Chapter Text
Joshua let out a small grumble as he felt himself be shaken awake. He halfheartedly swiped at whoever was daring to wake him up, only to hear a small whine. “Shua, Mama says it’s not nice to hit!” Joshua peeked an eye open to see Soonyoung sitting on the edge of his bed, an ecstatic grin on his face.
“Why are you waking me up, Soonie?” Joshua grumbled. He gave Soonyoung a deep pout as he sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning. “I’m still sleepy.”
Somehow, Soonyoung’s smile grew. “It’s Chwistmas, Shua!” he said.
Joshua was definitely awake now. “Christmas!” he echoed, clumsily rolling out of bed. He grabbed Soonyoung’s shoulders with a serious expression. “Gotta wake up everybody, Soonie.”
“Minnie first!” Soonyoung said.
With an unholy amount of energy given the time of morning, the two littles rushed out of their room to the nursery where the babies slept. Joshua gently pushed the door open, and Soonyoung crept in while Joshua stood guard outside.
Glancing around at the three cribs, Soonyoung tip-toed over to Seokmin’s and pushed down the bars. (He had been in the room one too many times while the caregivers were waking up the other littles, and knew by now how to get the babies out without help.) Seokmin was curled up under his blanket, and clutching his stuffie, a chocolate lab named Loop. He slept peacefully, but not be for much longer.
“Minnie,” Soonyoung whispered urgently, reaching forward to poke the younger’s back. The little in question let out a small whine, but he remained fast asleep. Soonyoung poked him again and spoke louder this time. “Minnie, wake up! Chwistmas time!”
Seokmin let out another whine, his fists tightening as he started to wake up.
The impatient little huffed before beginning a barrage of pokes to wake the baby up. “Minnie, i’s Chwistmas time! Wake up, wake up, wake up!”
Soonyoung grinned as Seokmin finally opened his eyes and looked up at him, but the expression fell when Seokmin’s lip started wobbling.
He blanched and wracked his brain for a way to recover, but Seokmin let out a cry sooner and louder than the other had anticipated, and he blanched.
Outside the door to the nursery, Joshua murmured, “Uh oh.”
A few doors down, the door to the caregivers’ bedroom swung open, and a tired, grumpy Jihoon stepped into the hallway. Joshua froze up, throwing his hands over his eyes in a childish effort to not be seen by the caregiver.
“Shua, baby,” Jihoon asked, “why are you standing in front of the nursery?” He let out a loud yawn as he stretched his arms. “At 4 A.M. no less.”
Joshua slowly took his hands off his eyes, but his gaze quickly landed on the floor. “Uh…” He brought his hands together to fidget. “Christmas.”
Jihoon stiffened as Seokmin let out another cry, louder this time. “Wait out here while I calm Seokmin down.”
“No!” Joshua cried, whisper-shouting at the caregiver. Jihoon paused, looking up at the boy with a tired and unamused expression. The fidgeting returned to Joshua’s hands as he tried to think of a response. “Uh… Soonie’s in there, Kitty.”
Jihoon drew in a small breath before releasing it. “And why is Soonie in there, Shua?” When Joshua let out a small whine, visibly having trouble forming the words, the caregiver gently grabbed hold of his baby’s hands and started to rub his fingers over the top of his hands. “It’s okay, Shua. Kitty won’t be mad if you’re just honest.” The two cringed as Seokmin let out another loud sob.
“Soonie and Shua wanted to wake up Minnie cause it’s Christmas,” Joshua muttered.
“Okay, baby, let Hoonie get them both,” Jihoon stated. The little gave a small nod before moving away from the door. He sat down crisscrossed on the ground while Jihoon stepped into the nursery.
The caregiver was greeted by the sight of Seokmin sobbing his heart out in the crib and Soonyoung frantically trying to calm his baby brother down. “Soonie,” Jihoon called out, getting the older little’s attention.
