Mae, 9 Months Old

The infant on Wooyoung’s lap giggled as he bounced her gently, bobbing her up and down as Nichkhun looked on fondly from the living room doorway. Nine months after they had adopted Mae, the two men had lived a surreal experience. Adjusting to the life of a parent with a young child had been hard on both of them, but it was definitely enjoyable and neither regretted it one bit.

“She seems to like this,” Wooyoung said from the couch, where he had propped his daughter up to show her a children's cartoon on the television. Pororo. An animated penguin wearing a pair of goggles. The younger of the fathers thought it was a bit ridiculous, but if his daughter liked it, he couldn’t really complain.

Nichkhun came further into the room, sitting next to his husband. He smiled at Mae.

“That’s good. At least she’s not crying now,” he chuckled. His voice was light and cheerful, but Wooyoung knew that there was a slightly serious undertone to his words. For the last few days, Mae had been quite an irritable child, and despite their efforts, they couldn’t get her to calm down for very long.

It had been a bit worrisome when not even the doctor could find anything wrong, but both men were relieved to find that they had finally quelled her tears.

Nichkhun leaned over and kissed Wooyoung’s cheek, happy now that his family were back to a good position - safe in the knowledge that no issues remained hidden. As he pulled back, Wooyoung turned his head, briefly capturing his lips, closing his eyes in bliss. He smiled into Nichkhun’s lips before pulling back, cheeks flushed a rosy colour.

Nichkhun leaned his head on his husband’s shoulder. From where his head lay, he could see Mae intently watching the colourful animation upon the screen, and his mood lightened even further when she giggled. It wasn’t quite the developed laugh of an older toddler, but a cute gurgle nonetheless, and it made both Wooyoung and Nichkhun fuss over her even more.

When the program ended, Wooyoung shifted so that he was now cradling his daughter, arms protectively wrapped around her. Nichkhun stared at the two of them in amazement, wondering how on earth he was lucky enough to end up with such a perfect family.

Mae surprised the pair of them then, when she looked directly at Wooyoung’s face above her, and smiled - the largest smile they had seen from her to date.

“Oh my gosh, Khunnie! Look!” Wooyoung gasped, angling the tiny baby in his arms so that the older man could better see her face, eyes half closed as she smiled sweetly. Wooyoung cooed at her, bouncing her in his arms gently again, and she let out another loud giggle.

“She loves you,” Nichkhun laughed, nudging Wooyoung’s shoulder lightly with his own, “She’s gonna be a true Papa’s girl, I think…”

“What? Nah, it’s a fluke,” Wooyoung chuckled back, face flushed - sheepish from the unexpected compliment.

However, at that particular moment, Mae’s petite face lost its smile, and scrunched up - almost as if she was concentrating hard on something. Both men, confused, leaned in to check there was nothing wrong and whilst they fussed over her, she let out a quiet noise.

“Pa…” It was one syllable, tentative and unsure, but both men could see where she was going with it. They both waited with baited breath, staring at their daughter, wanting to urge her on but not willing to put her off.

Slowly but surely, Mae’s large brown eyes met Wooyoung’s again, and they seemed to light up when he saw his face in her line of sight, so she tried again.

“Pa… pa-pa…” It was slow going, but they could see her putting two and two together as she finally realised that she could put a name to this man who took care of her. She broke into another cheery grin, and exclaimed, “Papa! Papa!” giggling all the while.

Nichkhun’s arm found its way around his husband’s shoulders as he laughed himself, “I told you, honey! I said it - I said she would be a papa’s girl!” He squeezed Wooyoung’s arm as he watched him cuddle his daughter tightly, placing a kiss to the top of her head.

The younger father sat the infant up to face her other parent, and Nichkhun looked at the pair of them, proudness flowing through him. Wooyoung made sure that Mae could see her father, and said, “That’s your daddy, Mae. Say hello to your daddy!”

Mae looked at Nichkhun, her eyes smiling like crescent moons, her chubby cheeks inflating as stretched into a childish grin. She spoke slowly, but clear enough for both of her fathers to hear.

“Da-da!”

“Oh, Wooyoungie! She said two words in one day, it’s fantastic,” Nichkhun sighed, contented with the progress that their baby girl had made that afternoon. He let Mae wrap her tiny hand around his finger, her grip barely strong enough to hold on, and her palm so small she could barely grab anything in the first place.

“Well done, pumpkin,” he shrugged his shoulders in a silly fashion, the same light hearted tone he used whenever he spoke to Mae. He always called her pumpkin. It had become somewhat of a nickname since Nichkhun had realised she was born near Halloween, and it’d stuck since Wooyoung thought it was cute.

Wooyoung rocked her slowly as she peeked around the room with her eyes, whilst her parents looked on fondly. Nichkhun grabbed the remote from where it lay on the chair, turned to Wooyoung with a mischievous look. He knew how much Wooyoung really didn’t like it but for the sake of their daughter…

“One more episode of Pororo?”