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As far as birthdays go, Jaehyuk thinks this one is quite wonderful.
In fact, for a few good years now, every birthday has been better than the last, so much so that he has actually started liking them. Not in the way Yeona likes her birthdays, with all the childlike wonder and explosive energy of a five year-old, and not in the way he used to like his birthdays back when he was young either. Rather, he likes them in a quiet way, as a celebration not of himself but of the people he loves.
Although, truthfully, every day that he gets to wake up next to Yeon-oh, a warm hand resting on his chest or an arm curled around his waist, feels like a small celebration in and of itself. And every touch he indulges himself in, fingers lightly sweeping Yeon-oh’s hair out of his eyes and brushing against his cheeks, warm and rosy from sleep, or, when his chest feels especially tight with adoration - which is most days -, arms wrapping around Yeon-oh and pressing him to his chest, they all seem like a gift.
Today he wakes up to a sweet smile and eyes crinkling with something akin to amusement.
“Happy birthday, ahjussi!”
He laughs, a short thing, full of pretend offense and voice gruff with unshed sleep. And then, in the kind of quietude that only comes after years of sharing the same space and the same heart with another person, he lets his eyes say “thank you” and “I love you” instead and caresses Yeon-oh’s lower back, where his shirt had ridden up during the night. Yeon-oh watches him with the same attentiveness as always, except there is no trace left of the apprehensiveness and melancholy that he had carried in the past, there is only love. And as always, a tiny thing in Jaehyuk’s chest does a painful flip.
Under the weight of this unwavering and adoring attention, he shuffles closer and engulfs Yeon-oh in his arms, tucking him carefully under his chin, from where those golden and ever so familiar eyes can’t make his heart twist quite so dangerously.
“I wish we could spend the whole day like this.”
“Me too…” Yeon-oh sighs into the crook of his neck, his breath hot and tingly. Snuggling against him, he drops a soft peck on Jaehyuk’s collarbone, and another on his slightly stubbled jaw.
“We’ll stay just for a few more minutes,” he pleads, more as a reminder to himself that it can’t be longer than that than anything else.
But before he can start fighting with himself, soft knocking at the bedroom door gives him the push he needed to finally let go.
“Can’t believe she’s up so early, it’s like she thinks it’s her own birthday.” Yeon-oh quips, disentangling himself from him.
“You can come in, Yeona-yah.”
The girl barges inside in a flutter of unbridled and contagious happiness, sparing no time jumping on the bed between them. In the urgency of her excitement, she accidentally lands on Yeon-oh’s legs, startling both him and herself. On instinct, Jaehyuk reaches to check on her, silently chastising himself for still not having let go of the anxiety of new parenthood even now, even if for years now she has not been that baby who couldn’t even hold her own head. But both her and Yeon-oh burst out laughing, so he lets it go, the corners of his lips lifting up as well.
Before he can register what’s happening, she crosses the expanse of the bed in a few quick strides and throws herself towards him, her little arms flying around his neck, holding tight.
“It’s dad’s birthday! Happy birth! Happy birth!”
There is a drawing on Jaehyuk’s passenger seat and a prickle of sadness in his gut. Yeona sings along to the Christmas songs playing on the radio, swinging her feet - which are still too short to reach the car floor - back and forth like a pendulum and Jaehyuk wonders for the millionth time if he’s worthy of all the love she has for him, a love so big that it shouldn’t even fit in her tiny body. Most of the time, he thinks he isn’t.
Yeon-oh’s designated ringtone and his face filling the phone’s screen bring his spiraling train of thought to an abrupt end. He would never call himself sappy - although Yeon-oh would beg to differ, which he has done on multiple occasions - but he cannot deny that every time his mind wanders off on such dark paths, Yeon-oh is always there to shed some light for him, as if having special senses attuned solely to Jaehyuk’s moods.
“Oh, are you still on the road? I can hear the engine.”
“Yes, but we’re almost home.”
“Daddy, you have to see the gift I drew for dad today!” Yeona chips in, almost talking over him.
Yeon-oh’s unrestrained giggle fills every corner of the car. “I can’t wait, love. I’ll get home in a couple of minutes, just wanted to check where you were. Drive safely, love you both.”
The rest of the drive takes them no more than ten minutes. When they arrive, Jaehyuk picks up the piece of paper carefully and hands it to his daughter for safe keeping for the moment. It has become tradition for them, after he picks Yeona up from daycare, to spend a few minutes with the stray cat living in the bushes near their home, so he takes the food he prepared at her request and pushes forward through the snow, Yeona in tow. The cat used to go missing for days, and he had reckoned someone was taking pity on it and inviting her somewhere warm, but then for a while she had been here every day without fail. Except today.
He can’t help the disappointment that surges through him. He’s grown attached to the little creature, was maybe thinking of welcoming it to their family if Yeon-oh agreed to it. But maybe it has found another family, or maybe…
Nothing if not persistent, he begins calling for it, Yeona following his lead, but there is no sign of the brown ball of fur and the bitter December cold is making their limbs ache.
“Dad, there it is!”
