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“Ilay! Hurry up and get him!”
Taeui can only watch in horror as Yohan speeds down a slope, unable to stop. Ilay is trailing after their son, skiing with that characteristically smug grace that infuriates him. Whatever, as long as he can grab Yohan in time—
He stares, eyes wide when Yohan crashes into a giant snow pile. Taeui grimaces at the sight of the little boy flailing around, glancing over at Felix who was adjusting his own skis, completely unbothered by the entire thing. The only one who seemed concerned was Hana who was screaming at Ilay to hurry up while holding her snowboard, talking about how Yohan was going to turn into a popsicle at this rate with how slow he was being.
Taeui clumsily tries to go towards where Ilay and Yohan are, clutching tightly to his ski poles for support.
“Yohan, are you okay?” He asks, reaching out to touch Yohan’s head whose face is buried in Ilay’s shoulder. The alpha murmurs quietly, speaking comforting words in German to their son who buries his face even harder into Ilay.
“You’re okay, spatzi.” Ilay says softly, rubbing circles into Yohan’s back. “Daddy has you. You’re okay.”
Taeui can’t help but smile at the gentleness the other man displays, touching the tip of Yohan’s ear who finally peeks up at him. He leans down, kissing Yohan’s cheek which causes their son to blush and turn away.
“Are you hurt, Yohan?” Taeui asks gently, touching the top of his helmet.
Yohan shakes his head, looking over at Taeui. His eyes still look wet, tears catching onto long lashes as he tries to blink them away. He leans down once more, kissing the tip of Yohan’s nose who kisses his nose back before pausing.
“Appa, Felix is going down the high slope.” Yohan murmurs, pointing behind Taeui.
“He’s what?!” Taeui shrieks, turning around to see Felix has somehow managed to get on top of the hill with Hana. How the hell those two managed that so quickly, the omega doesn’t want to know. What he does know is he’s going to strangle the two of them once he catches them.
“Hana! Felix!” He screams, stomping towards the direction they were with much difficulty. Who the fuck even chose to go skiing! This was definitely not the activity he wanted to do for his birthday! He wanted to finally go on that beer tour, but no! He had to be selfless and think about the children!
Hana just waves at him in her purple coat, while Felix ignores him and practically jumps off the hill with the exact precision of an Olympic skier.
“Felix Riegrow!” Taeui screams, powering through the snow to follow his youngest who was speeding down the slope like the fucking demon he was. This was his fault for procreating with Satan himself.
“Taeui!” Ilay calls out, but he ignores his mate as he begins his trek down the hill.
“Taeui, you don’t know how to stop!” Ilay yells, and then the sudden realization dawns on him as he flies down that hill and somehow hovers in the air before crashing hard; landing face first into a pile of snow and ice.
The world is spinning, his head is throbbing and he’s sure he just inhaled a bunch of snow up his nose. There’s so much of it that Taeui manages to wheeze and cough pieces of ice out while continuing to lie there and contemplate his life choices of having children. He should have married a beta; he should have gone back to Korea and married someone normal who didn’t have the genetics to have demon spawn.
He can hear Ilay sliding over with Hana trailing not too far after. What catches his attention is someone poking him with their ski pole. Taeui doesn’t dignify them with a response, continuing to lie there as an attempt to atone for his shame and embarrassment.
“Appa.” Felix says boredly, poking him again. “Appa, you stink at skiing—“
“I’ll kill you!” Taeui screams, pushing himself up only to fall back down. He feels Ilay trying to pull him up, and he tries to grab at Felix who stares at him with the same audacity as his stupid father.
“I’m going to spank you when we get back to the lodge!” He yells in Korean, a language that neither of the kids achieved full fluency yet— they were still learning. It was a process considering Taeui was mostly the one teaching them with the kids also attending Korean school on the weekends.
Taeui screams again when Ilay shakes against his back, obviously understanding his sentence with clarity while Felix continues to stare at him blankly.
“Look at what you did, stupid.” Hana hisses, pointing at Felix who looks over at her frowning. Their youngest points at her accusingly, looking at her up and down.
“Why would I listen to you? You look like a giant piece of ube ice cream.” He retorts, laughing when she shakes in her purple boots like the angry kitten she is.
“I’ll show you ice cream!” She screams, lunging at him. The two roll around on the ground, and Taeui can only scream once more in frustration, pounding at the ground while yelling at them in a mixture of Korean and English.
“Stop it! You’re ruining appa’s birthday!” Yohan yells at the two who immediately stop fighting. “You two always ruin everything! You’re both so annoying!”
Their three children start arguing amongst each other, and Ilay can’t help but laugh loudly.
“Let me go! I’m going back to the lodge and none of you are invited— except for Yohan! Come on, Yohan!” Taeui hisses, pushing himself up. He ignores the pitiful stares from Ilay and the two Ilay Jr’s, holding onto Yohan’s hand. They both stomp towards the exit, with Taeui looking down at Yohan.
“Why don’t we go to the spa?” He asks, smiling when he beams at Taeui.
“And then can we have hot chocolate?”
