Chapter Text
Saturdays were Seungcheol’s favorite day. He didn’t have to worry about work, which meant he got to spend all day with his boys.
He and Jeonghan had split their house chores pretty evenly. On Sundays, Jeonghan would make breakfast and get the boys ready. However on Saturdays that was Seungcheol’s job. He always made them the same thing: french toast.
He got Hansol out of his crib before starting breakfast- he knew Jihoon and Wonwoo were most likely still asleep, but Hansol was up before Seungcheol half the time. He set up the toddler with a few toys on the floor so he could keep an eye on him while he cooked.
About halfway through cooking, Wonwoo came down and joined Hansol on the floor. It was absolutely adorable watching the two of them interact. Wonwoo would make silly faces and sounds, resulting in Hansol absolutely bursting out into a fit of giggles
Jihoon came downstairs just as he finished getting the boys’ plates ready. “Goodmorning, bug. Come sit, time for breakfast.” he said, watching all three boys scramble towards the table. Hansol was just aging out of his highchair, now ready to sit at the table with his brothers.
Seungcheol watched them eat as he cleaned up the kitchen, making sure to keep a close eye as he put everything away. Wonwoo and Jihoon both were eating just fine, yet Hansol still hadn’t taken a bite. Instead, he was just pushing his food around on his plate with his fingers.
Seungcheol frowned. That behavior was very unlike Hansol. Wonwoo and Jihoon were his picky eaters, but he was pretty sure Hansol would eat a rock if someone put it on a plate.
Before he could check if everything was alright, his question was answered by Hansol throwing up onto the floor next to his seat.
He immediately dropped the sponge he had been holding, going over to his toddler- or at least trying to. Before he could get too close, Jihoon had launched a slice of french toast towards his head.
Something this morning was definitely very, very strange.
However, Jihoon was still very skittish. He had never acted out before- in a way, it was kind of comforting to see his foster son was comfortable enough to act out. If he wasn’t in such a rush to help Hansol, he probably would’ve been able to figure out a good response. But for now, he decided to ignore the action in favor of helping his toddler.
In his haste, he missed the panicked look on Jihoon’s face. When the toast didn’t stop him, Jihoon sprung out of his chair and ran in the way of Seungcheol so fast the man almost tripped over him. “No! No stop!” he cried out, hugging Seungcheol’s legs to stop him from walking.
Seungcheol had no idea what exactly he was supposed to be stopping. He didn’t have the time to figure it out either- thinking fast, he reached out to grab Jihoon’s pacifier from where he had set it on the table. He held it up to the boy’s lips, hoping the item would calm him down. “Let me help your brother, bug. I’ll help you in a minute, I promise.” he said.
Hesitantly, Jihoon accepted the pacifier and stepped back. His eyes followed Seungcheol with a nervous expression, watching as the man picked up Hansol. “Oh, my poor baby” he cooed as he took Hansol into his arms. “Is your tummy upset, bud?”
Hansol nodded with a pout, letting out a small whine. Seungcheol pressed a kiss to his head before using one of his hands to feel Hansol’s forehead. “You poor thing, you’re burning up. How about we go see Appa so Daddy can clean this all up?” he suggested, to which Hansol nodded.
Seungcheol looked towards his two other sons, Jihoon noticably calmer than he was a moment ago. “Stay right where you are, boys. Daddy will be right back, don’t move” he instructed before taking Hansol to Jeonghan to be taken care of.
Once Hansol was settled with Jeonghan, Seungcheol came back to find both his sons had returned to happily eating breakfast like nothing happened. He quickly cleaned up the vomit from the floor, making sure to wash his hands well before turning his attention to Jihoon. “You okay, bug?” Jihoon only nodded, leaving Seungcheol confused. “Alright, let's just make sure our food stays on our plate. If you want to throw, we can go play outside.”
Jihoon didn’t even react to the second statement. Seungcheol wasn’t going to focus on it too much.
They ended up taking Hansol to the doctor later in the day, finding out that he had caught the flu. Poor thing seemed to get more and more miserable as the day went on. However, the sickness seemed to make his body tired because for once he was asleep in his crib on time.
Getting Jihoon and Wonwoo ready for bed was much easier when there was no Hansol running around, although he had to admit he missed hearing the giggles of his youngest as he put the boys into their pajamas and tucked them into their beds
Jihoon was getting much better at sleeping. He used to struggle actually falling asleep for quite some time. Once he was asleep, he was down for the count. Getting him to actually sleep in the bed was a different story. For a short while, he’d only fall asleep in Seungcheol’s lap and then have to be carried to bed. Now he was doing better on his own- although some nights he’d still ask for Seungcheol to sit with him until he fell asleep.
Tonight, he went out almost the moment his head hit the pillow. He must’ve played pretty hard with Wonwoo and tired himself out, or at least that’s what Seungcheol thought.
He didn’t learn he was wrong until about two in the morning. He wasn’t expecting to sleep through the whole night. With Hansol sick, he was bound to be woken up at some point. What he wasn’t expecting was to be woken up by noise coming from upstairs.
Jihoon’s room was directly above Seungcheol and Jeonghans, meaning they could always hear him walking around. It was how they first learned he wasn’t sleeping once they put him in bed and left the room. Seungcheol hoped him falling asleep so quickly didn’t mean he was ready to be awake before the sun was up.
He sighed as he pulled himself out of bed, careful not to wake Jeonghan as he left the room and headed upstairs. Opening the door to Jihoon’s room, he was met with the sight of a very distressed Jihoon.
He was shoving something under his bed, but the moment Seungcheol opened the door he froze like a deer in headlights. “Hoonie? What’re you doing, bug?” Seungcheol questioned, watching as Jihoon only shook his head.
