Archive of Our Own ^beta

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When Minho moved into his first house after finally saving up enough money, he thought he’d be done with waking up from noisy neighbors. He moved into a fairly quiet neighborhood, his freelance IT job allowing him to work from home and to be flexible in terms of where he can go. He picked a neighborhood where most of the residents are old couples, close to an animal shelter and an orphanage, so with ample opportunities to volunteer whenever he has time. 

His next door neighbor, Jisung, is one of the few people in the area who are around Minho’s age, but he’s a fairly quiet guy. The only noise Minho hears from him is him playing the guitar, which is not that bad, since the guy can play well, even though he sometimes plays at late hours. Minho has noticed that he’s not at home often during the day, and when he came to welcome Minho into the neighborhood, Minho learned that he’s a child doctor seven days a week, and that he’s living in his grandparents’ old house. 

Minho never knew that he had a baby , though. Only when he wakes up on a particularly early morning a couple of weeks after moving in, startled by the sound of a baby crying just outside of his house, he finds out that his neighbor has another side to him. 

Minho is a morning person, but four in the morning is too early . He sits up with a grunt. He can’t fall asleep with this noise, no one likes the sound of a baby crying. A soft meow from the corner of his bedroom draws Minho’s attention to his beloved grey kitten, Dori. He must have woken up from the sound, too. Soonie and Doongie are still fast asleep at the end of the bed, but Dori is walking around near the windows, a faint purple glow caused by early morning light shining through his curtains illuminating his fur. 

Minho lets out a sigh and pulls the covers off of himself. He gets out of bed, picking up Dori into his arms before peeking through the curtains to see what is going on outside. The only thing he can see, however, is the top of a stranger’s head, seemingly waiting in front of his neighbor’s front door. Dori meows again and paws against the slightly fogged up window. 

The stranger rings the doorbell ( again? ) and Minho can’t help but wonder what in the world is going on. Who in the hell would show up to someone’s house in the dead of the morning with a crying baby? Dori paws at the window again, and Minho hoists him up a little in his arms. 

“Are you curious? Do you want to go check out what’s going on?” Minho whispers to his kitten, mindlessly carding his fingers through the fur. He is awake already, anyway, and he’s mighty curious as to who this mysterious visitor is and what the reason is that he came here, so he trots downstairs, slips on his slippers and a jacket before taking Dori outside. 

He stays close to his front door, not wanting to attract too much attention or seem like he’s spying on anyone. When he steps outside, he sees Jisung standing in the doorway, the stranger standing across from him. The latter is a little taller than Jisung, but he doesn’t look any older, and he’s carrying a wicker baby basket. Jisung looks like he just woke up, dressed in an oversized yellow tee and black and white track pants, his hair messy, but his gaze is alert. The baby is still crying, and Jisung looks like he’s about to cry as well, looking at the baby with glassy eyes.

“—I really need your help with this. We have no space, not enough money, not enough help…” The stranger sounds upset, and Jisung shakes his head, before holding out his arms and taking the basket. Minho can’t see the baby from where he’s standing, but he can tell that they’re still very small. The black-haired stranger lets out a sigh. “Thank you, Jisung.” 

“No problem, Jeongin. You can come to me anytime,” Jisung assures him. The stranger—Jeongin—puts a hand on Jisung’s shoulder and whispers something to the baby before taking a step back.

“I’ll bring some stuff over for you later today, and we’ll keep in touch,” Jeongin says. Jisung tells him to take it easy and wishes him good luck. Minho doesn’t become any wiser, seeing the exchange. Is this Jeongin guy Jisung’s boyfriend? Husband? Family? A friend? Coworker? He can’t tell. 

“Wait! Before you leave,” Jisung calls after the guy, his voice only just coming out above the crying. Jeongin stops and turns around, and Jisung nods his head down at the baby basket he’s cradling. “Does she have a name?”

“Oh.” The guy seems a little stumped by the question, but a little smile appears on his face. “You can give her a name.” 

Wait a second. Whose baby is this? Minho is starting to wonder if he’s still sleeping and he’s just having a weird dream as he watches the mysterious black-haired guy walk away, leaving Jisung with the baby basket. Minho can’t quite read his face, but maybe he has spied enough for today. 

He is just about to go back inside his house when he hears his neighbor let out a deep sigh. The baby is still crying, and he’s trying to softly shush her, but he’s not quite succeeding. “Don’t be sad, I’ll take good care of you, little one. Please don’t cry,” he gently tells her. Something stirs in Minho’s chest, seeing his neighbor like this. Jisung holds the basket closer to his head, pulling a weird face. It manages to calm the baby down a little, and he smiles. “Now… what shall I name you…?” 

Okay, enough watching like a creep, Minho, he thinks, but when he wants to get back inside, Dori slips out of Minho’s hold, trotting away from him, straight to his neighbor. 

“Dori!” Minho calls out before he can stop himself. He belatedly realizes that this is definitely going to attract his neighbor’s attention, and that he is going to look like a total weirdo. (Not that he ever minded what people thought of him, but standing outside, staring at your neighbor at four in the morning is kind of pushing it.)

But Jisung keeps his eyes on the little girl in his arms, even when Dori comes standing right next to his feet. “Dori…? That’s a nice name,” he mutters with a smile. Minho frowns and wonders if he misheard his neighbor. Dori meows at Jisung’s feet, and Minho can’t stand there and just watch anymore. 

“Oh, hey there.” Minho isn’t sure if Jisung is talking to Dori or to Minho, and when he makes eye contact with Minho and gives him a smile that’s apologetic, but not quite genuine, Minho doesn’t become any wiser. It’s too early for thinking. Jisung presses his lips together. “Sorry, did baby Dori wake you up?” 

Minho must be dreaming. His neighbor did not just name his baby after his kitten. Before Minho can ask him about it, though, the little girl starts crying again. Jisung’s face falls and he starts softly shushing her again, rocking the basket up and down. Dori meows again, pawing at Jisung’s leg, so Minho crouches to pick him up.

“You wanna see the baby?” he mindlessly speaks at his beloved kitten, holding him up high enough to see the small figure of the baby. She promptly stops crying, and Minho can’t help but smile at how her eyes widen at the kitten. Dori really is the cure to any sadness in life.

Jisung’s eyes soften as he watches the scene, and Minho doesn’t want to ruin the moment, but he is starting to doubt the fact that this is a dream, because he’s never asleep for this long, and he wants to go back to bed with at least one more piece of information.

“Are you really going to name your kid after my cat?” It comes out more blunt than he planned it to, but Jisung only stares at him with his mouth slightly agape. Minho raises one eyebrow at him in question.

“I— She’s not mine , but— I like the name,” he stutters, a pink tint coloring his cheeks. “It fits her.” 

“Dori is a he,” Minho states. 

“So?” His neighbor tilts his head at him, and Minho doesn’t know what to say anymore. He isn’t opposed to his neighbor naming the baby after his kitten. It’s kind of adorable, actually, but not more adorable than Dori the cat pawing gently at Dori the baby. 

“If you think I should give her another name I’ll think of something else—” Jisung begins, but Minho cuts him off with a shake of his head.

“No, it’s fine.” He lowers his arms along with Dori, but his kitten meows in protest, the feisty boy. Minho keeps cradling him, mirroring Jisung’s position but then with his kitten instead of a baby. 

“Ah, okay. Sorry again for waking you up,” Jisung says with a chuckle. He then leans a little closer to Dori (the cat) and sets up a cutesy voice. “And thank you for helping me name this little angel, and for keeping her calm.” He closes off with a salute and a little scratch under Dori’s chin, snickering when Dori paws at his cheek. 

Like that, Jisung tells him and Dori goodbye, and they wish each other a nice morning. Minho doesn’t have all the answers, yet, but maybe it’s not his business. He has to admit that he’s a little curious, but he’s also dreading working from home with a baby next door. But maybe Jisung is good with babies and he won’t even notice the new addition to his neighbor’s household. Otherwise, he’ll maybe stop by to see how it’s going or something, because that’s polite, right? Maybe Dori wants to see his namesake. He’ll think of something once he has gotten a couple more hours of sleep.

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Babies cry. Jisung knows that. Especially newborn babies cry a lot. Dori can’t be much older than two months old, so it makes sense that she cries a lot. Jisung is twenty four years old, though, so why does he cry so often? He just can’t help it. He may be a pediatrician, and should be used to kids crying, but seeing his baby—not his baby—cry makes him feel so sad. 

He hasn’t been sleeping much for the past few days, either, because Dori is still so young, so she needs to be fed every couple of hours, even through the night. (He knows, he has been brushing up his knowledge about baby care a lot over the past few days. Who knew that his old college books from that introductory neonatology course he did when he was still unsure of what he wanted to do later would come in handy so soon after graduating? Of course he encounters babies at work too, but not that often.) 

He has been working at the doctor’s office as well, taking Dori with him. He doesn’t officially have a baby after all. (Not yet?) And he needs to be able to afford baby stuff, so he needs to earn money. He can borrow a lot of baby things from his parents and from the orphanage, luckily, but he still needs to buy baby formula, diapers, baby soap, ointments, more washcloths, more baby clothes, you name it. 

He's swaddling Dori now, being careful not to shake her too much, while rummaging through his kitchen cabinets to see if he might have anything easy to make. He doesn't want to order dinner again . It's becoming too expensive, but he simply isn't used to buying enough groceries to last a whole week, nor to cook for himself every night. Tonight, it seems that he didn't buy himself enough again. 

“What do I do now, Dori?” he asks with a sigh, keeping his voice low, because Dori is dozing off inside her blanket burrito. Jisung places a little kiss on her cheek. It's still mind-boggling how small she is, her head only about as large as the palm of his hand. She is getting sleepy, so she doesn’t respond. He takes her upstairs and places her down in her crib and closes the curtains in his bedroom before wishing her a good nap. “Jisungie will have to do some math and thinking now. Sweet dreams.” 

He leaves the door open so that he can hear it if she needs him. He also bought a baby monitor, but he wants to get to her as soon as possible, if needed, since he needs to get up the stairs too. He sighs and sits down at his desk, getting a pen and a piece of paper to start calculating if he can afford ordering dinner for today and tomorrow, since he won’t be able to get groceries tomorrow if he wants to stop by the orphanage too.

Knock knock.  

Jisung flinches at the sudden sound. He almost thinks that he imagined the sound of someone knocking on his front door, because his doorbell still works as far as he knows, but the sound repeats itself, a little louder this time. 

Who could be knocking on his door at this hour? Jeongin? Usually he texts him before he comes over, though. He feels a little anxious opening the door, but he tells himself that he is a responsible adult who can answer the door. 

“Hi, neighbor.” It’s Minho. It’s just Minho, thank goodness. Jisung feels his heart calm down a little, especially when he sees that Minho brought Dori again, cradling him in his arms. Maybe he needs a way to distinguish his baby and the kitten in his head, because having two Dori’s may get confusing. Should he call the kitten Dori the kitten? Dori the original? DoriTO (Dori The Original)? Dorito—!

“Hi, Minho!” He quickly shakes his thoughts about Dorito’s away and greets Minho. He feels a little shy for some reason, because Minho caught him in a bit of a stressful moment, but he keeps a smile on his face. “What brings you here?” 

“I was just passing by to see how you’re doing, with the new addition to your household. So that Dori can properly meet his namesake, you know?” Minho says with a casual shrug. Jisung wants to let him in, he could use some distraction from his worries, but his baby Dori just fell asleep, so he isn’t sure what to tell his neighbor. He thinks it’s sweet that he came by, and he’s actually the first visitor Jisung has since Dori entered his life. Of course Jeongin passed by a couple of times, but that was only to bring him some baby goods they had left over at the orphanage. Other than that, he has only video called with his friends, Chan and Changbin.

“Oh. Uhm… Have I caught you at a bad time?” Minho asks him, and Jisung realizes that he was lost in thoughts and forgot to say something. He mentally scolds himself for spacing out and shakes his head at his neighbor.

“No. It’s just that Dori just fell asleep, so I’m afraid Dori can’t meet her right now,” he explains. Minho nods, his expression unreadable, but Dori meows softly. Jisung doesn’t want them to go just yet, but he also knows that he should get himself some food somehow. “Uhm, you can come in and wait for her to wake up when she gets hungry, if you want?” 

“Sure.” Minho steps inside and lets Dori roam free around Jisung’s living room. Jisung shuffles a little from foot to foot, thinking of how to be a good host right now.

“Unfortunately I don’t really have any food in the house to offer you, but I can give you something to drink?” He gestures vaguely in the direction of his kitchen as Minho looks up at him. 

“Oh, it’s fine. I just ate dinner.” Minho waves him off, so Jisung nods, staying frozen in place. He mentally scolds himself for being so awkward, but Minho doesn’t even seem to notice. His neighbor is looking around the living room, and he pauses at Jisung’s desk. Jisung’s stomach drops, but Minho turns back to look at him, an inquisitive look in his eyes. “Did you have dinner already?” 

“Oh, uhm… No, not yet. I was just about to order something,” Jisung lies. He was actually going to have two slices of bread and call it a night, but he isn’t going to dump his struggles onto Minho right now.

“Oh.” Minho tilts his head at Jisung, pursing his lips slightly. “Well, I don’t mind if you eat with me around, so you can go ahead and order, if you want.”

“Uhm… I hadn’t really decided yet,” Jisung lies again, feeling awkward about it. He isn’t the best liar, but he can’t tell if Minho is onto him or not. Dori softly meows as he walks towards Minho, and Minho raises his eyebrows at the kitten. “Hm?” He then looks back up at Jisung. “Oh, you know what? I actually have some dinner left. Do you want that? That way you don’t have to wait for the delivery.” 

Jisung’s eyes widen a little. It would be polite to decline, but it would help him out to get some free food. He nods at the question. “Yes, that would actually be really nice,” he admits. “If… If it’s no trouble.” 

“No, it’s fine! I’ll quickly get it. Please entertain Dori while I’m away.” Minho steps past Jisung before he can even thank him, leaving him with Dori the kitten, also known as Dorito in Jisung’s mind, who immediately comes towards Jisung to paw at his sock. 

Jisung crouches to pet the cute kitten. “Thank your caretaker for me later, okay? I really needed this tonight,” he whispers to him. Dori meows in return. “You know, Dorito, to you this may seem like something trivial. Minho brings you food all the time, but I don’t have that luxury. I have to get myself food, and I was kind of stressed about feeding myself tonight.”

Dori meows again as an answer, and Jisung sits down with a sigh. “Don’t worry, I have enough stuff to feed your namesake. She still has to grow a lot. I stopped growing a long time ago,” he babbles mindlessly at the kitten as he pets him. He lets out a chuckle. “Maybe I’ve stopped growing a little too soon . I’ll make sure Dori grows taller than me, though. I mean my baby Dori, not you, unfortunately, Dorito.” 

Minho comes back a couple of minutes later with a bowl of hot fried rice, vegetables, tofu, and soy sauce. It makes Jisung’s stomach rumble embarrassingly loud, but Minho doesn’t react with more than a little grin growing on his face. They sit at the dinner table while Jisung eats the quite delicious meal. 

“Thank you, this is really yummy!” Jisung tells him, immediately feeling happier now that he’s eaten a bit. Minho seems to be holding back laughter as he looks at him, and Jisung wonders if there’s sauce on his chin or something, but then he realizes that there’s food in his cheeks. Jisung feels his cheeks become warm in embarrassment, but he can probably play it off to being from the warm food.

“So, I don’t know if you remember, but I work from home, usually, and I was actually a bit afraid of not being able to work with a crying baby in the house next door,” Minho says with a chuckle. Jisung remembers Minho telling him about his profession as a freelance IT’er when he welcomed him into the neighborhood a couple of weeks ago, but he had honestly forgotten about it until now. Minho continues, “But I actually never hear her during the day. Do you send her to daycare?”

“Oh, uhm, no. I take her to work with me,” Jisung admits.“My coworkers are kind enough to chip in and look after her every once in a while.” He feels shy to admit it, and he hopes that Minho doesn’t think that he’s some kind of freeloader or something, taking advantage of his coworkers so that he doesn’t have to pay for daycare.

“You’re still working? But you’re a single parent.” A slight frown appears on Minho’s face. Jisung quickly shakes his head.

“No, uhm. Well— Technically, you’re right, but officially , I’m not a single parent,” he explains before he takes another bite of his food. Minho’s frown doesn’t disappear. In fact, it only deepens.

