Work Text:
The faint sound of a truck pulling up from outside their window awakens Beomgyu from his sleep. He lets out a loud groan before rolling around and checking his phone on the bedside table.
9:45 am
He rolls his eyes, pulls himself under the covers and tries to ignore the escalating noise— “Beomie-hyung!~”
Nevermind.
Beomgyu opens one eye to see Kai in front of him, their faces only a few inches apart. He jumps back quickly, clutching his chest in shock.
“Shit! Kai, what the fuck?” He stammers out, glaring at his giggling friend on the floor.
“Hyung, we have new neighbors! They asked us to help out because the movers are busy with a lot of deliveries today.” Kai explains, shaking the still sleepy boy.
Beomgyu half-heartedly swats at the other boy before bringing the sheets back up to cover his face. “And why do you think we should help them?”
Kai pulls the cover back abruptly, allowing him to be face to face with Beomgyu again. “Because, we have to be good Samaritans..plus I heard the husband is a businessman and he might be able to y’know..help you find a job?” He reasons out looking at Beomgyu with hopeful eyes.
Now, how can Beomgyu say no those eyes?
He grumbles out a ‘fine’, steps back from his bed and starts cleaning it up.
“Who are these new neighbors anyways?” He grumbles.
“I cannot thank the both of you boys enough for your help. I really thought we were going to have to haul these up ourselves.” The wife says, smiling apologetically at a very exhausted Beomgyu and Kai.
“It’s really no worries ma’am, we just wanted to make you guys feel very welcomed here!” Kai beams back at her, nudging Beomgyu’s side making the other boy grunt.
“Y—Yes! It’s no problem really. I’m very happy to have spent my mornings carrying someone else’s stuff through multiple flights of stairs. It’s great exercise.” He says through gritted teeth. This results in another nudge from Kai.
Thankfully, the wife didn’t dwell a lot on Beomgyu’s words. “You boys are so sweet. It would have gone a lot smoother if I had helped but I also have something else to take care of.” She says, pointing to the crib in the middle of their apartment.
Kai excitedly bounces to it, staring down at a little baby girl on the soft cushioned bed, her head propped up on the pillows, snoring softly. “She’s absolutely beautiful. What’s her name?”
“Khayleigh.” The father pops out from one of the rooms, holding two cups of coffee in both hands.
Beomgyu tries his very hardest not to snort at that. Khayleigh? These people were so strange. He found it qwhite funny.
“What a wonderful name, sir! I hope she grows up very healthy and well.” He smiles at him, hoping his tone was convincing.
“Why thank you my boy. I hope so too.” The father replies, handing him one of the cups and passing one to Kai.
They drink their coffee in silence for a while before Kai coughs into his fist, looking at Beomgyu expectantly.
“S—so, um sir, if you don’t mind me asking. I saw that you have a lot of briefcases and suits. Where is it that you work?” He strikes up a conversation, hoping that the guy can help him land a job.
They enter a deep conversation for a while just the two of them, leaving Kai and the mother alone to chat.
“I can’t wait for our vacation in the following days. It’s going to be so peaceful without the baby for a while. I know it sounds mean but I just need a break from all the crying and poops and all of that.” The mother confesses, giggling to herself.
Kai nods along, “No, it’s alright. I’m not a parent myself but I can already tell from how stressful it looks. Plus, I’m already taking care of that one over there, if it counts.” He points to Beomgyu, who was looking very nervous as the father explained what job possibilities were available.
The mother looks back at him with a sparkle in her eyes. “Is he a handful?” She asks cautiously.
Kai snickers and nods at her. “He really is. But I don’t really mind it, especially because we kind of need each other.”
The mother smiles warmly at him, “You must be really lucky to have each other then. Those type of relationships don’t come often in a lifetime.”
Kai was about to respond when suddenly the baby starts crying, making the mother quickly rush to her.
Kai thinks it over for a while. What did she even mean by that?
Finally, the day ends with the two of them back home, exhausted from all the physical work and socializing they did.
“So, how was the job hunting?”
Beomgyu leans back on the head rest, raising a thumbs up, too tired to open his mouth.
Kai lets out a sigh of relief. “I’ll take that as a you have a job interview soon.”
“Yup. Cannot wait for it.” Beomgyu says, tone dripping with sarcasm. Kai just laughs at him and proceeds to make them dinner.
Knock knock knock knock knock knock
The rapid knocking sends Kai’s eyes open in a flash. He checked his phone and sees that its currently 5 am. Who the hell was knocking on their door this early in the morning?
He puts on his robe and quickly races to the front door.
“Hello?”
“Kai? It’s me. I need your help.” He hears the mother’s worrying tone. Kai immediately opens up the door and sees the mother holding the baby in one arm and a suitcase in the other.
Kai instantly feels a bit anxious upon seeing her like this. “Are you okay?”
“Look, I don’t have much time but I need you to take care of Khayleigh for a day or two. Our flights just got rescheduled to this morning and we just found out about it an hour ago. Can you please help us?” She blabbers out, reducing her volume everytime she feels the baby stir in her arms.
