The Three Cupcakes: Picnic & Baby
Title: The Three Cupcakes: Picnic & Baby
Pairing(s): 2Jun (Family!2JunSeob & Baby!Yoseob)
Rating: PG+
Word Count: 5,705
Summary: Doojoon, Junhyung and little Yoseob make a trip to the park.
A/N: A short side story with babyseob and heavily domestic umma Jun. q////q FOR MY NOTES BB (notesfromthesky)~~~~
Previous: The Three Cupcakes (8/?) Part One
Yoon-Yong’s bed was overwhelmingly saturated with the scent of the couple’s skin. The sheets were warm and thick.
This weekend was a rare weekend. Doojoon woke before his lover. Typically, it would be Junhyung already up and out of bed, leaning over a steaming stove with a jabbering Yoseob swarming about his feet and legs.
No, not this morning.
Junhyung was napping in peace, comfortable and curled, inclining toward his partner. He had the sheets clutched high, only leaving his cute nose and closed eyes visible. Doojoon had his arm stretched across Junhyung’s back in a grip that was tighter when they drifted to sleep together. In that present moment, it was looser, but Doojoon strengthened it. He stroked his lover’s long backside tenderly. Junhyung, feeling the wide, warm hand sweep about his back, uncovered the brown hues beneath his eyelids slowly until peering upon his mate’s close visage. Doojoon’s lips flipped into a smirk at his charming consciousness. He shimmied closer to Junhyung and deeper into the sheets, kissing Junhyung’s brow.
“Morning~” serenaded Doojoon to the best of his ability. Junhyung chuckled at the scratchy attempt. His full lips unfurled into a smile, “Morning…”
There was a small kiss.
“What time is it?” asked Junhyung, tensing his eyebrows and squinting at the orange sunbursts. He shifted onto his back.
“Not time for us to get out of bed,” whispered Doojoon, nuzzling his nose and face against his love’s cheek with great affection, kissing his gentle jaw. Then he rested his head upon his partner’s breast and tied his arms around what he could. Junhyung’s smile expanded… He curled one of Doojoon’s locks of bedhead hair slowly with his finger, closing his eyes and whispering, “I’m off today.”
“And I don’t have anything left to write,” replied Doojoon at a similar volume.
Junhyung lazily, lightly scraped his fingernails about a section of Doojoon’s scalp. To the man on the receiving end, it felt heavenly.
“So we’re both free?”
“That’s what it sounds like to me,” Doojoon said, “I was thinkin’ that we could spend the day at the park around the lake for lunchtime. You, me, an’ Seobie.”
“It probably looks gorgeous there right about now. The leaves are all different colors; Seobie would love to see that, and the water. Yeah, that’d be a great trip.”
Finally, a day the both of them could spend together, and as a little family.
Doojoon sat up again, shifting to his elbows with his gaze falling on Junhyung like spotlights. The latter’s eyes popped open at the disruption. Their pupils entwined.
The peeking sunlight made Junhyung’s skin glow like some sacred orb. Doojoon was mesmerized at how beautiful his mate could be. Junhyung has always been mesmerizing. From the minute he met him to the minute at hand. Junhyung beamed amiably to Doojoon, the moments of the passionate night behind them evident in the cute curl on his shy mouth. Doojoon’s eyes swept over his lover’s beseeching bareness.
He couldn’t bear it.
Doojoon gripped Junhyung’s flushing cheeks with his palms, deeply descending his open lips onto the others. The kiss born by such a force was simultaneously strong and chaste and lash-fluttering. Junhyung curved his heavy arms around the back of Doojoon’s neck to force him nearer. His heart exploded with emotion; excitement spiraled about within its walls. This man was unpredictable, and so doting on him. Junhyung wasn’t used to that.
He wasn’t used to being loved like this.