“Do you mean that officially you have a partner, or officially you don’t have a kid?” he asks. And oh boy, how Jisung would like a partner to help him out right now. 

“Second one. I haven’t officially adopted her yet,” Jisung clarifies, poking at his food as he presses his lips together. He contemplates elaborating, because he isn’t sure if Minho came here to hear the whole story or not. He is giving Jisung curious eyes, so maybe he should just tell him. “I’m a pediatrician, and I help out at the orphanage a lot as well, but they’re running a bit low on volunteers, as well as support from the government. They didn’t have enough space, money, or people to properly take care of Dori. The poor girl was brought to the orphanage with a bit of a cold, too, so they needed my help. They asked me to take care of her until they can relieve some of the pressure that’s on the orphanage right now.” 

“Oh gosh.” Minho’s face twitches into a compassionate look. He then seems to think of something, and he points his finger at Jisung. “You said that you haven’t officially adopted her yet . Are you thinking about doing so?” 

That’s a good question, and Jisung hasn’t really had time to properly think about it. “I don’t think I’ll be able to say goodbye to her when the time comes, but…” He trails off, unsure how to continue his sentence. But it’s so expensive. But I don’t even have enough time for her now. But I’d want someone to help me out if I do adopt her. There’s a lot of ‘but’s, but Jisung doesn’t want to think about them right now. 

“I understand. I’ve been meaning to volunteer at the orphanage, but I keep going back to the animal shelter,” Minho says with a laugh. “I’ve grown attached to the animals, so I get how you feel.” 

Jisung smiles. “Volunteering is a whole day activity, so you’d need to clear your schedule, but maybe you could come on the weekend. I’m usually there as well during the weekend.” 

Minho shakes his head, a little smile playing tugging at the corners of his lips. “You really don’t take a day off, do you? Taking care of a baby is full-time. At least my Dori can take care of himself if I leave some food behind for him—” He is cut off by the crackling of the baby monitor, and the increasing sound of Dori’s sobs. Jisung turns to his wall clock to check the time, and sees that it’s almost time for her next feeding.

“Oh, I probably need to change her diaper and give her a bottle.” He quickly scarfs down the rest of his food, keeping half of it in his cheeks as he stands up. “Excuse me for a moment. Duty calls,” he says, keeping a hand in front of his mouth to prevent Minho from seeing how full it is. Minho snickers at him, but stands up as well.

“Can I help you with anything?” he asks, but Jisung frantically shakes his head.

“No, please stay downstairs if you don’t want to suffer a baby-poo-related cause of death,” he assures him as he holds up his hand. “You don’t want to come near this cutie when she has a full diaper. I’ll come downstairs to feed her in a minute, then our Dori’s can finally see each other.” 

“Okay. Staying downstairs. Got it.” Minho laughs a little, and to be quite honest, he’s pretty cute when he laughs— Not the time. Get up there, your girl needs you.

Jisung finds Minho downstairs, playing with Dori The Original, after he successfully changed Dori’s diaper. Dori has calmed down a little, but she’s still hungry, so she’s softly whining, attracting Minho and Dorito’s attention. 

“Do you want to hold her while I go and warm up her bottle?” he asks with a smile, already thinking about how cute the sight would be. Because of his baby Dori and Dorito of course. Minho shrugs and holds his arms out, so Jisung crouches and carefully hands over his baby to his neighbor. Minho is a bit awkward as he tries to take her, so Jisung keeps his hands close to help him out and tries to ignore the way their hands keep brushing against each other. 

“She's not a kitten, dummy. You need to hold her head.” Jisung sighs in fake exasperation. Minho’s ears color a light pink and he lets out a half chuckle half scoff when Jisung guides his hands to the right place. 

“I couldn’t tell, since she's named after my kitten,” Minho jokes, but he keeps his eyes on the baby as he softens. He adds, almost in a whisper, “She's just as small, too. So little.” 

Jisung has to do his best not to stare at the scene, his baby Dori in his neighbor's arms, softly whining as he gently rocks her, and Dorito coming to see what's going on as he climbs onto Minho’s legs and puts his paws against Minho’s arm. It’s heartwarmingly adorable, but Dori starts getting more and more fuzzy, full-on crying now. Minho keeps surprisingly calm as he softly shushes her, but Jisung shouldn’t let him nor his baby suffer too much, so he slips away to the kitchen to prepare a bottle.

When he returns, Dori has calmed down a little, and she’s watching a very talkative Dorito with big and curious eyes, while still mindlessly letting out whiny sounds. Minho gently holds Dori up a little higher. “Look, Dori, there’s Jisung with your dinner!” He then turns to his kitten, who is tilting his head at Minho. “Not your dinner, my little sweetie, you’ve had yours already.” 

Jisung smiles at the sight, again feeling thankful that Minho and Dorito passed by and lightened up his evening significantly. He takes Dori back from Minho and feeds her. He looks at his neighbor, words of thanks somehow getting stuck in his throat. “I hope I’m not taking up too much of your evening,” he blurts out, instead of the thank you he was planning to give him. 

“Huh? No, not at all.” Minho shrugs and waves him off with a casual wave of his hand. “Dori is having a good time, isn’t he?” Minho coos at his kitten as he pets the little head and pauses before he looks up at Jisung again. “ My Dori,” he clarifies, as if that wasn’t obvious already.

“Dorito,” Jisung snickers, putting the bottle down as it’s empty. He then moves Dori around and holds her over his shoulder, making sure to support her small head and softly rocking her up and down as she probably needs to burp. Dori’s little fingers are curled against Jisung’s collarbone, her soft skin warm against his. Minho is knitting his eyebrows together as he looks at Jisung.

“ Dorito? Excuse me?” Minho tilts his head. 

“Dori The Original. Dorito.” Jisung tries to keep a straight face, but Minho’s confused and slightly appalled expression is just too damn funny. Before Minho can speak, though, Dori starts whining on his shoulder, the discomfort of needing to burp getting to her. Jisung turns his face towards the little girl and gives her an encouraging kiss on the cheek. “Don’t be upset, you just need to let out a little burp.” Dori lets out a cry and Jisung pouts, patting her back. “I can’t burp on command either, I know it’s difficult. Do you want to do it together with me? Deep breath and…” He imitates a sort of hiccup sound, but then he realizes that he has an audience, and when he flicks his eyes towards his neighbor to see that he’s watching him with attentive eyes, his cheeks grow warm. 

He is majorly embarrassing himself, he can’t just mindlessly talk to his baby with Minho in the room, right? Or can he? Was he being too weird? He guesses that Minho was just cooing at his kitten as well. 

Dori lets out a little burp, and suddenly the room grows quiet. Jisung lowers Dori and noses at her forehead. She blinks at him and Jisung’s heart melts once again at how cute she is. “Good job, sweetie,” he whispers. 

Dorito trots over to him and so Jisung lowers her enough for them to interact. Dorito snuggles against Dori’s little legs, praising her for doing so well. Jisung wants to cry at how adorable it is, but he has to hold it in, he’s a grown man. Maybe it’s time for him to go to bed, because he’s actually getting teary eyes when Dori grabs at the kitten with her little fingers. 

He doesn’t want Minho and Dorito to leave yet, because he likes the company, and Dori seems to like it, too, but he can’t keep holding them hostage, using his baby as an excuse. Eventually, when Dori falls asleep again, Minho decides that it’s time for him to get back. 

“Thank you for the food, again.” He keeps his voice low as he tells Minho goodbye, because he has a sleeping Dori in his arms. He takes a deep breath, and adds, “And, uhm, for the company.” 

“No need to thank me.” Minho waves him off again, as if it’s no big deal. But for Jisung, it was a big deal. Minho is the reason he had a comfortable night, instead of a stressful one. “Anyway, have a good night. I’ll see you around. Say goodbye to your namesake, Dori.”

Dori softly meows and Jisung waves them goodbye after wishing them a good night as well. When he puts Dori into her crib and starts washing up before bed, he can’t seem to get his mind off his neighbor and his kitten. It may be selfish, but he hopes that Minho will come by more often in the future. Even if it’s only for ten minutes so that he can eat together with someone, or have a short conversation so that he can have a break from worrying about everything. 

He lets out a sigh and picks up his guitar before he sits down on his couch downstairs and plays some mindless music to let out his emotions. He strums the strings and hums a melody that he probably won’t remember tomorrow, but it’s a good way to relieve the leftover stress and relief from tonight.

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The next time Jisung sees Minho is a couple days later, when he’s visiting the orphanage. He’s surprised to see his neighbor at the orphanage during the weekend, he didn’t expect him to come so soon already. Minho seems a little lost, and Jisung is a little too busy with the kids to help him at first, but Jeongin shows him around and Minho gets into the flow. Jisung makes sure to approach Minho to chat with him, and to ask him why he already came volunteering so soon. Minho just shrugs and says that he had some free time today. 

The day goes by with Minho mostly playing around with the kids, while Jisung helps some kids who feel under the weather, or checks up on their health by request of the permanent staff, before he goes to play with them too. Minho comes with him to see Dori as well, when Jisung checks up on her and feeds her every couple of hours. 

It’s actually a lot of fun to play with the kids and with Minho. The kids at the orphanage are really sweet to Dori as well, cooing at her and pulling weird faces at her. She isn’t that reactive yet, but Jisung can tell that she’s enjoying the attention, her big eyes attentive as she looks at the kids. 

“You know, I was thinking about making a proper website for the orphanage,” Minho quips up. “You know? To make it easier to sign up for volunteering or to donate.”

They’re in the orphanage’s kitchen, helping prepare dinner for the kids upon Minho’s request. The help is greatly appreciated, as always. Jisung often signs up to help out in the kitchen, because it earns him a free meal. (That means that he should be used to cooking by now, but he still can’t seem to get his portioning right.)

“Oh! That’s a good idea. You should go to Miss Park to ask if she can set aside some budget for you,” Jisung says, alternating his gaze between Minho and the cutting board, making sure not to cut his fingers.

“Nah, I don’t need to be paid much.” Again, Minho gives off the idea that he has everything under control. Jisung wonders how he does it. 

“Do you have rich parents or something?” He asks with a chuckle. “How did you pay for the house if you have this kind of mindset?” 

“Hey, if it’s for a good cause, I don’t need that much compensation,” Minho says with a shrug. “And besides, the thing with freelancing is that once you get a good client and you’ve set up a network, then you’re settled. I made this website to promote someone’s music a couple of years ago and the guy gave me such a huge tip, it was ridiculous. From then on, it was basically smooth sailing.” 

“Wait. Wait a second.” Jisung stops cutting and lays down the knife to look at his neighbor. This sounds oddly familiar. Minho tilts his head at him in confusion. 

“What?” 

“Wait a second!” It’s coming back to him. He just needs two seconds to remember why this sounds so familiar.

“ What? ” Minho pushes at his shoulder with a chuckle. Jisung closes his eyes and thinks real hard for a second. Music promotion! 

“Ah! Seo Changbin! Did you make the website for Changbin when he was in college?” Jisung looks at Minho with big eyes. That would be a crazy coincidence, but he remembers it all too well. Changbin hired someone to make a promotional website where he could post his music and promote himself. He was so happy with the end result that he recommended him to everyone and tipped the guy generously. (Rich kid privileges.)

“Yes! That was his name! How the heck did you know? Do you follow me on social media?” Minho raises a suspicious eyebrow at him. Jisung laughs and waves his hands.

“No! Changbin is my friend.” Jisung assures him. (Or would it be a good thing to be following him?) Minho’s mouth forms a little ‘o’ and he nods in understanding, laughing at himself. 

They fill the rest of the evening like that, chatting and telling each other stories from their jobs, or talking with the kids. Minho is very comfortable to be around, Jisung learns, and talking to him goes easier than expected, because he usually isn’t that socially competent. It’s nice. He could use a friend who lives a little closer to him than Chan and Changbin. There’s of course Jeongin, but he sees him every week at the orphanage already. 

Minho starts stopping by more and more often from that moment on, sometimes bringing Dorito and claiming that he misses his namesake, or bringing his laptop and asking for his opinion on the website he’s building for the orphanage, or his opinion on other projects. He always asks Jisung if he ate dinner already, even when he comes by in the middle of Jisung cooking up a quick meal. Ever since they exchanged numbers to send each other pics of either their cats or their baby, Minho also sometimes sends him pictures of his food, which manages to make him hungry every time.

Jisung also learns that Minho is actually really sweet and helpful, even though Jisung has never explicitly asked him for help. It’s quite surprising, he thinks. He never knew that his neighbor had this side to him before he got Dori, and he wonders how the heck this man doesn’t have a significant other yet. 

One night, when Jisung feels tired and down because of a rough day at work, with too many crying kids, and he really doesn’t feel like cooking dinner for himself, Minho comes to save him again, bringing his kitten and immediately going back to get him some leftovers once he hears that Jisung hasn’t eaten yet.

“Don’t worry about it! I made myself too much food again.” Minho doesn’t want to hear Jisung’s complaints about him being too nice, nor does he want to hear his compliments and words of gratitude. 

Dori is upstairs, having a nap. She doesn’t need to be fed as often as when Minho visited him the first time, anymore, so she’ll probably be asleep for most of the evening. She was awake long enough to say hello to Dorito, though, as if she felt it in her soul that he was coming to visit. 

“Well, you do so much for me already. I feel like I owe you,” Jisung protests with a pout. Minho only chuckles at him and Jisung sighs. He is never taken seriously whenever he has food in his mouth. 

“Do you not want my food?” Minho raises a challenging eyebrow at him, and Jisung shakes his head frantically. Minho’s food is delicious and he is very lucky to be able to eat it every once in a while. He doesn’t want Minho to think that he doesn’t appreciate his cooking or something. 

“That’s not what I meant. Your food is amazing and I really wasn’t in the mood to cook tonight, because of work and stuff. The kids were all crying and I haven’t slept a full night in weeks —” Jisung stops his rant when he sees Minho’s eyes widen at him. He chuckles awkwardly and lowers his gaze to his plate of food. He didn’t mean to vent to Minho like that, but a tired Jisung means a Jisung without a brain-to-mouth filter. He doesn’t want Minho to pity him even more than he probably already does. 

“I was joking. Jeez , Han. You need to take some time off,” Minho says with a soft scoff. Jisung wants to laugh, but he can only scowl. He knows that Minho is right, but he’s anxious to take time off. If he wants to get paid time off, he’ll need to start officially adopting Dori, which will add to his stress, but if he won’t get paid, he’ll need to really start saving. He guesses that it’s getting a bit better now that Dori doesn’t need to eat so often anymore, but he doesn’t necessarily sleep a whole lot better. 

“I’m serious, for once,” Minho mutters when Jisung doesn’t answer him. “You can’t just…” 

“I can’t just take some time off. It’s— I— No nevermind.” Jisung presses his lips together. If he opens up to Minho right now, he’ll start bawling his eyes out right then and there, and if he starts crying, he probably won’t be able to stop anytime soon. He takes a deep breath and shakes his thoughts away. Time to change the subject. “Anyway. How was your day?”  

“It was fine, I guess. Well— Not great. I sent in that graphical game interface design, but the client just totally… Ugh. Let’s just say that I’ll have to work on it for a couple more days. Or rather, re-do a whole lot.” Minho rolls his eyes, the corners of his mouth twitching down and Jisung gasps.

“What?! But it looked so good! Like the borders and stuff— That was so clean.” He gapes at Minho in disbelief. 

“I know ! Pro tip: Never work with adults.” He shakes his head in disapproval. Jisung nods. He doesn’t think working with clients that are not kids will be good for his health. He of course has to deal with the parents of the kids, but thank goodness there’s receptionists at the doctor’s offices to deal with most of the stuff.

“Wasn’t planning to,” Jisung says with a laugh. “I’ll defend your work with my life, though. I don’t know a single thing about coding or computers, but what you do always looks so cool and complicated.” 

“Pfft.” Minho scoffs softly, but Jisung frowns because he can tell that Minho is a little insecure about his work getting rejected. If there’s something he wants to do to distract himself right now, it’s giving Minho some kindness back, and giving him some confidence.

“Hey. For once, I’m serious too.” Jisung suddenly gets the urge to take Minho’s hand into his own, for the sake of both of their comfort. He subtly inches his fingers forward over the dinner table, but Minho lets out a bit of a bitter laugh, so he freezes.