Soonyoung snapped his head over in Jihoon’s direction, eyes wide. “‘M sowwy, Kitty! Soonie didn’ mean to make Minnie cwy!”
Seokmin let out another sob, which when combined with Soonyoung’s frantic shouting made Jihoon wince again. “Soonie, inside voice for Kitty, please,” the caregiver said, voice gravelly. The little in question nodded, throwing his hands over his mouth.
Jihoon released a breath he didn’t even know he had been holding and approached the crib. With slight difficulty, he lifted Seokmin out of the crib and started to soothe the crying boy. “It’s okay, Minnie. It’s okay. Kitty is here.”
“Ki’y,” Seokmin whimpered, hiding his face in the crook of Jihoon’s neck.
Jihoon cooed sweet nothings into Seokmin’s ear, hoping to calm him down and quiet his sniffles. Eventually, Seokmin was on the verge of going limp in Jihoon’s arms. His chest rose and fell slowly. Jihoon let out a relieved sigh and turned back to Soonyoung, who was pouting.
“Baby,” he said, “Kitty isn’t mad at you for waking up Seokmin, I know Christmas is very exciting.” Soonyoung looked up with wide eyes. “I would’ve liked, however, if you could’ve checked the time first. It’s very, very early, way too early to open presents.”
“Cuddles instead?” said Soonyoung.
“We can do cuddles instead,” Jihoon responded, giving the little a reassuring smile. “How about we go back to you and Shua’s room?” Soonyoung nodded before letting himself be led out of the room by the caregiver, who had Seokmin attached to him at the moment.
When the three exited the nursery, they found Joshua staring at what had to be an interesting pattern in the hardwood floor and picking at his nails.
“Shua?” Jihoon said. Joshua glanced briefly up at Jihoon. “Soonie and Minnie are both okay, angel. Do you want to come with us to cuddle?”
Joshua smiled, stood, and attached himself to Jihoon’s side.
The caregiver chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Joshua nodded. “Let’s go, then.”
With Seokmin in his arms, Joshua by his side, and Soonyoung at the other, Jihoon walked towards the bedroom that the littles who usually had older headspaces - Junhui, Soonyoung, Joshua, and Seungcheol - slept in. Getting settled into Joshua’s bed with the three littles, Seokmin still attached to his front, the four drifted back off to sleep.
It would not be for another four hours before they awoke again, this time to Jun happily shouting, “Chwistmas! Chwistmas! Chwistmas!” Joshua’s eyes opened right up as he let out a small whine at the sudden shouting while Soonyoung stumbled out of the bed to join Jun’s cheers. Jihoon let out a sigh, and Seokmin just let out a happy gurgle.
“Boys, indoor voices,” Jihoon reminded, absentmindedly running his fingers through Seokmin’s hair.
Jun snapped his attention over to Joshua’s bed before gasping, eyes wide and sparkling. “Kitty! Is Chwistmas!” he whisper-shouted, bouncing very quickly in place.
“I think Kitty heard that, baby,” Jeonghan stated as he stepped into the room. His long black hair was pulled back into a messy, low ponytail, showing he had been up for at least a few minutes before Jun had started alerting the house of what day it was.
“It’s Chwistmas, Daddy!” Soonyoung cheered as he ran over to give the oldest caregiver a big hug.
“Too loud,” Joshua whined, his face muffled by the pillow he had put over his head.
Jeonghan caught Soonyoung and wrapped him in a tight hug as he gently placed a finger on the little’s lips. “Remember, Soonie, we have to use indoor voices with Shua and Kitty. Especially in the morning.”
Soonyoung nodded, an adorably serious look appearing on his face. “Soonie knows, Daddy. Kitty and Shua are sen-i-tib in the mowning.” Jeonghan and Jihoon both cracked smiles at the adorable mispronunciation from their little tiger.
“Well, Soonie, want to help Daddy get everyone else up?” Jeonghan inquired. Soonyoung nodded enthusiastically and wriggled in Jeonghan’s arms.
