Work Text:
it was a peaceful and calm november afternoon, exactly the same as the other ones. from his workplace’s window, jaemin could hear the soft and cold autumn breeze beating against his window, moving the branches of the trees and causing the leaves to detach from them.
jaemin spent the whole day working on his pc and designing one of his new mini games, which was about you (the player) being the detective in a murder investigation and it’s basically like solving a real crime by yourself. there were no clues, no help, just you and a mystery you should solve.
he was having some fun by planning the perfect crime inside his head and putting it inside the game. just the thought of people staring at the crime scene without knowing what to do was funny to him and he was also curious about how many people would solve his mystery.
jaemin’s workplace was practically his bedroom. the color red was everywhere. yes, red. since he finished university and therefore left the volleyball team he had developed a little obsession with that color.
for lots of people red colour meant anger, fire and destruction, but for jaemin it meant home, family and love. lots of love. because red was nekoma’s color and nekoma was his everything.
that afternoon, jaemin was wearing gray track pants, black socks, a beige t-shirt and a jacket with the zipper open in the front on top of it. a part of his long black hair was tied up in a messy bun that hung behind his head, but his bangs were still preventing his eyes from having a wide field of view.
he was sitting in his gamer chair with one of his legs like if he was sitting correctly and the other one with his ankle resting on his other thigh. he knew that it was bad for him but still, he couldn’t prevent his back from arching and looking like he had a small hump there.
his hands were on his keyboard, he was setting some commands and fixing others because they didn’t work as they should. right next to the computer you could find a cup half-filled with coffee that was still steaming, making jaemin’s workplace feel warmer somehow.
and on the other side of the table a cute white cat with spots of different shades of brown and black was laying there with his eyes closed and peacefully sleeping, just moving and purring a little bit when jaemin made a small recess and he caressed his fur, making him slightly wake up before falling asleep again.
it was their routine when they were completely alone in that house. jaemin would sit down for work and the kitty would lay with him, it really didn’t matter where. maybe on top of jaemin’s legs or just next to his computer, and the cat’s presence with him made jaemin feel happy.
they were used to staying like that for hours, just working and sleeping in complete silence until it was that time of the day. the time when jaemin’s little angels arrived home, and when he suddenly heard the door being opened, loud screams coming from the entrance and footsteps going on his room’s way, he knew it.
‘daddy!’ he heard them screaming the second they opened his bedroom’s door and he turned to see his two kids standing there. he felt a pair of arms on his leg and he saw one of his sons trying to sit on his lap, so he carried him and after giving him a soft kiss on his cheek he sat him there.
‘my two favourite boys on earth.’ he said as he carried his other son, sitting him on top of his other leg and giving him another soft kiss on his cheek. then he started to gently tickle his two babies, making them endlessly laugh until he finally stopped when he saw tears in their eyes.
‘oh, so they’re your favourite boys now? and what about me?’ another voice said and jaemin lifted his head, rolling his eyes and smiling at the person that was standing there. looking at him with heart eyes, an adorable pout, handsome face, ethereal looks and wearing casual black ripped jeans, a white t-shirt and a red plaid shirt on top of that was jaemin’s world.
lee jeno. jaemin’s favourite place, jaemin’s everything, jaemin’s first love, jaemin’s happiness. and, oh, jaemin’s husband.
if eleven years ago you told the jaemin who first set foot in korea that years later he would be married to the love of his life with two children, a cat and a house with a garden, he would probably tell you that you were crazy. but still there he was, being the happiest person in the world.
eleven years before that moment nekoma’s team trained hard almost every day and they ended up winning the national tournament. of course it wasn’t easy, the other teams were brilliant, but na jaemin wanted so badly to make mark lee’s dream come true and nothing was going to stop him from that.
the year after that one jeno and him were selected to represent korea in the world volleyball championship along with other team’s members like hyunjin from karasuno, jungkook from fukurodani and more players. they didn’t win, but jaemin won the award for the best setter in the tournament.
their relationship only became stronger and stronger, they trusted each other with their whole lives and they told each other everything, no lies, no hiding things, no secrets.
on their last year jeno ended up moving in with jaemin even though he practically lived there already, they just made it official. that year they won nationals again and even though jeno and him were offered to go and represent korea again they declined the offer.