“I see that it’s time for both of us to take a step back and relax. I think I need a break from working as well. I’ve been using up all of my free time volunteering these days,” he says with a sigh. He then looks up at Jisung with an unfamiliar sparkle in his eyes. “Do you wanna go somewhere with me sometime soon? Get out of the house and get our minds off work?”

Jisung’s eyes widen a little. He’s hesitant to agree, because he’s a real homebody and he’d prefer to stay in his bed for a whole day if he’d ever get a day off, but he really wants to spend time with Minho as well. Maybe it’ll be okay if Minho is there. 

“Sure! I mean, if you don’t mind Dori coming with us as well.” Jisung looks up at the ceiling, where Dori’s sleeping upstairs right now. He hopes that Minho won’t mind, because he won’t  be able to afford taking a day off and hiring someone to take care of Dori. Although… “Otherwise I’ll ask my parents to take care of her for a day.” 

“Oh no, I don’t mind her coming with us,” Minho assures him. He chuckles and beckons Dorito to come over to him so that he can pet him. “She’s a great conversation partner, I think Dori will agree. My Dori.” 

Jisung lets out a laugh. Minho’s life would become a lot easier if he’d discern Dori and Dori by calling his kitten by Jisung’s genius nickname. “Dorito.” Jisung loves seeing Minho’s exaggeratedly shocked expression whenever he brings up the nickname. Jisung returns the gesture by giving him an overly happy look. 

Minho’s mouth twitches but he concentrates hard to keep a scowl on his face. “No,” he tells Jisung sternly. 

“Why not? It’s genius! Dori The Original! Dorito!” Jisung argues. “Isn’t it cute?” 

“But Dori is my only non-cheese cat! How does it make sense that he's Dorito when I have two cheesier cats?” Minho sighs in desperation and Jisung lets out a cackle, thinking of all of the cat pics he sent of his two other cats, Soonie and Doongie, who have orange fur, with the caption ‘Cheese’ . 

“It’s not cheese! It’s a cute nickname, and it acknowledges that Dorito is the original Dori.” Jisung laughs again at Minho’s resolve to not accept the nickname, but he can tell that he’s holding back laughter of himself as well. 

“You’re right that my Dori is the original, but he’s not a dorito. Anyway, where do you wanna go?” Minho asks him, trying to compose his expression, but a teeny tiny smile decorates his lips. “Where would be a good place to take Dori? Your Dori? Would a walk and a picnic be nice?” 

“That sounds fun. I think Dori will like that, too.” Jisung somehow feels a bit shy, thinking about going on a picnic with just Minho and Dori. It’ll be just like when they’re hanging out at Jisung’s home, but somehow it feels like it’s different, because it’ll be during the day, and because maybe Jisung is starting to realize something regarding the way he sees his neighbor. 

“I’ll bring the food, will you bring your baby and a picnic blanket?” Minho suggests, and Jisung nods. 

“I’ll bring something to drink, too.” 

“Great! I think I’ll head back to my place now, Dori is starting to doze off over there.” Minho nods at his snoozing kitten, cuddled up near the heater. “ My Dori.” 

“Dorito,” Jisung says with a grin.

“Whatever.” Minho rolls his eyes with a sigh before waving his hand towards Jisung while he grabs his coat and then grabs Dorito. “Text me a day and I’ll pick you up. See you later, Jisungie.” Minho brings the words so casually, but Jisung’s heart skips a little beat at the nickname, and he kind of swoons at the notion of Minho picking him up. They literally live next door from each other, but that almost makes it more romantic, in Jisung’s eyes.

“Thank you for stopping by tonight. See you later.” The words come out almost as a whisper, but he feels like his heart is going to spill out of his throat if he speaks any louder. Minho turns to him and gives him a smile and wave, and if Jisung thinks about that gentle expression for the rest of the evening, then it’s only for him to know. (And perhaps for his little girl to know, because he can’t help but take her into his arms when he sees that she’s awake, and whisper to her how he thinks that he might be catching feelings for his neighbor. Dori only reacts by letting out a breathy sound that resembles a little laugh. Jisung shakes his head with a fond smile and gives her a kiss goodnight, hoping that her laugh is a blessing for him and Minho, rather than a bad omen.)

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚　˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

Work doesn’t get any less stressful in the next three days, so Jisung is happy to get a day off, even if it’s unpaid. He decides, together with Minho, to meet on a Wednesday so that they can have a little break in between their week. Dori is slowly getting more talkative and reactive, which brightens Jisung’s day more, but that means that he’s also getting more busy with helping Dori develop by singing to her, talking and reading to her, and playing with her. He also needs to pay more attention to her, because she is getting more control over her movements, rolling around whenever he puts her down and grabbing at anything and everything. It’ll be fun taking her outside, though, Jisung is looking forward to seeing her being amazed by the park by the river just a fifteen minute walk from his house.

By noon, Minho knocks on his door. He has grown the habit of knocking instead of using the doorbell, apparently because he doesn’t want Dori to wake up in case she’s sleeping, which is so sweet of him, it makes Jisung want to squeal into his pillow like a teenager. He composes himself before he opens the door, setting up a smile. 

“Hi, Minho! I’m almost done, I just gotta dress up Dori.” He motions for Minho to come in and put the picnic basket onto his table. To Jisung’s surprise, the picnic basket Minho brought meows , and when Minho puts it down, two orange heads and one grey head peek out of the basket. Jisung laughs at the sight and greets the three cats, trying to remind himself what his trick was to tell Soonie and Doongie apart. “Hello there, Soonie, Doongie, and of course sweet Dorito. How nice of you to bring some company, Min.”

“Of course. I thought it would be nice. And don’t worry about the food, it’s all packed.” Minho opens the basket and pets his three cats fondly. He somehow looks better than usual, today, but Jisung can’t quite pinpoint it. Maybe it’s his hair? Or did he get a new jacket? Or maybe it’s just the fond smile that makes him look so handsome— Not important. Stop swooning and get Dori ready. He gets Dori’s jacket and he gets her a knit hat he got from the nice lady a couple houses further. Dori giggles as Jisung tickles her to get her to raise her arms and put on a jacket. 

“Oh my gosh, she’s adorable,” Minho says with a sigh, joining Jisung at the couch and looking at the little girl. She seems to become a bit shy when Minho appears in front of her, but Jisung pats her belly fondly.

“Don’t be shy, sweetie. It’s just Minho! You’ve seen him lots of times before,” he assures her. Minho smiles and waves at her, but Dori looks away. Jisung turns to his neighbor and hands him the knit hat. “Here, you put it on her. It'll make her open up to you a little bit.” 

Minho carefully puts the hat on Dori’s small head, and Jisung notices that he has become way more comfortable with handling a baby than a couple of weeks ago. To think that he is most likely the cause of that makes him feel all fuzzy. The way he pats Dori’s head when he’s done, and the way Dori grabs at his fingers after, makes Jisung long for someone like him to take care of her together with him. (Makes him long for him to take care of her together with him.) 

Jisung wraps his baby wrap around Dori, securing her against his chest before putting on his own jacket. He is saving up for a stroller, but wrapping her up and carrying her is fine for now. She's getting more mobile, though, so a stroller might be more comfortable for her soon. He grabs his backpack, puts it on, and finally faces Minho to tell him that he’s ready to go.

“You got a full backpack of drinks?” Minho asks him with the raise of an eyebrow. Jisung shakes his head.

“No, there’s some food and emergency diapers for Dori as well. And of course a blanket,” he explains as he pats the backpack. They get out of the house and Minho lets out a gasp in understanding. 

“Of course. I packed something for my cats too, how could I forget.” He shakes his head in disappointment. Jisung doesn’t mind, though, and he thinks it’s cute how Minho silently scolds himself.

The weather is nice, so Jisung doesn’t need to close his jacket to keep himself and Dori warm. He supports his baby with his arms, so that his shoulders won’t get tired so soon. Minho is carrying the picnic basket, occasional meowing erupting from it and adding to the ambience of their walk. They talk about their week, Minho has been putting off working on his rejected design and has been focusing on adding more features to the orphanage website, as well as incorporating feedback and fixing minor bugs and issues. He promises Jisung to show him his progress after the picnic, and Jisung is curious what kind of pretty web pages or cool features Minho has added now. It’s amazing how excited Minho is to keep working on the website, even a month or two after he finished the initial redesign. 

Jisung listens more than he speaks, and only tells Minho about the happier parts of his work. He tells him about this one cute kid who he had to leave for a second to quickly change Dori's diaper, after which the kid requested to see Dori because babies reminded them of their little sibling. 

“Isn't it dangerous to let a sick kid near your baby?” Minho asks him. 

“Not if the kid is only suffering from some eczema. That isn't contagious. I let Dori see them, she was happy to play for a bit while I talked to the kid’s parents.” Jisung pats Dori’s little head when she starts moving around a bit. “Hmm? You're getting restless? We're almost there, sweetie. Then you'll be able to see Dorito and his siblings.” 

Minho clears his throat, making Jisung look up at him. He isn’t sure what Minho wants, until he raises his eyebrows at him and points at himself, silently asking him 'What about me?'. Jisung snickers and adds, “And you'll be able to see Minho, of course. He wants some attention, too, so make sure that you look at him at least once, okay?” 

“Hey. Dori likes me. She shares a name with my beloved, so of course she'll give me attention.” Minho pouts slightly, and he looks so cute that Jisung can't help but stare. He wonders what it would be like to kiss Minho on the lips. Would it be nice to kiss that pout away? He imagines that it would be. Very nice, even. 

After a pause, he registers that Minho is staring right back at him, and he lets out an awkward chuckle that he tries to mask with a scoff. They look away at the same time and Jisung wants to make a joke, because the silence feels a little tense to him, but his voice doesn't want to cooperate. Luckily they have arrived at the park by the river, so they pick out a nice spot, not too close to the water but still with a nice view. 

Jisung lays down the blanket and his backpack before he starts unwrapping Dori. Minho puts down his basket and lets out his cats. Soonie and Doongie immediately find a spot to lie down on the blanket, while Dorito comes to greet Dori, meowing at Jisung’s feet. Dori seems to recognize the meowing, and her eyes start sparkling. “Almost done, Dorito, Dori.” Jisung laughs as he sits down and carefully puts Dori down on her stomach onto the blanket. “Tummy time, Dori! Are you up for it?” he asks as he holds on to her middle in case she doesn't want to hold up her head right now, but she doesn't seem to mind the position, too distracted by Dorito and the other two cats, as well as the new surroundings. 

“Look, Soonie, Doongie, this is Dori’s friend! Say hi to baby Dori.” Minho beckons his cats to come over, and Soonie stands up to see what Dorito is doing, but Doongie stays down stubbornly, not interested in Dori’s delighted sounds when Soonie joins Dorito and the kitten nuzzles against her. 

“This is bad for my health, what the frick.” Jisung almost bursts out in tears at the sight. He crawls over to Minho, who has just finished unpacking the food, and grabs his arm with a fake sob. “Our kids. Our Dori’s. Too adorable.” 

“So fucking adorable,” Minho whispers through gritted teeth as he absent-mindedly places his hand onto Jisung’s. The touch is only very light, but Minho’s fingers are warm against his skin, sending little bursts of electricity through his body. Jisung has initiated skinship before—hugs, mostly—and Minho has returned his hugs, but this somehow feels more intimate, and it makes Jisung’s heart pound a little faster. 

Minho removes his hand too quickly, but he gets it. They’re here to have some lunch, not to hold hands. (Unfortunately.) He is quite hungry, to be honest, and he can’t wait to try whatever Minho brought. Minho tells him what he brought, sandwiches, little lunch boxes, fruit, and some vegetable snacks. It looks and smells delicious, and Jisung picks out what to eat first, keeping his shoulder pressed against Minho’s, just because he wants to. 

“What do you want?” Minho asks him, glancing at him from the side and picking up a piece of sushi with his chopsticks when Jisung points at it. Jisung hasn’t picked up a set of chopsticks yet, but when he leans forward to pick a set, Minho holds the piece of sushi in front of his mouth. Jisung looks up at him with big eyes, but Minho is looking down at him with a casual expression, so Jisung tries to not blush as he bites the piece of sushi off the chopsticks.

“Thank you,” he mumbles through his full mouth, his cheeks feeling warm despite his best efforts. Hopefully Minho doesn’t notice his red cheeks, but he can’t help but wonder what to think about Minho feeding him like that. Is that just something he does? Is it a way of flirting? It’s probably just a kind gesture, just like bringing him his leftover dinner. 

“Oh, by the way, can you help me keep an eye on Dori? She might get tired of tummy time soon. She can roll around herself, but she might roll off to lord knows where. Once she gets going, she can’t be stopped.” Jisung says as he swallows his sushi. Minho chuckles.

“Tummy time. That’s cute.” He’s not calling me cute, he’s calling Dori cute. Minho looks at Dori, who’s making grabby hands at Dorito and Soonie. Soonie is lying against Dori’s side, while Dorito is pawing back at her. Jisung knows that Minho keeps his cats’ nails short, so he won’t have to fear that they’ll accidentally scratch her. 

Just at that moment, Dori rolls over onto her back with a whine. Soonie stands up and moves himself back to Dori’s side, while Dorito comes over to nuzzle her forehead. Dori laughs happily at the cats. Jisung thinks it might be better to put her in his lap, though, so he picks her up and puts her down between his legs. Dorito immediately follows her, but Soonie stays there and watches. 

They have a lazy lunch, and enjoy the early afternoon sun. Jisung wishes he could spend every day like this, eating delicious food, his shoulder pressed against Minho’s, his baby playing with Minho’s cats, and not a worry on his mind. He lets out a sigh in content and, in a burst of confidence, he leans his head onto Minho’s shoulder. He swears he sees a corner of Minho’s mouth twitch up, and he hopes that it’s because Minho doesn’t mind this. 

Minho picks up a tangerine and clumsily tries to peel the skin off. Jisung chuckles and holds out his hand, silently offering to peel the fruit for him. Minho hands it over and Jisung peels the skin off, before sharing half of it and picking up another one to peel and share, his head still on Minho’s shoulder. 

After that, they feed Minho’s cats together, and they play a little with Dori, trying to make her do a high five. Minho boops her nose and laughs almost as loudly as she does. It’s all too much for his heart to take. It’ll bounce right out of his chest at this rate, which could be dangerous.

After Dori’s lunch and a change of diaper, she dozes off and Jisung softly sings her a little lullaby. Minho looks at him with a little smile, which makes Jisung a bit shy, but he keeps his eyes on Dori, singing to her until she falls asleep. He then lies down to let her sleep on his chest. Minho looks down at him from where he’s still sitting up on the blanket, his eyes slightly lidded because he’s looking down, but there’s something in his eyes that makes Jisung feel really shy all of a sudden. It’s an intimate expression, not the usual stone-like neutral one he usually wears. Minho blinks and suddenly the expression is gone, but Jisung doesn’t have much time to think about it, as Minho moves to lie down next to him, their shoulders glued together.

“You know what?” Minho whispers once he’s settled, his hands folded onto his chest, moving along with the rhythm of his breathing. “I’ve decided to follow Dori’s example. Fuck whatever anyone thinks of me or my work. I’ll just do whatever I like and if the client is going to be rude about it, I’ll think of Dori and appreciate the fact that there’s nice people and cats in my life and the fact that I am not a sour asshole to freelance workers.” 

Jisung laughs, quickly slapping his hand in front of his mouth to muffle the sound so as to not wake up his baby. Minho tells him that he’s serious, and Jisung knows he is, but the way he puts it so bluntly never fails to crack him up. 

“Which Dori?” he asks to clarify, when he has stopped laughing, because Minho still refuses to use any nicknames that’ll distinguish the two.

“Doesn’t matter,” Minho states confidently. Jisung's heart skips a beat and hopes that his rapid heartbeat doesn’t wake Dori. He tells himself that Minho just likes babies, and that this all has nothing to do with him. He can’t help but feel butterflies whenever Minho talks about his baby Dori, though, it fills him with hope that Dori won’t be a factor that could make Minho hesitant about starting a relationship with him. When he agreed to have Dori come with them today, Jisung couldn’t stop thinking about the ‘what if’s of their relationship. But all in all, Jisung has no idea if Minho has any romantic interest in him, so his fantasies stay fantasies for now. 