The lump that was Seungcheol let out a whine as he sat up in his bed. “‘M up, Daddy. Junnie and Soonie noisy.” He rubbed at his eyes and let out a cute yawn.
Jun gave the newly awake little a sheepish smile. “Sowwy, Cheolie.” He giggled as he scampered over to Seungcheol’s bed and flopped down beside his brother. “Is Chwistmas, tho’!”
Soonyoung tugged on Jeonghan’s pajama top. “We go wake up now?”
“Let’s go, little tiger,” the caregiver replied before pecking Soonyoung’s forehead.
Before exiting the bedroom, Soonyoung gasped. “Soonie Jr.!” The little rushed over to his bed and grabbed his coveted stuffed tiger from underneath the covers before rejoining Jeonghan and exiting the bedroom.
The caregiver and little made their way to the caregivers’ bedroom, knowing they would need help getting the remaining three littles out of their cribs (or toddler bed in Wonwoo’s case). The second they stepped foot in the room, Soonyoung pounced onto the caregiver closest to the edge of the bed. This meant that Vernon was startled awake by a rambunctious tiger jumping right on top of his stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
“Dada, it’s Chwistmas!” Soonyoung cheered.
“That’s great, Soonie,” Vernon gasped, still catching his breath from the initial pounce. “But why did you jump on Dada?”
Soonyoung giggled before holding his hands up to look like claws. “Cause Soonie’s a tigew!” Jeonghan snickered at the response while Vernon just flopped back onto his pillow.
“Well, little tigers have to be nice to their dadas,” pointed out Seungkwan, who had been roused by the ruckus. “Otherwise, Dadas get super surprised and lose their breath.”
“Mama!” Soonyoung squealed, scrambling off of Vernon’s lap and over to Seungkwan. He planted himself right beside his tired mama and leaned down to press a kiss on Seungkwan’s cheek. “Chwistmas, Mama!”
Seungkwan let out groggy laughter as he pushed himself up into a seated position. He pulled Soonyoung into his lap and said, “How about you go get up Appa, and let Mama have five more minutes of sleep?”
Soonyoung nodded dutifully and rolled off Seungkwan, only to be stopped by Chan’s hand flying up from the covers and his muffled voice saying, “Wait, wait, I’m up! Don’t jump on Appa, Soonie!” With a wild bedhead and panicked eyes, he emerged from the blankets.
Soonyoung giggled. Once again, he cheered, “Chwistmas!”
Chan sighed and flopped onto his back. “Appa knows, Soonie,” he said. He grunted as Soonyoung curled up on his stomach.
Vernon yawned as he turned to Jeonghan. “Are all the babies up, too?”
“We decided to wake you three up first so that we could get some help with the babies in the nursery,” Jeonghan explained, flashing the newly awoken three a bright smile.
Almost as if on cue, the conversation was interrupted by Minghao crying. Based on the sound of the cry, it was a combination of his “give me attention” and “need a change” cries. Mingyu and Wonwoo’s cries followed soon after.
Seungkwan was out of the bed in an instant, rushing towards the nursery with Jeonghan right behind him. He opened the door and made his way over to Wonwoo’s bed, while Jeonghan turned his focus to Minghao. Jihoon stepped into the nursery with Seokmin still attached to him like a little koala. Vernon - followed by Joshua, who clung to Chan - made his way to Mingyu’s crib.
“Daddy’s got you, Hao-Hao,” Jeonghan cooed, lifting Minghao out of his crib. “Does my little mochi need a change?” Minghao nodded, his sobs calming down a bit.
In another bed, Wonwoo clung onto Seungkwan as the caregiver started rubbing circles on his back. “What’s wrong, Wonu? Why’s my little owl crying?” Seungkwan inquired.
“Hao cwyin’ an’ Minnie gone,” Wonwoo whimpered.
“Well, Minnie’s here now,” Seungkwan stated, pointing over at the second changing table in the room, where Seokmin was giggling and squealing as Jihoon attempted to unbutton his footie pajamas.
