Work Text:
It was a big surprise for Johnny when Kun came home from school a lot earlier than when he usually does. And it was an even bigger surprise for him to see his husband carrying what looks like a year’s worth of exam papers stacked together in a cardboard box.
“Baby!” Johnny greets his husband in their driveway before placing a kiss on his lips. “You’re home early! Did classes get suspended or something?”
“Johnny, have you been working all afternoon?” Kun asks as Johnny takes the carboard box from him with one hand.
“Oh, yeah.” The taller man scratches his head. “After I picked Sungie up from school and let him take a nap, I’ve been in the garage editing some photos. What’s up?”
“Seoul’s going on a lockdown due to COVID. Everything’s closed. And I mean everything.” Kun emphasizes.
The married couple entered the house and Johnny proceeded to place the box somewhere in the living room.
“What do you mean the entire city is going on a lockdown? Then how about the schools?”
“Schools are closed for the time being. They don’t know when they’ll open again.”
“Wait, that means Jisung’s kindergarten is closing, too?”
“They’re not exactly closing per se. Just no face-to-face classes to avoid large gatherings. They’ll most likely switch to virtual classes for the time being. Didn’t Taeyong – ssi mention anything?”
“No? I don’t think they knew that the city was going on a lockdown when they dismissed the class. Oh, man. I can’t imagine the stress those two are about to have. They expect a bunch of four-year-olds to sit in front a monitor for hours every day and actually participate? Are they nuts? We can’t even let Sungie pay attention to us for more than five minutes.”
“Well, that’s the rule. There’s nothing we can do about it for now. It’s better this way anyway for everyone’s safety.” Kun explains. He then faces his husband and flashes the biggest smile he could muster (which is dangerous for Johnny’s heart, by the way). “Which means I’m hijacking your office in the garage for the meantime. I need a quiet space. Sungie can stay in the dining area for his classes so you can look out for him.”
“And where am I going to work?”
“Non – essential businesses would have to close for the time being…” Kun mentions cautiously.
“What? I have to close down my studio? How the hell are we surviving this lockdown if I close down the studio?!?!”
“I understand that you’re very upset about this, but let’s just put it this way, yeah?” Kun takes Johnny’s hands in his. “Think of all the people that would come to your studio if you stay open. Sungie would be home 24/7 which means there’s a high risk of him getting infected with COVID. Not unless you ask them to show you a test result every time they come by.”
“But I can’t just let you take all the financial responsibilities during lockdown! Your dad’s going to skin me alive!”
“It’s fine. I got it covered, okay? I’ll still have my salary during lockdown since classes would still be ongoing so we still have a stable income. Don’t stress yourself too much, yeah?”
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
“Help Sungie with his classes when our classes overlap. Other than that, you can keep me busy every night.”
“Baby, I think it’s still too early to talk about this, don’t you think?”
“It’s never too early for that.” Kun winks.
“Riiiiiiiight. That’s what marriage is for anyway, right?”
“Yes, and help your son with his seat works if there are any.”
“Did I just become a nanny?”
“No, you’re his dad. That’s your job.”
“Always so curt, aren’t we?”
“It won’t be all the time, anyway. Just when I still have class.”
“Okay, I can do that.” Johnny pouts. “But tell me if you need help, alright? I can still apply for a loan when ends don’t meet.”
“Sure, sure. But I really hope we won’t have to get to that part.”
“Of course, only when we have to.” Johnny reassures.
One hour later, a messy haired Jisung waddles up to the couple who were in the kitchen making dinner. “Baba…” Jisung mumbles as he rubs away the sleep in his eyes.
“Baobei!” Kun picks the toddler up. “How was school today? Did you have fun?”
“It was okay.” Jisung deadpans. “You’re home.”
“Ah, school was closed early today. Hey, starting today, Baba would be home all the time! Doesn’t that sound great?”
“Really?” Jisung’s eyes grew bigger.
“Really!” Kun repeats enthusiastically. “Now the three of us can spend some time together!”
“Yay!” Jisung squeaks.
