#132: Shits and Giggles

[lordchen]

Prompt: #132
Title: Shits and Giggles
Pairing:Chen/Sehun, side Baekhyun/Lay.
Rating:PG-13
Warnings: Mentions of divorce, lame usage of memes, and Sehun is a noodle.
Word count: 12.8k words
Summary: Being a broke college student student eats up Jongdae's life until Minseok offers him a babysitting job. Jongdae gladly accepts, not realizing that he'd soon be occupied with two clingy babies — one named Daeul, as well as his own boyfriend, Sehun.
Author's note: Shout out to Chenpionships, for throwing this fic fest and thank you for being so patient with my e-mails. Also, I would like to thank and formerly apologize to Beta C, Beta H, and Beta S for dealing with my terrible grammar. Lastly, thank you to my boo J for being my muse, I love you so much! Dear prompter, I hope this meets up to your expectations, hopefully the lame puns will make up for it and sorry if the ending feels a bit rushed ;; This is my first fic, so I hope you enjoy it~



Why must college be so damn expensive? Why spend a life investment just to spend four years of suffering because of stress, late nights (of procrastination), and the consumption of a broke college student diet? At this point, Jongdae doesn’t have the willpower nor energy to continue reading this expensive textbook that costed his entire bank account. College fees will be the death of him. How can he focus during finals when his stomach is begging him for a snack, or possibly, a cry for death to consume him?

He contemplates whether cannibalism seems morally correct since he’s about to chew off his fingers in order to prevent him from studying for finals. An annoying call of “Back to earth, Jongdae!” abruptly wakes Jongdae’s hungered thoughts.

Jongdae faces an abnormally thrilled yet glamorous Baekhyun. How does his roommate manage to look so well-kept and bright during finals week, Jongdae wonders.

Baekhyun tightly smiles, “I don’t want to seem rude, but your loud stomach is distracting me from my studies.” Jongdae glances at Baekhyun’s desk filled with makeup brushes, an opened drugstore eyeshadow palette, and dirtied makeup wipes scattered around his desk.

Jongdae glares at Baekhyun in disbelief, “Makeup is your definition of studying?” Baekhyun rolls his eyes at the ignorant boy’s question. Why is it difficult for others to understand that an Apparel Merchandise and Management major is all about looking good? Without leaving a presentable first impression in front of your customer or company, you won’t be able to succeed. That’s how Baekhyun believes the sale marketing field logically works.

“For your information, I was experimenting with my beautiful face.” Baekhyun points at his perfectly smoked out liner, underneath his eyes was a gold dusted teardrop, and to finish off the look, his eyebrows were lightly glued with plastic rhinestones along the shape of his brows. “I call this look, ‘Shook From Finals’” Baekhyun flips his hair dramatically. Jongdae quietly observes the intricate details of the boy’s face. Jongdae would be lying if he he said that Baekhyun was a talented makeup artist. On some rare occasions, he would ask Baekhyun to conceal his stress-induced pimples, which his friend would make a fuss about how “skin care is the essence of life” as quoted from Baekhyun.

“Anyways, since your hunger has come to my attention, as a concerned, and loving roommate I am, I kindly remind you that the dining commons closes in fifteen minutes.” Baekhyun suggested in a kind mocking tone.

“I used up all of my meal credits last week!” Jongdae weeps into his long-forgotten textbook. Besides, the food served in the dining commons always tasted bland and disgusting. On some good days, there will be okay-tasting food, but overall the food on campus makes him want to puke.

“Damn...sucks to suck. Not really. I think Minseok has some snacks hiding somewhere in his desk.” Baekhyun shuffles to their third roommate’s desk. He finds one last granola bar stashed in the corner of Minseok’s third drawer. Baekhyun smirks, “Bingo.”

“Here. This should do some justice.” Baekhyun hands over Jongdae the packaged treat. Jongdae sits up straight and salivates at the sight of the granola bar. Jongdae imagines a halo floating above Baekhyun’s head, he looks like an angel descending from the heavens when he hands him the granola bar.

Jongdae contently finishes the granola bar with a smile. That should calm down his stomach for the next hour or two. He hopes that Minseok doesn’t lock him out the dorm if he finds out that Jongdae ate his last precious granola bar. Jongdae pointedly shrugs, if worst comes to worst, he’ll blame it on Baekhyun since he went through Minseok’s drawer anyways. Speaking of which, where in the world is Minseok at this moment? Usually he would be back from his night class discussion but he is nowhere to be found.

“Where’s Minseok? I haven’t seen him at all today.” Jongdae wondered about his missing third roommate.

“He’s probably burning off at the recreation center. According to Minseok, exercising reduces stress.” Baekhyun ticks his tongue, while he buffs his nails with a nail filer. Jongdae rolls his eyes since Minseok’s lifestyle revolves around gross protein shakes, hitting the gym, and sweatpants ― but hey, his body is in great shape.

Baekhyun changes the subject, “You know, nowadays, college students can find and connect with a local sugar daddy through a dating app, right? They pay for your college fees and you graduate debt-free.”

“No way. That’s legit?” Jongdae gasps.

Baekhyun tugs a lopsided smile, “Maybe you should break up with Sehun and find yourself a better man to financially take care of you.”

“I would never cheat on Sehun.” Jongdae deadpans. Despite the fact that his boyfriend attends a different university, which isn’t too far from Jongdae’s campus, he would never replace his current boyfriend with someone else. Sehun’s personality may appear boring to others, but Jongdae loves every single aspect of him.

“You will never break up with that noodle, huh?” Baekhyun rolls his eyes, “Yeah, sure Sehun may have a thick ass but does he have a thick wallet?” Baekhyun retorts and pulls out his phone. “In the meantime, I’m going to download that app and find myself a sugar daddy.” Baekhyun mutters underneath his breath.

“Good luck with that then.” Jongdae snorts and returns back to his study mode, while Baekhyun flips him off.

☹ ☹ ☹

“Was it you that ate my granola bar or do I have to rip off Baekhyun’s face?” Minseok confronts Jongdae in their closet sized dorm.

“Okay, I have to admit, I did eat your last granola bar but that was because I was starving! Please spare me, I still have loans to pay off in the future.” Jongdae pleads with his prayer hands. Minseok glares at Jongdae for a minute long, then softens his expression. Minseok always favored Jongdae, honestly speaking, Baekhyun irritated Minseok more than Jongdae did.

“Since you ate my granola bar imported from Japan, I need you to do me a solid favor for me.” Minseok searches through his backpack and throws a red, shiny apple towards Jongdae. Jongdae swiftly catches the apple and then looks at the fruit’s color in admiration.

“Sure, but I am not going to be your wingman again.” Jongdae inwardly cringes at the memory of Minseok wanting to hook up with the captain of Minseok’s soccer team, Luhan. That plan failed miserably due to Jongdae’s advice of picking up the captain with the following line, “You wanna score or just knock around my balls?” during their practice drill. Ever since that incident, Luhan avoided Minseok like the plague and never made eye contact with him ever again during practice.

“Pft, no. Screw Luhan, he’s lame as fuck. Anyways, I have an offer for you. My good pal, Professor Kim, knows someone who’s hiring a babysitter. Considering the fact that you’re an Education major, you can use this opportunity as an advantage to practice your skill with kids for the near future.” Minseok advices. Jongdae crunches on the apple while half-listening to his words.

“What does this babysitting job have to do with you?” Jongdae raises his eyebrows at the offer. Jongdae has a soft spot for kids. He figured being a teacher seemed fitting as his career choice since his bright personality works well with kids. Believe it or not, Jongdae used to hate school back in elementary school. He used to push kids around the playground, disrupted the teacher while giving a lecture, and refused to do his homework every day. Until one day, his homeroom teacher gave him detention and lectured him about how his bad behavior could badly affect him later in the future. Frightened by this, Jongdae made sure to follow his teacher’s words wisely. Ever since then, he gradually became every student’s role model throughout his school then rose to the top percentage of his class in high school. He cannot thank that teacher enough because she truly straightened up his life and also inspired him to become a teacher.

“Professor Kim has a close friend who’s struggling to take care of his son after his recent divorce. He doesn’t have time to take care his son since he works as a full-time actor. He’s had plenty of bad experiences with daycares because his son always comes home crying for different reasons. Plus, you will be making bank.” Minseok winks, then steps aside from Jongdae and grabs his gym bag underneath from the bed.

“Are you perhaps, interested in Professor Kim?” Jongdae jokingly asks.

“NO! What makes you think I would ever fall for an embarrassing old geezer like him?” Minseok flings his gym bag straight directly at Jongdae. Fortunately, Jongdae was quick enough to dodge the flying object just by a millisecond. The older male brutally grabs Jongdae by the ear. “I’m trying to kiss his ass, because I’m at a borderline A grade now.”

