then came the kisses. They started out innocent enough. A small peck on Joonmyun’s cheek. Then his neck. Then the place under his ear that connected his jaw to his neck. Once he reached the tiny patch of skin on his chest that was exposed by his t-shirt, Joonmyun decided to butt in.
“Yifan-ah,” he cleared his throat. He saved the document he was working on and then placed his laptop on the ground next to his feet. “I thought you wouldn’t get bored?”
Yifan pulled Joonmyun onto his lap and grinned up at him. “I lied.” He started trailing kisses down Joonmyun’s jaw, stopping once he reached the younger male’s ear. He bit on it softly which caused Joonmyun to let out a shaky breath. His hands traveled down the other’s chest, stopping when it reached his hips.
“I swear you’re worse than the boys,” was the last thing Joonmyun said before he connected their lips.
---
Joonmyun and Yifan’s activities ending up lasting longer than Joonmyun anticipated and as a result he ended up freaking because he wouldn’t be able to finish his editing in time to pick the boys up from school and he definitely wouldn’t be able to get it done once they got home since he had so much to do before the winter concert that’d be taking place that night.
“I need to call Jongdae, maybe he can go get them,” Joonmyun murmured to himself, lightly pushing Yifan away so he could pick up his phone to call his brother. As he lifted the phone to his ear, he frowned. “His phone’s off. Maybe I should try Baek.”
“Joonmyun,” Yifan started, but Joonmyun paid him no attention, lifting his phone back to his ear.
“His phone is off too?” Joonmyun let out a frustrated sigh, “maybe I should try Soo.”
“Joon,” Yifan tried again, reaching to stop the other man from dialing Kyungsoo’s number. “Didn’t you mention that the four of them all had some final exam thing today?” Baekhyun, Jongdae, Chanyeol, and Kyungsoo were all in their final year of grad school. The four of them had been hauled up in their house for the past two weeks studying for their final exam ever, the exam that would determinate if they would graduate or not.
“Oh shit, you’re right.” Joonmyun’s frown set deeper onto his face, his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to think of a solution. Yifan smiled slightly at how adorable his boyfriend was. “I guess I can just not finish this, maybe my parents will make it here in enough time to finish this before we have to leave for the concert, if I don’t finish I’ll just stay up all night, I just have to have it in by 4am, I can get it done.” He rambled on, reaching down to close his laptop so he could make his way to the school.
“Joon,” Yifan started again, reaching up a hand to halt his movements.
“But then I won’t have enough time to get my parents from the airport,” his parents had been overseas on a business trip. “Maybe Dae will be done by then and he can get them. Or they can get a cab…”
“Kim Joonmyun,” Yifan tried again, trapping Joonmyun’s cheeks between his hands so the smaller man could stop freaking out for 5 seconds. “Did you forget that I was here?”
Joonmyun’s cheeks heated up under Yifan’s palms. “I didn’t want to burden you with my problems.”
“It wouldn’t be a burden, if I didn’t want to help out, I wouldn’t be here. I’ll go pick up the boys, you stay here and finish your project and then go pick up your parents, I’ll bring them back here and feed them a snack and get them dressed for the concert then we can head to the concert together, okay? Stop stressing.”
“Are you sure? That’s a lot of work.” Joonmyun chewed on his bottom lip nervously.
“I’m sure. I can do it, how hard can picking them up be? And I’ve gotten them bathed and dressed before, it’ll be fine.”
Joonmyun glanced at the clock again, seeing that he really was in no position to refuse. “Okay, I’ll lay out their clothes before I leave to get my parents. I’ll have to call the school and let them know you’re coming to pick them up.”
Yifan smiled at him and placed a kiss on his nose. “Text me the address to the school, okay? Stop worrying so much, it’ll be fine.”
---
Locating the school was easier said than done. Yifan somehow ended up circling around the building four different times before actually finding the place. If anyone asks, Yifan’s going to explain that he was confused between which building was the preschool and elementary school and which was the middle and high school. He doesn’t know how he missed it considering there was a huge colorful playground in the front.
Luckily, Joonmyun had made him leave 15 minutes early in fear of him not being able to find the place, so when he finally pulled up to the school at 3:10, he had five minutes before the boys would be released from the building. Pulling into the parking lot, he was stopped by a security guard.
“Name and ID please?” The officer bellowed out, walkie in one hand and clipboard in the other.
“Wu Yifan,” Yifan supplied, sitting up a little straighter in his seat. He reached into this wallet to grab his ID.
The officer glanced at Yifan’s ID and then the clipboard in their hand before nodding and asking, “Who are you here to pick up?”
“Kim Zitao, Kim Jongin, and Kim Sehun. Sehun and Jongin are in Miss Yoon’s class and Tao’s in Miss Jang’s.”
