Chapter Text
“Please, Mama, please!” Soonyoung pleaded as he followed closely behind Seungkwan. The caregiver was carrying a bottle of champagne in one hand and a platter of brie and crackers in the other.
“Soonie, baby, Mama’s already made his mind,” Seungkwan argued. “And you little ones need your sleep.”
Soonyoung let out a loud whine. “But Hao-Hao’s getting to stay up!”
Minghao repressed a chuckle as he passed by, opting to ruffle Soonyoung’s hair instead. “That’s because Baba is big today, little tiger,” he said.
Soonyoung grumbled in response. Thankfully, Junhui was there to back him up as his partner in crime.
“Please, Mama? Pretty, pretty, please?” he begged.
Seungkwan startled and nearly dropped the platter in his hands; Jun seemed to appear from nowhere. He sighed. “No, babies, I’ve already told you that you need to get your sleep. You stayed up plenty late on Shua’s birthday.”
“Listen to your mother, kids,” Vernon said, planting a kiss on Seungkwan’s cheek and grabbing a cracker while he was distracted.
Wonwoo, who had been trailing Vernon and pleading with him just as Soonyoung and Jun were with Seungkwan, let out a scandalized gasp. “Papa’s s’posed to be on ouw side!” he said. “Twaitow!”
Seungkwan turned around to speak through gritted teeth and a threatening smile. “Vernon,” he hissed, “if you promised any of the babies that they can stay up later than 9:30, I will personally castrate you, and I know for a fact that Jeonghan hyung will help.”
“Wha’s cast’ate, Mama?” Seungcheol asked, toddling into the room to join the campaign.
Chan strolled into the room to snag a stack of crackers while Seungkwan was busy fuming at Vernon. “It means that Mama is going to yell at Papa like Daddy and Kitty do to you when you’re being too loud, only a whole lot worse,” he said through a mouthful, walking back into the living room to continue watching Joshua play with his new dolls. The littles blanched and gaped.
Minghao let out a small giggle before turning his focus to Seungkwan. “Come on, Kwannie, let the babies have some fun. It is New Year’s Eve.”
“Do you want to try explaining that idea to Jeonghan hyung?” Seungkwan questioned, the poison in his voice now dripping onto Minghao.
“Explain what idea to me?” Jeonghan asked as he entered the living room. Seokmin was secure in his arms and Jihoon was close behind with Mingyu crawling after him.
“Two of our darling boyfriends want to let the littles stay up until midnight,” Seungkwan stated.
“What?!” Jeonghan snapped. His curious look transformed to seething in a split second.
Minghao smiled, shrugging. “To be honest, Wonwoo, Seokmin, Mingyu, and maybe Cheolie will be out like lights by their usual bedtime. And if Joshua, Soonyoung, and Jun manage to stay awake, well… it’s a right of passage for kids and littles alike.”
“Baba’s my favowite now,” Seungcheol said bluntly.
Joshua nodded, looking up from his Apple White doll. While Chan doubled over with laughter on the couch, the little yelled, “Me too, sorry, Kitty.”
Jihoon chuckled. “Kitty’s not offended, princess. He’s just very amused right now.”
“I mean, think about it,” said Vernon. He was hesitating under Jeonghan’s gaze, which held all the heat of a thousand dying suns. “What’s the worst that can really happen?”
“They don’t get enough sleep and everyone is crabby tomorrow,” Seungkwan said, folding his arms over his chest.
“And you and Minghao will be dealing with it, since you suggested letting them stay up late,” added Jeonghan.
Minghao flashed a bright smile at the oldest. “We accept those terms, hyung.”
“Baba’s the best!” Jun squealed.
Jeonghan and Seungkwan shared a look. “Tiny traitors, the lot of them,” Seungkwan muttered.
Jihoon snickered as he plopped down onto the couch. “You’re both just bitter that Minghao replaced you as the favorite after being big for less than a day.”
“I can neither confirm nor deny this statement,” Jeonghan said, refusing to make eye contact with Jihoon. The shortest rolled his eyes before leaning over and pressing a kiss on Jeonghan’s cheek.
“Sulking is not a good look on you, hyung,” Jihoon stated.