A comfortable silence falls over them, and Jisung could honestly fall asleep. He hasn’t slept a full night in months, always needing to get up to feed Dori or to get to work or to help out at the orphanage. His friends at the orphanage tell him that he doesn’t need to help out so often, but doing so gives him a little break from having to take care of Dori and himself, and Dori likes seeing the kids there, as well as the other way around. 

The sun on his face and Minho’s shoulder pressed against his make him sleepy. Dori’s cheek is squished against his chest, her tiny fingers curled into his shirt, making him feel like he’s at home. His eyes flutter close, and he feels Minho shift next to him, so he tries to keep his eyes open, but he’s so tired.

“Shall I sing you a lullaby, Jisungie?” Minho whispers with a chuckle, his breath hitting Jisung’s cheek. He tries to fight the sleep, because he really wants to see Minho’s face right now, but he can’t keep his eyes open. 

“Yes, please,” he mumbles, mindlessly patting Dori’s back. Minho lets out another chuckle, and Jisung feels a hand on his cheek, gently pinching it. Maybe he’s trying to make him wake up, because he’s whispering something to him, but Jisung is already half-asleep, and he can’t fight it anymore so he dozes off to the sound of Minho’s soft whispers.  

He wakes up after who knows how long. It could be two minutes, it could be two hours, but it’s probably closer to a couple of minutes, since he can still feel Minho’s shoulder pressed against him, and since Dori isn’t awake yet— Shit!  

Jisung sits up with a gasp when he can’t feel Dori on his chest, panic settling in his stomach like a rock. He looks around and lets out a breath of relief when he sees Minho and Dorito playing with Dori. Minho is holding her up with one hand while still lying down, occasionally squeezing her sides while she’s trying to hug Dorito.

Minho looks up at him and sits up, giving him a worried look. “Are you okay?” he asks him, shuffling around and holding his hand against Dori’s stomach so that she can sit up. She can almost sit up by herself, but Jisung appreciates Minho supporting her. 

“Yeah, I— I didn’t mean to fall asleep, I’m sorry,” he explains with a chuckle, rubbing a hand along his face to wake himself up a little more. “I panicked a little because Dori wasn’t on my chest anymore, but I’m fine.” 

“Oh, sorry! She woke up a couple minutes ago, and she was trying to pull your hair or shove her hands into your mouth or something, so I thought I’d pick her up before she woke you up or fell off or something,” Minho explains. “You looked like you needed a nap.” 

Jisung feels his stomach flip at the considerate words. He wants to apologize for being such terrible company because he fell asleep, but Minho really doesn’t seem to mind. What did he do to deserve such a kind friend? 

“Thank you, Min, you are the best, gosh— I am the worst company, I’m sorry. You’re really the best—” Jisung runs a hand through his hair and tries to find the words to thank him. He swallows away the ‘I love you’ that threatens to slip out, because even though he’d say it platonically, he doesn’t know if Minho will appreciate it. Minho lets out a groan when Jisung hugs him because he can’t get his feelings out any other way, but he does return it with one arm.

“Don’t be so dramatic! Playing with my cats is my favorite pastime. Babies aren’t that different if they don’t need food or diaper changing.” Minho pulls out of the hug and pokes Jisung against his forehead. “And you are just fine when it comes to being good company. I like having you around. Or whatever.” 

Jisung smiles at the words, relieved and endeared at Minho’s slightly pink ears. Minho always manages to cheer him right up. “You’re a cutie,” he coos at his neighbor, which earns him a scoff and a half-hearted push to the shoulder.

“Says the one who hasn’t lost his baby fat!” Minho bites back as he pokes Jisung’s cheek. “You laugh like a baby, too.” 

Jisung bites at Minho’s hand with a pout, embarrassed that Minho is comparing him to a baby, but happy that Minho is implying that he thinks he’s cute. Minho is the cute one, though, he’s the one who loves kittens and babies and who always tries to subtly show that he cares about you, rather than honestly telling you. He’s the one with the big pretty eyes and pouty lips. 

“Anyway. Have you had enough to eat? Should we get back so that I can show you the new version of the website?” Minho squeezes Dori’s sides again, making her squeal in delight. Jisung nods at him with a smile, his stomach feeling full of butterflies, so he sure isn’t hungry anymore. 

They get back and Minho offers to bring his laptop to Jisung’s house, because he has all of Dori’s stuff there. He shows Jisung all of his progress and Jisung offers him his opinion, which is mostly a combination of ‘Woah, that’s so cool’ , ‘This looks amazing’ , and ‘Can I press this button to see what happens?’ . Minho seems to appreciate his excitement, though.

He offers to cook for Minho, since he has done groceries this morning. (And because he doesn’t want Minho and his cats to leave, yet.) Minho accepts, telling him that he’s very curious about what he will make. He watches Dori and his cats in the living room, but he comes peeking into the kitchen anyway, carrying Dori with him and narrating Jisung’s cooking to her.

“Look, he’s cutting the onions! We’ll stay far away from him, because he might cry— Oh my goodness be careful of your fingers, Han!— I wonder what he’s making. Do you know what kind of dishes he’s good at? Hmmm? No? Because you only eat baby food? Well, I am going to eat his food. Isn’t he being a good host?” Minho mindlessly talks to Dori like that, much like Jisung would do at a moment like this, and Jisung almost burns the food because he’s so embarrassed. 

“I can’t cook if you’re watching me!” he complains, but Minho only laughs at him, making Dori laugh, as well. It’s too adorable. 

Eventually Minho stops narrating and leaves the kitchen so that Jisung can cook in peace. He’s not that good at cooking, but he knows the basics and he can improvise a little. When he deems the dish done, he brings everything to the living room. Before they can eat, Jisung changes Dori’s diaper again and puts her in her crib to have another nap. She whines in protest, and almost starts crying when Jisung leaves the room, so he stays and takes her into her arms after telling Minho that he can start eating through the baby monitor. He sings her a lullaby or two, gently rocking her until she falls asleep.

“Sleep well, little one, Jisungie is going to have dinner now, but I won’t be far.” He gives her a kiss on the cheek and leaves the room to go downstairs and join Minho at the dinner table.

“Sorry, she didn’t want me to leave yet,” he apologizes. When he sits down, he sees that Minho hasn’t started eating yet.

“Yeah, I heard,” Minho says with a nod, his lips pressed together into a half amused half endeared little smile.

“Didn’t you hear me tell you that you could start eating then?” Jisung nods at the food. It’s still warm, luckily, but Minho didn’t have to wait.

“I did. I just wanted you to see my live reaction to your cooking,” Minho says with a grin. Jisung pulls a hesitant face, feeling embarrassed to have Minho rate his mediocre cooking. He waits for him to take a bite, his shoulders tense in suspense. Minho takes his sweet sweet time chewing the food and knitting his brows together while he’s assessing the food. 

Jisung lets out a sigh when Minho keeps chewing. “Come on!” he hurries Minho, who has to hold back laughter. 

“Okay, okay. I’ll give you my verdict.” Minho swallows his food. “I think you did a good job. So far, it’s nice. You could have done a little more with the sauce, but it’s tasty. I like being cooked for every once in a while. It seems that that nap did wonders to you.” 

Jisung gives him a sheepish smile, but he accepts the compliment. “Thank you, Min. I know I have a lot to learn, but you are a busy cat dad and hard worker, so you deserve it.” 

“I know, right?” Minho grins before he turns to his food and continues eating. Jisung mirrors the grin and digs in as well. 

The day ends way too soon, but Jisung needs to get back to his parental duties, as does Minho, because his cats still need to be fed. Jisung also needs to get ready for work tomorrow, prepping some meals for both himself and Dori. He keeps thinking about how much fun he had today and he makes sure to hug Minho goodbye tightly. 

Minho doesn’t leave his mind for the whole night, and when Jisung sings Dori asleep for the last time today, he thinks about Minho almost holding his hand today, and about their shoulders being glued together during the picnic. He thinks about Minho’s smile when playing with Dori, and about how caring he was, picking up Dori and letting her play with the cats so she wouldn’t wake him up. He thinks about Minho’s pouty lips and pretty eyes, and he falls asleep thinking about what if Minho would return his ever growing feelings.

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚　˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

It’s all too much. Jisung is trying to hold back tears as he’s speedwalking home, but his vision is already starting to get a bit blurry. He had an absolute shit day at work, and on top of that, Jeongin came to tell him that he should get to making a decision whether he will adopt Dori or give her back to the orphanage, because they’re starting to get more volunteers and donations thanks to Minho’s upgrade of the website. It’s definitely good that the orphanage is running better, but Jisung isn’t ready for such a decision yet. He’s been holding up so far, but on days like this, he doesn’t know if he can be the best parent for her.

Dori senses his distressed mood, so she’s buzzing around in the baby wrap, letting out worried cries. Jisung softly shushes her, patting her back and giving her a kiss atop her head. “Don’t worry, sweetie, I’m okay. I’ll be okay,” he assures her, trying to keep his voice even. He takes a deep and slightly shaky breath. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to leave Dori, it would break his heart, but adopting is such a big step. He needs to make sure he has enough money in case any fees come up, and the paperwork makes his head spin, and he doesn’t know if he can handle it all alone.

When he arrives at home, he accidentally slams the door behind him, startling Dori and making her cry. He quickly unwraps her and apologizes, kissing her cheeks and tickling her to distract her. She stops crying fairly quickly, and Jisung lets out a breath of relief. “Sorry sweetie, I didn’t mean to startle you. I know you’re tired, me too. I’ll make you a bottle and get you to bed, okay?” 

Dori lets out a babble and Jisung can’t help but finally smile, but it’s a bittersweet smile. Dori makes his days so much better, even though he has to give up sleep and free time for her. He’d gladly make the decision to take care of her again, though, he’d make the decision a thousand times again.

When Jisung puts Dori into bed, she doesn’t want to let go, and Jisung almost bursts into tears again. He’s almost more of a crybaby than she is. Keep it together, Han. For her. He takes her back into his arms and hugs her against his chest. He sings for her again, softly, because he doesn’t want his voice to break. He doesn’t want Dori to get upset because of him. She nods off as Jisung sings to her and Jisung gently lays her down, before slipping out of the room and hurrying downstairs. 

He opens his computer and once again visits the orphanage website. Minho made the adoption page more accessible, so maybe he can try getting started with that, but when he opens one of the attached documents to read, the tiny letters make him dizzy and there are so many pages that his stomach drops in anxiety. He isn’t organized enough for this, he isn’t experienced enough for this, he isn’t good enough. He can’t do this, but he can’t say goodbye to Dori either. 

He stands up, his desk chair squeaking against the floor. He needs to get his mind off of this. Maybe he should have a crying session, but he’s afraid to wake Dori, because that has happened before, especially during their first month together. He’s a messy crier and once he gets going, he won’t be able to stop if he wakes Dori. 

He decides to maybe get some dinner for himself, since he has time and Dori is asleep now, but when he walks into the kitchen and grabs a cup of water to calm himself before he starts cooking, his hands are shaking too much and he drops the cup, spilling water all over his socks and the kitchen floor.  

That’s it. Jisung can’t even get a paper towel before he bursts out in tears. He can’t seem to do anything right today. He manages to clean up a bit of the spilled water, but he can’t seem to stop crying, shaky sobs continuing to spill from his lips as tears stain his cheeks. He sits down on the damp tiles, burying his head between his knees and clutching the wet paper towels. 

His phone starts buzzing, but he really can’t talk right now. He does grab it to see who it is, but he only cries harder when he sees ‘Min of Dorito’ pop up onto his screen. He shakily clicks the red button, because he can’t pick up right now, he won’t be able to get out any words in this state, and he doesn’t want to worry Minho. When the call disappears, he sees that Minho has left him multiple texts. 

‘Hey Han. Look at Dori. (My Dori.)’ with an image of Dori stretched out onto his floor. It’s incredibly adorable, but he can barely see the image with his blurry vision. ‘Did u drop something? I could feel my house shaking,’ he sent after Jisung had just got home, so he heard Jisung slam the door as well. ‘Jisungie come appreciate my non-cheese cat,’ was the message he sent just before he called him. Jisung can see that he’s typing, and just then, two new messages appear.

‘Did you just hang up on me?’ and another ‘?’ . Jisung hopes that he didn’t upset Minho by hanging up on him, so he quickly types a reply. ‘Can’t talk right now, sorry.’ He doesn’t even have the mind to add something about the picture. 

‘Are you and Dori okay?’ 

Jisung almost drops his phone from his hands from the way his fingers are shaking. He clutches the phone and slowly types his reply. ‘Dori is okay, don’t worry.’ 

‘And you?’ Minho’s reply is instantaneous, unlike Jisung’s, whose fingers are shaking as he types his reply. He doesn’t know what to say, because he doesn’t know what the answer is. He can’t just send him that he’s having a breakdown. 

‘?’ comes Minho’s next message, when Jisung has stopped typing and deleting replies. He still doesn’t know what to say. Maybe he should be a little honest.

‘Tired,’ he replies, which is true, but it’s not the whole truth. He isn’t going to tell Minho that he’s bawling his eyes out because he feels overwhelmed, though.  

‘Can you come over?’ he types, but he immediately deletes the message. There are too many doubts behind the message, even though he really wants to have Minho by his side right now. He doesn’t want to burden him with his breakdown, though. 

‘I’m coming over,’ Minho replies, as if he somehow knew what Jisung was about to send him. Jisung starts crying harder, and tries to type a reply that he doesn’t have to, but Minho already goes offline and before Jisung can send anything, he hears a knock on his door. 

He quickly wipes at his cheeks, trying to compose himself before he opens the door and faces Minho, but he can’t seem to stop the tears from falling. He stands up and slowly approaches the door, taking deep and shaky breaths. His hands are trembling, but he needs to calm down before he greets Minho.

“Jisung? Please open the door. I know you’re in there.” Minho’s voice sounds worried, and Jisung wonders how he knows that something’s wrong, because he only told him that he’s tired. He manages to hold back his tears for a moment, so he reaches for the door and opens it. Minho’s eyebrows are drawn together, and when he sees Jisung, his face turns sad. 

Jisung lets out a whimper and hides his face behind his hands, unable to hold back the stream of tears anymore. He’s letting out ugly sobs and shaky breaths. He feels like he’s about to have a panic attack, suddenly too overwhelmed by the sight of Minho standing in front of his house, coming to save him from distress. 

Minho silently pulls him into a hug, enveloping him in his arms. Jisung wraps his arms around Minho’s chest, burying his head into the crook of his neck and clutching his shirt. They stand in the doorway for a while, hugging in silence, but Jisung still can’t stop crying.

“Come on, let’s go inside,” Minho tells him softly and he guides them to the couch. Jisung sits down, letting out shaky and short breaths. However much he wants to stop crying, he can’t seem to get himself to do so. Minho rubs a hand along his back and a hand along his arms. “Hey, hey, be calm. I’m here. What happened? Why are you so upset?” 

“I— I— It’s— I can’t—” he speaks through ragged breaths and he lets out a sigh of frustration. Minho presses his lips together, trying to hold back a laugh at Jisung’s stuttering. “I— I told you— I told you I can’t talk right now!” He throws the words out without breathing in between, gesturing at his face to convey what he means. Minho lets out a breath and nods.

“It’s okay. Take your time,” he assures him. Minho stands up and leaves Jisung on the couch for a moment. Jisung wants to tell him to stay, but he’s still sobbing. Minho soon returns with a glass of water and some paper towels. 

“Thanks,” Jisung breathes out as he accepts the glass of water, gulping it down before taking the paper towels and blowing his nose. It helps him calm down a little, especially because Minho keeps rubbing his back in soothing motions. Tears are still blurring his vision, but his breathing has evened out, so he can probably speak again. Minho reaches forward to dab away a stray tear falling from his eyelashes with his pinky, letting his fingers linger close to his cheeks and softly brushing against them.

“I’m just overwhelmed,” he begins softly. “My coworkers— I can’t even tell if they’re joking anymore— They keep telling me to get my life together, asking me when I’ll stop bringing Dori to work. I… It makes me feel like I’m a bad parent to Dori— I cry too much, and it makes Dori upset, too. And I accidentally slammed the door on my way in, which made her cry. I can’t even contain my emotions in front of her, and it’s making her upset—” 

“No, no, Jisung… Stop.” Minho shushes him, trying to wipe away his newly falling tears, but it’s too much for him to stop. “Dori loves you so much. You are her everything.” Jisung shakes his head, letting out another sob, so Minho pulls him into a hug, his hand caressing the back of his head. “I really think you should adopt her, ‘Sung. I’ve been wanting to ask you when you’d do it.” 