The officer nodded again and then checked something off on their clipboard. “Class lets out in 5 minutes, the preschool comes out on the left side at 3:30, and the elementary comes out on the right at 3:20. Just pull up into the circle and stand with the other parents, everything else should be self-explanatory.”
As Yifan drove towards the direction the officer pointed, he heard them say what sounded like the boys names into the walkie.
He pulled up to the circle of the other parent pick up cars and parked, turning the engine off. He glanced up at the circle of moms that were huddled together near the door and found that they were staring at him too. He then realized how strange it looked for an unfamiliar vehicle to be pulling into a school parking lot, especially when there was an unfamiliar man behind the wheel.
He bit his lip and picked up his phone, quickly dialing Joonmyun’s number.
“Hello?” Joonmyun picked up after the second ring, knowing him he was probably waiting for Yifan to call with a problem. “What’s wrong? Did you find the school alright?”
“Everything’s fine,” Yifan reassured, smile adorning his face at hearing Joonmyun’s worried tone. “I found the school alright and I’m parked in a sea of mini-vans.”
Joonmyun let out a relieved sigh, “Okay, good. Did Officer Yang explain to you how everything works?”
“Yeah, they did. I don’t know which parents I should stand with though, can’t I just stay in the car until the boys come out?”
“You could, but the school’s really big on being friendly. You should try to go talk to the other parents. Plus it’ll be easier for the boys to find you, you’ll be towering over all moms so they’ll spot you as soon as they exit.”
“But they’re glaring at me, Joon!” Yifan whined, “They’re going to ask a bunch of questions and I don’t want to taint your name by saying the wrong things.”
Joonmyun’s laugh filled his ear and Yifan smiled. “You’re cute, just go talk to them, they’re not as mean as they look. They know who you are and they’re actually my friends. There’s a couple other dads there as well, Donghae and Kibum, I told you about them, right?”
Yifan glanced up again and noticed that yes, two guys were in the huddle of moms. One of them had blonde hair and was wearing a long burgundy trench coat. The other had his dark brown hair down, soft against his forehead. “Okay. Donghae is the one that works with you, right? I should go stand with him first.”
“Mmhmm, most of the parents I’ve mentioned to you before. Minho and Changmin’s wives are over there and so is Kibum, Taemin’s dad. Liu Wen, the really tall one with the dimples, is Chinese too.”
Yifan bit his lip and then nodded to himself, Joonmyun had mentioned a bunch of the parents at the school to him before. “Alright, I’ll go over there.”
“Good.” Yifan could feel Joonmyun smiling through the phone. “Ah! I texted Kyu that you were there so he might come find you once classes are dismissed. I’ll see you when you get back, okay?”
“Okay, see you.” Yifan hung up the phone. He hesitatingly stepped out of his car, pulling his gloves on his hands and pulling his coat a bit tighter around himself. He checked the time on his phone 3:15, 5 minutes before Tao was let out. He walked up to the group of people that were staring at him. “Hello,” he bowed slightly. “I’m Wu Yifan.”
There were a few awkward seconds of silence before the group all bursted into laughter.
“You’re cute,” the shortest one said. She had short blonde hair and was wearing a pink baseball cap. “and tall. We don’t like tall ones around here, isn’t that right, Jiae-ah?” As she said that she leaned over and tickled a toddler under her chin. Jiae, Yifan presumed, was held by an equally short woman who had shoulder length khaki hair.
“Yeah, we already have enough tall people here. We need some more shorties so me and Soon Kyu won’t have to kick everyone’s ass all by ourselves.”
Yifan looked at the two awkwardly, not really knowing what to say as they slipped into comfortable conversation.
“Don’t mind them,” a voice made Yifan turn his head. He was met with the sight of a tall girl with long black hair and a killer smile. “I’m Yuri, Minho’s wife. I’ve heard so much about you, Yifan-ssi.” She reached her hand out which he accepted. “My girls, Jiyeon and Sohyun, are both in the twin’s class.”
“Nice to meet you, Yuri-ssi.” Yifan shook her hand firmly and smiled. “Joonmyun has told me loads about you.”
“Has he mentioned me?” a male voice butted in. It was the blonde man Yifan had noticed earlier. He had piercing, cat like features and the glasses that were on his face were Armani, Yifan noted.
“Of course! You’re Kibum, right? Taemin’s dad?” Yifan asked, reaching a hand out for Kibum to take.
“You’re right,” Kibum pushed away Yifan’s hand and hugged him instead. “The boys have told me so much about you but I’m afraid Joonmyun has told me nothing, so good thing you’re here to answer all my questions.” Kibum grinned evilly at him, and the short haired woman joined him.