With kiss after kiss after kiss, Junhyung fell more and more in love with his mate of just a few months. It felt insane to be this incredibly close to someone, and so soon. But… he and Doojoon clicked. It was a harmonious click. Everything came naturally in their relationship. Junhyung felt comfortable with this man. Yeah, he felt silly on occasions, too, but… he knew in his heart that this was the man he wanted to be with. Doojoon knew his heart. He made him transparent. He was always naked with Doojoon, with or without a stitch on his body.
Doojoon made Junhyung be himself.
“………Wait,” Junhyung peeled his lips away from Doojoon’s and turned his head, tuning in to the baby monitor on the nightstand. The lights were orange; Junhyung thought he heard little mumbles prickling his ears.
Doojoon gave the man under him a kiss before adding, “I’ll go get ‘im.”
Doojoon wormed out of bed, shoved on Junhyung’s red plaid pants from last night and split for the baby’s nursery.
Some seconds ticked by until Junhyung heard Doojoon cooing and exchanging words with the blabbering boy via the monitor. Yoseob verbally responded sprightly with laughter and one-noted cries. He was a morning baby of nine months now, and as active as ever.
Doojoon reappeared with Yoseob at his hip, the both of them angled for the bed.
“Umma’s up, too, Seobie,” Doojoon explained, pointing to the waiting man sitting upright on the mattress, “You see him? His hair’s all messy like yours.”
Yoseob bounced in Doojoon’s arms, sputtering pieces of words and spit as his vision washed over with his umma. He twisted in appa’s arms in hopes that this would bring him closer to Jun. Junhyung grinned broadly, his eyes cutting into matching, grinning slits. Indeed, his hair was almost as disheveled as the baby’s was. Doojoon made a couple steps for the bed upon which he carefully placed the boy.
Dreamy-eyed, Yoseob shrieked along his very long trek across the seemingly enormous mattress to reach Junhyung. The latter cheered him along as the little one shuffled on his little hands and little knees, and once he was within his range, Junhyung cupped his underarms mildly and pressed him to his bare chest. Yoseob babbled his baby pet name for Junhyung, his short, stubby fingers probing and tapping all over the planes of Junhyung’s blushing face. He kissed him twice.
“Yes, good morning, Seob. Look at your hair… What have you been doing in that crib?”
Doojoon sat adjacent to Junhyung, “I changed him, by the way. And he was trying to stand up when I found him, so there’s no telling what’s been goin’ on.”
“You wild thing,” chuckled umma, combing his fingers through the adorable, raised and untamed brown nest growing from the baby’s head. Seobie tried to swat away his hand.
At this point in his life, Seobie was very close to walking independently. Whenever allotted the time to do so, Junhyung would help Yoseob build up muscle within his thighs and calves by practicing walking. The baby learned to take advantage of the legged furniture and other objects surrounding him to get onto his feet in the beginning. He evolved a few weeks ago to pushing himself up and off the ground. Junhyung oftentimes caught Yoseob following him on his little legs like the chick he was. When Junhyung would turn around and find him standing, Seobie would scream in delight and lose his fragile balance, falling on his tush.
“Could you get his bath water started?” Junhyung kindly asked Doojoon.
“Sure, babe,” Doojoon poked his lips at the baby, “I’ll be back in a minute~”
Doojoon departed from the room. Umma and baby were left to one another.
Restless Yoseob started twisting in Jun’s arms. He wanted to explore.
Junhyung let Yoseob roam freely on the mattress, of course pinning two, very careful eyes on him. He snapped his fingers to let him know if he was going too far. After a sharp snap and a stern “No, Seobie”, the little one would gaze back to umma-startled yet understanding-and turn away in the opposite direction.
The boy, while crawling, bumped into Junhyung’s foot that was hidden from him by the many blankets. He stared at the erected structure-a little ghost, perhaps?-with interest and wonder. Junhyung, smirking, waved his foot twice. Seobie flinched and emitted a short grunt of uncertainty. There was evident confusion on his little, pudgy face. His big brown eyes flickered to Junhyung for answers, but also kept those eyes to the mysterious ghost-thing just in case it did something else that spooked him.