“I’m just joking! Sheesh, calm down.” Jongdae cackles, while releasing himself from Minseok’s harsh grasp. Jongdae thinks why not? It doesn’t hurt to earn some cash, plus he hates how university is eating up all his money, leaving no leftover cash for important necessities. “Yeah sure, I’ll take the job. Do you have the father’s number by any chance?”

“Yeah, let me ask Junmyeon and I’ll forward you the number.” Minseok collects his gym bag and heads out the door.

“You’re heading out to the gym again? Don’t you have finals?” Jongdae motherly scolds Minseok.

“Whatever, mom.” Minseok rolls his eyes then shuts the door in front of Jongdae’s face.

☹ ☹ ☹

“Woah there. You look spiffy, Baekhyun.” Jongdae inspects Baekhyun suited up in all black attire with his hair straightened to the side. His makeup is fairly light today and not as glamorous as it is on some occasions.

“They call me ranch ‘cause I be dressing.” Baekhyun obnoxiously winks while forming a heart with his fingers to a disgusted Jongdae. In which he responds by pretending to grab the heart and roughly discarding it in the trash bin near his desk. Baekhyun palms his chest in pain and winces at the imaginary heart lying in the bottom of the bin. Jongdae chuckles back at the boy’s reaction.

“Where are you going? Since when did you have a Burberry belt in your wardrobe?” Jongdae curiously eyes at the leather belt stringed around Baekhyun’s fitted jeans.

“Oh...well, I’m meeting up with someone.” Baekhyun rubs the back of his neck nervously.

“Who? Your sugar daddy?” Jongdae jokingly ridicules. He looks at Baekhyun’s serious expression. “What the heck? Are you serious?” Jongdae muses. Jongdae can’t tell whether if it’s appropriate to laugh as a joke or to be somewhat happy for Baekhyun.

“I’m not kidding, I downloaded the app last night just out of plain curiosity. It appears that there’s four sugar daddies around our area who are interested in me. It says so right here!” Baekhyun proves to Jongdae and points at the number of interests printed on his phone screen. Jongdae stares at the phone screen and swipes through all the unfamiliar faces until he stops at a picture of a handsome man looking around his late twenties. He has nicely groomed dark hair and a cute little dimple on the right side of his face. Baekhyun pridefully admits that the man in the picture is the one he is supposedly meeting in the next ten minutes.

“I don’t know Baekhyun. What if this person is a catfish and tries to do something funny with you?”

“Don’t worry, man. I have nine years of hapkido experience so I can surely kick his ass.” Baekhyun casually excuses Jongdae’s concerns.

“If you say so. Shouldn’t you be studying for your econ final tomorrow?” Jongdae raises an eyebrow.

“I’m too cute to study.” Baekhyun shamelessly pouts before shutting the door behind him.

Both of his roommates aren’t even studying for their finals, instead they’re out having fun. He wishes that he was spending time with Sehun right now since all this college stress has been emotionally and physically draining him down. Jongdae and Sehun mutually agreed last week that they can’t meet this week since they both need to concentrate on their finals. Jongdae frowns at the fact that he has to cram for his required physics course exam tomorrow. Oh, how Jongdae deeply wants to burn this extortionate book that’s costed his entire checking account. After endless hours of frustrated sighs and restraining himself from burning the rotten book in front of him, Jongdae stumps on the final study guide question about “the total mechanical energy of a person holding a book at rest a few feet above a table then lowering it at a slow constant speed.” If Jongdae could accurately answer this question, he would prefer to blow up the entire Earth-book system. His ringtone distracts his angered thoughts towards Isaac Newton.

Minseok: Yoyoyo~

Jongdae: Is this luhan? lol jk please don’t kill me.

Minseok: Shut up omfg. I’m over him istg.

Jongdae: I know. Ur into professor kim now xD

Minseok: I can’t believe you just used that ugly emoticon.
im seriously gonna throw u out the window. mark my words

Jongdae: WHAT!? IM JOKING PLS. Dx>

Jongdae receives no text within the next minute. He starts to worry if Minseok is really coming up stairs at this moment and is about to throw him out the window. Jongdae’s about to text Sehun a goodbye message when he receives another text from Minseok.

Minseok: I just finished bench pressing 150 lbs lol rip my arms.
Here’s the dad’s number by the way: ###-###-###

Jongdae lets out a sigh of relief. Thank god, looks like he’s not dying today.

Jongdae: Thanks man ilysm I’ll massage your arms if you want :3c

Minseok: stop with all these gross emoticons or im seriously throwing you out the window

Jongdae decides not to answer back Minseok’s last message since he personally likes using his emoticons over than emojis. At least Sehun deals with Jongdae’s unfavorable preference of emoticons. Jongdae proceeds to copy the number into a new message.

Jongdae: Hello there, I heard from a friend of Professor Kim that you’re hiring a babysitter and I was wondering if that offer is still available?

Rereading the message once more, Jongdae restrains himself to not add an emoticon because he will lose his professionalism and his chance of earning this job. He sends the message and returns to his deep thoughts about how Isaac Newton being a selfish jerk for inventing physics and torturing students around the world. His phone vibrates, scaring him because he legitimately thought Isaac Newton was out to haunt him.

Unknown: Yes, I am currently looking for a babysitter. What days during the week are you available?

Jongdae: I have my last final tomorrow. After that, I’m free for 3 weeks before I have my summer classes

Unknown: Awesome XD! This Sunday afternoon can you come over to my place just so I can see how well you get along with my son. He’s quite stubborn just to warn you.

Jongdae: Of course! Please text me the address. Haha, don’t worry about it, he’ll eventually warm up to me.

The father sends the address of his place and Jongdae scrolls through their messages. He stops at the father’s message containing the “XD” face. He seems like a chill guy, Jongdae supposes.

☹ ☹ ☹

Summer break has started, well temporarily for Jongdae. Once Jongdae steps out of the science lecture hall, he lets out a high-pitched scream to express the relief of finishing exams for the school year. The students walking past Jongdae cover their ears to save themselves from his deafening scream. Jongdae’s lips curl into the widest smile because he managed to survive throughout his first year of university. As a celebration, Baekhyun invited everyone for a party for the end of the semester tonight. Baekhyun promised there would be barbecue and alcohol at the party (no not the cheap kind, Baekhyun claims) — Jongdae assumed his sugar daddy provided all the luxury goods since there’s no possible way Baekhyun could afford them.

“Hey, Jongdae.” a familiar yet velvety voice gently calls him.

The familiar voice belongs none other than his boyfriend, standing right in front of him with a sexy smirk that Jongdae wants to wipe off with his own lips. Jongdae, out of instinct, stands on his tip toes and hugs Sehun. It’s been so damn long since he last saw and contacted his boyfriend.

“I missed you so much…” Jongdae leans his head closer into Sehun’s embrace. Oh, how much he missed being at home in Sehun’s arms.

“I missed you too, babe.” Sehun returns the hug and kisses the top of Jongdae’s soft head. The two of them remain hugging for awhile with a few exchanges of soft, tender kisses.

Baekhyun coincidentally walks past the building, “Gross, I can’t believe there are two zoo animals mating before my eyes.” He grimaces. If there’s anything Baekhyun despises more than economics, it would be the annoying couple in front of him displaying public affection. Baekhyun rolls his eyes at the scene unfolding in front of him. The couple finally separates from their embrace then hold hands. Jongdae glares at Baekhyun for ruining their shared moment.

“Shut up Baek.” Jongdae indignantly scoffs.

Baekhyun steps in front of Sehun’s face and intimidatingly stares Sehun down. Sehun warily greets Baekhyun with a small smile. Jongdae observantly looks at the both of them, wondering what the hell is going to happen since Baekhyun can be a snake, if that’s the correct term? Minseok taught Jongdae a bunch of internet slang which he regretfully wished he paid more attention to.

After a brief yet intense staring contest, Baekhyun finally breaks the silence. “What’s your net worth, Sehun?” Baekhyun bluntly asks out of the blue. Sehun confusedly tilts his head to the side, trying to comprehend what the boy just asked.

“Judging, from your outfit. I’m sure you bought that shirt for four dollars at a thrift store. Those jeans.” Baekhyun’s face twists in disgust, “Are those from the dumpster?”

“My man is so much better than Sehun.” He disapprovingly shakes his head at Sehun’s appearances.

“Are you done yet?” Jongdae blankly stares at Baekhyun.