“You’re so right, Kibum, I didn’t think of that. All those questions that had Joonmyun blushing we can ask him.”
Yifan gulped and backed away slightly, feeling like he should make a run for it if he was going by the look on their faces.
“Cut it out, guys,” Another voice said, Yifan was sure he was going to get whiplash from the many voices coming from this group. “Hello Yifan, I’m Liu Wen.” The sudden Mandarin surprised Yifan and then he realized that this woman must be who Joonmyun had told him about. And then he noticed the dimples, yep, definitely Liu Wen.
“Hi, nice to meet you” Yifan replied back in Mandarin, sending a relieved smile her way.
“We didn’t formally introduce ourselves, why don’t we do that know, ladies?” The short one holding the toddler said. “I’m Kim Taeyeon. My Jinyounggie is in Tao’s class. This is Jiae, my youngest.” She pointed at the toddler. He waved at the little girl and she smiled back at him, one of her little hands pulling on her own pigtail.
“I’m Lee Soon Kyu, but you won’t call me that if you know what’s good for you.” The short blonde haired one said, grinning at him.
“Ignore her, call her Sunny.” Another tall woman said. She was absolutely gorgeous and had long flowing black hair the cascaded in curls over her shoulders. “I’m Yoona, I’m the mom of the other set of twins in Sehun and Jongin’s class, Yein and Jungkook.”
Yifan nodded, “Ah yes, Joonmyun did mention that Jongin and Sehun’s class had three sets of twins.”
“I’m Donghae,” the only other male said. “Joonmyun, my husband, and I all work at the same company.”
“Nice to meet you, Donghae-ssi,” Yifan accepted the proffered hand. “Whose class are your children in?”
“My Doojoonie and Yoobinnie are both older. Yoobin is in the same class as Kibummie’s Sojin.” The male replied, flipping his hair out of his face. The way the man spoke was much different than his appearance suggested. Yifan was sure the man’s bicep was as big as his head.
“Yes, my Sojin. And my Seunghee is in the same class as Sooyeon’s Hana. But she’s not here today.”
“Sooyeon?” Yifan questioned, “Isn’t that Changmin’s wife?”
Another woman who looked similar to Yoona nodded at that. She was the only one who hadn’t introduced herself yet. “Yes, Sooyeon, or Jessica as she’s better known as, is my unnie. She’s married to Changmin. I’m Soojung. My daughter Sera is in the same class as Tao and my son Daniel is in the same class as the twins.”
“Nice to meet you all,” Yifan said after they had all introduced themselves.
“Now, since introductions are out of the way, it’s time for questions.” Taeyeon said, grinning sinisterly at him. Sunny and Kibum joined and stepped closer to Yifan. It looked a bit like they were about to interrogate him.
“What questions do you have?” Yifan asked tentatively, taking a step back.
“Well,” Sunny started, placing a hand on her hip. “Joonmyun never actually told us where you both met. Let’s start there.”
“We met at the grocery store.” Yifan said easily, smiling fondly at the memory.
“Aww look at him,” Donghae cooed. He reached up and pinched Yifan’s cheeks. “You’re so cute, look at the love in your eyes.”
Yifan blushed slightly at that and cleared his throat. Joonmyun had mentioned that Donghae was motherly since he was the oldest of the group.
Before Yifan could respond, the group’s attention was caught by a group of kids running their way. He glanced at his watch and he realized 5 minutes had passed so the elementary kids were being released. He searched the crowd for Tao and grinned when he caught sight of the boy. He was wearing the coat he had picked out a couple weeks ago when the five of them had gone to the mall.
“Mr. Yifan!!” Tao’s voice broke through the chaos as he came running towards the man, barely halting quick enough to miss running into Yifan’s legs.
“Hey Taozi, did you have a good day?” Yifan reached a hand down to pat at the boys hair.
Tao nodded excitedly, “I did! We didn’t have to do any work today because we had rehearsal for our concert! You’re coming right?”
Yifan nodded in confirmation. “I am, and so are your grandma and grandpa and your uncles too.”
Tao grinned widely at that, showing off the empty space where his front tooth should be. They both looked over at the other people in the group and were met with their eyes on them. “Hi aunties! And uncle Kibum and Donghae.” Tao greeted and gave each of them a hug.
The adults all greeted him back with hugs and smiles.
“Kids,” Liu Wen said in Mandarin. She was now joined by a small boy with jet black hair and deep dimples and a slightly taller girl who looked almost exactly like her mom. “This is Yifan-ge. He’s Chinese, like us, can you say hi?”
The little boy walked forward and bowed. “Hi Yifan-ge! I’m Choi Daehan. Nice to meet you! Me and Taozi’s are best friends and our birthdays are two days after each other!”