“But you still have school so don’t get to excited, okay?”
“Euhm!”
“What about Dada? You’re not excited to see Dada all day at home, too?” Johnny whines from the stove.
“Dada too.” Jisung flashes them a lopsided smile. “Baba and Dada and Sungie.”
Just then, they hear the doorbell go off and Kun puts down Jisung and rushes to open the door.
“Just a second!” Kun calls out as he takes off his apron somewhere along the way to the door.
“Hyung!” Mark’s voice could be heard from the other side of the door.
“Mark?” Kun questions as he opens the door. And lo and behold, there stood not only Mark, but Jaehyun as well. “Jaehyun? What brings you both here?” Kun lets the younger two inside and situates themselves into the living room.
“Can we quarantine with you guys?” Mark rushes out.
“Qua – quarantine?” Kun chokes out. “Is one of you – “
“We’re not infected or anything!” Jaehyun quickly explains. “It’s just that our next door neighbor refuses to wear a mask when going out so there’s a huge chance that he’ll get infected or something and we don’t wany any of that.”
“What’s up with you two and why are you crashing my lovely home?” Johnny suddenly appears from behind with Jisung in his arm.
“We’re quarantining with you guys!” Mark exclaims. “So, we can spend time with Sungie!”
“Especially since our little one’s birthday is coming up!” Jaehyun coos.
“My birthday’s coming up, too you know!” Johnny rebuts.
“And so is mine but we’re not here for that. We’re here for Sungie’s birthday!” Jaehyun counters.
“Meanie!” Johnny sticks his tongue out and Jisung laughs from his side.
“You know what, sometimes I’m glad that I don’t share a birth month with you two.” Mark rambles.
“Oh, that makes two of us.” Kun adds.
“Aquariuses are known to be quite chaotic.”
“Just say we’re crazy and go.” Jaehyun jokes.
“Yeah…”
“Well, enough of that!” Kun claps his hands. “Why don’t you both take a quick shower and get ready for dinner? Johnny and I were in the middle of cooking.”
“Oh, sweet!” Mark exclaims. “Alright!” He hurriedly grabs his stuff and makes his way to the guest bedroom with Jaehyun not too far behind him. The couple then went back to the kitchen to continue to their cooking and Jisung sitting by the dining table coloring on his coloring book.
“This is going to be a very, very, chaotic quarantine.” Johnny mumbles once his siblings were out of earshot.
“Oh, cheer up! Now you’ll have someone to help you with Sungie.”
“No! That’s not it! How the hell are we getting some action time with those two just next door?!”
“I can’t believe you’re more concerned about that rather than your brothers’ safety!” Kun places a hand on his hip in disbelief.
“Hey, I’m just saying. You’re the freakier one here so I’m just concerned on how you’ll hold out.”
“You did not just say that with Jisung in the room!”
“What? It’s not like he understood it. He’s three, baby. Stop worrying.”
“You’re insufferable.” Kun complains in Chinese.
“So are you, baobao.” Johnny counters in Chinese.
“Why are we speaking Chinese?” Jisung interrupts in Chinese as well.
“It’s nothing, baobei. Dad and I are just playing around.” Kun reassures his son.
“Okay.” Jisung replies and proceeds to continue his coloring.
“Can we speak Korean again?” Johnny whispers from across Kun.
“Can you stop speaking altogether?” Kun teases. Johnny doesn’t say a word and instead zippers his mouth shut before breaking out a toothless smile and continues to tend to his cooking. “Ah, finally. Peace and quiet.”
Once dinner has ended and all the dishes had been done, the couple are now situated on their bed with Johnny on his phone and Kun reading on his iPad.
“What do you think is a good idea to do on Sungie’s birthday?” Johnny asks after a while.
“Hm,” Kun thinks about it for a while. “Obviously we can’t go to Jeju with the lockdown ongoing so I guess we’ll just settle for a house party with just us five.” Kun proposes.
“That’s so boring though. Five people?” Johnny asks in disbelief.
“Well, we’re not allowed to invite other people anyway. Maybe Sicheng can come? But other than him we can’t invite anybody else.”