Jeonghan scoffed. “I always look good.” He glared at Vernon when he giggled. “You’re already in trouble, Vernonnie! Don’t push it!”
“Daddy, Mama!” Soonyoung demanded, tugging on Seungkwan’s shirt. “Can we stay up or what?!”
Seungkwan and Jeonghan shared a look, then the former sighed and grumbled, “Fine.”
With that, the littles - bouncing, cheering, excited - sat down with their caregivers to watch movies into the new year.
Of course, though, most of the littles were out like lights by their usual bedtime. The first to pass out were Mingyu and Seokmin, who had fallen asleep on their caregivers’ laps thirty minutes into Frozen . Wonwoo was next to fall, falling asleep over a sippy cup of hot cocoa while Fixer-Upper played in the background. Jeonghan laughed softly at the scene and transferred Wonwoo’s sippy to the coffee table. After Wonwoo was Junhui, even though he had rubbed at his eyes and desperately tried to stay awake. Vernon felt a bit bad for the little while carrying him upstairs to his bedroom after the movie had finished. Seungkwan felt significantly less sympathy.
Despite four of the seven littles being out for the count after one movie, three did still remain. Soonyoung, Joshua, and Seungcheol were still wide awake after Frozen finished, and Joshua rushed over to Minghao with a smile. “Baba! Baba! Can we please watch Frozen 2 next? Please, please, please?!”
“How does he have so much energy?” Jihoon muttered, somewhat in awe. “Shua’s usually sleepy around this time.”
“I think he’s just persistent,” Jeonghan said, chuckling.
Joshua shook his head as he started to bounce in place. “No, big Shua drank coffee earlier so I could stay up!”
The caregivers’ eyes widened at the revelation, and the younger ones couldn’t help but side-eye Jeonghan and Seungkwan.
“Kwannie, remind me to smack a certain L.A. boy upside the head the next time he’s big,” Jeonghan hissed, keeping a smile on his face for the littles.
“Gladly,” Seungkwan grumbled. He glanced over at Seungcheol and Soonyoung. “Babies, did big Cheolie and big Soonie do the same thing?” Soonyoung shook his head while Seungcheol shrugged.
Minghao cocked an eyebrow. “Cheolie, why the shrug, baby?”
“Had some of big Shua’s drink,” Seungcheol admitted. The little wolf stuck his tongue out, and a pout formed on his face. “It was icky, but now Cheolie’s awake.”
Soonyoung pounced on top of Seungcheol, earning a yelp from the little tiger’s prey. “Soonie just ate some of his Christmas candy!”
“So two littles have caffeine in their systems, and Soonie’s just on a sugar high… Like always,” Chan summarized.
“Fantastic,” Vernon said dryly.
“I need a drink,” Seungkwan muttered, leaning back on the couch with a sigh.
Minghao tried - and failed - to console his boyfriends with, “Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now. We may as well enjoy New Year’s with them, right?” He was met with unamused stares from the caregivers and affirmations that he was the favorite from the littles.
Once Minghao managed to (half-heartedly) plead his case to not sleeping on the couch, Seungkwan decided to pop open the champagne bottle. Not literally, of course, as the noise tended to make both Jihoon and Joshua tense.
“This is not a toast,” he clarified as he poured some into a glass. “I am simply de-stressing. Loosening up.” He poured glasses for Vernon and Jeonghan, which only the former took.
“I’m saving my glass for midnight,” Jeonghan stated. He looked back and forth between the two caregivers as they started to down their glasses. “Please, for the love of all things beautiful like me and our babies, don’t get drunk this year.”
“Your loss,” Seungkwan said with a shrug at the same time Vernon teased, “No promises.”
Jeonghan was sure his internal screaming was loud enough for the others to hear.
Flashing his boyfriend a sympathetic look, Chan interjected, “Can you both try since we have three of our babies down here?”
“I will try, but I still make no promises,” Seungkwan argued as he refilled his glass. “We got the good stuff this year.”
Soonyoung gently tugged on Jihoon’s pajama pants and looked up at the caregiver with pleading eyes. “Kitty, can we try some?”
“No, baby, we have something else special for you and your brothers,” he responded, coping much better with his stress than Seungkwan and Vernon.