“Well, excuse my French! Yixing’s Bugatti is waiting for me now. Hasta la vista, uglies.” Baekhyun waves them off a goodbye and leaves the opposite direction.

Jongdae mutters, “That’s Spanish, you idiot.”

“What was that all about?” Sehun focuses his puzzled stare on Jongdae, while searching for some answers.

“Nothing you need to be concerned about. Baekhyun is just being a moron.” Jongdae tiredly sighs and leans onto Sehun’s broad right shoulder.

“Hey, do you want to come with me to Baekhyun’s party tonight?”

“Since when can Baekhyun afford to throw a party? Last time we hung out, I had to pay for his kids meal.” Sehun bemuses. Jongdae laughs and claps his hand loudly because it’s true, Baekhyun is cheap as hell.

“His sugar daddy is throwing the party.” Jongdae breaks the news to Sehun.

“You’re kidding…”


“I’m not! But at least there will be expensive wine.”

“You’re such a local friendly wine dad.” Sehun snorts.

“I like wine more than vodka, okay! Leave me alone.”

“You can’t even drink when your alcohol tolerance is like an ant.”

“Watch me.” Jongdae’s eyes are blazing with determination.

☹ ☹ ☹

“How much did Jongdae drink?” Sehun asks after finishing his fourth shot of vodka while Jongdae attempts to fight off his drowsiness on the expensive couch. Yixing returns back into the room with another bottle of vodka for the fifth round of drinking. The boys in the room cheer loudly then clink their glasses together, excluding Jongdae.

Jongdae whines, “I swear to drunk, I am not God!”

“You’re right, you’re undoubtedly not God when you get this drunk after one glass of wine.” Minseok quips, earning him a high five from a cackling Baekhyun.

“Sehunnie~ Minseok and Baekhyun are being mean to me!” The male cries and jabs his finger at Minseok’s ribcage. The older male yelps in pain and forcibly kicks Jongdae off the couch. Baekhyun resorts into another serie of hysterical laughter as Jongdae topples off the couch and hits the ground with a loud thud, a string of profanities leaving his mouth.

“I’ve fallen...and I can’t get up!” Jongdae mumbles then lifts himself up, but falls flat onto his face again.

Sehun rolls his eyes and envelops his arms around his boyfriend in bridal style, “Let’s go home, you drunko.”

☹ ☹ ☹

It’s Sunday morning, Jongdae has been having a hangover for two days now. He grumpily wakes up with his lids half closed, about to doze off again. A sudden ringtone jolts him up.

Unknown: Hey, can you be here by noon? I have to meet up with my manager @ 12:30

Who in the world is this? Jongdae doesn’t recall knowing this number from his blurred memory. Until, he scrolls through the messages between him and this unknown number. Until his memory smacks him straight into realization, today he’s going to be inspected for his potential babysitting job. Jongdae checks the time on his phone, reading 11:14 AM. Shit. He’s so screwed with this cursed hangover. He can sense a migraine painfully creeping from the back of his head as he quickly gets up from bed. His vision is disorientated and he merely stands in the middle of the room, which familiarly belongs to Sehun’s. How is he supposed to interact with a child when he’s in a disastrous state of mind? Jongdae grabs the collar of his shirt and sniffs it with a scrunched up face. He straight up smells like alcohol and sweat. He rushes out of Sehun’s room and runs into the bathroom for a quick morning shower.

Meanwhile in the living room, Sehun hears Jongdae’s footsteps from down the hallway. It’s about time his boyfriend has finally woken up from his drunken coma. For the past two days since Jongdae was heavily asleep, Sehun felt lonely since he was looking forward to spending time with his boyfriend. Now that Jongin has thankfully moved out their shared apartment, they can finally have their own cuddle sessions peacefully. He even has a whole queue of movies to watch with Jongdae. He was looking forward to spending his first day of summer with his boyfriend.

Deep in thought, Sehun eyes Jongdae covered with a white towel hanging dangerously low around his waist. “I need to borrow your clothes. I have to go somewhere important today.” Jongdae hastily asks.

His mind fully awake, Sehun blushes at the sight of Jongdae standing in front of him with his hair dripping wet and his neck slightly glistening from the water droplets dripping from his wet hair. Sehun clears his throat to distract his provoking thoughts, “Sure, but I don’t think my clothes can fit you though.” Sehun walks out from the living room and leads Jongdae to his closet.

“It’s fine, I just need to at least look presentable.” Jongdae searches through his closet and pulls over a navy sweater and black joggers. Surprisingly, his giant boyfriend’s clothes somewhat fits his tiny frame. Sehun looks at how the sweater buries Jongdae’s frame and gives him cute paw sleeves that hang from his small hands.

Sehun curiously glances at Jongdae, “Where are you going today?”

Jongdae checks himself out in the front of the body mirror and ruffles up his damp hair neatly. He hurriedly grabs his belongings from the drawer, “I’m meeting up with an important person today.”

Sehun pouts, “You promised we would watch Masterchef Junior finale once exams are over.”

“Eyy, don’t be a baby! This is an important meeting I have to attend. I’ll make it up to you when I get home, okay? I have to leave now, I’m going to be late.” Jongdae quickly kisses Sehun in the cheek and runs out the door.

Sehun shoots Jongdae a puppy look hinting him to stay longer but Jongdae ignores it.

“Stop being such a baby! I’ll be back.” Jongdae reassures as he caresses Shun’s cheeks, then quickly rushes out of the door. Sehun frowns at the loss of contact and stomps his foot rampantly in a childish way.

☹ ☹ ☹

Never in Jongdae’s entire life has he ever felt nervous before, except for that one time he let Baekhyun cheat off of him during a test in middle school. Standing in front of the wooden door, he takes one long nervous breath and checks the time on his phone striking exactly noon. With a shaky hand, Jongdae rings the doorbell. He listens to small footsteps running behind the door and a child’s voice shouting, “Someone’s here, dad!”

He then hears the father quietly scolding, “Daeul, don’t grab the door for strangers.”

Faced to face, Jongdae greets an actor, Bum Soo Lee, that he recalls from the famous medical drama, “Surgeon Bong Dal-hee.” He looks at the tall man in front of with awestruck eyes and his jaws hanging momentarily.

“Are you perhaps the babysitter?” the man questions with a charming smile. Jongdae looks up at the man with a smile. He can’t believe the fact that he’s babysitting Bumsoo Lee’s child.

“Yes, I’m Jongdae by the way.” He holds his hand out for Bumsoo to shake.

“Jongdae. Nice to meet you. I’m Bumsoo, in case you didn’t know.” the handsome elder reciprocates.

“Of course I know you, I love your role in Surgeon Bong Dal-hee!” Jongdae excitedly claims, still holding onto Bumsoo’s hand. The elder chuckles at his praise, “Come in, make yourself at home. Daeul is probably hiding in the toy room.” His house was very modest, unlike what was expected for a man of his salary; it was warm, cozy and quite messy. Jongdae took an instant step inside and the first thing he noticed was a shelf displayed with polished award trophies and a various picture frames of Bumsoo and his son. He speculates that this picture wasn’t taken not too long ago, judging from the the quality of the photo. Jongdae smiles longingly at the small picture frame.

“You know, you strangely resemble Daeul.” Bumsoo states, “Are you perhaps my long-lost son?” he jokes. Speaking of which, a tiny figure runs out into the living room. Jongdae stares at the little boy dressed in his pajamas and dragging a raggy, pink stuffed bear.

“Dad, why is there a dinosaur in our house?” the child nervously questions while hiding behind his father’s leg.

A dinosaur? Never has anyone called Jongdae a dinosaur throughout his entire life. Jongdae maintains his composure because he doesn’t want to scare away the boy with his “dinosaur” appearance.

“Daeul, this is Jongdae, your new babysitter. Be nice to him, okay?” Bumsoo encouragingly pats his son’s head. Meanwhile, Jongdae tries to pull off a friendly smile that hopefully doesn’t frighten the boy.

“Hi Daeul, I’m Jongdae. I’m your new friend.” Jongdae squats down to the small boy’s eye level.

The young boy apprehensively observes his face, looking for any signs of danger, or possibly dinosaur teeth pointing out of Jongdae’s toothy smile. Daeul slowly approaches Jongdae and cups his face with his two small, sweaty hands.

“Eongah!” The young boy squeals out Jongdae’s new nickname and snuggles into Jongdae’s arms. Bumsoo laughs at the cute interaction between his son and the new babysitter: never has Daeul opened up to a stranger during first impressions. Even though they just met, Bumsoo instantly trusts Jongdae. Judging from his calm, understanding, and cheerful personality, he believes that the male will someday become a good father in the future. The smell of something burning in the kitchen calls for Bumsoo’s attention. With a panicked expression, and an “Oh no, not the fried rice!” the father sprints into the kitchen.

