i’m a hot air balloon that could go to space
joonmyun/everyone
g | ~3.2k
And with a lot of effort to bring Kyungsoo and Jongin into the group, Joonmyun finally gets that hug he's been wanting all week
Kim Joonmyun is a busy man with little to no day-offs. So when the opportunity arises for him to take a leave on a Thursday as well as a Friday and earn himself a very long weekend, he wastes no time to take it, and immediately plan a family outing for his kids and himself. It still amuses him how the social services still let him keep all of his kids, with the fact that he works 9-5 from Monday to Friday and practically only sees his children when he drives them to school and on dinner, as well as most of the weekends. Joonmyun would like to think that it's due to his angelic nature, but maybe it's more because of his beautiful face. Those ladies at social service have a soft spot for faces like Joonmyun's.
"Let's go!" Joonmyun cheers as he enters the living room, having just finished with his shower and last-minute preparations for today's trip. He grins at the sight of his ten kids, all gathered around the table in their living room. They scramble away from each other and awkwardly take random positions in the room when they see Joonmyun.
"Uh, Dad," Minseok is the first one to speak up. "I don't think I can go today."
Joonmyun pouts at his oldest. He had guessed that an amusement park date (yes, the only "family outing" he's capable of planning in two days is an amusement park trip) wouldn't really be that interesting for a sixteen-year-old, but he actually had his hopes up. "Why?"
"I have, uh, a project," Minseok replies, scratching his head. "It's due tomorrow?"
Maybe he needs to try having a full team outing some other time, Joonmyun thinks. School comes first. "Okay," he sighs, turning his sight on Luhan. "Luhan are you still coming?"
"Dad," Luhan looks up at him with a frown. "You know I'm not going anywhere without Minseok."
Joonmyun lets out another sigh. Of course. "Okay," he mutters. "Anyone else have a sudden emergency situation that prohibits them from going to a super fun theme park date with their father who misses them so much?"
There is a pause before five other hands rise tentatively. Joonmyun covers his face with his hands. His precious, well-planned trip is now seven men down. He almost groans when he sees the remaining three-he will state this firmly right now, that he loves all his children equally, but Baekhyun and Jongdae and Chanyeol can be a nightmare in amusement parks. "State your reasons," he complains at his kids.
"I need to help keep Luhan away while Minseok does his homework," Yixing points out. Joonmyun can't help but agree-Luhan is especially clingy to Minseok and Yixing is the only one who can control all his brothers. Joonmyun was hoping that he could count on Yixing to handle the trouble trio. He sighs once more.
"Can I ride the rollercoaster?" Sehun asks instead of answering.
"I don't think they will let you," Joonmyun frowns. Sehun's only six, how is he supposed to hold him through a rollercoaster ride?
"How about the swing ride?"
"Probably not, kid."
"Drop towers, then?"
How does he know the names of all these rides? "No?" Joonmyun hesitates.
"What can we ride?" Jongin asks, helping his same-aged brother.
"Carousels?" Joonmyun answers lamely.
"We're not going," Jongin and Sehun reply in unison.
And of course Zitao won't go without his precious little brothers, thinks Joonmyun, and Zitao opens his mouth to confirm. "I'm not going too!" he says cheerfully.
This is not the plan, Joonmyun whines inside. That cheerful tone should be coming from the three of them riding fake horses going round and round. "Okay," he mumbles in defeat. Joonmyun thinks that he probably should go next door and ask Yifan to take care of the little ones. Yixing can't be handling Luhan and the maknaes at the same time. "Who's left?"
Kyungsoo approaches him and tugs on his pants, asking him to lean down. Joonmyun squats down to let the kid whisper in his ear. "I'm not feeling well," Kyungsoo says. "I really want to sleep."
Kyungsoo has never been fond of crowds, and Joonmyun really needs to help him with this issue. "Are you sure?" Joonmyun asks, brushing Kyungsoo's hair. "It will be fun?"
Kyungsoo shakes his head no. "I want to stay at home," he whispers. "I will be a good boy?"
"Okay," Joonmyun replies with a smile, his voice as soft as Kyungsoo's. "Some other time then."
Kyungsoo plays with the hem of his shirt as he nods hesitantly. Joonmyun stands up and ruffles Kyungsoo's hair. "Okay, you three," he calls to his troublemaking trio. "It's just the four of us then."
Chanyeol cheers loudly while Baekhyun and Jongdae put on their matching snapbacks and walks to Joonmyun. "Can we do a group hug, at least?" Joonmyun tries, looking pleadingly at his children.