Wonwoo nodded, sniffling and hugging Seungkwan tight. He whimpered again and looked up at the caregiver. “Mama, change?”
Seungkwan hummed, helping the little out of his bed. “It’s okay, baby. That’s what the pull-ups are for.”
After five separate rounds of changes (Seungcheol had used his pull-up as well during the night), the household of thirteen was ready to head downstairs to tear open presents.
In the living room, under and around the tree that stood proud in the center, gifts had been scattered. As the littles filed in, Junhui, Soonyoung, and Seungcheol let out squeals, Joshua flapped his hands excitedly, and Mingyu, Wonwoo, Seokmin, and Minghao - who were just a tad too little to really understand much other than they were about to get presents - cheered and babbled in joy.
Soonyoung gasped and rushed into the kitchen. An empty plate and a half-drained glass of milk sat on the counter. “Santa got the cookies!” he shouted. (Jihoon hissed and Joshua covered his ears. Jeonghan gently reminded Soonyoung to use his inside voice again.)
“Great job noticing that, baby!” Vernon said, ruffling Soonyoung’s hair when he pranced back into the living room. “I bet Santa loved the cookies you, your brothers, and Daddy made.” Vernon and Jeonghan shared a mischievous look that the littles thankfully missed.
Off in the corner of the living room, Seungkwan and Chan both smiled at the memory of the cookies. It had been a horrible mess to clean up, but it was worth it. They had a plethora of cookies, now; between plates on the counter and storage bags in the freezer, they’d have special Christmas cookies made by their boys until summer.
Junhui tugged on Chan’s sleeve. “Presents now?”
“In just a minute, baby, we need to get some breakfast in your little tummy -” he poked Junhui’s stomach, causing him to giggle and hide in his reindeer onesie “- before we see what kind of sweet treats Santa might have brought you.”
While Junhui pouted, Wonwoo perked up. “Treats?” he asked, eyes wide and glowing.
“After breakfast, little one,” Jihoon restated, a small smile on his face.
“Speaking of which,” Jeonghan said as he stepped out of the living room to move towards the kitchen, “I think it’s time to make the scones!”
“Can Shua help?” Joshua asked. Somewhere during the morning’s chaos, he had moved from Chan’s side to cling to Jeonghan.
Jeonghan took his hand and squeezed. “Sure, angel, just be really careful, and listen to what Daddy tells you,” he said with an easy grin.
“I wanna help!” said Junhui.
Screeched Soonyoung, “Soonie too!”
Jeonghan sighed and looked to the other caregivers for assistance. He sighed again, this time in relief, when Seungkwan said, “Anyone who wants to help with the scones can go with Daddy in the kitchen.”
In the end, Jeonghan’s little helpers consisted of Joshua, Soonyoung, and Junhui. Seungcheol had since begun to slip further and was content to cuddle and babble with the other babies while they waited for breakfast.
Once the scones were baked and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone (earning more happy hand flaps from Joshua), the family turned their attention to opening the gifts left by “Santa.” They started with each one of them taking turns opening a gift, but sooner than later it had become a free-for-all with ribbons and wrapping paper flying everywhere. Then came 12 more presents for each of them, from their boyfriends. The caregivers were delighted by the gifts their little ones had bought them while big, along with the gifts their fellow caregivers had gotten for them.
Seungkwan had a bright smile on his face as he passed a gift over to Jihoon. “Alright, Hoonie hyung, I think you’re really going to like this one.”
“If it’s another cat-hood onesie like last year, I swear I’ll withhold cuddles for a week,” Jihoon grumbled as he started to remove the wrapping paper.
“I mean it, Hyung! You’ll actually like it this year!” Seungkwan insisted.
