Work Text:
“appapa, appapapa.”
heeseung looks up from his tablet, his smile growing by the second when he finds his little haneul slowly and shakily standing on his feet, his little hands gripping the rubberized edge of their coffee table as he pulls himself up. his son mirrors his smile, and all heeseung can see is his husband’s crescent eyes as the toddler smiles.
“hey, buddy,” heeseung sets his pen and tablet aside as he crouches, elbows resting on his knees as he patiently waits for the toddler to take a small, shaky but determined step before the alpha stretches his arms towards his son. “wanna go to appa, hm?”
the toddler giggles in response, and heeseung smiles and watches as the toddler’s smile fades, turning into a more focused and concentrated expression, his little eyebrows furrowed, and mouth forming a small pout. he takes another step, then another, and when little haneul looks up, he grins widely and takes several quick steps until he falls in heeseung’s waiting arms, the alpha immediately swinging the toddler up to his lap.
“good job, buddy!” heeseung presses a kiss on haneul’s cheek as the toddler squeals and laughs. “you’re so good at walking now! so, so good!”
the toddler preens at his appa’s praise, little face tucking in his father’s neck before giggling softly by himself as he looks back up to look at heeseung’s face. heeseung couldn’t help but press another kiss on the toddler’s cheek, then forehead, before letting the toddler sit on his lap.
“are you done playing? do you wanna watch appa draw?” heeseung asks, and the toddler babbles in response. his words are still gibberish, but heeseung is sure he can make out the words playing, appa and draw from the toddler’s mouth. haneul rests his head back to rest on heeseung’s chest, eyes now fixated on the tablet in heeseung’s hand.
the toddler reaches for heeseung’s pen, and heeseung allows the toddler to grasp it lightly, though he keeps his guard up to grasp the pen more firmly in case haneul would yank it out of his hold (as he had done several times, costing both him and sunghoon several drawing pens). the toddler coos before letting go of the pen as he looks up at his father. heeseung smiles as he looks down to press a light kiss on the toddler’s forehead.
“appa’s gonna draw for work now, okay?” heeseung says, fingers tapping on his tablet to resume a drawing he’d been working on while he was watching haneul play on his playmat.
“mmm, papapapa.” haneul babbles, the toddler turning his head side to side, as if his papa is anywhere to be seen in their living room.
“papa’s just in a quick client meeting, buddy,” heeseung tells the toddler gently as he begins to draw. “then him and uncle wonie will just have a quick date, just the two of them, before he comes home.”
“nonie nonie?” haneul asks, referring to his nickname to jungwon. heeseung hums and chuckles before pressing a kiss on the toddler’s head.
“mhm, uncle nonie. him and uncle songie are gonna have a baby soon too,” heeseung says with a smile. “you’re gonna have a playmate very soon, buddy!”
haneul giggles and squeals at his father’s excited tone. it was no secret that both sunghoon and heeseung are excited for the arrival of their friends’ first child. haneul’s birth had prompted the two friends to begin trying for their own little one, and just shortly after haneul’s first birthday four months ago, jungwon, excited but also terrified out of his wits, had confided to sunghoon that the younger was six weeks pregnant with his and jongseong’s first child.
the younger had been terrified, according to sunghoon, mostly because of how sunghoon’s first pregnancy had gone based on his stories. sunghoon had been quick to assure jungwon that his case had been different before. his life then had been stressful, and he had no means of a partner or anyone to properly care for him or help him in his case, but assured jungwon that he had a smooth, albeit delicate, pregnancy with haneul, attributing the smoothness of the process to heeseung’s tender care.
it took another three weeks before heeseung heard the news from jongseong, whom jungwon had told to two weeks after confiding with sunghoon. the alpha had been excited, but was also very eager to learn, thus asking heeseung all kinds of things about fatherhood based on his experience with haneul.
“it’s not gonna be easy, i’m telling you that,” heeseung had told his friend with a chuckle, all while trying to calm a fussy haneul in his arms, the toddler too sleepy and cranky as he cried for his appa’s comfort. “but he’s literally the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
“even better than sunghoon?” jongseong had attempted to joke, but heeseung gave his friend a smile.
“even better than sunghoon,” heeseung responded softly with a smile. “he’ll agree with me anyways.”
and sunghoon did, even telling heeseung he’s not afraid to divorce him if he wouldn’t put haneul over him. and while it killed heeseung to even think of a scenario where he had to choose between his husband and his son, he merely agreed out of obligation, and to avoid any future arguments.
heeseung hums while he draws, and while haneul would occasionally babble here and there, with heeseung responding and talking to him the best that he can, the toddler ultimately falls asleep. as soon as heeseung notices, the alpha pauses in his drawing and puts the tablet aside.
“guess watching me draw is a little boring, hm, buddy?” heeseung chuckles softly. he slowly turns haneul in his arms to allow the toddler to rest his head properly on heeseung’s chest. “you never fall asleep on papa when you watch him work. ‘s a little unfair, bud.”
he smiles when his son merely snores in response. it’s no secret to heeseung, after all, that haneul is a papa’s boy. even when he was a baby, haneul always slept better in sunghoon’s arms, and would always cry for his papa more than his appa. haneul also preferred it if sunghoon would sing him to sleep more than heeseung, and haneul would talk and babble a lot more to sunghoon when the omega would take the toddler with him while he works. sunghoon reasoned that it was because haneul had been used to sunghoon’s presence around him more than heeseung, who had to work onsite most days after his paternity leave. it didn’t mean, however, that haneul disliked being with his appa. he’s rather more active and playful with his appa, and would seek his papa’s comfort instead.
sunghoon told heeseung perhaps it was just how biology works—omega parents primarily provide the comfort, while the alpha parents provide the fun. heeseung told sunghoon that perhaps haneul would grow to present as an omega, as he’d always been closer and more attuned to sunghoon.
