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Things didn't always go as planned. That's something that both fathers knew way too well, having 6 kids with various needs depending on their ages and their disabilities.
And that's how Chan found himself with a 14 years old Minho curled up tightly on his lap, the boy was sobbing and shaking. He was obviously shaken and it was a miracle that Chan could have him in his arms at the moment as it was clear that Minho was having yet again a panic attack.
It all happened in the afternoon. Minho was the only one in the water with Harabeoji, the others had been asked to wait while their grandfather got Minho used to the water. It had been the same process those past few days and the younger ones were fuming, impatiently waiting on the poolside with their swimsuits on, ready to jump in.
Everything was bright blue of deep green around him. The sky was clear and the pool had just been cleaned. Nana's garden was sumptuous around the pool, even if Harabeoji often complained about the tree leaves that fell into the pool.
No matter what Minho wasn't quite at ease. He hated water; it wasn't his element. Everyone teased him about it, telling him that he was like a cat and he agreed. But then Seungmin had said that some big cats liked water like tigers and Jisung added some more random facts on tigers, those two definitely watched National Geographic documentaries too often. And somewhat Minho wanted to prove them that he could be a cool big brother and that he could as well swim (like a tiger even if he hated the water like pet cats).
It was literally his 3rd day getting in the pool. He was trying his very best to swim but he couldn't. It was already hard enough getting into the water to start with. But he trusted his family when they said he'd be happy to know how to swim at the end of their trip. They were in a safe setting, at their grandparents house in Greenacre in Sydney so he tried again and again and Harabeoji praised him for his improvements every day.
He could now put his whole body in the pool and float when Harabeoji held him. But as soon as the man was more than a few feet away when his feet weren't touching the bottom of the pool he started to panic.
Harabeoji wasn't far, he was just picking up the ball Seungmin had thrown in the pool to give it back to the 11 years old. But he wasn't looking at Minho for like two seconds. The eldest kid was just standing in the pool but suddenly it was as if his feet slipped on the bottom and that was all it took.
Minho felt like he was drowning and it just bubbled up in his head until his body was literally sinking. His skin was burning, prickling from touching the water. He didn't want to be here anymore. He wanted dad and appa to help him. He wanted to be safe.
Chan was watching from the side of the pool. His father was a swimming teacher, former professional swimmer and on top of everything, he'd taught Chan, Hannah, Lucas and the twins how to swim at a very young age. So to say he had unlimited trust in his father's doing wasn't a lie.
He was praising Minho when the proud but uncertain smile that Minho kept on his face dissolved and his eyes filled with panic. He didn't think a second before jumping into the water to get his son out of the pool.
Minho got dragged out of the pool, he was coughing out water. It was only a little bit he'd definitely drunk some of the pool water but he was overall alright if it wasn't for the way he shaked.
His eyes were filled with tears. His ears were ringing. His breath was fast but labored. His heart was racing.
"Dad's here, Minho. We're by the poolside. We got a little bit of a scare right now but everyone is fine. You're alright."
Minho tried to look at Chan's brown eyes but it was blurry with how tears filled his eyes. His body couldn't stop shaking and he started to cry, hard. It was big sobs, loud sobs that wouldn't die down.
"Dadda.", he said before falling into Chan's arms.
"I'm here."
"I'm scared.", he managed to say between two shaky breaths.
"It's alright. You're alright. I'm here. Appa's inside with Halmeoni. Your brothers are around playing in the grass. Harabeoji is in the pool."
The mention of the word pool made him jittery.
"Dadda's gonna lift you up and roll you into a towel. We're gonna go lay down on the deckchair that's on the grass."
It literally took two hours of Minho resting on top of Chan, breathing exercises, meds and water to have him calm and asleep.
Changbin had proposed to Chan to take the kid once he was asleep so Chan could join the others in the pool but Chan was fine having the 14 years old curled up on him. The brunette's head was resting on the man's torso, he'd stopped shaking as he slowly dozed off and his breathing was even so that was a win for the father.
Chan's father was still in the pool with the other kids when Changbin came to put his feet on the water.
"And don't come near to splash me!", he warned. "Abeoji, do you need help with the little brats?"
"No, we're alright. Aren't we kids?", the man answered.
A chorus of yes rang around.
"Seungmin, is everything alright? Not too tired?", he signed once he caught the boy's attention.
"All good."
"Alright. You're gonna get out of the pool in a little bit. Harabeoji's arms must be tired and you need to stretch then you can go back."
Seungmin whined. Of course he didn't want to go out of the water. Changbin knew he wouldn't want to but Seungmin needed to stretch to avoid sore contracted muscles and a sleepless night. It was hard enough dealing with his spasticity when he didn't get all excited jumping around in the pool as his grandfather held him at arm length.
"I need to pee!", Jeongin cried out while floating / swimming his way to Changbin, ready to run out of the pool with his floaties still on his arms.
"Oh boy, come over here you can go on the grass.", Changbin said.
"It's incredible how I can see Christopher and Lucas through your kids.", Harabeoji said and Chan chuckled.
"We didn't make them all but they definitely took from us.", the Korean Australian man said, careful not to speak too loud not to wake Minho up.
*/*/*/*/*
This evening both Seungmin and Felix fell asleep at the table comfortably set in each of their fathers' arms once they got out of the shower.
