Work Text:
“jaebum, sweetheart,” jinyoung says, gaze on youngjae as he hops down the stairs with art supplies in his arms. “can you take mark, jacks, and gyeom with you?”
“with me… where?” jaebum asks in confusion, looking up from where he was bouncing yugyeom on his lap. yugyeom whines and jaebum bounces his leg to keep yugyeom happy.
“grocery shopping,” jinyoung hums, finally looking over at jaebum once he knows youngjae’s set down all the supplies. “it’s your turn to go shopping and take care of gyeom.”
“fine,” jaebum sighs, picking up yugyeom, who begins to whine loudly. he notices that yugyeom’s pacifier is on the couch and he picks it up, making sure nothing’s got on it before slipping it through yugyeom’s lips again. the one year old suckles on it tentatively before relaxing against jaebum. “mark, jackson! go get ready, we’re going to the market.”
“okay, appa!” mark calls from his room, and jaebum hears jackson scream with excitement and run around his room.
jaebum crouches down next to bambam, who’s grabbing all the different colors of paint that he wants to use. “you and jae be good for papa, okay?”
“‘kay,” bambam says, grinning as he holds up the green paint victoriously. “snakes are green!”
“you’re gonna draw a snake, li’l snake?” jaebum coos, kissing bambam’s temple. he stands and ruffles youngjae’s hair as he says to jinyoung, “i’ll go change yugyeom and get dressed, too. if the boys come down, can you keep them distracted for a bit?”
“of course.”
jaebum goes upstairs with yugyeom, and jinyoung spreads the large sheet of paper out on the ground so the two boys can get ready to paint. “what are you boys gonna do?”
“snake!” bambam says again, waving the green paint tube in the air. “and pokemon!”
“that sounds exciting, hon’,” jinyoung says eagerly, smiling when bambam grins back at him. he turns to youngjae, who seems to have not heard him. “youngjae-ah? what about you?”
youngjae looks up and smiles at jinyoung, saying, “i’m gonna paint flowers.”
“yeah?” jinyoung hums, running his hand through youngjae’s hair. “what kind of flowers?”
they’ve been trying to prompt youngjae to speak more lately — the five year old’s selectively mute, only speaking in places he’s comfortable. for youngjae, this place was slowly becoming their home, and it made jinyoung and jaebum happy to see youngjae speak up more. by what his papers from the adoption agency said, they’re glad he didn’t go fully mute.
“sunflowers,” youngjae responds, “‘cause a-appa and papa like them.”
jinyoung’s heart melts a bit at the adorable response, and before he can reply, jackson runs downstairs with mark right behind him. they grab their shoes and put them on, and jackson says excitedly, “papa! we’re gonna go shopping!”
“mhm,” jinyoung hums as he helps youngjae and bambam put paint onto paper plates. “how about this — tell appa that i said you two can get two things each that’s not a part of the list.”
“anything?” mark gasps, looking up excitedly.
“anything appropriate,” jinyoung reminds with a laugh.
“can i get that princess doll i asked for last time?” jackson asks, tying his shoelaces with a glint in his eyes.
“you can tell appa that i said it’s okay to get it this time,” jinyoung nods.
jaebum comes downstairs with yugyeom, who’s dressed up in a white shirt and overalls, jaebum himself dressed in a black hoodie and black jeans. he gently places yugyeom down next to mark, who pulls him onto his lap. “can you two put his shoes on, please?”
jackson nods and grabs yugyeom’s converse, and yugyeom suckles on his pacifier curiously as he watches jackson put on his shoes. jaebum goes over to jinyoung, crouching and kissing his cheek. “do you need anything besides what’s on the list?”
“i told jacks and mark they can get any two things they want,” jinyoung hums, chuckling when bambam whines and tries to shove jaebum to the side because he’s in the way. “jacks wants that princess doll he was whining for last time. let him get it today.”
“m’kay,” jaebum says, kissing jinyoung’s lips gently before standing up again. “jaejae, bammie, remember to be nice to papa.”
“mhm!” youngjae says distractedly, squirting yellow paint onto the paper plate. “bye bye, appa.”
“my own children are trying to get rid of me,” jaebum sighs dramatically, but he pats their heads affectionately before going back to where jackson’s playing with yugyeom’s little feet to hear yugyeom giggle happily. “c’mon, kids, let’s go.”