“Not even Hyuka and Taehyun, too?”
“That’s the rule.” Kun pouts.
“Sungie’s going to hate this birthday party.” Johnny huffs.
“Honestly, I think he’ll like this more since there’s less people. Remember his birthday last year when he threw a fit because we invited Jaehyun’s co-workers?”
“Oh, yeah! He totally hated it and wouldn’t come out of his room.” Johnny looks back on that unfortunate day and shudders at the memory of his son wailing at the sight of strangers in their house.
“So, I think this would be a good thing for him. At least this time, it’s the people he’s already comfortable with.”
“If you put it that way, yeah, that does make more sense. It won’t overwhelm him at least.”
“Let’s just have a get – together lunch and then just do the things he wants us to do afterwards.”
“Yeah! We can have Mark sing him a song! I know that kid brought his guitar.”
“Then let’s do that.” Kun decides. “Let’s ask Sungie tomorrow what else he wants to do.”
And on the day of Jisung’s birthday, the four adults made sure to work extra quiet so as to not wake up the sleeping toddler. Kun and Jaehyun were busy in the kitchen cooking up a feast on all of Jisung’s favorite foods (which was not a lot according to Chenle) while Johnny and Mark work on decorating the living room.
“Hyung, do you think Jisung’s gonna love our gift to him?” Mark looks to Johnny’s general direction while taping a balloon to the wall.
“As long as it’s not ugly, he’s going to love it.” Johnny laughs as he puts up some string confetti on their curtain. “He’s not really picky with gifts. Remember Mr. Hamster? I saw that on a clearance sale once and decided to buy it for him as a joke, and what do you know? Now Kun and I are struggling to wean that stuff toy away from him.”
“Maybe he’s just overly attached to the toy, I don’t know.” Mark shrugs.
“That’s the thing, he is. We tried hiding it, tried telling him that Mr. Hamster ran away or got stolen, and he still wouldn’t budge. He’d cry every night until we felt bad and gave it back to him.”
“That’s sounds like a ‘you’ problem since you cave in so easily. Obviously, he’s going to cry after losing something so dear. Don’t we all?”
“Okay, Dr. Phil.” Johnny teases. “Now hurry up and tape those balloons. Sungie could wake up any second now. It’s past nine am!”
Twenty minutes later and the two had almost finished decorating not only the living room, but also the dining area.
“Hyung, I think we forgot something.” Mark says all of a sudden.
“What?”
“The cake! We don’t have a birthday cake!” He almost yelled.
“Hold your horses!” Johnny smiles at his younger brother’s enthusiasm. “Sicheng’s got it covered. But he’ll come by sometime before lunch. I heard he still has a home service this morning.”
“You can home service a yoga instructor now?”
“Hey, when you’re rich, anything’s possible, you know? And when you’re in need of cash, anything’s a job.”
“True, true.”
“Let’s just finish up here and help out in the kitchen, yeah?”
“Sure, sure.”
By nine thirty, the adults could hear Jisung’s bedroom door opening and closing, followed by a tiny voice calling out ‘Baba’ and ‘Dada.’ “In the living room!” Johnny calls out. When Jisung finally enters the living room, he’s greeted by his two dads and two uncles.
“Happy Birthday!” they all greet. Jisung couldn’t help but smile so hard his cheeks bunch up.
“Is it really my birthday?” Jisung looks up at the adults as he rubs the sleep away.
“Of course, it is, baobei!” Kun reassures him. “It’s February fifth!” Jisung smiles again and makes grabby hands towards Kun. He picks up the toddler and Jisung immediately wraps both of his tiny arms around Kun’s neck. “You’re four now!”
“I’m four now?”
“Yes, you’re four now! You’re all grown up!” Johnny states from beside them.
“You’re a big boy now!” Jaehyun adds.
“Really?” Jisung asks again as he hides his face in Kun’s neck.
“Really!” Mark repeats. “That means you get to do big boys’ stuff now! Don’t you like that?” Jisung nods in response.
