Chapter Text
At first Ateez’s break was fine. Two weeks of uninterrupted rest, no managers, no practices, just the eight of them and their own plans. For the first week most of the members have one goal. Sleep as much as physically possible. Seeing friends and family can be week two Ateez’s problem.
However the eldest two had a different goal, to spend as much time together as physically possible. Part of Hongjoong felt pretty bad about it, but thinking about all the time he’s neglected his boyfriend for his work he couldn’t bring himself to miss this opportunity.
“So, Mom and Dad are abandoning us?” Wooyoung’s voice cut through Hongjoong’s peace, the man looking up to find the usual pair at the door.
“They hate us Wooyoung. We’re victims to their cruelty." San added, placing a hand on his heart as he spoke. Hongjoong could only sigh as he watched the two men invade his personal space.
Not long after, Seonghwa’s head appeared around the door, a warmth filling the room as he took a seat next to Honjoong.
“How could you guys do this!” Wooyoung’s attention turned to the eldest in the room.
Seonghwa only kept a pleasant smile on his face as he replied. “Because I’d like to see my family?”
“Are we not enough?” San cried out.
“I mean, I feel like my parents are more important to me than my children who are actually six grown adults.” The eldest hummed. “Also didn’t you say you were going to sleep the week away? You won’t even miss us.” He continued.
Wooyoung just frowned, grabbing San as he left, muttering something about being hated.
The pair being left alone a soft sigh escaped the elder’s lips, the man resting his head on the other’s shoulder. “What’s wrong Hwa?” The younger man hummed, placing his hand in the other man’s hair.
“The kids. Are we wrong for leaving them?”
“They’re adults, they can handle themselves.”
“You’re right, I guess sometimes I just forget.” Seonghwa spoke, his voice losing the guilt of his previous comment.
Neither man knew what did it, but for whatever reason they’d been drawn from their sleep earlier than expected. Hongjoong sighed as he sat up, his eyes falling to the man next to him. He just raised his hand to his head, it was so unfair for Seonghwa to look so good sleeping while he looked feral. The other man soon woke himself, his arms reaching to pull himself closer to the other.
“It’s quiet. I know they said “sleep as much as possible” but they can’t still be asleep. Right?” Seonghwa spoke through a yawn, finally pulling himself to sit up.
Hongjoong remained silent for a moment, “I’ll go check.” He took a moment to push a strand of Seonghwa’s hair back.
Seonghwa was right, the dorms were almost silent. Hongjoong’s eyes scanned over each shared room, still finding no one. Each passing moment only raised the captain’s concern. Were the other members actually that sleep deprived, had he overworked them that badly? Hongjoong took in a deep inhale, his hand raised at the youngest member’s door.
“Jongho?” His hands reached for the light switch. “Jongho!” Hongjoong’s voice almost broke with the amount of worry in his body. Sat where the youngest member should sleep, a child no older than three stared back. However, the child was undeniably Jongho, his face was the exact same, the only difference was his age.
The younger boy just shot the elder a gummy smile, his arms reaching out to Hongjoong as he was lifted to the man’s side. “Ok Hongjoong, you’re their captain, you can do this.” He muttered to himself as he left the room.
“So- is that Jongho?” Seonghwa’s face fell as soon as he noticed the child in the other man’s arms. Any colour in the man’s face drained when Hongjoong nodded. “The others, are they the same?” He added, to no reply. The man let out a small curse as he dragged himself from their bed. Hongjoong just watched as he ran out of the room.
The amount of time that it took for the pair to round up the rest of the children was irrelevant. In front of the pair sat six children, exact replicas of the other six members of Ateez.
“I’ll call our managers.” Seonghwa spoke heading to retrieve his phone.
“No! We can’t, we should be able to handle this right?” Hongjoong’s hand reached out to stop the other man, “It’ll probably wear off soon, it’d be a waste to bother them.” And with a soft sigh the eldest relented.
