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After a long exhausting day consisting of sitting on his desk chair, Soonyoung wanted nothing more than to just lay in bed for a quick nap. He yawned as he stood up to stretch the tightening muscles.
However, before he went to his room, he knocked on the door of Chan’s room. As no response came from the other side of the door, he quietly opened it to see an empty room. Toys created a maze on the wooden floor, the windows were shut and the blankets and pillows from his bed were missing.
“Chan-ah? Where are you?” Soonyoung called through the apartment in hopes to get a response from the kid to no veil.
The room next door was his room. Instead of his usual made bed or Chan he was looking for, Soonyoung found a structure that resembled some kind of house. The walls were made out of pillows which were surrounded by a small blanket with dinosaur bed sheets. Soonyoung’s big grey blanket was draped over the pillow walls like a roof.
“Chan isn’t here!” The youthful voice came from the pillow fort. A laugh escaped his lips like a breath of air. Soonyoung approached the fort and sat at the edge of the bed.
“Then who is the owner of this castle?”
“It’s me, Dino! The strongest dinosaur in the world!”
Chan crawled out of the pillow pile. Once out, he stood on the bed but his height didn't even matched Soonyoung’s to the slightest. He was still in his dinosaur onesie he usually slept in. His hand formed into claws and he showed his tiny white teeth, sorry, canine of course.
As much as he wanted to scoop up his son into his arms to coo at the attempt to be intimidating, Soonyoung decided to play along instead.
“Oh, so scary! But Dino, you have to know that I am not the Soonyoung you know and love,” he dramatically turned around as if he was hiding something. Chan believed it since he started to hit Soonyoung’s back to get his attention back.
“Who are you then? Show yourself!”
“I am the great Hoshi, of course!” As he revealed his ‘true identity’, he turned around again. He mirrored the claws and showed his teeth like Chan did. Latter tumbled back and fell onto his butt because of the surprise. Nonetheless an exciting smile plastered his face.
Soonyoung picked up Chan and swirled with him around the room. “The strongest tiger in the world who wishes to enter the dragon's cave for a nap!”
Chan didn't hold back his cheerful laughter as his father tickled with kisses on his cheek. No matter how much he kicked and punched, Soonyoung hadn’t let him off the hook yet but soon enough calmed down after Chan huffed from exhaustion.
“You have proven yourself worthy, Tiger Hoshi! You may enter the Dino Castle!”
Soonyoung didn't need to hear that twice and followed his son into the dungeon made of blankets and pillows.
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Jihoon slipped out of his shoes and jacket after he arrived home. It was oddly quiet. No Chan running around and certainly no Soonyoung running after him. The loud voices were nonexistent. Not even the television was on.
The apartment seemed foreign to Jihoon due to the unusual atmosphere. The kitchen was empty as was the living area. (Note that the couches were missing the pillows and blankets.)
“Channie?”, asked Jihoon with a quiet voice as he opened the door to his son’s room. He expected the mess of toys on the ground but Chan was not there.
Soonyoung’s office was next. It was empty but clean with the computer being shut down.
Finally, Jihoon opened the door to his room. He stumbled back at the sight of the pillowfort in the middle of his bed he shared with Soonyoung. Once he recovered from the initial shock, he shook his head with an amused smile on his face.
“You need a code to enter the Dinosaur and Tiger Castle!”, called someone from the inside of the fortress. It was Chan, Jihoon could always recognize that voice.
“Chan, Soonyoung, come out. We need to discuss what we will eat for dinner tonight.”
“We have never heard of such names! Here resides the strong Dino and the mighty Hoshi! If you do not know the code word then leave or else we have no choice but to defend our home!”
That was Soonyoung, no doubt there. Jihoon was actually surprised to hear those words from him. Nonetheless, he wouldn’t back down even though it was a two on one battle.
“Should we order chicken?”
There was silence from the fort. Jihoon smiled to himself while waiting for a response.
“Yes, please”, said Chan with his softened voice. It was muffled due to the barrier between them.
“But you have to come out to tell me your order”
Jihoon stood up from the bed and waited. Soon, first Chan crawled out of the pillow fort, closely followed by Soonyoung, who also destroyed the unstable fortress due to his height.
While Chan received a hug and a kiss on the forehead, Soonyoung got a kiss on the cheek.
“Now then, what do you two want to order?”