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Jeno wakes up to hushed whispers. Jaemin and Hyerim’s voices ring in the quiet room, despite their terrible attempt at not waking Jeno up. He pretends, though, knowing Hyerim will be disappointed if he had awakened before they could surprise him. His eyes remain shut, his body still as he hears their footsteps coming closer and closer to the bed, the crinkling of plastic getting louder as the space between them became smaller. Then the bed dips, and he knows Hyerim is sitting next to him.
Jaemin urges Hyerim to count to three with him because although she’s six and knows how to count up to twenty-five with ease, Jaemin still saw everything as a learning opportunity. Their voices start quiet, growing increasingly louder with each number before all Jeno hears is a mixture of “Happy birthday, daddy!” and “Happy birthday, my love.” echoing the room.
Jeno finally let his eyes flutter open, squinting at first as he adjusts to the bright light that was let into the room, thanks to Jaemin opening the black-out curtains. He can just vaguely see Hyerim before she’s tackling him in a hug, and although drowsiness still had been heavy in his body, he doesn’t hesitate in hugging her back, blindly planting a kiss on her cheek.
“Thank you, princess,” Jeno hums against her cheek, pressing kiss after kiss against her skin before she’s crying out over how gross it is, and he lets her go. He takes it as his chance to rub his eyes, waking himself up just slightly, before reaching over to the nightstand and shoving his glasses onto his face.
Hyerim’s in her school uniform already, all dressed and ready for the day. Her hair was neatly combed, decorated with small, colorful barrettes. Her hair is significantly shorter, all the way up to her shoulders when it used to reach her waist. Jeno had always enjoyed braiding her hair every night and every morning, but Hyerim had begged him to let her cut it. Jeno couldn’t say no to her, even if he were upset that he’d no longer be able to play with her hair. But Jeno encouraged her to present herself the way she wanted, so he allowed it. Their daily affirmations were cut significantly shorter with the change, their chants of “I’m going to have a great day today. I am beautiful and loved.” into the mirror only lasting until Jeno had simply combed out any knots and put a few clips into her hair.
Jeno’s gaze turns toward Jaemin, who stood at the edge of the bed with a tray in his hands. He’s also ready for the day, his pink hair neatly combed and styled and he’s completely changed out of the pajamas he wore to bed last night. The tray holds a plate of pancakes, freshly made, and Jeno swears he can suddenly smell the sticky sweet maple syrup drizzled over them. Next to it was his usual mug, “Best Dad Ever” painted on the side, and a small glass of orange juice. It’s evident Jaemin woke up early to pull everything all together—Making him breakfast, getting Hyerim and himself ready for the day—And Jeno already feels so overwhelmed with love just minutes after waking up.
“Daddy, I picked these flowers for you, and Nana bought them! I didn’t have enough from my allowance to buy you any of the big flowers.” Hyerim roughly grabs the bouquet she had thrown to the side, handing them to her father with a slight pout on her lips. “I wanted to buy you flowers by myself.” She huffs.
“You don’t have to spend your allowance on me, baby,” Jeno hums, accepting the flowers quickly. He plants another kiss on her forehead before sitting up, motioning for her to crawl into his lap. She does, and she wraps her arms around Jeno as best she can. Jeno can faintly hear Jaemin coo at the scene. “I love them a lot. They’re very pretty, thank you.”
“Hyerim, baby, you also helped me make pancakes for your daddy, right? You’ve done so much for him! I promise one day you’ll be able to buy him the biggest bouquet ever.” Jaemin grins. He finally settles the tray across the lower portion of Jeno’s legs, Hyerim occupying the space where it’d usually go. “ And you made gifts for daddy too, didn’t you? Remember the things we made last week? Why don’t you grab those for daddy, and he can open them after we have breakfast, hm?”
Hyerim brightens up at Jaemin’s words, and Jeno is so overjoyed watching the two loves of his life interacting in such a pure way. There’s true adoration for each other, and Jeno can vividly remember when Jaemin had met Hyerim for the first time out of costume. Jeno was terrified for no reason because Hyerim fell in love with Jaemin instantly. She was constantly asking when Nana would come around again or if she could speak to Nana on the phone with Jeno before she went to bed. The instant connection and bond between the two made Jeno realize that he couldn’t let Jaemin go, and he quickly asked Jaemin to be his boyfriend.
“Go grab them, baby. Be quick, though. I’m not sure if I can eat all these pancakes by myself. You’re gonna have to help me.” Jeno tells her, patting her back and encouraging her to clamber off his lap. She follows their instructions without a second thought, climbing off the bed and rushing out of the room and presumably into her own.