“What is that, Seobie? What is that right there?” quizzed Junhyung.
Yoseob slowly “ah”ed, and the split second he looked to Jun, Junhyung wiggled his foot yet again. The baby screeched and shambled on his hands and knees for his protector. He face-planted out of haste several times before climbing into Junhyung's lap. Seobie was very disturbed.
“Seobiiiie…” Junhyung scooped him into a restful embrace, bounced him and shushed, “I’m sorry… You’re okay. It was just umma’s foot. Only umma’s foot. You’re okay, you’re okay.”
To prove his point, Junhyung flicked his foot until the covers revealed it. The quiet response from Yoseob led Junhyung to believe that he understood.
Eventually, the little one was pacified, umma’s warmth and safety teaming up to naturally lull him to a sense of ultimate security.
“Umma’s not gonna let anything hurt you,” he murmured to the cradled baby, “I love you.”
Junhyung’s puckered lips pecked him square on his noggin. Yoseob jerked his head of wiry hair back to look all the way up into his umma’s eyes. His mouth dropped, a skinny trail of saliva stretching for his nightie.
“I said I love you, Seobie.”
Yoseob retained his wide-eyed stare, not sure what to do. Junhyung released a quick puff of air in his face. The boy blinked at the gust of air, then smiled and "heh heh"ed deeply when it disappeared. This happened for some minutes. Umma repeated, and the game never got old to either. The baby’s smile definitely never got old to Jun, and the sprouting of his little teeth made every smirk ever the more loveable.
Yoseob's eyes gleamed brighter at each gust. The baby regarded his umma as this mystical being capable of these amazing things that his simple mind couldn't conceive, like reappearing and disappearing behind his hands, and creating wind to bat his face with, and making him warm and safe whenever he felt endangered. When he saw umma, he knew he was going to be all right. He didn’t know why, but, he knew.
Doojoon leaned into the door, smirked, and approached the cuddling pair, “Bath time, Seobie.”
Junhyung allowed his mate to pick the little boy from his arms. Although with Doojoon, Yoseob kept smiling at his mystical umma all the way out of the door, using the space over the shoulder of his appa as a window.
Junhyung figured it would be a good time to take his bath, too. He took a timely, soothing, steamy shower-supporting his upper weight on unsteady legs-dressed in appropriate autumn clothing and wandered into the kitchen to join Yoseob and Doojoon.
Yoseob was stationed in his highchair, adorned in a long-sleeved maroon and mustard-yellow striped shirt, gentle jeans and white socks. Doojoon combed the boy’s hair neatly, having it swept away to one side. Junhyung stood before the highchair, smiling to the baby.
“Ohhh, look at you, Seobie. So handsome.”
“He said umma's not the only one that can pick out nice clothes,” said Doojoon.
Junhyung rolled his eyes, going into one of the cabinets for a bottle.
Doojoon followed… “He’s barely fitting in the sink now. We’ll be putting him in the tub, soon,” and Doojoon tapped Junhyung twice on his bottom. He thereafter engulfed him in a deep, sweet hold, not permitting Junhyung to use his arms.
“You look handsome, too,” said Doojoon. He patiently kissed the curve of Junhyung’s neck thrice. Junhyung chuckled self-consciously; his breath made him shiver.
“…Are you sure you want to do this in front of Seob? You don’t want him to get jealous, do you?”
“He’s in his highchair. There’s nothing he can do~”
Junhyung peeked over his shoulder to the silent one restricted to his highchair. Indeed, Seobie had his brown eyes on the couple, scoping them out. He gave off the impression that he wanted to do something, but knew that he could not. He kept quiet and watched…
“Aw. Can I at least fix his bottle for him? Before he starts hollering?”
“That’d be a smart thing to do.”
“…What would you like for breakfast?”
“Anything, Jun. Doesn’t matter to me. I’ll even have cereal,” he laid his lips upon his neck a fourth time, and broke his hold, “I’ll be in the shower.”