Jihoon playfully rolled his eyes as he removed the top of the box, having gotten all of the paper off. The caregiver’s eyes widened when he saw that sitting inside the box was a top of the line Blue Yeti Microphone and a new pair of Bluetooth headphones. A rush of happiness filled Jihoon as soon as he saw the items, and he felt a familiar need to shake out the energy. The caregiver’s arms started to twitch as he attempted to keep himself from stimming, a blush appearing on his face.
The other caregivers shared concerned looks before Jeonghan stated, “You can stim, you know.”
Jihoon looked up from the gift, confused. “What?”
“Jihoon, one of the loves of my life, we can tell you want to stim, you adorable dunce,” Jeonghan said with a teasing lilt in his voice. Jihoon’s cheeks flushed red. Jeonghan dropped the playful smirk on his face when he noticed the blush. “Hoonie, are you embarrassed?”
“A bit… I mean, I know I can stim, but it’s still embarrassing,” Jihoon muttered, averting his gaze from his boyfriends.
“Hyung, it’s just something that you do,” Vernon argued. He scooched closer to Jihoon and gently hugged him from behind. “It doesn’t make you less of a caregiver or anything like that, so… stim.”
“Plus, it always makes Junnie and Shua happy when they see you do it openly,” Chan pointed out.
Jihoon was silent for a moment as his eyes moved to look at the gift. As soon as the twitch appeared again, he started to lightly shake his hands. A small smile crossed his face as he continued to shake. Jun and Joshua took notice after a couple of seconds and started to smile and giggle. Joshua started to copy his caregiver while Jun bounced in place. The sight was, in short, very adorable.
After presents, Seungkwan and Jeonghan brought out two trays, one filled with possibly spiked cider for the caregivers, and the other hot chocolate to pacify the littles. The caregivers kept half an eye on their babies as they sipped, but otherwise, they could take a moment to moment to relax a little.
As the caregivers momentarily unwound, the littles were sipping on their hot cocoa and comparing presents as they sat on the ground.
Joshua proudly held up the new doll he had received as one of his gifts from Santa. “Look at her, Soonie! She’s so pretty!” The little started to comb his fingers through the doll’s synthetic blonde hair, admiring her features and outfit. He turned his head up to give Soonyoung, who was distracted by his new picture book on tigers, a giant smile. “Her name is Apple White, and she’s Snow White’s daughter. She’s so, so pretty!”
Soonyoung still didn’t respond, immersed in his book.
The smile rapidly disappeared from Joshua’s face when he realized that his headspace brother wasn’t paying attention. He tried again, “Soonie?”
No response from Soonyoung. Or any of the others, for that matter. They were all absorbed with someone else or their gifts, leaving Joshua alone with his doll. Something twisted in his gut. He was shutting down, not that he had the language to describe that while regressed.
As a last attempt, he turned to Vernon and whimpered, “Dada?”
Vernon turned away from playing with Seungcheol and his new foam blocks without a second thought. Seeing Joshua’s wobbling lip, his face fell and Vernon rushed over to him.
“Shua?” he said, doing a poor job of leveling the panic in his voice. “Dada’s here, baby, can you tell me what happened?” Joshua curled up, then froze. “Will less people help?” Vernon took the tiny bob of Joshua’s head as a nod of confirmation.
Vernon held his palms out flat in front of Joshua. “Do you want to go somewhere else or have people leave? Tap this hand -” he gestured with his left hand “- to go, and tap the other one to have people leave. Okay?” Joshua bobbed his head again before reaching out towards Vernon’s left palm and tapping it ever so gently. “Do you want Dada to carry you, or do you want to walk? Left to be carried, right to walk.”
Joshua tapped the caregiver’s left hand again. Vernon nodded. “Okay, Dada’s going to pick you up in three, two, one.” On one, Vernon shifted to his feet before scooping the little into his arms and standing up straight.
“Is everything alright, Hyung?” Chan asked, having noticed his boyfriend while playing with Seokmin. Joshua’s breath hitched when more and more gazes fell on him.
Vernon gave a small nod as he started to rub small soothing circles on his princess’s back. “Yeah, we’re just feeling a little overwhelmed right now and need to take a break.”