At long last, the cat shoots out from the other side of the building, meowing hello and rubbing itself excitedly against their legs, tail curled into a little question mark, swinging gingerly every now and then. He puts the food down, conviction solidifying in his heart, and they bid it goodbye. For now.
Once inside their apartment, Jaehyuk crouches down in front of Yeona, reaching to get her out of the extra layers of winter clothes before she gets too hot and sweaty. He’s secretly glad that she’s past her little rebellious phase of wanting to do everything herself and rediscovering the joys of being pampered. He’s not sure who gets to enjoy this the most, her or him.
“Oh no, dad, your hand is so cold,” she pouts, big doe eyes staring at him with concern. For her nose and brows to be scrunched up like this over something so trivial, he pauses for an instant, touched to the marrow of his bones.
“It’s alright.”
“No,” she insists, taking his hand in her small, warm ones, fresh out from her mittens, and lifting it up to her lips. Puffing her cheeks with grave seriosity, she tries her best to blow hot air on it, the way she’s seen adults do when they’re shivering. But the attempt is only half successful, her father’s hand now covered in tiny droplets of spit and not much warmer than it had been before. On second try, greatly miscalculating the distance, she ends up giving the back of his hand a small kiss, but she seems pleased.
Jaehyuk gapes at her in awe, words eluding him entirely.
“Thank you, princess, now I feel much better,” he tells her, regaining his composure with great difficulty.
Just then, Yeon-oh emerges from Yeona’s room, a conspiratorial look on his face, and he greets them both with a kiss.
“How was your day? Did everything go well?”
“It was terrible,” Yeon-oh complains, giving him momentary palpitations. “I had to work while thinking about you the entire time,” he adds, jutting his lower lip out playfully. If he weren’t so enamored and so endeared by how similar his and Yeona’s expressions are, Jaehyuk would have scolded him for joking over such matters.
“Imagine how I felt, since it’s my birthday too.”
“I know, I have a gift for you too,” he says mysteriously, all the while gushing over Yeona’s drawing and fixing her pigtails, askew now after having taken off her hat.
“Do delivery people still work at this hour?”
As if on cue, the doorbell rings and Yeon-oh lets out a chuckle. “I’ll go get it.”
“Uncle Junjun!”
“Hello, my favorite human!” he sing-songs, making his way inside and lifting her up.
“Is my birthday gift… your brother?” Jaehyuk jokes, totally lost.
“Indeed I am,” Yeonjun announces proudly. Putting Yeona down and approaching him for a birthday hug, he whispers merrily, “I’m gifting you a child-free home for an entire night, am I not the best brother-in-law ever?”
Although prepared for the usual playful jab reserved for Yeonjun only, he reconsiders. “I don’t know about the best ever, but you’re not so bad.”
“I already packed her bag and if anything happens just call us.”
“Relax, it’s not like it’s the first time she’s staying with her favorite uncle. Right, Yeona?” he winks in her direction.
She lets out a cheerful sound of approval, while Jaehyuk cannot help himself muttering under his breath, but loud enough that Yeonjun can hear it, that he’s her only uncle anyway. The young man looks amused, sticking out his tongue mockingly just to annoy Jaehyuk further. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Yeon-oh grinning knowingly, more than accustomed to their bickering and more than aware that they actually care about one another even if they don’t outwardly say it.
And Jaehyuk knows that it’s true. He loves having a younger brother to both tease and dote on mercilessly, and he loves the way that, in his innocence, Yeonjun has never felt self-conscious with him and has given him the same energy in return. So before they leave, he pats him on the back and offers a sincere thanks, then hugs and kisses his daughter goodbye until she begs for him to let her go because it tickles too much.
After sending them off at the door, Yeon-oh finally puts his entire attention on him. But instead of sitting down on the couch next to Jaehyuk, he comes to stand in front of him, cupping his face and bowing down to finally kiss him properly. He licks his bottom lip and gently bites down on it, the way he knows he likes it. Eager for more, Jaehyuk angles himself up as much as he can, chasing his mouth with the thirst of a man deprived of water for days. Yeon-oh indulges him, as much as himself, and kisses him deeply and slowly, mapping every corner of his mouth with much thoroughness. He thinks he could live off only Yeon-oh’s kisses forever if he had to.
After a while, he feels the way Yeon-oh is beginning to smile into the kiss, so he breaks apart for a second just to see it. It just so happens that he loves his smile just as much as his kisses.
“I just wanted to see you smile,” he replies to Yeon-oh’s unspoken question.
Yeon-oh pfft’s, greatly bemused, the tips of his nose and ears turning a pretty shade of pink. Moving a hand to sift through Jaehyuk’s dark hair, the tips of his fingers drawing small circles on his scalp, Yeon-oh drags him forward for a hug. So Jaehyuk wraps his arms around his waist, tugging him towards himself, because close is never close enough when it comes to Yeon-oh. He buries his face in Yeon-oh’s sweater, kisses his tummy through the soft fabric and sighs a content sigh.
As far as birthdays go, Jaehyuk thinks this one is quite wonderful indeed.