Note: Ky(ungso)o + J(ong)in = Kyo Jin LMAO

Chapter text

Kyungsoo never believed in what people called 'Karma', especially when his unfortunately best friend Baekhyun used that term after doing ty things just to make excuses for himself from being castrated. Good things will come to good people, Baekhyun said. Bad things will come to people who don't know how to forgive, Baekhyun repeatedly said.

So what about bad things come to bad people who don''t know when to stop screwing others' life up, Kyungsoo mumbled to himself as he struggled to fish his key chain from his pocket with a three-year-old boy sleeping on his right hip and a dozens of grocery bags in his left hand. He knew, he knew that he did not need to buy that much, but being a single dad with two part-time jobs and a little free time to go grocery and a best friend who unwelcomely dropped by Kyungsoo's at any ungodly hour and that best friend being a glutton despite his small stature forced him to stock up his supplies. Kyungsoo wondered why he still befriended with that little piece of and fed him albeit his tight budget.

Kyungsoo suppressed a loud moan when he found out that the door was unlocked (after plunging the key into the lock, it) and kicked the door open, carefully—because he could not afford to break the door that was already rotten and make his little ball of sunshine in his arms awake—to get into his house. If you were wondering why Kyungsoo had left the house without locking the door, he would inform you that he had not, but he knew for sure what—or rather who—was the cause of it.

"If you're planning to live under my ducking roof, can you at least help me to carry the ducking groceries, you ducker?" Kyungsoo hissed as he threw those said groceries onto the figure sleeping on his couch.

"Calm the down, Satan," Baekhyun groaned as he rubbed his hand over his over-eye-lined eyes and gathered the grocery bags with his free one. "And you don't have to replace with duck, Kyo Jin is sleeping anyways."

"Shut up," Kyungsoo hissed quietly, rocking back and forth as he sensed his Jinni stir and babble frettingly in his fitful sleep. "Just get your fart box out of my couch and put the groceries onto the kitchen counter."

Baekhyun cursed something under his breath that Kyungsoo could not quite catch, but it sounded like 'a constipated dickhead', and dragged himself with the grocery bags into the kitchen. If anything, ones should know to never argue with Kyungsoo when he was giving that glare of Satan.

Kyungsoo gently laid Kyo Jin down onto the baby boucer next to the couch and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead before striding towards the kitchen. Baekhyun had already made himself a small feast, Kyungsoo noted bitterly, given by cans of tuna and beef and slides of bread lying haphazardly over the dining table top.

Kyungsoo huffed and made his way to put things into cupboards and his small fridge orderly. Diapers and toys had to wait though, since Kyungsoo was out of energy right now. Kyo Jin could walk already, or rather, stumble along the way if needed to, but he had literally dozed off against Kyungsoo's leg as his father had waited for the ground meat. And who was Kyungsoo to say no to his son, so he had had to do the shopping with a sleeping baby in his arms. Luckily, there had been many women offering help for him in the supermarket. A young single dad and his baby were just an adorable sight to be hold after all.

"Why are you here anyway? Aren't you supposed to be ing right now?" Kyungsoo plopped onto the chair next to his friend, picking up a slide of bread and chomping on it.

"Chanyeol practically ran off to the bathroom when I barely touched his waistband," Baekhyun frowned, "that dickless giant. Or that his size is funny despite being that tall that—"

Kyungsoo had tuned out his best friend right after asking the question, contemplating about his own problems. Yifan, his weird cool-wanna-be boss at the bakery shop (but still kind enough to allow Kyungsoo to bring his child to work), was considering promoting him from a morning-shifted cashier to a full-time cashier. But that meant Kyungsoo would have to work for longer hour, and his freelance work as a novel translation would have to wait until late hour when he got home. And that also meant he would have less time for his Kyo Jin and he did not really fancy the prospect of bringing his son to the shop for a whole long day; half a day was bothersome enough.

