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The doorbell rang at exactly 10 in the morning. The entire Murata-Koga household had been up since 8 AM trying to get everyone bathed, dressed, and ready for breakfast.
Nicholas wasted no time hopping off the stool where he was watching Yudai roll out some pastries. He bolted towards the door, sock feet skidding on the hardwood, ignoring the way Taki rolled his eyes at him.
“Nico!” Fuma shouted from the breakfast table with Harua perched on his lap. “No running!”
Nicholas ignored that too — he was already three steps ahead in his head, imagining Euijoo's face when he saw the fort he'd half-built in the living room that morning before Harua had interrupted him.
But before he could get to the door, Maki had magically appeared around the corner and pulled the door open with a wide eager smile.
Nicholas slowed to a stop, arms dropping defeated at his sides.
“Maki!” Euijoo’s bright voice echoed down the hall, sending a frown straight to Nicholas’ face.
“Juju!” Maki exclaimed, throwing himself into Euijoo’s open arms.
From where Nicholas stood, he could only see Euijoo’s pale arms as they wrapped around Maki. The two of them pulled apart with a giggle as Euijoo waved at his parents from behind, signaling that he had safely made it inside.
Euijoo stepped further in, and Fuma was already nearby with Taki perched against his hip. “Good morning, Euijoo,” Fuma said warmly.
“Good morning Mister Murata!” Euijoo beamed, shucking off his small hoodie and hanging it up next to an abundance of other small coats and jackets.
Euijoo spotted Nicholas standing awkwardly further down the hallway and smiled. “Hi Nico!” He bounded up to the alpha, hair flopping left and right.
“Hi Juju,” Nicholas replied, suddenly feeling shy, fingers fiddling unconsciously with the chain around his neck.
Yudai let out a chuckle from behind him, and Nicholas turned around with a sharp look. “Mama,” he said with a pout.
“Oh nothing, darling,” Yudai said as he scooped Nicholas up into his arms. The young alpha protested heavily, wiggling as much as he could as he demanded to be set down.
“Have you had breakfast yet, Euijoo?” Yudai asked as they trailed into the kitchen.
Euijoo shook his head, eyes twinkling in delight as they remained on Nicholas who was still putting up a good fight.
“Nicholas.” Fuma’s deep voice echoed with a warning.
Nicholas froze from the tone, sagging in Yudai’s arms.
“Stop giving your mother a hard time,” Fuma scolded lightly.
“Yes,” Nicholas muttered. “I’m sorry, mama.”
“Oh hush,” Yudai said towards his husband. “Nicholas was just a bit more excited than usual. It’s not everyday we have a special guest over, right baby?” He nuzzled his nose against Nicholas’ soft cheek, eliciting a shrill giggle from the young alpha.
"Mama stop," he giggled, gently pushing his palms against Yudai's face, hands already flapping, unable to hold still now that Euijoo was actually here.
Yudai growled playfully and gently nipped at the tip of Nicholas’ nose before placing him down on the chair next to Taki — who had already begun on his breakfast, entirely unbothered by his brother’s antics.
“Juju, sit here,” Maki said as he pointed towards a chair between him and Taki.
“No! Juju’s sitting here,” Nicholas exclaimed, pulling the empty chair between him and Harua out, the words tumbling out faster than he could stop them.
“Boys,” Yudai said with a stern tone as he gently nudged Euijoo towards a seat. “Sitt wherever you want, honey.”
Euijoo nodded obediently, climbing up onto the chair between Nicholas and Harua. Nicholas stuck out a tongue towards Maki, resulting in a gasp of shock. Fuma intervened just in time with steaming bowls of rice, distracting the young pups in an instant.
Yudai and Fuma kept themselves busy in the kitchen as their kids ate. They chirped on and on about what games they would play later and who would be ‘it’ in their game of tag.
The couple could only hope and pray no fights erupted between any of them — specifically keeping a close eye on their eldest and youngest who were prone to getting into arguments with each other.