Doojoon departed from the kitchen to for the bedroom down the hall. Junhyung turned around, Yoseob’s eyes greeting his. He beamed sweetly to the little one.
“You know you’re still umma’s favorite.”
The baby would permanently be first in his life.
Yoseob saw his umma smile at him, and so his only natural response was creating a toothy smile himself. His little grin made Junhyung’s heart soar... He assembled a bottle of milk for his son, handing it off to him. Yoseob received it in his small, grasping hands, immediately taking the rubber nipple into his mouth. He could easily hold it in one hand.
“You want oatmeal, baby?” Junhyung asked, rummaging around in the pantry. Oatmeal was one of Seobie’s new favorite foods. He graduated from milk and pureed foods. Umma pulled out two packets and stepped to the highchair, bending over a little and dangling the packets over the boy.
“Which one do you want? We only have apple and regular left now. You ate all the peach ones last week.”
Yoseob dropped his bottle on the tray, branching a clawed hand for the packet in Jun’s left hand.
“Apple it is, then.”
Umma hopped to it, occupying Seobie with his special spoon before gathering all the ingredients together for the oatmeal. He also decided on the breakfast he and Doojoon would share: rice omelets. He didn’t want his partner settling for just cereal. Yoseob’s tummy came first, so he prepared the instant apple oatmeal, pouring the baby’s helping in a tiny saucer. Yoseob became very excited when Junhyung finally came over with the smoking, red plate of food. He was familiar with this ritual.
Junhyung scraped a chair across the floor to be closer to Yoseob. He set the saucer on the table and not on Yoseob’s tray, because if he did otherwise, that was clearly asking for a mess to be made. Umma took Seobie’s spoon and scooped up some of the hot oatmeal, blowing on it to aid the cooling process. Yoseob protested with faint whining. To him, a thousand years seemed to pass whenever Jun would chill the oatmeal.
“………meee-”
“-Hush, Seobie. It’s hot. Remember? Hot? Be patient,” Junhyung replied in wake of the little noises. It piped him down. Judging that it was optimally cool, umma presented the spoon to the little one’s mouth. Yoseob opened it, and in went the spoon. He ate all that was given to him, leaving none for Jun to scrape up, or for the bib to catch. In mere seconds, he was ready for more. Junhyung assembled another spoonful, hushed Yoseob, blew it, and fed it to the baby. He bounced happily, pleased. The cycle’s repetitiveness allowed Jun time to briefly dabble in his private thoughts.
Private thoughts about Doojoon… and his hands and his lips. God, he made him feel… good. On the inside and the out. He struggled against his stupid smile whilst spooning the last puddles of oatmeal into the baby’s mouth. Yoseob smacked.
“All done,” Junhyung said, rising out of his chair. He took the spoon and the saucer over to the sink, running water over them before leaving them there. He swung back to Yoseob, wiping away whatever drool, oatmeal or milk clung around his lips. The boy revisited his bottle of sweet milk, giving umma time to whip up the omelets. He had two pans on the stove, opting for making them at the same time. They were not at all difficult to make, nor did they take up much time to prepare. Another plus would be that they were filling… more filling than cereal.
Seobie switched from drawing the milk from his bottle to loudly rambling paragraphs in his own language. These rambles humored umma, who would sometimes join in on his one-sided conversations-or arguments-by injecting a “Yeah?” or “Oh really?” He could not wait for the day when he and his son could actually carry on a conversation in a language they could both understand. He was sure Yoseob would still be a delightful hoot either way.
Doojoon finished his shower and made his return back to the dining area. The omelets were just effortlessly rolled off of the pans and onto a plate.
“I came just in time,” said Doojoon, peering over his mate’s shoulder to see what culinary creation he came up with, “…Omelets?”
“Rice omelets. With peppers.”
“Oh.”
“‘Oh’?”
“What?”
“Why did you say it like that?” Umma was extremely sensitive about his cooking, and Doojoon being a food critic oftentimes put him on edge.
“Say it like what, baby? I only said ‘Oh.’”