none of them wanted to become professional volleyball players so they wanted to spend their last year with their team since they wouldn’t be officially playing together anymore. jeno ended up choosing sungchan as the next team captain and you wouldn't imagine how much the golden trio cried when the other boys graduated.
of course they were still in contact, there wasn’t a weekend where they didn’t meet to play games on the beach or in a gym if it was raining.
after graduating, jaemin was able to start his own video games company and it became really famous in just a couple months. it was called ‘Bouncing Ball Corp’ and despite being the CEO he was also one of the video games creators and testers. of course being as obsessed with video games as he was he should work as a tester.
jeno ended up working as a teacher at nekoma's school and when jaehyun left he was the one in charge of the volleyball’s team, and even though he wasn’t the one playing he was still passionate about his members playing volleyball and improving. of course everyone asked him for ‘na jaemin, the best setter in the world!’
‘he’s your boyfriend, right, hyung?’
‘can we meet him? is he coming to our next match?’
‘do you think he would accept to teach me how to serve?’
and after many attempts and prayers jaemin accepted to go there and meet jeno’s team. he stepped inside the gym while holding jeno’s hand, standing next to him while his boyfriend proudly introduced him to the team and feeling everyone’s gaze on him. he didn’t like attention, but with jeno holding his hand he didn’t matter.
it was jeno who asked jaemin to marry him when they were 25. they started dating when they were 19, they had been together for six years, so why not get married? jeno was expecting jaemin to say no, and and I had already thought of many other ways to ask him until he finally accepted.
but when he casually asked him the first time on the beach, under the moonlight and while they were playing volleyball, jaemin said yes without hesitating. jeno remembered that moment perfectly.
‘what?’ he said after hearing ‘yes’ coming from jaemin’s lips. his whole body was frozen and he couldn't move, he was just standing there, feeling the sand on his feet and staring with wide eyes at his boyfriend.
‘I said yes.’ jaemin repeated, walking his way and standing right in front of him, caressing jeno’s cheek with one of his hands as he looked deep into his now fiancé’s eyes. jeno smiled a little, still processing everything.
‘so do you really want to marry me?’ he asked, feeling happiness spreading all over his body and adrenaline rushing through his veins. jaemin just smiled at him, nodding with his head.
‘of course I want to marry you. you’re the love of my life, lee jeno.’ and in less than a second jaemin already had jeno on top of him as he fell on the sand, feeling jeno’s lips all over his face and hearing lots of ‘I love you’s and more cheesy stuff coming from jeno’s lips.
that whole fiancés thing didn’t last too long though, the day after the proposal they were already on a flight on their way to greek. they came back married, with lots of souvenirs, a miniature reconstruction of the pantheon of athens and having to deal with a really angry donghyuck that wanted to be jeno’s best man since they were seven.
and it was finally the stage of having children. jaemin knew that, jeno knew that, but jeno didn’t know if jaemin wanted to take that step in their relationship yet, so it was jaemin the one who did it.
‘hey jen, can you give me your opinion on something?’ he turned around, looking at his husband that was peacefully reading on top of their bed, looking extremely adorable and smoochable with his glasses on.
jeno lifted his head when he heard jaemin’s words and he closed the book, stretching his arms and his legs and rubbing his eyes before standing up and stumbling to where his husband was.
‘on what?’ jeno said, still half-asleep and putting his hands on jaemin’s shoulders, giving him a small massage there. jaemin smiled, putting one of his hands on top of jeno’s and caressing it.
‘look at this, I was thinking about buying a blue one because it’s cute, but I like the purple better.’ jeno leaned closer to the computer’s screen and it took a couple seconds for his eyes to adapt to the light that was coming from there.
when he saw the things that jaemin was showing him weren’t true, so he had to stay looking at that screen for a couple seconds before finally being able to react.
jaemin was showing him an online store where they sold things for babies like cribs, bottles, clothes, etc. or more specifically two little pacifiers, a blue one and a purple one. he frowned and looked at jaemin, who was staring at him with an amused smile.