“Can we -”
“Give me just a minute to go get it, little tiger.” Jihoon ruffled Soonyoung’s hair as he stood up and walked into the kitchen.
Jeonghan perked his head up. “Can you grab me a soda, Hoonie?”
“Me too, hyung?” Chan requested.
“Sure thing!” Jihoon responded, raising his voice so he could be heard from the kitchen. After a few minutes, he returned with two soda cans shoved into his sweatpants pockets and the littles’ sippy cups, all of which were filled with sparkling grape juice.
“Thank you, Kitty!” Joshua chirped, a small smile on his face as he accepted his pink sippy cup and started to gulp down its contents.
Soonyoung let out a content sigh as he took a sip. “This is good, Kitty!”
“We’re glad you like it, babies,” Chan responded. He reached forward for his can of soda and held it up. “Now, who wants to watch Frozen 2?!” The three littles let out loud cheers, mimicking Chan by raising their sippy cups high in the air.
The next few hours went by in a blur. The littles enjoyed their sparkling grape juice, and the caregivers enjoyed their drinks. Jeonghan, Jihoon, Minghao, and Chan stuck with soda until it got closer to midnight. Meanwhile, Seungkwan and Vernon continued to refill their glasses with champagne.
By the time that midnight hit, the two caregivers were quite tipsy from so much alcohol. And for better or (usually) for worse, both Vernon and Seungkwan were very clingy drunks. As they counted down into the New Year, they already had hands on each other’s waists.
In unison, the eight of them cheered, “...Three, two, one, happy New Year!” Jeonghan turned to kiss Soonyoung’s forehead, as did Chan to Joshua and Jihoon to Seungcheol. Minghao gave them each a kiss in turn, and they giggled while the rest of the caregivers complained. Vernon and Seungkwan, on the other hand, had thrown back another swig of champagne and were now tangled at the mouth.
The two of them became completely unaware of the presence of the others as they became more and more passionate in their kissing. Vernon, eyes closing softly, wrapped his arms tighter around Seungkwan’s waist. Seungkwan let out a breathy whine as he leaned farther into the kiss.
“Would you two get a room?” Jihoon screeched, covering his eyes. “The babies are still up, idiots!”
When neither of them responded, Jeonghan and Minghao placed gentle hands on the littles’ backs, hoping to turn them away from the scene that was becoming less and less appropriate for regressed eyes. Chan was more proactive; he grabbed a pillow and smacked Vernon over the head with it.
“Save that for our room, you drunks!” Chan hissed.
“H-Hey, have some - hic - respect for your hyungs, Channie,” Seungkwan ordered, slurring his words.
Jeonghan let out a sigh. “Every year with this.” He forced himself to smile as he looked back down at the littles. “Alright, babies, since it’s finally midnight, how ‘bout we go to bed now?”
“Yeah, we can tuck you three in, and Baba and Daddy will read you a bedtime story,” Minghao offered, attempting to rush the littles upstairs before anything escalated between Seungkwan and Vernon.
The offer of a story was enough for Joshua, who sprung to his feet and started rushing over to the stairs. “Come on, Baba! Storytime!”
“Slow down, little one,” Jihoon said, a hand now on his shoulder, “not everyone has as much energy as you.”
Joshua whined, bouncing in place while he waited for everyone else (bar Vernon, Seungkwan, and Chan) to catch up. While there was some slight hesitation from Soonyoung and Seungcheol, they were also quickly coaxed out of the room, leaving the youngest three alone.
“Thank whatever god is above,” Chan grumbled. He turned his focus back to the drunk couple, who had resumed their makeout session. “Okay… Hey, hyungs?” They glanced over at the youngest. “Wouldn’t this be a lot more comfortable in our bed?”
Vernon pulled back, earning a small whine from Seungkwan. “Hey, babe - hic - Channie m-might have a point.”
“But I’m comfy here,” Seungkwan argued. To prove his point, he cuddled closer to Vernon.
“You could lay down, though,” Chan reasoned, “and maybe someone else would join you.” That last bit was a white lie; whoever wasn’t asleep would most definitely ignore the two of them, but if it would help get them upstairs...
