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it was relatively early for anyone to be up yet seonghwa stood by the outside sliding door. he watched with the screen door open as the rain came pouring down. today was suppose to be a total washout. luckily he doesn't have work today, and the best day of the week as well; friday.
he takes a deep breath in and closes his eyes momentarily. the cool breeze flowing from outside into the living room. the rain is pouring down so hard it's almost hard to see anything beyond the shadow of the trees.
and while this is seonghwa's favorite weather, there's a certain someone that isn't a fan of it in the slightest bit.
said person is still sleeping upstairs, but due to the loud rumbling thunder, he's bound to wake up soon. seonghwa stands by the door a little longer until another rumble of thunder is heard.
following shortly after is a faint "hwa!" coming from upstairs. he closes the sliding door, crossing from the living room towards the staircase up the bedroom.
it does break his heart a little when he walks in and sees none other than hongjoong, staring out the window with wide watery eyes. the blanket is clutched tightly in his small hands.
"hey, hey" seonghwa reassures making his way over to the kitten, who's desperately holding his hands out. "you're okay, baby...relax, hwa is here."
the younger desperately moves the covers off his body and throws himself in hwa's arms. his cat ears are pressed down in fear, his grip growing stronger by the second.
"did the thunder wake you up, baby?" seonghwa coos.
hongjoong whimpers and nods his head. "s'are me..."
the older holds him closer in his arms, carrying him downstairs to the living room. seonghwa knows that whenever it rains like this, hongjoong gets scared.
there was even one time, on a rainy day like this, seonghwa sat right on the floor by the sliding door and showed him that there's nothing to be afraid of...especially when hwa is here protecting him.
it's thunder and lightning that he still has a fear of- but baby steps is what seonghwa tells himself. for now, he has absolutely no problem coddling his baby when he's scared of the gloomy weather.
"mama's here, baby, the thunder is not going to hurt you...not when I'm here." seonghwa reassures the less shaken up kitten in his arms.
he feels hongjoong slump against his chest, after all, he was still sleeping when he got abruptly woken up. seonghwa decides to let him sleep a little bit more- he doesn't want to deal with a cranky hongjoong.
he goes to lay down on the couch, hongjoong securely on top of him as he covers him with his blanket. "hwa is here baby, close your eyes and relax."
in his sleepy haze, the younger noses against seonghwa's neck. the small circles rubbed on his back knocks him out in an instant.
the older kisses his hair, content with just watching the kitten sleep. in moments like these, he just can't help but smile. like...he's a parent. a caregiver to this hybrid who has completely changed his life for the better. the bond between the two is inseparable.
he shakes his head slightly...it's definitely the rainy weather that's gotten him all sappy and sentimental like this.
-
"joongie, come over here, hwa wants to show you something." seonghwa smiled as he watched the kitten stop his kneading of his blanket and jog over to where he was sitting. however, he stopped in his tracks.
"hwa! pa'yer on f'oor!" hongjoong gasped, standing almost in shock. seonghwa doesn't like messes so to see a bunch of newspaper taped on the floor is unheard of.
"yes, there's a lot of paper on the floor because we're going to be painting!" seonghwa smiled brightly.
hongjoong, on the other hand, was a little hesitant. he doesn't remember well but he faintly recalls the last time he painted was with his wooyoung hyung and he made a big mess and he almost got in trouble.
"what's wrong, bubba? you don't have to paint if you don't want to..."
hongjoong fiddled with his hands, staring up at hwa with the most rounded pleading eyes. "no ma'e mess, hwa...no ba' boy...woo 'yungie no pain'."
at first seonghwa didn't understand what he was talking about; but when he mentioned wooyoung and painting, he raised his eyebrows.
"are you talking about the last time you painted with your wooyoung hyung? It's okay baby, that's why hwa put newspaper on the floor so we don't make a mess." it took little to reassure the younger. he was back to his bright and bubbly self when hwa told him it was okay.
"pain' py'ease hwa?!" he bounced on the balls of his feet.
seonghwa is a total sucker for when joongie acts so cute but also uses manners. (he definitely raised him on manners for sure).
"joongie you are just so extra cute today! hwa can't help it!" he stands up and goes to pinch his babies cheeks, peppering kisses all over his face.
and just like the older, hongjoong can't resist his hwa's affection. he giggles loudly, gently swatting his hand. as much as he loves hwa's affection, he also really wants to paint.
"alright, baby, let's get you ready." he holds up one of own old t-shirts. "before we start, we need to change your shirt. I don't want it to get ruined."
hongjoong allowed him to change him out of his shirt and easily slipped on the old one. the kitten loved how big it was on him; and definitely loved that it smelled like his hwa.
