Work Text:
This afternoon was quite the disaster.
A lot of things needed to be done before he heads to work and before his two husbands come back from their errands with the Trailblazer.
Of course, making dinner, cleaning the house and feeding Mimi was no problem.
But the only problems would be he's missing a few ingredients for the dish he'll make and his usual general uniform was left in the laundromat down town which wasn't exactly far but not exactly close either. The grocery store isn't far either but thinking back to all that he needs to do for this afternoon makes him question how he'll, prepare dinner and go buy ingredients at the same time.
All he really needs is a few spices, shrimp and for the sake of pleasing both his husband and son, octopus.
And then he'll have to get ready and off to work.
But right now, he was the only one at home with his son and lion so he couldn't exactly do any of those last task in the next few minutes.
Unless...
"Yanqing! " Jing Yuan walks over the living room where he's sure his son is watching his little cartoons on the TV, an idea forming in his mind, one that makes him think if it'll be a good idea or not but this could maybe add more knowledge to Yanqing.
"Yes Baba! "
His son yells back although he's already turning the corner to see his boy's focus being entirely and only on the TV, kicking his feet from where he layed on the floor.
He walks over towards his little boy, sitting beside him criss cross applesauce and ruffled his hair, emitting a puff of air from the smaller and quiet words telling him that he's to old for hair ruffles.
A chuckle escapes him and tilts his head, "Yanqing, I'd like to ask you of a favor to do for Baba. A little commission or errand, I want you to do. "
At his words little Yanqing averts his eyes from the TV to suddenly stumble up to his little feet and stood firm, ha, he forgets sometimes Yanqing simply loves to work or help around the house although he's not complaining truly.
"Considering I'll be going to work soon and your Dad and Papa aren't back home just yet, I can't exactly make today's dinner perfect without a few needed ingredients. Not only that, but my work uniform is in the laundromat. You know where the laundromat and grocery store is, don't you? "
At that, he received a quick nod from the smaller.
He smiled, "Great. If I send you out to grab my uniform at the laundromat and to buy the corresponding ingredients , will you succeed to obtain them and to bring them back to me?"
Another nod, although this one wasn't as confident as the last and more hesitant.
It was clear to him that Yanqing was starting to doubt himself but he won't let him feel that way unless he truly feels that he cannot do it.
With an expression which he hopes gives his son some reassurance, he gently pats him on the head, "If you feel as though this could be a difficult task, don't worry. I'll list the ingredients down and give you the correct amount of money to give or hand over, the cashier should give you the change. If you can't found the ingredients, you can always ask the employees to help you, m'okay? "
Yanqing gives another nod, although the little frown he holds doesn't waver as he looks down at his feet, seemingly looking like he might cry.
"What if I get lost and can't come back home to baba...? "
Ha, sometimes Jing Yuan forgets that even though his son denies needing any help or guide, he stays his easily emotional baby he has raised and he greets that side of him with open arms.
With a soft smile he cups his Yanqing's cheeks, swiping his thumb under his eyelids to remove those tears, "You'll always come back to Baba, you may not recognize the neighborhood but the neighborhood will recognize you and lead you back to me. I know you can do it, Xiao Bao." Yanqing let's out a small sniffle and mumbles an okay in such a weak voice, he wants to join him rather than stay here and prepare the other recipes he's got in the house but lately Ren has had this talk with him that they need to teach Yanqing to do a few things on his own and that if he struggles, to give him encouragement and a small push of hints and choices and to leave the rest to him.
And with another smile towards his son, the small boy stops his crying and nods towards his baba, "I'll—sniff—I'll get Baba's ingredients and work uniform—sniff–"
The male pats the side of Yanqing's face and carefully let's go of the boy as if he'll crumble.
Immediately, little Yanqing drags himself towards the main entrance where his Baba followed him close behind to give him his coat, scarf and hat, the golden boy putting his boots with great ease even as his Baba tucked the hat around his head.
Jing Yuan handed the small winter coat to his son and hastily made his way to the kitchen to write down the list of ingredients with what he can assume from his memory the price of these said ingredients. Grabbing as well a small satchel or a wallet in terms but a small satchel either way and putting at least a sufficient amount that could pay for all the ingredients, the laundromat for his uniform was already payed so Yanqing just needed to grab it and come back.
As the taller heads back to the main entrance where his son stands all ready and now more into it than upset, he slings the strap of the satchel across his son's abdomen. Yanqing adjusting his fluffy scarf away from his nose, it was tickling him.