Say Kyungsoo stubborn, but he would not send his son to kindergarten until he reached four. Kyo Jin was three but so small as a two-year-old and didn't have good health as other fellows—another thing of growing up without a proper mother's care. Kyungsoo had been always trying to make up for it though. He had already posted a babysitting job on a local newspaper with a low wage with the hope that some broke college student would consider the job, and turned down many candidates just simply because they all wanted a higher salary.

All of the sudden, a strange cooing sound pulled him out of his reverie, his head snapping up from the bread to gauge at his friend. A questioning look on Baekhyun's face showed him that he was not the source of that voice either.

Without a second to think, both of them darted through the hallway to get to the living room.

"Wha—? What the ?" Kyungsoo shouted as he ran towards where his son was lying and beckoned for Baekhyun to get something, anything, to defend themselves. He hoped beyond hope that they had that kind of telepathy at this point.

"Get your ing hands off him," he shouted again, not bothering to avoid curse words this time around, as he lunged his body forwards to shove the stranger away. The stranger, who had formerly been poking at Kyo Jin's cheek, was falling back onto his with an unmanly yelp. Kyungsoo hurrily scooped his son up and gathered him into his arms. Kyo Jin whimpered as he blinked his eyes open, lower lip quivering when he choked out a sob. "Who the are you? How did you get in here? I'll call the police—"

Kyo Jin jolted at the commotion and that everyone kept yelling and started to cry as Kyungsoo took several steps back away from the stranger. This is a mess, Kyungsoo groaned innerly. Baekhyun had come back with a ladle—and what the hell they would do with a ladle to a stranger that was that tall and intimidating and almost —what? ?

"A ing ladle—?"

"Where the hell are you keeping your knives?" Baekhyun snapped in unision with Kyungsoo. Well, that explained something. One should not put knives in children's reach after all.

"Police? Oh you should call them," the stranger piped in, rising to his feet as rubbing at his sore . "I've just been robbed in that dark alley next to your house, and what century we are in that they had to even strip off my clothes. I mean I didn't have fancy clothes like Louis Vuitton or Gucci or anything, I just bought mine on that Black Friday last week, they even discounted up to 90% do you know? Luckily they still had decency to leave me with my brief and—"

"Is there any alyssum near here?" Baekhyun whispered after sauntering up to Kyungsoo as the stranger still kept reporting his case. "Because I think we've got one escaper here."

Kyungsoo hissed and handed a crying baby to his friend and yanked a ladle from his grip. Anything would do for now, he decided as he growled and trotted forwards until he reached the stranger with yellow brief.

"Ouch," the stranger jumped as Kyungsoo smacked his bicep with the ladle and began to bodily shove him towards the front door which was still unlocked. Damn it, Kyungsoo cursed internally, why he always picked up bad habits from Baekhyun. "What are you doing?"

"What am I doing? You broke into my house," Kyungsoo gritted through his teeth. He even did not know why he bothered answer the question in the first place. "Now get out you er."

"Wait, stop," the stranger panted, using his forearm to push against the door after being shoved out of the door line. "I'm here for the job interview. The babysitter one."

That stopped Kyungsoo from pushing the door close. "Wha—?"

"I read your post on the local newspaper," the stranger hastily explained, peeking his face through the small gap between the door and its frame to look at Kyungsoo, a plea in his eyes. "And your door was open and the lights were on. I know I shouldn't have come in without being invited, that I'm sorry, but you have no doorbell and I knocked thrice and no one came out and—"

"Could you stop talking?" Kyungsoo shouted, cutting the stranger off his rant. It took just five minutes for him to know this stranger had a really bad habit of rambling.

The boy outside the door embarrassedly clamped his palm onto his mouth to stop his talking. Kyungsoo took advantage of this distraction to push the door shut with another unmanly squeal from the stranger.

"Are you sure you're not a juvenile delinquent?" Kyungsoo asked through the door.

"I swear I'm not," the stranger whined. To be honest, any juvenile delinquent would swear that, Kyungsoo's rational part informed him helpfully. "And please let me in, it's really cold out here."

Kyungsoo needed to think. He was considering just shooing the stranger away because it was already late and Kyo Jin's bed time, and a headache was already forming in his throbbing head. But the weather was cold indeed and the stranger was save for his yellow brief and he even did not have shoes on and bare feet on a snowy night was not good for health after all.