With some slight struggling, he managed to drag the caregivers up to their room. However, much to his chagrin, Seungkwan attempted to go and say goodnight to the littles. “Kwannie hyung, no, I think they’re already fast asleep,” Chan said hurriedly. He failed to mention that they both reeked of alcohol, something that would most definitely upset Junhui if they accidentally woke him up.
By some miracle up above, the caregiver bought the half-truth and stumbled over to the bed instead. He and Vernon were out in seconds, and Chan couldn’t help but stare at them with an amused grin. “I think Hannie hyung’s found new targets for his torment tomorrow.”
The next day, both Vernon and Seungkwan woke up groaning and clutching their heads. “God, did we ram our heads on the walls or something?” Vernon muttered, an arm covering his eyes from the bright light streaming in from the window that Jihoon had opened.
“More like you two got drunk on champagne,” Minghao pointed out. The two sat up to see the flip standing over them with an amused look.
Seungkwan responded to them with, “I think I’m gonna be sick.” The sounds that followed after he rushed to the bathroom made the other two cringe. Upon his return, he flopped face first onto the bed.
“I have so many regrets,” he groaned. Vernon patted his back sympathetically.
“Jeonghan hyung is going to make you both have even more,” Minghao stated. “And I don’t think Chan and Jihoon hyung are going to be too sympathetic.” Both of them grumbled; they didn’t have the energy to argue, and even if they did, Minghao was right. They were, however, glad that he was feeling bad for - or at least tolerating - the two of them.
After a bit of resting and gaining back some of their energy, the three made their way downstairs, where everyone was already wide awake. The littles were playing with the toys they had gotten for Christmas, which were still new enough to provide boundless entertainment and excitement that led to ungodly noise levels no one was doing anything about.
Jeonghan looked up from his phone with a gleeful and sadistic grin on his face as Seungkwan and Vernon walked into the dining room for breakfast. “Good morning, you two? How are you doing this morning?”
“Horrible, if that makes you feel any better,” Seungkwan grumbled. He laid his head down on the table. “Can you please tell the babies to quiet down just a little bit? My head is killing me.”
“Well, hyung, you and Vernon hyung were pretty insistent on drinking all that champagne last night,” Chan reminded. “It’s not the babies’ fault that you’re hungover.”
“This, Channie, is why you’re my favorite for today,” Jeonghan stated with a cheery tone. He turned back to Vernon and Seungkwan, looking just the slightest bit too gleeful at their suffering. “You really did bring this upon yourselves.”
“We know, but hey,” Vernon mumbled, reaching for a glass of water and the largest mug they owned for his morning coffee.
Jihoon let out a small grumble as he started to fidget in his seat, picking at a random spot on his sweater. “Maybe we could cut them a bit of a break. The babies are being pretty loud.”
Meanwhile, in the living room, Joshua, desperately trying to stay focused on his new books despite the background noise, looked just as uncomfortable; he ran his hands quickly through his hair, over and over, but none of the caregivers were present to look at him and therefore didn’t notice. Jun copied him, even though he wasn’t quite sure what was going on.
Jeonghan’s smile began to turn into a smirk, focused on revenge just a bit too much to notice his boyfriend’s distressed state. “Not just yet, Hoonie. I think they need just a bit more of a lesson.” The caregiver stepped away for a moment before returning to the breakfast table with a platter filled with pancakes. “Boys! Breakfast is ready!” Seungkwan and Vernon flinched at Jeonghan’s announcement, only to cringe at their babies (sans Joshua and Jun) shouting and cheering.
“Babies,” Seungkwan said weakly, “do you think you could take it down just a little bit?” No one heard him over the sounds of silverware scraping and littles yelling. He gratefully accepted the water, painkillers, and coffee that Vernon offered him.
Jihoon began to grit his teeth as the noise grew louder and louder, becoming almost unbearable. Hyper aware of every little sound, he felt like his ears were too big for his head and getting larger by the second. Next to him, someone’s fork was clattering against their plate. Across the table, another was smacking their lips obnoxiously. Normally, Jeonghan and Seungkwan made the littles be well-behaved during meals, but Jeonghan was too focused on his vengeance and being stubbornly ignorant to this behavior, and Seungkwan was too hungover to make the babies stop. A few seats down from him, someone’s sippy cup sounded like thunder as it fell to the floor, and Jihoon lost it.
