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Being a caregiver to 6 boys was a dream when they weren’t throwing tantrums or refusing to eat their greens and that’s how Chan and Minho pitched it to themselves every morning. It’s a blessing, really. Having 6 little’s could be stressful at times but being able to lean on each other always makes it easier when times feel difficult.
They weren't particularly sure how they ended up with this arrangement, yet they didn't care, they were just over the moon that they got to spend their days like this.
It was the evening, the skies were growing dark and the faint sound of laughter could be heard from the front room as Chan tucks Felix into bed for the second time today. He was truly an angel, Felix had the youngest headspace out of all the boys being in babyspace 99% of the time which had its ups and downs. The little tended to wake up about two to three times before actually staying asleep which is why Chan always hangs back in his bedroom for an hour after he's put to bed at around seven-thirty.
Their next little with a headspace of around 1-2 years would be Hyunjin, he could be loud at the best of times babbling away in sentences that almost half the time didn't make any sense but Chan and Minho were more than happy to listen to every word that fell from his mouth. Minho believes Hyunjin wouldn't be such a trouble maker if he didn't stick to Jisung's side so much, Jisung hovered around the age of 8 and knew how to cause trouble but, at heart, he would do anything for hugs.
"Shh shh, Daddy's here, go to sleep baby," Chan whispered carding his finger through Felix's hair, the boy curls back up hugging his plushie close to his chest and with the other hand, he limply holds onto Chan's.
From where the man is sat, he sees a figure in the doorway, “Oh Min,” He smiles beckoning him over, Felix seems to have fallen back asleep again.
”Has he gone back to sleep?” Minho asks as quiet as humanly possible, the older nods carefully standing up and freeing his hand to leave the room.
Once out, Chan stretches his limbs from being sat still for so long, “How about Jinnie, is he sleeping yet?” Minho groans just thinking about it, so much had gone on while Chan had sat on Felix’s bed scrolling through his phone.
Usually putting Hyunjin to bed only took about ten minutes but today had been a literal nightmare, as Minho keeps saying to Chan, Jisung keeps egging him on. There wasn’t much they could do about that in the first place, Jisung was quite a character.
45 minutes ago…
“Come on then Jinnie love, I think it’s time for bed,” Minho announces expecting Hyunjin to clamber into his lap to be carried like he normally would but instead the little let out a high pitched whine while shaking his head.
The caregiver stares back in shock, Hyunjin had looked like he was about to fall asleep but at the mention of going to bed, he was as energetic as anything all of a sudden. Jisung who was watching something on Chan’s phone lifts his head at the whine, he claps Hyunjin on earning a glare from Minho. Nothing too harsh, just sort of a warning stare.
The man stands up crouching down next to Hyunjin on the floor, “What do you mean no? Baby it’s bedtime, you’re tired,” He says softly hoping it would be enough for Hyunjin to stop the whining, the little pouts shaking his head again.
“No,” He whines again while turning his attention back to the tv screen which was playing an episode of Dora, Minho had seen this episode about 10 times and it wasn’t doing anything to help his headache.
From the couch, Changbin looks down at Hyunjin tilting his head, “Jinnie bad boy?” He questions with nothing far from pure innocence, the boy didn’t have a bad bone in his body. Changbin had always been such an angelic little, always telling the truth and staying out of trouble, he was Minho’s little prince.
Minho smiles up at the boy shaking his head, “Jinnie’s just being a little grumpy tonight,” He wasn’t about to pull the bad boy card knowing that would make the situation ten times worse, Hyunjin strived for praise and hearing that would just make him cry. Minho would rather a moody Hyunjin than a moody and crying Hyunjin who’s throwing a tantrum. Chan was usually the one to suffer through Hyunjin’s temper tantrums, Minho still wasn’t quite sure why he was so prone to them.
“Fine, ten more minutes,” The expression immediately changes to absolute joy as Hyunjin continues aimlessly moving the toy car back and forth.
Usually, neither Chan nor Minho would allow extra time since it just made the littles rebel more when bedtime came. The only littles that actually didn’t mind going to bed were Changbin and Seungmin. Changbin’s headspace was 4 whereas Seungmin was older at around 6-7, they were always ever so helpful.
“Innie bed’ime?” Minho opens his eyes not having even realised they’d shut, Jeongin could be a bit of trouble but most of the time he was well behaved, save for the time he drew kittens on the freshly laid wallpaper.