"hwa chan'e, too?"
he shook his head "no I can keep this one...but I know that a certain kitten likes to make a mess" he booped the kitten's nose, smiling softly.
something about hongjoong today has gotten seonghwa all smitten with his cuteness. he stands there watching hwa grab the small paint containers, beaming from ear to ear.
"come sit with hwa on the floor" hongjoong did as he was told, ears perked up in attention. seongjwa joins him not a moment later, handing him a chubby paintbrush.
"alright, what color is this?" he holds out a small container of paint in front of the younger.
"b'ue!"
"good job, baby! and what color is this one?"
"uh...pur'le!"
"you're so smart, honeybear! and lastly, what color is this?"
"ye'yow!"
"oh my sweet starshine, you are so smart! very good job!"
hongjoong felt his cheeks grow a little warm at the praise. they both hold eye contact, seonghwa breaks it not a moment too soon when he sees the kitten slowly blink his eyes at him.
"go ahead, babybear, paint what your heart desires."
with a sudden rumble of thunder, the kitten looks up at his hwa, eyes wide in growing fear.
"s'yay, mama..." he faintly mumbles out. the excitement of getting to paint distracted him from the storm overhead, upon hearing the booming sound, he was snapped back out of his bubble.
seonghwa places him inbetween his legs. "mama is right here, baby. I got you." he presses his lips onto the kitten's temple lingering for a second. "you're safe here with me, my star."
hongjoong sniffled quietly as he dipped his brush into one color at a time and drags his brush along the newspaper.
the calming presence of his hwa soothed him immensely; swirling his little paintbrush all around the paper and even onto his hand. he paid little to no attention to the weather roaring outside.
-
"joong, wai- no!"
but it was too late.
glitter.
so much glitter on the floor. gold and white specks cover the newspaper flooring. hongjoong, once again, covers his little giggles with his hand as he holds the glitter jar in his hand.
and while seonghwa is dreading to even start thinking about the clean up, he sees the curious kitten swirl the colors around with his hands. he's so enamored by what he's doing, seonghwa doesn't have the heart to punish him or even scold him.
it's definitely worth it to see hongjoong's beaming smile. hwa takes a deep breath before smiling at his son. "you must've enjoyed using that glitter, huh?"
hongjoong flashed a blinding smile "h-hwa! twin'le twin'le so py'ey!"
he figures he can let this mess slide for today- after all, hongjoong has been distracted from the nasty weather that's still pouring down from this morning. "you're right, honey, it is so pretty!"
the younger beamed as he happily picked up his paintbrush and smeared it all over the glitter and newspaper. he was practically babbling to himself as seonghwa watched him in his own little world.
besides the atrocious mess in front of him, he's grateful to see his baby having a good time and enjoying what he's doing. occasionally there will be a booming of thunder, and seonghwa is just grateful that hongjoong is so distracted that he didn't hear it.
-
"shh, baby, you're safe...it's going to be alright." seonghwa comforted the kitten in his arms, walking slowly around the room.
the older believes he spoke too soon- the minute hongjoong was fresh bathed and in fuzzy pajamas did the rain pour even possibly harder as well as lightning occurred (good thing he finished bathing him first).
and now we're back to where we were just this morning. seonghwa wraps his blanket over his face a little to block out the flashes of lightning (and to also breathe).
hongjoong whimpers, nuzzling further into seonghwa's neck; tears accompanying shortly after.
"you're safe with mama, my starshine." he lats his bottom as he slowly walks around the living room in a rocking motion to soothe his baby. "you are safe and you are protected, I will always be here."
hongjoong slightly lifted his head, a small yawn escaped his lips. he didn't say anything however, he seemed pretty content with leaning his elbow on hwa's shoulder and looking up at the person who changed his life.
"did you have fun today, bubba?"
hongjoong hummed "I pain' with twin'le twin'le! so my'essy!"
the older returned the smile "you're saying it as if you were the one cleaning it!" he slightly teased, sneakily reaching his hand down to tickle at the younger's belly.
"hwa...hwa! no ti'yle! no ti'yle!" seonghwa paused his actions, instead raising his hand for wipe the stray tears on his cheeks.
"I'm glad my baby had fun today...but I believe it's time for someone's lunchtime...I wonder who it could be?"
the younger's cat ears twitched in excitement "me hwa! I hun'gy!" he points to his belly. "me me me hwa!"
"alright alright" seonghwa let's out a little chuckle. "let's go eat some yummy food, bubs."
hongjoong was beaming once again as he snuggled against seonghwa's embrace.
the weather outside may be dark and scary, but hongjoong feels warm and safe. as long as seonghwa is by his side, he feels protected.
and it was all worth it to see hongjoong's beaming smile.