Felix was especially tired. Changbin had noted a few absences from him when he was in the pool earlier. Epileptic activity was inevitable, but the man watched close because he knew how bad it could turn. Felix had recently shown a total aversion for his safety vests so they had to find other solutions to cope with his seizures while he stayed in the water. The best they'd found so far was to have someone holding him until he was alright enough to keep on enjoying his pool activities. It worked well but they knew it was dangerous. That's why Changbin had forced him out of the pool early today so he could have some resting time (not to call it a nap). Of course the 12 years old got mad at him right at the moment but as they finished eating their meal, the boy had sat on Changbin's lap and he was now snoozing there.
Jisung was talking about tigers and how he'd like to see a real one when Harabeoji promised to bring him to the zoo. Chan internally groaned. Bringing their 5 kids to the zoo meant that they'd have to have Seungmin in his wheelchair since the boy couldn't walk for long because of his hemiplegia. It meant that Hyunjin would probably end up having a meltdown at some point because anything could be triggering, from the sand of the alley to the food they'd be eating. It also meant that they would need to be extra careful with their little runner, as Jeongin would easily get lost. And that they's probably end up having to carry Felix or Peter if not both at some point because they'd grow tired. But all in all if it pleased the kids he knew it would be worth it.
"Let's get those big boys in bed.", Chan said before his father promised the kids he'd bring them to Blue Mountains, even though some trails were wheelchair accessible, he wasn't ready for that, with his accident prone offspring.
Thankfully all the kids were already in their pajamas. Changbin carried Felix and put him in bed while Chan changed Seungmin into his nightime diaper and put on his orthoses, waking the kid a little bit in the process but it was alright as he quickly went back to sleep.
Hyunjin followed while Jeongin stayed tightly in Nana's arms and Jisung insisted on helping put the dishes away. Minho brought the Maknae to bed once Jisung and him were done helping out. He put the little one to bed where he slept next to Hyunjin.
He settled himself into bed but it was too hard to actually fall asleep. At one point, after an hour or so he got up and decided to get up and to go get his sleeping pills in his fathers room.
He knocked and waited for an answer to get in because he knew much too well what could be happening behind closed door as he'd already surprised both his birth parent and his foster parents in bed before.
"What's happening?", Changbin asked, his voice was deep with sleep and Minho felt bad for how concerned the man sounded.
"I need my meds, Appa. I can't sleep."
"There's a pouch with your name on it in my suitcase."
He searched into the dark blue suitcase and found the black pouch embroidered with his name in golden colored thread. He reached into it and found his sleeping pills.
"Are you OK? Come here, sit for a minute and take some water.", Chan said while handing him a little bottle of water for him to swallow his medicine.
"I had a panic attack. I'm tired. I feel like I'm gonna have another one because I can't sleep and I'm high as fuck with the meds I took earlier."
"Hey, watch your mouth.", Changbin said. "Do you want to talk about it without cursing? About what happened today or, you know, before."
Minho started to sniffle, he was tired and emotional.
"You can get in bed with us if you want and you don't need to talk of you don't want to.", Chan added.
Minho crawled in between his fathers. Where he knew he'd be safe.
"It's just. I don't like swimming. I … Abeonim (formal way to adress a father, here his birth father) … he left the house once when I was small, maybe as small as Innie, and I couldn't, I couldn't get out of the bath on my own … I slipped in and I started, I guess I drowned. Eomma helped me out of it. She couldn't lift me out of the bath so she dragged me out, it hurted really bad and then we fell on the floor, she fell on me."
"Oh baby.", Chanbin said. "Can I touch you?"
Minho nodded and snuggled with the man.
"Eomma couldn't get off of me. Her wheelchair had flipped and all. I think it's the neighbor that came to help at some point.", Minho said, burying himself into Changbin's embrace. "She told Abeonim it was me that made her fall and, you know, he wasn't kind."
"Yes we know sweetheart. We're very sorry for everything he did to you", Chan said. "We'll never let anything like that happen to you again."
"I love you Dad. I love you Appa."
"We love you too, Minho.", they each said. "And your Eomma loves you as well.", Chan added.
"When she takes her meds."
"Love, it's hard but I know she loves you no matter what, it's not her fault that she has schizophrenia."
Minho nodded. He knew deep down it was right. His mother had given birth to him in her late 30s, she was paralyzed from a past car accident and she wasn't even sure she could have had a kid back then. But she did have him eventually. It's when Minho turned 3, that the woman had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. After that his birth father started to neglect the both of them. He didn't remember the time where things used to be good, he was too young when his birth family was still a happy family like the ones you see on TV. He only remembered the bad times.
"She shouldn't have been allowed to have a kid.", Minho said. "I'm sad that she got those illnesses. But I mean I am still somewhat thankful that she got them. Because I have you now. Without that maybe I'd still be with Abeonim."
"You'll always have us.", Chan said.
"Can I stay here tonight? The meds are making me sleepy."
"Sure thing. Sleep tight, Minho."
He vaguely felt his fathers kiss his forehead and snuggled closer to them. He felt really small between them despite being 1cm taller than Changbin. He felt safe there. His fathers protected him the way no one had in his previous household. Abeonim was an asshole and even though Eomma could be good to him, she couldn't take care of him properly.
It had been 7 years now that he lived with Chan and Changbin. He'd been the first foster kid to stay that long and if he wasn't officially their son yet he knew he'd be very soon. He hadn't been in contact with either of his biological parents for nearly 1 year and a half and it meant that he would soon be up for adoption. He couldn't wait for that day to come.
He was thinking about it while dozing off in between the two and, if it's true that Chan tends to snore a little, he didn't mind it so much for the night. It was great here. He was safe here.