The caregiver’s head moves towards the clock checking the time, “You have another fifteen minutes sweetie, or did you want to go to bed early?” He makes sure since Jeongin wasn’t usually one to sleep early, he often hated going to bed but rarely made a fuss about it.
Jeongin nods, “S’eep” The man stands up hoisting the little up into his arms, since Hyunjin and Jeongin share a room it would only make sense for both of them to go to bed at the same time.
“C’mon bedtime,” Minho says waiting for Hyunjin to follow lift arms which of course he doesn’t. It’s all for the best since Minho can’t carry two bodies at once, he decides to make another bad decision and let Hyunjin stay up even longer.
“Minnie love,” Seungmin smiles up at him putting down the kid's book he had been reading, such a sweet boy Minho thinks.
He strokes Jeongin’s hair feeling the little go limp against him clearly having fallen asleep a few minutes ago, “Could you make sure nothing goes wrong while I put Innie to bed?” Seungmin nods happy with being tasked with such an important role, Minho knew he could trust Seungmin since the little was always so well behaved in comparison to Hyunjin and Jisung.
He begins his walk to Jeongin, Seungmin and Hyunjin’s bedroom quickly peering in at Chan and Felix with a warm smile as he continues his walk into the bedroom. Tucking the little in only took a minute since he was already deeply asleep, he envies the boy’s ability to fall asleep in a second.
“Night night, sleep well,” He mummers leaning down to leave a kiss on the little’s forehead, he leaves the room turning the corner to see Changbin building a tower that was actually starting to gain some height.
Or was.
Hyunjin kicks his leg out, not on purpose, just to stretch which ends up knocking on the first block which had been supporting the whole structure. Minho knows what’s coming as Changbin falls to the floor, his bottom lip trembling and eyes brimming with tears.
He starts crying staring at his fallen tower through water-filled eyes, Minho frowns at the sight quickly walking over and lifting the little into his arms. Changbin immediately wraps his arms around Minho’s neck burying his head letting his tears dampen the caregiver’s top.
”Honey you can build another one,” He soothes, he knows Changbin can get quite sensitive when tired and as much as he adores the boy, he does cry an awful lot but that just meant more hugs for Minho and he was fine with that. More than fine.
Changbin’s crying stops a bit as he listens to Minho’s words, “Ma help Binnie?” He sniffs rubbing his eyes with his hands, Minho hums not really having the energy to sit and build a tower but he figures he can find some for Changbin.
He sets Changbin on the couch next to him despite the little’s whines wanting to keep hugging him, luckily he spots Seungmin and decides to hug him instead while Minho battles with putting Hyunjin to bed.
“Right,” Minho sighs fearing what the next events would be, “Jinnie, oh,” Minho warmly smiles looking down at Hyunjin who had fallen asleep, he chuckles carefully manoeuvring the boy into his arms.
Entering the same room again, he sees Jeongin still wrapped up in his blanket sleeping and Hyunjin was stirring back awake.
“No,” He says again but doesn’t make any moves to get out of bed once Minho tucks him in, the older sits on the edge of the bed running his fingers through Hyunjin’s long hair.
It was only then that Minho sees the tears brimming in the little’s eyes, it was natural for Hyunjin to act up before bed but not to cry. He frowns moving to properly sit beside him, Hyunjin is clearly tired but seems to be fighting off the sleep.
”What’s wrong princess?”
Hyunjin wraps his arms around Minho’s waist tucking his head under his arm, “Jinnie no dream,” He mutters and it takes Minho a second to piece together what he’s trying to tell him.
“Did you have a nightmare last night baby?” Hyunjin nods sniffing trying not to cry, Minho frowns again wondering he hadn’t called for him or Chan. And he tells him that much, tell the poor boy that he can always seek them out even if it was 3 in the morning.
“Do you want to sleep with someone tonight?” He asks, he was sure Changbin would happily agree to cuddle.
Hyunjin nods, “Mama, Binnie,” Minho follows the little’s finger which was pointing at the door and like he said, Changbin is standing in the doorway yawning.
It was like the little had perfect timing, he toddles over letting Minho lift him into the bed, it didn’t take long for them to drift off to sleep snuggling up to one another.
That’s when Minho peeks his head into Felix, Jisung and Changbin’s room seeing Chan move to leave the room.
This leads us back to now…
“How about Jinnie, is he sleeping yet?”
