Chapter Text
“Hongjoong, stop wrestling Yunho, his clothes are going to get wrinkled.” Seonghwa scolded, his arms crossed in front of his chest, clearly unimpressed with his husband. Playfully, Yunho ran to Seonghwa’s side, but not before sticking out his tongue at Hongjoong who gasped at the betrayal. Seonghwa was waiting in the foyer, one hand holding Yunho's tiny, blue schoolbag and the other holding his cellphone. Kneeling down, Seonghwa fussed with the child's clothes, brushing them over, before looking Yunho directly in the eyes.
“Alright, baby, this is your first day of preschool. Are you ready?” Yunho nodded eagerly, just like Seonghwa had anticipated. “Can you repeat the rules for me?”
Animatedly, Yunho stroked a hand over his chin, looking deep in thought and Seonghwa and Hongjoong had to stifle their laughter. They had no clue where the boy had picked the action up, but it was so adorable that they never wanted him to stop.
“Uh, no fighting, listen to the teacher, be friendly and have fun!” He smiled at Seonghwa, clearly proud of himself and Seonghwa held back a squeal. The urge to ruffle his son's hair was strong but he had to be stronger.
“You're so smart, Yuyu! Well done. Give me a high five.” Hongjoong praised him from the side, bending down and holding his hand open. Yunho gave him an enthusiastic high five as they smiled at each other.
“Okay, take your bag and go stand by the stairs. I want to take pictures.” Seonghwa passed off the bag and shooed him away. “Oh, they grow up so fast.” He said, tears filling his eyes.
Earlier, he'd made a promise to his husband not to cry, but how couldn't he when he had the most adorable child in existence. Children. His mind corrected him. He had the most adorable children in existence. He still couldn't believe how life worked out. From times of crying in the bathroom with negative pregnancy tests, to three of the sweetest angels ever, it was something he knew he would never take for granted. The family he'd dreamt of for so long was finally complete and he wouldn't change it for the world.
The twins had turned one and were much less fussy, now able to sit up by themselves and entertain each other, without any adult interference. Yunho absolutely adored them, and oftentimes, he scolded Seonghwa for scolding them, even jokingly. No one was allowed to mess with his baby brothers when he was around. He offered to feed them, play with them, put them down for naptime, you name it, he'd do it. Seonghwa couldn't wait to see their dynamics as they got older, though he trusted Yunho to be as kind and caring as always.
“Put your bag on.” Seonghwa instructed, looking at Yunho through the phone camera. “Okay, now pose. Okay, again. Smile really big. Cheese~ okay, now a peace sign. Oh, you look adorable, baby. Hold the straps with your hands… yeah, like that. Wait, do that again. Okay, now-”
“Darling, I think that's more than enough. He's going to be late for school.” His husband chided gently, one hand on his arm to bring the camera down. Seonghwa pouted.
“But he's so cute.”
“Yeah, and he's also going to be “so late” if you keep this up.”
“Fine,” Seonghwa relented begrudgingly. “I'll go get the twins, you start the car.” They quickly split up and met back in the car, the twins strapped securely in their car seats. “Let's go.”
Tears pooled in his eyes, obscuring his vision. Seonghwa tried his hardest to blink them away, only succeeding after many deep breaths. Hongjoong had pulled up to the preschool parking lot, and the sight of all the tiny children with their tiny little backpacks sent him back into a deeply emotional state. Soon, Yunho would be one of them. It was all happening so fast and he seemed to be the only one feeling a certain way. Hongjoong was as composed as ever, calmly unbuckling Yunho's seatbelt as the kid bounced up and down, unable to contain his excitement.
“Alright, see you, baby, we'll be back after school to pick you up.”
Yunho nodded excited, pressing a kiss to Seonghwa's cheek before hopping out of the car. His happiness soon fizzled when he realized it would be just him and Hongjoong.
“What about Sannie and Youngie?” Holding Hongjoong's hand, he glanced up and then back at the car.
“They're too little to go to school, bud. They'll join you much later, when they're as big as you, but for now, you'll go to school and make new friends.” Hongjoong explained as gently as he could, sensing the confusion.