“I want to. I really want to,” Jisung murmurs into Minho’s shirt, his forehead pressed against his chest. He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to stop the tears from falling onto Minho’s shirt and pants, but he fails. He takes another deep breath. “I just get so overwhelmed anytime I open the page. There’s so much to do, so much paperwork and things to work through. So much doubts about if I can do it. I can’t—” 

“You can,” Minho states, his voice confident but gentle. 

“I can’t do it alone,” Jisung whispers, the words ‘I need you’ going unsaid, but are evident in the way he’s clinging onto Minho’s shirt. Minho’s breath hitches and he tenses a little, but Jisung doesn’t dare to look up and check his expression. His heart is bouncing in his ears. Maybe he shouldn’t have said this. Fuck. His eyes are getting wet again, but he forces himself to take deep and slow breaths so that he won’t spiral into panic, blinking quickly in an attempt to keep himself together. 

“I’ll… Can you ask someone at the orphanage to help you out? I’m sure they’ll be happy to help you. What about Jeongin?” Minho suggests softly. Jisung lets out a breath of relief, his shoulders slumping, and he’s happy that he didn’t scare Minho away with his insecurities and his plea for help. His fingers relax their grip on Minho’s shirt, and he realizes that Minho has a point, he’s just too anxious to make the decision to adopt. Minho keeps rubbing his hand along the back of Jisung’s head. “You can do it. Not being a good enough parent is an excuse I won’t tolerate. You’re doing great. And— I understand that you need help. That’s okay. It’s okay to ask for help.”

Jisung lets out a whimper and another sob, not crying because he’s sad anymore, but because he’s touched by Minho’s words. He’s really a crybaby, and that realization makes him let out a little scoff. Minho was right about him being like a baby. And he’s right about that he needs to adopt Dori, and ask Jeongin for help about it. He hopes that Minho will be there with him as well, but he has already been such a great friend to Jisung, taking care of him and Dori when Jisung was too tired to properly do so.

“Thank you, Minho.” He swallows away the lump that formed in his throat, but he keeps his head down and against Minho’s chest. “Thank you for coming by. You're always there when I need you.” 

“I’m always next door,” Minho whispers, and Jisung can hear a little smile in his voice, which helps him calm down. He takes a deep breath and wipes his final tears away so that he can face Minho again.

“I’m done crying now,” he announces as he raises his head and gives Minho a watery smile, which startles Minho into a laugh. Jisung’s face is probably all red and blotchy from crying so much, but he doesn’t care right now. He already showed Minho his most vulnerable side by now, so there’s no need to be embarrassed about his appearance.  

“Good. Please just ask someone for help instead of letting it get to this, okay? I’m literally either next door, or a phone call or text away.” Minho pokes his finger into Jisung’s forehead. “I come over when I’m bored or need an opinion on my websites or designs, too, right?” 

Jisung frowns a little, knitting his eyebrows together in confusion. “That’s hardly the same.” He waves Minho off. Asking for help with taking care of Dori, or asking Minho to help him with dinner is not the same as asking Jisung to keep him company while he’s bored.

“Why not? I mean, I, uhm, I need you in those moments, right? I need some company every once in a while, otherwise I’ll turn into a typical freelance IT’er, a.k.a a hermit who nevers sees the light of day. Or a crazy cat guy.” Minho is completely serious as he speaks, and judging by the way his ears color a light pink, there’s some hidden meaning behind his words. Maybe he really does appreciate being around Jisung.

“Okay,” he says with a nod. He’ll try to ask for help a little more, maybe ask Minho if he wants to come over when he feels lonely or something, and he’ll definitely ask Jeongin to help him get started on the adoption process. 

“Now, you probably haven't eaten yet, have you?” Minho asks him as he stands up from the couch, his hands leaving Jisung’s arms and Jisung misses his touch already. 

“I haven’t, but I do have food in my fridge,” he tells Minho. He knows that Minho is implying to cook for him, but Jisung actually just wants to cuddle. “We… We could also just order something.” 

“Nah, I was already getting started on cooking. I’ll quickly get some stuff from my place and whip up some quick dinner for us,” Minho says, already walking towards the front door. Jisung takes peace with it. Maybe he’ll be able to convince Minho to cuddle with him after dinner. 

He doesn’t get to cuddle with Minho after dinner, because he kind of chickens out asking him, and Minho tells Jisung to go to bed early tonight. He already has to go because he still needs to feed his cats, which is a shame. Jisung wants to offer to go with him, but Dori should be waking up soon for her dinner as well. 

Before Minho leaves, Jisung pulls him into such a tight hug that Minho stumbles a little, laughing when he hugs him back. Jisung tightens his arms around Minho’s neck and, in a spur of confidence, he leaves a kiss on Minho’s cheek. “Thank you, Min~ Say hi to your cats for me, okay?”

Minho’s cheek goes pink, but his expression stays neutral, except for the corners of his mouth twitching and his increased rate of blinking. Jisung watches his adam’s apple bob before he answers. “Of course. Say hi to your Dori for me, okay?” Minho pats him on the shoulder, and Jisung feels like he maybe went a little too far with the kiss. Minho didn’t react to it, though, and he would tell Jisung if he didn’t like it, right?
“See you around, Han.” Minho waves at him and walks away, leaving Jisung longing a little. He shakes the bitter part of his bittersweet feelings away and lets himself feel grateful. He’s really glad that Minho came by, because if there was ever a moment he needed him, it was today, and Minho somehow sensed it. He feels like he can take care of Dori with a more peaceful heart now. 

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚　˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

Jeongin is a great help getting started with the adoption process, and he tells Jisung what parts of the long documents are important and what parts he can skip (for now). It makes it a whole lot less scary to get started. Dori seems to be excited when Jisung tells her that he’s going to start adopting her. Accepting that he’s going to stay with her makes it easier when she clings to him before a nap, it doesn’t bring him on the verge of tears anymore, although it does make him sad to have to leave her. 

He doesn’t see Minho a lot the week after his breakdown, and he sometimes wonders if he scared him away by crying so much, admitting that he needed him, and giving him that kiss, but Minho does keep texting him. He keeps sending him cat pictures, and asks him how Dori’s doing, if he’s eaten, and if he has started the adoption process already. 

Jisung thinks that he and Minho fit well together, and that they can read each other quite well a lot of the time, but Minho’s expression is hard to grasp sometimes, and over text it’s even more difficult to see what kind of feelings are behind his words. He prefers calling with Minho, but lately they haven’t really been doing that either. Jisung is too much of a weenie to suggest calling every day. 

About a week after his breakdown— Oh great, am I going to tell time by relating it to such a low point in my life? I can do better than that. Correction, about a week after Minho convinced him to start adopting, Jisung finds himself standing in front of Minho’s door. It’s the weekend and he didn’t see Minho at the orphanage again. He finally admitted to himself that he misses him, and that he wants to see him in person. 

He left the orphanage earlier than usual, before dinner, so that he could visit Minho and have some food left in his bag for Dori. His heart is pounding in his throat for some reason, and he’s shuffling from foot to foot, raising his hand and lowering it again when he feels a wave of anxiety enter his stomach. Dori lets out a cry in confusion, and she’s probably getting a little fuzzy from being wrapped against Jisung’s chest for so long. He softly shushes her, worried that she’ll alert Minho of his presence.

She’s right, though. He needs to man up and knock on the freaking door. He doesn’t need an excuse. He can just want Minho’s company, right? Minho uses that as an excuse all the time. He nods in determination to himself, and just when he raises his hand again to knock on the door, Minho opens it himself.

Jisung almost jumps out of his skin, letting out an embarrassing squeak when he almost punches Minho in the face. Dori laughs at him, making Jisung’s cheeks heat up in embarrassment. He hopes that he isn’t bothering Minho right before he goes out to do something. 

Suddenly Jisung realizes that Minho might not have been coming by because he just hasn’t been home lately. Maybe he has been going on dates. Maybe he has found someone who he has been visiting all this time. The realization makes Jisung’s stomach drop right through the floor, but when he looks at Minho, it seems that he’s wearing sweats and a hoodie, which is not exactly date-wear. Maybe he was just going to go out to get some groceries, but Jisung’s theory might still be correct.

Minho’s eyes light up a little when he looks at Dori, so it seems that he has missed at least one of them this past week. “I thought I heard you! Hi there, sweet Dori,” he greets the little girl, who tries to look over her shoulder at Minho. She whines a little, because she can’t turn her head to look at him, so Jisung quickly unwraps her and turns her around in his arms. Minho waves at her again, smiling fondly and making Jisung’s heart pound harshly against his chest, wishing that Minho would look at him like that as well. He shouldn’t be jealous of his baby, and he isn’t , but he can’t help but long for his neighbor.

Minho straightens himself and greets Jisung as well. “Hi, Jisungie.”

“Hi. I was just about to knock when you opened the door. Are you going somewhere?” he asks Minho, giving him a little smile. Minho shakes his head.

“No, I thought I heard Dori outside and I realized that I hadn’t seen you two in a while,” he says with a shrug. It makes Jisung feel a little better, because it seems they were on the same wavelength again. He doesn’t know if Minho missed him too or if he only missed Dori, but it doesn’t really matter. He just hopes that he’s happy to see them again. Minho raises his eyebrows at him in curiosity. “Why are you here?”

“Oh, well, you know… I just wanted to visit you, I guess. I told you a little over text, but I wanted to tell you about the adoption in person.” It’s a half lie, but also it’s mostly the truth. He really wanted to see Minho, and he left the orphanage early for him. “Dori misses her soulmate and namesake Dorito, too. I swear she likes me more when I meow to her.” He chuckles, before he unconsciously bites at his lower lip. “Do you have time? Can I come in? I have some stuff for Dori in my backpack.”

“Yeah, of course. I just finished working.” Minho steps aside and motions Jisung to come in. “Please enter my house which looks exactly like yours but then with different old people furniture.” 

Jisung hasn’t been in Minho’s house in a long time, Minho always came to his place, because all of the stuff needed to take care of Dori is in his house, and he can’t leave her alone. He remembers what it looked like from when he welcomed him into the neighborhood, though. 

He greets Minho’s cats and Dori squeals in happiness when Dorito meows at her. Jisung carefully puts her down onto the carpet in front of the kitten, who immediately greets her and starts rubbing his head against her stomach, making her giggle. Jisung lets out a breath and smiles, he missed this sight, and it seems like Dorito missed Dori, too. 

Now that Jisung’s arms are free, he can stand up and greet Minho properly. “Time for a hug!” he announces and happily pulls Minho into a hug, his anxiety almost entirely overridden by the fond feeling he got by seeing Dori and Dorito’s greeting. Minho laughs, the sound melodic in Jisung’s ears. 

“You really missed me?” The way Minho says it makes it sound like a question, and Jisung shrugs as an answer, but Minho can probably read his expression to figure out the real answer. He hopes that Minho doesn’t think that he’s clingy or something, but Minho’s face softens, and Jisung becomes a little weak in the knees as he sees the gentle expression. 

“I’ve just been wondering why you didn’t come by,” he admits softly, his gaze flicking down to see if Dori isn’t rolling around the living room and endangering herself. She’s still sitting on the carpet, Soonie rolled up on the floor behind her, supporting her so that she doesn’t fall over. Even Doongie seems to show interest in her, curiously walking around to see who came into his house today. 

Minho is silent, so maybe he didn’t hear Jisung’s words, but maybe he just doesn’t want to hurt Jisung. Maybe he caught on to his feelings and he doesn’t want to reject him. Maybe he feels uncomfortable but he’s too sweet to tell him to back off. Maybe he just doesn’t know what to say. Jisung doesn’t want to assume things, he should just trust his friendship with Minho and talk to him comfortably as always. 

“Have you been busy?” he asks instead, plopping down on the couch. Minho looks at him and plops down next to him with a shrug. 

“I’ve been taking on some new jobs, as I told you a bit about. I’ve been kind of busy with that, eating later than usual, so I didn’t really have time to stop by your house,” he explains, crossing one leg under him and stretching the other across the couch, his toes ghosting Jisung’s thigh. Jisung nods, he understands, but he can’t help but feel like it sounds like an excuse. “I thought you’d be busy with adopting and stuff too, so, yeah.”  

Now that definitely sounds like an excuse. Jisung feels a little bummed out, hearing this. 

“Not too busy for you,” he mutters under his breath. He doesn't intend for Minho to hear it, but Minho has scarily good hearing and he lets out a soft sigh. Jisung looks at him to see him look away from him, his lips pressed together. “Is there something on your mind? Is it something I did? Or something else? You can be honest with me, if you want. I can handle it, whether it has to do with me or not.” Jisung tries to catch Minho’s gaze to convey that he is a shoulder for him to lean on as well, and that he can handle any critique on his behavior. When Minho stays quiet, he adds, “When you told me Dori loves me, and that I was doing well… It was like a slap in the face, but in a good way. It helped me become confident in my decision to adopt her, and ever since I made that decision final in my head, I have been feeling so much lighter. I… I'm not fragile, and I care about you, so, if you feel comfortable with sharing your thoughts, or insecurities, or criticism with me, I'm here to listen.” 

Jisung’s words hang in the air, and he watches Minho, who is watching his cats snuggle with Dori. The sound of soft purring fills the room, and Minho’s expression softens. Jisung follows his gaze to see Dori with her hands between Dorito’s fur, completely surrounded by Soonie, who is keeping her upright and is almost bigger than she is. Jisung's heart melts again. 

“I've just been thinking about… you and Dori.” Minho suddenly speaks up, still watching the scene on the carpet. “I don't know. I didn't lie about being more busy than usual, but I guess I somehow felt like you'd want some space to figure out the adoption. I shouldn't have assumed that, but yeah. Maybe…” Minho swallows, trailing off. Jisung stays silent, waiting for him to finish. “Maybe it scared me a bit, to see you like that.” 

“I'm sorry—” Jisung begins, but he is cut off by Minho letting out a sound of protest. 

“Don't apologize, it's my own fault. I'm glad I heard you slam the door that day and came by, but I… I don't know how to say it, but I guess I didn't want it to happen again—? It makes no sense, saying it out loud like this.” Minho let's out a chuckle, but Jisung understands where he's coming from. “I guess I was a little overwhelmed and I didn’t know how to deal with that. I’m… I’m not really an emotions-person.” Minho pauses for a moment, and then he turns to Jisung with a small smile. “Let’s just say I was mentally preparing myself to share my knowledge of adoption with you. Or whatever. I’m over it now, don’t worry.” 

Jisung relaxes and smiles. He knows that Minho isn’t the person to put his emotions or feelings into words, and he totally understands it if Minho was overwhelmed by Jisung’s breakdown. It was overwhelming for both of them, but he is glad that Minho got over it. He hopes that he doesn’t need to overwhelm the two of them like that again, but now that the big burden of getting started with adoption is out of the way, he shouldn’t be breaking down anytime soon.

“Knowledge of adoption?” Jisung tilts his head in curiosity. Minho sets up a satisfied smile and nods.

“Yes, I have adopted three times. I am an expert by now,” he states proudly. Jisung only now realizes what he means, and he barks out a laugh.

“Minho!” he exclaims between laughs. “Adopting a pet is nothing like adopting a baby!” 

“I know that!” Minho sighs and rolls his eyes, but his expression is harmless. “But there are probably some similarities. Do you want my help or not?”

“Yes, please,” Jisung says with a breathy chuckle, and he smiles again. He tells Minho what he has done so far, and what he still has to do, but it would be better to just show Minho some things on the website itself, but neither of them feel like doing that right now. Minho promises to come by tomorrow to help him. 

Dori is holding up well, entertaining herself just fine by playing with the cats. She ate just before Jisung left the orphanage, so she should be fine when it comes to food for a while, too. It makes Jisung feel comfortable, and when he feels comfortable, he wants to cuddle, but he’s also getting quite hungry. 

Minho offers to move to his house and cook for him, because Dori is starting to fall asleep against Soonie. Jisung doesn’t want to move, but he guesses that they should. Soonie, Doongie, and Dorito come with them, because Dori doesn’t want to leave them, even though she’ll take a nap soon. 