“You were awake, weren’t you?” Jaemin laughs as soon as Hyerim is out of sight. He carefully sits down on the edge of the bed, sliding the tray table up to Jeno’s thighs. He picks up the knife and fork that sat on the tray, slicing into the pancakes and holding a small piece up to Jeno’s mouth before he can even respond. Jeno accepts it, biting into the fluffy pancake and chewing for a second.
“I was. You two aren’t very good at whispering.” Jeno says, his mouth still filled with the sticky sweet breakfast. He finally swallows, leaning over to press his lips against Jaemin’s before Jaemin can think about shoving another piece into his mouth. “You’re the best.” He hums against his lips. Jaemin lets out a shy laugh at his response, letting go of the knife and fork.
“You just deserve the best.” He simply responds, placing a hand on Jeno’s leg. “I’m gonna drop off Hyerim at school for you, so you can go back to sleep for a bit after you finish eating. Hyerim just really wanted to say happy birthday to you before she went to school.” Jaemin tells him, looking at him with a fondness in his eyes that masked any remnants of drowsiness that remained in his system. He must’ve been tired from waking up so early to prepare everything for him, but he does a good job at not showing it if he is.
Jeno isn’t entirely sure how to react. He’s content with his life and knows it’s the happiest he’s ever been. He has a beautiful daughter who he loves more than life itself and a gorgeous boyfriend he thinks he’d risk anything for. Jeno isn’t sure how much better his birthday can get.
Until evening rolls around, and they walk into Jeno’s parents’ home where a crowd of people yells “Surprise!” after jumping up from behind various furniture. Hyerim is giggling, pointing at Jeno and telling him that they got him, and Jaemin immediately plants a kiss onto his cheek, whispering another “Happy birthday, my love.” into his ear, his signature smile plastered onto his face.
Jaemin excuses himself midway through the party to use the bathroom, and Jeno starts to worry when Jaemin doesn’t come back after a couple of minutes. He justifies it to be simply because there had been many people at the party, and there must’ve been a line to use the bathroom. He doesn’t expect it to be Jaemin changing into the prince outfit he wore for Hyerim’s birthday part months and months prior.
“Is there a King Jeno present?” Jaemin’s voice booms from the top of the stairs. Jeno rolls his eyes because, of course, Jaemin would pull off such a stunt. He truly shouldn’t have had put it past Jaemin to do something outrageous for his birthday. Everyone is hollering, pointing directly at Jeno as Jaemin finally starts walking down the stairs, grinning as he makes eye contact with him.
“A special little lady by the name of Princess Hyerim told me I must return to your kingdom as it is your birthday today.” Jaemin hums, his regular voice entirely morphed into the one he used in character. Jeno almost wants to drop dead in embarrassment, Hyerim and Mark losing their minds just a couple of feet away as they watch the interaction.
Jaemin reaches into the satchel hung across his body, pulling out a plastic crown, similar to how he did for Hyerim’s birthday as well. “No king should ever go without a crown. My kingdom has prepared this very special gift for you, and do hope you enjoy it.” He announces, gently placing the crown atop Jeno’s head.
“You’re embarrassing ,” Jeno mutters when Jaemin is close enough. He can feel Jaemin’s gloved hands sliding onto his cheeks, cupping his face and forcing Jeno to look at him. Jeno can faintly see that Jaemin had put in the effort to quickly apply his prince makeup as well, his lips shiny with gloss, though not shinier than his eyes that sparkled as he looked at Jeno.
“You love me.” Jaemin simply replies, his voice going back to normal. He seemingly drops the prince act when he leans in to press their mouths together momentarily. Their lips stick together for a second, thanks to the lip product Jaemin wears, and Jeno has absolutely no problem with that.
“Just a little.” Jeno finally admits though they both know the love Jeno harbors for Jaemin is far past than just a little.
Jeno’s parents take Hyerim for the night. They tell him to enjoy the rest of his night child-free and that they would even take Hyerim to her soccer practice early in the morning the next day. Jeno knows Hyerim enjoys sleepovers at her grandparents’ home, so he begrudgingly agrees, spending at least thirty minutes hugging her goodbye and telling her to listen to his parents.
Jeno and Jaemin go back to Jeno’s apartment, and although Jaemin doesn’t officially live with them yet, it seems like he does with the number of nights he spends with them. Jeno finds it hard to fall asleep without the warmth of Jaemin pressed up against him on the days Jaemin does go back to his own apartment. But it’s Jeno’s birthday, and even if Jaemin does have at least two birthday parties to get to the next day, he stays with him.
Jaemin makes Jeno feel like a king that night between bruising kisses and ruffled sheets, but that was only for them and nobody else to know.