“We should go and check up on your dad.” Jongdae gently says and pulls the small boy onto his back and follows the father into the kitchen.

Upon entering the kitchen, Jongdae and Daeul find Bumsoo frowning at the burnt rice on the stove. Bumsoo checks the time from his watch, “I have to leave soon. I’m sorry Jongdae, but can you cook something else for Daeul? He hasn’t ate anything yet.” the exasperated father sighs defeatedly then leaves to find his brief case.

When was the last time Jongdae had actually touched a stove? He recalls that one time when him and Baekhyun borrowed Kyungsoo’s kitchen for them to bake a cake for Minseok’s birthday. Unfortunately the poor cake came out of the oven in flames. Kyungsoo was very enraged at the small fire accident the two troublemakers caused. Ever since that incident happened, Jongdae never touched an oven ever again. He racks up his brain for any simple recipes he watched from cooking channels. Daeul looks into Jongdae’s eye and the small child’s stomach lets out a ferocious growl. He guiltily looks away from the boy’s hungry eyes as he lurks through the fridge for any ingredients he can possibly come up with.

“I’m heading out now, Daeul.” Bumsoo returns with his bag in his shoulder and carries his son into an embrace.

“Be nice to Jongdae, okay?” He whispered into the boy’s ear and ruffles the top of his small head.

Daeul obediently nods to his father’s words and gives him one last hug before he leaves.
“Alright, I’ll leave him in your care now. Text me if you need anything.” Bumsoo diverts his attention back to Jongdae.

“Don’t worry, he’s in good hands.” Jongdae sticks his head out from the kitchen and waves the elder goodbye.

“Take care, both of you.” Bumsoo reassures then heads out of the door and locks it shut. Daeul frowns at his father’s absence then slowly walks back into the kitchen. From the counter laid a stack of two ripe bananas, a jar of peanut butter, a pack of granulated sugar, and cocoa powder. Jongdae plans on assembling a chocolate cake but instead of baking, he will be microwaving the ingredients into a mug. Jongdae shyly smiles at the small child peeking behind the counter.

“Do you like chocolate cake?” Jongdae asks with a nervous smile.

Daeul mumbles some gibberish words to which Jongdae can hardly comprehend. He takes that as a yes anyways and starts mixing the ingredients into two separate mugs. Chocolate cake for breakfast may sound like the unhealthiest and most unbalanced meal as a meal to start your day, but hey, at least it’s gluten free. He prefers to have a sweet-tooth kind of breakfast rather than a savory dish in the morning. As the cake batter finishes mixing together, he plops one mug into the microwave for two minutes. Jongdae crosses his fingers because this is the first time he’s attempted to microwave a mug cake. The microwave beeps and thank god, nothing is burnt. Daeul peeks at the mug and grimaces.

“Poo poo.” He blurts out with a scrunched up, sick face.

Jongdae shoots a daggered look at the child’s small offensive remark, “This isn’t poo poo! It’s a mini chocolate cake, I promise it’s going to taste good once I top it off with banana slices.” He peels open a banana and cuts them into proportional sizes then places them around the brim of the mug cake.

“Here, give it a try.” Jongdae sets the mug onto the table and expectedly stares at the smaller boy.

Daeul grumpily stares at the cake and shakes his head, “I don’t want to eat poo poo!”

The older male wants to bang his head against the wall, it’s too early in the afternoon to deal with a picky eater. He sighs underneath his breath and picks up a small spoonful of the dessert. In an instant, Jongdae’s face scrunches up at the horrid taste. This tasted like absolute shit. He spits out his awful creation back into the mug and runs into the kitchen for a glass of water.

“You know what, I think you’re totally right Daeul. It is poo poo.” Jongdae winces at the taste still lingering on his tongue.

At this point, Daeul’s stomach grumbles, soon followed by Jongdae’s stomach growling afterwards. Well, shit. The older male looks around the kitchen and spots a few green apples in a basket. He picks up the fruits and rinses them over the sink. Apples are his favorite fruit anyways, hopefully Daeul agrees with him.

“Let’s eat an apple.” Jongdae presents the brightly green apple in front of the boy’s face.

The small boy furrows his eyebrows at the color green and immediately shoves the fruit away from his face, “I hate green.”

Jongdae raises a single eyebrow at Daeul’s reaction. Back when he was six years old, he clearly remembered when his mother would encourage him to eat his green beans because she told him that it would magically give him beautiful, green eyes. He then ate an excessive amount of greens until he turned ten, and realized his mother was such a liar but at the same time he was also at fault for being naive back then. Jongdae quickly thinks of a brilliant idea and looks into the younger boy’s eyes.

“Let me tell you a story, Daeul. Mother Nature created these greens for us to stay beautiful.” He starts to cut the apple into thin slices and neatly places them onto a plate. “However, Mother Nature also casted a curse for those who don’t eat their greens.” Jongdae observes the younger boy’s eyes widening in fear.

“What’s the curse?” Daeul begins to tremble in his seat.

“Well...you’ll turn into Shrek and then live in a swamp faraway from home, where you will forever be alone.” Jongdae says with a straight face, stifling back his laughter.

With no second to waste, the small boy frantically grabs the sliced apples from the plate and shoves it into his mouth strenuously. Bite after bite, Daeul finished his own apple. Jongdae grins at the empty plate in front of him then proceeds to slice the third apple due to the small boy’s request.

☹ ☹ ☹

After five hours, Jongdae has learned so much about Daeul. He always drags his favorite stuffed animal, Epe, wherever he goes. Jongdae mentally notes that he might have to wash the bedraggled bear while the child is asleep since it’s harboring so much bacteria and dirt. He also learned that Daeul likes to put on lipstick because it reminds him of his mother. Jongdae frowns at the younger one’s words and wonders... when was the last time Daeul saw his mother?

Both of the boys hear a door unlocking, and Daeul senses his father’s return and runs straight to the door. Jongdae follows behind the boy to see who it is.

“PAPA!” The small boy yells and in comes Bumsoo with a small grin on his face. The father and son exchange hugs and kisses, while Jongdae awkwardly stands a few feet away from them.

“It seems like Daeul didn’t cry at all. Usually, he would come up running up to me while screaming and crying. I’m guessing the both of you get along with each other now.” Bumsoo chuckles and cradles his son into his arms.

“That’s right, Daeul behaved well and even ate four apples and a salad I made today.” Jongdae reports with a proud smile on his face.

“Yeah! I ate greens so I can stay beautiful!” Daeul exclaims into his father’s ears.

“Wow! Daeul ate his greens? That’s a first.” Bumsoo gently pats the top of Daeul’s head. “I think you’ve proven yourself to be our new babysitter, Jongdae.” the elder adds.

Jongdae had completely forgotten that he came here for a babysitting job. All his worries earlier diminished, he expected babysitting a child would be dreadful and a pain to work with, but it turns out he actually enjoyed hanging out with his new friend today.

He shyly scratches the back of his neck, “Really? I actually feel quite honored.” Jongdae shyly laughs.

“Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you though.” Bumsoo frowns. Silence fills the room as both of the two younger males worriedly glance at the elder’s sad expression.

“I will be in Europe for two weeks this upcoming Wednesday because I have an important work to shoot.” The father’s expression is guilt-ridden.

“I cannot bring Daeul with me since the director said that no one will be able to supervise him.” Bumsoo continues and fumbles with his fingers, “Jongdae, this may be too soon to ask, but can you please take care and allow Daeul to sleep over at your place while I’m gone for two weeks?”

Jongdae doesn’t mind having Daeul stick by his side for two weeks, but concerned whether Sehun will allow a small child to stay as a guest with them for the time being. The small boy’s mouth widens in excitement as the words “sleep over” rings his ears.

“Sure, I don’t mind having Daeul around. It does get quite lonely in our apartment. I’ll have to inform my boyfriend about it first.” Jongdae calmly responds and smiles at Daeul’s amused expression.

“Great, just text me your address and I’ll drop him off on Wednesday morning.”

“Do you need me tomorrow?” Jongdae inquires.

“Not tomorrow, I’m going to take Daeul with me to my office since it’s Bring Your Kids to Work Day.” He laughs and ruffles the top of his son’s head.

“Aaah, that sounds exciting.”

“How much do I owe you today?” Bumsoo asks while checking the clock.

“Uhh..I don’t have a set price yet since this is my first time babysitting, so you can decide on the price.” Jongdae respectfully answers.

“How does fifty dollars per hour sound to you?” The elder offers.

Jongdae gapes at the offer because that’s more than what he spends for his food budget per week. “Are you sure? That’s a high offer for me.”