For the first time ever, Minho and Jisung cook dinner together, while Dori is taking a nap upstairs. The baby monitor is on the corner of the counters, and Minho mostly tells him what he had in mind for the meal, so Jisung follows his instructions. It’s nice, cooking with two. It’s not half as bad as cooking alone, which Jisung finds stressful most of the time. 

After dinner, Dori wakes up and Jisung changes her diaper and feeds her again, before going downstairs to see Minho feeding his cats, talking to them in a whisper tone. It’s adorable, and it makes Jisung’s stomach fill with butterflies again. He’s glad that he gathered the courage to knock on Minho’s door today, so he’ll gather the courage to subtly ask Minho to cuddle, too. Maybe it’ll turn out in his favor. 

He joins Minho on the couch and shuffles closer to him, until their thighs touch. Minho turns his head to look at him for a moment, before turning back to his cats. “Do you wanna go home or do you wanna stay a little longer?” Jisung asks him, keeping his voice down because he feels like his heart will jump out of his throat if he speaks any louder. Minho shrugs, a little smile tugging at his lips. 

“I, uhm… We could maybe watch something stupid and chill out?” Jisung suggests, when Minho doesn't answer, and Minho turns to him with a little grin. He places his hand on Jisung’s thigh and leans a little closer to him, making Jisung’s head go warm. 

“Sure. What kind of stupid something did you have in mind?” he asks, suddenly pulling away again. 

“I… I’ve been wanting to watch a documentary about lizards, but if you think that’s too stupid—” Jisung is cut off by Minho’s eyes going wide and sparkly. Wait… Does he like lizards? Has Jisung really found himself his dream man? 

“I love lizards,” he states and Jisung smiles brightly at him. Minho pats his lap and turns to the TV. “Let’s do it.”

Jisung didn’t actually expect them to watch the documentary, but he guesses that a distracted Minho is easier to sneakily inch closer to, until he’s leaning against him completely, his head on his shoulder. After a minute or five, Minho leans his head against Jisung’s as well, his arm sneaking behind Jisung’s back and pulling him closer so that they’re properly snuggling. Jisung’s cheeks feel warm, and he feels a little dizzy, but in a good way. He slings his own arm around Minho’s middle, pressing his cheek against Minho’s chest.

Today feels sort of like a new beginning, like the new beginning of the next step in their relationship. Now that they’ve shown each other their vulnerable sides, the barriers that were between them start crumbling down bit by bit, and Jisung feels comfortable being himself around him. Even when the documentary ends, they stay in the same position on the couch, telling each other about their week. 

When it gets late, and Minho’s cats are falling asleep one by one, Jisung reluctantly lets go of Minho so that he can go home. He gives Minho a kiss on the cheek goodbye again, and Minho smiles this time. He doesn’t return the favor, unfortunately, but the smile is already a gift for Jisung. 

Dori gives him the same smile when he goes upstairs to see her awake, and kisses her on the cheek to let out some of the fond feelings that are making his heart pound so fast. “What do I do, Dori? He’s making me feel like a teenager in love,” he sighs, pressing his cheek against his little girl’s cheek. “Would you like it if I’d pursue him? Not that I’m confident enough to do that, but you know what I mean, right?” 

Dori lets out a nonsensical sound, not making Jisung any wiser. It’s okay, today was a good day, just as good as when they went on that picnic together, and Jisung has only been falling harder for his neighbor, so Minho doesn’t leave his mind for the whole night, and even when Jisung sings Dori a lullaby, he thinks about him, singing Dori a little love song as she falls asleep. 

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚　˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

Minho is a great help during the adoption, and Jisung notices that he’s getting more comfortable around Jisung, casually slinging his arm around him more and more often. Jisung loves it, and he can feel that Minho is enjoying it, too. He even seems to like it when Jisung kisses his cheek goodbye, because even if he pulls a sour face whenever it happens, he always lets Jisung do it. Jisung even thought he noticed Minho turning his cheek towards him in anticipation last time. 

Minho comes by almost every night, and they cook together more and more often after they've discussed a little about what Jisung needs to do next in the adoption process, making Jisung feel like they are a domestic couple or something, especially when Minho brings his cats or plays with Dori, lifting her up and conversing with her. Jisung is still working, so the adoption goes slow, but he doesn't mind that if it means that Minho will keep visiting him so often. 

One night, after dinner, when Dori just woke up from her nap, and she's in a mood to roll around the room, Jisung has moved some furniture out of the way so that she can roll around the carpet without hurting herself. Minho and Jisung join her, also shielding her from any dangerous corners while rolling around the room. 

Dori lets out happy giggles and squeals, especially when Jisung bumps into her and starts tickling her, or when Minho lifts her up and moves her over him to put her down on his other side. The sound of Dori laughing fills Jisung with so much happiness, and he’s actually having a lot of fun, rolling around with Minho and his baby. 

At one point, he’s so focused on Dori that he rolls right into Minho, their chest bumping together as Jisung accidentally headbutts him. They burst out in laughter and Minho weakly slaps Jisung’s shoulder. “Watch where you're going!” he scolds him through his laughter, poking his sides and making him let out a squeak. 

“Yah!” Jisung exclaims through breathy laughs, trying to grab Minho’s arms to make him stop tickling him, but Minho is relentless. Jisung gets tears in his eyes from laughing so hard, and he throws his head back against the floor. Through his eyelashes, he can see Dori laying on her stomach, watching them with big curious eyes. 

Minho keeps tickling him, even when Jisung tries to kick him away, thrashing his legs around. “Minho—! Have mercy!” he cries out. Minho cackles and climbs on top of Jisung to contain his legs, and Jisung sighs, trying to push him off, but just as Minho is about to relent and climb off, Jisung flinches and headbutts him again. 

He squeezes his eyes shut and groans as Minho falls on top of him. They laugh at their clumsiness, but when Jisung opens his eyes, he is met with Minho’s crescent and happy eyes up real close. Their eyes meet, and Jisung gets lost in them, falling into their depths. 

Minho doesn’t pull away, and neither does Jisung. He lets his eyes roam over Minho’s face, trying to distract himself from Minho’s pretty eyes and the urge to get closer. He notices the slight sheen of sweat on his forehead, some strands sticking to it. Then he stops and admires Minho’s cheeks and nose, and the pretty little mole on his nostril. His eyes trail down to Minho’s pretty lips, and he wonders what they would feel like on his cheeks, or even better, on his own lips. 

“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re really pretty?” The question slips out before Jisung can stop himself, almost whispering the words against Minho’s lips. Minho takes in a breath, but he keeps his eyes on Jisung, his ears coloring a deep shade of red. He doesn’t answer the question, but Jisung can tell that he’s touched by it by the way his eyes shine when looking into Jisung’s. 

Jisung’s heart is bouncing in his ears, and his gaze slips down to Minho’s lips again. He quickly blinks and looks up at him again. He wants to kiss Minho, but in the back of his mind he worries if he should do that, because Dori is watching them.

Minho is the first one to move, placing his hands onto the ground, and Jisung is afraid that he’ll get off, but he only lifts himself up a little, moving to bracket Jisung’s head between his underarms, his face still incredibly close to him. They can’t seem to keep their eyes off each other, their gazes connected even when Minho slowly leans down. They only break eye contact when their noses brush together and their eyes automatically flutter close in anticipation. 

Minho’s lips softly touch Jisung’s, filling his stomach with butterflies. Jisung breathes in sharply, and he tries to relax, but before he can, Minho already pulls back and gives him a slightly worried look.

“Dori— She…” Jisung begins, but he trails off as he lets his head fall to the side, only to see that his little girl has rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling with half-lidded eyes. She probably got bored of watching them stare at each other and not move, and she’s probably tired from rolling around for so long. Jisung’s expression softens at the sight. 

“She’s not watching. Looks like the ceiling is more interesting than we are,” Minho whispers, his breath tickling Jisung’s cheek. Jisung looks back at Minho and smiles. He raises his hand to cup Minho’s jaw and runs his thumb along his cheek.

“Well, I think you’re a sight to behold,” Jisung blurts out, but he keeps his voice down. It’s embarrassing, but it’s the truth. Minho holds back laughter, but soon, his expression softens and he leans down again to nose at Jisung’s cheek. His lips brush his skin ever so slightly, and it makes Jisung shiver, especially when they arrive at the shell of Jisung’s ear.

“What are you waiting for, then? Kiss me,” he whispers softly, but oh so alluringly. Now that is an offer he can’t refuse, he’s been kissing Minho in his dreams for the past months, and now that he has gotten a taste of what his lips feel like for real, he wants to treasure that feeling. Jisung uses the hand that is still on Minho’s warm cheek to guide his head until it’s hanging right above Jisung’s, before he pulls him into a soft kiss, his other hand joining on Minho’s other cheek. His skin is warm compared to Jisung’s slightly cold fingers, but Minho doesn’t seem to mind as he almost sighs against Jisung’s lips when they meet. 

Their lips fit together like a puzzle, even when Minho tilts his head, his nose brushing Jisung’s cheek as their lips move against each other in gentle and slow movements. Jisung thinks he could do this all night, kissing Minho’s soft lips while Minho is leaning over him, his whole body enveloping Jisung. 

“I’ve been wanting this for so long.” Jisung pants a little against Minho’s lips once they part for breath, looking up at him through his lashes. The confessions slipped out without him realizing, but it’s okay, Minho deserves to know. Minho nods, his nose tickling Jisung’s cheek.

“Why didn’t you kiss me earlier, then?” he whispers, sounding like he’d want that, and Jisung doesn’t know what to do with that information, other than feel like his heart will jump out of his chest. 

“I… I don’t know. I wasn’t ready,” he admits honestly, tilting his head towards Minho, making Minho bury his nose into the crook of his neck. Minho hums softly. 

“You’re right. Me neither, actually, although I would have liked it. Now is the best moment,” he says. Hearing those words, Jisung wants to kiss him again, so he pulls Minho up and into another soft kiss. Minho complies, pressing their lips together with intent. Jisung doesn’t even care about lying on the ground, his head only shielded from the floorboards by his slightly rugged carpet. 

The kiss grows a little more desperate as they go on, both of them tilting their heads to deepen it, pressing even closer to each other and conveying their feelings that have been yet unsaid. Jisung lets his fingers caress Minho’s cheeks and jaw, occasionally letting them slide to his neck, playing with the hairs in his neck. Minho seems to enjoy it, kissing Jisung more and more eagerly, his finger loosely tangled in Jisung’s hair. 

Jisung can’t get enough, and he really wants to just kiss Minho through the night, but unfortunately their moment has to come to an end at one point tonight. Minho suddenly moves again, sitting up and pulling Jisung up with him by the front of his shirt so that they can keep their lips somewhat connected. Minho pulls back with a reluctant expression and Jisung unconsciously chases him, stopping once he sees his expression.

“Hmm?” he asks, a little dazed from their moment just now, his arms hanging loosely around Minho’s neck. Minho shrugs and shakes his head, silently telling Jisung it’s nothing.

“I just thought it was getting a little uncomfortable on the ground,” he says, sounding a little out of breath, absentmindedly ironing out Jisung’s shirt where he gripped it earlier. “My arms were starting to get tired.” 

“Of course.” Jisung nods. This probably means that he wants a break, too, and Jisung can relate. He feels quite out of breath after kissing Minho like that, and for so long. He turns his head to quickly check on Dori. She is fast asleep, but she must not be too comfortable on the floor either. 

“Shall we bring your little one to bed?” Minho suggests in a whisper, patting Jisung’s shoulder before helping him up. Jisung agrees and picks up his baby, leading Minho upstairs to his bedroom, where Dori’s crib is as well. Minho has never been upstairs in Jisung’s house, because there’s basically only his bathroom and bedroom, and Jisung only goes there to change Dori’s diaper or sleep. Jisung wants to put her down and turn to Minho, but Minho gives him a curious look. “Aren’t you going to sing to her?” 

Jisung lets out a laugh in surprise. “She’s already asleep, it might wake her up.” 

“Too bad,” Minho says with a shrug. “I was looking forward to hearing you sing. I’ve only heard you sing through the baby monitor or through the walls when you didn’t have Dori yet. Only time I heard you properly was at the picnic.” 

Why does Minho have to be so romantic and sweet? It's bad for Jisung’s heart. He can’t not sing now, can he? But he feels shy, and still a little fuzzy from kissing Minho, so he clears his throat and very softly sings a short lullaby. His eyes flick between his baby and Minho, unsure where to look. 

When he finishes, Minho smiles fondly at him, and Jisung reaches out for his hand and intertwines their fingers, squeezing a little. They go downstairs together and they linger around a bit. Jisung is unsure what comes next, if Minho wants to stay or if he wants to go home. Jisung hopes that he'll stay, but he'd understand it if he wants to go home. They both have to work tomorrow, and staying at Jisung’s place means a chance that Dori will wake him up in the middle of the night. 

Minho seems to be lost in thought, staring at the wall, so Jisung squeezes his hand to get his attention. “Earth to Min? Do you want to… uhm, stay? Or go home?” He looks up at Minho, who seems to get back to reality as he blinks. 

“Oh. Oh, right. Uhm. I'll stay another day, okay? I have some stuff to do tomorrow,” he answers, pressing his lips together and Jisung sees genuine regret in his eyes, so he softens.

“It’s okay. Me too. But I’ll hold you to your suggestion of sleeping over one day.” Jisung gives him a little smile and tugs him towards the front door so that he can tell him goodbye. He doesn’t want to let go of Minho’s hand, but he has to, and maybe it isn’t too bad, because he’ll be able to kiss Minho goodbye. He places a chaste kiss right on top of Minho’s lips, both of their eyes fluttering close as he does it. 

Minho finally kisses him goodbye back, placing his hand on Jisung’s cheek to turn his other cheek towards him before planting a soft smooch right on the center. 

“Good lord your cheek is so soft, what the heck,” Minho mumbles under his breath. Jisung lets out a surprised chuckle, his cheeks heating up.

“Well— If you would have kissed me goodbye before, you would have known,” he teases Minho, but the latter gives him a sheepish smile and wishes him a good night. He doesn’t leave yet, and he also doesn’t let go of Jisung’s hand yet. They stand in silence for a while, before Jisung admits to himself that he doesn’t want Minho to go yet. “You know what? I’ll walk you to the door.” 

Minho snickers, but he pulls Jisung with him. They walk the short distance to Minho’s front door hand in hand, and then it’s really time to say goodbye. Minho places another kiss on Jisung’s cheek as a last gesture before they go into their respective houses, still feeling giddy from the recent evolving of their relationship. Jisung still can’t get Minho out of his mind, though, and he keeps replaying their kiss in his mind, over and over until he falls asleep. 

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚　˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆

“Okay, Jisung, we’ve got everything ready for the official adoption, you’ll only need to sign one last thing and then you can finally ask for time off work,” Jeongin announces when Jisung comes to work at the orphanage on Saturday. His eyes light up and he gives Jeongin an excited smile. He’s been waiting for this moment ever since he started getting attached to his little girl.

“Really?” He can’t wait to get some time off to finally sleep in and properly take care of Dori. Maybe he’ll see Minho more, too, and he’ll be able to properly tell him how he feels, without it feeling rushed. He hasn’t really told Minho how he feels in words, after all, but he does want to. 

“You might want to take some time to think about it, though. It’s a big decision and since you’re doing it alone… Or, are you?” Jeongin raises his eyebrow at him and Jisung frowns. Does he mean… Is he asking if Minho will adopt Dori with him? Jeongin has seen them play with the kids together at the orphanage a couple of times, but Minho hasn’t volunteered in a while. The thought of adopting together with Minho makes his stomach contract involuntarily, butterflies fluttering through his chest. 

“I mean, do you have someone to talk this through with? Or do you want someone to be there when you sign?” Jeongin clarifies when Jisung doesn’t answer, and Jisung chuckles awkwardly.  

“Oh, yeah. I, uhm, I do,” he answers. 

“Great. Just talk about it and if you’re still sure, come next week and we’ll sign it?” Jeongin suggests and Jisung gives him a thumbs up. He’s quite sure about wanting to adopt Dori, but he wouldn’t mind thinking it over for one more week and sharing the lovely news with Minho. He promised Minho to wait with signing until he can be there with him, and that thought makes him giddy all over.

On his way home he texts Minho, asking him if he wants to come over because he has some good news about the adoption. Minho asks him if he should bring his pyjamas, cat food and some cats, and Jisung tells him yes because he’d love it if Minho would stay the night tonight. 

