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it was one of those moments where he utterly had nothing to do- hongjoong was at school, the house was cleaned (twice), the laundry was done, bills were paid.
seonghwa lounged on the couch as he lazily scrolled through his social media. he's joined a few of those "hybrid parent" groups and is an active member in them, talking about joong but never posting pictures of him to respect his privacy.
halloween came and went, and immediately everyone skip thanksgiving and goes straight to the holiday season. sales upon sales, ads upon ads of what items he "so desperately needs, that's now 15% off!"
while he exits the social media side, he begins to aimlessly google around- one thing always leads to another. he looks at the time; 10:42...yeah, that's too early to pick him up.
somehow his endless searching of random pictures or articles led to him finding am article explaining of the most painful and least painful places to get a tattoo.
this peaked his interest...who would have thought your forearm would be the least painful spot to get a tattoo? at first he thinks it's a silly idea. he's gotten much better when he's getting bloodwork done anyway...so he bookmarks the page for later reading.
he already has the necklace hongjoong gifted him back for mother's day- which he still proudly displays and wears. (yunho even saw him polishing it one day.)
but...how about a tattoo? 'nah' he thinks out loud 'too much money, I would have to properly care and sterilize it 24/7'
maybe another time...
--------
seonghwa walks the somewhat quiet halls of the daycare. this is when the scheduled naptime or quiet time is, and he knows that around 12:30 is when hongjoong's class starts their naptime.
he hears a few of the younger ones crying, followed by soothing voices to calm and soothe them. he remembers when he first had hongjoong in his care, how afraid he was to take a nap during the day due to his fear of seonghwa leaving him.
he smiles to himself at the memory, look how far he has come.
but as he approached closer to the classroom, he recognizes that faint crying to be coming from his baby. now as much as he's alert, he's not going to barge into the classroom- he did call and give a heads up that he'll be picking him up early today.
so when he makes eye contact with his teacher, he sees her holding the kitten in her arms to soothe him. it takes a long time and a lot of patience for hongjoong to fully trust in your care and comfort, so to see him clinging onto his teacher made his heart feel warm.
with a gentle hand, he opened the classroom door and immediately he heard tiny little gasps of "joongie, your mama is here!"
hongjoong ears perk up but then he sobs pretty loudly into his teacher's shoulder. "n-no....mama come y-yater..."
seonghwa's heart simultaneously warms yet breaks at how he's finding comfort in his teacher but also because he's crying his heart out. quickly he grabs his backpack and blanket walks in the direction where the kitten is facing.
said kitten sobs out in relief at seeing seonghwa in front of him and gently hands him in his arms. "mommy came early to pick you up, lovebug."
the younger doesn't respond, just hides in seonghwa's neck with his blanket. "everything okay, buggie?"
"he was perfectly fine this morning and with eating his meals," his teacher explains, facing the rest of the children. "it was just now as we were getting ready for nap that he began to cry. I can't tell if his forehead is warm because he was crying or because of something else."
she soothingly strokes at his arm, heart breaking at seeing the younger so visibly distressed. seonghwa places his lips onto his forehead- a trick he learned from his mother a while back. he does feel a little warm, but then again it's hard to tell.
"I was just going to stay home with him anyway, I appreciate you being so gentle and nurturing with my baby. I'll keep a close eye on him and let you know how he's feeling."
he keeps the farewell short, knowing she has to focus on the other children and help soothe them for naptime. his heart warms yet again when he hears a few of his classmates saying goodbye to him.
he manages to have hongjoong say goodbye back with a little wave.
-
it turns out that the younger did manage to get sick, nothing too severe just a small cold. ever since picking him up early, the younger has been in one of his overly-sensitive and mushy moods.
he didn't want to risk any of his friends or even his parents getting sick, so he took off of work for a few days.
cue the living room looking like their bedroom- hongjoong's plush animals and his pillows on the couch, his blankets scattered around the fuzzy carpet.
it was a rather chilly day- hongjoong clad in one of seonghwa's hoodies and his fuzzy pajamas with the warmest pair of socks he could pull out of the dryer.
just as he was about to enter the living room, he paused by the doorframe. his heart broke as he saw his baby curled on the carpet facing the fire. he knew with the common cold came the shivers and feeling chilly, and this early november freeze is not helping.
he walks over to where his baby is, but gasps so lightly you can barely hear it, when he sees silent tears falling down his cheeks. "oh, my baby, no~" seonghwa coos, picking him up instead and rocking him in his arms tightly.