"Okay, Baba, m'ready! " Yanqing says enthusiastically, holding onto the strap of the satchel as if it'll fly away from him any moment. Jing Yuan can't help the smile that widens on his face, truly, he feels as though he might get paralyzed with a smile forever if this continues.
He kneels down to his son's height, bringing up the paper that is written the ingredients and the price, "Hold onto this paper very tightly, okay? It's the list of ingredients, you need to buy, Ginger, garlic , pepper and finally since we want today's dinner to be maybe just a little special, a pack of shrimp and some squid , okay? "
Yanqing frowns a little bit, obviously retaining all of the info down in his brain as his Baba puts the paper of ingredients down in the small bag, reminding him that the paper exists if he forgets.
But his frown easily melts down into determination as he nods once again, taking his Baba's face in his small hands, "Baba waits for me, Im coming back to Baba really quick! " He lets go of his Baba's face and hurries to open the door.
The sound of his Baba chuckling didn't sway his determination as he unlocked the door and stepped out the household.
Little Yanqing walks until he's now standing out of their home. The little boy quickly glances behind him and sees his Baba already staring at him, nodding for him to go ahead.
Right! Yanqing can do it! He'll get Baba's ingredients, his uniform and go back to Baba so Papa and Dada can come back home to dinner! And they'll thank Yanqing and praise him for his work!
The little Yanqing turns his attention head on towards the road and makes his first destination towards the grocery store, it might be a long walk but if he speed walks he might be able to make it!
His little boots tapping every puddle that his on his way, he recognizes a few house considering their familiar neighbors, he knows Auntie Yukong and Cousin Tingynu live around further from their home but they're still close.
As he walks past a few houses, he greets a few old elders, asking him where he's going and wishing him luck on his journey after responding to them that he's running errands for his Baba.
"Ginger... Garlic... Pepper.... Squid... Shrimp...Ginger.... Garlic.... Pepper.... Squid.... Shrimp... " He mutters the words like a mantra for the sake of remembering what he needed, staring down at the pavement where his boots kept making small splash noises on the slim water puddle, he can't fail this errand!
As he repeated the ingredients, Yanqing looks straight ahead, noting he's made it to the end of the neighborhood, having gone past Auntie and cousins already. He needs to go left he remembers, he should found the grocery store in a few more itty bitty feets away.
He turned to the left.
Yanqing was nervous, he can do it! But it was scary without his Baba or Papa or Dada to hold his hand and show him all the cool things, what if he DID get lost? Or what if he forgets one ingredient? What if he accidentally takes something that wasn't supposed to be used or payed.
As he walks and thinks, he blinks rapidly upon entering a different zone with flowers and more cars and people walking around in this other side of their town.
The streets getting busier and busier as he walks down towards the path where the grocery store is, small anxiety gnawing at him.
He then suddenly stops.
Standing on the pavement in front of what he remembers being walking lines, the light is red, red just like his Papa's eyes although unlike them those lights are a sign to stop if he remembers correctly!
So with great patience, Yanqing takes the moment to count how many cars have passed, trying to remember how many red, blues greys and yellow have passed.
The green that passes by reminds me him a little bit of his Dada, with his very beautiful horns and tail, he imagine the car having those as well and makes a mental note to draw that later once he goes back home.
The lights that were green suddenly turn yellow, he remembers that yellow meant slow down! He watches a few cars slow down, few of them ignoring the lights and just driving away. "Silly car, you should've waited.. " He mutters under his breath, fixing his hat as he lightly bounced on his feet waiting for the light to turn green.
Once it did, makes sure to look left and right before lifting his hand high up in the sky as he scurried away forward to the other side. Dada taught him just incase if he wanted to know the cars to know he was there, to lift his hand up high like that they'll see his hand and let him pass!
A few other growns pass by him as he finally arrives on the other side, putting his hand down to grasp the strap of the satchel slowly deciding to run off towards the grocery store. And he can see it! With its lights opened and people entering and leaving.
His anxiety has quelled down and up has risen his confidence as he stopped in front the store for a moment to let a lady pass by him and then quick did he go in.
As soon as he's inside the grocery store, he walks over the rack full of shopping baskets and immediately grabs one with small difficulty considering the basket was quite big and his short arms couldn't exactly fit through its loopholes comfortable so he simply holds it to his front.
"Ingredients for Baba... Baba wanted...Baba wanted... Uh... "
Yanqing walks aimlessly around the store, thinking about the ingredients his Baba wanted. What did his Baba want in the store again?