“appa!” yugyeom screeches from around his pacifier, making grabby hands at jaebum, who picks him up and kisses his nose. yugyeom giggles and hits jaebum’s head, repeating, “appa!”
jaebum gasps dramatically, stumbling back so yugyeom’s little squeals of joy can continue. the first time yugyeom had hit jaebum’s head, the baby had recoiled and stared at jaebum with wide eyes. however, jaebum just gasped dramatically and stumbled back, just as he did now, and yugyeom apparently found it funny enough to do it whenever he wants. “i’ve been wounded!”
yugyeom claps his hands, little giggles still slipping through his lips, and jaebum smooches yugyeom’s cheeks before looking over at mark and jackson. “you two ready?”
“do you promise you’ll get me the doll?” jackson pouts. “papa said you gotta.”
“of course i’ll get you the doll,” jaebum chuckles. “but both of you will sit in the back seats. yugy’s been getting fussy lately if he doesn’t have someone to play with him on both sides in the car.”
“okay!” mark nods determinedly, and he goes up to yugyeom, letting the younger hold onto his pinky. he turns slightly and waves yugyeom’s hand at jinyoung, saying, “bye, papa!”
“bye!” yugyeom echoes, and jackson bounces giddily as he waves goodbye to jinyoung as he follows jaebum out the door.
“don’t give appa trouble at the market!” jinyoung calls out to them, smiling when they shout back their okay’s and he hears the front door shut. he turns back to bambam and youngjae, smiling at them and handing them paintbrushes. “let’s start painting.”
“papa paint with us,” bambam insists, and after jinyoung gives him a look, bambam grumbles, “please.”
“all right,” jinyoung chuckles, grabbing his own paintbrush. “what are we gonna paint first?”
“sunflowers!”
“snakes!”
youngjae and bambam look at each other before pouting up at jinyoung, who smiles at them and says, “how about we do both? and i’ll do other animals and flowers.”
“cats and puppies,” bambam says, dipping his paintbrush into the green paint. “cats and puppies.”
“then that’s what we’ll do,” jinyoung nods, dipping his brush into the gray paint.
they paint together in silence, youngjae and bambam occasionally speaking up to show jinyoung their art and for jinyoung to praise them. youngjae pouts and holds up his brush, the bristles spread out in every direction. “papa, my brush…”
jinyoung looks over and hums, saying, “you can make a design with it! you can start writing your names and it’ll look like this…”
jinyoung takes the brush and dips it into the cup of water, rinsing out the paint before dipping it back into the yellow paint. he presses the brush down onto the paper repeatedly in motions so that he can write youngjae’s name on the paper. when he’s done, youngjae makes a sound of awe in the back of his throat at how there’s faded paint around the areas jinyoung pressed down on. “it looks cool.”
“yeah?” jinyoung grabs his own paintbrush again, swirling it in the blue paint. “how about you do that with everyone’s name, okay?”
“okay!”
jinyoung turns to bambam, watching as the 3 year old silently concentrates on making his snake perfect. “that looks good, bam-ah.”
“thank you,” bambam says quietly, still focused on his art. he grabs another brush and makes little red designs on the snake, and he glances over at jinyoung. “papa, pikachu?”
“can papa paint pikachu,” jinyoung says gently, and bambam blinks up at him before repeating slowly, “can papa paint pikachu?”
jinyoung smiles and nods, kissing bambam’s forehead — the toddler’s a tad bit behind in stringing his words into proper sentences. “of course i can, sweetie. for mark?”
“for mark,” bambam nods. “squirtle for sseunie!”
“they won’t be perfect, but i’ll try my best.”
as jinyoung begins to paint out a small pikachu, he watches bambam from the corner of his eye and bambam ditches the snake painting to paint something else. he soon smiles a bit and asks, “bammie, is that appa?”
youngjae peeks over and he starts giggling loudly, and bambam grins at them. “mhm! when appa’s pretendin’ to be mad!”
youngjae giggles and tried to jut out his chin, makin bambam squeal with laughter and fall on his back as he laughs. jinyoung’s hand covers his mouth as he tries (read: fails) to stifle his laughter. he helps bambam sit back up, rubbing his back when he coughs from laughing too hard. “you two draw such interesting things.”
bambam crawls over and wiggles over jinyoung’s lap to get to youngjae, and bambam wiggles his way over to sit on youngjae’s lap. youngjae grins and helps bambam sit on his lap comfortably, and bambam leans his head back to smile at youngjae, reaching up to squish his cheeks. youngjae squishes bambam’s cheeks as they both whine at each other. jinyoung pulls out his phone and snaps a quick picture of them, sending it to jaebum before putting his phone away. “come on, cuties, let’s continue painting, okay?”
