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it was a clear sunny day, and seokjin wondered what god he angered that he was subjected to this torture. he looked up to the sky, not daring to close his eyes for fear of sharpening his hearing, because the loud squeals that had been going on for the last thirty minutes was starting to grate on his nerves.
"is this what happens when you don't let a big baby out in the sun every weekend?" yoongi mused as he watched taehyung and hoseok scream and splash water at each other, nearly falling over every time a wave crashed into their legs.
jeongguk sat quietly in yoongi's lap, wrapped up in a small beach towel, while yoongi fed him watermelon. they'd gone into the water earlier, but the waves started getting bigger so seokjin and yoongi brought him out and now he was content just watching the two play.
"how's my favourite baby doing?" jimin asked as he walked over, carrying three ice cream bars. jeongguk looked at him curiously, and he took off his sunglasses before jeongguk squealed at him in recognition. "do i look that different with sunglasses on?"
"he couldn't recognise me with a cap on last week, so don't feel too offended," seokjin said with a shrug. "i think he's not used to not seeing my fluffy hair."
"can he eat ice cream?" jimin asked as he plopped down next to yoongi, and allowed jeongguk to wriggle onto his lap, flopping down across it like a fish.
"yes, but just a little," yoongi said. "i don't want him to have too much sugar."
"of course," jimin said, poking jeongguk's side and giggling when jeongguk shrieked in laughter. "hear that, ggukie? you can eat ice cream with me."
namjoon went to collect taehyung and hoseok before they went too far and got dragged into the ocean, while jimin passed the other two ice cream bars to yoongi and seokjin. it was a warm day, the sun shining bright in the sky, and their hair and clothes were quickly dry because of it.
jeongguk hummed in delight as he sucked on a piece of ice cream, kicking his feet in excitement.
"ice cream!" taehyung exclaimed as he walked back over towards them, sitting down next to jimin. jeongguk reached out to touch his leg, which was covered in sand, and giggled as he dragged his hand across the rough particles.
"why is he so easily amused?" seokjin asked as he stared at jeongguk, who was now dragging both hands across taehyung's leg, while taehyung grinned fondly at the baby.
"yes, i wonder who he got that from," yoongi said flatly. "i wonder who spent the whole day yesterday staring at a caterpillar making its way across our fence with him."
"i was just humouring him," seokjin said defensively.
"whatever you say, darling."
"should we get the sandwiches?" hoseok asked when he got there with namjoon. they had walked at a more sedate pace, while taehyung had run. "it's already past noon now."
"yeah," yoongi agreed. "let's go."
seokjin handed their car key to yoongi, and namjoon and hoseok went with him to get the cooler box with their lunch. jimin and seokjin had prepared sandwiches, cut fruit, and some cookies for their picnic at the beach, while jeongguk kept stealing the cut grapes and strawberries and taehyung kept stealing the cookies.
jeongguk noticed yoongi walking away from the corner of his eye and made a noise of alarm. he struggled in jimin's hold, ignored the piece of ice cream taehyung was offering him, and crawled as fast as he could towards yoongi.
"what am i, chopped liver?" seokjin lamented. "he never chased after me like that."
"well, we all know yoongi-hyung's you two's favourite," jimin said.
the two of them got up to follow jeongguk, in case he needed help. there was a set of stone steps that led down to the beach from the carpark, and jeongguk stared at the steps in front of him in concentration while yoongi, namjoon and hoseok was busy unloading the cooler box from the car.
"can he go up stairs already?" jimin asked, standing behind jeongguk, ready to pick him up if need be.
"i guess so, i've never seen him do it though," seokjin replied.
after a few seconds of silence, in which jeongguk steeled his resolve, he reached forward to grab onto the next step, and pulled himself up, stepping onto the bottom step. his other foot followed, then he moved forward again to grab the next step, and climb it up.
"camera, camera!" jimin exclaimed frantically, and taehyung hurriedly joined them to watch. jimin finally got the camera app open and recording when jeongguk was at the top step.
when jeongguk reached the top, the three were already walking back towards them with the cooler box in tow. seokjin expected him to wait at the top of the steps for yoongi to pick him up and carry him back down.
instead, he started going down the steps, the same way he went up.
he moved one of his leg backwards until he couldn't feel the step underneath his foot, and started lowering it until he could feel the next step. the other leg followed, and he moved his hands to steady himself on a lower step.
jimin made a choking noise and seokjin briefly wondered if he should be worried for him.
when jeongguk reached the bottom of the steps, he looked so proud with himself. yoongi had reached him by then, and quickly picked jeongguk up to carry him back towards their beach umbrella.
"good job, ggukie," yoongi praised as jeongguk beamed at him, looking like the cat that got the canary.
"how come you never praise me anymore?" seokjin whined as he followed the two. "i fixed the roof last weekend!"
yoongi rolled his eyes and turned to the others with a look that said "are you seeing this? i live with two babies."
the others laughed, but no one was surprised when seokjin laid his head down on yoongi's lap, jeongguk cuddled on his chest, and yoongi ran his hand through seokjin's hair gently, praising him softly for the good food and for being a good father.
after all, while it was obvious that both jeongguk and seokjin's favourite person was yoongi, it was also obvious that yoongi's favourite people were them two.