And not that it was totally the stranger's fault anyway. The door was open and someone just barging into his house had become a daily thing, really. Kyungsoo had learnt to accept uninvited guests after being friends with Baekhyun and Chanyeol, who had somehow managed to stole his spare key, goddamnit. And not that a theft could benefit anything in his house though, since there was nothing worth being stolen. Kyungsoo was not rich by any mean, the only thing that mattered to him was Kyo Jin, and the boy practically by his side all the time so no much should be worried.

And wasn't he just being really biased in the stranger here, just because he had a nice and warm voice?

With a long suffering sigh, Kyungsoo creaked the door open an inch to peep out.

"Thanks, for opening the door again," the stranger said gratefully as he wrapped his arms around himself. They stood on the threshold in stiff silence. Kyungsoo, with the ladle still in his grip and ready to attack at any needed moment, scrutinized the boy in front of him. Despite being taller, the stranger was undoubtedly younger than him, given by his greenish look on his face and the way he stared nervously down at his bare feet and fidgeting toes.

"So can I come in?" The stranger murmured as he looked up at Kyungsoo through his eyelashes. The orange light seeping through the door beamed onto his tanned complexion, making him look more golden and beautif—what? Kyungsoo slapped himself mentally for having that thought and stepped aside to let the boy in.

They silently strode into the living room and found Kyo Jin already sleeping in Baekhyun's arms, who was eating again as if nothing had happened and turned his head from the marshmallow bag to look up at them with a raised eyebrow.

Kyungsoo wordlessly took a seat next to Baekhyun on the couch and watched the stranger sit down on the pink bean bag chair on the other side of the coffee table, the one Baekhyun had prodigally ordered on Ebay last month. It dipped under the boy's weight, making him lose balance and almost stumble backwards with an oof sound.

"So you must be Do Kyungsoo? I'm Jongin by the way," the stranger—Jongin—introduced bashfully after managing to find a comfortable position on the fluffy chair. At Kyungsoo's frown and Baekhyun's narrowed eyes, he gulped and continued, perhaps not sure why an interview he had prepared for so carefully had become this awkward interrogation. "Uhm, so I'm eighteen years old and I'm looking for a job because, uhm, you know—I need money to afford a living and hopefully college too."

Kyungsoo crossed his arms, the ladle still in one hand, and cleared his throat. "You said you had been robbed, so is there anyway we can get your identity papers? Just to make sure you're not fooling us."

"Oh," Jongin's mouth formed a small round shape at that, and he abruptly stood up and Kyungsoo immediately flung his hand with the ladle towards him in defense in case this dude wanted to do some stupid . Jongin startled a little at his action but he just waved Kyungsoo's hand off as he bended down to pick up something next to the baby boucer.

"I have my résumé here. Robbers don't really care about the information of their victims anyway." Jongin made himself sit down on the gaudy chair again and handed Kyungsoo the résumé. "So I guess this is your son?"

Kyungsoo nodded wordlessly as he skimmed through the papers. Kim Jongin, 14-01-1994. As he looked through, he noticed that the papers were ones of an orphan. Jongin seemed to read his thought, though, since he started again before Kyungsoo could ask more about his address and ways of contact. "So I've come of age so I need to find my own job outside the orphanage to earn a living. And I was really good with kids when I was still living there, so I think I can take care of one." He was smiling now and looking gently at Kyo Jin. Kyungsoo had never seen that much sparkles in one's eyes.

"You should hire him," Baekhyun spoke up the first time after a long moment, which was odd.

"Why? I haven't even considered." Kyungsoo asked without a second thought, not missing the hurt look in Jongin's eyes.

"Because he's hot," Baekhyun smirked and damn it, how much Kyunsoo hated that smirk because it only meant bad intentions behind it. This is not good.

"Please just shut up," Kyungsoo ran a hand over his face with an extravagant sigh.

