Chapter Text
Saturday mornings were the best mornings, especially in the Wen household. This usually meant sleeping in, cooking extravagant breakfasts, watching the morning cartoons, you name it. It was the perfect setting. A beautiful winter day, in fact. The sun was peeking in slightly through the blinds. Snow was probably falling. Birds were chirping outside the windows, supplemented by the occasional honking of cars on the road below them.
Minghao wakes up slowly, feeling the warmth of his husband’s arms wrapped gently around him. He sighs happily at this realization, and is even more content when he remembers that hey, it’s a Saturday , no work today. Him and Junhui can enjoy some well-deserved peace and quiet in their bedroom.
This peace and quiet lasts a total of five minutes. Soon enough, Minghao hears the familiar sound of little footsteps running towards their bedroom. They gradually get louder and louder, and are soon followed by yet another pair of even littler footsteps. The noises stop. Minghao knows they’re standing directly outside their door.
“Are Daddy and Baba awake yet?” a tiny voice asks from outside the door.
Another little voice scoffs. “I don’t know, Chunhua, I’m not some---Daddy and Baba expert !”
Minghao sighs and reluctantly untangles himself from Junhui’s sleepy embrace. He sits up in the bed and stretches his arms out, trying to wake himself up.
To his left, Junhui stirs, aware the fact that Minghao has removed himself from him, and he groans miserably.
“Hao,” he calls sleepily. “Come back.”
Minghao leans back down and presses a kiss to the top of Junhui’s head.
“The kids,” Minghao mumbles into his hair.
Junhui emits a groan and rolls over, pressing his face into his pillow. Despite such little context, he knows exactly what those two words imply.
Minghao could never wrap his head around the fact that his own kids could wake up so early in the morning, considering neither him nor Junhui were morning people.
“Five more minutes,” Junhui whines, his voice muffled by the pillow.
Minghao begins to shake his spouse awake.
“ Juuuuuuuuuuuuuun . Please get up.”
From outside the door comes a small gasp, followed by:
“Renshu! I hear them talking! They must be awake!”
Minghao could hear some incoherent chatter between the kids. He attempts to decipher what they were saying, when he finally hears, very clearly:
“Okay, okay, count of three, Chunhua, one two--”
“ THREE !”
The door bursts open. They come in shrieking what sounds like a battle cry. Chunhua is the younger one by two years, dressed in her Minnie Mouse pajamas with her hair in two little pigtails Junhui had tied for her last night. She comes sprinting in as a running start so she could jump on top of Minghao's legs.
Minghao lets out a yelp upon impact and musters a strained“AAaAaAAAH gOOd mOrning hONey,” in between her jumps. For a three year old, his daughter could bounce with quite some vigor.
Between giggles, Chunhua replies, “Teehee! Good morning Baba!”
Renshu, aged five, has somehow kept his toy lightsaber in his dinosaur pajama pants and begins to forcefully whack Junhui with it (“Come on Hao, what’s the worst that could happen if we buy this for him?”) who was still engulfed underneath the sheets.
“WAKE UP DADDY!” Renshu shouts in between swings of his lightsaber, his small head of black hair swishing back and forth.
Startled, Junhui sits up, swatting his hands in front of his face. He attempts to snatch the toy away from Renshu, but unfortunately their son has the agility of both him and Minghao combined, therefore making this task impossible (especially at 7:30 in the morning).
Chunhua is still bouncing excitedly on Minghao. Renshu will not stop whacking his daddy with the lightsaber. It was chaos; the lesser appreciated aspect of Saturday mornings, but nevertheless, Minghao found it endearing.
He knew that one day, their kids would grow too old for these shenanigans, so he knew it was best to appreciate the little moments as they came before the day came where it would all just stop.
“Renshu,” Junhui scolds, stifling a yawn. “Honey, put the lightsaber down.”
“Okay,” Renshu complies, throwing the toy on the ground before pulling Junhui into an embrace.
“Get up, Daddy!” he pleads, shaking a sleepy Junhui slightly with his small body pressed against his chest. As if they’d planned it that way, Chunhua ceases her bouncing to do the same. Her tiny arms barely fit around Minghao’s waist as she gazes up at him with eyes that are all too similar to Junhui’s.
“Last night you said you would take us to the park today, Baba! Remember?”
Minghao chuckles slightly, glancing over at Junhui who still appears half dead with his disheveled hair and his oversize pajama t-shirt draping slowly off his right shoulder. He lets out a huge yawn, and it reminds Minghao of those lions roaring in that nature documentary he’d watched with Renshu the other day.
Minghao doesn’t recall making this promise that former evening. Still, he says, “Oh yeah, that’s right! Honey, you’re always right, we will go to the park today, yes we will.”
He looks over at Junhui, hoping his unnecessary babbling to the kids would somehow get him to wake up.
“Which is why,” he says, nudging Junhui’s leg from under the sheets with his foot. Junhui startles, blinking rapidly.
“What?”
Minghao manages to nudge Chunhua off him and get out of the bed. He stands proudly like a father should, about to say something to make his kids happy.
“Daddy is going to make us breakfast, and after you two get changed, we’ll go to the park!” he announces.
Renshu and Chunhua look at each other with the biggest smiles across their faces. They let out a “YAY!” before climbing off their dads and making their way to the kitchen.
Once they’re out of the room, Junhui shoots Minghao a death glare before finally rolling out of bed.