Slamming his hands over his ears, he roared, “Would it seriously kill anyone to be fucking quiet for just five minutes?!”
The response to his outburst was immediate.
First were the gasps from the caregivers, accompanied by pale faces and instant regret.
Next came the crying; Seokmin and Mingyu went first, sniffling at first then openly crying within a few seconds. Wonwoo skipped the first stage and went straight to bawling as soon as he saw Seokmin and Mingyu doing so. Jun and Joshua - once they recovered from their shock - crumbled. The former tried to hold his tears in, but eventually curled into a ball and succumbed to sobs. Joshua didn’t even try and buried his face in his knees as soon as he could breathe again. The caregivers thanked the gods that Seungcheol and Soonyoung, who were in older headspaces today, were only shell-shocked.
Jihoon shot out of his seat, which knocked it onto the floor, and rushed out of the dining room, overwhelmed by everything. Jeonghan and Chan were close behind him while the other caregivers quickly took to the task of comforting their crying and shocked babies.
When Jeonghan and Chan arrived at their bedroom, Jihoon was on their bed with his back to the door. His body was trembling as sobs wracked his body.
“Hoonie,” Jeonghan whispered.
“Go away!” Jihoon barked, glaring at the window by the bed. “I want five minutes of quiet!” A sniffle left the smaller man. “Neither of you even tried to keep the babies quiet. You were too busy being petty to consider…” He trailed off and let out a frustrated sound.
Chan sighed, resting his forehead against the doorframe. “Jihoon hyung, we’re… I’m sorry. You’re right, we should’ve thought about you and Shua first,” he said, almost too ashamed to get the words out.
“But you didn’t, ” Jihoon spat. He hiccuped. Chan and Jeonghan felt their hearts break a thousand times over when they took a tentative step forward and saw how violently his body quivered.
Jeonghan gently slid onto the bed. “Jihoon, there isn’t much either of us can say except… I’m sorry.” His voice choked up, but he kept his emotions in check. Now was not the time to cry. “Hyung is sorry that he pushed you and your feelings aside. You and Shua shouldn’t have been pushed into a meltdown like that. I should’ve been more attentive to you both and stopped being petty the moment you asked me to make the littles calm down.”
He waited with bated breath for Jihoon’s response, which came in the form of him reaching a hand back for Jeonghan to hold and whispering, “I forgive you.” Chan felt his stomach begin to drop, before he continued, “You too, Channie.”
Chan, smiling, slid in next to Jeonghan on the bed and squeezed Jihoon’s unoccupied hand in silent thanks.
Downstairs, things were going only slightly better. Seungcheol and Soonyoung were, for the most part, alright and just needed a bit of coaxing and reassurance from Minghao to calm them down. The others, however, were a different story.
While Seungkwan had gone first to Jun and Joshua, knowing they’d need someone to help them calm down, Vernon knew that the youngest babies were more scared than anything and went to comfort them first.
Despite his headache, Vernon managed to power through the sobs to help the babies onto the floor so that a proper impromptu cuddle session could begin. “Aw, babies, what’s wrong? Did the yelling scare you all?”
Seokmin and Mingyu nodded while Wonwoo whimpered out, “Woud, Dada. Wea’wy woud.”
“My poor little babies,” Vernon cooed, bringing the three babies into a tight hug.
“Kitty mad?” Wonwoo asked as his tears began to slow.
Vernon shook his head. “He’s not mad at you, little owl. You know how Shua gets super upset whenever things are too loud?” Wonwoo gave a quick nod, hair flopping into his face. “Well, Kitty is the same way. We got a bit too loud, and it was too much for him.”
Seokmin let out a whine, tears forming at the prospect of upsetting Jihoon. He wriggled away from Vernon and attempted to crawl out of the dining room.
Minghao, thankfully, managed to scoop the baby into his arms. He gave their little sunshine a calm smile. “Hi, Minnie, where are you going?” Seokmin babbled out an adorably unintelligible response that Minghao just nodded along with. “Is that so? Well, I think you should stay here with us so Mama and Daddy can help Kitty calm down.” The little cutiepie whined again but resigned himself to his fate in Minghao’s arms.