The other caregivers nodded with knitted brows. “Shua a’wight?” Vernon heard Wonwoo ask as he walked out of the room with Joshua secure in his arms.
Seungkwan reassured him, “Yes, baby, Shua is okay.”
In Joshua’s room, Vernon slowly set the little down on his bed. “Okay, baby,” he said, voice soft, “can you take a deep breath for Dada, then tell me what happened? We can take this one step at a time.”
The little nodded before drawing in a shaky breath. When he received nothing but soft, encouraging words from Vernon, he took another. This continued until the little was calm enough to talk. “Shua was showing Apple White to Soonie, but Soonie wasn’t paying attention. And when Shua tried to show Junnie and Cheollie and even Wonu, they weren’t looking either, and Shua started to feel bad.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” Vernon murmured. He reached forward but stopped himself. “Can Dada hug you?” Joshua nodded again, even holding his arms out and making grabby hands at the caregiver. Vernon pulled the little in close, tucking his chin against his neck and rubbing circles on his back.
“I’m sorry you felt bad, baby, I’m sure your brothers didn’t mean it,” he said.
Joshua blurted, “Felt ‘noying.”
For a moment, Vernon was startled, but he quickly recovered. “Angel, you never have to feel annoying, especially for something like wanting to show off your pretty dolls.” He ran a hand through Joshua’s hair. “If you want to show someone your dolls, I promise you can always come to me, okay?” Joshua nodded against Vernon’s shoulder.
Said the caregiver, “Do you want to wait a few more minutes before we go back down, or do you want to go back now?”
The little hummed, thinking over his options, before muttering, “Few more minutes, Dada.”
“Okay, baby. Tell me whenever you’re ready to go back down.” Vernon laid down against Joshua’s pillows, taking the little with him. As promised, they spent several minutes together like that.
When Joshua and Vernon returned downstairs, Soonyoung was instantly rushing over to the two, a deep frown on his face. “‘M sorry, Shua! Didn’t mean to i-nowe you!”
As Vernon gently set him down on his feet, Joshua said, “S’okay, Soonie. I forgive you.”
Soonyoung’s expression altered drastically; he now grinned with the brightness of a thousand suns. “Huggies?” he asked, holding out his arms.
“Huggies!” Joshua squealed as he wrapped the little tiger in a tight hug.
Things mostly calmed down after that, aside from one moment when Mingyu and Minghao got into a small scuffle over the new rattles they had each gotten. They were the same in size and similar in decoration, both of them colored baby blue. However, the key difference was a puppy embellishment on Mingyu’s rattle, and a white rabbit depicted on Minghao’s.
Too little to quite tell the rattles apart, however, Minghao reached for Mingyu’s rattle, and vice versa.
Minghao let out a small whine before tugging the rattle towards him. Mingyu tugged back. “Gyu!” Minghao cried, pulling the rattle back towards him.
Mingyu gave the other little a deep pout. “My!”
“Hey, hey, what’s going on over here?” Chan interjected as he walked back into the room from washing off Seokmin’s pacifier. He knelt down, plucking the rattles out of both littles’ hands.
“Appa!” Mingyu protested, turning his pout to Chan.
Minghao, on the other hand, started to sniffle and tear up. “Appa, my…”
Chan glanced down at the rattles he had taken from the babies before handing Mingyu his puppy rattle and Minghao his rabbit rattle. “There we go, babies. You got your rattles switched up, that’s all.” He rubbed Minghao’s back and ruffled Mingyu’s hair, smiling fondly at both of them. “You’re okay, angels.”
Minghao’s tears instantly cleared up as soon as he got his rattle, shaking it rapidly. Mingyu crawled closer to Chan before clumsily pulling the caregiver into a tight hug. “Aw, you’re welcome, Gyu,” Chan said, smiling at his tall baby.