his little nose is red from the harsh rubbing and his eyes match the same shade. he can feel hongjoong's claws protrude through the material of his hoodie as he sniffs continuously.
after getting his nose blown, which took a while due to hongjoong not wanting to leave the comfort of his arms, he continues to walk around the room. seonghwa gently guides his face towards his neck and pats the back of his head for reassurance. "go ahead, my starshine, I know it makes you feel safe."
the kitten shyly paws at his face as begins to suck on the skin of hwa's neck; only once does he whine when the silver chain of seonghwa's necklace sends a shiver through his little body. he doesn't like seeing hongjoong sick, it makes him feel a little anxious when his baby is reduced to snotty tissues and loud sobs.
after a while his arms grow weary, moving from walking around the room to sitting on the couch closest to the fireplace.
with his plush cat (hwahwa) sitting contently on the other couch, he decides to use seonghwa's arm to curl up against. he absent-mindedly stares at his forearm- he gets a little tickle when hongjoo g grazes his fingers against the skin.
"don't go to sleep just yet, okay? mama is gonna feed you and give you your medicine." he kisses his forehead repeatedly for extra comfort. hongjoong barely mumbles a response, always feeling warm and safe when mama is holding him.
a sudden knock on the door makes the younger jolt out of his sleepy haze and burst into silent sobs. "no worries, buggie. let's go see who it is."
hongjoong grips tight on seonghwa's hoodie and hides his face in his neck once more. they get visits from the neighbors or seonghwa's other friends, so to see a familiar woman standing by the doorway caught him by surprise.
"mom!" seonghwa smiles bright "what brings you over here!?"
seonghwa moves over so she can enter. he would offer to help with the container she's holding if he wasn't already occupied with holding a mushy kitten in his arms.
"well, you said that hongjoong caught a little cold, so I made some of my famous chicken soup." she smiles placing the container on top of the counter. "I always used to give this to you when you were younger and had a cold."
seonghwa returns the smile, trying his best to greet his mother. "joongie, love, grandma is here!" his voice is soft yet gentle on his ears.
said younger only buries further in the warmth, he doesn't push him further to say hello; normally hongjoong would be so happy to see his grandma.
"oh dear baby, you aren't feeling well?" she coos at the younger, using the same technique she taught seonghwa and press her lips to his forehead. "he's not that warm...that's a good sign."
he motions for her to make herself comfortable as they retreat to the warm living room. she offers to help tidy up, but gently declines. it'll keep him busy when hongjoong takes a nap.
"yeah, he didn't have a fever but just feels very warm." he sighs, rubbing small circles into his baby's back. "so...where's dad?"
"he's still working, he'll be coming home any minute...I haven't seen my grandbaby in a while though!" a small clear of the throat makes her smile "and also my baby as well."
"-I'm actually glad you stopped by, I was just about to feed him dinner but I really need to run some errands...would you-"
"-yes, of course!" she beams, arms already out to take the baby.
seonghwa smiles "now he's definitely been feeling overly sensitive so just be cautious and give him his medicine when he's done eating. he already had a bath so he's g-"
"-seonghwa" she scolds him light-heartedly. "you sound just like me. your baby is safe with me, no worries."
she watches as seonghwa whispers something to hongjoong, immediately receiving head shakes and loud whimpers but nonetheless accepts being held by his grandmother. "I love you, my sweet lovie, I'm coming back super quick."
hongjoong simply watches the door with blurry vision from his tears...he didn't want seonghwa to leave but he'll be with his mother, so he doesn't cry too loud and accepts his chicken soup for dinner.
-
while out running quick errands, seonghwa waits in line with a small basket of items. he hasn't recieved any texts or calls from his mother about hongjoong, which surprisingly doesn't worry him as he knows he's safe with his mother.
as he waits to be ringed up by the next available cashier, he notices that the man in front of him is covered in tattoos; double-sleeved. seonghwa raises his eyebrows in amazement and lightly taps his shoulder.
"excuse me," he starts lightly "I really like your tattoos...I was thinking of getting one myself."
the man smiles and lifts his sleeve up a little bit higher. woah...why did his heart just flutter?
"thank you!" the man responded with a kind smile. "believe it or not, this one on my shoulder hurt the most!"
he begins to point to each tattoo and briefly explains what it means (skipping over some, maybe they have a deeper meaning that the man isn't willing to share with a stranger?) and how painful they were.
"say...what do you think about getting a tattoo here?" he points to his forearm for example "is it painful?"
the man shrugs his head "it just really depends on your pain tolerance...but I have heard that that's a good place to get your first one."
before he gets sucked into asking more questions, the next person in line is called. the man with tattoos bids him farewell and a good luck if he were to follow through with it.