Yifan smiled at the boy and then turned to the girl.
“I’m Choi Jia,” She said quietly and grinned. “You’re really tall, like my appa.”
“I’ve been hearing that a lot lately, nice to meet you, pretty.” Yifan said, smiling back at her causing her to blush and shy away behind her mother.
“Mr. Yifan,” Tao pulled on his pant leg. “Why are talking like the funny way that Daehan talks to his umma with?”
“We were speaking Mandarin, Tao-ah.” Yifan explained. “Maybe I’ll teach you some so you can talk to Daehan in another language, yeah?”
“You really will? Thank you!” Tao said, hugging Yifan’s legs. “But I still want the other gift you promised me.”
The parents laughed at this.
“Umma,” The little boy who had attached himself to Taeyeon’s side said. “Can we go play on the playground?”
“Yes, but keep your gloves on. And when the littles get out we’re leaving right away, okay?” She said this to all the children who had joined them and they all nodded before running away after handing their parents their backpacks. Jia grabbed Tao’s hand halfway to the playground and Yifan saw the boy flush red.
“Tao seems to really like you,” Yuri said once the kids had left.
“Yeah, he didn’t even ask where his appa was and he usually always does when Joonmyun isn’t the first thing he sees.” Yoona added.
“Really?” Yifan asked, raising his eyebrows. “Tao actually hated me the most when we first met. He thought I was going to take his appa away from him.”
A chorus of “aw’s” rang across the group of parents and Kibum and Sunny grabbed their chests dramatically.
“That’s so cute,” Taeyeon said, bouncing Jiae on her hip.
The doors to the preschool opened and a pile of kids tumbled out, all dressed in puffy coats that made them look like marshmallows.
“Here come the munchkins,” Soojung said, opening her arms in time for a little blue ball of fluff to jump into her arms. “Prepare yourself, Yifan.” She kissed the boy on the only visible part of his face.
“Mommy,” the blue marshmallow said. “Where’s Hana-noona? I made her a picture!”
“Sera and Hana are both on the playground, can you go get them so we can go home?” Soojung asked him, placing him on the ground. The little boy nodded and ran to the playground to get his sister. “That was my son, Daniel. The two girls that were here earlier were my daughter Sera and Jessica and Changmin’s daughter, Hana.”
Yifan nodded in understanding and turned towards the crowd of kids, searching for the two Kim boys.
“Mr. Yifaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!” A tiny voice yelled and next thing Yifan knew he was attacked by a little ball of red fluff with a Batman backpack.
“Hi Jongin,” came Yifan’s reply. He noticed that the other little boy that was clutching Jongin’s hand tightly was not Sehun. “Who’s this?”
“This is my bestest bestest most bestest friend Taemin! He loves Batman just like me and Sehunnie.” Jongin said, showing off Taemin who smiled up at him before pulling Jongin towards Kibum so he could hug his own dad.
“Good luck trying to separate them,” Liu Wen said to him, grinning. “It still takes Joonmyun and Kibum 5 minutes to separate them, who knows how long it’ll take you today.”
“I think this belongs to you,” Donghae returned back to the group with Sehun upside down in his arms. He had on a green puffy coat and he had a Captain America shield shaped backpack in his hand.
“Hi Mr. Yifan!” Sehun waved. “Your face looks funny. Uncle Donghae, doesn’t his face look funny?” Sehun raised his eyebrows at him.
Donghae tickled his stomach and then placed him right side up on his feet. “He doesn’t look funny anymore, Sehunnie, now does he?”
Sehun shook his head, “Nope! He looks the same now. Mr. Yifan, do you know my Uncle Donghae?”
Yifan nodded at him, “I did meet him, yes.”
“He’s my most favoritest Uncle Donghae in the whole entire world! And when I marry his daughter, Yoobin-noona, he’ll also be my Appa Donghae!” Sehun said excitedly, walking forward to give Yifan a hug.
“You’re not marrying my daughter, Sehunnie! You’re too young to get married, you noona-killer, you!” Donghae teased.
“You say that every time, uncle Donghae, but uncle Hyuk said I can marry Yoobin and auntie Yoona at the same time. So then Jonginnie can marry Taeminnie and Tao-hyung can marry Jia-noona and we’ll all live together with lots of doggies.” Sehun stated firmly, nodding his head at the end in finality.
“You little rascal,” Donghae ruffled Sehun’s hair.
Yifan was laughing quietly at this exchange, Sehun’s imagination still surprised him.
“Sehunnie,” the two little girls that had ran up to Yuri came over to him. “Umma said we can play on the playground for 5 minutes, do you want to play with us?” The slightly smaller one asked, she had curly jet black hair that was braided in pigtails.