Minseok comes to hug him and snickers, "Good luck, Dad!"
Joonmyun looks at him exasperatedly. "At least make sure your brothers eat something?"
"I will," Minseok answers. He turns to his brothers and calls them to huddle up. "Group hug, everyone!"
And with a lot of effort to bring Kyungsoo and Jongin into the group, Joonmyun finally gets that hug he's been wanting all week.
*
Joonmyun will not admit that the haunted house trip almost caused him to faint when he entered with Baekhyun, thinking that it wouldn't be so scary considering Chanyeol and Jongdae pretty much laughed the entire time they were inside. He should give Chanyeol and Jongdae more credits for their bravery. Riding the rollercoaster was also a little troublesome for Joonmyun who isn't too fond of height, but Chanyeol insisted on it. Afterwards, Chanyeol decided that he didn't really like height, either. But at least Joonmyun got some alone time with Chanyeol while they wait for Baekhyun and Jongdae to finish another round of the ride. Chanyeol told him he wanted to learn the drums now that he's already good with guitar. Joonmyun promised him a trip to the music store.
Surprisingly, Joonmyun finds himself having a relatively enjoyable time in the amusement park. His triple trouble, for once, easily agree on chicken and pizza for lunch, while they would normally argue for hours until one of them 'wins' and takes another half an hour to decide what to eat. Jongdae and Baekhyun seem to be in a very civil mood today, not bickering and biting each others' head off. Chanyeol is loud as always, but at least he's not doing anything crazy.
"Did you guys have fun today?" Joonmyun asks as he leans forward to wipe sauce smearing the corners of Chanyeol's mouth. He is going to have such a hard time when these boys grow up as teenagers, he thinks as he takes in Chanyeol's face. Chanyeol will definitely be a very handsome young man. Jongdae and Baekhyun will probably fall more on the cute side, but Joonmyun doesn't doubt that they will be popular with girls, too. But he's probably biased.
Baekhyun and Chanyeol nod wildly to answer. "Super time!" Chanyeol cheers.
"Thank you, Dad," Jongdae hugs him from the side. His kids don't normally give hugs voluntarily, but Jongdae is the hugger of the bunch.
Joonmyun slings an arm around Jongdae and pinches his cheek. "Well, thank you!"
"Dad, Dad," Baekhyun calls cheerfully. "Can we buy something for the others at home?"
Joonmyun grins. "Of course," he says. "We'll see what they have in the souvenir shop after this."
*
The ride back home is quiet, as Joonmyun sits alone in the front while all three of his kids are asleep in the back seat. They each hold a plastic bag with the gifts for their brothers inside. Chanyeol also holds another gift wrapped in light blue paper, and Joonmyun thinks it's definitely for Jongin-Chanyeol loves giving Jongin special treatments.
Joonmyun enters the driveway and parks his car in front of his house at around 5PM. Just in time for some dinner with everyone, he thinks with a smile. He contemplates whether he should carry the boys inside, but decides on waking them up.
"Kids," he calls, shaking Chanyeol and Jongdae with his hands. Baekhyun would need a little more force. "Wake up, we're home!"
Chanyeol jerks awake and screams, "We're home?!"
Joonmyun frowns. "We're home," he repeats.
Chanyeol looks at his cell phone then at Joonmyun in panic. He proceeds to shaking Jongdae wildly. "Jongdae, Jongdae, we're home!"
Jongdae scrambles up from his position, wiping a line of drool on the corner of his mouth. "We're home?!" he yells.
"Yes, kids," Joonmyun answers with a concerned expression. "We're home. What is happening here?"
"Nothing, nothing," Chanyeol laughs awkwardly. He mouths something to Jongdae, who then shakes Baekhyun awake.
"We're home?!" is the first thing Baekhyun says as he rubs his eyes and realizes that they're in front of their house.
"Yes," Joonmyun answers desperately. "Would you tell me what's going on please?"
"Nothing, nothing," Jongdae assures him. He gets out of the car, small hands hugging Joonmyun and pushing him away from the front door.
"Where are we going?" Joonmyun asks in confusion. From the corner of his eyes he can see Baekhyun and Chanyeol entering the house.
"I just want to be alone with you for a while," Jongdae reasons. "Baekhyun got you in the haunted house and Chanyeol got you when I ride the rollercoaster," he adds with a pout.
Joonmyun tilts his head at Jongdae, pondering whether this is the actual reason or something Jongdae makes up for something. It's probably true-Joonmyun doesn't see why Jongdae would lie about it. "Okay," he chuckles, sitting down on their driveway, not caring about being dirty for once, and pulling Jongdae to sit next to him. "So, how's school?"