“Take it, you look so skinny. University must be burning you down.” Bumsoo pulls out three hundred dollars out of his wallet and hands it over to Jongdae.

The babysitter hesitantly looks at the wad of cash in front of him. Three hundred dollars can cover his meals for at least two weeks. He slowly takes the papers from Bumsoo’s grasp and bows.

“Thank you, I will use this to take care of Daeul.”

“Oh, you’re going to need a lot more than that.” The father pulls out more dollar bills from his pocket and Jongdae only widens his eyes in disbelief. Is his wallet some sort of mini ATM? This man is loaded.

“T-thank you, but you really don’t have to pay me this much.” Jongdae falters.

Bumsoo tsks, “I insist! My son gets along with you. You have no idea how glad I am to have you as our babysitter. You are the first person to make my son eat his vegetables, and he has never smiled around a stranger. As a father, all I want is for Daeul to be happy and he seems to enjoy having you as his friend. Please take the money, it’s my appreciation for you.” The elder forcefully grabs Jongdae’s hands and places the extra dollar bills into his grasp.

“I can’t express my gratitude enough.” Bumoo caresses Jongdae’s hands. In that moment, the younger male holds back his tears because he’s touched by the elder’s kindness. Daeul scrutinizes at Jongdae’s face almost breaking into a sob — intuitively, the small child tightly embraces the back of Jongdae’s leg.

“Eongah, don’t cry. You’ll turn into Shrek if you cry.”

☹ ☹ ☹

“So you’re telling me, we’re having a child temporarily stay at my apartment?” Sehun diverts his attention to the finale episode of Masterchef Junior with Jongdae laying his head on his boyfriend’s lap.

“Starting on Wednesday, he’ll stay at our place for two weeks...” Jongdae quietly mumbles.

His tall boyfriends lets out a sigh, “As long as he’s paying the monthly rent, then sure he can stay.”

“What!? He’s only three years old and it’s only for two weeks!” Jongdae shoots up from Sehun’s lap.

“Doesn’t matter, he still needs to pay up. You can’t get anything free in life.”

Jongdae rolls his eyes at his ignorant boyfriend’s bullshit and painfully claws his fingernails deep into Sehun’s bare knee.

The tall boy shrieks,“OW! That hurts!”

“You deserved that. I’ll be the only one taking care of the baby, so you don’t need to help me... unless you want to.” Jongdae mutters the last part.

Sehun shakes his head, “No thanks, I despise kids.”

Jongdae incredulously glares at his boyfriend, “You once were a kid too.”

Sehun rolls his eyes, “I never liked kids when I was a kid.”

“Oh please, you’re such a big baby. You still eat baby food!”

Sehun furrows his eyebrows, “Hey! Baby food contains actual nutrients that my body needs and lacks in. Plus, it’s cheaper and has a better taste than those old people multivitamins that Minseok takes on a daily basis.”

“Whatever, that doesn’t change the fact that you’re still a big baby.”

“I’m your baby though~” Sehun smirks and childishly huddles closer to Jongdae’s warmth.

“Shut up, you baby.” Jongdae harshly swings a pillow directly at Sehun’s face.

☹ ☹ ☹

Sehun jolts awake from his slumber to the sound of his doorbell. He decides whether to get up and answer the door but if the person ringing the doorbell were desperate, they’d wait for him. He closes his eyes and rests for a few minutes until he realizes that the space next to him was empty. Sehun peels open his eyes to the side, and surprisingly doesn’t find Jongdae’s warm body. Immediately, Sehun sits up from his bed and grumpily puts on a pair of pants over his boxers, then exits his room.

Once he closes the door, he faintly hears voices talking down the hallway. Sehun peaks down the hallway and finds Jongdae politely smiling and bowing to the stranger in his house. Who is he? Myriad of questions runs through his head, until Sehun recalls Jongdae reminding him that a “guest” is coming over today. He silently watches Jongdae carry a small luggage and backpack into the corner of the living room.

“Since you’ve already eaten breakfast, want to watch some cartoons in the meantime?” Jongdae speaks to Daeul in a high pitch voice. Sehun cringes at Jongdae’s baby talk, then saunters into the living room.

While Jongdae flips through the channels, Daeul notices an oddly stick figure appearing into the room and he clings closer to Jongdae.

“EONGAH! There’s a noodlehead in the room!” The little boy wails and covers his face behind Jongdae’s leg. Sehun offensively glares at the child who insulted him. It doesn’t help him, when Jongdae’s trying to contain his giggles behind his hand at the small boy’s comment.

“Daeul, you don’t have to be afraid. This noodlehead is harmless.” Jongdae breaks out into laughter and hugs the trembling boy in his arms.

“Did he just fucking called me a noodlehead?” Sehun grits his teeth and narrows his eyes at the small boy.

“Language, Sehun. Show some courtesy.”

Sehun quietly observes the small child, he feels as if he’s strangely looking at a shorter version of Jongdae.

“Daeul, this is Sehun. Sehun, this is Daeul.” Jongdae nervously glances between Sehun and Daeul. He stiffens at the awkward tension in the room.

Daeul breaks the tension, “Eongah, he’s so scary!” He clings to Jongdae like a koala. Jongdae scoops up the child into his arms, hoping to calm him down. Sehun scowls at the child for being such a clingy brat. He’s already starting to dislike this kid, despite the fact he looks like Jongdae — he still doesn’t like him.

Jongdae timidly looks at his boyfriend, hoping that he can at least properly say hi to Daeul. Jongdae isn’t surprised that Daeul feared Sehun since he learned about how young children usually develop stranger anxiety during their mental development.

Sehun leans closer to Daeul, in hopes of intimidating the child more. “I’m not a noodlehead. I’m Sehun, and you better respect that or else I’ll…” Almost an instant, Jongdae kicks him straight in the knee before he finishes the last part of his sentence.

“Really now?” Jongdae mutters underneath his breath, showing no sympathy for Sehun as he painfully lies down on the floor. Daeul bursts out laughing while watching Sehun struggle to get up.

Sehun rolls his eyes. Unbelievable, his boyfriend and a demon child are teaming up against him. He stomps into the kitchen, raiding his fridge for something to eat. He only finds a whole carton of milk and chugs it down. If Jongdae witnessed this, he would be nagging him to drink from a cup. It’s not like Sehun gives a shit anyway, and carelessly gulps down the liquid. Until, he accidentally swallows a curdle of sourness into his system. He chokes back the foul tasting substance and spits back into the carton. He’s in deep shit now because he’s been exposed to food poisoning. What an inevitable way to start his morning.

Sehun’s expression sullens as his head starts to pound and his stomach aches with so much pain. Jongdae spots his boyfriend in the kitchen and runs in to check up on him. He concerningly rubs Sehun’s back, “Are you okay?”

Sehun doesn’t answer and feels the sudden urge to use the toilet. He pushes Jongdae then sprints straight into the bathroom. Jongdae blinks and glances a carton of milk on the counter. He picks it up and reads the expiration date.

Jongdae sighs, “He’s such an idiot, this milk expired two weeks ago.”

☹ ☹ ☹

After an hour of of grunting, pushing, and flushing, Sehun has finally eased himself — temporarily for now. He heaves an exasperated sigh, pondering when’s the next toilet stop. Sehun heads back to bed, hopefully resting will recover him from this god-forbidden diarrhea.

Ten minutes into his nap, Jongdae’s voice interrupts him from his slumber, “Sehun, Daeul and I are going grocery shopping. Do you want to tag along?”

Sehun tiredly mumbles, “Just pick up Pepto Bismol for me.”

“No, I’m not buying you anything, unless you come with me.” Jongdae says in a demanding tone.

“Ugh, fine.”

☹ ☹ ☹

Jongdae scans his grocery list, double-checking that he has all the items in the cart. Sehun grumpily pushes Daeul on the cart, not noticing when they pass by the junk food aisle. The little boy’s eyes shine at the bright and colorful boxes and packages of sweet and unhealthy goodness.

Daeul points at a bag of different varieties of flavored lollipops, “Eongah, I want this!” Jongdae hesitantly stares at the item, it doesn’t help that Daeul’s giving him those puppy eyes. He figures that one lollipop per day shouldn’t harm Daeul’s health, he adds the bag of lollipops to their cart. The little boy cheers enthusiastically, and Jongdae can’t help but grin at his cute reaction.

Sehun feels like a third wheeler, even though he’s dating Jongdae — but still, a small demon is stealing his boyfriend’s attention away from him. What kind of sin did he commit for a reincarnation of a baby Satan to make him suffer like this?