“Did you want something else? You said anything would be okay.”
“Exactly. I told you that anything would’ve been fine. So these are fine. The omelets are fine,” Doojoon pecked Junhyung fully on his lips, “I didn’t mean anything by that ‘Oh.’ They look really nice.”
“Oh…” Junhyung loosened.
Doojoon settled down into his chair. Junhyung organized Doojoon’s warm plate attractively, and then placed it on his tablemat.
“Thank you.”
Jun beamed softly, “You’re welcome. Do you want juice or milk?”
Doojoon waved his hand dismissively, “Don’t worry about it, babe,” he stretched his long arm out further, patting the tablemat opposite of his own, “Sit down and eat with me.”
Junhyung obeyed, snatching his plate from the counter. Doojoon’s handsome smile flew to umma while he watched the other nestle into the seat across from him. It made umma deliciously nervous. Doojoon smiled too much.
The couple began to eat…
“Seob already ate?” questioned Doojoon.
“Yeah. I made him some oatmeal and fed him while you were in the shower.”
“That was fast. He’s really liking the oatmeal, then, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, seeing that that’s all he wants nowadays.”
“Told you he’d like it.”
Junhyung laughed, “He likes everything, Joon.”
Case in point, Yoseob dropped his bottle, and leaned forward in the direction of his appa in curiosity. The bright yellow, grainy, pepper-spotted wraps were inescapable from his wandering orbs. He lightly slammed his palms on his tray, babbling.
“Hm? You want some, too? Eat?” asked appa. Yoseob smiled charmingly at the final word.
Junhyung pointed his fork at the baby, “No, Seobie. That’s appa’s food.”
“Just let him have a little piece, babe.”
“Doojoon.”
“Just a small piece?”
“He’s a baby. He needs to be eating baby food.”
“He won’t be for too long. He’s frickin’ huge now. And it’s just egg, Junnie. It’s harmless,” and Seobie begins to whine, “Aw. See, he wants to try it.”
“Of course he wants to try it. He wants to try everything. He’s a baby, Joon.”
“I knoooow. Jus’ lemme give him a small piece. Jus’ this once.”
Junhyung huffed, raising his knife and fork at angles again, “When he starts bugging you every five seconds, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Doojoon grinned, cutting off a piece of egg from his omelet and pinching it with his fingers. He joyously held the morsel before the baby’s lips.
“There you go, Seob.”
Yoseob leaned forward and ate the fine piece. He chewed, and Doojoon laughed because he did so hilariously. He swallowed it with ease, and as umma predicted, his warm orbs requested another sample. They peered hopefully to his appa.
“Nope. That’s it, Seobie. Umma said no more.”
Being around Junhyung enough, he knew what “no more” meant. The baby elicited a soft, frail cry at the two words. Doojoon’s heart ached beneath his chest. It pained him to say “no” to Seobie, almost as much as Junhyung did. The latter’s heart shattered whenever the baby would cry, but he had to teach him with discipline. He could not and would not get anything he wanted in life exactly when he wanted it, and that was a lesson Seobie was going to learn first, and from umma.
“Ignore him. Don’t look at him,” Junhyung instructed his lover, nonchalantly eating his omelet while Yoseob was then wailing, twisting, and banging on his tray, demanding attention. Doojoon followed through with this order, although giving the occasional glance to the pink-faced child. He whined and fussed and blabbered and hollered, but after five minutes of no response, the baby, tired and forgetting what he was crying for, relaxed in his highchair.
Junhyung had finished his breakfast by then. He peered over to Yoseob, using the dry areas of the boy’s bib to clean his teary, snotty face, “Ohh. You’re being quiet? All done fussing now?”
Yoseob slumped. He gazed at umma wearily.
“I think he is, umma,” said Doojoon.
Junhyung clapped his hands once and held them out to Yoseob, who reached for the man. Umma stood, pushed in his chair and gingerly pulled the boy out of the seat. He patted the boy’s teeny back consolingly. Yoseob laid his head on Jun’s shoulder.