Jongdae laughs. "It's fine, Dad," he answers. "I'm still beating Baekhyun in everything."
"I thought you guys share the first place?" Joonmyun smirks.
Jongdae rolls his eyes. "Fine, fine," he whines. "We get similar scores in everything, and we do share the first place."
Joonmyun pulls Jongdae into a hug. "How about you help Chanyeol with his studies so all three of you can share the first place, then, hmm?"
"You always say that," Jongdae answers with a laugh, his hands grabbing on Joonmyun's arm. "But Chanyeol's actually doing alright."
"My boys are all handsome and smart," Joonmyun says as he grins at Jongdae. "I am so lucky."
Jongdae smiles back. "This is cheesy, Dad, but it's all thanks to you," he mumbles, leaning closer to Joonmyun's chest. "If it wasn't for you we probably wouldn't even have a home."
Joonmyun hugs his boy tighter. He remembers every single one of his adoption-the date, the place, the weather. Jongdae was September in Yongsan, with falling leaves and breezy weather. Sehun was April in Gangnam, in between drizzles of rain, under a green umbrella. Kyungsoo was January in Mapo, freezing cold under a thick black coat. They are all happy memories, and Joonmyun is always thankful that the adoption agency even let him add another after another.
But you already have three children, the lady at the adoption agency would state. They are all grown up, Joonmyun would say, I have a very large house and a very high salary and no one to spend it on. But you won't have time for them, the man at the orphanage would comment. I have all the time in the world for kids, Joonmyun would answer, I will try my best. Why don't you just get married and have your own kids, his mother would complain. But these kids are already there, not having anyone, Joonmyun would reply, I want to give them home and hope.
Joonmyun snaps out of his thought when Jongdae's phone buzzes and he breaks free from the hug to check it. "Dad," he says, turning to his father. "Baekhyun says we can go inside now."
Joonmyun looks at Jongdae with a questioning look, but shrugs it off as he takes Jongdae's hand and stands up. "Ah, right," Jongdae seems to remember something. He pulls out a headband with bunny ears from his plastic bag. "This is yours," Jongdae comments as he puts on one with brown cat ears.
Joonmyun laughs as he accepts the accessory from Jongdae and puts it on his head. "How do I look?"
"Perfect," Jongdae answers with a thumb-up.
Jongdae rushes to the direction of the kitchen as they enter the house, and Joonmyun follows with a laugh. He needs to make dinner anyways. He notices small shreds of various colored paper in the living room and makes a mental note to have the boys clean up tomorrow.
"Happy birthday!" comes a yell when he enters the kitchen, where his children are all wearing different animal ears on their head. There's a huge "HAPYY BRIHTDAY DAD!" banner hanging from the top cabinet, colorful fabrics decorating the corners of the kitchen. Kyungsoo stands behind the kitchen counter, where there is a weirdly shaped chocolate cake, while Sehun and Jongin sits near the cake, the corners of their mouth suspiciously stained with brown icing. Tao is in Yifan's embrace, cheering loudly.
"Sorry for the wait," Minseok comments. "These three idiots were supposed to text us when you're almost home."
"Hey! Going to the amusement park is tiring, you know!" Baekhyun protests.
"So is staying home and baking cake," Kyungsoo mumbles. Baekhyun shuts up.
Luhan comes forward and pulls Joonmyun into a seat in front of the cake, while Yixing sticks tiny candles into the cake.
"I don't know how old you are," Yixing states in horror as he continues adding more candles. "Guys, how old is Dad?"
Everyone exchanges confused looks as some shakes their head and Sehun randomly shouts, "Eighty maybe?" Joonmyun laughs at the commotion. He can't believe he forgets his own birthday. He might as well be eighty.
"Just put twenty-two," Chanyeol comments, "It's today's date!"
Everybody nods in agreement, and within seconds, Joonmyun is blowing twenty-two candles while his kids and Yifan sing happy birthday. Joonmyun makes a long list of wishes, and he actually wasn't finished but he could hear Chanyeol and Baekhyun and Jongdae chattering impatiently ("Do you think he's asleep?" "No! Why would he be?" "He's been closing his eyes for too long." "You're stupid." "But yeah he's taking forever, huh?" "Oh my god what if he's having a heart attack or something?!"). He looks up at his kids with mixed emotions.
"Dad I swear to god if you start crying I will kiss Minseok," Luhan comments and Minseok makes a scandalized sound. Joonmyun really needs to talk to Luhan about this unhealthy obsession.