“See?” Yudai nudged his husband in the arm as they watched the kids from behind the kitchen island. “An extra addition to our family wouldn’t be all too bad.”
Fuma blinked.
“We are not having another pup,” Fuma groaned, dropping his head low between his shoulders.
“But look how cute they all are,” Yudai whined. He pushed his husband’s cheeks together and brought his gaze back up towards the kids.
Taki and Maki had pushed their blueberries together on the table and began counting them out in two equal portions. Nicholas watched with a weirded out look on his face as he continued to inhale his food, spoon moving fast, mind clearly already somewhere else.
“And look at how adorable those two are,” Yudai pointed towards the two young pups.
Harua and Euijoo conversed quietly amongst each other, both already having finished their meals. They played with each other’s fingers, quietly giggling every now and then.
Fuma stared at them, bottom lip caught between his teeth. “Another pup wouldn’t be that bad…” He muttered under his breath.
“See?” Yudai said excitedly.
Fuma snapped his gaze back towards his husband. “No. Stop trying to manipulate me,” he grumbled. “What if we have more than one again? I don’t want you going through another pregnancy like that.” He shuttered at the memories.
Fuma pulled his husband into his arms, nuzzling the junction of his neck.
“Juju, are you going to eat that?” Nicholas asked, mouth rimmed with pieces of rice. He pointed to the two pieces of braised pork left on the beta’s plate.
Euijoo shook his head, pushing his plate closer to Nicholas.
Nicholas grinned, snatching the pork with his bare hands and shoving it into his mouth without a second thought — the impulse to just do arriving faster than the memory of table manners ever could.
Yudai gasped, pulling away from Fuma and hurrying towards his son. “Nicholas, what did I tell you about table manners?”
Nicholas paused mid chew, eyes wide. His face was a mess, hands covered in food — utensils abandoned on the side.
He gulped down the rest of the food with force, and Yudai almost had a heart attack as he watched his son force down what he assumed was unchewed food.
“I asked him, mama,” Nicholas stated, like that fully explained everything.
“We don’t eat with our hands, Nico,” Yudai said gently, reaching for paper towels and gently wiping his son’s hands. “Papa gave you a spoon for a reason.”
Nicholas pouted, but nodded, already fidgeting with the edge of the paper towel Yudai hadn't gotten to yet, tearing tiny strips off without noticing he was doing it.
Yudai made his way around the table, wiping each pup’s face with a clean wipe. But when he got to Euijoo, Nicholas jumped up from his spot with his fingers spread.
“I can do it, mama!”
“Oh.” Yudai paused in shock, sending a curious glance at his husband who looked just as shocked. They were well aware of Nicholas' little crush on Euijoo, but their son was usually way too shy about it to be near Euijoo half the time — his affection tended to come out sideways, in bursts of energy and blurted sentences rather than anything soft or still.
One small touch sent the young alpha screaming down the hallway.
Today was… different.
“Is that okay, Euijoo?” Yudai asked.
Euijoo nodded, looking indifferent.
Nicholas snatched the wipe from Yudai, leaning his tiny body over the gap between them and gently wiped at Euijoo’s mouth. His posture was unsteady, resulting in Yudai gently holding him upwards by his waist.
“Done!”
“Thank you, Nichol,” Euijoo said bashfully.
There it was. Euijoo’s cute nickname for the alpha. He was the only one who called him that, not because the others didn’t like using it, but because Nicholas threw one too many tantrums the first few times any one else besides Euijoo called him that.
From then on, it was strictly ‘Nico’ or ‘Nicholas.’
Nicholas pulled back into his seat, his cheeks going a bright red as he smiled down at his fingers, bouncing his heel against the chair leg in a fast, steady rhythm. "You're welcome, Juju."
Yudai let out a soft sigh at the two of them. Today was going to be a long day.