“But who's going to feed them, and play with them?”
“Mommy is.” Hongjoong pointed at Seonghwa who had turned his head away from the conversation, getting emotional all over again. “Mommy is going to feed them, and play with them, and then, when you get back from school you can help out.”
Yunho seemed to hesitate for a bit, clearly conflicted. Eventually, Hongjoong was able to get him away from the car after he left little kisses on each of their foreheads. He escorted Yunho to the building where teachers were waiting for their new students. After he located Yunho's teacher, he left him in her care, waving as he walked away.
“See you later, Yuyu.”
“See you, Daddy!”
Hongjoong had dropped Seonghwa and the twins back at home, then drove off to work. During the day, it had just been him, Yunho, and the twins for the longest time that he almost didn't know what to do with himself. Thankfully, (not really) Wooyoung gave him something to do as he began fussing.
“Okay, okay, my attention is all on you, my sweet darling.” He picked the one-year-old up, rubbing their noses together. San babbled on the couch next to him, mostly unintelligible words, but cute nonetheless. Seonghwa thought back to the day they said their first words.
The family had been sitting at the dinner table, Seonghwa and Hongjoong alternating between feeding the babies and themselves. Yunho was finally old enough to stop using a high chair (at least according to himself) and knelt on the larger “grown-up” chair to be able to reach his food.
Hongjoong was in the middle of explaining his most recent project, and in his passion, he'd forgotten to give Wooyoung his next spoonful. Wooyoung clearly hadn't taken too kindly to being forgotten and scrunching his face up, he yelled out a “Da”. Hongjoong immediately shot out of his seat, pointing in the direction of the tot.
“You heard that right? He said ‘da’. He was trying to say my name.”
Seonghwa was way ahead of him, his phone camera already recording.
“Can you say that again, baby?” He asked softly, suppressing the need to smother his baby with kisses. “Can you say dada?”
“Da!” Wooyoung repeated and Seonghwa gave up resisting his urges. Mindful of Wooyoung's food, he gave him a quick peck, smiling wildly at his husband, who was equally overjoyed. Yunho couldn't help but join in on the happy moment, standing on his chair.
“The baby can speak!” He reported, sharing his parents bright smiles. Seonghwa had about a dozen videos of Wooyoung talking, all recorded that night, and he wished that there was a way to frame videos. Instead, he did the next best thing and sent the video to his parents and in-laws, sharing his joy. They responded with the same enthusiasm, sending voice notes of them squealing and telling the twins not to grow up too fast, as they also wanted to witness some of their firsts in person.
San had taken a bit longer to talk. He was a happy baby, similar to Wooyoung, but he was much more reserved. Seonghwa could only hope he'd caught his actual first word as the boy only seemed to talk to his twin or Yunho, when the adults weren't around. Seonghwa had discovered that fact when he'd placed them in their play area, entrusting Yunho to watch them for a few seconds while he stepped out to check on the laundry. He returned to Yunho jumping around, yelling something so quickly that he hadn't understood him the first or second time around.
“Slow down, baby. What happened?”
Yunho hugged Seonghwa’s legs, craning his neck to look up. “Sannie was speaking! I heard him! He said mama!”
Seonghwa glanced from Yunho to San, who was busy playing with blocks, paying no mind to anything else. Slowly, as best he could move with Yunho still firmly stuck to his legs, he crept closer to San.
“Hi Sannie. Were you talking? Can you repeat what you said for mama?”
San merely looked up for a second before returning to his toys.
It had been a month of Yunho reporting San's words before Seonghwa himself actually heard them. He'd begun to think that Yunho was mistaking San for Wooyoung as he'd never heard the baby talk. Then, one night, everyone was settled in bed, Yunho tucked into his Spiderman themed bed, the twins in their cribs in their own room and Seonghwa snuggled up close to Hongjoong. The baby monitor crackled and two distinct babbles were heard. San and Wooyoung. Seonghwa’s eyes shot open and he looked at Hongjoong who was already looking at him with his own wide eyes. They listened for a second longer and then an unmistakable “mama” came from the baby monitor.