“Let me ask my appa, Sohyun” Sehun turned to find his appa and then frowned when he realized he wasn’t there. “Mr. Yifan, where’s my appa?”
“Your appa’s gone to the airport to pick up your grandparents. I’m going to take you home today and get you ready for your concert, is that okay?” Yifan crouched down in front of Sehun.
Sehun placed his finger on his chin and concentrated for a minute. “Will you let us listen to the CD auntie Yoona gave me on the way home?”
“I’ll let you listen to whatever you want,” Yifan nodded, smiling at him.
Sehun grinned at that and then nodded his head excitedly, his bangs bouncing with how excited he was. “Okay, then let’s go home!”
“Don’t you want to play on the playground with us?” The other girl asked with a pout on her lips. She looked almost identical to her sister except her hair was pin straight and fell straight down her back.
“Oh right,” Sehun looked up at Yifan. “Can I go play with Sohyun and Jiyeon?”
Yifan nodded, “only for 5 minutes and then we need to go.”
Sehun grinned and then ran towards the playground but stopped half way there and turned back around. He ran towards Yoona and hugged her legs. “Auntie Yoona I almost forgot to say hi to you!”
“Hi Sehunnie,” Yoona said, grinning at the small boy. She kissed his forehead. “Why don’t you go play with Yein and Jungkook too?”
“Okay Auntie Yoona!” Sehun gestured for her to crouch down and he placed a kiss on her cheek. “I love you mostest, you’re my favorite Auntie Yoona ever.” Sehun grabbed the hands of the two small children who were near Yoona and then the three of them ran towards the playground.
Yifan let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair. “Shouldn’t he be tired after school?”
“That boy’s never tired,” Sunny said, laughing. “He usually stays over here with us and flirts with all his aunties. Sehunnie, the noona killer.”
“Mmhmm, he’s been telling me he was going to marry me ever since the beginning of the year. But whenever Donghae’s daughter, Yoobin, is over here, he acts like I don’t exist.” Yoona said, picking up her kids discarded backpacks from the ground.
“So, you’re coming to the concert tonight?” Kibum asked, he had shooed Jongin and Taemin and the rest of the kids to the playground so the adults could talk.
Yifan nodded in affirmation. “The boys would kill me if I missed it. Joonmyun probably would too, but like, in the passive aggressive way because he wouldn’t want me to be pressured to go.”
“That’s our Joonnie,” Yuri said, shaking her head. “It’s a really cute show, will this be the first time you’re meeting Joon’s parents?”
Yifan shook his head, “Well, not really. I met them once before when they came over to Joonmyun’s house unexpectedly when I was just leaving. This will be the first expended time I’ll spend with them, though.”
“Good luck,” Donghae said, patting Yifan’s back. “I felt like throwing up the entire day before I met my Hyukkie’s parents.”
Yoona rolled her eyes, “he’s lying. Him and Hyukjae had been friends for like 10 years before they started dating, Donghae already knew his parents.”
“I meant, when I was meeting his parents as Hyukjae’s boyfriend. Yes, they liked me as his best friend, but who knew if they would like me as his boyfriend.”
“At least they knew he was gay,” Kibum said, “when I met Jonghyun’s parents they were more concerned about the fact that he had a boyfriend more so than meeting his boyfriend.”
“I didn’t meet Wooyoung’s parents until I was already pregnant with Jeonghan,” Taeyeon added, laughing at the memory. “That was a fun first meeting, I threw up halfway through it and his poor mom thought it was her food.”
“When I first met Minho’s parents, I threw up too, remember?” Yuri said.
Soojung nodded, laughing. “You came to me and unnie’s house freaking because you thought they were going to make him break up with you. And we had to call all the unnies over to calm you down.”
“Joonmyun oppa actually helped me a lot through that,” Yuri added, turning her attention towards Yifan. “He’s so good with comforting people, he told me how Minho’s parents were and helped me practice what to say and everything.”
Yifan smiled at that, “He is really good with people; I don’t understand why he works at home by himself when he’s so good with people.”
“Joonmyunnie likes the flexibility,” Yoona said. “Even when we were growing up he was much better when things were more flexible vs the structure. Joonhyung was always much better with structure.”
At the mention of Joonhyung’s name, everyone paused. Taeyeon looked up from where she was watching Jiae play with the rocks and they all glanced at Yifan’s face.
“Joonhyung is Joonmyun’s brother, right? I haven’t met him yet,” Yifan said, awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.
The group all glanced around at that before Sunny cleared her throat turned to yell at her daughter to stop throwing rocks at her other daughter.
“So,” Yifan started, clearing his throat. “you all grew up with Joonmyun?”