Minho groans nodding, “Only just, ah Changbin and Jeongin too,” He informs the man also telling him about the nightmare issue he’d only just found out about. Chan had the same reaction, hoping that he’d wake one of them up if it were to happen again.
They enter the living room together seeing Jisung and Seungmin watching tv together, they’re watching an anime, a new one by the looks of it. Chan and Minho collapse on the couch on either side of them, Jisung happily resting his head on Chan’s shoulder while Seungmin remains sat where he was preferring to keep to himself, he’d never been much of a fan of hugs.
Time goes on for a bit before Jisung giggles, “Look, he’s sleeping,” And true to his words, Minho is sitting eyes shut with his head fallen forward. Chan shakes his head smiling as he goes to move the man into a more comfortable position knowing his neck would end up straining if he left him be.
“Mm, I think he’s all worn out,” Chan says ruffling Jisung’s hair feeling like he could fall asleep too. His eyes dart to the clock waiting for the remaining little’s bedtime just so he could get some sleep.
Seungmin stands up putting the book he’d been reading back where it belongs, “Mama going to bed now?” He asks looking over at Minho who showed absolutely no signs of waking up.
Chan hums, “I think we’ll leave him here to sleep tonight,” It wasn’t too hot or too cold so he would be fine with a blanket and if he were to wake up he could just get himself to bed.
Seungmin nods running off to Minho’s bed to fetch a blanket and his pillow, Jisung stands up pulling on Chan's hand to make him move out of the way. The two littles scramble to move Minho into a better position while Chan's heart fills with pride at the affection they're showing, even from Seungmin which can be rare.
"Come on then boys," Chan sighs holding out his hands watching as Jisung and Seungmin reluctantly stop tucking Minho in to each take a hand, he flicks the lights off leaving a lamp on across the room. First, he tucks Seungmin in making sure the little was happy before leaving and pulling the door ajar. Jisung walks cuddled up to Chan's side making movement a little difficult but the caregiver didn't seem to mind.
"Goodnight sweetheart, sleep well," He whispers leaving the room and heading to his own which he shared with Minho, they'd decided not to sleep in the same room as the littles since arguments would arise about who got to stay in whose room.
☆☆☆
"Innie shh, don't wanna wake anyone up," Jisung whispers as the two of them tiptoe down the hallway into the front room where Minho was still lying asleep, it was around 2 AM that the older had woken up and came up with a masterplan and Jeongin just so happened to be his partner in crime.
Jeongin had been a bit reluctant given it was 2 AM, it screamed trouble and it involved Jisung, "Ma won't be 'appy," He murmurs while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, despite knowing Minho would be far from happy with their plan, he still follows Jisung to the couch. In their hands are felt tips strictly only meant for paper not for faces.
"Mama won't find out," Jisung giggles, it was highly unlikely that that would be the case given the first thing he'd see in the mirror would be a face full of pen and drawings.
Still, they continued uncapping the pens and started drawing all over his face, thankfully they were not permanent. By the end of their midnight crime, Minho had a moustache, beard and random little hearts drawn all over his once clean face. Jisung and Jeongin tried to muffle their laughter as they crept back off to bed, that was one of the downsides to being such a deep sleeper like Minho was.
The rest of the night was peaceful until morning came...
"Minho?" Chan says clearly amused as he stares down at his face, none of the littles had woken up yet and nor had Minho until Chan had noticed the state of his face. It was clear who had down it, Jisung had literally written his name above one eyebrow and Jeongin had done the same above the other.
The man groans stretching his limbs, "Hyung?" His voice is rough from sleeping but that doesn't mean he missed the way Chan is looking at him trying to contain his laughter, he's holding wipes in his hand chucking them onto Minho's stomach.
"You're going to need these," Just as the man was going to question why, Chan opens his front camera giving the phone to Minho who stared back, mouth agape in complete disbelief.
At first, he had been quite angry but as he stood in front of the mirror scrubbing away at his face he couldn't help but laugh a little at it. Though, he would certainly be having words with Jisung and Jeongin about creeping around in the middle of the night to draw on his or anyone's face for that matter.
Once satisfied with his now clean face, he leaves the bathroom peeking his head into each bedroom checking everyone was still asleep. Felix didn't appear to be in his bed but he guesses Chan probably has him out in the kitchen which appears to be the case when he sees Chan spoon-feeding him some mushed up food which Felix seems to appreciate but Minho feels himself gag at the thought of eating such thing.