"I'm not crying," Joonmyun replies. "But thank you, everyone," he adds, smiling.
There's a tap on his shoulder and it's Chanyeol, holding out the bright blue gift he was holding on their way home. "This is from all of us," he says.
Joonmyun accepts the gift and carefully open the wrapping. He gets sunglasses, a World's Best Dad mug, and a blue pen with the amusement park's mascot on top of it. "I can't believe your taste in gifts," Minseok complains as he sees the gifts, fingers pressed on his temples.
"They're the only things in the souvenir shop!" Jongdae whines.
Joonmyun laughs. "Thanks guys, I love these," he says. "Now tell me about this cake."
"I can't believe you can't even get it to stand up straight," Baekhyun gripes.
"I never made it before!" Kyungsoo wails, burying his face in his hands.
Joonmyun walks around the kitchen counter and hugs Kyungsoo from behind. The kid jerks in surprise but leans to him in the end. "It's okay, Kyungsoo," Joonmyun says, rubbing his shoulders. "I think it looks good!"
"Can we start eating?" Jongin interjects. "Because I got a bite from Kyungsoo hyung earlier and it tastes amazing!"
"How come you get a bite?!" Sehun protests.
"Kyungsoo hyung likes me more," Jongin answers with a shrug.
"Okay, okay," Joonmyun raises his hand, knowing that he needs to stop this bickering before it turns into a tiny fist fight. "What do you say we move this to the living room and just eat it together?"
Everybody nods, although Kyungsoo asks Shouldn't we cut the cake or something? with a frown. Joonmyun smiles in satisfaction. "Okay everyone grab a spoon and I'll see you in the living room!"
"Joonmyun," Yifan approaches him as Joonmyun is carrying his cake to the living room. He places the cake on the cold floor, deciding that his white carpet is too precious to get chocolate stains. "Happy birthday," Yifan smiles, holding out a gift wrapped in brown paper.
Joonmyun smiles back and accepts the gift. Yifan is warm, he's always been. Joonmyun remembers knocking on Yifan's door years ago, carrying Luhan in one hand and holding Minseok's hand on the other. Luhan had a fever, but Minseok needed to go to school. Yifan kindly offered to take Minseok, and he had been a really nice neighbor and a really good friend to Joonmyun and the kids' favorite uncle since. He would question Joonmyun with an another one? comment every time Joonmyun says he wants to adopt more, but he would still be the first one to visit with some new toy, cheering Hi, I'm uncle Yifan! to the new kid. "Yifan, thank you," he replies. "Also thank you for watching the kids."
"I should go home," Yifan comments when the kids start running inside the living room and taking their positions around the cake.
"You can probably stay for cake?"
"I don't want to impose."
Joonmyun laughs. "Well, I don't want to keep you from anything," he replies. "But if you want to stay, we have enough for everyone."
They gather around the cake within minutes, everyone holding their own spoon. Sehun opts to use his hand, to Kyungsoo's horror. The cake tastes amazing, just as Jongin claims, and everybody agrees as they dig in for more. Everyone ends up with chocolate smears on their faces (even the older ones, including Joonmyun himself) and chocolate stains on their clothes. Kyungsoo is crowned the new head chef in the house, and he will start his first shift on breakfast tomorrow.
"Happy birthday, Dad," Zitao says as he climbs on Joonmyun's lap, leaning comfortably on his chest.
"Thanks kid," he answers, rubbing the kid's back.
"Dad! Happy birthday!" Sehun hugs him from the side before poking Zitao to make room. He then sits next to his brother on Joonmyun's lap.
"Thank you Sehun," he replies, pressing his nose into Sehun's hair.
Joonmyun has eight other variations of happy-birthday-dad that night, as well as ten little boys to tuck in ("I'm not a little boy, Dad!" kids number one through six would complain), ten foreheads to kiss goodnight. Sometimes he lies on his bed at night, thinking of the ten graduation ceremonies he will have to attend and the ten weddings he will have to hold, and he questions whether he's taken too many for him to handle. But then he wakes up in the morning and sees Luhan chasing Minseok, and Tao hugging Sehun, and Jongdae tagging along Baekhyun and Chanyeol, and Jongin approaching Kyungsoo who is sitting alone in one corner, and Yixing just walking around checking in on everyone, and he smiles, because he knows he'll be alright.
