ateez family au

oo3

Soon, the first week with Hongjoong at home passed. With him being at home all the time, so much weight was lifted from Seonghwa's shoulders. They would switch waking up the kids for school and kindergarten, one would stay at home while the other was dropping off the kids. Everyone felt the change, the house seemed fuller, merrier.

"Ah... It's time again", Seonghwa sighed and folded the letter in his hands, putting it back in its case. He was leaning against the kitchen counter and checked the mail when a letter from Yunho's school caught his eyes. Three letters from kindergarten were in the mail too. Invitations for the annual parent's conference day.

"What's wrong?" Hongjoong came into the kitchen, bringing back the dishes. He placed them in the dishwasher then gave his husband all his attention.

"Invitations", he informed turning to the appointment calendar to note the dates. "Once a year when the school year is ending they ask you to come and talk about your child's progress during the year", he added and pinned the letters next to the calendar so he would for sure remember them. Then he faced Hongjoong brightly smiling. "Well, this year is going to be less stressful. Now that you are here and I have someone to watch over Jongho and Wooyoung!"

Just as Hongjoong wanted to add something, Yunho came in running. "Mingi's head is stuck between the handrails again!"

With a breathless 'oh no' Seonghwa bolted out of the kitchen to the stairs, Hongjoong close behind. And there Mingi was, head stuck between the bars and loudly crying. "Oh, baby no" Seonghwa first tried to calm him down with caressing his wet cheeks. When Mingi finally sobbed hysterically crying, Seonghwa took a closer look. "Okay, someone bring me the Nivea from the bathroom", he said. "Papa's going to get you out of there baby", he assured Mingi who was still silently sobbing. It wasn't the first time that he was stuck there and something told his parents that this wouldn't be the last time either. When San brought the oily cream Seonghwa coated the bars Mingi was stuck between with it. "Now you need to relax so Daddy can get you out of there, okay?" Seonghwa looked up at Hongjoong who was placing his hand on Mingi's head, the other holding his chin. Seonghwa made his son do some breathing exercises and then grabbed the bars, spread them as wide as he could. With a little force, Hongjoong pulled Mingi's head through the now a little wider gap. In a matter of seconds, Mingi was free.

As soon as Mingi got a hold of himself he fell into Hongjoong's arms and cried some more.

"I don't understand why he keeps doing that...?", Yeosang mumbled looking at his younger brother.

~

The house calmed down, it was late midday now. Yunho had sat down on his desk to do his homework, it was due on Monday. Well not exactly. His homework had time until Friday, but this homework needed to be done by Monday. You see, when Yunho started school, it didn't go like his teachers in kindergarten had told him. There were some upper-class students that liked to tease the little boy. At some point, it got worse, so that he found himself crying about it at times. He didn't tell his parents, he couldn't. He felt ashamed that he, as the oldest son, was such a crybaby. He should have been the strong older brother but instead, he was crying because of some teasing. They said that his face was just plain ugly and his head was huge. "Use that huge head of yours for something useful", the one had said and had thrown his arts homework at him. Now, here he was, sketching a dog to give it to the upper-class student on Monday. He had learned to just do what they wanted, so he wouldn't get hurt. The first three months of the school year were hell in comparison to now. Yunho sighed as he looked at his work. The sketch was pretty and he was happy that he didn't have to deal with this bully's homework for this weekend anymore. His father was finally at home, he couldn't spend time on thinking about these students, he should be downstairs with his siblings and parents, playing some game. Again tears filled up in the corners of his eyes. He didn't even know what exactly made him cry and that thought caused him to let out a loud sob. Why? I never did something bad to anyone? why don't they leave me alone? He wiped away his tears, but they didn't stop flowing.