“Not me,” Kibum said, shaking his head. “I only met him and the rest of these losers when my Sojin became best friends with Donghae’s Yoobin. And he introduced me to the rest of them.”
“My husband, Siwon, went to university with Joonmyun. When we moved back here from China, Joonmyun recommended we send our kids here and I met the rest of them.” Liu Wen said.
“I didn’t meet any of them until last year.” Donghae started. “Yoobin would come home every day and tell me about this little boy who she would give her cookies to every day since he was so cute and told her he was going to marry her. It was Sehunnie so I figured I had to meet the father of my future son in law. And then I realized that Joonmyun worked at the same company as me and Hyukkie so I started hanging out with them even though I’m so much older than them all.”
The ladies rolled their eyes at this. “Donghae oppa thinks that since there’s a two year age difference between him and the next oldest he’s some old and wise grandpa when in reality he’s the most childish of us all.” Yuri said, “the rest of us basically grew up with Joonmyun; I met him our first year of college when I started dating his best friend, Minho.”
“Me and Yuri grew up together so when she started dating Minho, we all became friends.” Yoona added.
“Me, Sunny, and Jessica all lived on the same block as Joonmyun. And our little Soojungie used to have the biggest crush on her Joonmyun oppa.” Taeyeon teased, pinching Soojung on her cheek.
“I had a crush on him when I was 7, unnie!” Soojung whined. “Plus, I always knew Joonmyun oppa didn’t like girls.”
“We all knew,” Sunny laughed. “I think we knew before he did, like that one time he had that crush on our music teacher but didn’t realize it because our teacher was a man.”
Yifan laughed along with the other ladies as they all shared stories about their and Joonmyun’s childhood. He hadn’t really gotten the chance to hang out with any of Joonmyun’s friends since all of them were relatively busy with the holidays coming up.
---
Yifan later realized that Liu Wen was right, as he and Kibum tried to pry Taemin and Jongin away from each other when everyone was finally getting ready to leave. The two clutched onto each other in a hug for what felt like an hour and the only thing that got them to separate was Kibum promising Jongin that they could all sit together later at the concert. Sehun had attached himself to Yoobin during this and thankfully her dad was able to pry him away from his daughter by threatening that Sehun wouldn’t be able to marry her. Tao was the only one who wasn’t a problem; he was too worried about trying to look cool for Jia to act up.
The group dispersed after that, all the parents telling Yifan and the boys they’d see them later that evening. Yifan ushered the boys to his car, he had Sehun, the smallest of the three, on his back and he had Tao and Jongin’s tiny hands clutched in his larger ones. He’d seen too many movies about children running around in parking lots.
“Mr. Yifan,” Tao said once they reached Yifan’s car, “Appa told us we can’t ride in anyone’s car unless we have car seats.”
“That’s right, Tao-ah, but I have your car seats in here.” Yifan opened the door to the backseat of the car at this and showed the boys the three seats in the back. “I took them out of your Appa’s car before I came here, so you guys will be safe.”
“You think of everything, Mr. Yifan,” Sehun said from Yifan’s back.
Yifan smiled at that and set Sehun down on the ground, “Let’s get going, okay? Can you get in your seats by yourself or do you need my help?”
“I can do it myself, Mr. Yifan, I’m a big boy,” Jongin said, it was the first thing he had said since he’d been separated from Taemin. Yifan was sure the boy was upset with him since he had bitterly grabbed his hand when he had proffered it. The boy had the cutest pout on his lips and Yifan couldn’t handle it.
Yifan let the boys drag themselves into the car and made sure their buckles were fastened all the way before he closed the door and slipped into his own seat. Fastening his seat belt, he glanced in the rear view and was met with three sets of brown eyes staring back at him. The ones on the far left seemed to be glaring at him if he looked long enough. Yifan sighed and glanced down at his phone to see the light flashing indicating he had a notification. He smiled when he saw the message was from Joonmyun.
Jongin’s only angry for the first couple of minutes, let him choose what song you get to listen to first and he won’t even remember by the time you get out of the parking lot.
Yifan smiled wider at this, Joonmyun truly did think of everything.
“Jongin, do you want to pick the first song we listen to?”
Yifan saw Jongin’s eyes light up at this as he nodded his head fiercely, his mouth shouting out various song titles.
---
When Yifan finally pulled up to the Kim household, he let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Riding in a car with three overexcited children was way more tiring – and louder- than he was expecting. The car ride only took about five songs but the boys sang along to each song loudly and enthusiastically.
As soon as the car came to a stop it seemed like, each boy had jumped out of the car and ran up to the door, jumping up and down in excitement. Yifan made his way to the front door as quickly as possible and took out the spare key Joonmyun gave to him before he left. As soon as the key turned in the lock the boys had run in the house and kicked their shoes off, their backpacks and coats dropped down right next to their shoes. They then ran up the stairs, laughter following them.