"Good morning my little fairy," Minho sings taking a seat after making a fuss about Felix, he was simply too cute. Chan continues feeding the boy trying to get most of the food into his mouth rather than around it, Felix wasn't the neatest eater.
"Baba,"
Ah, yes, Baba.
Chan spins around walking to the counter where Felix's bottle is sat, "Does Lixie want his bottle, hm?" The older rhetorically asks as Felix nods, it was rare any words would really come out of his mouth, they were more just sounds and gurgles.
"What's the plan for today?" Minho asks sipping on the coffee Chan had made for him, "I think the weather is supposed to be alright," He mutters clearing his throat after swallowing the liquid down the wrong way making Felix sound small noises of amusement.
Chan nods thinking of what they could possibly do with 6 littles, "How about taking them to the pool?" There was a pool you could book for a family with no disruptions, they'd done it numerous times in the past and everyone always had the time of their life there. Minho would stay in the shallow end with Felix, Hyunjin and Changbin while Chan would stay with the others in the deeper end since they loved to swim in comparison to the other three who liked to play games while sitting in the water. Minho was happy with that arrangement since he wasn't the best swimmer besides, it could be quite relaxing when Hyunjin wasn't splashing water in his face.
"Yeah sounds like a plan," He agrees, "What do you think about going swimming baby?" Minho smiles at Felix who claps his hands in return not really understanding anything but from the happy expressions on his caregiver's face he knew it would be good, Chan ruffles his hair moving to the sink to wash the dishes.
Minho plays around with Felix for a while dancing around with him in his arms and whatnot, "What does your Dada say about getting you dressed?" Minho announces clearly talking loudly to get Chan's attention, just to be annoying he wipes his wet hands down Minho's shirt as he smirks taking Felix into his arms ignoring Minho's grumbles.
Minho laid back down on the couch wondering just how long it would be until the next would wake up, it didn't take long at all until Minho heard the cries which he recognised to be Changbin. The closer he got, the louder the crying became and it wasn't exactly unusual for the boy to cry in the morning so he wasn't too worried as he walks into the room seeing Hyunjin absent from his bed.
He picks him up bouncing him up and down soothingly, "You're alright, everything's alright," Minho hushes knowing it would only take a couple of minutes before he'd be asking to go to Chan, though before that time came he made quick work of getting the little dressed and ready for the day. Seungmin, who had woke up from the cries, picked out his clothes patiently waiting for either Chan or Minho to come and help.
In the meanwhile, Seungmin brushes his teeth and brushes his hair smiling at how well it turned out. Chan soon came in dressing the little in the clothes he had pulled out, he always seemed to have quite a good dress sense.
"All done!" Chan grins, "Jinnie's in the front room playing if you want to join or," Chan stops talking wondering what else there was to do while waiting, Seungmin appeared to be happy with the idea of playing so everything worked out fine. While he ran off to find Hyunjin, Chan made work of waking Jeongin up, at the same time Minho was walking into Jisung's bedroom.
The little was already awake sitting in his bed, his face guilty as ever stared back at Minho as he approached the bed. Minho had ultimately decided that telling the boys off could wait, it wasn't that big of a deal anyway.
"What does my little Sungie want to wear today then?"
"Not little, big boy," Jisung corrects while hugging his pokemon plushie, the irony of which did not pass Minho.
He hums nodding his head, "My apologies," Minho bows down making Jisung giggle, "What would my big boy Sungie like to wear today?" Jisung thinks about it before deciding on black shorts and a white shirt with a tortoise in the middle. It was a shirt that Chan had bought a while back and no matter how many times Jisung wore it, he never grew bored of the shirt.
"Hugs?" Minho cheerily obliges hugging Jisung swaying them back and forth playfully, no matter how many times Minho would have to wake up and wash the pen off, Jisung's hugs meant the world to him and would make up for anything.
☆☆☆
Their time at the pool was going well, Hyunjin was trying to teach Minho how to swim despite the little not really knowing himself but the caregiver was more than happy to play along while Changbin and Felix were cheering him on. Chan, Seungmin and Jisung played a few games of Cat and Mouse before the three of them (mostly Chan) got too tired to keep swimming around.
Chan and Minho had gotten out deciding to sit on the sun loungers and just watch over the boys from a distance, they were more than alright playing with each other without their caregivers in the water with them. Felix, Seungmin and Jeongin played a slightly questionable game of catch with an inflatable ball, the rules of which didn't seem fair but none of them complained. Hyunjin and Jisung splashed around occasionally getting the two out of the water soaked, Changbin looked to be in his own world as he spoke to himself giggling which was absolutely adorable.
