Work Text:
seonghwa walks into the kitchen and notices on the calendar today's date circled with a red sharpie. at first, he freezes. did he forget an appointment or something scheduled today?
when he walks closer, he takes a big sigh of relief at what he sees written for today's date.
March 23rd- 'Take Your Child to Work Day'
seonghwa smiles as he pours himself a cup of freshly brewed coffee, leaning against the counter as he faces the kitchen window.
the house is still quiet due to a certain kitten still sleeping. the older begins to zone out a little as he thinks about today.
taking hongjoong to work with him definitely sounds like it'll be fun. over the course of time, the younger has developed a love for books as well, so taking him to a bookstore definitely doesn't sound too stressful or crazy.
in fact, he's actually looking forward to bringing his baby with him to work and let him look at all the books and toys they have. who knows, maybe it'll be helpful to have hongjoong around to help him.
chugging one last sip of his coffee, he rinses his cup in the sink and heads up the stairs to wake up said sleeping beauty.
-
"alright, joongs, you're going to go with hwa at work today. there might be a few people in the building, so you have to make sure you tell hwa if you feel nervous or scared, okay?"
said kitten gives him a nod in response, clutching his backpack straps as the pair walk into the building. hwa has definitely taken him here multiple times, but this time it'll be different because hwa will be working.
hongjoong always wondered what hwa did and where he went when he left for work, and this time, he'll actually see him working.
he actually feels happy walking inside the bookstore. he knows how hard working the older is to support the both of them.
and to spend the whole morning here? he's so excited!
before leaving, the older made sure anything hongjoong would need during the day was packed- his sippy cup, his cat plushie, even his blanket and pacifier just for a precaution.
although hongjoong felt happy about spending the day with his hwa, he clutched onto his arm just a little tighter when being introduced his coworkers.
he doesn't like to share seonghwa's attention, but he knew better than to be rude and mean to these people he's never met before. so he shyly waves to them and gives them a small smile, but not before holding hwa's arm close to his body.
seonghwa brings him to the back storage room, clocking in and showing hongjoong where he can safely keep his backpack, but not before retrieving his cat plushie; claiming it can't be alone and away from him or hwa.
throughout the morning, he follows hwa as if he's his shadow, and occasionally will help him take some books down and put new ones out.
"do you wanna help hwa with something really super important?"
hongjoong's eyes bug out as he heads shoots up in interest. "uh huh! he'yp hwa!"
seonghwa explains how they need to place new books out on display and has to take the current ones back onto the shelves. with every ounce of fiber in his body, hongjoong carefully takes each book and places it into a big cardboard box.
he stares at how big the box is for a moment. he wonders if it's big enough for himself to fit in there? oh well, maybe next time...
he watches as seonghwa neatly stacks the books onto the little table with a nice flower centerpiece; hongjoong focuses on placing the previous books back into the box.
(he tries his best to ignore at all of his cat instincts calling at him for wanting to climb into the box.)
hongjoong continues to help the older with the new books displays for the next few minutes. he loves to prove to hwa that he is a big boy by helping him with what needs to get done around the store.
if seonghwa is working the register, joong sits on a stool right next to him- even getting some compliments on how cute he is. the kitten blushes, hiding into his plushie.
but while he was sitting with hwa, he grew a little antsy. squirming and wiggling on the stool. the older knows how uncomfortable hongjoong becomes when sitting in one place for too long, honestly he doesn't blame him.
as he finished up helping a customer pay, he turns to the younger. "if you want to go explore, you can go, baby."
curiosity killed the cat as hongjoong desperately wanted to look around, but his instincts were preventing him. what if he loses hwa in the store? or worse...what if hwa leaves without him?
the older definitely saw the inner conflict written on his face and instead wraps his arms around him. "don't you worry, hwa is going to be right here. if you need me, you can just ask one of my coworkers or call my name."
he pressed a kiss onto his forehead, rubbing his arm in comfort. he watched as hongjoong reluctantly pulled himself away from his arms. his feet scuffing on the floor as he makes his way around the corner of the registers.
he looks back at seonghwa with his wide eyes, nervous as he's afraid he'll turn asked won't see hwa there. but the older stays in place, smiling encouraging him to go explore.
he watches hongjoong clutch his plushie tighter, his shoulders hunched slightly when he walks further from seonghwa.
he keeps an eye on the younger until he can't see him and continues to help costumers pay for their books.
