Chapter Text
“Papa?” Taehyung hears from behind him.Taeyong’s rubbing his eyes sleepily and tugs on his papa’s shirt. Taehyung smiles a little at the sight and picks him up easily.
“What are you doing here, dragon? You’re supposed to be resting,” Taehyung reprimands him lightly, and watches Jeongguk’s car roll out from the driveway. The 5-year old follows his gaze, with a big sneeze. Taehyung chuckles and wipes their son’s nose with his shirt.
“Thought Papa left me...Was that Daddy?” Taeyong asks curiously and his dad nods, sighing. He carries their son back to their bedroom, kicking Jeonghyun’s toys out of the way.
Jeonghyun and Taeyong’s nursery room was painted by Jeongguk himself; he had insisted that if anyone was going to decorate his children’s bedroom, it was going to be him.
The ceilings are painted like the night sky (Taehyung still can’t believe Jeongguk had insisted on buying these ridiculously expensive LED lights that projected constellations and whatnot) and had also single handedly painted a huge cherry blossom tree onto the wall that had petals large enough for their kids to write whatever they wanted on them.
Taehyung tucks Taeyong under the covers, chuckling at his reddened nose, and squeezing the wet towel.
“How are you feeling, Tae?” he asks softly, as he places the towel onto the 5-year old’s forehead.
“Very bad. Like I’m gonna die, Papa,” the toddler mumbles as he sneezes again. Taehyung laughs and kisses their son’s cheek. Taeyong’s pouting indignantly and his black hair is everywhere but Taehyung thinks he still manages to look like an angel.
“Papa,” Taeyong says, “Can you take a nap with me?” Taehyung’s heart feels like it’s about to burst with how much love he has for his little boy and grins.
“If little Tae-Tae takes his medicine,” Taeyong’s face scrunches up at this, “then Papa will sleep with him, ok?” The 5-year old looks alarmed and about to bawl at the same time.
He lets out a shriek. “I don’t wanna take the medicine!” Taeyong mutters a mantra of don’t wanna under his breath and big, fat tears start rolling down his cheeks. Taehyung sighs and pulls Taeyong into his lap. The towel on his forehead falls, forgotten.
“Oh, baby,” his dad coos, rubbing his hands soothingly on his back, “But you have to take the medicine if you want to play with Hyunnie…” Taeyong cries even more at the mere mention of his brother, small arms wrapping around Taehyung’s neck.
“I really wanna play with Hyunnie but I don’t like the medicine, Papa,” he sobs miserably, and Taehyung rocks him back and forth whispering there, there, dragon.
If Taehyung had learned anything from his 5-year old son, it was that his stubbornness rivaled that of his husband. Jeongguk was stubborn in getting what he wanted, most of the time never wanting to admit that he was wrong. Taeyong was the same case, soft lips always set into a pout and Taehyung internally groans whenever his son’s tears start to spill because of something.
Taeyong’s sniffling doesn’t stop until Taehyung’s phone starts ringing on the bedside table. It’s obnoxiously loud in the silence of the nursery room and Taehyung picks it up only to see the caller ID as muscle pig husband <33
“Hey, Gukkie, what’s up?” Taehyung asks with a smile already starting to form on his lips. It’s on speaker and Taeyong’s face lights up considerably at the sound of his daddy’s voice.
There’s a crackle on the other side and a small pause, as if Jeongguk was contemplating whether to say something or not.
“I just...wanted to see how my little dragon was?”
Taehyung laughs at the response which earns him a curious look from their toddler. “He’s absolutely fantastic, babe, such a good little boy aren’t you, Tae-Tae?” Taehyung chirps, “Say hi to Daddy, dragon!”
Taeyong pulls the device closer to his face and yells out, “Hi, Daddy!” There’s a well-earned chuckle on the other side as Jeongguk replies, “Good morning, baby.” Taehyung can only imagine the ear-splitting grin Jeongguk’s wearing right now.
“Are you being a good boy for Papa?”
Taehyung intervenes, “Actually, Gukkie, this little tyke over here has been refusing to take his medicine as of late.” A sly grin plays on his lips as he hears Jeongguk feigns surprise over the line.
It’s clear they’ve used this tactic many times before.
“What?” Jeongguk gasps, “That is not good, not good at all! Shouldn’t your hyung behave more, Hyunnie?” Taehyung hears their 2-year old garble a mess of ecstatic syllables over the line and the quiet chuckles from his husband. “Sorry, he’s too busy chewing my ear right now.”
“ Anyways ,” Taehyung steers them on topic firmly, “Daddy says you’ll be a good boy if you drink medicine, dragon, don’t you want that?” He watches Taeyong bite his lip and hesitate for a moment before nodding his head and bouncing on his papa’s lap excitedly.
“There’s my good boy!” Taehyung croons, and lavishes a loud kiss on their toddler’s cheek, earning an equally loud round of giggles. His cold hasn’t disappeared yet though, and the straining of his voice has Taeyong yelping in pain at his sore throat. Taehyung rubs his throat gently before murmuring to his husband, “Thanks, baby, I love you.”
Jeongguk sighs and replies, “Anything for you, Tae, I love you too,” he pauses. “Are you sure Taeyong’s going to be alright?”
Taehyung scoffs, “He’s the whole reason why you called, isn’t he?”
“Well, you know me…”
The older of the two laughs before setting Taeyong down on the bed, kissing the space between his eyebrows when he coughs particularly violently.
“I would’ve done the exact same thing, Gukkie,” Taehyung says quietly and receives a pleasant hum. “But don’t call again alright? I’m trying to put dragon to sleep.”
Jeongguk replies with an understanding yes, yes and before they knew it, Taehyung was left alone in the room again. He lets Taeyong take the medicine before he drifts away, and against Taehyung’s jurisdiction, Jeongguk calls his husband a total of 5 more times that day.
After the fifth, Taehyung has very calmly put his phone on silent. (But not before swearing at his husband irritably--without the presence of Taeyong, of course).
As Jeongguk cradles and sings to sick 4-year old Jeonghyun in his arms, he can’t help but think how equally taxing it must have been for his husband to take care of Taeyong when he was sick.
What would I do without him? Jeongguk thinks to himself wistfully as Jeonghyun’s eyes finally flutter close and his breathing evens out.