“okay,” jaebum hums, looking up from his list. “we got shrimp, radish, kimchi, bok choy…”
“papa said we really needed rice,” jackson reminds him.
“oh, thank you, jacks,” jaebum says, ruffling jackson’s hair. “can i trust you two to go get what you want and meet me back at the meat section?”
“yeah!” jackson says, and mark nods eagerly.
jaebum bends down and beckons jackson over, whispering to him, “stay close to mark-ah, if he panics, then calm him down and make sure he’s okay, or hurry him over to me, okay?”
“yes, appa!” jackson whispers back, and he waves at yugyeom, who giggles and waves his little hands back at him. he rushes back to mark and takes his hand, and jaebum watches as they hurry away, turning to yugyeom and sighing dramatically, “it’s just you and me, yugy.”
yugyeom looks up at him, eyes sparkly, and jaebum smiles before going to find some rice.
jackson and mark go over to the snacks section, and jackson says, “what do you wanna get, hyung?”
“tteokbokki crackers,” mark says, standing on his tiptoes to search for it. “i haven’t had them in a long time…”
jackson nods, searching for it as well. when he finds it, he whoops in excitement and goes over to grab it off the shelf. mark moves to follow him, but he blinks when someone’s legs block his view. he frowns — when did someone with their dumb basket get in his way? he looks up with wide eyes, freezing as the man looks down at him with a smile, saying, “hello.”
mark whimpers and backs away, fingers gripping his jacket sleeves — it may be the deep voice, or how tall the man was, but something about him made mark’s heart race in panic as he takes little steps back. he tries to greet him back, but only a small sound of fear manages to come out.
jackson looks over and sees mark, gasping softly and hurrying over to mark. he smiles up at the man, saying, “thank you for finding my hyung, mister! bye!”
he pulls mark away to where he had found the tteokbokki crackers, making sure the man walked away before looking back at mark, whose eyes are squeezed shut. “markie? can you open your eyes?”
mark slowly opens his eyes, and jackson holds mark’s hands with a smile, saying, “can i hug you?”
mark hesitates before nodding, and jackson hugs him gently, whispering, “it’s okay, hyung, he isn’t who you were thinkin’ of.”
“i know,” mark whispers shakily, shaking his head. “i-i just got scared.”
“that’s okay,” jackson hums, pulling away. “you can take my second item! i only wanted the doll anyway. you can have three things!”
“are you sure?” mark says in surprise, and jackson nods insistently. “o-okay… can we s-still get that seaweed snack we all love?”
“but those come in small packets?” jackson frowns, scrunching up his nose.
“appa and papa said anything appropriate,” mark reminds, pointing at the large box containing many little packets of seaweed snacks. “we can get the big one for all of us.”
jackson lights up happily, and he picks up the box, which wasn’t as heavy as he expected. he looks at mark and says, “let’s go get the doll!”
they go to the toys section, and jackson immediately grabs the doll he’s wanted with a grin. “what do you want for your third thing?”
mark thinks before he grabs another princess doll. jackson makes a noise of confusion and mark says, “she needs a princess t-to save her this time. there’s too many princes at home.”
jackson grins even more at this. “cool!! now let’s go back to appa!”
they rush to the meat section, where jaebum was waiting for them as promised. he hums as they put their things in the cart, saying, “i didn’t know you wanted to get the big box of seaweed snacks, sseun.”
“mark hyung got it!”
jaebum tilts his head in confusion. “but mark already has two things.”
“he got scared and so i let him take my second thing,” jackson shrugs, and jaebum’s heart hurts a bit at how cute jackson is. “besides, we all like it! so it’s okay!”
jaebum ruffles jackson’s hair proudly before looking at mark, asking gently, “you’re okay, markeu?”
“mhm,” mark says, toeing the floor. “sseunie helped me.”
“that’s great,” jaebum smiles, and he adds, “li’l yugy here got his own item. he asked for a stuffed dinosaur.”
jackson and mark peek at yugyeom, and they find that he’s playing with said dinosaur plushie while giggling. mark smiles and pokes yugyeom’s tummy. “cute.”
“appa, did you get the shrimp crackers for bammie?” jackson asks, peering into the shopping cart. “he’s been sad ‘cause he doesn’t have any more.”
“i did remember to get that, thankfully,” jaebum says, making a face at yugyeom when the baby looks up at him, making him giggle. “i think we’re good to go.”
“appa,” mark gasps loudly, “you did forget something!”