They’re standing face to face now, Minghao trying to conceal his laughter at the fact that Junhui looks both cute and deadly at the same time.
“I cooked breakfast last Saturday. It’s your turn,” he sings, leaning forward to press a quick kiss to Junhui’s lips.
Junhui grumbles, still not out of his sleep deprived induced state. He lets out a sigh before pulling on his robe and making his way out of the room. He leans against the doorway, waiting for Minghao so they can properly greet the kids in the kitchen together.
Minghao finds one of Junhui’s oversize sweatshirts and he pulls it over his head. He meets Junhui face to face in the doorway again.
“Wearing my clothes again, I see,” Junhui comments, giving Minghao the once-over. He scoffs, “It’s like, you’re obsessed with me or something.”
Minghao rolls his eyes. “Yeah, it’s not like we’re married or anything,” he responds.
Junhui laughs, leading the way to the kitchen as Minghao playfully slaps his butt.
The rest of the morning is spent with Junhui is cooking pancakes as Minghao puts on some music, leading to an impromptu karaoke session. The songs of choice today just so happens to be the title songs of their former band, Seventeen. Chunhua and Renshu sing along to Adore U and Very Nice from the dining table as Minghao does his best to rap all the rap parts and sing all the harmonies with Junhui, who was preoccupied at the stove.
Minghao and Junhui still live in Korea, despite Seventeen having left the Kpop industry almost a decade ago. Though they considered moving back home to China, something inside both of them made them feel inclined to stay; probably because Seventeen was such a huge part of their lives, and also because they still had the occasional interview or music show emcee gig when needed.
Renshu and Chunhua attend school in Seoul; in terms of language, Junhui and Minghao decided it’s best that their children communicate with Mandarin in the house, and Korean basically anywhere else (mostly with their 11 uncles, who they saw quite frequently). And it’s all worked out well, much to Junhui and Minghao’s relief.
“Baba?” Renshu asks from his spot at the table across from Minghao.
Minghao glances up from his newspaper. “What’s up, dude?”
Renshu fondles his toy truck in his hands as he bops his head slightly to Mansae playing in the background. Minghao looks at him, waiting for his question.
Renshu tilts his head slightly. “We’ve heard these songs so many times, like thiiiis many,” he says, stretching his arms out like a wingspan. “And you and Daddy don’t sing much.”
From the kitchen, Junhui lets out a guffaw.
Minghao clicks his tongue, wondering where this sudden curiosity has come from.
“Yeah, Baba, why do you and Daddy only sing thiiiis much?” Chunhua asks, her tiny thumb and index finger pressed together to emphasize how small of a size she was trying to convey.
How cute , Minghao thinks as marvels at his daughter’s descriptiveness. He ponders how to respond to a question that even he, after all these years, doesn’t quite know the answer to.
“Don’t you wish you could have sung more with uncles?” Renshu tacks on.
Minghao sputters, “Umm, well you see---.”
“Well, you see here kiddos,” Junhui says, emerging from the kitchen with a full stack of pancakes. “Me nor Baba really knows why they didn’t give us more to sing.”
He sets the pancakes in the center of the table. He makes his way to stand next to Minghao’s seat and places his hands on his shoulders.
“But, it’s okay,” Junhui says. “Even though you might not hear me or Baba that much in these songs, they still mean a lot to us. Because we performed those songs with our bandmates, your uncles, who we love and care about very much, and that time has meant the world to us.”
Renshu and Chunhua exchange a perplexed look. “Oh,” they both say, returning their attention to their toys.
Junhui and Minghao shrug, not too surprised for the kids’ quick change in interest.
“I don’t really remember, but the songs later on, we got to sing more, right?” Junhui questions, looking down at Minghai for answers.
Minghao gazes up at him and nods. “Yeah, that’s how I like to remember it,” he says. He gets up out of his chair slightly to give Junhui a kiss.
From his peripheral, Minghao can see Renshu making a face of disgust and he can hear Chunhua saying, “Yuck!”
Their faces are millimeters apart as Minghao coos, “Thanks for making breakfast.”
“No problem,” Junhui winks, pulling out the empty chair from next to Minghao and taking his seat. “Alright everyone, dig in, and then we’ll get ready to go to the park later!”
“Woohoo!” shouts Renshu, forking a hefty serving of pancakes onto his plate.
Chunhua squeals delightedly as Junhui leans over to help her cut her pancakes.
“Syrup, please!” Chunhua says to Minghao, who gladly pours it over her now bite-sized pancake pieces.
Breakfast is filled with endless giggles and laughter. Junhui tells the kids corny jokes and Minghao rolls his eyes at every single one of them.
Once it’s over, Renshu and Chunhua sprint to their rooms to get ready for their day at the park. Junhui and minghao quickly clean up to try and match the pace of the kids, and in less than 20 minutes, everyone is changed out of their PJs and ready to leave.
Well, almost.
Before they go, Junhui and Minghao are frantically scurrying around the house trying to find Renshu's winter beanie and Chunhua’s favorite pair of mittens; it’s practically as chaotic as that morning’s violent wake up call.
At long last, they’re out of the house and making their way to the park. On the sidewalk, they look like a family who’s stepped directly out of a fashion commercial. Junhui takes Minghao’s right hand and Chunhua’s left, while Minghao has Junhui’s left hand and Renshu’s right.
Glancing over at his husband and his children, Minghao smiles to himself, and can’t help but wonder how he’d gotten so lucky as to be blessed with his beautiful family of four.