Soon enough, they were heading back home, most of the littles had fallen asleep within the first three minutes of being in the car. Chan makes sure to drive carefully avoiding any holes in the road to prioritise their comfort, he smiles to himself thinking about how lucky he was to have 6 amazing littles and Minho to help him every day. He wouldn't trade his life for all the money in the world.
"Do you think we should order in tonight?" Minho askes quietly, Chan agrees immediately more than happy to have a chilled out evening after their energetic day.
"Good idea,"
Minho and Chan look back at all the littles fast asleep, with soft smiles, they chuckle to themselves thanking the universe for having such a perfect family.
☆☆☆
The rest of the day went alright, Minho had gone out after getting called in to do a night shift which he had reluctantly agreed to despite just wanting to spend time with his boys. This left Chan to watch over 6 littles all at once, Changbin was trying to help too which in all wasn't much help but the little believed he was doing great and Chan could only praise him.
"Minnie sweetie, Daddy can do that," He says watching as Seungmin cleans up Felix's face after getting spaghetti all over his cheeks.
Seungmin shakes his head, "Daddy is busy though," He answers which isn't wrong since Chan is currently struggling to get Jeongin to eat his food instead of it being spat out, oddly enough it was just the carrots that were not being eaten.
"Innie please," Chan desperately tires, "If you eat 4 pieces you can play," Jeongin whines shaking his head, Chan knew a tantrum was around the corner if he didn't think of something fast. Seungmin watched from the side letting Felix hug his waist from the chair, Jeongin wasn't making dinner time easy at all.
"Two," He argues, Chan sighs dropping his head.
"Four,"
"Two,"
"Three," Chan tries, two felt like a loss at least three felt a little bit more successful on his part.
Jisung comes skipping in gasping at the carrots on Jeongin's plate, "Innie has carrots, they're the best~" He sings before running back off and just like that Jeongin is eating the carrots, more than the original 4 that Chan had requested. He doesn't know what just happened nor how it even happened but Jisung was working miracles today.
"Right...Okay then," Chan says slightly confused, "Good boy love," He praises as Jeongin beams running off to continue colouring in with Hyunjin, they'd been drawing god knows what for the past two hours. At least it kept them busy.
"Thank you, honey," Chan is grateful for having such a helpful little like Seungmin, at the most stressful times Seungmin always seemed to find a way to help even if it was just tiny things.
Changbin was still aimlessly running around in circles slowly losing his breath, "Binnie, does Daddy get some cuddles?" Chan asks hoping it would get Changbin to stop running around and risk hurting himself.
"Hug hug hug!"
"That's my good boy," Chan grins as Changbin settles himself at one side of him while Jisung hops on the other side cuddling his torso.
Seungmin comes skipping in plopping down beside Hyunjin, Jeongin and Felix to also colour in, the coffee table was more of an art station now. Felix's drawing wasn't really going places, it was more just random lines on a blank piece of paper but Hyunjin assured him it was a masterpiece.
"Minnie draw?" Hyunjin asks looking at Seungmin with wide happy eyes along with the happy smile that grew when Seungmin nodded.
"Gonna draw a puppy," Seungmin smiles picking up a pencil from the table, he wasn't much of a drawer but when he did it always ended up looking somewhat decent.
Ten minutes or so went by until Hyunjin turned around to Chan, "Dada," He whines, "Mama?"
Chan checks the time seeing they had another half hour to wait, "Soon baby, he'll be back soon," Sometimes Minho would come back early but that was rare, Chan loved the way littles would all crowd him when he stepped through the door.
Such a peaceful evening.
"I'm back~," Minho says toeing off his shoes, "Who missed me?" He grins as everyone runs over to him hugging the life out of him, he loves it.
He can hear Felix whining from Chan's lap, "Lixie baby," He smiles taking him into his arms, "Did Daddy take good care of you?" He jokes laughing at the way Chan gasps clearly offended.
"Innie ate carrots, all of them," Seungmin informs Minho who raised his eyebrows in absolute shock, he turns to Chan who sits back sighing happily at his victory.
"I'm so proud of my baby," Minho wipes a fake tear away picking Jeongin up to spin him around, "My good little Innie,"
There were laughs all around, giggles and gurgles.
"Now, what about a movie?"