—
“Mama!” Taki came running out of the play room, hot tears trailing down his cheeks. He shoved his face into Yudai’s thigh, letting out a loud wail.
“Taki,” Yudai said gently. “What’s wrong, baby?”
He ripped his face away, leaving four wet circles on Yudai’s sweatpants. “Nico won’t share!”
Nicholas never had sharing issues. Being the eldest, he knew better than to not share with his younger siblings. It was usually Maki who had the bigger sharing issue, so it was a surprise to hear that Nicholas was the one causing Taki to cry over not sharing.
Yudai softly pulled his son off him, bending down to be on the same level as him. “What’s he not sharing, baby? Is it the new toy we just bought you guys?”
Taki shook his head, his entire body rotating with it. “It’s Juju!”
Yudai looked at his son with confusion. “Juju?” He wanted so badly to laugh, but he knew that even one snort would send Taki down another path of tears and snot.
“I want to play with Juju too, but he won’t let me,” Taki said wetly.
Yudai cooed at his son and crouched down fully, pulling Taki into his lap. "Baby, Juju's not a toy — he gets to choose who he plays with too. But let's go see what's going on, okay?"
Taki sniffled, nodding as he let his mother scoop him up onto his hip.
They found the play room in a standoff. Nicholas stood plastered to Euijoo's side, one small hand fisted in the sleeve of the beta's shirt like he might float away otherwise, the other one flapping lightly at his side in quick, agitated little bursts, the way it did whenever something felt like too much at once.
Maki sat cross-legged a few feet back, arms crossed and bottom lip jutting out, clearly having already lost this battle once. Harua was the only one still playing, quietly stacking blocks by the window, unbothered by the chaos around him.
"Nico," Yudai said carefully, setting Taki down. "Why can't Taki play too?"
"Because," Nicholas said, chin lifting stubbornly, "he's playing with me."
"I asked first!" Taki wailed, the tears threatening to return.
"You always play with Juju when he comes over!" Maki chimed in from his spot on the floor, clearly done being quiet about it.
Euijoo, caught in the middle, looked between all three brothers with wide, uncertain eyes. He tugged gently at Nicholas' hand still fisted in his sleeve. "Nichol, we can all play," he offered softly — the one voice Nicholas could usually hear clearly even when everything else felt like too much.
Nicholas' grip only tightened. "But you're supposed to play with me."
Yudai's heart nearly melted right there on the play room carpet, but he kept his face even. This was, apparently, a moment for parenting and not for cooing over how painfully in love his five-year-old was.
"Nicholas," he said, tone gentle but firm, "sharing means everyone gets a turn — including your brothers. Juju came to see all of you, not just you. Can you take a breath for me?"
Nicholas exhaled hard through his nose, shoulders dropping. "... Fine." He let go of Euijoo's sleeve. "But Juju's on my team for tag."
"Okay!" Euijoo beamed, entirely unbothered, like he always was — steady in a way that Nicholas gravitated toward without ever quite being able to explain why.
Maki, sensing victory, scrambled up immediately. "Then I get Rua!"
"That's not fair, he doesn't run fast," Taki argued, already forgetting he'd been crying two minutes ago.
Yudai straightened up, watching the four of them dissolve back into an easy chaos, Nicholas trailing just a little too close to Euijoo's side the whole time. He caught Fuma's eye from the doorway — his husband had clearly been eavesdropping the entire time, arms crossed and the smallest smile tugging at his mouth.
"He's just like you," Fuma murmured as Yudai came up beside him. "Terrible at sharing what he loves."
Yudai elbowed him lightly in the ribs. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Fuma just pulled him closer, watching their kids race in loops around the play room, Nicholas' small hand never quite leaving Euijoo's for very long.
The rules, as always, took a solid five minutes to negotiate. Maki insisted Harua be "it" first since he was smallest and easiest to catch — a piece of logic Harua strongly disagreed with but was outvoted on.
"Wait!" Nicholas held up a hand suddenly, already bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Juju has to know the rules. He's not allowed to tag me."