Aside from those small incidents, the morning was rather calm. Once the littles had eaten a small snack, the babies were put down for their naps. Joshua and Soonyoung got to stay up while Jun decided to take a nap too, just the slightest bit tired. (He totally didn’t almost fall onto his face while playing with his new Draculaura doll.)
As soon as all of the littles were awake, though, the polycule sat down to eat their Christmas dinner. During naptime, Vernon, Jeonghan, and Chan had been in the kitchen working avidly to cook a spread of food fit for thirteen people: bulgogi, japchae, kimchi, tteokbokki, tteok mandu guk, and more. (And, of course, a heaping serving of rice to be split amongst the thirteen.) As they came downstairs, the heavenly smells from the food were the first thing they all noticed, and none of the chefs’ boyfriends wasted a moment before praising them on their skills.
Hungry and impatient, the babies were quickly strapped into their high chairs while the other littles rushed to sit in their designated seats. Once the caregivers checked and double-checked that they were all settled and ready, the food was brought out.
Vernon, Jihoon, Chan, Seungkwan, and Jeonghan dished out food for the littles, as well as fed the four babies (Seungcheol had come out of naptime at an older age), stopping every now and then to take bites of their own food.
However, Wonwoo was giving Seungkwan some issues. “Wonu, baby, can you take just one bite of the bulgogi for Mama?” Seungkwan pleaded.
“Spicy, Mama,” Wonwoo argued, giving the caregiver big pleading eyes.
Seungkwan forced himself not to sigh in response, knowing that Wonwoo couldn’t help it. Wonwoo had a sensitive stomach that kept him from eating large amounts of spicy foods or seafood, and that translated to little Wonwoo refusing to eat any spicy foods in the first place to avoid a tummy ache.
“What if Mama got you a little bit more soup to eat?” the caregiver suggested. Wonwoo made an uneasy sound.
Without a prompt or a warning, Seungcheol jumped in. “I’s yummy, Wonu!” he said, the food in his cheeks making him look like a squirrel.
Chan tapped his wrist and reminded him, “Chew, swallow, then talk, baby.”
The little nodded before messily chewing and swallowing the food in his mouth. He then smiled brightly at Wonwoo. “I’s yummy, Wonu! And no’ spicy!”
Seungkwan flashed his little owl an encouraging smile. “So, Wonu, more soup?” Wonwoo nodded, his hair flopping into his face. The caregiver ladled more soup - complete with a hearty portion of dumplings and rice cakes - into Wonwoo’s bowl.
Aside from that, though, dinner was overall calm. At least, it was as calm as a Christmas dinner with eight littles could be. Once dinner was done, the littles were released to the living room to play to their hearts’ content. To continue the festive mood, Jeonghan, with Joshua as his helper, made peppermint tea for the caregivers and bottles for the littlest ones. Joshua, Soonyoung, and Seungcheol, who were all resting around five, got tea diluted with a generous amount of milk in their sippy cups, as they insisted they were big enough to have it. Jeonghan made sure to set a sippy full of (cooled down) hot cocoa next to Junhui, but he was too fixated on the elaborate plot he was acting out with his Monster High dolls to notice.
By the time the littles’ bedtime rolled around, many of them were already tuckered out and beginning to fall asleep where they sat.
“Alrighty, boys, it’s bedtime,” Vernon announced, earning a round of whines from the older littles. Mingyu, Seokmin, Minghao, and Wonwoo, though, seemed to be alright with the decree; they were already falling asleep on top of each other like a pile of kittens.
“‘M not sleepy, Dada,” Jun argued, pouting up at the caregiver.
“No whining, Junnie; you’ve got to get ready for bed,” Seungkwan reprimanded. With a huff and a whine, Jun made his way to his feet and moved to go to his room.
“Come on, babies, all of your toys will still be here in the morning,” Jeonghan chided, beginning to corral Seungcheol and Soonyoung towards the stairs.
Jihoon crouched down in front of Joshua, who was still playing with his Apple White and Holly O’Hair dolls. “Hey, Shua, it’s bedtime, princess.”
