Work Text:
The weather is merciless in the months of December and January. Cold wind blows ruthlessly starting in the evenings. The mornings and afternoons, however, are a little better with sun visible at times (not early morning though!). It starts snowing heavily sometimes so the sun is barely seen. Such days are the worst.
Today is one such day.
Mingyu wakes up with an extreme headache from not being able to sleep properly the whole night. He blames it on the absence of Seungcheol. Oh how he hates business trips!
He shifts a little in the bed and both the kids are up in a second—both whining and groaning at being disturbed. They had insisted on sleeping with him because of Seungcheol being gone. Mingyu shushes both of them quietly and lulls them back to sleep. Luckily, they are snoring back in a minute.
Mingyu sighs gladly.
As quietly as he can, Mingyu gets up from the bed, wears his bed jacket and decides to go downstairs to make some jasmine tea for himself. It’s been a week since he has had it. Whilst making, he decides to call Seungcheol. They haven’t talked in about a day and Mingyu misses him so much he could book a ticket now and fly to Jeju but he knows Seungcheol wouldn’t appreciate them all travelling in so harsh a weather.
“Hello?”, says the voice as the call is picked up. Mingyu almost sighs. It’s always nice hearing Seungcheol talk. He has a nice voice.
“Hi, honey”, Mingyu says, smiling.
“Hi, darling. Missed you. How’s everything?”
“Nothing’s right. We all miss you. The kids are naughtier than ever— try to sneak out my phone and call you every day! I have told them about your work but they don’t listen. Just dadda dadda all day.”
A sweet laugh is heard from the other side of the line.
“I am coming back in two days. I would have been there earlier but his one guy decided to go on a family trip and now all the work is on me. I promise to be back soon. Take care, okay?”
“Hmmm. You take care too and don’t eat too much junk. Cook something yourself, don’t be lazy.”
“Okay okay love ya! see you soon”
“Love you too. Come back quickly.”
The calls are always short like this because well, the work load is too much. Mingyu doesn’t mind. He is not a talkative person on phone anyways and both of them value real interactions more. They are clingy like that.
. . .
Mingyu comes back home after grocery shopping and almost drops the bags as he enters the house. Hwan and Aera, lost in their own world, are happily drawing on the living room walls with the new crayons they got for Christmas.
“Oh lord! What are you two doing!? Get down the chairs! Now!”, Mingyu says rushing towards the wall where both are standing on dining chairs and trying to draw higher than the other.
“But papa look at my elephant! Isn’t it cute?”, says Hwan as Mingyu carries him to the couch.
Mingyu doesn’t answer him and next carries Aera to the couch. She cries a little at that. He then proceeds to snatch the crayons from their little mischievous hands and frown at their pouting faces for a minute.
“You have pretty drawings but you don’t draw them on the walls. We have paper, okay? Draw on them and not the wall. Understand?”
Aera speaks up this time.
“But papa, dadda told us that he used to draw on walls too! Why can’t we draw?”, she whines.
“Yes! Do you love dadda more than us?”, Hwan pouts.
Mingyu sighs. He will have to tell Seungcheol to stop telling his mischievous endeavors as bed time stories to the kids.
“See, dadda was a mischevious little bunny and when he did that Santa gave him no present for Christmas that year because he was on the naughty list! Do you want that to happen to both of you?”
Both of their eyes widen comically at the prospect of getting their names of the naughty list and they shake their heads. Mingyu laughs and ruffles their hair.
“Let’s get you papers for your pretty drawings, okay?”
In the evening, all three sit down near the fireplace to do their own work. Mingyu prepares hot chocolate for all. The kids drink theirs and draw stuff on paper whilst Mingyu edits his article on the laptop.
Soon, a beep is heard as the door is unlocked. All three looks up and there is Seungcheol standing with his suitcase and smiling widely.
“Dadda!”, the kids exclaim in unison. They run towards him and cling onto him in a bear hug.
“Hello, hello my beautiful bunnies”, Seungcheol says, picking them up and kissing them all over.
Mingyu smiles and walks towards them.
“Welcome home”, he says, smiling widely because he can’t control that.
Seungcheol smiles and puts the kids back on the ground. He hugs Mingyu and puts his face in the crook of his neck.
“Missed you”, he mumbles. Mingyu laughs and tightens the hug.
“Missed you much more.”
They separate and share a chaste kiss, both smiling shyly. Even after almost seven years of marriage, seeing each other is always the most butterflies inducing thing for them.
“Dadda! Look at our drawings! I made an elephant for you and Aera made a flower!”, Hwan exclaims and both pull Seungcheol to the couch to show him their work.
Mingyu goes to the kitchen to prepare dinner—in a long time it will be a feast.
All have a nice meal together, after a whole week, and it’s the best thing ever.
. . .
Mingyu comes back to their room after lulling the kids to sleep in their room and sees Seungcheol on the bed—reading a book (he doesn’t do that often). Mingyu asks if he has taken a shower already and the answer is a nod and a smile. Mingyu takes his shower and comes back to bed and as soon as he is under the cover, he is attacked by a koala.
“I missed you, I missed you”, chants Seungcheol as he cuddles Mingyu from the back. Mingyu laughs out loud and puts his hand over Seungcheol’s where they are circled around his waist.
“I missed you too, Honey. Very much.”, he says lifting one of Seungcheol’s hands and kissing the back of it. Suddenly, Seungcheol turns him around so that they are facing each other and kisses him.
Mingyu is surprised for a moment but eagerly kisses back because it has been a moment since they kissed like this (only a week but it’s a lot, okay?). Seungcheol tightens his hold on Mingyu’s waist as the latter puts his hand on the other’s cheek.
They keep lying next to each other—kissing ardently until one of Seungcheol’s hands moves up Mingyu’s night shirt making the latter gasp. His hand is cold from the winter and the touch of it makes Mingyu shiver.
“Honey, your hand’s cold! Don’t do that!”, Mingyu whispers between them.
Seungcheol, however, doesn’t listen and moves his hand up and up. Mingyu, this time, doesn’t gasp from the cold. The touch feels electrifying now and it feels good. So good that Mingyu closes his eyes and lets himself feel.
“Off”, Seungcheol commands, holding Mingyu’s shirt.
Mingyu nods and is two buttons down when the door of their room bursts open and in come Hwan and Aera. Seeing them, Mingyu puts his button on quickly and hurries Seungcheol off of him as he was lying half on top of Mingyu.
“Papa, dadda! We couldn’t sleep! We only slept for some time and woke up because we missed dadda so much!”, cries Aera.
“We want to sleep with both of you!”, says Hwan.
Little devils
“Of course, bunnies. Come here.”, Seungcheol says, giving Mingyu a sheepish smile. The latter smiles and mouths an “it’s okay”.
The bed’s too small for all four to fit in properly but they huddle together like penguins. After lots of tickling and giggling, the kids and Seungcheol are asleep. Mingyu looks at them—their little pouts all the same whilst sleeping and their habit of making themselves smaller when they sleep. He looks at his little lovely family and thinks he is indeed the luckiest in the world.