"That's not a rule," Maki said flatly.
"It is now."
Euijoo just nodded along agreeably. "Okay, Nichol."
"Go!" Harua shouted, not waiting for the rest of the argument to finish, and took off after Maki with a squeal.
The play room dissolved into shrieking, scrambling chaos. Nicholas moved like his body had been waiting all morning for permission to finally let loose — darting, weaving, narrating half his moves out loud to no one in particular, sound effects included. He stayed close to Euijoo through the entire game, weaving circles around him like a small, overexcited moon.
By the time Harua finally tackled Taki around the knees, all five kids collapsed into a heap on the rug, breathless.
Euijoo sat at the edge of the pile, cheeks pink. Nicholas dropped down right beside him, shoulder to shoulder, still breathing hard, one leg jiggling restlessly even flat on his back.
"Tired?" Euijoo asked.
"No," Nicholas said immediately, even as his eyes started to droop.
From the doorway, Yudai leaned into Fuma's side. "He's not going to survive middle school."
"He's not surviving right now," Fuma said dryly.
—
By early afternoon, the morning's chaos had caught up to all of them. Yudai clapped twice in the doorway. "Nap time!"
"I'm not tired," Maki announced, immediately yawning.
Getting five overstimulated pups down was, as always, a group effort. Nicholas held out the longest, arms crossed, standing firm in the hallway even as his eyelids fought him.
"I don't need a nap."
"Okay," Yudai said easily. "Euijoo's about to nap too, though."
Euijoo, already curled up on his cot, patted the space beside him, and Nicholas's resolve crumbled on the spot. "... Fine. But only 'cause Juju needs someone to watch him."
Within minutes the room had gone quiet, four small bodies scattered across cots and cushions. Harua squished between Maki and Taki on a makeshift bed on the ground, giggling tiredly at the weird faces his brothers were making.
Nicholas inched closer to Euijoo bit by bit until his forehead nearly touched the beta's shoulder, one hand fisted loosely in his shirt again.
And then everyone was out like a light.
—
Nicholas woke the way he always did — all at once and no in-between. Eyes snapping open, hand immediately finding Euijoo's sleeve with his thumb rubbing the fabric in slow circles before he'd even said a word.
"Nichol?" Euijoo blinked awake beside him from the sudden movement.
"You're awake," Nicholas said, unnecessarily, knee already bouncing.
By the time the others stirred, Nicholas had migrated to the floor, rocking slightly side to side, brain clearly three steps ahead of the room.
"Juju, look —" He was up and at the shelf before Euijoo even had his socks on, pulling down a half-finished puzzle. "I found where the corner piece goes. I figured it out during naptime."
"You were asleep," Maki said sitting up from his spot, sleep still evident in his puffy face. His hair stuck up in all directions as he slowly crawled up beside his brother.
Harua let out a groan, shifting further into Taki’s side as the two of them continued to chase the last remaining minutes of their naptime.
"I thought about it before I fell asleep," Nicholas corrected, already dumping pieces onto the rug, sorting edges from middles with total, sudden focus. Euijoo settled across from him without needing to be asked, letting Nicholas narrate his way through it, half to Euijoo, half to himself.
Fuma and Yudai had heard the first few chats of the kids after naptime, and found themselves migrating to checkup on them.
"He's not even letting Euijoo touch the pieces," Fuma noted.
"He's explaining first," Yudai said. "Give him a second."
They stood side by side, quietly watching with fond eyes.
"Okay, you do the sky pieces, I'll do the edges.” Pieces are then shoved toward Euijoo without a glance, hands flapping once, quick and pleased, before diving back in.
Then, it started, as most things did with Maki, over something small — and this time, over Euijoo.
"Juju's helping me find the edge pieces," Nicholas said, scooting closer, effectively boxing Euijoo in on one side.
"He was helping me first," Maki said, scooting in from the other side, refusing to be edged out.