‘do you have oral fixation?’ jeno asked and jaemin let out a really loud chuckle as he shook his head. he imagined jeno saying lots of things, but he wasn’t expecting something like that.
jeno looked into jaemin’s eyes, wondering what he was thinking about, and jaemin’s eyes were glowing. he could even count small stars on them, and just because of that jeno knew.
‘are you pregnant or something like that?’ and this time jaemin just smiled, a pure and filled with love smile, the one only jeno knew.
‘babe, I’m biologically a boy, I can’t be pregnant.’ then he stood up, standing in front of his boyfriend and gently holding his hands, caressing them with his thumbs and intertwining their fingers.
‘I want to adopt a baby.’ and jeno just couldn’t believe that jaemin, his jaemin, his husband, the love of his life, was saying that to him.
of all the scenarios that he imagined in which one of them would end up saying that phrase, he had never imagined that it was jaemin who would say it to him.
‘are you sure?’ jeno asked, his heart was pounding so hard on his chest and he was overflowing joy. jaemin bit his lower lip, nodding with his head.
‘I’m 100% sure.’ and after saying that he just felt jeno’s lips against his, kissing him multiple times and not letting him talk, making him giggle out of pure happiness as he heard jeno saying that he loves him and him trying to say it back.
after that they started to do everything they had to do to adopt a child. none of them cared about the gender, they just wanted to take that step. together.
the moment they were standing in front of the orphanage felt unreal to them, especially for jaemin. he just couldn't believe that jeno and him were going to adopt a kid together. his hands were shaking and the same with his whole body. he breathed a couple times until he felt jeno’s hand on his, holding it tight.
‘are you ready?’ jeno asked and jaemin hesitated a little before smiling at him and nodding with his head. when they stepped inside the building an old lady greeted them and they talked about all the details, mostly paperwork and that stuff. it was finally time to go and see the kids that were there.
‘feel free to talk to them, most are very friendly and extroverted.’ the nice old lady that smelled like cookies said and then she opened the door, letting jeno and jaemin see a small backyard filled with some kids from different ages. jaemin held jeno’s hand a little tighter, approaching his husband’s body and practically hiding behind him as jeno was still talking with that lady.
suddenly, jaemin felt something hitting his leg and when he turned around to see what was that he saw a small boy sitting on the ground, rubbing his head and letting out some cute giggles.
‘I’m sorry, sir!’ he said as he stood up by himself, fixing his clothes and still laughing at his own dumbness. jaemin slowly let go of jeno’s hand, kneeling down in front of that small boy and looking at him.
‘are you okay? did I hurt you?’ he asked and the kid finally lifted his head, looking at jaemin too. jaemin could see purity and passion in that kid’s eyes, he had a look full of energy, as if he wanted to eat the world, and his heart gave a little turn when he realized that that boy reminded him of a certain canadian boy.
‘I’m fine! I’m a strong boy so nothing can hurt me.’ even his voice was filled with enthusiasm and energy, it was scary how much that boy looked like mark, even his talk was similar. jaemin smiled with the kid’s laugh and then he looked at the boy’s hand, noticing a plushie there.
‘Is that a plushie?’ jaemin asked and the boy’s eyes started to glow as if he was going to talk about his favourite thing in the world. he showed jaemin his favourite plushie and jaemin’s heart skipped another beat.
‘his name is mr. lion! and he goes ‘rawrr’ every time I eat his food. I tried to explain to him that he can’t eat because he doesn’t have a mouth but he’s a little silly.’ he approached jaemin just to whisper that last sentence on jaemin’s ear, as if the little plushie could hear their conversation and feel sad about it. jaemin smiled at the boy’s cuteness.
‘I’m lee jaemin, what’s your name?’ he asked, still looking at that boy, who was now cutely hugging his lion plushie. he didn’t know why, well, he kinda did know why, but he was feeling a really especial connection between him and that small boy.
‘my name is minhyung!’ and jaemin’s body froze completely. it was like he’s seeing mark's spitting image when he was four again. the lion, the overwhelming passion, even the name. and he thought that maybe, just maybe, he didn’t have to wait until his next life to enjoy mark lee again. he bit his lower lip, preventing himself from smiling like a small kid.
