Chapter Text
Jihoon and Soonyoung knew what velcro babies were before having their first. Hell, their friends who had kids earlier than them all arguably had velcro babies: Seungkwan would burst into hysterical tears if his head was moved more than a millimeter from Jeonghan’s shoulder during naptime, and Hansol would shed dramatic silent tears if Joshua didn’t stay in the room as he fell asleep. It brought a lot of disbelieving laughter, but also a lot of hair-pulling stress to the couple when they babysat for their friends.
How two tiny humans could have such visceral reactions before even having teeth, Jihoon and Soonyoung couldn’t understand. But both Jeonghan and Joshua always cautioned them: everyone else’s kids will seem like angels when you have yours.
Chan seemed hellbent on proving them right. If their friends had velcro babies, Jihoon and Soonyoung’s baby was superglued to them.
“Oh my god,” Soonyoung groans while collapsing onto the floor, “that’s gotta be a new record.”
Jihoon grumbles into his pillow, “Have you been keeping track?”
“Kinda,” Soonyoung says, turning to spoon Jihoon, who adjusts his arms ever-so-slightly such that Soonyoung can naturally embrace him. Jihoon slots the pillow under his arm, so Soonyoung isn’t wholly lying on the floor. “It’d be funny to bring this up when he’s, like, in high school.”
“We’d have to be alive until then, and with his sleep schedule I’m not sure I’ll be,” Jihoon mutters.
Their turn-taking system in dealing with Chan’s sudden-waking-up-meltdowns had quickly dissipated when, during their respective turns, they realised Chan would only consider stopping his crying if both of his parents came to his room and slept with him. Consequently, while one person would rock and bop him, the other would just kind of have to stay in Chan’s eyeline (even though he’s an infant who shouldn’t even have that great eyesight) until the baby peacefully fell back asleep…for at least a few hours, either until the day had to properly start or he woke himself up with another meltdown.
“We’re running out of wipes, by the way,” Soonyoung says against Jihoon’s neck.
“Mmh, I’ll get some later,” Jihoon replies– but it, frankly, goes unheard by both, as they fall swiftly into blissful unconsciousness.
-
“Mingyu-yah, chill out,” Jihoon says with a sigh, pacing in front of Chan (who happily gurgles at the sight of him), “I just wanted to check if you were free. Don’t go too hard on Hao.”
Mingyu lets out a little shriek, but Jihoon hangs up before he can whine more. It makes him feel old, knowing that he’s continuing Jeonghan and Jisoo’s legacy of getting his friend who he suspects to have a baby soon to try and babysit for him for experience. His gut feeling of a sudden baby announcement from Minghao is too strong.
(“You just know, after you have your own,” Jeonghan had said sagely when he told Jihoon his grand plan. Jihoon would have slapped him in the face if Seungkwan’s little hand hadn’t beaten him to it.)
Jihoon turns back to Chan, whose round cheeks are impossibly squished by the corners of his lips upturning into smile. He ruffles the baby’s head and says, “Well, little buddy, looks like you’re stuck going shopping with me.”
He shoots a quick text to Soonyoung (chan and i goin to the store. call me when ur done at work), before quickly cleaning up Chan’s high-chair and tossing his dish and spit-covered bib into the dishwasher. He throws on a jacket, and contemplates changing Chan into another outfit…but then Chan makes a little baby yell while stretching his arms up, suiting his tiger onesie far too well, and so in the onesie he stays. Jihoon can’t help but chuckle and squeeze his son’s cheek.
Jihoon picks Chan up, assessing that he probably doesn’t need a diaper change anytime soon, only for Chan to start whining and kicking. Jihoon blinks and holds Chan to his face, saying softly, “Hey, where’d your smile go, buddy?”
Chan giggles, showing off his bare gums, before squishing Jihoon’s face between his hands. Jihoon giggles back, trying to readjust him but immediately faces Chan’s refusal to face anywhere but him.
“Okay, that’s a problem,” Jihoon says to himself. He puts Chan back in his high-chair and texts Soonyoung again with his predicament.
우: chan wont let me go unless he can basically stick to my face
호: our little starfish⭐️
우: soonyoung
호: hm
호: oh! We might have that carrier thing
우: ?? tamtams old cage????
호: NO! The thing Jeonghannie-hyung got us
우: oh…the handsfree thing?
호: yeah…Cheol said it helped a lot with Kwannie
우: hmm
우: guess it wouldnt hurt 2 try
호: I’ll try and meet u at the store later! Gtg love you
-
And so, that’s how Jihoon finds himself getting their weekly groceries: with Chan strapped to his front, limbs dangling from the little holes in his carrier harness contraption thing. For what its worth, he looks thrilled to be seeing the world from the point of view of Jihoon’s chest.
Jihoon, for his part, hasn’t felt his ears cool down since they left the apartment. The store’s only a ten minute walk (and had felt nigh impossible when Jihoon was pregnant, so doing the walk with relative ease now was always a comforting sign), and with Chan’s decent weight pulling on his shoulders from the front it does feel like his years of shitty posture are being reversed. But oh god, it had felt like everyone decided to come out of their houses today and all see him with his son strapped to his chest. From the friendly halmeoni who had cooed and slipped a couple candies into Jihoon’s tote to some elementary school kids who yelled from afar tiger baby!, everyone seemed to suddenly appear and help keep Chan’s sunshiney mood up.
The baby in question was, otherwise, calm, even in the store. He’d stare bug-eyed at other shoppers and occasionally flail a little but his short limbs could only do so much to Jihoon.
More than anything, Jihoon thinks quietly as he walks slowly towards the hygiene products aisle, it’s just nice being so close to Chan; close enough to smell the hypoallergenic shampoo-and-conditioner that he and Soonyoung buy, a reminder of every bathtime and routine they go through with this little life they made.
A toddler – and a father laughing as he chases her – goes dashing past them (Chan squealing in delight as though he wants to run after her), and Jihoon wistfully thinks of the inevitable future where he and Soonyoung will be the ones chasing Chan as he runs towards adulthood. Jihoon’s fingers itch for a pen and paper to scrawl his thoughts into, to transpose his sharp anxiety and dread of Chan growing old onto their keyboard at home. For now, though, Chan just giggles and baby-babbles, so Jihoon shakes his head lightly before running his fingers against Chan’s scalp instead. He focuses on Chan’s soft hair and his weight pulling on Jihoon’s pectorals. It’s peaceful and calming, a cool wave that washes over him.
Jihoon’s phone buzzes as he nears the end of the aisle, with a message from Soonyoung: Just got 2 the store! Meet u at the wipes🐯
Jihoon smiles to himself, and when he peeks the curve of Chan’s round smiling cheek he can’t help but pinch it. He says gently, “Let’s go stick to your Papa.”
(The family of three leaves the store another hour later – not because they couldn’t find the wipes, but because Soonyoung spends half the time waiting for checkout holding Chan up to the security camera with the TV, laughing along with a squealing and squirming Chan. Jihoon can only smile fondly, the carrier now in his totebag.
If Chan was a superglue baby, Jihoon and Soonyoung would probably be superglue parents, too.)