“See, now you’re all tired out… All that fussing for nothin’. You can’t have whatever you want, Seobie. You know that…”
Junhyung toted the baby over to the couch. He took a seat on a cushion, and soon, Doojoon did, too, next to him.
“Look at him. He’s drained,” Doojoon said, chuckling.
“And full of milk and oatmeal,” Junhyung naturally rocked forward and backward, “He’s gonna go to sleep any second now. I was going to wash the dishes and finishing washing the rest of Seobie’s clothes after breakfast.”
“I’ll do all that, Jun. Stay here with Seob. He’s probably not too happy with me, anyway.”
Doojoon left the couch to do just what he said, leaving umma and baby to themselves once again.
Junhyung dropped his brown eyes to the baby curled against his chest. He was droopy-eyed, but he fought to gaze up to his umma. The little strength made Junhyung smile. He tapped away at Seobie’s nose. A slow but sure smile shone on the boy’s face; he tried to get ahold of umma’s hand. He successfully caught it once-Jun let him-and he tried to deliver the finger into his small mouth. Junhyung traded his appendage with a yellow pacifier. Yoseob suckled on the plastic nub until the tips of his long lashes touched his cheek. Junhyung watched him slip into his realm of sleep… it was precious to watch. He fell in love with Yoseob at least ten times every day.
Jun let him snuggle soundly into his dream for a few minutes, then, he softly carried him away to his crib. His eyes were pinned to him every step of the way.
---
The couple set out for the park, arriving to the site in less than a half hour. Doojoon parked mindfully in one of the vacant parking spaces allotted to visitors. He shut down the engine, turning around to look at the baby. Yoseob was gazing straight back, strapped securely in his car seat with a yellow pacifier between his lips. Smiling, appa softly pinched the boy’s little tennis shoe and wiggled it.
“We’re here, Seobiiie.”
Doojoon abandoned the driver’s seat and walked to the window where his son sat in wait. He opened the car door, leaned into the vehicle and over Yoseob. The boy started grunting and wriggling irritably while appa unhooked each silver buckle. All that did was add difficulty to the situation. Doojoon hurriedly rescued him, plucking him from the bulky seat and settling him at his hip. Freed, Yoseob relaxed, clutching onto appa and steadily sucking his pacifier. He hated the contraption.
Junhyung traveled to the other car door, “I suppose I’ve got the food.” He gathered the basket and blanket. Lastly, Doojoon locked the car.
The trio hiked to the main site. Tall trees encompassed the place, trapping in the other couples and families that were there. The hues of the leaves varied, but were limited to the reds, oranges, yellows and browns due to the autumn season. Calling them “beautiful” wouldn’t nearly give them the appreciation they deserved. The lake appeared glassy and undisturbed, except only by the occasional duck. The ducks roamed everywhere, fearlessly approaching the park’s human inhabitants for crusts of bread or other offerings. There was also a playground-because what would a park be without a playground?-where children hobbled, ran, and played.
“I think this is a nice spot,” declared Doojoon. Junhyung looked over the area: there was the trunk of a grand, attractive tree, whose branches and leaves made for a natural, scenic canopy. He looked for ant beds; he did not find any. The placed seemed suitable.
Junhyung wrung out the large quilt. It stretched across the earth. Umma descended onto it with the basket of food.
“I want to take Seobie over to the playground,” said Doojoon.
“Okay. I’ll get everything set up-”
“Come with us.”
“I have to watch the food-”
“Nobody’s gonna take the food, Jun. Come on. And bring the camera.”
Junhyung abandoned the basket of food and followed little Seobie and Doojoon to the vibrant jungle gym of a playground. Many other kids were there, none quite around Yoseob’s age. The child gazed upon the kids zooming across the bridges and dangling from the monkey bars in confusion and amazement.
“When you get bigger, you’ll be able to get on those,” Doojoon told Yoseob, pointing to the children with longer arms and longer legs.