“Let’s sing happy birthday when your cake gets here, yeah? Uncle Sicheng is coming today!” Johnny informs as he rubs his son’s head.
“Ankle Win?” Jisung looks up at Johnny. Kun couldn’t help but laugh at the cute nickname Jisung gave Sicheng.
“Yes, Uncle Winwin.”
“I remember telling you to come by eleven so we can decorate the cake.” Kun scolds as Sicheng takes his shoes off by the front door. “It’s almost noon.”
“In my defense, since the lockdown started, there seems to be more traffic now than ever before.”
“That’s why I asked you come to earlier so you could avoid traffic! Sungie’s been waiting for his cake for hours!”
“And I’m here now, aren’t I? Isn’t that more important?” Sicheng displays his ‘I’m pretty, so you’ll forgive me’ face and somehow, that always works with Kun.
“You’re lucky it’s my son’s birthday today.”
“And look who we got here today!” Johnny exclaims once he sees Sicheng entering the dining area.
“Ankle Win!” Jisung runs up to his uncle and Sicheng immediately picks Jisung up and pecks him on the cheek.
“How’s my favorite nephew?” Sicheng coos. “Happy birthday, baobei!” Jisung flashes him the biggest smile. “Hey! Your teeth are growing faster than ever before!”
“Well, someone’s late.” Jaehyun comments.
“You have no right to insult me when you literally live here.” Sicheng retorts as he puts Jisung down. Mark snorts out water while laughing at Sicheng’s remark. “But it’s nice to see you’re both still alive.”
“What do you mean? We hanged out just before lockdown!” Jaehyun protests.
“Was that before lockdown? That’s funny. I don’t remember.”
“Kun hyung!” Jaehyun whines. “Your cousin is being mean today.”
“He’s just growing old, that’s all.” Kun teases as he sits Jisung on the dining chair for the very first time. “Johnny, can you hand me a throw pillow?”
“Sure.” Johnny replies before walking over to the couch and grabbing a pillow.
“Okay, sit on this so you can reach the table. Since you’re a big boy now, you can sit on the dining table now.”
“Okay.” Jisung obliges as he stands up momentarily so Kun could place the pillow on the chair.
“I can only see half his head.” Sicheng blurts out.
“Don’t you dare!” Johnny scolds. “You’re doing great, bub!” Johnny smiles at his son.
“Alright, let’s light this baby up!” Mark exclaims as he takes out a match stick. He lights up the candle and Kun immediately takes out his phone to capture the moment.
“Happy birthday to you,” Johnny starts to sing.
“Happy birthday to you!” The others start to join. Jisung claps along with the rests of them. “Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to you!”
“Make a wish, baobei!” Kun calls out. Jisung puts his hands together and scrunches his eyes shut and proceeds to mouth his wish. Kun immediately reads it as I wish to be with Mr. Hamster forever.
Jisung finally opens his eyes and Johnny motions for Jisung to blow out the candle. After a few failed attempts, Jisung finally blows out the candle with a little help from Jaehyun.
Yaaaaay!” The adults greet. Kun cuts the video and places a big kiss on Jisung’s cheek. Johnny does the same on the other cheek and Sicheng instructs the two to keep kissing Jisung on the cheeks so he can take a photo.
“Send it to me.” Kun pleads with a smile.
“Cake! Cake! Cake!” Jaehyun and Mark cheer as Johnny fetches a cake knife from a drawer. He comes back with it and does the honor of cutting the cake on Jisung’s behalf. He gives his two younger brothers a slice and Sicheng as well.
“Yo, this cake is sweet!” Mark exclaims with a mouthful of cake. “It’s so yummy!”
“I can see that.” Kun stifles a laugh.
“Can’t believe he’s four now.” Johnny whispers to Kun while everybody else was busy with devouring the cake.
“Four joyous years with our baby.” Kun adds. “Time flies, doesn’t it?”
“Sure, does when you’re enjoying it.” Johnny smiles.
“I just – “ Kun looks down to Jisung. “Don’t grow up too fast, alright? Please never grow up.”