Yifan sighed and shook his head, reaching down to grab the boys’ things and placed them on the hooks next to the door. He grabbed the lunch boxes out of the bags like he knew Joonmyun usually did and made his way towards the kitchen. He emptied the lunch boxes out and placed the bento boxes in the dishwasher and then made his way towards the cupboards to find the boys a snack. A white piece of paper on the counter caught his attention.
There’s apple slices in the fridge in the blue container, there’s almond butter in the left cupboard, just give them that and some milk – Joon
He smiled at that and got out all the things Joonmyun listed and placed them all on the counter. He poured milk into three glasses and took out the jar of almond butter and then put everything on the table.
“Boys!” He called, making his way up the stairs towards the boys’ rooms. He heard Tao’s whining coming from the twin’s room so he made his way in there. He was met with a huge mess of toys sprawled across the floor. Sehun and Jongin were standing on one of the beds, capes on and hands on their hips in a super hero pose. They both had sinister grins on their faces and there was a stuffed panda behind them. Yifan recognized it as the one Tao took his naps with.
“Give it back!” Tao screamed at them, he had tears in his eyes and his arms were crossed over his chest.
“Deo-deo is ours until you agree to watch Batman with us, hyung,” Sehun said proudly.
“I don’t want to watch Batman! I want to watch Pororo!”
“Pororo’s for babies,” Jongin scoffed. “Us big kids like superheroes.”
“I’m not a baby!” Tao shouted, a tear slipping out of one of his eyes. Oh shit, Yifan thought. He needed to quickly diffuse the situation.
“Hey, hey, hey, what’s going on here?” He walked towards Tao and crouched down in front of him, bringing up a thumb to wipe away his tears.
“They stole Deo-deo away from me and then called me a baby.” Tao pouted and pointed an offending finger at his two younger brothers.
Yifan turned towards the two boys and frowned. “Why are you boys being mean to your hyung?” He was met with blank stares and Sehun had the nerve to cock an eyebrow at the man. “Okay then,” Yifan reached over and took the plushie and then handed it to Tao. “Since Tao seems like he’s the only one who can talk he’s the only one who can have a snack.”
With this, Yifan grabbed Tao’s hand and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. They made it halfway down the stairs before he heard the wails that came out of the room. Shit. “Tao-ah, go downstairs and start eating your snack, okay? I’m going to get your brothers.”
Yifan cautiously stepped towards the twins’ room and stopped directly in front of the door. He heard the mixture of the two young boys cries from inside the room and he let out a deep sigh. He slowly pushed open the door, the creak of it halting the boys tears for a moment. Once Jongin and Sehun saw who it was at the door though, their wails started again.
The two were huddled on the clean bed in the room, clutching on to each other. Yifan stepped towards them and he swore he heard one of them growl at him.
“Mr. Yifan, you’re mean and we don’t want to be your friend anymore,” Jongin said. Yifan would take the statement more to heart if the boy didn’t have tears streaming down his face and snot running out of his nose.
“What did I do that was mean?” Yifan asked, cocking his head to the side.
“Y-you,” Sehun finally said, lifting his head from where it was sheltered in his brother’s shoulder. “You like Tao-hyung better than us.”
Yifan mentally awed at that. These boys really were adorable. “That’s not true,” Yifan said. “I admit I don’t like when you boys are mean to him but that doesn’t mean I don’t like you anymore.”
“We don’t believe you,” Jongin says. His tears had stopped flowing and he set a fierce look at Yifan.
“Yeah,” Sehun echoed. “We don’t believe you, please get out of our room.”
Yifan scrunched his face up at this. “Okay, I’ll leave, but your snack is waiting for you downstairs. So is your brother who you need to apologize to.”
“We don’t apologize to traitors,” they said at the same time. It would be creepy if it wasn’t so cute, Yifan thought as walked out the room, closing the door behind him. He assumed they would come down eventually.
Once he reached the kitchen, he was met with a mess. A chair was tilted towards the cabinet and Tao was standing on it, reaching for something in the cabinets. Yifan made it to catch the boy a second before the chair collapsed.
“Shit, Tao, what were you doing?” Yifan asked, attempting to calm his rapid heartbeat.
“Mr. Yifan you just said a bad word! I’m going to tell appa!” Tao yelled, ignoring Yifan’s question.
Yifan sighed, “I did say a bad word, I’m sorry. Now can you tell me why you were standing on a chair?”
“Oh!” Tao said, forgetting about the word incident. “I was getting a bowl because I can’t eat almond butter out of the jar.”
Yifan groaned internally at this, he knew he forgot something. “My bad, Tao-ah. I’ll get a bowl for you. Next time, just ask me first, okay?”