“W—what? Don’t you have a babysitter or something?” Kai inquires, his nerves shooting up.
‘Take care of a baby?’ Kai scoffs. He can barely take care of Beomgyu.
“We don’t, we just moved into this neighborhood and you guys are the only ones we know. Please.” The mother begs, her eyes fluttering from the baby to Kai.
“A—Alright, but I don’t know the first thing about taking care of babies.” He mentions worryingly. The mother then reaches behind her suitcase and takes out a few pieces of paper and their apartment key.
“Here.” She places it in Kai’s hands before explaining to him, “Here’s mostly what you need to know about taking care of little Khayleigh. You can also pop in at our apartment anytime to get the supplies and stuff, we don’t mind.”
Kai scans the paper on his hands. “Alright. I think I can do it.” He says confidently.
The mother beams at him before placing the baby in Kai’s arms. She kisses her goodbye and bows at Kai thankfully. “Thank you so much, Kai. I think I’m gonna fly comfortably now knowing she will be in a loving couple’s hands. I gotta go now alright?” She speeds off with her husband waiting in the elevator.
Wait, what? Couple?
Kai stands at the door looking down at the little bundle of blankets starting to wake up on his arms. Shit.
He catiously places the baby on their round chair, making sure she’s far away from the edge. Upon placing her, he immediately races to Beomgyu’s room, flipping open the door and shaking the other boy awake.
“Beomie-hyung please wake up!”
Beomgyu grabs a pillow instinctively and hits Kai in the face with it. “You asshole. Don’t you know what time it is?”
Kai sits on his bed, rubbing his face in pain. “Ouch hyung. Stop hitting me with your pillow. That’s abuse.” He whines before coming back to his senses, “Hyung we have a problem. A big one.”
Beomgyu sits up on his bed and glares at the other boy. “What is it?”
As if to answer his question, they hear a faint sound of the baby crying.
Beomgyu’s eyes widen and lock with Kai’s frightened ones.
“What the hell did you do now, Ning?” He scurries out of bed hurriedly and scurries to their living room. Kai plops down on Beomgyu’s bed, even he himself doesn’t know what he did.
Kai huffs out tiredly before feeling his arm being pulled by the older boy, “Why the fuck do we have the neighbor’s baby in our living room?”
The baby was full on crying now, not knowing where she was.
Kai explains the whole situation to Beomgyu, before apologizing profusely after it sunk in what had happened. Beomgyu could only groan at the other boy’s words.
This kid was just unbelievable.
“Okay okay, stop apologizing, you didn’t have a choice anyways. It would have been horrible rejecting the mother’s request like that. Now that the baby is here, let’s just see what we can do to keep it alive for the following days.” Beomgyu mutters under his breath.
Kai hands him the paper for instructions and reads the notes hurriedly scribbled on it. “Oh, I think this means that he’s hungry. Let’s go feed him.”
Kai looks at the other boy in slight confusion. He notices a slight change in the air and in how Beomgyu was acting. Why was he acting so composed and calm about this?
Throughout the next few hours, Beomgyu just keeps on surprising Kai with how good he is with taking care of the baby. He knew how to feed, change her diapers, and other things. It was very weird seeing his lazyroommate do tedious things like this. There has to be a reason.
“Were you ever a babysitter before? ‘Cause you are hella good at this.” Kai blurts out while he was cleaning the baby’s bottle.
Beomgyu smiles at him, “Yeah, I uh used to take care of my younger sister when she was still a baby because my parents weren’t around as much. I actually picked up a lot of life skills from that experience.” He switches to a frown, “One day though, they hired a nanny for her so I didn’t really do it anymore. Which is why…it feels nice to be able to do it again.” He looks down at the sleeping angel beside him, “Even if it was someone else’s baby.”
Kai pouts his lips, ‘Damn. I didn’t know that about him.’
“Wow, you’d make a really good dad.” Kai comments before curling in on himself after realizing how cringey that sounded.
Beomgyu bites his lip, looking back at him, “Yeah? You think so?”
The other boy flushes deeply before nodding.
“Thanks, Ning. You’d make a really great dad too. You take care of me pretty well.” Beomgyu grins at his still reddening face.
Thanks to Beomgyu, the days went by fairly quickly. Not a lot of bad things happened and even if there was, Beomgyu had been there to take care of it fairly quickly.
But on the last day that the parents were supposed to be coming home, the baby just would not stop crying. The boys tried everything, from giving her food, checking if it’s a diaper problem, playing with her, etc. They were so high strung from all the crying that they couldn’t stop themselves from fighting and arguing in front of the child.
“Hyung! Maybe the bottle you gave her was too hot.”
“It was lukewarm and maybe it was because you kept her up late last night because of your piano concerts! You’re not Mozart, bitch!”
“It was not a piano concert you idiot, it was for my job! Because I am employed! Something you just cannot relate to!”