“Go down with him on the slide,” Junhyung suggested, readying the digital camera.
Carefully dodging the swarm of children, Doojoon safely carried baby Seob to a long, yellow, twisty slide. They started at the very top. And it was a ways down. Doojoon sat at the beginning of the slide, Yoseob safe in his lap and strapped in a single arm.
“Look down there, Seobie!” Doojoon pointed to Junhyung below, “Look at umma!”
Yoseob bent his little neck to look over the edge of the slide and to his waving umma. A spacious grin formed behind his pacifier. Doojoon counted down from three, then “ahh”ed all the way down the slide. Junhyung met them at the end with his camera, capturing a smirking Doojoon and beaming Yoseob in the lens.
Doojoon leaned for the baby, “You liked that, Seobie? Wanna do it again?”
And he did it once more, Seobie giggling the entire way. Junhyung traded his lover the camera for the infant to get his turn. Umma and baby slid down the yellow slide together three times. Yoseob bloomed with smiles.
The two parents teamed together from then on, taking the baby around to different playground attractions. There were mirrors that distorted their shapes, seesaws varying in size and color, a multi-colored, climbable wall for those with little hands and feet, a playhouse, and horses with large springs attached to their underbellies that kept them grounded.
Seobie loved the mirrors. He especially loved banging on them with his teeny hands, observing the waves of distortion bounce from the walls. He also enjoyed smacking Doojoon’s crazy reflection. On the seesaw, appa and umma occupied either end. Jun held Seobie between his legs, and the adults carefully moved up and down on the apparatus. The baby smiled each time he was lifted high into the air. He was not big enough to climb the rock wall yet, but he did seem to take an interest in the playhouse. It was already crammed with children to begin with. Once Yoseob got his chance to take a look around, he protested when Junhyung tried to usher him inside. It was dark; he didn’t like the dark. Subsequently, Junhyung did not try to force him inside. Seobie didn’t like the rocking horse, either. Doojoon attempted to place him onto its glossy saddle, but the baby mustered a fuss, kicking and bawling as he hovered over it.
The trio left the playground for a more discreet area of the park: the swing set. There were three, vacant swings for infants. It was worth a try.
“Let’s swing, Seobie,” said Jun.
“Yeeeah. Wanna swing, Seob?” appa asked Yoseob, patting the empty seat, “Swing?”
Yoseob pinched Doojoon’s shirt in his hands, apprehensive.
Junhyung stood behind the middle swing, holding out his hands to the boy, “Come on. It’s okay.”
The coaxing was enough, apparently. Yoseob reached for umma, and the latter grabbed him and gently settled him into the swing. Jun whipped around to the front of the swing and began to softly push Seobie away from him. Yoseob’s eyes widened at first, but seeing umma and appa move closer, then farther, then closer again, than even farther brought great delight. A giant smirk brightened his little face. He liked the swings.
Yoseob was cradled in that swing set for seven long minutes. Doojoon made sure to take pictures before the three trekked back to their picnic area.
A deep honk cut their trek a little short.
Junhyung turned around to find a brown duck at his heels.
“Oh. Yoseob, look. A duck. You see the duck?” Doojoon tapped Jun on his shoulder, “I’ll be right back.”
Appa nimbly jogged to the basket, tearing off pieces of bread from the few rolls Junhyung packed along, then hurried back to the two. He passed a tiny ration of bread off to the baby, “The duck is hungry, Seobie.”
Umma squatted, holding Yoseob in between his thighs. The duck approached the baby with its brown, webby feet. Yoseob turned into Junhyung slightly, holding his arms up.
“Nnh…”
“You’re alright, Seobie. It’s just a duck,” Junhyug coaxed, “Watch appa.”
Doojoon flicked a crust of bread to the animal. The duck stopped, bent its short neck, squeezed the piece of bread between its beak and snapped it into its mouth. Its loud, rapid actions made Seobie flinch. Junhyung gingerly rubbed the boy’s little back.
“See what appa did? Now you do it. You try.”