Jongdae checks over his list again, he needs to pick up Sehun’s Pepto Bismol, “Wait a minute, I need to pick up something really quick.” Jongdae hurriedly leaves Sehun alone with Daeul. The two of them awkwardly avoid eye contact and ignore each other. Sehun contemplates leaving the child behind and following Jongdae, until his friend, Kyungsoo comes strolling down the aisle with boxes to stack.

Sehun abandons Daeul and scurries to his friend, “Kyungsoo! Thank god, you’re here. I swear, I thought I was going to die with that demon child over there.” He tilts his head towards Daeul’s direction.

Kyungsoo scans the small child innocently drooling at the bag of lollipops, “Sehun, what the fuck? Is that Jongdae’s little brother?”

“No, he’s a demon child.”

“He looks harmless and cute though, how can you call the poor child that?” Kyungsoo frowns. Jongdae finally returns back with the bottle of medicine, and flashes a smile toward Kyungsoo.

“Hey Kyungsoo!” Jongdae greets, and looks at the boxes Kyungsoo’s held underneath his arm, “I see you are working right now.”

“Oh right, I am.” Kyungsoo realizes he has to stack these shelves. He nervously laughs, “Well, these boxes aren’t going to stack by themselves...” Sehun eyes Kyungsoo, he remembered when Kyungsoo had a huge crush on Jongdae back in high school, but Sehun beat Kyungsoo to it since he was too shy to confess to Jongdae. Kyungsoo’s over it now... well, at least Sehun thinks he is.

“See you around, Kyungsoo!” Jongdae pats Kyungsoo in the back, and pushes Daeul out of the aisle. Sehun slowly follows behind them and notices Kyungsoo slightly blushing. It’s strange how Sehun doesn’t feel any hatred for Kyungsoo, yet he feels kind of guilty for stealing Kyungsoo’s crush.

As they check out their items, Daeul longingly stares at the bag of lollipops, “Can I have one right now please?”

“Not yet, wait for the cashier to scan the bag.” Jongdae places the items onto the conveyor belt.

The cashier overhears this and tells Jongdae, “It’s okay, he can have one right now. I can search the item number.”

“Oh really? That’s very nice of you. Thank you.” Jongdae politely smiles at the cashier’s kindness. He opens the bag of lollipops and hands Daeul an orange flavored lollipop. The small child unwraps the lollipop and plops the treat into his mouth. Daeul thanks the lady cashier as well, in return she grins.

“Are you both brothers?” she asks while she places the items into the bags.

“Ah, no. I am only babysitting my friend’s professor’s friend.” Jongdae pays the total amount of his groceries with the given cash Bumsoo paid him.

The cashier’s eyes widen in surprise, “You strikingly resemble each other. I would’ve mistaken you as brothers.” She hands him back the given change and his receipt, “Have a nice day!”

“You too!” Jongdae flashes the cashier a smile once more then pushes the cart to the exit, he finds Sehun waiting by the door.

“Race you to the car!” Jongdae zooms past him, causing Daeul to squeal in excitement. Sehun groans and slowly trudges to the car.

☹ ☹ ☹

To Jongdae’s luck, the cooking gods have blessed him with the ability to put together delicious vegetable pancakes and fried rice, which Daeul genuinely enjoyed. The dinner atmosphere was filled with laughter between the two, along with a quiet and gloomy Sehun on the side.

With their stomachs filled with content and the dishes cleaned, the three boys yawn and prepare to shower. Jongdae gives Daeul a bath and also instructs him how to properly brush his teeth as well. While Daeul finishes up his bathroom routine, Sehun rudely barges into the bathroom.

“Get out, I need to shit.” Sehun heaves and pushes Jongdae and Daeul out the door. Jongdae’s about to remind Sehun to watch his language when Sehun slams the door in front of his face.

Jongdae kneels down to Daeul’s eye level, “Well, looks like you’ll be sharing the same bed with me.” He kinda feels bad for Sehun since he will be sleeping alone for the next two weeks, but he can take care of himself — hopefully.

“Yay! Sleepover!” Daeul gleefully claps his hands.

☹ ☹ ☹

The sounds of crashing plates and two adults yelling breaks out in the kitchen at two in the morning. Daeul was only fifteen months old as he cries on his older sister’s, Soeul, shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Daeul-ah. It will be over soon.” Soeul tiredly consoles her younger brother. The small boy cries even harder because he can’t handle it anymore. Why can’t his family be happy? Both of them overhear their mother’s harsh words from behind the closed door.

“Maybe if you didn’t have such a shitty career as an actor, you would be contributing more to our family!” Their mother’s tone was filled with annoyance.

“Honey, can we please talk about it some other time?” Bumsoo rubs the corners of his eyes. It’s been a long day for him. His current drama project as a supporting cast member was not doing so well with viewerships. The production budget was lacking, which didn’t pay him enough for the monthly rent, food for the family, and other miscellaneous. He felt guilty because his children really wanted to go to farm and pick strawberries, but he didn’t have the time due to his busy schedule.

“No one casts you as a main lead anymore because your acting isn’t good anymore. It’s not the same as ten years ago anymore, Bumsoo.” She frustratedly admitted with her arms crossed.

“I understand, but there will be more opportunities. Just wait-”

“WAIT?! How much longer does our family need to suffer? Another three months? A year? Five years, perhaps?” The mother questions while slowly losing her patience.

Bumsoo whispers, “Can you please tone it down? The children are trying to sleep…”

“TONE IT DOWN?! MAYBE WE SHOULD FILE A DIVORCE. I’M TIRED OF SEEING YOUR ROTTEN FACE EVERY DAY. I CAN’T STAND YOUR PRESENCE ANYMORE. MARRYING YOU WAS A MISTAKE, SOEUL ISN’T YOUR BIOLOGICAL CHILD, YET I STILL STAYED WITH YOU.”

Each word stabbed Bumsoo’s heart painfully. He knew all along that his wife had slept with another man during their engagement but he didn’t mind. He was initially upset about it, but in the end he forgave her and still married her.

Several months later, the mother filed a divorce. She planned on moving in with Soeul’s biological father and having split custody, because she didn’t want to see Daeul’s face and be reminded of her husband. The court was at first hesitant of the choice since splitting siblings apart was unfavorable for the children, but both of the parents wanted equal responsibility for their own child. When Soeul and Daeul found out that they were supposed to be separated, they refused to let go of each other's arms and bawled their eyes out until both of the parents had to drag them away.

“Daeul! I promise I’ll visit you someday.” Soeul yells outside the car window while her mother forcefully pulls her into the seat.

“Noona…”

“Don’t leave me…” Daeul pleads with tears streaming down his face. Jongdae jolts awake from the trembling small boy murmuring and crying in his sleeping. Jongdae frantically shakes Daeul awake from his nightmare, “Hey, wake up…”

He wakes up groggily and continues to sob with his covered hands. With concern etched on Jongdae’s face, “Are you okay?”

“Mommy..and...Soeul...left...me…” He hiccups out each word. Jongdae’s heart breaks because this is the first time Daeul mentions about his mother and sister. He attentively listens to the boy.

“Mommy must hate me and dad is always sad.” He croaks out while Jongdae carefully wipes away the droplets of tears.

Jongdae brings Daeul into his warm embrace, “No, Daeul...That’s not true. Come here. Don’t think badly of yourself.” He soothingly pats the boy’s back for a few moments until his body stops shaking. It pains him that Daeul had a rough life at such a young age, and he doesn’t deserve this. Jongdae feels his eyes watering simultaneously.

“I don't personally know your parents that well, but I know your parents didn't want their separation to negatively affect you. They love you and your sister so much— they didn’t mean to hurt you both. I’m sorry that your mother and sister left you, but I’m sure your mother is in a much happier mental state now. I understand how hard it is to not see your mom and sister every day, but I’m always here for you.” Jongdae hugs Daeul closer. The fragile boy soaks Jongdae’s shirt with his tears and snot, which Jongdae doesn’t mind.

“Don’t say your father is sad all the time, because that’s not true. You are his only happiness. You have no idea how much your father loves you and is lucky to have you in his life. All your father wants is the best for you and for you to be happy.”

Daeul stops crying and sniffles his nose. Jongdae offers the ruffled end of his shirt for Daeul to blow his nose, which he gladly takes. With a small smile, “Thank you for everything, Eongah.”

“No problem.” Jongdae tucks Daeul under the sheets and places his stuffed Epe besides him. After a few minutes, Jongdae sits and watched the younger shuts his eye momentarily. Until Daeul’s face scrunches into frown.

“I can’t sleep.” Daeul mumbles.