-
"y'ook at book, kittie" hongjoong sits on the floor as he brings his plushie on his lap. the book he picked out is placed in front of the toy
hongjoong doesn't know how to read yet, still is getting familiarized with how his name looks, so he opens the book and just looks at the bright colorful pictures.
he continues to do so for a while- picking out a book and sitting on the floor with his stuffed toy and trying his best to understand what's going on in the story.
his favorite type of books are the sensory kind- ones that have rubbery or fuzzy parts or shiny and soft.
but something caught his attention. he heard lots of giggles or whispered shushes coming from the other section of the children's books.
it definitely sounded like whoever was there was having fun, and he grew curious as to what was happening.
the kitten stood up from his spot and placed his book back in the right spot before making his way over.
he saw a small crowd of young children gathering near a little platform. someone was sitting in a rocking chair with a pile of books next to her.
she looked like she was waiting for everyone to settle down and find a spot to sit; which hongjoong wanted to be a part of. so, he found a little area that wasn't too far from the stage but wasn't too close either.
he snuggled into his plushie as the nice lady began to read the story.
-
seonghwa let out a sigh as he finished taking inventory of their most recent book order. he proudly hands the papers to his manager and makes his way to the back storage to grab hongjoong's backpack and clocks out for the day.
what he absolutely loves is the morning shift because by the early afternoon, he can leave for the day.
it doesn't take him long to find hongjoong however, automatically walking towards the section where he knows he'd be.
true to his thoughts, he sees the younger curled in the corner with his plushie. his eyes sparkle as he tries his best to listen to the story, mouth slightly open.
he doesn't want to disrupt story time, so he stays where he is, sneakily trying to take some pictures of the kitten.
(he's surprised his storage isn't full yet)
he scans through each picture before pocketing his phone, he'll look through them all later. the second he slides his phone into his back pocket is when he hears everyone clapping and laughing- signaling story time must be over.
he watches hongjoong just sit there for a moment, eyes growing glossy as he watches everyone collect their things and leave the area.
before a tear could even fall, hongjoong's ears perked up when he looks around and spots his hwa standing on the side.
"hwa! my hwa!" he exclaims as he waddles over. he subtly tries to wipe at his eyes, but seonghwa knows hongjoong like the back of his hand; probably knows what he's feeling before he can express it.
the older wraps his arms around his baby, nuzzling into his neck. he pulls away to cup his face wiping his tears with his thumb. "hey buttercup, why the sudden tears?"
"can' fin' hwa...y'ost hwa" he pouted, nuzzling his hand into seonghwa's palm.
"you didn't lose me baby, hwa is right here" seonghwa soothes "were you listening to the nice lady reading the story?"
hongjoong nods, shyly holding his hands up. the moment seonghwa lifts him on his hip, the kitten nuzzles into his neck.
"hwa is done working for the day, baby, so we're gonna go get something to eat and go home. but before we leave, do you want to buy any books to bring home?"
hongjoong rubs his eyes, nodding once again. while he was looking at the books with his plushie there definitely a few that he found himself re-reading.
this is around the time that hongjoong takes his afternoon nap, so he clings onto hwa as he points to the few books he wants to buy and bring home.
seonghwa places him down for a moment, making hongjoong whimper as he inconsistently tugs on the older's sweater.
"relax, baby" he kisses his cheek for reassurance "hwa is putting your books in your backpack and then we're going to go get some lunch. is my little baby hungry?"
hongjoong nods, trying to squeeze his way back into hwa's arms. said older doesn't question his behavior, his poor baby is just hungry and tired- which ultimately results in a whiny and clingy hongjoong.
"alright, bubba, you ready for food and your nap?" he asks the younger, placing his backpack on his back as he lifts up the younger onto his hip.
walking to the car and buckling the kitten into his seat, seonghwa watched with adoration in his eyes the way hongjoong sleepily clutched onto his cat plushie, pacifier securely past his lips.
before he starts the car, he turns his body slightly toward the passenger seat. "joongs, I never got to ask you, what were the stories about that the nice lady was reading?"
that seemed to wake up hongjoong a little bit, he pulled the pacifier out of his mouth as he tried to explain- to the best of his vocabulary- what the stories were about.
"p'yince an' p'yincess! s'ary dwa'yon s'are 'em...all sy'afe now!" hongjoong's eyes were practically glowing with how excited he became over just simply retelling a story.
as seonghwa starts the drive, he figures that should keep hongjoong awake just until they make it home for his nap.
hearing the younger talk animatedly about the stories he read with his cat plushie made warmth blossom throughout his chest.
he absolutely loves when hongjoong gets excited over his interests. it makes him feel proud to see the younger become his own person.
today was a good day.