“eh?”
mark rushes off, and jaebum quickly turns the cart to follow him, jackson skipping next to him. mark comes back quickly, however, and he dumps a 12-pack of strawberry milk into the cart with a grin. “there!”
jaebum blinks in surprise before smiling gently, patting mark’s head. “thanks, mark.”
yugyeom looks down at mark and repeats after jaebum with babbles. mark reaches up and pokes yugyeom’s tummy again. “yugy’s cute.”
jackson tugs on jaebum’s sleeve, whining, “let’s gooo! i wanna play with the dolls with mark!”
“okay, okay,” jaebum chuckles, steering the cart around and going to one of the checkout lanes, making sure jackson and mark are next to him. “let’s go.”
“i think we’re done!” jinyoung exclaims with a grin, setting down his paintbrush and staring at the painting. “we can hang it up on the wall if anyone else wants to add something.”
youngjae claps excitedly, standing up and rushing to get the tape (he’d get tacks, but the one time they used it, a tack fell dangerously close to yugyeom…). bambam grins up at jinyoung, showing off his paint covered hands. “dirty!”
“that’s right,” jinyoung laughs, pinching bambam’s cheek. “your hands are dirty. we’ll wash your hands when we hang up the paper.”
youngjae comes back with the tape, and jinyoung tells him to watch bambam as he picks up the large sheet of paper and goes to tape it up on the wall. when he’s sure it’s secure, he turns back and motions for bambam and youngjae to come over, and youngjae helps bambam up so that they can go to jinyoung. “let’s go wash your hands.”
they go into the restroom, and bambam stands on his captain america themed stool as he and youngjae scrub the paint off their hands, jinyoung occasionally helping them tug their pajama sleeves back up when it slips down.
he hears the front door open, and jaebum’s shouting out, “we’re home!!”
“appa’s home!” youngjae screeches with joy, hurriedly drying off his hands and rushing out of the bathroom.
jinyoung chuckles and helps bambam wash off the remaining paint that’s on his thumb. bambam looks up at jinyoung, saying, “did appa get shrimp chips?”
“i’m sure he did,” jinyoung hums, turning off the water. he waits for bambam to dry off his hands, adding, “if he didn’t, i’ll send him back.”
bambam giggles as he puts away the towel and makes grabby hands at jinyoung. the older rolls his eyes fondly and picks up bambam, turning off the lights and leaving the bathroom to go into the living room, where the others are all sitting. bambam squirms in jinyoung’s hold and jinyoung lets him down, watching the toddler go over to jaebum, climbing up on the couch. jaebum kisses bambam’s forehead, and bambam waves at him, saying, “hi, appa! did you get shrimp chips?”
“i sure did,” jaebum says, pulling the shrimp crackers from behind his back and handing it to bambam. the toddler squeaks happily and grabs the bag, thanking jaebum as he opens the bag and shoves a handful of crackers in his mouth. “slow down, bud, i only got you two bags.”
bambam nods, looking at yugyeom, who’s watching him from jaebum’s lap. “appa, can yugy eat crackers?”
“he’s too young for that,” jaebum says. “but when he’s a little bit older, you can share.”
bambam nods, patting yugyeom’s little hand solemnly. “sorry, yugy.”
yugyeom blinks up at him and giggles, still clutching his new dinosaur plushie. his pacifier is nowhere to be seen, and he’s suckling on the arm of the dinosaur. bambam pokes yugyeom’s nose, making yugyeom squeal in surprise. jaebum chuckles at the two and gently pulls the plushie away from yugyeom’s mouth, whispering, “you hungry, sweetie?”
yugyeom babbles eagerly, seemingly understanding the word ‘hungry’. jaebum picks him up and kisses jinyoung, humming, “want me to feed yugyeom?”
“i’ll take him,” jinyoung whispers with a smile, gently taking yugyeom from jaebum. “he’s been craving chocolate milk for a while. watch over the kids for a bit.”
“of course,” jaebum smiles back, sitting back down on the couch. youngjae crawls up next to him, munching happily on his seaweed snack. “hey, jae. i saw you and bammie’s artwork. it looks great!”
“thanks, appa,” youngjae says, laying his head on jaebum’s lap. jaebum instinctively runs his fingers through youngjae’s hair, his other arm wrapping around bambam’s small frame as the boy curls up against him. “bammie’s good at painting.”
bambam smiles shyly at this, and jaebum rubs his shoulder, kissing bambam’s forehead. “i saw. you're both very good.”