There's no such thing as too many blessings.
note:
title taken from pharrell william's happy.
happy birthday joonmyun! stay strong stay healthy. you deserve to be happy and i hope you are :)
g | ~3.2k
And with a lot of effort to bring Kyungsoo and Jongin into the group, Joonmyun finally gets that hug he's been wanting all week
Kim Joonmyun is a busy man with little to no day-offs. So when the opportunity arises for him to take a leave on a Thursday as well as a Friday and earn himself a very long weekend, he wastes no time to take it, and immediately plan a family outing for his kids and himself. It still amuses him how the social services still let him keep all of his kids, with the fact that he works 9-5 from Monday to Friday and practically only sees his children when he drives them to school and on dinner, as well as most of the weekends. Joonmyun would like to think that it's due to his angelic nature, but maybe it's more because of his beautiful face. Those ladies at social service have a soft spot for faces like Joonmyun's.
"Let's go!" Joonmyun cheers as he enters the living room, having just finished with his shower and last-minute preparations for today's trip. He grins at the sight of his ten kids, all gathered around the table in their living room. They scramble away from each other and awkwardly take random positions in the room when they see Joonmyun.
"Uh, Dad," Minseok is the first one to speak up. "I don't think I can go today."
Joonmyun pouts at his oldest. He had guessed that an amusement park date (yes, the only "family outing" he's capable of planning in two days is an amusement park trip) wouldn't really be that interesting for a sixteen-year-old, but he actually had his hopes up. "Why?"
"I have, uh, a project," Minseok replies, scratching his head. "It's due tomorrow?"
Maybe he needs to try having a full team outing some other time, Joonmyun thinks. School comes first. "Okay," he sighs, turning his sight on Luhan. "Luhan are you still coming?"
"Dad," Luhan looks up at him with a frown. "You know I'm not going anywhere without Minseok."
Joonmyun lets out another sigh. Of course. "Okay," he mutters. "Anyone else have a sudden emergency situation that prohibits them from going to a super fun theme park date with their father who misses them so much?"
There is a pause before five other hands rise tentatively. Joonmyun covers his face with his hands. His precious, well-planned trip is now seven men down. He almost groans when he sees the remaining three-he will state this firmly right now, that he loves all his children equally, but Baekhyun and Jongdae and Chanyeol can be a nightmare in amusement parks. "State your reasons," he complains at his kids.
"I need to help keep Luhan away while Minseok does his homework," Yixing points out. Joonmyun can't help but agree-Luhan is especially clingy to Minseok and Yixing is the only one who can control all his brothers. Joonmyun was hoping that he could count on Yixing to handle the trouble trio. He sighs once more.
"Can I ride the rollercoaster?" Sehun asks instead of answering.
"I don't think they will let you," Joonmyun frowns. Sehun's only six, how is he supposed to hold him through a rollercoaster ride?
"How about the swing ride?"
"Probably not, kid."
"Drop towers, then?"
How does he know the names of all these rides? "No?" Joonmyun hesitates.
"What can we ride?" Jongin asks, helping his same-aged brother.
"Carousels?" Joonmyun answers lamely.
"We're not going," Jongin and Sehun reply in unison.
And of course Zitao won't go without his precious little brothers, thinks Joonmyun, and Zitao opens his mouth to confirm. "I'm not going too!" he says cheerfully.
This is not the plan, Joonmyun whines inside. That cheerful tone should be coming from the three of them riding fake horses going round and round. "Okay," he mumbles in defeat. Joonmyun thinks that he probably should go next door and ask Yifan to take care of the little ones. Yixing can't be handling Luhan and the maknaes at the same time. "Who's left?"
Kyungsoo approaches him and tugs on his pants, asking him to lean down. Joonmyun squats down to let the kid whisper in his ear. "I'm not feeling well," Kyungsoo says. "I really want to sleep."
Kyungsoo has never been fond of crowds, and Joonmyun really needs to help him with this issue. "Are you sure?" Joonmyun asks, brushing Kyungsoo's hair. "It will be fun?"
Kyungsoo shakes his head no. "I want to stay at home," he whispers. "I will be a good boy?"
"Okay," Joonmyun replies with a smile, his voice as soft as Kyungsoo's. "Some other time then."
Kyungsoo plays with the hem of his shirt as he nods hesitantly. Joonmyun stands up and ruffles Kyungsoo's hair. "Okay, you three," he calls to his troublemaking trio. "It's just the four of us then."
Chanyeol cheers loudly while Baekhyun and Jongdae put on their matching snapbacks and walks to Joonmyun. "Can we do a group hug, at least?" Joonmyun tries, looking pleadingly at his children.