They assumed his habit of saying no came from his birth parents. He often would say it in situations that didn’t make much sense- like in this one. They suspected his birth parents must’ve been telling him no to things without ever explaining why. To Jihoon, no was just a vague concept of something he felt negatively towards.
Jihoon scrambled to sit in front of whatever he was shoving under his bed as Seungcheol walked in, trying to hide it from his view. As Seungcheol kneeled down to Jihoon’s level, he noticed Jihoon was awfully sweaty despite the temperature being the same as always. There was something smudged on his shirt, and his eyes were becoming teary yet again.
Worst of all, he looked absolutely terrified .
“Bug, what’s wrong?” Seungcheol asked, unsurprised when Jihoon shook his head again. “Does your tummy hurt too, kiddo?” he questioned, however this time Jihoon didn’t shake his head. He didn’t respond at all, instead keeping his eyes focused down on the ground. Seungcheol knew he was getting somewhere, he just didn’t know exactly what Jihoon was waiting to hear. Jihoon had yet to be sick in Seungcheol’s care other than a slight cold here and there. He didn’t really know how Jihoon behaved when he wasn’t feeling well. “Can you show me what you got there?”
Then, Jihoon started to cry out of seemingly nowhere. “Oh, buggie don’t cry. It’s okay, love. You’re safe” he tried to comfort. He was starting to think maybe Jihoon had woken up from a nightmare- he was more prone to those when he overheated. The fact that he was wet with sweat made a nightmare seem like a reasonable conclusion. That, added with how scared he seemed and it made sense. “Where’s caterpillar, honey? That’ll make you feel better, won't it?” he said, peeking over to look on the bed for his son’s pacifier.
Jihoon only cried harder “Yucky!” was the only word he managed to utter, pointing behind him at what he was trying to hide.
Finally, Seungcheol managed to peek around Jihoon. Halfway stuffed under his bed was a shirt from his dirty laundry bin that seemed awfully…wet? Upon further inspection, Seungcheol realized exactly what it was.
Jihoon had thrown up, and had tried to use an old shirt to clean it up himself and hide it from Seungcheol. Already shoved under the bed was his pacifier, which must’ve still been in his mouth when it happened. “You’re tummy is hurting, huh?” was all he said, finally getting a nod from his son. “We’ll get it all cleaned up, bug. C’mere, let’s get you out of that shirt.” he said, reaching out in an attempt to take off Jihoon’s dirty shirt.
Yet before he could, Jihoon was flinching away. And suddenly his behavior was making sense. It had been a good few weeks without any flinching, they were making some serious progress with Jihoon. But this was a situation they had yet to encounter together. The last time Jihoon had thrown up, he was with his birth family. Judging by his current reaction, they didn’t handle the situation all too kindly.
Which reminded him of how Jihoon acted when Hansol had thrown up earlier. He disregarded it when Jihoon seemed fine just a few minutes later. But acting out by throwing his food- he was trying to distract Seungcheol. And when that didn’t work, he tried stopping Seungcheol from getting to Hansol himself.
Jihoon was protecting Hansol.
“Do you want to clean Caterpillar first?” he then suggested instead. He knew better than to try to force himself onto Jihoon, instead trying to redirect his attention until he felt comfortable. The boy nodded, still keeping his distance from Seungcheol. Seungcheol reached under the bed, pulling the pacifier out before standing up. “How about you come with me? We can get some water too, it’ll help you feel better”
Jihoon always seemed so hesitant when he decided to trust Seungcheol. But in a way, that was worth more to Seungcheol than if he just followed along. Jihoon had to really think about it, meaning he was choosing to trust Seungcheol. He was choosing to learn to trust. He wasn’t just doing it because he was scared of not listening.
Jihoon slowly trailed after Seungcheol as he walked downstairs. He took the pacifier to the sink, setting it down on the inside before looking down at Jihoon. Thankfully, Jihoon was looking at the floor instead of at Seungcheol.
This was good, because Seungcheol did not want Jihoon to figure out that they had been replacing his pacifier pretty regularly. The first time they tried replacing it, they gave him a different one and he absolutely lost it . There was no soothing him until he got his caterpillar back. Which led to Jeonghan frantically searching the internet to find the exact same pacifier and order as many as he could. They kept the extras by the sink, which made it easy to seem like they had just cleaned it and gave it right back.
Seungcheol was successfully able to make the switch to a new pacifier, handing the item to his son who immediately put it back into his mouth. His crying had now died down to more of a whimper, probably more due to the fact that he was sick than anything. “How about we get that shirt changed, hm?” he said, reaching his arms out to see if Jihoon would come to him.
Sure enough, Jihoon took a shy step forward and raised his arms. Seungcheol picked him right up and carried him back up the stairs. Jihoon rested his head on Seungcheol’s shoulder, clearly still tired.
He changed Jihoon’s shirt first, tucking the boy back into his bed before cleaning the mess on the floor. Thankfully, Jihoon had managed to lean over the side of his bed before throwing up, meaning Seungcheol wouldn't have to change any sheets or blankets. It was a pretty quick clean up, and Jihoon watched him like a hawk the whole time. His expression of fear slowly shifted into curiosity as he watched Seungcheol clean. By the time Seungcheol had finished, Jihoon didn’t seem so scared anymore. “All better, no more mess” Seungcheol said with a smile. Just barely, Jihoon smiled back behind his pacifier. “Do you want me to stay?” he then asked, feeling relieved when Jihoon nodded.
He kneeled next to Jihoon’s bed, carding his hand through the boy's hair until he had fallen back asleep. Once he was out, Seungcheol headed back downstairs to go back to sleep himself.
The moment his head hit the pillow, he heard crying from Hansol’s room and he was right back up.
It was going to be a long night.