Jongdae sighs and tries to think of a way to put the boy to sleep. He remembered when he was kid and that whenever he had nightmares, his mother would always sing him a lullaby because it scares off the bad dreams away.

“I’m going to sing you a song, okay?”

Daeul intentively watches Jongdae softly sing the lyrics of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” until his eyes feel droopy from hearing Jongdae’s serenade. When Jongdae finishes the last part of the song, he sees Daeul peacefully snoring while cuddling his Epe.

Jongdae grins at the fond sight, “Sweet dreams, Daeul.”

☹ ☹ ☹

Ever since Daeul spilled out his bottled up feelings to Jongdae, he wouldn’t leave his side or always begged Jongdae to carry him around (not that Jongdae complained). However, Sehun was fed up with it because a child was stealing Jongdae away from him. The other day, he saw the both of them wear bright matching couple sweaters that had a duck cartoon stitched in the center, which he was clearly envious of since Jongdae never buys him those kind of gifts. Luckily for Sehun, tonight was the last night the demon child will be sleeping under his roof.

Jongdae and Daeul are both snoozing in dreamland until Jongdae’s phone rings in the middle of the night. He haggardly picks up after the third ring, “Hello?” he mumbles sleepily.

“MOMMY!” a horrendous screech rings his ear over the line.

Jongdae brings the phone further away from his ear and checks the caller id. He rolls his eyes at the name listed: Baek Is Sexy. Jongdae mentally notes to change his passcode, because who in the world would call Baekhyun sexy.

“Why are you calling me at one in the morning?” Jongdae tiredly demands.

He hears loud music blasting in the background mixed with Baekhyun’s obnoxious laughter, “Hey... mommy!!!” Baekhyun likes to jokingly call Jongdae his mom, because Jongdae acts like an uptight soccer mom.

Judging from Baekhyun’s slur, he assumes his idiot friend is drunk, “I’m hanging up now.”

Baekhyun yells in the receiver, “WAIT!”

Seriously? What’s with Baekhyun and his screaming over the phone? Jongdae hisses, clearly annoyed and slightly worried that he might be temporarily deaf in his left ear, “What!?”

“Can you pick me up, please~” He hears Baekhyun make whining puppy noises, “I don’t have enough money for a cab.” Jongdae can tell his friend is clearly lying over the phone because Baekhyun is being a cheap ass.

“Why can’t Yixing pick you up?”

His friend on the other line frowns, “Business trip in China.”

“What about Minseok?”

“He’s actually right here with me!” Jongdae perceives Minseok’s voice giggling in the background, followed by a loud thud noise. He hears Baekhyun frantically cursing over the phone for a few minutes.

“What was that?”

“Minseok just passed out! Get your ass over here, man.” Baekhyun implored his friend desperately, “I’ll buy you anything you want with Yixing’s credit card, once he returns back from his trip. Just get over here please.”

Jongdae exasperatedly sighs, “Send me your location. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” He ends the calls with Baekhyun and slips out of bed, then spots Daeul soundlessly sleeping. He can’t leave Daeul by himself. What if he wakes up crying from another nightmare? He scrambles for his wallet and car keys then rushes to the room across the hall.

Sehun looks up from his phone screen in surprise to find Jongdae barging in his room this late, “Why are you up this late?”

“I should be asking you the same question. I have to pick up two knuckleheads at the club now. Can you please watch Daeul-”

“No.” Sehun flatly rejects Jongdae’s question before he even finishes his question.

Jongdae huffs in annoyance, “Please, you just need to watch him!”

Sehun shakes his head and averts back to his game. Jongdae’s hands curl into tight fists, his nails digging into his palms. He indignantly glares at Sehun, but the taller can’t help but hold back his smile with his hand clamped over his mouth because Jongdae looks so cute when he’s mad. He resembles an grumpy yet adorable cat scowling like that.

Sehun distracts himself from internally squealing from Jongdae’s expression, he makes a hard face, “I don’t want to,” He avoids eye contact with Jongdae, “I dislike that demon child.” Sehun states coldly.

Jongdae loses his temper and snaps at him, “You only need to keep an eye on him. How difficult of a task is that?”

His boyfriend reluctantly sighs, “Fine, just one hour.” He doesn’t feel like getting into a whole argument with Jongdae at this late hour.

Relief washes over Jongdae’s face, replaced by a small grin, eyes crinkling happily, “Thank you.” He kisses Sehun square in the cheek.

“Yeah yeah, okay.” Sehun grimaces as Jongdae sends open mouth kisses all over the taller one’s face. He grumbles, “Stop, I feel like as if a dog is kissing me!” Sehun swats Jongdae away from him.

Jongdae chuckles, “If you make Daeul cry, in the name of the moon, I will punish you!” He cheekily strikes the Sailor Moon signature pose.

“Kinky.” Sehun smiles at Jongdae’s irresistibly cute charm and he tightly squeezes his boyfriend’s butt.

☹ ☹ ☹

Sehun grumpily sits on the floor while “watching” Daeul snooze peacefully on the comfy bed. He rolls his eyes at the demon child in front of him and continues to play his game on the phone, hoping to pass one hour quickly.

He’s about to beat his high score on SuperStar, until he hears sounds of sniffling in the background. Daeul murmurs, “S-Soeul..”

Sehun peeks at Daeul shedding tears all over the pillow. Is this kid seriously crying right now? He slightly panics because Jongdae said he would “punish” him if Daeul was found crying. The taller male takes a closer look of the child’s cheeks stained with tears. Just great, how is he going to comfort a crying kid.

Daeul’s nightmare progressively becomes worse: he starts to shuffle around the bed and almost falls off the bed when Sehun reflexively catches him in his arms. Sehun panics because the kid won’t stop crying. Is it too early to have a midlife crisis in his early twenties? He scans the small boy’s face again, as the tears continue to fall on Daeul’s face as he sleepily murmurs incoherently into the crook of Sehun’s neck. He softly shakes the small boy in his arms awake. The small boy expects to wake up to Jongdae’s comfort but to the little boy’s misfortune, he crinkles his nose at the noodle man in front of him.

Sehun dully asks, “Hey, umm...did you have a bad dream?” The small boy pouts, as images of his dream floods his mind. He pulls the covers up to the top of his nose and turns the other side away from Sehun.

“You wanna talk about it?” Sehun still presses, he’s actually feeling worried about the small child. He must be lacking sleep, he assumes. Daeul faces him all glassy eyed and snot running uncontrollably down his nose.

“Why can’t mommy and daddy be back together?” He blurts out, while wiping his running nose with his sleeve. Sehun widens at the small boy’s question, surprised by such a sad question coming from a three year old.

Sehun understands the pain of having divorced parents, since his parents are divorced too. He left home during his last year of high school because he was tired and fed up from coming home to his parents constantly yelling each other's heads off. After he moved out at the age eighteen, his parents officially divorced. His younger sister was under his mother’s custody, whileas his father moved out of the country. He pulls a long face, wanting to explain to the young child that separations have their own reasons of happening, but he doesn’t think Daeul would understand if he gives him an adult kind of talk.

Out of his own will, Sehun picks up Daeul’s beloved pink stuffed bear, “Imagine you and…” He tries to recall what the name of this stuffed animal that Daeul calls.

“Epe.” Daeul finishes Sehun’s sentence.

“Ah yes, Epe. Let’s say you and Epe are good friends. You spend every moment with Epe, each passing day you and Epe become happier from each other's presence. However, one day, you both get into a big fight.”

Daeul curiously butts into Sehun’s story time, “What kind of fight?”

“A fight...that both of you can’t fix…” Sehun stammers around his words, “The damage between you and Epe’s friendship is hopeless. No matter how many times you talk things through with Epe, it just doesn’t work out. So the only solution is to leave each other’s lives.”

“But what if I don’t want to leave Epe?”

“Epe wants to be happy though. Don’t you want Epe to be happy?”

“Yes…”

“Then you must comply to Epe’s request, no matter how much it hurts to leave someone you deeply once loved and cared about, but if you still care about them, you would respect their desires of healing.”

“Does that mean Epe doesn’t want to be my friend anymore?”

“No of course not...Epe just wants to move onwards with life and restart a new chapter of her life. That doesn’t result that you both can’t be friends anymore, but just not as close as before.”

“Like mommy and daddy?” Daeul softly whispers.

Sehun nods and unconsciously pats Daeul’s back, the long forgotten hatred he had for the little boy disappears, “Your mother and father wouldn’t be so happy if they knew you were grieving over their separation, would they?”

Daeul nods his head in agreement and snuggles back in bed, “Thanks…” he says underneath his breath audible for Sehun to hear.