“Oh my gosh, Yunho was right.” Seonghwa whispered, smacking his husband's chest excitedly. “San can talk!”
Though, once they'd checked on the twins, only Wooyoung spoke, while San remained quiet. It had taken another full month before San began speaking in front of Hongjoong and Seonghwa. After that, Seonghwa had two folders filled with videos of both the twins talking.
Seonghwa spent the morning tidying up the house and catching up on laundry. Wooyoung and San toddled around behind him, resorting to crawling when they got too tired to walk. Usually, he'd prefer if they didn't crawl on the tiles, but he was so exhausted that he didn't mind. Besides, his floors were spotless, something he prided himself in.
Just as Seonghwa settled down on the couch, remote in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, his phone rang. He groaned tiredly. He'd just put the twins to sleep barely half an hour prior and hadn't had time for himself.
“Hello?” He said, not bothering to glance at the caller ID.
“Hi, Mr Park, it's Eunkwang… from the adoption agency.”
Seonghwa sat up a little straighter, resting his mug on the armrest. They hadn't heard from the agency after the whole adoption process had ended, their last welfare check being done ages ago. Though he knew he'd done nothing wrong, his heart beat out of chest.
“Mr Park?”
Seonghwa hadn't realized he'd been quiet for so long and cleared his throat. “Ah, yes, I'm still here. Why- why are you calling?”
It was Eunkwang's turn to be silent. Papers rustling was heard in the background.
“Well, we've got an odd situation on our hands. See, some of the children who lived in another one of our orphanages have been displaced. There was an electrical fire that took place and while everyone is fortunately safe, the building is very damaged. We're in the process of getting it fixed but in the meanwhile, many of the children have nowhere to stay, as you can imagine.” Seonghwa nodded even though it couldn't be seen through the call. His heart ached for the poor children.
“We've managed to place them in different homes for the time being as foster kids, and well, you were on our list as potential foster parents. Now, I understand that this is a lot to ask, and there is absolutely no pressure to agree, but if possible we were hoping you'd be able to house one or two. Again, I understand if you say no, but please take a moment to consider it.”
Seonghwa pursed his lips. Two more children on top of the three toddlers he already had would be a handful. Not to mention, Hongjoong was back to working so they would be his full responsibility for most of the day.
“Let me talk to my husband.” He said finally. “I'll call you soon to let you know our decision.”
“Of course, I'll be in touch then.”
Seonghwa hung up and immediately called Hongjoong, his work be damned. This was an urgent matter. Hongjoong picked up on the fourth ring.
“My love? What's up?” Hongjoong sounded concerned and Seonghwa couldn't help but melt a little at his husband's voice. Between Yunho and the twins, it felt like they hardly got to even speak to each other anymore. Still, he wouldn't change a thing. Taking a deep breath, he explained the situation to Hongjoong who patiently listened.
“I don't know… honestly, while my input matters, I think you should have the final say in this matter. You're the one who would have to look after them most of the time. Do you think we'll be up for it?” Of course his sweet, considerate husband was thinking of him. And he was glad they shared similar concerns, but something about children who already didn't have a home losing a place they could call theirs tugged hard on his heartstrings.
“I- I think we can manage. Depending on their ages, we can just send them to school right? It shouldn't be too hard.” Seonghwa wasn't sure who he was trying to convince more, himself or Hongjoong. “I just can't bear the thought of those scared babies, Joong. At least we can rest easy knowing we're doing our part to help out, even just a little bit, you know?”
“Yeah, I hear you. If that's how you feel then I'm fully on board. I'll try to take some time off when they come to help everyone settle. We're a team, and I've got your back.”
“Thank you, baby.” Seonghwa sniffled into the receiver. “Let me call Eunkwang and tell him our decision. Bye.”
“Bye, I'll see you soon, alright?”
Again Seonghwa nodded and the call ended. Without wasting time, he called Eunkwang back and relayed their decision. The social worker informed him that he could fetch the children that day, as soon as possible as there was hardly any space left for them to spend the night in the orphanage.
Texting Hongjoong what Eunkwang said, Seonghwa flopped back on the couch.
All he could do was hope and pray that he'd made the right decision.