As he asks himself that question he founds himself standing nervously by a corner of the store hanging around items that he can recognize as butter, milk and other stuff along. He forgot what his Baba wanted and no matter how much he wracks his brain about it, he doesn't remember much of the ingredients.
The little boy slowly walks around the store and makes a small jog towards the aisle full of what he recognizes being coffee and tea brands. He looks around for a bit, every item he sees feeling right yet wrong and he almost gives up his search, the want to cry slowly arising.
"Oh? Yanqing is that you? " Yanqing's heart skips a small beat before relaxing to see Auntie Yukong with a shopping cart, holding what's seems to be a can of corn, her cart filled with cereal boxes and other food.
She rolls her shopping cart a bit towards him before going around and kneeling down to his height, "Hii, Āyī! "
A smile appeared on his Auntie's face , "Hello, Yanqing, hm, are you grocery shopping?"
At that question, Yanqing nodded his head quickly, his brain suddenly telling him to check his satchel to pull out the paper of ingredients his Baba gave him!
﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏
︴ ︴
︴- Grocery store list! ︴
︴ ︴
︴• Garlic \ 7¥ or less ︴
︴ ︴
︴• Ginger \ 2¥ or less ︴
︴ ︴
︴• Pepper \ 8¥ ︴ ︴
︴• Shrimp \ 15¥ ︴
︴ ︴
︴• Squid \ 15¥ ︴
﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏
And that action he stares dumbfounded at the paper in his hands. He forgot Baba DID give him a paper with the list of ingredients! Silly Yanqing! And it seems Yukong figured out the reason the boy seemed to perplexed at his own paper and chuckled.
"I'll be taking a guess, your fathers sent you for some errands? " A slow nod was the only the response. "I see, well, how about I help you found them and we'll both be on our merry way, hm? " Another nod from the boy and Yukong stood up to grab her shopping cart, Yanqing following suit as he read with small difficulty the things he needed to buy and her in return brought him to said items.
It didn't take long before Yanqing's shopping basket was filled with the ingredients Baba needed and him and Auntie Yukong waiting patiently for their turn, feeling happy that he's got the ingredients, now he just needed to pay!
"Next in line! "
Immediately, Yanqing sped walked towards the counter and the cashier, kneeling down to grab the pepper, garlic and ginger to place by the cash register. The cashier being patient as they scanned the boys items with the same pace as he put them on the counter.
Placing both the frozen shrimp and squid on the counter the cashier scanned them both and looked at the amount Yanqing needed to give.
"48¥ please! If you found it difficult to count, I'll help you out, okay? " Yanqing nodded at the cashier, opening the small satchel to gather the coins in his hands, placing them on the counter for the Cashier to count the amount.
The cashier let out a small hum before grabbing four coins, inspecting the rest and grabbing another four coins. They slid the rest of the coins towards Yanqing to take back as they put the money in the register and gave the small boy the receipt.
The boy grabbed the receipt, "Thank you! " He gathered the rest of his coins, putting them all back in his satchel.
"I'll put your items in the back, okay? It's free for you just for today, little one! " The cashier exclaimed, smiling down at Yanqing as they did indeed put all the items in the bag. Yanqing letting out another 'Thank you' as he reached his out to be given the bag as soon as they're done. "There you go, have a good day , bye bye! "
"Bye bye! Bye bye Āyī! " He turns towards his Auntie, waving bye bye.
Yukong waves bye bye to Yanqing, "Bye bye, little one. Tell your father my regards. " With one more nod from Yanqing, the boy eagerly exited out of the grocery store.
Yanqing did it! He did it! Is all the words he hears in his little mind, he got the groceries! Baba is gonna be so happy! They'll eat dinner together and be happy!
He takes the same way back home, re-taking his steps, passing through the traffic lights, the familiar neighborhood he knows. Greeting a few people exiting their homes.
As he walks, he feels as though he's forgot something.
He's got all the ingredients here in the bag that Baba wanted. So why does it feel like something is missing? He doesn't pay too much mind into it and only hurried his way back home.
The moment he steps into the pavement of their home, he gets on his tippy toes and knocks on their front door, "Baba! Baba! Baba! " Immediately on his fourth knock, the door swings open and his Baba greets him with opens arms.
Jing Yuan kneels down to his boys height and looks at him up and down to make sure, he isn't injured or hurt anywhere, he knows his boy is quite clumsy whenever he hurries in his steps and it can result on a bruised knee or a numb spot on his body.