“Do you hear that, my little Dori?” He caresses Dori’s head, nuzzling his nose against her head. Dori lets out a nonsensical cry, and Jisung lets himself think that it’s a sound of excitement. She grabs at Jisung’s face, trying to reach his hair. She whines when she can’t reach and Jisung lets out a sigh, leaning his head forward so that she can reach a couple of strands of hair before she tugs on it. Hard. And if it wasn’t for his happy mood, he’d tell her not to do it. 

“Gosh, Dori, you’re getting so strong, tugging on my hair. But you shouldn’t do that so hard, okay? I know it’s fun, but you’re too strong for Jisungie. It hurts a little.” Jisung babbles. Dori watches him with big eyes, distracted enough to let go of Jisung’s hair, and Jisung will just believe that she understands what he said in his heart. 

When he gets home, he spots Minho just getting out of his house together with his cats. When Dorito sees them, he meows and Dori perks up, letting out a babble as she starts fuzzing around against Jisung’s chest. Jisung lets out a laugh. “Just a moment, sweetie. Patience is a virtue, remember?” he tells her, but Dori lets out a sound in protest and Jisung gasps softly, raising his eyebrows at her. “Getting an attitude, now, are we? You’ll get to say hi to Dorito soon, okay?” 

He lightly tickles her, making her squeal and buying himself some time to greet Minho and to let everyone into the house. He shuffles off his shoes while unwrapping Dori so that she can greet the guests as well. Minho puts down his stuff and removes his jacket before turning to Jisung.

“Here, I’ll take her.” He holds out his arms, offering to hold Dori while Jisung takes off his jacket and puts his stuff away. Minho takes her with a fond smile. “Hey there little one, did you miss uncle Minho? Or did you only miss my kitty Dori? Yes, yes, you can say hi to the cats, don’t worry. Didn’t Jisung teach you that patience is a virtue?”

Dori happily babbles back to Minho, letting him put her down, only for her to immediately get jumped by Dorito, who she happily tries to hug. Soonie and Doongie join the scene, the latter casually watching while the former presses against Dori, pillowing her side. Minho sighs and ruffles Dori’s head before petting his cats with a fond smile. 

Minho plops down onto the carpet and Jisung joins him. Minho gives him a curious look, tilting his head at him cutely. “So, what was the news? You didn’t sign anything without me, did you? I wanna be there.” 

“No! I didn’t sign anything, don’t worry,” Jisung assures him with a laugh. He feels really touched that Minho wants to be there with him. It isn’t visible at first glance, but Minho is really caring. He especially shows it towards his cats, but he’s also really kind towards people, he just shows it in such a way that outsiders don’t really notice it if they aren’t paying attention. “Jeongin just told me that the only thing left on the list is signing the final papers. Finally!” 

Jisung smiles brightly at Minho, whose eyes widen a little as a smile forms on his face. He holds out his hand for a high five, and they high five Dori after. “That’s so exciting!” Minho exclaims and Jisung crawls over to hug him properly. Minho welcomes him into his arms, warmly hugging back. Minho lets out a breath and asks, “Are… Are you going to sign it tomorrow already?”

Jisung pulls out of the hug, searching Minho’s face to look for where the sudden waver in his voice came from, but he can’t find anything. He shakes his head. “I’m going to sign next week. Jeongin told me to think it over for a little longer, and to talk to someone about it. I’m quite sure already, but I wanted to talk to you about it, share the excitement.” 

“Good. You’re going to be a great official dad. And you’ll finally get some rest from your work,” Minho says, poking Jisung’s cheek with his finger, giving him a cheeky smile. Suddenly Jisung gets overwhelmed by the bittersweet prospect of having to take care of Dori alone. He knows that he’ll be a good dad, and that it would be selfish of him to ask Minho to help him out, but he can’t help but long for Minho to be there with him. Dori likes him a lot, as does Jisung, and together, they would make such great parents, but as everyone says, a baby is a big responsibility, and he can’t just ask that of Minho. 

He sighs and places his head onto Minho’s shoulder, trying to hide his expression from him. Minho hums softly. “Is Jisungie hungry and tired?” he asks, a teasing lilt to his voice and Jisung scoffs softly. He shrugs, because Minho is right, and his mood suddenly going down is certainly partly caused by that. He shouldn’t be bringing down the mood, though, tonight should be a happy night.

“Let’s order something today,” he suggests, patting Minho’s thigh. It'll be a good way to celebrate, although it'll be a sort of early celebration. That way, they don't have to get up and they can just cuddle while watching Dori and the cats play as they wait for the food. 

Dori gets hungry and tired before the food arrives, so they feed her together and let her take a nap upstairs. When dinner arrives, they eat while talking about Jisung’s plans for when he’ll get some time off work, which mostly consists of playing more music and taking Dori to his parents’ house and his friends’ house so that she can properly meet them. Jisung hasn’t had time to meet them in person at all, only video calling during the weekend, so he’s excited to meet up with them again. 

“And of course I’ll visit you a lot,” he says, giving Minho a sweet smile, hugging him a little tighter. Minho gives him a lopsided smile in return. Jisung bites a little at his lower lip, because Minho is so pretty, and he really wants to kiss him again. Dori isn’t here, so it should be fine. Minho is already looking at him, too, so he lifts his head off Minho’s chest to capture his lips into a soft kiss. 

Minho takes in a breath as Jisung kisses him, but he relaxes soon, his small hand coming up to cup Jisung’s cheek. Minho caresses his thumb along Jisung’s cheek, making Jisung feel warm. When they part, Minho seems a little distracted, still, so Jisung doesn’t immediately go in for another one. “Whatcha thinking about?” he asks him softly. 

“Nothing in particular.” Minho shrugs, but Jisung can tell that he’s hiding something. “Just about, uhm… us…? Things?” He gives Jisung a slightly strained and hesitant look, his eyebrows drawn together and pulled up. Jisung snickers at the expression, but he wonders what Minho means by ‘us’ and ‘things’ . Is he having doubts about what they’re doing, or is he doubting if Jisung returns his feelings? They haven’t really talked about any meaning behind their kisses, after all. 

“Do you want to tell me?” he asks. Minho shrugs again, trying to be casual, but Jisung can tell that he’s thinking about what to say next. Jisung patiently waits for him to find the words, and he notices Minho’s slightly pink ears. 

“Just, you know, uhm… I’m serious about what we’re doing, you know?” Minho gives Jisung a hopeful look, as if he’s wishing for Jisung to read his mind. He lets out a sigh. “And, well… yeah. This is kind of the part where you save me and where you put your feelings into words way better than me so that the only thing I have to do is agree with you.” 

Jisung laughs, a sudden wave of affection overcoming him, so he leans forward and kisses Minho’s cheek. He was planning to tell Minho about his feelings anyway, so he doesn’t mind. “Sure. So, if you didn’t notice it already, I’m serious about you, too.” Jisung is trying to keep his cool, and to come across as confident, but he can’t stop a blush from spreading on his cheeks as he thinks about what he feels for Minho. “I’m basically a single parent, so I can’t really afford to play around. I… I know you might think that being a single parent means that I might be afraid of committing. On one hand, that’s true, because I can’t just trust anyone to want to be there for Dori with me, but you’ve been so sweet to me ever since she came into my life, I’d trust her with you in a heartbeat.” 

He takes a deep breath, trying to calm down his rapidly beating heart. His cheeks feel hot by now, but he needs to man up and finish telling Minho how he feels. “I… I wouldn’t kiss you if I wasn’t serious, but you also need to know that I wouldn’t ever push any responsibilities onto you if you don’t want that. You don’t ever have to take care of Dori if you don’t want that. Your company already makes me feel so much lighter than when I’m alone. I love having you around, even if we don’t really talk and just sit around and eat. So, if it wasn’t obvious from my words already, I really like you, Minho—”

Minho cuts him off, surging forward to passionately kiss him. Jisung gasps softly, almost falling over from the sheer force that is behind the kiss. He stabilizes himself and kisses Minho back with just as much desire. Minho’s hand is on the back of his head, while Jisung is leaning against Minho’s chest, their lips dancing in unison. 

“Me too,” Minho breathes against his lips, only allowing them to be apart for a second before he pulls Jisung against him again. Jisung tilts his head and deepens the kiss, using Minho’s chest as leverage to lean over him a little. Minho runs his fingers through Jisung’s hair on the back of his head, making Jisung’s stomach contract, especially when his other hand cups his jaw again, his fingers cool against Jisung’s warm skin.

Minho takes Jisung’s chin between his thumb and index finger, gently coaxing his lips to open and to let Minho lick inside. Jisung gasps, feeling his head spin in fuzziness. It’s been so long since he kissed someone like this, but he’s glad that he’s doing it with Minho. 

He barely notices how much he’s getting into it, mindlessly climbing onto Minho’s lap in a need to get closer. Minho lets his hand trail down Jisung’s jaw, to his neck, along his chest, waist and hips, until they land on his legs and he pulls him closer by the thigh. He then places his hand against Jisung’s lower back, which sends a shiver all throughout Jisung’s body.

Jisung lets his hands run over Minho’s chest while they explore each other’s mouth. He pushes himself against Minho, who lets one hand slip under his shirt. He gasps, the sudden wave of heat lifting the haze on his mind, and he realizes that maybe they should take it easy. He can’t let himself go just yet, not when Dori will most likely wake up within the next hour, and he wants to take his time with Minho. 

“S-Slow down a little?” he whispers against Minho’s lips, his voice coming out shakier than he intended it to. Minho nods and hums softly, taking a little distance from Jisung and slipping his hand out of Jisung’s shirt, but keeping his hands on his back and neck. They still kiss, but it’s slower and less heated, just soft pecks as they get down from the high, until they have to part, because they can hear Dori through the baby monitor. 

Minho looks cute, his cheeks pink and his lips shining. Jisung probably doesn’t look any better, his hair probably a mess from Minho running his hand through it. Minho’s eyes scrunch up in amusement as he looks at Jisung, the corners of his lips curling up into a smile. Another cry from Dori pulls them out of their world, and she starts sobbing, so Jisung should really get to her now.

“I’ll go check on her,” he says, patting Minho’s leg as he gets off of him as well as the couch. Minho stands up with him, though, telling him that he’ll come with him. Jisung tells him that he doesn’t have to come with him, that it’s probably just a diaper change, but Minho insists, so they go upstairs together. 

Jisung was right about Dori needing a diaper change, and Minho is put to the test immediately, because it’s a stinky one. Jisung is used to the awful smell by now, and Minho tries to keep a straight face, but even with the nose clip Jisung gave him, his expression is strained. It’s kind of funny, but Jisung knows the struggle, so he tries to keep in his laughter. Minho does help Dori into her pajamas again while Jisung disposes of the dirty diaper. 

He also carries Dori back to her bed, holding her close to his chest, which turns out to be a mistake, because that way, Dori can reach his hair, which she of course starts tugging on. Minho lets out a groan and Jisung can’t help but laugh.

“Don’t tug on his hair, Dori~” he softly scolds his baby, who looks at him with big eyes again. Jisung copies her face, widening his eyes exaggeratedly and looking at her in shock. This distracts Dori enough for her to let go of Minho’s hair and they safely make it to the bedroom. Dori will probably need to get tired again before she’ll be able to fall asleep again, so Jisung tells Minho that he can pick something to tire her out a little.

“Only if you want, otherwise we can get her to play with the kitties before bed.” Just as Jisung says that, Dorito comes trudging into the room. Jisung gives him a pet and a scratch under his chin. “Hey there little Dorito. Dori has to go to sleep soon.” 

“Yep, I will just read her a story, but you can listen, too, my lovely non-cheese Dori.” Minho coos at his kitten and pets him, nosing at his forehead. Jisung is planning to stick out his tongue at Minho, but then he registers his words. He’s going to read Dori a story. Jisung stares at Minho, wondering what prompted him to suddenly help him out even more. (And to act like such a charming prince.) 

Jisung helps Minho pick out a book and cuddles up against him while he reads Dori the story, leaning his head onto Minho’s shoulder. Minho holds Dori in his lap, showing her the pictures as he reads the story to her in a soft and soothing voice. Jisung feels like he could fall asleep listening to it, and he silently wishes that every night could be like this. Cuddling with Minho, his baby safe in the arms of someone he trusts, and a little bit of the burden and stress that comes with taking care of a baby lifted off his shoulders. 

“What prompted this sudden dad-like act?” Jisung wraps his arms around Minho’s arm as he softly asks him the question. Minho turns to him, making Jisung’s head slip off his shoulder, and when Jisung looks up at him, Minho places a kiss on his lips. 

“Shh… We need to put your baby into bed,” he says as he lifts a sleepy Dori up into his arms and holds her up to Jisung. “Good night kiss.” He tells Jisung, who takes Dori over from him and hugs her, rocking her in his arms a bit as he kisses her goodnight. He then tucks her in, mindlessly humming a little melody, because he knows she likes that. 

Minho tells Dori good night as well, and Jisung is just about to explode of fondness, so he takes Minho by the wrist and drags him to the bathroom. He closes the door behind them and traps Minho against it to kiss him fiercely. He pulls back before Minho can properly respond, to give him a stern look.

“If you’re going to act like such a sweet da— sweet and charming prince, how am I supposed to hold back in front of Dori?” Jisung huffs and crosses his arms and Minho lets out a cackle. 

“You didn’t exactly hold back in front of Dori when we were on the couch downstairs.” He wiggles his eyebrows as he teases Jisung, who pushes at Minho’s shoulder.

“Not Dorito! My Dori.” Jisung’s cheeks grow warm and he gives up on trying to get Minho to explain himself, maybe he just wants to take care of Dori, she's very cute after all, or he's just being his sweet self. 

He doesn’t want to suggest going to bed already, but ever since he got Dori, he has been going to bed earlier and earlier, because he is almost guaranteed to have to get up at least once every night, and since he still has to get up in time to both go to work and feed Dori, he can’t sleep in. His body has gotten used to going to sleep early now, so he’s already getting tired. 

Minho seems to notice and he excuses himself to get his stuff from downstairs, and they wash up together for bed. It’s awfully domestic, standing in front of the sink shoulder to shoulder, brushing their teeth and washing their faces. They make eye contact through the mirror and Jisung gives him a toothy smile, which would be embarrassing as heck if it wasn’t for Minho giving him a similar lopsided grin in return. Jisung almost spits out the toothpaste laughing, but he manages to save himself just in time. 

Jisung’s bed is a nice size, but they don’t even need all that space as they naturally gravitate towards each other, coming to a silent agreement to cuddle. Minho wraps his arm loosely around Jisung’s waist, and Jisung lays his head against Minho’s chest. “Sorry to make you go to sleep so early,” Jisung says with a chuckle, but Minho shakes his head.

“Don’t worry, I’m kind of more of a morning person anyway,” he says, patting Jisung’s cheek. 

“I'm not, but ever since I got Dori, I've been seeing the positives of being a morning person.” Jisung chuckles. At first he thought that he would struggle a lot, and at first he did, but after a month or three he developed a rhythm and a sort of routine that worked for him. He had to give up on some time usually spent making music, but it's okay, once he gets time off work, he'll be able to make music with Dori. (And perhaps, if he gathers enough courage, with Minho, too.) 

“Good, that means you won’t mind waking up and taking care of your little girl if she wakes up.” Minho says it, and Jisung isn’t sure if he’s joking at first, but when Dori wakes up in the middle of the night and Minho gently wakes Jisung up, but only to get him to help him figure out what she needs, Jisung thinks he might have been joking, because Minho is really trying to help out. Even through both of their sleepiness, he’s listening to what Jisung says and intently watching him while he warms up a bottle for Dori. 

Jisung barely remembers it in the morning, and it feels a little bit like he dreamt it, but in the morning, Minho still remembers how to make Dori’s bottle, and he offers to warm it up for Jisung, while he takes the time to wake up a little more, cuddling Dori and greeting Minho’s cats. Dorito comes to say good morning to Dori as well, trying to jump up onto the couch until Jisung slides off to sit on the floor. Before he knows it, he has a lap full of baby and kitten, the two Dori’s happy to see each other.

Minho feeds Dori, helping her hold up the bottle before he hugs and kisses his cats good morning. Lastly, Jisung gets a good morning kiss, sneakily leaving a peck on his cheek when Dori isn’t looking. Jisung steals a kiss from him as well, just a chaste kiss on the lips, keeping it short and soft. 