"Oh come on, he's like super hot. Look at those abs. I bet he can do more than just babysitting with that face and body, he can even take care of the dad not just the son—" Baekhyun chirped with his annoying high pitch.

Kyungsoo refrained himself from strangling his ex best friend and sent Jongin an apologetic look.

"So uhm, as the object of your description, I think I should say thanks?" Jongin blushed a rosy hue on his high-boned cheeks. "I haven't taken care of an adult before, but if Kyungsoo got sick or something, I think I could get him some aspirin maybe, uh—" he trailed off weakly, definitely not knowing where this talk was heading.

"And he's innocent as hell, Kyungsoo, you can ruin him any way you want," Baekhyun hid his mouth behind his hands, body shook from laughing. Lucky for him Kyo Jin was sleeping heavily or else the house would be full of screaming crying by now. Kyungsoo just wantted to dig a hole for himself out of humiliation at this point.

"Wha—?" Jongin looked flabbergasted at this as he seemed to understand what Baekhyun was referring, shaking his head fiercely. "It's not what I mean—I... May I ask where is the mom?" Jongin suddenly asked out of the topic and scratching the back of his neck, clearly trying to turn the conversation into other direction.

"Oh, Kyungsoo's sister? She left with another man to some country in Europe I think," Baekhyun informed usefully. That was the truth, but somehow it had Jongin's eyes widen more in bewilderment.

"Oh," Jongin mumbled, blinking his eyes several times before clearing his throat. "So, uh, Kyungsoo's sister, she and Kyungsoo, uh—?"

That was when Kyungsoo realized what was not so right in the statement. A lost information. There was a snicker from beside Kyungsoo. you, Byun Baekhyun.

"Oh, no. No no no. That's not what you're thinking," Kyungsoo hastily shook his head. "My sister is Kyo Jin's biological mother. I became his father after she left. That's all."

"Oh, okay," Jongin seemed relieved then and he gave a small smile. "So, uh—" He looked bothered again, "Oh God, this is hard. I've never had an interview before. Is it always this awkward?"

"Nope," Baekhyun chimed in again with a pop sound of his mouth. "Normally it'd be professional. But that break into our house incident and you look hotter than fire without clothes and Kyungsoo hasn't got laid for years make this interview so suffocating and full of . So now if you excuse me," Baekhyun only said it after finishing the sweet, since food was the only thing that kept him in a conversation. "I have to plot a new plan to get into my boyfriend's pants after two years of dating."

Speaking of devil. And why the hell Kyungsoo forgot to lock the door, again?

"Hey Kyungsoo, is Baekhyunni here?" An obnoxiously loud voice boomed from the hallway and almost woke Kyo Jin up. Kyungsoo swore he would kill his friends some day soon. Chanyeol appeared at the doorframe of the living room after some moments with all thick coat and scarf and beanie. He perked up at the sight of his boyfriend. "Oh, you're here, Baek. Why did you leave? I just went to the bathroom to get some lube but you had already left when I—Ouch, , what the Kyungsoo??"

"You two just get the out," Kyungsoo growled after flinging the ladle at the giant's head, surprised himself when it hit the target. He picked Kyo Jin up from Baekhyun's embrace and passed him to Jongin despite trust issues and better judgement. But it seemed like Jongin was the only sane human in this room right now. Jongin welcomed the baby into his arms with a look of someone being granted an award.

"Get out, get out," Kyungsoo hissed as he mustered up what left of his energy to push the couple out of the house and locked the door this time.

When he got back to the living room, Jongin was holding his son tightly against his bare chest. Kyo Jin's light skin made a striking contrast to Jongin's tanned one, and it looked just perfectly beautiful that had Kyungsoo's breath hitch in his throat for some unnamed reason.

After that he signed the labour contract with Jongin without any further questions. He made that fast decision maybe because he was really tired and in need of a good sleep now. Or maybe because he really needed someone, not his useless friends, to help him out this time. Or maybe just because of the tender gaze that Jongin was giving his Kyo Jin and how at ease it made Kyungsoo feel inside his chest. Or maybe Kyungsoo just really needed someone to hold Kyo Jin with him for a really long while.