'huh...guess I won't have to read that article' he thinks to himself.
the next person in line is called as seonghwa makes his way unpacking what's in his shopping basket. he plays with the chain of his necklace as he waits to pay. he has some free time the next few days, so he snuck some yarn in his basket hoping to find something new to knit.
and on the drive home he thinks of how his forearm would look if I were decorated with black ink.
--------
"you wanna get a WHAT!?"
seonghwa sighs for the millionth time, why doesn't no one listen to him the first time?
"a tattoo, min...I wanna get a tattoo."
"of what?"
"not really sure yet, but I keep seeing ads on social media and I keep running into people with tattoos...it has to be a sign sure enough?"
mingi ponders for a minute. while he likes to be laid back and carefree, he tries his best to explain that having a tattoo is a big responsibility and once it's on, the process of wishing to remove it is struggling.
"wow, mingi..." seonghwa starts, taken back so suddenly with the change of tone. "that was very wise of you to say that...a new era of yours perhaps?"
the taller shrugs "maybe changing over a new leaf? yunho was saying the same thing...but if you do end up getting the tattoo, can I tag along?"
"I'm not sure if I want to bring joong with me..."
"-no, I just wanna tag along for the car ride...the place where you get them done is far away and I never get to go on that side of town."
seonghwa smiles and ruffles his hair "you are just my big baby, huh?"
"I'm not a baby, I'm a big boy!"
the pout on his face says otherwise. "c'mon...let's go get joong."
"I thought he doesn't go to school on thursdays?"
the eldest grabs his jacket and passes mingi's to him as well "no, but he's staying at my parents and I know for a fact he's driving them crazy."
as the pair head towards seonghwa car, mingi suddenly pauses and gasps. "wait, hyung!"
"what what what!? what happened!? are you okay!? min, what's wrong?" seonghwa rounds the corner of the car, checking his face and arms for any possible injuries.
"can we get ice cream on the way home?" he flashes a puppy dog look at the eldest, his eyes practically sparkling.
seonghwa lets out a deep sigh as jokingly hits mingi on the arm. "jesus, mingi, you scared me...just get in the car!"
"...so does that mean no ice cream?"
--------
[ 1 week later ]
"hyung, just get in the car!"
"yeah, we're gonna be late for your appointment!"
"I'm trying!"
"mama comin'?"
"yeah, mama is coming, joongs. he's just feeling nervous..." san mutters, clearly loud enough for seonghwa to hear...and scoff loudly.
"I am not nervous!" his eyebrows furrowed. if hongjoong weren't near them, he'd be cursing a storm.
"then come on hhyyunngggg~" san's voice echoes loudly in his ear. hongjoong however notices the way that seonghwa seems apprehensive in getting in the car. he starts to feel a little tension growing between him and his hyungs.
silently he asks san to unbuckle his seatbelt and shuffles his feet over to where seonghwa is standing. his head lifts up and hongjoong whimpers when he sees tears forming in his eyes.
"mama s'are'?"
seonghwa shyly lifts his head up and slowly nods. the kitten wraps his arms around him trying his best to give him a good squeeze for comfort.
"mama ta'e hwahwa?"
"y-yeah...I'll hold onto hwahwa...thank you, my baby." he carefully holds onto hongjoong's plush cat and makes his way into the passenger seat.
hongjoong couldn't relax because he felt how nervous seonghwa was...but he's not sure why. he doesn't know where they're all going.
-
the minute they arrived at the tattoo parlor, seonghwa almost sobbed out of fear. mingi was trying his best to calm him down, while san was keeping hongjoong distracted.
immediately walking in, the workers were patient and gentle with him- it's always that way for first time tattoo appointments. they calm his nerves and explain that if he genuinely wants to cancel, he has the right to.
but even though he has tears hazing his eyes, seonghwa doesn't want to. he's been thinking about this for so long...and he's doing this for hongjoong.
"do you have your sketch ready?"
"I-I do..." seonghwa didn't realize how much his hands were shaking until he went digging in his pocket for a folded piece of paper and handed it to the artist.
she smiled as he accepted it unfolding it. "I-it's the date I rescued him...and under is the date I officially adopted him as my son."
mingi and san peer over to look at the folded paper in her hands. hongjoong stood closely next to his mama, wary of being in an unfamiliar place.
the woman smiles once again "alright, if you'll follow me we'll get you set up and I'll go further in detail about what'll happen."
she disappears behind a room with curtains on it instead of a door and seonghwa once again is frozen in place.