“That’s why you’re the smartest one out of your siblings, Yohan.” Taeui says, touching the tip of Yohan’s nose.
Unfortunately Taeui’s weakness is his inability to stay angry, so when Ilay 1, 2 and 3 show up thirty minutes later looking extremely apologetic he doesn’t have the heart to turn them away.
Felix grimaces when Taeui rubs baby lotion onto his cheeks, watching him through weary eyes. He squeezes Felix’s face, leaning down to press his lips against the little boy’s forehead.
“Sorry, appa.” Felix says softly, toying with the collar of his sweater. He hums appreciatively, running his fingers through wet silver locks of hair.
“It’s okay. You just need to be more careful, you’re still small.” Taeui murmurs, pulling Felix into his arms who then relaxes. His cheek rests against Taeui’s shoulders, digging his fingers into Taeui’s sweater. “I wouldn’t know what to do if you got hurt.”
He strokes Felix’s hair, kissing his temple. Maybe that’s why their youngest had the nerve to do the things that he did; considering he could probably get away with murderer if he tried. All he had to do was look at Taeui with those sad dark grey eyes and he would immediately cave.
“Taeui, dinner is ready.” Ilay calls out. He can hear the shuffling of chairs in the background, so he gets up with Felix still in his arms.
Walking over, he places Felix down next to Yohan before sitting next to Ilay himself. He turns to look up at his mate who’s watching him, so he tilts his head up expectantly which causes Ilay to laugh. Ilay leans down, kissing him softly. When Hana groans in disgust, the alpha kisses Taeui one more time for good measure.
“Appa.” Yohan says shyly, peeking up at him. “We got you a gift. Me, Hana, and Felix.”
He blinks, shaking his head immediately. Taeui opens his mouth to speak, but Hana hands him a box with a card on top. He pauses, picking to card up carefully to look through the contents.
His fingers brush against the neatly written Hangul that spells out Happy Birthday, Appa in crayon. Below is a cute drawing of the five of them dressed as Sanrio characters with 3D puffy heart stickers that surround their family. The rest of the greeting is written out in both English and German, with some Hangul sprinkled in between. Taeui glances over at his three children who are watching them carefully.
“Who wrote in Hangul?” He asks softly, smiling when Hana waves at him. Taeui reaches out, rubbing the top of her head. She preens at the attention, kicking her legs back and forth.
“You’ve gotten so good at it, gongjunim.” Taeui murmurs, looking back at the card. He traces over their names that they signed at the bottom in Hangul. His heart swells up in pride at the thought they put into this, looking over at Yohan and Felix who seem to have gotten shy.
“Your handwriting is good too. I’m so proud of all of you. Thank you for thinking about me.”
He smiles, rubbing at his eyes. There was no way he was going to cry now, at least not in front of the kids while they were staring at him in concern.
Ilay kisses the top of his head, motioning towards the box that was in front of them. The other man squeezes his shoulders softly, his lips pressed against Taeui’s ear.
“You should open the gift they got for you. That’s what they all insisted on.” Ilay says, moving to wrap his arms around Taeui. He leans against Ilay, carefully unwrapping the box. He opens the lid, setting it aside to find tissue paper and glitter covering the entire thing. Taeui snorts, digging through the tissue paper, pausing when his fingers brush against what feels like a crocheted plushie.
He pulls it out, bursting into laughter at the sight of a crocheted beer plushie— it’s a mini beer mug with white puffy yarn on top to resemble the foam. The color of the plushie is reminiscent of brown ale, and it also has cute round eyes attached to the center with a small smile that gives it more of a personable appearance.
“Do you like it, appa?” Felix asks. His tone is the same, monotonous one as ever but the way he’s watching Taeui seems as if he’s seeking approval. He can’t help but smile, hugging the plushie close to his chest.
“Of course I do. You guys really know what I like, don’t you?”
The three of them relax, chatting amongst themselves. Taeui sets the plushie on his lap, looking up at Ilay who leans down once more to kiss him. He hums, pressing his face against his husband’s neck whose hand rests against the back of his head.
“Thanks for your gift too.” Taeui murmurs, nuzzling Ilay.
“I didn’t give it to you yet.” Ilay responds, confusion etched in his tone. He pauses when Taeui motions towards their kids, the smaller man beaming up at him.
“You’re the one who gave birth to them—“
Taeui cuts him off, kissing Ilay once more whose face uncharacteristically heats up at the gesture. He kisses Taeui back gently, rubbing the back of his head. Leaning over, he whispers something into the omega’s ear.
“If you’re that happy with them, what about a fourth?”
He laughs when Taeui shoves him away, muttering angrily under his breath. Yet the way he stares at Ilay with a flicker of hesitation indicates he might not be against the idea. Ilay raises a brow at Taeui who huffs indignantly, but when his hand slides down Ilay’s thigh there’s no question about what his answer actually is.
“Happy birthday, Tay.” Ilay murmurs into Taeui’s ear, covering his hand with his own.
Taeui glances up at him once more, pointing at his lips with his free hand. Ilay just grins, leaning down to give the birthday boy another kiss while two of the kids groan in disgust and the other one claps.