On the other side of the breakfast table, Seungkwan was still trying to coax Jun and Joshua out of their self-made cocoons.
“Junnie, my little wiggle worm, can you tell Mama why you’re so upset?” Seungkwan asked, a soothing edge to his voice.
“Kitty mad at us,” Jun choked out, his voice barely above a whisper.
Seungkwan frowned. Jun rarely ever used his indoor voice (big or little), much less a whisper. “Why are you whispering, kitten?”
Jun squirmed around, still sobbing and still hiding his face in his arms. “Kitty mad fo’ bein’ too loud. Junnie no’ gonna be loud so ‘dat Kitty no mad.”
“Babies,” Seungkwan said, hoping to reassure Jun and Joshua, “I promise that Kitty isn’t mad at either of you. He’s not mad; he just got overwhelmed like the two of you do sometimes.”
Joshua, holding on tightly to his own arms, began, “But-”
“I promise.” Seungkwan hovered his hand over Joshua’s knee and rested it when he nodded.
“So no indoor voice?” Jun asked, a slight teasing tone in his voice. Tears still clouded the little’s eyes, but he was no longer sobbing. As far as Seungkwan was concerned, that was a step in the right direction.
Seungkwan playfully rolled his eyes before using his free hand to ruffle his wiggle worm’s hair. “Very funny, Junnie. You still have to try and use that indoor voice of yours, especially since you just showed Mama that you have one.” Jun let out a small giggle, and Seungkwan swore he heard a tiny, “Heh,” from Joshua as his little princess started to uncurl from his ball of tension.
A few more minutes passed, the littles all beginning to properly calm down before Jeonghan and Chan returned with a teary-eyed Jihoon clinging to them.
The petite caregiver let out a small sniffle, attempting to keep himself composed, as he stepped towards the table. “B-Babies…” He paused to clear his throat before continuing. “Babies, Kitty is so, so sorry for blowing up at you all like that. It wasn’t fair, and it wasn’t right.”
“It’s not youw fault, Kitty,” Soonyoung argued, a pout on his face. “Baba says youw bwain’s like Shua’s. And we nice when Shua gets mad about noise.” He stood up and toddled over to Jihoon. “Soonie acce’t’s Kitty’s apo’gy and wanna give Kitty huggie.”
Jihoon cracked a watery smile before bringing the little in for a tight hug. “Thank you, little tiger. Kitty really needed to hear that.”
“Cheolie too!” Seungcheol added, rushing over to join the hug.
“How is it that our littles are more tolerant than neutrals twice their age?” Chan muttered.
“Their parents raised them to be decent, and we made both of them better,” Jeonghan responded, a proud smile on his face.
Minghao cleared his throat. “I feel like there might be someone else here who owes us an apology.” Abandoning subtlety, he stared at Jeonghan and Chan.
The former blushed. “Oh, right! We… We’re sorry, mostly to Jihoon, Vernon, and Seungkwan, but also to all of you. We shouldn’t have condoned or encouraged the noise just to be petty; we were wrong.”
“Doing that not only made us bad caregivers, but bad boyfriends, too. We’re really sorry.” Chan bowed his head, only peeking up to say, “Forgive us…?”
Joshua sniffled a bit before whispering, “Promise to not do it again?”
Jeonghan gave his princess a small nod. “We promise, angel.”
“Shua forgives you,” Joshua stated, voice raspy and eyes still just slightly teary.
Chan smiled gratefully at him. “Thank you, princess.”
“Junnie fo’gives Kitty, Daddy, and Appa, too,” Jun said, his voice still a bit quieter than his usual volume.
“Ki’y!” Mingyu cheered, his volume just a touch too loud. Jihoon, Jun, and Joshua all flinched, but managed to stay (relatively) calm otherwise.
Jeonghan wrapped a supportive arm around Jihoon’s shoulders while Seungkwan gently reassured Jun and Joshua that everything was going to be okay. After breakdowns like the ones they had experienced today, it would take a bit of time for the three to bounce back to their usual demeanors. But that was more than okay. They couldn’t turn back time to start the New Year differently, but if this was the worst thing that happened, well… In Jihoon’s mind, they weren’t doing too bad. There were certainly worse ways to begin things.