“thank you, appa,” bambam mumbles, and he holds up a few shrimp crackers against jaebum’s mouth. “eat.”
jaebum snorts at his little demand, and he lets bambam feed him the crackers. as he munches on them, he watches as jackson and mark play with their dolls while watching pokemon on the tv at the same time. jackson catches his eye and waves eagerly before turning back to mark.
“boys, do you want some fruit?” jinyoung calls from the kitchen.
bambam gasps, hand immediately getting out of the bag of crackers as his eyes sparkle with excitement — jinyoung and jaebum found out a few weeks ago that bambam really loves fruit, which allowed them to have one less child to worry about eating healthy snacks. “watermelon, please!”
“strawberries and oranges for me and markie, please, papa!” jackson calls, giggling as mark pretends to crash their cars.
“jae?” jaebum hums gently, checking to see if youngjae’s awake. “you want fruit, sweetheart?”
youngjae plays with the plastic packaging of his seaweed snacks, thinking about it before saying softly, “apples are nice.”
jaebum nods and calls out to jinyoung, telling him of youngjae’s fruit choice. he continues to run his fingers through youngjae’s hair, and soon jinyoung comes out with yugyeom in one arm and a bowl of small chopped up apples and yugye’s sippy cup in his other hand. he places yugyeom down on the play mat along with the bowl and sippy cup, telling jackson and mark, “watch over your little brother until i come back, okay? make sure he doesn’t make a mess.”
“yes, papa,” mark says, crawling over to yugyeom with jackson. he ruffles yugyeom’s hair, and yugyeom grins up at him, the few teeth that already grew showing with his smile. “hey, yugy. you should eat your apples!”
yugyeom reaches out and grabs jackson’s nose, making jackson squeak in surprise and mark fall into a fit of giggles. jackson plays along, pretending to cry, “you stole my nose, yugy!”
yugyeom pulls his hand away curiously, and jackson wails dramatically, “you have my nose!”
yugyeom giggles loudly at his theatrics and places his hand against jackson’s nose again. jackson gasps dramatically, kissing all over yugyeom’s chubby cheeks. “my nose is back! thank you!!”
yugyeom squishes jackson’s cheeks, evidently amused. mark grabs one of the small pieces of an apple slice and holds it up to yugyeom’s lips, saying, “snack time, yugyeom!”
yugyeom opens his mouth, letting mark feed him. he munches on the apple happily, grabbing his sippy cup and drinking some water. jackson and mark take turns in making sure yugyeom’s eating his snack, unknowing of jaebum’s fond smile directed towards them.
“i come with more snacks,” jinyoung announces dramatically, bringing in more bowls of fruit. jaebum reaches forward and grabs the bowls of watermelon and apples for bambam and youngjae — bambam shoves his bag of crackers to the side and eagerly starts to eat his watermelon, and youngjae sits up to eat his apples. jinyoung places the bowls of strawberries and oranges in front of jackson and mark before sitting next to youngjae with his own bowl of strawberries and grapes. he holds it out to jaebum, who raises his eyebrow, and says, “we’re sharing, eat your strawberries.”
jaebum rolls his eyes fondly, reaching over to grab a few strawberries and eating them. “thanks, hon’.”
jinyoung smiles at him, leaning forward to peck his cheek before glancing down at youngjae. “are the apples good? i remembered you like the fuji ones.”
“mhm,” youngjae sounds out, swallowing his apple slice. “it’s yummy. thank you, papa.”
jinyoung ruffles his hair and chuckles at the sight of bambam eating his watermelon — he always took out the seeds in case bambam chokes on one, but he left just a few so bambam can spit them out (the toddler really enjoys spitting out watermelon seeds; why, jinyoung may never know). he turns to the three on the floor, asking, “how was shopping today?”
“it was fun!” jackson says, letting yugyeom play with his fingers. “i got my doll, and mark hyung got a doll, too. he got tteokbokki crackers and the seaweed snacks for everyone.”
“why did mark get three things and you got one?”
“‘cause hyung got scared at the market ‘cause there was a big man,” jackson says. “so i let him have my second thing!”
jinyoung sighs softly, glancing at jaebum, who nods to confirm what jackson said. “are you feeling better, mark?”
“yeah,” mark says softly, fixing yugyeom’s overalls and making sure water doesn't drip from the cup onto yugyeom’s clothes. “sseunie helped me. so i’m okay.”
“that’s good,” jinyoung says, relieved. “i don’t want anything bad happening to any of you.”
“appa and papa are heroes,” bambam says insistently. “will protect us!”
“that’s right,” jaebum hums, kissing bambam’s forehead, intertwining his fingers with jinyoung’s. “we’ll protect you.”