"I he'yp mama?" the younger asks, his cat ears twitch as tilts his head to the side.
mingi presses his lips together "I'm not sure you're allowed to go back there, joongs. why don't you stay here wi-"
"-no!" seonghwa interrupts, cringing at how loud his voice carried throughout the studio. "my baby is coming with me."
hongjoong holds his hand tighter, not sure if it's growing sweaty from his nerves or from seonghwa's nerves. however he grips tightly onto his hand to stop seonghwa from walking in the room.
"mama s'ay?"
"yes, baby, you're staying with me."
"minnie an' sannie?"
the elder looks up at the two mentioned hyungs- mingi bugging the receptionist about all kinds of tattoo questions and san nose deep in a magazine. he watches as the lady smiles somewhat patiently and gives mingi a lollipop to give herself a breather.
seonghwa smiles "they'll be okay here, buggie...now remember, mama is getting a tattoo which is kind of like a needle in my arm and it will hurt. if you feel scared or mad or anything, I want you to go to your hyungs, alright?"
"wan' s'ay wi' mama, p'ease." he clutches tightly onto his plush cat, already feeling tears begin to form.
seonghwa places a kiss on his forehead reassuringly "I know, baby, I know. but listen to mama, okay?"
hongjoong nods, although apprehensive. he feels his nerves growing from thinking about what hwa said. mama is getting a needle? its going to hurt?
realistically, he should have told hongjoong to stay with his hyungs. but he remembers the time where he had to get stitches and hongjoong wasn't in the room with him...how scared and anxious he felt not having his baby near him.
hongjoong hesitantly follows him into the room watching as seonghwa gets on the chair and the woman wipes his arm down. she seems to be whispering something to hwa to which he grabs joong's hand tightly.
he grows weary of this woman the minute the needle makes contact with seonghwa's skin. why is she hurting his mama? why is so loud? and why is mama crying!?
"no hur' m-mommy...p'ease no hur' mommy!" the younger's vision grow bleary from his tears. seonghwa looks over to his baby with tears in his eyes. "it's okay, joong, it doesn't hurt tha- ouch!"
joong now feels defensive over the way his mama is in pain. normally he would grip on seonghwa's arm and bring him closer to protect him...but that needle looks scary and is very. he has no other choice...
"minnie! sannie! mama hur'! mama hur'!" the younger's voice is wobbly as he runs out of the room with shaky feet.
seonghwa apologizes the minute he leaves, but it's hard to do so when you're kind of in the middle of getting a tattoo. she dismisses it with her free hand. "he's very protective of you, that's all."
suddenly the curtain gets shoved to the side. "HYUNG, ARE YOU HURT!? ARE YOU OKAY!?" ARE Y-"
"dude, stop." san enters the room holding a shaking kitten in his arms. he places his hand on mingi's shoulders to ground him. "let's not make a scene...hyung is fine. you know joong doesn't like seeing him in pain."
in that moment seonghwa thinks he should have asked them all to stay home instead of coming. he watches as san politely apologizes but not before grabbing mingi by the shirt collar out of the room.
"s-san...!" seonghwa's voice grows wobbly, not liking being alone as the mentioned hyung ushered everyone out of the room.
"do you want to take a small break?" the woman's voice is reassuring to him.
however he shakes his head "n-no...I just want my baby here...can i-"
"-yes, you can go get them."
seonghwa practically lunges out of the chair and into the waiting room, where he sees mingi distracted with a magazine and san trying his best to soothe a clearly upset kitten.
"m-mama...wan' be wi' m-mama..." hongjoong's voice is wobbly, using the sleeve of his hoodie to wipe at his tears.
"mama is almost do- oh hey! wait, are you finished?" san's voice makes the younger turn around. immediately he whimpers as he holds his arms up desperately.
"I kind of need you guys in there with me...and I'm sorry baby, mama can't lift you up right now." he pushes the hair away from his forehead and places a gentle kiss on it.
the trio make their way back into the room with seonghwa dragging his feet against the floor. he's gotta give this woman credit for not wanting to walk away during this whole process.
just as he sits, he immediately reaches his hand out for hongjoong to take. san stands near the kitten just for a precaution telling him not to look directly at the needle but to keep his focus on his mama.
"sannie...?"
"yes, joongiebug?"