"Yanqing, you did it! You brought the ingredients, so I can finally finish making dinner for everyone now. " Jing Yuan ruffles Yanqing's hair, the boy letting out a small whine before giggling.
The small boy takes his Baba's face in his hands, "Baba, I did it! I did it! Oh! Baba, I also saw Āyī!! Āyī helped me found the ingredients! " Yanqing explained, feeling very proud of himself as let go of his Baba's face to show him the bag which he has set on the floor beforehand.
Meanwhile, the older male can't help but notice the lack of laundromat clothes but truly, he doesn't feel like reminding the boy that he's forgotten another task, he looks so happy to have just bought ingredients for his Baba.
With a chuckle escaping him he grabbed the bag of the ingredients he needed and urged Yanqing inside the house before closing the door.
"Is that so? I'll send my thanks to her later. Come on, let's get you into warmer clothes. "
A small okay from Yanqing and the boy takes off his coat, hat scarf and little boots, leaving his boots by the door by his Baba's shoes. As Jing Yuan walked over to the counter, he made a quick note to text something on his phone before going on ahead and start on making the rest of the dish, the rice already prepared and ready to be scooped into their plates.
"Baba, can I help? Can I? Can I? "
He could not refuse such an offer could he now?
With a smile, he grabs one of the smaller aprons laying about, "Sure, but, no touching the knives. Just clean and rinse the squid then I'll teach you how to fry the shrimp, okay? " Jing Yuan tied the small apron around Yanqing, focusing is attention back to the cooking at hand.
Yanqing with a quick, watch closely as his Baba gave him instructions on what to do before leaving him to his own work.
....
The sound of the door opening and closing makes Yanqing stop his constant swinging of his legs from his seat on the dinner table to listen to who returned home. It was either Papa or Dada, he bets it's Papa! He usually arrives faster, but sometimes Dada does too....
Jing Yuan placed seperate plates filled with food in the table, for Yanqing, Ren, Dan Heng and for himself. He walks over towards the main door, patting his son's head on his way for his great work, and was met with none other than—
Oh, both of his husbands have returned at the same time! He didn't expect both, but he's not complaining.
"Welcome home, you've returned just on time. " He gives Ren a peck and Dan Hang a peck as well.
Ren let out a small hum, "Work has been slow. "
"And as you asked me, I grabbed your uniform on the way, met him on the way and he tagged along. " Dan Heng handed the bag of Jing Yuan's uniform to him and took his shoes, replacing them for a pair of slippers as he made his way towards the kitchen.
"Dada! "
The sound of Dan Heng's grunt and sigh managed to be heard, obviously it seems Yanqing still hasn't learn to not be jumping towards people so suddenly.
And yet it never fails to make the general laugh, of course.
"C'mon, Baobei, I'm sure today's dinner should brighten your spirits. " His only response is another hum as Ren removes his shoes and makes his way towards the kitchen, seemingly preparing himself for an attack and rightfully so because as Jing Yuan walks back towards the kitchen, Yanqing is already jumping on his grumpy husband.
"Papa!! " A grunt escapes Ren and he simply let's the child stick onto him like glue as he walks over to the table and takes a seat.
Jing Yuan almost feels like skipping work today, to maybe enjoy a family afternoon altogether but oh well, work is work. "Yanqing, as fun as it is to see you so happy... Why don't we get seated and start eating and maybe , you could share your fun adventure today? "
As soon as those magic words leave his mouth, Yanqing gasps and quickly gets off to go sit on his seat, already having his hands together to thank the food so he can share his little adventure.
A snicker escapes his Baba and they're all sat down, saying their graces and thank you'd for the food, before diving in to eat. Yanqing being the first to grab a bite as he started explaining his adventure today! How he bravely crossed the street alone, entered the grocery store alone and bought the items alone! He was a big boy now, no more in need of his parents to coddle him!
"Wow, good job , Yanqing! Was it scary at first? " Dan Heng asks after swallowing a mouthful of the rice and shrimp.
The boy paused before slowly nodding his head, "I was a little bit scared, but baba helped me get over it so it wasn't really scary after all! " He exclaimed, taking another mouthful of his food.
Ren smiles at the boy and reaches over to ruffle his hair, earning him a small 'hey' from the younger one, "That's good.. " Despite those simple words, they managed to move Yanqing enough for him to look down at his food , trying his best to not show his bashfulness.
Yanqing is a growing boy now, he's old enough to do errands alone!
He'll never forget this day and he can't wait to make his father's proud once again whenever the opportunity comes for him to do errands for them!