‘and would you like to come with me, minhyung?’ jaemin saw the boy’s eyes lightening up like the stars in the sky. he started to jump in excitement, laughing and giggling like the little kid he was until he suddenly stopped.
‘wait a minute.’ he said and he ran away from where jaemin was, leaving him a little confused. a couple minutes later minhyung came back practically dragging another boy with him and holding his hand. he could see the other boy complaining, but minhyung wasn’t even paying attention to him.
‘can he come with us?’ he said the moment they were standing in front of jaemin and jaemin’s eyes widened. now he was seeing mark and the little version of himself. as if 5-year-old mark and 4-year-old jaemin were back.
‘minhyung, give it back!’ the other small boy was saying while he was struggling, trying to reach something that minhyung had on his back, and he didn’t notice what it was until the small boy growled and lifted that thing. it was a nintendo switch.
‘shh, minjae! mr jaemin is watching us, behave.’ minhyung said and jaemin blushed heavily at that. those were the things that mark used to say to him when they were young and now that he was seeing it from another perspective he felt a little ashamed. and even his name and minjae’s were similar. destiny was a bitch.
‘I don’t care, give it back! that level is impossible!’ minjae said and minhyung rolled his eyes, giving the nintendo switch back to the boy, who frowned and started playing. after a couple seconds he pouted, whining loudly.
‘this is so hard.’ he said and jaemin approached him, noticing which game the boy was playing and smiling a little.
‘can I try?’ he said and for the first time the smaller kid looked at him. at first he was hesitant, it was his nintendo switch and he didn’t let anyone touch it except for himself and minhyung, but jaemin looked harmless so he ended up nodding and giving it to him.
jaemin sat down on the ground and in less than a minute he already had the two little boys sitting on his thighs and seeing how he was playing. the game was easy so in no time he was already done with that level.
‘woah. that’s so cool. did you know the game?’ minjae said after jaemin gave him his nintendo back, but now the little boy was focused on jaemin so he didn’t care about his game anymore. jaemin nodded, caressing the boy’s back with his hand.
‘would you believe me if I told you that I was the one who created it?’ he said and the boy’s jaw dropped as he looked at jaemin, who was smiling brightly at him. jaemin was just seeing himself in that little boy’s eyes and he felt as if he was staring in a small mirror. they were so busy that none of them realized another presence with them.
‘how’s everything going?’ jeno asked, crossing his arms and staring at his husband, who was still with the two four-year-old kids on his lap. the three boys stared at jeno, the smaller ones with curious eyes and jaemin with eyes filled with love.
‘who’s he?’ minhyung asked out loud, like jeno wasn’t there to hear him asking that and that made jeno laugh, jaemin too. jaemin’s eyes went from jeno to minhyung, who’s eyes were still glowing.
‘his name is jeno. he's my boyfriend.’ jaemin said those last three words in a whisper, just like minhyung had done before, and that made him laugh. meanwhile the other kid was still looking at jeno with wondering eyes. he made his grip in jaemin’s shirt stronger, causing a smile to escape from jaemin's lips.
‘he’s so handsome.’ the little boy whispered and jaemin chuckled, looking at jeno and nodding with his head.
‘I know.’ minhyung stood up and he stood in front of jeno, who was really amused watching the little kid in front of him.
‘are your intentions with mr lee jaemin good?’ minhyung saw in films that sometimes boyfriends and parents have those kind of conversations and since his best friend never had a boyfriend before he couldn't do it, but that was his chance to do it.
‘we’ve been together for six years and we’re married.’ jeno said as an answer and minhyung frowned.
‘I believe that’s not an answer, mr jeno.’ jeno looked in jaemin’s way, trying to find some help coming from his husband, but jaemin was a little busy playing with minjae to realize that, so he had to fix it by himself.
‘my intentions with mr lee jaemin are 100% good.’ he answered and minhyung frowned, crossing his eyes and trying to look scary, but he failed because he looked extremely adorable.
‘I'll be watching you.’ he mumbled and then he came back with jaemin, sitting on his lap again and watching jneo with deadly/adorable eyes. jaemin laughed at that scene and he hugged both kids by their waist, pulling them a little closer.
‘so, do you want to come home with mr lee jeno and me?’ the two boys said yes and they hugged jaemin. jeno was just there, looking at jaemin and the two children who would now be his two sons.