“It’s nothing.” Sehun scratches the back of his nape, “Good night Daeul.” That’s the first time he addresses Daeul by his name instead of demon child. He spins around, planning on heading back to his room until a soft tug on his shirt lures him back.

“I can’t sleep alone.” Daeul longingly pouts, begging for Sehun to stay with him. He reluctantly slides under the covers and sleeps at a far distance from the small boy.

“Night night.” Daeul says, in a cheerful tone. Sehun closes his eyes and hums a good night.

☹ ☹ ☹

At exactly 2:10 AM, Jongdae rushes back into the apartment. After dropping off his two monkey friends home, his mind flooded with images of Sehun abandoning a crying Daeul or whatever worse case scenario. His heart races and he breaks into a sweat as soon as he paces into the guestroom.

“Sehun! I’m back, you don’t need to-” Jongdae pauses and finds Sehun and Daeul cuddled up underneath the blankets and snoring peacefully. He does a double take, because he could have sworn that Sehun had a strong hatred for Daeul. Jongdae steps closer to the bed, carefully watching the both of them sleep for awhile. His heart flutters as Sehun protectively holds onto Daeul in his sleep. Jongdae contently smiles. It looks like the both of them are getting along now. He tiredly sighs, now realizing that he’ll be sleeping alone in Sehun’s bed tonight.

☹ ☹ ☹

The next day, Daeul begs Jongdae for ice cream — which Jongdae immediately agrees to. He carefully ties Daeul’s shoelaces and safely tightens the small boy’s hat in place.

Jongdae hollers, “Sehun! Do you want to come join us for ice cream?” He hears an eliciting muffled no from the room. Jongdae frowns because he wants to bond as a group of three together. Daeul looks up at Jongdae’s sad expression and quickly speeds down the hall. Jongdae chases after him, but then halts his action — maybe Daeul can convince Sehun to join them.

Sehun is deeply immersed into his SuperStar game again, aggressively tapping his fingers away on his phone screen to Ring Ding Dong on difficult game mode. He’s so close to scoring a perfect score, when Daeul unexpectedly pounces on Sehun’s bed — scaring him, as a result of dropping his phone on the ground. He irritably look at the small boy mischievously giggling at him.

“What do you want?” Sehun utters a growl, then grabs his phone and checks for any dents or cracks. He sighs a relief that his phone is still in good condition.

“Come with us to get ice cream, please!” Daeul drags Sehun’s leg off his bed.

Sehun crosses his arms and throws the small child the grumpiest expression, “No.”

“I said please!” Daeul wails and shakes Sehun’s foot. The small boy’s protests becomes more aggravating and louder, Daeul starts to pull Sehun’s ears but he doesn’t budge and still has the same glum face on

Daeul gives up and pulls that I-can-get-whatever-I-want pouting look, “Please?”

The child juts out his pouty lips more and starts to brim his eyes with fake watery tears. Sehun regretfully makes eye contact with Daeul, and he feels guilt trapped from the boy’s gaze. The older male hesitantly gives in. “Okay, fine...” Sehun mumbles.

“Yay!” Daeul pumps his fist in victory.

☹ ☹ ☹

“One vanilla cone, please.” Jongdae orders.

“You spent the last thirty minutes deciding on a flavor, and you choose vanilla? You’re boring just like your vanilla sex.” Sehun throws him a smug look and raises an eyebrow.

“Shut up, Sehun. There are children around here.” Jongdae’s cheeks redden and he immediately cups Daeul’s ear. The boy innocently looks up at him in utter confusion.

Sehun suggestively licks his chocolate rocky road scoop, and cocks a smirk. Jongdae smacks him upside in the head. The worker holds out Jongdae’s cone and judgingly watches Jongdae continue to hit a laughing Sehun. Jongdae awkwardly clears his throat and apologizes to the worker, then respectfully pays for his dessert. The worker still glares behind Jongdae’s back for causing a ruckus in the shop.

The trio heads out of the shop and settles down at a table outside. Daeul squeezes between Jongdae and Sehun, he sloppily shoves a spoonful of strawberry ice cream all over his face. Jongdae half smiles and wipes away the mess on Daeul’s face with a napkin. Sehun throws the child a disgusted look, repulsed by his lack of manners. They blissfully enjoy their ice creams for a few moments, until Jongdae breaks the silence.

“Daeullie, feed a scoop of your ice cream to your favorite hyung.” Jongdae asks. He gives a challenging look to Sehun, he’s curious as to who Daeul favors more. Jongdae remains composed, hiding back his knowing grin. Deep down, he knows Daeul likes him more. Sehun doesn’t even bother, and boringly scrolls through his phone, ignoring the both them.

The small child looks between the two tall males, he contemplates for the longest time.

“Close your eyes! This is too much.” Daeul cries, shaking his head nervously. Jongdae covers his eyes with both of his hands, while Daeul glances over at Sehun’s eyes still glued to his phone. The small boy hisses, “You too!” Sehun sighs, then closes his lids shut.

Daeul digs a scoop of his dessert, then faces to Jongdae’s direction but then he slowly backs away. He tilts his head towards Sehun still closing his eyes. Daeul rotates around his seat, and shoves his spoon into Sehun’s mouth. The surprised male opens his eyes wide, he reluctantly accepts the strawberry sensation. Daeul lets out a giggle, “I’m done.”

Jongdae frowns since he didn’t receive a scoop of ice cream from Daeul, he slumps down his seat and eyes at Sehun smirking at Jongdae. Jongdae loudly whines and stands up from his seat, “This is unfair!” His vanilla ice cream cone falls from his grip and lands on the floor, Jongdae stares down at the ground in disappointment.

Sehun snickers, “You asked for it.” He opens his mouth widely for Daeul to feed him another a scoop, Daeul obliges and scoops him a large spoonful of ice cream. Sehun shoots a mocking grin at Jongdae as he scrumptiously swallows the cold dessert.

“I hate you both,” Jongdae muttered. He feels betrayed, he’s at a loss for words. He doesn’t deserve this. Why is there a burning jealousy feeling growing inside of him?

☹ ☹ ☹

Daeul finally returns back home with his father. After their ice cream date, Bumsoo picks Daeul up from Sehun’s apartment, which took so much energy for the father to carry and console a crying Daeul into the car. The boy wouldn’t stop sobbing during the car ride because he didn’t want to leave his two friends. Bumsoo had to constantly remind Daeul that he will still see Jongdae and that it’s not the last time he’ll be seeing him. The small child sheds a tear while asking if he will see Sehun again as well. Bumsoo asks his son who Sehun is. Daeul answers his father with a mumbled “noodlehead.”

Meanwhile at Sehun’s apartment, the atmosphere feels empty without a small child running around the parameters of his home. Jongdae and Sehun are currently cuddling in bed, while Jongdae shows his boyfriend pictures of Spongebob memes, as an attempt to cheer him up. Jongdae is the only one laughing at the Spongebob caveman picture on his phone, and he catches his boyfriend straight up ignoring his precious meme folder. Sehun is busy fixating his eyes on the ceiling instead.

“Why are you being so emo?” Jongdae elbows Sehun in the ribs, making Sehun frown. Jongdae expects no answer from Sehun, instead he sits up from the bed and props himself on his elbow, “You miss him, huh?”

Sehun faces the opposite direction of Jongdae’s gaze, he mumbles, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Admit it! You miss Daeullie.” Jongdae doesn’t need to hear Sehun’s answer, since it’s pretty obvious that Sehun has grown attached to the small boy. Ever since that ice cream shop incident, Daeul wouldn’t let go of Sehun’s hand while they walked home, even though it hurt Jongdae’s pride that Daeul favored Sehun more, but it doesn’t really matter to him anymore because Daeul is happy to gain another friend.

Sehun sighs, “I just feel so bad for him,” He wraps his long arms around Jongdae’s small waist, “He doesn’t deserve to feel this much pain at such a young age.” Jongdae’s heart softens at Sehun’s words, and his hand dips beneath Sehun’s shirt as he soothingly draws circle on his boyfriend’s back.

Jongdae’s come to learn that Sehun really does care about Daeul. He loves how his boyfriend is a huge soft ball made of love, empathy, and kindness - even though Sehun doesn’t know how to express his care for others - but he really does mean whatever he says and he will go through the trouble to make his loved ones happy no matter what. “You want to come and babysit Daeul with me next week?” Jongdae invites with a smile on his face, as he combs through Sehun’s tangled hair.

Sehun’s eyes lit up so brightly like the stars. “Can I really?”

Jongdae chuckles in an amused, deep voice, “Of course you can, you baby.” He lightly taps the tip of Sehun’s nose. Sehun crinkles his nose from Jongdae’s poke, “I’m always your big baby.”

---

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