"mama py'e'y"
"that's very sweet of you to say that mama is pretty." he ruffles his hair after the compliments. he watches as hongjoong wipes seonghwa's tears away and nuzzles into his hand for comfort.
he's feeling on high alert because his mama is crying, but sannie talked to him and explained that the needle hurts mama but mama is brave and is doing this because he loves him.
once returning back in the room, seonghwa tightly grips on his baby's hand with teary eyes. "mama hur'?"
"n-no, baby- ow, no no that hurts!- um...yeah this hurts mama- okay, please are we almost done!?- yeah, this hurts a lot..." seonghwa voices wobbles and before they know it, he's bawling his eyes out.
hongjoong's eyes widen in surprise, suddenly letting out a small hiss. he definitely does not like seeing his mama cry like this. he's asking to stop, but why isn't the lady listening?
she apologizes repeatedly claiming she's almost done but the minute hwa let's out a small yelp of pain, hongjoong bares his little 'teethies' at the woman.
"mama....mama I p'yo'yec' you!" but before he could pounce or jump into action, san grabs him as he's going to leap up.
"I'll just stay with him in the waiting room, min you stay with hyung."
mingi makes his way past the fussy kitten, watching as he lets out small sobs. "m-m...m-m..m-mama. I s'ay wi' mama, p'ease...'
seonghwa is too distracted by his distressed baby that he didn't even feel the pain of the needle. at this point, it felt like a dull pain. he embarrassingly wipes at his tears.
now it was hongjoong's turn to wail, he's trying his best to fight the grip in san's arms almost hissing at him. the elder figures to just let him stay here as they're almost done.
"alright...alright...he can stay. joong you'll stay with mommy, okay?"
as if on que, hongjoong wiggled out of san's grip and slid his way past mingi and held onto his mama for comfort. since they're almost finished, seonghwa allows for the kitten to sit on his lap.
"you have to be still, okay? the nice woman is almost done and then we'll go home." he explains, wiping at any stray tears on his cheeks.
the younger nods, leaning his head on his chest. he's still a little scared around needles so instead he closes his eyes. he can feel seonghwa's heart beat pretty fast. he leans up and places a little kiss on his jawline then nuzzles in his neck.
"annndddd....we're all done! let's get you wrapped up and we'll follow up on aftercare!"
--------
"mama still hur'?"
"no, lovie, it doesn't hurt anymore." seonghwa soothes his nerves "I just have to keep it wrapped so it doesn't get ruined."
hongjoong watches from the bathroom counter at the way seonghwa lightly wraps it in some plastic wrap. suddenly he gasps then holds out his arms to be placed down.
he waddles into their bedroomm- he left his hwahwa with his mama to keep him safe as he begins digging in his little backpack.
"joongie, what are you getting!?"
his question is answered by the sound of footsteps running back into the bathroom and proudly holds something in his hand.
"kee' mama booboo s'yafe!" he announces, holding up a kitten bandaid in his little hand.
seonghwa coos "oh my darling baby, you are so precious." he wraps his other arm around his baby, peppering his face with little kisses.
he watches as joong tries to open the band-aid, even when he hears little huffs of frustration. he looks up and whines but the elder shakes his head. "remember to use your words if you need help, but I want you to try on your own first."
hongjoong just blinks at him before struggling to open it again. "p'ease he'yp, mommy."
seonghwa smiles as he kisses his forehead once again, taking the band-aid from his hand. "we will practice more together another time..." the younger watches him rip it open with ease and take off the little plastic parts. "...you always tell me that hwahwa gets booboos a lot, huh?"
he hands the band-aid back to the kitten, easily impressed that he knew where to put it and to be careful of touching the sticky part of the band-aid. "uh huh, hwahwa 'aby...but I mama 'aby!"
seonghwa just smiles as he motions for him to sit on his lap. hongjoong simply keens at the comfort of being close with his mama. he's over the moon about him- how mama is so gentle and funny and pretty and loving.
he attacks his face with little baby kisses, rubbing his nose against his. "you are always mommy's baby...thank you for helping mama today."
the younger smiles, grazing his fingers against the plastic of where his arm is wrapped. "a'yot num'ers..."
the elder smiles "yeah it is a lot of numbers, but they are dates." he explains pointing to the first one. "this is when mommy found you and I brought you home." he points to the one under it "and this is the date of when mommy adopted you...when you found your forever home."
hongjoong's response was a shy kiss on the cheek as he nuzzles into his arms. he looks down at where the band-aid is placed. it's a pretty small one and it doesn't cover anything, but he knows since he put it on, mama's tattoo will be safe and protected.
just like he is.