“if he turns out to be an omega, i’m afraid i’m gonna be one of those typical strict alpha dads,” heeseung told sunghoon once with a pout, earning a snort and laugh from sunghoon. “he’s not allowed to be with anyone until he’s 30.”
“we’re not exactly the right people to preach about that, babe,” sunghoon told him. “we literally got together right after i presented and had two babies all before we were even in our late twenties.”
“doesn’t mean he’s supposed to do what we did.” heeseung reasoned petulantly, with sunghoon merely sighing as he shook his head fondly while looking at the baby in his arms, peacefully sleeping after being fed and burped not too long ago.
“whatever am i gonna do with your appa, my love?”
“hey!”
heeseung rises from the couch, careful not to jostle the toddler, and walks to the crib by the television, mostly there for haneul’s afternoon naps like this one. he presses a light kiss on the toddler’s forehead before carefully lowering him down on the crib. haneul whimpers, and heeseung merely pumps his calming cedar scent to soothe the toddler back to his nap. with one final look, heeseung goes back to the couch to pick up where he left off from his sketch.
his phone starts vibrating a good hour or two in his sketch. he’s nearly done, and he marvels at his work before picking up his phone to find his husband calling.
“hi, love.” heeseung greets, tucking the phone between his ear and shoulder as he turns his tablet off. he stands from the couch to check on haneul, who’s still fast asleep in his crib.
“hi,” sunghoon giggles. “just wanted to check on you guys. i just dropped jungwon at their apartment. i’m taking the train back home.”
“we’re doing good. little man’s down for the count,” heeseung chuckles. “how was the meeting? how’s jungwonie doing?”
“both good. i’ll tell you all about it when i get home,” sunghoon responds. “are you craving for anything? i’m thinking of what to buy for dinner tonight.”
“we can always order in. no need to think about it now, it’s still early,” heeseung says as he checks the clock in their living room: 4:18pm. “or you can buy some of those gummy snacks haneul loves? he’s been a good boy today.”
“babe, you always say that about him.”
“it’s true, though!” heeseung retorts with a laugh, earning a chuckle from sunghoon. “he fell asleep watching me draw. but he never created trouble when he was playing. he was even able to stand on his own and take a few steps on his own too!”
“oh i miss him so much, heeseung,” sunghoon coos and sighs. “‘s why i wanted to go home. all that baby talk with jungwon only made me miss my own baby.”
“and what about your original baby?”
“you mean my big baby?”
“love,” heeseung whines, but nonetheless smiles at sunghoon’s laugh. “he misses you too, and so do i. come home safe, okay?”
“i miss you guys too, even though i was only gone for a couple of hours,” sunghoon says. “be home in half an hour tops. i love you.”
“i love you more. i’ll see you, hoon.”
heeseung puts his phone down just as sunghoon hangs up, and it’s just in time when he hears a soft whine from the crib. he smiles and stands over the crib to watch haneul slowly waking up, eyes blinking blearily before focusing his eyes on heeseung. the toddler whimpers, arms reaching out for heeseung as the alpha leans down to pick him up, pressing a kiss on the side of his head as he rests haneul on his hip.
“must’ve heard papa’s voice, hm?” heeseung chuckles softly as the toddler rubs his face in his father’s scent gland. heeseung proceeds to scent his son, taking his time as he rubs his nose on the crown of his son’s head. he hears the toddler hum in satisfaction, and he feels his own alpha rumbling in pride at being able to provide his son a sense of comfort through his scent.
“papa?” haneul looks up to ask heeseung. the alpha presses a kiss on the toddler’s forehead.
“papa’s gonna be home in a bit,” heeseung answers with a nod. “you miss papa? i missed papa very much today.”
“miss papa much.” haneul parrots with a nod, and heeseung chuckles at how adorable his son is. he watches the toddler look around the living room, eyes growing more active at every moment, and heeseung knows his son well enough to know that his pup is actively looking for something to do or to play with to pass time.
“do you wanna play with some toys, haneulie?” heeseung asks, and haneul looks up at his father with a bright expression, his eyes wide and smile equally as wide and happy. heeseung laughs and presses another kiss on his forehead. “you like that, huh? appa will play some toys with you.”
it’s how sunghoon finds them when he gets back home, carrying in his hand a plastic bag filled with haneul’s favorite snacks, alongside two pints of ice cream, one of each for him and heeseung. he smiles softly at the sight, of heeseung gently encouraging haneul, whose face is scrunched in concentration as he tries to match the shapes into the correct slots. he feels his chest warm when haneul begins to laugh as heeseung praises him for slotting in the triangle into the correct slot, with the alpha picking the toddler up to pepper kisses on his face.
sunghoon had always known heeseung would be a good father. he had been nothing but patient, loving and gentle to haneul, had never once raised a hand nor his voice on their son, and would always make sure to tell haneul he loves him even if sunghoon is sure the toddler barely understands him at all. knowing heeseung is a good father is one thing, but seeing how loving he is towards their son is a whole another level.
the omega swallows down his throat as he smiles at the sight, the ultrasound photos of their new five-week-old baby, along with a new shirt for haneul with the words “best big brother ever!” weighing heavily in his bag.