Minseok comes to hug him and snickers, "Good luck, Dad!"
Joonmyun looks at him exasperatedly. "At least make sure your brothers eat something?"
"I will," Minseok answers. He turns to his brothers and calls them to huddle up. "Group hug, everyone!"
And with a lot of effort to bring Kyungsoo and Jongin into the group, Joonmyun finally gets that hug he's been wanting all week.
*
Joonmyun will not admit that the haunted house trip almost caused him to faint when he entered with Baekhyun, thinking that it wouldn't be so scary considering Chanyeol and Jongdae pretty much laughed the entire time they were inside. He should give Chanyeol and Jongdae more credits for their bravery. Riding the rollercoaster was also a little troublesome for Joonmyun who isn't too fond of height, but Chanyeol insisted on it. Afterwards, Chanyeol decided that he didn't really like height, either. But at least Joonmyun got some alone time with Chanyeol while they wait for Baekhyun and Jongdae to finish another round of the ride. Chanyeol told him he wanted to learn the drums now that he's already good with guitar. Joonmyun promised him a trip to the music store.
Surprisingly, Joonmyun finds himself having a relatively enjoyable time in the amusement park. His triple trouble, for once, easily agree on chicken and pizza for lunch, while they would normally argue for hours until one of them 'wins' and takes another half an hour to decide what to eat. Jongdae and Baekhyun seem to be in a very civil mood today, not bickering and biting each others' head off. Chanyeol is loud as always, but at least he's not doing anything crazy.
"Did you guys have fun today?" Joonmyun asks as he leans forward to wipe sauce smearing the corners of Chanyeol's mouth. He is going to have such a hard time when these boys grow up as teenagers, he thinks as he takes in Chanyeol's face. Chanyeol will definitely be a very handsome young man. Jongdae and Baekhyun will probably fall more on the cute side, but Joonmyun doesn't doubt that they will be popular with girls, too. But he's probably biased.
Baekhyun and Chanyeol nod wildly to answer. "Super time!" Chanyeol cheers.
"Thank you, Dad," Jongdae hugs him from the side. His kids don't normally give hugs voluntarily, but Jongdae is the hugger of the bunch.
Joonmyun slings an arm around Jongdae and pinches his cheek. "Well, thank you!"
"Dad, Dad," Baekhyun calls cheerfully. "Can we buy something for the others at home?"
Joonmyun grins. "Of course," he says. "We'll see what they have in the souvenir shop after this."
*
The ride back home is quiet, as Joonmyun sits alone in the front while all three of his kids are asleep in the back seat. They each hold a plastic bag with the gifts for their brothers inside. Chanyeol also holds another gift wrapped in light blue paper, and Joonmyun thinks it's definitely for Jongin-Chanyeol loves giving Jongin special treatments.
Joonmyun enters the driveway and parks his car in front of his house at around 5PM. Just in time for some dinner with everyone, he thinks with a smile. He contemplates whether he should carry the boys inside, but decides on waking them up.
"Kids," he calls, shaking Chanyeol and Jongdae with his hands. Baekhyun would need a little more force. "Wake up, we're home!"
Chanyeol jerks awake and screams, "We're home?!"
Joonmyun frowns. "We're home," he repeats.
Chanyeol looks at his cell phone then at Joonmyun in panic. He proceeds to shaking Jongdae wildly. "Jongdae, Jongdae, we're home!"
Jongdae scrambles up from his position, wiping a line of drool on the corner of his mouth. "We're home?!" he yells.
"Yes, kids," Joonmyun answers with a concerned expression. "We're home. What is happening here?"
"Nothing, nothing," Chanyeol laughs awkwardly. He mouths something to Jongdae, who then shakes Baekhyun awake.
"We're home?!" is the first thing Baekhyun says as he rubs his eyes and realizes that they're in front of their house.
"Yes," Joonmyun answers desperately. "Would you tell me what's going on please?"
"Nothing, nothing," Jongdae assures him. He gets out of the car, small hands hugging Joonmyun and pushing him away from the front door.
"Where are we going?" Joonmyun asks in confusion. From the corner of his eyes he can see Baekhyun and Chanyeol entering the house.
"I just want to be alone with you for a while," Jongdae reasons. "Baekhyun got you in the haunted house and Chanyeol got you when I ride the rollercoaster," he adds with a pout.
Joonmyun tilts his head at Jongdae, pondering whether this is the actual reason or something Jongdae makes up for something. It's probably true-Joonmyun doesn't see why Jongdae would lie about it. "Okay," he chuckles, sitting down on their driveway, not caring about being dirty for once, and pulling Jongdae to sit next to him. "So, how's school?"