‘mmh… you’re not my favourite, but nice try though.’ jaemin chuckled and jeno rolled his eyes, walking in his husband’s and son’s direction. he leaned closer to jaemin, giving him some small pecks on his lips and earning whines and cries from his sons.
‘dad, iuugh.’ minhyung said as he covered his and minjae’s eyes, preventing his brother from seeing anything. jaemin and jeno just laughed at that, they were always doing those kinds of things every time they saw them kissing.
‘just wait a couple years and let’s see if you ‘iuuugh’, little monster.’ jeno said as he lifted minhyung in his arms, took him to the bed and started to tickle everywhere, making him laugh again until he was begging for him to stop in a playful way.
‘do you want to play daddy’s new game? mmh?’ jaemin whispered to minjae and the little boy nodded, starting to play one of the games jaemin ended that morning while jaemin turned to see minhyung, who was now laying on his bed with heavy breathing, still laughing a little.
‘so how was work today?’ jaemin asked and jeno sat down on the edge of their bed while minhyung was on his back, hugging his neck and resting there to catch his breath.
‘a little exhausting, but that’s fine, nothing to worry about. but I think that something really exciting happened to someone over here and he’s so excited to tell you, right, baby?’ he said as he looked at minhyung and the kid nodded with his head euphorically, jumping down the bed and starting to jump in excitement.
‘I want to play volleyball! we saw papa’s team training and they were so cool. they did pum! and pow! and they jumped so high!’ he screamed and jaemin stood still for a couple seconds until he finally smiled at his son’s cuteness. he was practically like mark lee, even his huge passion for volleyball was there.
‘really? do you want to learn?’ jaemin asked and minhyung nodded. his eyes were shining like the brightest star and he his smile too. like mark’s.
‘do you want me to tell you a secret?’ jeno asked and he lifted minhyung again, sitting him on his lap and hugging his son by his waist. after nodding jeno made minhyung look at jaemin, who blushed a little.
‘daddy years ago won the award for the best setter in the world’s volleyball tournament.’ he explained and minhyung looked at jaemin with wide eyes.
‘really? that’s so cool! but what’s a setter?’ jeno and jaemin laughed at minhyung’s words and jeno gave him a small kiss on his head.
‘you still have a lot to learn, baby.’ jaemin said and minhyung went down jeno’s lap, running to where jaemin was and pulling his jacket with his hands, pouting cutely.
‘and can you teach me, daddy? pretty please, pleasie.’ jaemin just couldn't say no to that. if minhyung was going to play volleyball then he could see the small version of mark lee playing volleyball again, and of course because minhyung seemed to like volleyball a lot.
‘of course I’ll teach you, and daddy will too. but now you two should go and play together while I prepare the bath, alright?’ he kissed his two son’s cheeks before the two boys ran away from their room, doing a little race to see who made it to the toy’s room first.
after that jaemin sighed and he passed his hands through his face, sighing and hearing jeno’s steps coming closer to him. when the steps stopped, jaemin took his hands away, looking at his boyfriend with a wide smile.
‘he’s exactly like mark.’ he mumbled and jeno smiled back at him without saying anything. jaemin giggled as he saw jeno approaching his face and joining their lips together again, not instead of a peck it was a proper kiss. with their work and the children the didn’t have much time to spend together, that’s why they enjoyed every single second they had alone.
‘I missed you and your kisses.’ jeno whispered and jaemin leaned in again, joining his lips with jeno’s and kissing him again, and again, and again.
‘I love you. always.’ jaemin mumbled between their kisses and jeno chuckled, caressing jaemin’s cheek with his face.
‘iuuugh!’ they heard two voices screaming and jaemin gave jeno a small peck before pulling away from their small kissing session, standing up and walking to where his son’s were.
‘alright, you two and I are going to have a small fight with the bath right now.’ all jeno could hear after that was the loud footsteps of his husband and his two sons running around their house, the kids running away from their dad and jaemin trying to chase them. they were all laughing loudly and that made jeno feel home.
well, he started to feel home years ago, the first time he met na jaemin.
his boyfriend, his husband, the love of his life.
his ‘always’.