“Not sleepy,” Joshua replied. He continued murmuring to himself as he acted out a story with Apple and Holly. During this, though, he let out a loud yawn, and his eyes drooped for just a moment. The little blinked a couple of times before looking up at Jihoon. “I might be sleepy.”
“That’s what Kitty thought, princess,” Jihoon teased. He stood up and held out a hand for his princess, which Joshua promptly took. He stood up, his two new dolls still held tightly in his free hand. “You going to introduce Apple and Holly to Sparkles?”
Joshua nodded. “Yep, I forgot to show them to Sparkles earlier, and she was sad when I saw her after I went potty.”
“Aw, I’m sorry to hear that, baby,” said Jihoon. He reached out and started rubbing circles on the little’s back as Jihoon walked Joshua up to the littles’ bedroom. “I’m sure Sparkles won’t be sad once you let her say, ‘Hi,’ to your new friends.”
“Mhm!” Joshua responded simply. He stuck by Jihoon’s side all the way into his room.
Soon, all the littles had been herded upstairs, and the caregivers began the lengthy process of tucking them in. First Seokmin, Mingyu, Minghao, and Wonwoo, who still needed the caregivers to help them finish their bottles and dress them in their pajamas. Wonwoo had become a bit clingy, but a quick lullaby had him fast asleep in his toddler bed.
Then came the older littles. Joshua and Seungcheol were old enough in their headspaces to get into their pajamas by themselves, especially since Joshua wanted to wear a nightgown most nights. Soonyoung and Jun, on the other hand, required a bit of assistance from Jeonghan and Chan.
“Mama! Daddy! Stowy p’ease?” Jun requested, a bright smile on his face as he started to bounce in place on his bed.
Joshua let out a small gasp before shimmying out of bed and over to the pink and white bookshelf that housed all of his storybooks. After scanning the titles, he pulled out a copy of Grimm’s fairy tales, retold for children and littles. Knowing the book by heart at this point, Joshua flipped to Goldielocks and the Three Bears before passing the book to Jeonghan.
The caregiver smiled. “Do you want me to read this for you all, princess?”
“Yes, Daddy,” said the little, a shy smile on his face.
Jeonghan pressed a kiss on his princess’s forehead before giving Joshua’s hair a quick ruffle. “Then Daddy will read it for you all.” All of the littles got settled into their beds as Jeonghan sat down at the foot of Jun’s bed to start reading the story.
By the time Jeonghan’s soft voice had faded to silence, the littles had drifted off to sleep.
“They’re all so cute!” Seungkwan squealed, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Not as cute as you, Hyung,” Chan retorted. He pressed a quick kiss against his boyfriend’s cheek before smirking as Seungkwan’s cheeks turned red.
“Can we go to bed now?” Jihoon grumbled. “The little ones aren’t the only ones who are tired.”
“Calm down, old man,” Jeonghan teased, pressing a kiss to Jihoon’s cheek, “we’re going to bed now.”
Jihoon let out another grumbled as he clung onto Jeonghan. “Not an old man.”
“And yet you won’t let me call you ‘my little baby’ either,” Jeonghan mused as he guided his sleepy boyfriend to the master bedroom.
“Every night we have this discussion,” Vernon pointed out, flopping down onto the bed.
Seungkwan curled up beside him. “And every night it ends the exact same way.”
“With Jihoon hyung convinced to be called Hannie hyung’s ‘little baby,” Chan finished as he tossed his flannel onto the dresser.
Jeonghan chuckled, a playful smirk on his face as he joined the youngest three of the polycule in the bed. “Only for Jihoon to act as if it never happened the next morning.”
Jihoon let out a deep sigh. “Do we need to do this every night too?”
All four of the caregivers shared a look with one another before replying with a cheerful, “Yep!”
Jihoon groaned and threw a pillow over his face; he didn’t want his boyfriends to see the small smile that was forming on his face.