The duck became impatient. It encroached the man and the child brazenly upon realizing he, too, was withholding a tasty piece of bread. Yoseob started to really get shaken up.
“He just wants to be your friend,” Junhyung grasped Yoseob’s tiny, balled hand and extended it in the direction of the duck, “Give him your bread, baby.”
The duck was within two waddles from the boy, and it was getting closer.
Yoseob screeched, turning away from the bird and into umma’s chest. He wanted umma to pick him up. Junhyung decided it was time to give up, “Alright, alright.”
Umma picked the child up and embraced him at his hip. Seobie twisted away from Junhyung to scan the grounds for the scary ducky. He couldn’t find it… He clutched umma, babbling to himself.
“Aww…” Doojoon took the crumb from the baby and underhanded it to the duck. It pinched it between its narrow beak and waddled off. The noise the child emitted disturbed it.
“Well that was a failure.”
“I hope he’s not traumatized…” Junhyung wiped Yoseob’s coral cheeks dry, “Umma’s got you.”
Yoseob stuffed his face into Jun’s shoulder afterwards, mumbling.
“I think it’s time to eat now,” appa declared.
Junhyung unpacked the fried mandu he cooked, and various fruits brought along exclusively for the baby. He made it known that he was ready to eat. The colorful slices of bananas and diced melons attracted his little eyes, “me”ing and climbing all over umma’s legs, eventually sitting there in wait.
Junhyung opened the mini tub of fruit. He quartered a banana slice, squeezed it to soften it, and helped it into Yoseob’s gaping mouth.
“Impatient thing,” joked Doojoon. Jun beamed at the chewing baby.
“He knows he gets fed first.”
“He’s spoiled, that’s what he is,” Doojoon wiggled Seobie’s sneaker just as he did earlier, “But, y’know, I look at him, and I just wanna make sure he has everything. And I wanna be the best figure that I can for him… an’ I get worried sometimes because, because I don’t think I’ll be a good, y’know… father to him. And I promised her I would…”
“…You’re doin’ a great job.”
Doojoon lifted his head. Their gazes tied.
“You’ll be fine. He loves you, Joon, an’ he knows you love him. As long as you’re doing the best you can, that’s all that counts.”
Doojoon’s mouth pressed into a smile, “Thank you, Junhyung.”
Junhyung returned the gesture.
“You’re a good umma~”
“Please.”
“I mean it, baby. Just by watching you, I’m learning all kinds of things. You do things for him that I can never do, like make him go to sleep. Do you know how long it used to take for me to put him to bed? An hour and a half. Almost two whole hours. And sometimes he would wake up right after I would lay him down. Sometimes he wouldn’t eat when he needed to, and other times he would just cry and cry and I wouldn’t know what the hell to do. I could play with him all day long; it was the essential knowledge that I lacked. But I met you, and you came into our lives, and it was the best thing to ever happen to the two of us. He loves you to pieces.”
Doojoon, being his smooth and slick self, laced his fingers with the fingers of Junhyung’s free hand. Junhyung, internally, started to tingle.
“You really complete me. I’m so happy,” Doojoon muttered, leaning forward to kiss his mate’s cheek.
Junhyung’s heart sprouted golden wings. He tried to retaliate with something as equally meaningful, but his tongue was tied into knots. Doojoon smiled, called him “cute,” and puckered his lips. They shared a kiss, and that kiss streamed off into to many other kisses. And Junhyung had completely forgotten about feeding the baby. Doojoon often made him forget everything when his lips were involved. They were so wrapped up in one another; Seobie’s whining didn’t even penetrate umma’s special senses.
It was, indeed, a beautiful day.
The 2Jun I owed you for like a thousand years. ; n ; It turned up to be like this. I hope you liked it and it wasn't too feely because I think I made it too feely........ *hides, hides* You are beautiful~
You all are beautiful. ;______________; thank you............. I'm gonna start on the doowoons and dooseung now.
Next: The Three Cupcakes (9/?) Part One