"No he wasn't."
"Yes he was!"
Euijoo glanced between the two of them, caught in the middle both literally and otherwise, a small piece of puzzle still pinched between his fingers. "I can help both —"
"He's doing my side," Nicholas cut in, snatching the piece straight from Euijoo's hand before Maki could react, the words and the motion happening almost at the same instant, faster than the thought behind them.
"That's not fair!" Maki grabbed for it, and Nicholas yanked it out of reach, and within seconds the two of them were scuffling across the rug — right over Euijoo's lap.
"Ow —" Euijoo yelped, scrambling backward out of the middle of it as small hands grabbed at wrists and shirts around him, the puzzle scattering everywhere.
"You're SO annoying!" Nicholas shouted, voice cracking with how big the feeling was — not really about the piece anymore, just too much at once, too much unfairness, too much noise.
"YOU'RE annoying!" Maki shoved him, and Nicholas shoved back harder than he meant to, sending Maki toppling with a startled yelp.
"Boys!" Fuma's voice cut through the room, and both of them froze mid-motion.
Fuma crossed the room and crouched between them, one hand on each shoulder. His eyes flicked briefly to Euijoo, still sitting a little stunned off to the side. "Euijoo, honey, you alright?"
Euijoo nodded quickly, though his eyes were wide.
That seemed to land harder on Nicholas than anything else. His hands, which had been flapping hard at his sides, went suddenly still. "... Did I hurt Juju?"
"You knocked into him," Fuma said evenly. "That's part of why we don't push."
Nicholas's face crumpled, guilt flooding in fast on top of everything else he was already feeling, the emotions stacking up faster than he could sort through them. "I didn't mean to —" His voice wobbled. "Juju, are you okay? I'm sorry, I'm really sorry —"
"I'm okay, Nichol," Euijoo said softly, shuffling a little closer again now that the scuffle had stopped, entirely unbothered the way he always was.
He reached out and gently took Nicholas's still hand and gave it a small squeeze. "You didn't mean it."
That seemed to help more than Fuma's whole lecture. Some of the tightness went out of Nicholas's shoulders all at once, like a knot loosening.
"Maki," Fuma said, turning to his younger son. "Apologize for grabbing."
"Sorry," Maki mumbled, wiping his nose.
"Nicholas."
"Sorry for pushing you," Nicholas said to Maki, quick and automatic. Then, turning back to Euijoo without needing to be prompted, "Sorry I knocked into you."
"It's okay," Euijoo said again, patient, still holding Nicholas's hand loosely between both of his.
Fuma watched the exchange, something soft passing over his face before he cleared his throat. "Alright. Puzzle pieces, everyone — pick them up."
The three of them shuffled to gather the scattered pieces, and Maki — without a word, in his own quiet way of calling a truce — nudged the missing edge piece back toward Nicholas across the rug.
Nicholas picked it up, glanced at Euijoo, who was still sitting close beside him, and held it out instead. "You can put it in. You found the spot anyways."
Euijoo brightened, taking it happily. "Thanks, Nichol."
Fuma ruffled Nicholas, hair as he passed, watching his son's hands finally settle, still tucked loosely around Euijoo's sleeve, the storm passed as quickly as it had come.
Now, he turned towards his two other sons who were still sound asleep. He let out a sigh.
He could tell that some tears would be shed once he woke them up just from the deep wrinkles between Taki’s brows.
—
Dinner had come and gone, and the time had passed quicker than any of them could keep up with when Euijoo's parents pulled into the driveway.
Nicholas heard the car before anyone said anything, head snapping up from where he'd been half-listening to Fuma reading a bedtime book to Harua on the couch. "That's Juju's mom and dad."
"Sounds like it," Yudai said, already heading for the door.
Nicholas was up in an instant, abandoning his spot on the couch without a second thought, feet carrying him toward the entryway before his brain had fully caught up with the decision. By the time Yudai opened the door, Nicholas was already standing there, hands twisting the hem of his shirt.