“I’ll call my mother to cancel. Come on Jongiebear." He hummed picking up the youngest of the members, resting him on his hip. Looking at the children the leader sighed trying to figure out the ages of the children.
By the time Seonghwa had returned, he found Hongjoong sitting on the ground; the eldest two sat next to him, while the younger three were basically in his laps watching him on his phone.
“Joongie, what are you doing?”
Hongjoong looked up, internally swooning about how warm Seonghwa seemed. “Well now that the others are kids I’m ordering supplies. If they return to normal before we use anything we can just donate it.” He replied, returning to his phone.
“Fair, the kids seem to like you.” The elder replied sitting next to the man as he placed the youngest on the ground. The children shuffled to accommodate Seonghwa’s presence, most of the children sitting on him in some way shape or form.
Hongjoong could only laugh returning the comment to him, the other man playfully shoving him away. “How long do you think it’ll take till they turn back. We have work to do so-”
“It will be fine Hongjoong. We will handle it.” Seonghwa’s hands moved to hold the other’s face, placing a small kiss to his lips.
A chorus of “Ew” sounded from the children drawing a soft chuckle from the elder man. The younger of the adults only sighed running a hand through his hair. “Was your mom upset about you cancelling our week there?”
“She talked me into lunch tomorrow.” Hongjoong just blankly stared. “Babe, you know how my family is. They can be very persuasive.” He gave the other man a pout.
Hongjoong couldn’t stay mad as he pushed a hand away from one of the children, “Yeah, if I’m being honest I’m low key terrified of your mother.” Hearing a soft chuckle from the other man he continued, “And your sister in law.” Seonghwa’s chuckles turned into laughter.
“Mom, I'm bored!” A small hand reached out to grab at the eldest’s shirt.
Hongjoong had to hide his smile from the other man muttering a soft curse. “Do you guys want to watch a movie?” Seonghwa’s voice instantly shifted into something softer as he spoke to the child. The other children seemed to enjoy the idea, the boys moving to the couch.
Another hand grabbed Seonghwa's shirt, his eyes meeting with San’s as the boy spoke, “I’m hungry.”
“We’ll get snacks Sannie, do you want to come with me?” He ran a hand through the boy’s hair, getting a delighted hum in response.
“Why do you get to go with mom, that’s not fair!” The pair's attention turned to Mingi pouting next to the other adult in the room.
Hongjoong ruffled the other boy's hair, gaining his attention, “Mingi, don’t you want to choose the movie with us?” That seemed to make the boy happy as he went off with the man.
And that’s how the rest of the day went, all eight members sat around in their living room watching movies until the adults decided the children should sleep. The eldest two of the children didn’t protest too much, Yeosang was already half asleep and Yunho easily gave into the adult’s request. And Jongho being a borderline infant also easily fell asleep in Hongjoong’s arms.
However the younger children were what could be described as difficult, San and Mingi found themselves bickering over who got what plush until the adults convinced them that they got the better one. And Wooyoung… Wooyoung decided to throw a tantrum, kicking, screaming and biting. By the time Hongjoong had finally got him to bed he had ended up with a child sized bite mark on his forearm.
Returning to their bedroom the captain of Ateez threw himself onto the bed, a deep sigh falling from his lips. “This is horrible, baby. We can’t do this. We should call management, or a doctor, or their families, or-” He spiralled Seonghwa, stopping him with his hands on the man’s shoulders.
“Pull yourself together Kim Hongjoong! We will commit to this for a week unless something goes horribly wrong. But I know it won't. I trust us. Do you?” He spoke, his voice firm.
Hongjoong hummed, resting his head in the crook of the man’s neck. “I love you, you know that.”
“I love you too.” He replied, moving the man to lay next to him.
“Seriously though, if anything goes wrong tomorrow you’re coming home.”
“Yeah, I know. Can we sleep now?” Seonghwa dragged the man into bed.