Useless jabs were thrown at each other, the both of them not really meaning it.
“Kai, this is your fault in the first place! If you hadn’t been such a goody-two shoes and helped the neighbors move, the mother wouldn’t have left their baby with you and we wouldn’t have this problem right now!” Beomgyu spits out in a fit of anger.
Kai is silent for a while before giving Beomgyu’s arms a huge smack. The other boy steps back in pain before retaliating with an even bigger hit on Kai’s arm. The two look at each other in shocked silence before bringing their hands in a flurry, trying to land smacks on each other.
In the midst of the chaos with Beomgyu having Kai in a headlock, they turn their heads to the baby.
She had stopped crying and was giggling at the scene in front of her.
“Is she… laughing at us?” Beomgyu questions, his grip on Kai’s hear still tight. Kai struggles free before straightening his shirt out, “Maybe so. I think she finds it amusing seeing two grown men throw hands at each other.”
Beomgyu rolls his eyes, “At least someone does.” He crosses his arms in frustration.
Kai sighs in exasperation before facing the other boy. “Look, I’m sorry okay? I just didn’t want the new neighbors to feel like they have no one. That’s why I helped them. I’m sorry I roped you into this whole mess.”
Immediately, Beomgyu’s features soften, “Kai, it’s okay. I’m sorry too, in fact I should be thanking you, for giving me the chance to get a job interview and for helping me relive this feeling of taking care of a baby. It’s like… I’m taking care of my sister again.” He says softly, stepping close to him.
“Hug it out?” Kai shyly asks.
“I’m offended you even had to ask, now come here you big baby!” Beomgyu grabs the other boy and places him in his hold, slotting Kai’s head on his shoulder and wrapping his arms around his waist.
They hold each other for a while, just enjoying the warmth emanating from each other’s bodies, just waiting for one of them to let go. They’re both silently hoping that the other won’t do it.
Sadly, a knock on the door breaks their moment apart. They glance at the door and realize it’s probably the parents. They look back at Khayleigh and see the biggest smile on her face they had ever seen throughout the time they were together.
They greet the parents on the door who apologizes and bows to them deeply, with the father telling Beomgyu that he’s going to put in a really good word for him at his job interview. Beomgyu laughs back shyly, “it’s alright, sir! You don’t have to do that.”
“No, I insist, we apologize for leaving you with Khayleigh in such a hurry. I really want to make it up to you. So, don’t sweat the job interview.” The father replies, taking the baby back, giving her a kiss on her cheek.
“I’m gonna go grab some of the baby’s stuff, be right back!” Kai volunteers before hurriedly packing up Khayleigh’s stuff from the other room.
The mother appears beside him and coos at the baby, happy to see her back. “Let’s take her back to our apartment now dear, she must miss us terribly.” She tells the father as he begins to drag back their suitcase and the baby to their door.
She looks back at Beomgyu, “I’m really thankful that Khayleigh was with you boys. Are you planning to have a baby soon yourselves?”
Beomgyu chokes on his spit, “W—What? What do you mean us?”
“You and Kai. You guys are together right?”
Beomgyu blushes madly, his cheeks flaring up with every second this conversation keeps on going. “I—I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re not dating.”
The mother furrows her eyebrows in confusion, “That’s weird, Kai didn’t correct me when I called you guys a ‘couple’ a few days ago. Anyways, I apologize nevertheless.”
Beomgyu laughs nervously, “Wait, w—why’d you think we really were a couple?”
The mother smiles at him knowingly, her eyes twinkling, “That’s easy. The way Kai talked about you when we met a few days ago, he spoke like you were the stars in his sky.” She giggles at Beomgyu’s gaping mouth. “Plus, we saw you guys hugging tightly through your door window.”
Beomgyu was speechless. Were they really that obvious?
“I have to go now but please take care of each other okay? Let’s meet again soon. And I do hope that the next time, I’ll be seeing you two as a couple.” She raises her eyebrows playfully before giving Beomgyu a quick hug. “Because judging from your reactions, I think you like him and I’m gonna bet that he likes you back too.”
She stops when she notices Kai arrive back by the door. “Here’s the rest of Khayleigh’s stuff, ma’am.” He announces before giving back a small bag. She bows at him gratefully before formally saying goodbye to the two of them.
“So, what were you guys talking about while I was gone?” Kai inquires, tilting his head in confusion at Beomgyu’s tomato-red face.
“N—not much. Just about life.” He smiles weakly at the boy.
“Whatever. Hey, today’s tuesday which means you cook us dinner for tonight.” Kai teases him before plopping down on the couch. “Get right to it Chef Choi!”
Beomgyu rolls his eyes before landing a small smack to the side of the boy’s face.
“Ow! Beomie-hyung!”
This boy will be the end of Beomgyu’s existence.
"Sorry, Ning. What do you want to eat by the way?" Beomgyu drops his face and plants the softest kiss on the spot where he had hit him, loving how the younger boy's breath hitches. "I'll cook anything for my baby."