They spend the day playing with Dori and the cats, making food together in between when they get hungry, and talking about anything that pops into their minds. It’s nice, and Jisung can’t wait to finally sign those adoption papers so that he can spend more days like this. 

“You’ll be there when I sign next week, right?” Jisung asks Minho softly. They are lying on the carpet, shoulder to shoulder with their fingers loosely intertwined, tired after having played with Dori so much. She’s having a nap, so they’re resting, too, letting Minho’s cats walk over them as they please.

Jisung knows that Minho insisted on being there in the first place, but he wants to be sure. This is an important moment in his life, after all, so he wants the people who are most important to him to be there too. His parents can’t come, but his friends did promise to come as well, so the only one left would be Minho.

“Yes. I won’t allow you to sign it if I’m not there. You… You stole her name from my little kitten, after all.” Minho chuckles, but his voice is determined. Jisung squeezes his hand in gratitude and Minho squeezes it in return. “Why are you asking? I know your Dori a lot better than your friends. Do you think that they’re going to be there, but I’m not? I already told you I want to be there.” 

“Yes, I was just making sure,” Jisung says, omitting the part where he tells Minho that it’s important to him that he’s there. He’s conveying that through other means, right now, such as a kiss on his cheek, or by dragging his thumb along the back of Minho’s hand. He shuffles a little closer to Minho, suddenly thinking of another question he has been meaning to ask him. “By the way… Can I tell my friends about us? Are you okay with that?” 

“You wanna call me your boyfriend?” A little smirk appears on Minho’s face as he turns his head towards Jisung, who nods. Minho’s expression softens, his smile growing wider and gentler, once again making Jisung feel butterflies. Minho places his hand on Jisung’s cheek. “Only if I can do that too.” 

“I think that can be arranged,” Jisung answers with a smile, booping Minho’s nose, his eyes shining in fondness. 

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“Where’s your boyfriend?” Chan asks Jisung. That’s a darn good question. Minho should be here, Jisung told him the time he’d go to the orphanage to sign, but Minho isn’t here. He initially wanted to go to the orphanage with Minho, but Minho told him that he had overslept and that he’d be there as soon as possible. It has been about 15 minutes, but Jisung feels a little awkward, because Chan and Changbin are here and Jeongin is waiting for him to sign.

“He’ll be here,” he says. He has to come. Jisung’s stomach churns and he feels anxious. He knows that Minho wouldn’t ditch him at the last moment, but it’s unlike Minho to oversleep, so he can’t help but feel like there’s something wrong. Jisung tries calling him, but Minho doesn’t pick up. He tells himself that it’s because he’s on his way. 

“Your boyfriend is your neighbor, right? The IT guy who made my amazing website?” Changbin raises an inquiring eyebrow at him and Jisung nods, pressing his lips together. “I don’t know him that well, but it seems kind of fishy that he’s not here yet and that he isn’t calling you right now to explain.” 

“He’ll be here, he’s… Something must have—” Dori cuts him off, letting out a slightly distressed cry, probably affected by Jisung’s nerves. He only then notices that he was bouncing his leg anxiously. That must have been bothering Dori as well. “Sorry, baby.” He shushes Dori softly and kisses the side of her head before looking back up at Changbin. “Minho told me to not sign anything if he’s not here. He’ll come.” 

“Okay, but I can tell you some boring details first. If you still decide to want to adopt her with —” Jeongin is now cut off by the sound of the door opening. A red-faced Minho appears, his hair is sticking in all directions and he’s panting, as if he ran here. He’s holding his kitten Dorito, too, catching his breath as everyone in the room is turned to him, staring at him. 

“Sorry, I’m late— I— I need a second.” Minho takes a deep breath and Dorito meows, which Dori answers with a nonsensical happy sound. Jisung stands up and approaches Minho, hoisting Dori up a little so that he can hold her over his shoulder.

“Are you okay, Min?” he asks, softly, and if he would have a hand free, he’d place it on his shoulder. He’s worried about Minho, because it’s unlike him to be late, and as far as Jisung knows, it’s unlike him to run . 

“Yeah, I’m fine, uhm...” Minho breathes out with a nod, trailing off before he finishes. Jisung wants to give him a hug, but both of their arms are occupied by carrying their respective Dori’s. Chan taps him on the shoulder and offers to take Dori off him for a moment. Dori is a little shy, but Chan handles her gently, so she doesn’t fuzz for too long, Chan’s usual calming effect working on her, too.

Minho puts Dorito down on the floor and Jisung pulls him into a hug. He’s still a bit worried, because there must be a reason for Minho’s behavior, but he allows Minho to take his time before he tells him what happened. He takes Minho’s face in his hands and gives him a quick kiss.

“I’m glad you’re here,” he tells him, looking up into his eyes. Minho blinks a couple of times and presses his lips together.

“Uhm. I’m late because I… I got scared,” he says, his voice low. Jisung frowns a little, unsure and still worried about Minho. He waits for him to continue, watching Minho swallow and lick his lips. “Because, uhm, I’ve been thinking, and— Gosh , I really should have come with this earlier.” Minho runs a hand through his hair and sighs, and Jisung is only getting more confused by the second.

“What is it?” he asks. He tries to swallow away his nerves, impatience, and anxiety. “Just spill it, Minho, whatever it is. It’s okay. I can have it.” 

“Yes. Okay. I— I know that I’m kind of skipping a few steps in… uhm, our relationship, or whatever. I mean, I just got your house key and all and we don’t even live together. But well… You know I’ve never cared about conventions.” Minho still isn’t getting to the point, and Jisung is getting less anxious, but more nervous, as he continues talking. “I can hold a whole speech leading to what I’ve been thinking about, but I’ll skip and just ask you straight away.” Minho takes Jisung’s hands into his own and takes a shaky breath, his eyes flicking down at their hands, giving away that he’s just as nervous as Jisung is. He looks up into Jisung’s eyes. “Will you allow me to adopt Dori with you?”

Jisung’s eyes grow wide and his eyebrows shoot up into his hairline. “Wh-What?” he stammers, squeezing Minho’s hands in shock. He has to be dreaming. This has to be a dream. Minho isn’t really asking him to adopt Dori with him, to basically be parents together. Minho takes another deep breath and repeats his words.

“Will you allow me to adopt Dori with you?” He speaks slowly, his eyes shining determinedly, and Jisung feels tears well up in his eyes. Of course he’s going to start crying. Minho shouldn’t surprise him with something like this, making him worry why he’s late, only for him to make him an offer that feels like he’s proposing or something. He doesn’t want to cry in front of everyone, although everyone in the room has seen him cry before.

“Come on, ‘Sungie, don’t leave me hanging,” Minho says with a chuckle, letting go of one of his hands to brush a stray tear away with his index finger. “Please answer me. I’ve been stressing about this for more than a month or whatever.”

“Yes!” Jisung nods hastily, trying to blink away his tears, but he can’t hold back a sob, and tears start falling anyway. “Yes, of course— Good lord. I— I— Ugh, Han Jisung, stop crying!” He wipes at his cheeks with his free hand, contrasting Minho’s gentle fingers that help him wipe away his tears. Dori lets out a cry and Jisung turns to look at her. Chan is rocking her up and down gently as Dori is turned towards Jisung. “Don’t worry, sweetie pie! These are happy tears.” 

“It’s okay, Dori. Jisung is crying because he’s touched. He does that a lot,” Chan assures her softly. 

“He does,” Minho agrees, smiling at Jisung fondly. Jisung wants to kiss him, but he’s crying, and that would be kind of gross, so he goes for another tight hug. Minho runs his hand through Jisung's hair calmly, but Jisung can hear his heart going crazy as he buries his head against Minho’s chest, betraying that he’s emotional as well. 

They hug for a while, Dorito’s soft meows the only background sound, and once Jisung has calmed down enough, he steals another kiss.

“I’d love to hear your speech, though,” he says with a laugh. Minho lets out a cackle and shakes his head.

“No way. Later. We have some important papers to sign right now.” He pats Jisung’s cheek. He’s right, they have a baby to adopt. Together . They will be responsible for Dori together from now on. Jisung is going from unofficial single parent to official non-single parent real soon. 

When he first got Dori, he never thought that he’d find someone by the time he would adopt her. She isn’t even twelve months old yet, and he has already found someone who wants to adopt her with him. If that isn’t lucky, then Jisung doesn’t know what is. 

He takes Dori into his arms and hugs her tight, placing a kiss on round cheek in happiness. “You hear that, sweetie? You’re going to have two daddies! Minho will be officially your dad as well,” he whispers. Dori seems to understand him, sort of, because she’s looking at Minho with big eyes. Jisung hands her over to Minho, and her little hands immediately reach out to grab at his nose. Minho pulls a silly face, making Dori laugh and she lets go of his nose. It’s a sight Jisung is looking forward to seeing more often.

Chan elbows him in the side, getting his attention, and looks at him with a grin. “He seems like a good guy, ‘Sung. Good for you,” he tells him, his eyes shining in delight. Changbin nods as well.

“Good at making websites, and good at being a dad, it seems,” he says with a satisfied smile, making Jisung laugh. He’s glad that his friends approve of him, and he can’t wait for them to meet Minho properly. He thinks that they’ll get along well. The thought of Minho getting to know his friends makes him feel warm.

They then finally get to signing the papers, and Jeongin tells him what steps they still have to take to finalize it, now that Jisung decided to adopt Dori with someone. It’s not that much extra work, just some bookkeeping and changing some details as well as getting Minho’s details into the orphanage’s record. 

They’re both excited and nervous, because they’ll have a lot to talk about after, about what this will mean for their relationship and all, if they’re going to move in together, etc. That will all come in due time, though, because first they’ll all go to Jisung’s house to celebrate this milestone. 

Jisung was right about Chan and Changbin getting along well with Minho, and the three of them soon find common ground in teasing both Jisung and Changbin. Dori is having a bit of a hard time with so many people being around her at first, but once she gets acquainted with Chan and Changbin a little better, and after a nap, she starts to like the attention. 

She loves Chan’s curls, and she is trying her darned best to tug on them. Instead, Chan indulges her by sticking his forehead into her tummy, and rubbing her, making her squeal in delight as she still tries to grab onto his hair. 

She loves Changbin’s strong arms, lifting her up high like Minho and Jisung do too, sometimes, but Changbin is especially strong and cuddly. He is also especially good at using baby talk to communicate with her, and he manages to get her to babble more than she would usually do.

It’s a lot of fun, but by night, Chan and Changbin have to go home again, although they seem reluctant to say goodbye to Dori. 

“We’ll see you again soon, Dori! Don’t forget us. Bye Jisung, bye Minho, it was nice to meet you.” Chan and Changbin wave them goodbye when they leave. Jisung will certainly take Dori to them soon, so they won’t have to miss her for long. For now, he focuses on Minho and Dori, because he has one more mission left for today. 

First, he and Minho put Dori in her crib early tonight, because she’s tired from the eventful day. She passes out before Jisung can even sing to her, and as soon as she’s asleep, Jisung takes Minho by the wrist and drags him downstairs so that he can kiss him silly on the couch. Minho gasps softly and grabs Jisung by the waist as he stumbles onto the couch. 

Their foreheads bump together clumsily as Jisung falls into Minho’s lap. Minho starts laughing against Jisung’s lips and Jisung can’t help but laugh along with him, their kiss turning into a mess of clashing teeth and giggles, Minho’s fingers running all over Jisung’s arms. 

“You know what? You know what?” Jisung pulls back with a snicker and holds Minho’s hands because he’s getting ticklish. “I think now is a good time to let me hear your sappy speech about wanting to adopt Dori with me.” 

“I never said it was going to be sappy! Come on, how long have you known me?” Minho lets out a sigh and shakes his head at him.

“What are you talking about! You’re romantic as heck,” Jisung says, and he really thinks so. Minho has made him dinner countless times, takes care of Dori when he’s tired, and tells him sweet words exactly when Jisung needs to hear them, and if that isn’t romantic, then Jisung doesn’t know what is. 

“I’m not,” Minho insists, and Jisung lets it go, because he wants to hear Minho’s speech, so he spurs him on to start telling him. Minho’s ears grow pink and he presses his lips together, getting a little shy now that he has to express himself in words again. “So, uhm… Yeah. I was thinking about asking you to adopt Dori with me, because… well… I want that, obviously. And this morning I suddenly got nervous. Not because I doubted my decision, but because I was worried that I was moving too fast and that I might overwhelm you. Just… During the past few months together I’ve seen Dori grow, and I’ve seen you grow as a parent, and you always keep telling me how much you appreciate someone being there with you while you take care of Dori. I noticed that I wanted to be the one to be there with you, and I’ve grown attached to your little girl as well.”

Minho takes a deep breath and swallows, and Jisung intertwines their fingers, watching him with attentive eyes. His heart is pounding fast against his chest, because Minho’s words touch him, and he’s proud of him that he’s telling Jisung this so honestly. 

“I feel like my feelings— I don't know. I just want to be there for you. Just like how you said you feel better when I’m here, I feel better when I’m with you. And a baby is just like a kitten, except maybe a little more work, but I really don’t mind. Dori is worth it, but most of all, you are worth it.”

Minho closes his short speech with a kiss on Jisung’s lips. “I’m sure we’ll figure out how we go from here together. I think we’ve been pretty good together so far.” 

“Stop, you’re going to make me cry again,” Jisung mutters, looking up at Minho with glassy eyes. Minho’s words mean so much to him, and he feels loved. Minho laughs at him, but it’s a kind hearted laugh. It helps Jisung to keep it together and not cry, though. 

“Sometimes I wonder who’s the baby and who is the dad in this household,” Minho teases him, poking his cheek with his finger. “You cry more than your— I mean our little daughter.” 

Jisung thought he’d be able to keep it in, but when Minho drops the words ‘our little daughter’ and Jisung realizes that he’s right, that Dori is technically their daughter now, he can’t hold back a sob. “I know I cry more than her! I don’t mean to— But she’s our daughter now. How can I not cry about that?” 

Minho lets out another laugh and just pulls Jisung into a bone crushing hug. Jisung hugs him back tightly. Minho runs his hand through his hair, and Jisung swears that he hears him take a shaky breath, too, pointing to that he is emotional right now as well. It’s understandable, but it’s okay, they have each other and they have Dori, everyone they need is right here, and Jisung feels at home in Minho’s arms right now.

They just cuddle for the rest of the night, turning on the TV but not really watching whatever’s playing. Instead, they sneakily steal kisses and tell each other sweet words, spurred on by the excitement that lingers from having adopted Dori together, and when Minho gently caresses Jisung’s cheeks and smiles so fondly as Jisung whispers to him how much he cares about him, Jisung tries not to fall in love with him all over again. (Spoiler alert: he fails.) 

When they get upstairs, Dori is still asleep, so they wish her good night before they get into bed themselves, holding each other, but when she wakes up during the night, they decide to let her sleep in the bed with them for tonight, giving her some extra love. Dori fits the space between them perfectly, her tiny fingers sleepily grabbing at whoever’s closer at the moment, all three of them providing each other with a little extra warmth tonight. 

Jisung gets time off work and thus time to finally get his life together a little more, and to do things he didn’t have time to do before. He and Minho visit his friends together with Dori, letting her get used to being around them and letting her play with them. They go on dates together, of course taking Dori wherever they go, to restaurants, movie nights, and even getting out of town, something both Minho and Jisung hadn’t had much time to do before. And Minho slowly starts moving into Jisung’s house, which allows them to find their own routine together. It goes surprisingly well, moving in together and living together. Jisung has a spare room where Minho can work without being interrupted, and now that money is less of a problem, they don’t have to worry that much. They cook together almost every night, and Jisung actually starts looking forward to cooking.

Dori is really happy to have Minho around more, too, but she’s especially happy to have Dorito around her all the time, and the two of them really become best friends. Dori almost doesn’t want to go to sleep without having hugged Dorito good night. It’s adorable how inseparable they are.

And if Jisung catches Minho calling his kitten Dorito once, too, then maybe it’s because he can’t distinguish them by calling them ‘your’ and ‘my’ Dori anymore, because they're both ‘our’ Dori now. Their baby, their daughter, Dori, and their kitten, their cat, Dori The Original. (Dorito.) 

And Jisung wouldn’t want it any other way. 

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