Euijoo's parents exchanged pleasantries with Yudai in the doorway — thank yous, how was he, no trouble at all — the easy small talk of grown-ups that Nicholas tuned out entirely, his attention fixed instead on Euijoo, who was gathering his things from the little hook by the door.
"You're leaving," Nicholas said, more a statement than a question, trailing after him.
"I have to go home," Euijoo said, tugging his small hoodie back on, hair getting tousled in the process.
Nicholas reached out without thinking and smoothed it back down, an oddly gentle gesture from a kid who did most things at full volume.
"Can you come back tomorrow?"
"I don't know. Maybe not tomorrow." Euijoo tilted his head, considering. "Maybe this weekend?"
Nicholas's face fell, just slightly, before he caught himself. "Okay. This weekend."
Euijoo smoothened his hoodie, then paused, looking at Nicholas properly. "Did you have fun today?"
"Yeah," Nicholas said immediately, then, quieter, less sure of himself than usual, "Did you?"
"I always have fun with you, Nichol." Euijoo said it so plainly, so easily, like it wasn't a big thing to admit at all, and Nicholas' ears went pink straight through.
"Even when I got mad at Maki?"
"Even then." Euijoo bumped his shoulder against Nicholas's arm. "You said sorry. That's the important part."
Nicholas nodded slowly, processing that, hands finding the chain at his neck and turning it over between his fingers.
"Euijoo, come on, honey, say goodbye," his mother called gently from the doorway.
"Coming!" Euijoo called back, but he didn't move yet, still looking at Nicholas.
Nicholas shifted his weight, suddenly unsure what to do with his hands, with his whole body, now that the moment had actually arrived. He'd never been good at endings — transitions were the worst part, always had been, the space between one thing and the next thing feeling too big and too empty all at once.
"Bye, Juju," he said, too fast, already starting to turn away like it might hurt less if he didn't watch it happen.
But Euijoo caught his sleeve before he could. "Wait."
Nicholas turned back.
Euijoo stepped in and hugged him — a real hug, arms all the way around, nothing shy about it — and after a beat of surprise, Nicholas hugged back just as tight, face pressed into Euijoo's shoulder, hands fisting into the back of his hoodie like he could hold on to the whole day a little longer if he just gripped hard enough.
"See you this weekend," Euijoo said into his ear.
"This weekend," Nicholas repeated, like making it a promise made it more real.
They pulled apart, and Euijoo smiled at him, easy and warm the way he always was, completely unfazed by the whole thing, while Nicholas stood there looking like he might either cry or start bouncing again, caught somewhere between the two.
"Bye, Nichol!" Euijoo waved, walking backward toward the door so he could keep looking at him for as long as possible.
"Bye, Juju." Nicholas lifted a hand, small and stiff, holding the wave a beat too long, even after Euijoo had turned around and slipped through the door, even after the door had clicked shut behind him.
He stood there for a moment in the quiet entryway, staring at the space where Euijoo had just been.
Yudai crouched down beside him, brushing a hand over his hair. "You okay, baby?"
Nicholas nodded, though his throat felt a little tight. "I just... don't like when he leaves."
"I know," Yudai said softly. "But he'll be back this weekend. You heard him."
"This weekend," Nicholas repeated again, quieter this time, like saying it enough times might make the days between now and then go by faster.
He let Yudai steer him back toward the living room, glancing back at the front door one more time before he went, hand still faintly curled like it was holding onto the last bit of Euijoo's hoodie, even though it wasn't there anymore.
Fuma watched from the couch, Harua already dozing against his chest. "He's got it bad."
"He's five," Yudai reminded him, settling Nicholas down beside his father with a soft huff of a laugh.
"Doesn't mean he's wrong," Fuma murmured, echoing his husband's own words back at him, and pressed a kiss to the top of Nicholas' head as the boy curled in against his side, already halfway to asking when the weekend would finally get here.