Jongdae laughs. "It's fine, Dad," he answers. "I'm still beating Baekhyun in everything."
"I thought you guys share the first place?" Joonmyun smirks.
Jongdae rolls his eyes. "Fine, fine," he whines. "We get similar scores in everything, and we do share the first place."
Joonmyun pulls Jongdae into a hug. "How about you help Chanyeol with his studies so all three of you can share the first place, then, hmm?"
"You always say that," Jongdae answers with a laugh, his hands grabbing on Joonmyun's arm. "But Chanyeol's actually doing alright."
"My boys are all handsome and smart," Joonmyun says as he grins at Jongdae. "I am so lucky."
Jongdae smiles back. "This is cheesy, Dad, but it's all thanks to you," he mumbles, leaning closer to Joonmyun's chest. "If it wasn't for you we probably wouldn't even have a home."
Joonmyun hugs his boy tighter. He remembers every single one of his adoption-the date, the place, the weather. Jongdae was September in Yongsan, with falling leaves and breezy weather. Sehun was April in Gangnam, in between drizzles of rain, under a green umbrella. Kyungsoo was January in Mapo, freezing cold under a thick black coat. They are all happy memories, and Joonmyun is always thankful that the adoption agency even let him add another after another.
But you already have three children, the lady at the adoption agency would state. They are all grown up, Joonmyun would say, I have a very large house and a very high salary and no one to spend it on. But you won't have time for them, the man at the orphanage would comment. I have all the time in the world for kids, Joonmyun would answer, I will try my best. Why don't you just get married and have your own kids, his mother would complain. But these kids are already there, not having anyone, Joonmyun would reply, I want to give them home and hope.
Joonmyun snaps out of his thought when Jongdae's phone buzzes and he breaks free from the hug to check it. "Dad," he says, turning to his father. "Baekhyun says we can go inside now."
Joonmyun looks at Jongdae with a questioning look, but shrugs it off as he takes Jongdae's hand and stands up. "Ah, right," Jongdae seems to remember something. He pulls out a headband with bunny ears from his plastic bag. "This is yours," Jongdae comments as he puts on one with brown cat ears.
Joonmyun laughs as he accepts the accessory from Jongdae and puts it on his head. "How do I look?"
"Perfect," Jongdae answers with a thumb-up.
Jongdae rushes to the direction of the kitchen as they enter the house, and Joonmyun follows with a laugh. He needs to make dinner anyways. He notices small shreds of various colored paper in the living room and makes a mental note to have the boys clean up tomorrow.
"Happy birthday!" comes a yell when he enters the kitchen, where his children are all wearing different animal ears on their head. There's a huge "HAPYY BRIHTDAY DAD!" banner hanging from the top cabinet, colorful fabrics decorating the corners of the kitchen. Kyungsoo stands behind the kitchen counter, where there is a weirdly shaped chocolate cake, while Sehun and Jongin sits near the cake, the corners of their mouth suspiciously stained with brown icing. Tao is in Yifan's embrace, cheering loudly.
"Sorry for the wait," Minseok comments. "These three idiots were supposed to text us when you're almost home."
"Hey! Going to the amusement park is tiring, you know!" Baekhyun protests.
"So is staying home and baking cake," Kyungsoo mumbles. Baekhyun shuts up.
Luhan comes forward and pulls Joonmyun into a seat in front of the cake, while Yixing sticks tiny candles into the cake.
"I don't know how old you are," Yixing states in horror as he continues adding more candles. "Guys, how old is Dad?"
Everyone exchanges confused looks as some shakes their head and Sehun randomly shouts, "Eighty maybe?" Joonmyun laughs at the commotion. He can't believe he forgets his own birthday. He might as well be eighty.
"Just put twenty-two," Chanyeol comments, "It's today's date!"
Everybody nods in agreement, and within seconds, Joonmyun is blowing twenty-two candles while his kids and Yifan sing happy birthday. Joonmyun makes a long list of wishes, and he actually wasn't finished but he could hear Chanyeol and Baekhyun and Jongdae chattering impatiently ("Do you think he's asleep?" "No! Why would he be?" "He's been closing his eyes for too long." "You're stupid." "But yeah he's taking forever, huh?" "Oh my god what if he's having a heart attack or something?!"). He looks up at his kids with mixed emotions.
"Dad I swear to god if you start crying I will kiss Minseok," Luhan comments and Minseok makes a scandalized sound. Joonmyun really needs to talk to Luhan about this unhealthy obsession.