Tao nodded happily at this. “Okay! Where’s my Sehunnie and Jonginnie?”
“They’re upstairs crying in their room.”
The boy let out a gasp at this, his piercing eyes widening. “And you left them? Appa never leaves us! He just stands outside until we come out. They’re gonna be so sad when they walk out and no one’s there. I have to go, Mr. Yifan.” Tao jumped off his chair and ran up the stairs, yelling his brothers names as he reached the stairs.
Yifan heard the teary and happy reunion of the brothers almost instantly and shook his head, kids were harder work than he thought.
---
When Joonmyun and his parents walked into the house they were met with utter chaos. As soon as they walked in, they tripped over 3 pairs of shoes and heard loud screams. The saw a blur of what looked like Sehun in his underwear run past them and into Joonmyun’s office. Five seconds later Jongin ran past them in a similar state and slammed the office door behind him. Thirty seconds later Tao ran into the hallway fully dressed in his concert outfit. His hair styled up away from his forehead and his bowtie tied perfectly. If Joonmyun wasn’t so confused he’d start squealing and take a picture.
“Mr. Yifan! They went in Appa’s office, I know how to open---“ Tao stopped mid-sentence when he noticed the three standing by the door. “Oh my god! Grandma and Grandpa!” He squealed, running to hug his grandparents. “Did you bring me something from your trip?”
“Ahh, this kid,” Joonmyun’s father, Jungsoo, said. He picked up his oldest grandson and kissed him on the cheek. “Didn’t you miss us?”
“Of course I did!” Tao said. “I missed you every single day. And every single hour.”
“My cute Taozi,” Joonmyun’s mother, Minhee, said. She reached over and kissed him on the cheek. “I bought you a lot of presents but first I need to see your brothers.
“Okay, grandma,” he started wiggling so his grandfather would put him down. Once he reached the ground he ran towards the office and started pounding on the door. “Sehunnie! Jonginnie! Grandma and grandpa are here!”
“What am I, chopped liver?” Joonmyun said, pouting. His mother giggled at that and ruffled his hair.
“I still love you, Joonmyun-ah.”
“Let me go find Yifan, can you get the boys out of my office?”
His parents nodded at that and Joonmyun made his through the house. He searched for the tall man, peaking his head in the bathroom and living room and wasn’t able to find him. He checked in the kitchen and still couldn’t find him. Finally, he looked into the laundry room since that was the only room he hadn’t checked that was on the first floor. He was surprised to find Yifan there.
The tall man was sitting on the floor with his head down, hands wrapped around his legs, his shirt completely soaked. Joonmyun slightly smiled at the sight. “You doing alright there?”
Yifan’s head jerked up at this and his cheeks flooded when he saw Joonmyun standing there. “Joonmyun, hi. Just taking a breather.”
Joonmyun chuckled. “Hey, I see the boys gave you a bit of trouble?” He reached a hand down to pull the taller man up.
“Nope, everything was perfectly fine. The house is clean, the boys are fed and clean and dressed.” Yifan lied, smiling.
Joonmyun shook his head at that and laughed again. “I saw Sehun and Jongin before I came in here. My parents are getting them dressed.”
“Ah, that’s great. Everything’s fine, haha,” Yifan chuckled fakely. He pulled Joonmyun into a hug. “Your boys are ruthless.”
Joonmyun laughed again and hugged him back, reaching up to press a kiss to his chin. “I know. I’d love to hear about your day but my parents are waiting for us in the living room right now probably.”
“Ah shit, right, okay cool, this is happening.” Yifan reached a hand up to run his fingers through his hair. “I’m going to look great by letting their grandchildren run around the house naked.”
“Not true, Tao was dressed. Quite handsomely if I say so myself.” Joonmyun teased. He brought his hands up to cup the other man’s cheeks. “Hey, it’s okay, alright? They’re gonna love you.” He pressed a gentle kiss to the other man’s lips.
Yifan nodded and kissed Joonmyun again on the lips. And then on the nose. And then on both cheeks. “Okay, let’s go.” He grabbed Joonmyun’s hand and laced their fingers together. “By the way, I missed you today.”
Joonmyun blushed and pushed Yifan lightly on the shoulder.
“No, really. Today was so domestic and it just made me want to be with you even more. Those boys are so…much and you deal with it every day by yourself. I honestly can’t believe I’m dating someone so amazing.”
Joonmyun flushed deeper at his comment. “Shut up, if I go out there looking like this my parents are going to think we did more than talking in here.”
Yifan grinned at that and then pushed the door closed. “Well, if they’re already going to think it, why not?”
Joonmyun just shook his head at that before he felt Yifan’s lips on his and melted into the door.