"I'm not crying," Joonmyun replies. "But thank you, everyone," he adds, smiling.
There's a tap on his shoulder and it's Chanyeol, holding out the bright blue gift he was holding on their way home. "This is from all of us," he says.
Joonmyun accepts the gift and carefully open the wrapping. He gets sunglasses, a World's Best Dad mug, and a blue pen with the amusement park's mascot on top of it. "I can't believe your taste in gifts," Minseok complains as he sees the gifts, fingers pressed on his temples.
"They're the only things in the souvenir shop!" Jongdae whines.
Joonmyun laughs. "Thanks guys, I love these," he says. "Now tell me about this cake."
"I can't believe you can't even get it to stand up straight," Baekhyun gripes.
"I never made it before!" Kyungsoo wails, burying his face in his hands.
Joonmyun walks around the kitchen counter and hugs Kyungsoo from behind. The kid jerks in surprise but leans to him in the end. "It's okay, Kyungsoo," Joonmyun says, rubbing his shoulders. "I think it looks good!"
"Can we start eating?" Jongin interjects. "Because I got a bite from Kyungsoo hyung earlier and it tastes amazing!"
"How come you get a bite?!" Sehun protests.
"Kyungsoo hyung likes me more," Jongin answers with a shrug.
"Okay, okay," Joonmyun raises his hand, knowing that he needs to stop this bickering before it turns into a tiny fist fight. "What do you say we move this to the living room and just eat it together?"
Everybody nods, although Kyungsoo asks Shouldn't we cut the cake or something? with a frown. Joonmyun smiles in satisfaction. "Okay everyone grab a spoon and I'll see you in the living room!"
"Joonmyun," Yifan approaches him as Joonmyun is carrying his cake to the living room. He places the cake on the cold floor, deciding that his white carpet is too precious to get chocolate stains. "Happy birthday," Yifan smiles, holding out a gift wrapped in brown paper.
Joonmyun smiles back and accepts the gift. Yifan is warm, he's always been. Joonmyun remembers knocking on Yifan's door years ago, carrying Luhan in one hand and holding Minseok's hand on the other. Luhan had a fever, but Minseok needed to go to school. Yifan kindly offered to take Minseok, and he had been a really nice neighbor and a really good friend to Joonmyun and the kids' favorite uncle since. He would question Joonmyun with an another one? comment every time Joonmyun says he wants to adopt more, but he would still be the first one to visit with some new toy, cheering Hi, I'm uncle Yifan! to the new kid. "Yifan, thank you," he replies. "Also thank you for watching the kids."
"I should go home," Yifan comments when the kids start running inside the living room and taking their positions around the cake.
"You can probably stay for cake?"
"I don't want to impose."
Joonmyun laughs. "Well, I don't want to keep you from anything," he replies. "But if you want to stay, we have enough for everyone."
They gather around the cake within minutes, everyone holding their own spoon. Sehun opts to use his hand, to Kyungsoo's horror. The cake tastes amazing, just as Jongin claims, and everybody agrees as they dig in for more. Everyone ends up with chocolate smears on their faces (even the older ones, including Joonmyun himself) and chocolate stains on their clothes. Kyungsoo is crowned the new head chef in the house, and he will start his first shift on breakfast tomorrow.
"Happy birthday, Dad," Zitao says as he climbs on Joonmyun's lap, leaning comfortably on his chest.
"Thanks kid," he answers, rubbing the kid's back.
"Dad! Happy birthday!" Sehun hugs him from the side before poking Zitao to make room. He then sits next to his brother on Joonmyun's lap.
"Thank you Sehun," he replies, pressing his nose into Sehun's hair.
Joonmyun has eight other variations of happy-birthday-dad that night, as well as ten little boys to tuck in ("I'm not a little boy, Dad!" kids number one through six would complain), ten foreheads to kiss goodnight. Sometimes he lies on his bed at night, thinking of the ten graduation ceremonies he will have to attend and the ten weddings he will have to hold, and he questions whether he's taken too many for him to handle. But then he wakes up in the morning and sees Luhan chasing Minseok, and Tao hugging Sehun, and Jongdae tagging along Baekhyun and Chanyeol, and Jongin approaching Kyungsoo who is sitting alone in one corner, and Yixing just walking around checking in on everyone, and he smiles, because he knows he'll be alright.
There's no such thing as too many blessings.
note:
title taken from pharrell william's happy.
happy birthday joonmyun! stay strong stay healthy. you deserve to be happy and i hope you are :)