seungcheol is on the brink of passing out from exhaustion, eyes droopy as he stares blankly at his computer screen (which is too bright even on the lowest possible brightness setting). his eyes scan over the same verse they have been for the past thirty minutes but he can’t actually seem to focus on the words - the black text warps together and for a moment he genuinely believes he’s going to fall asleep right there on his keyboard.
 

it’s when he finally decides to save the file that he feels a small tug on his sweatshirts sleeve. he turns and has a pleasant warmth immediately filling his chest. jihoon looks up at him with swollen, puffy eyes, and seungcheol knows he must be tired. the smaller boy doesn’t say anything, only has a pout on his lips as he rubs at one eye with a sweater paw and reaches a piece of paper to the leader. seungcheol takes the paper happily, reaching out to ruffle jihoon’s hair as he notices that it’s a finished page of a coloring book - two fairies lounging on flowers, chatting away animatedly. jihoon almost looks embarrassed but eagerly crawls into seungcheol’s lap when he pats his thighs in offer.
 

“did you make this for daddy?” seungcheol smiles softly and pushes jihoon’s hair away from his face, then leans forward to kiss his forehead. jihoon nods and shifts slightly to get comfortable in the other’s grasp. it was rare that he actually fell into little space, but it was always welcomed with open arms by the other members; although he had admitted that being like this made him feel vulnerable, they knew that sometimes it was the only way for the boy to calm down and relax. he decided to trust them.
 

“it looks amazing, jihoonie,” seungcheol mumbles quietly, rubbing small circles into jihoons back, “i’ll hang it on the fridge at the dorm whenever we go back, okay?”
 

“really?” jihoon perks up at that, body still leaning into seungcheol’s. the elder knows jihoon will wake up the next day and take it down, but it’s the thought that counts. he smiles kittenishly, lips curving up at the sides as he wiggles around on the other’s lap, “i hope the others like it too. i worked hard on it, see? all the colors are inside the lines and everything.”
 

seungcheol can’t help but to snort at how adorable jihoon was when he got like this - especially considering how mouthy and introverted he could be otherwise.
 

“i’m sure they’ll love it,” seungcheol presses another kiss to the smaller boys cheek, to which jihoon giggles at, “you always work so hard on everything. you know we appreciate it.”
 

jihoon nods again, blinking off into space as he subconsciously raises a thumb to his mouth - he doesn’t quiet on it, but puts the tip between his plump lips, “i know.” he felt so proud. he makes his daddies proud. he makes them happy.
 

the two stay like that for a while, jihoon placed comfortably on the older boy's lap as seungcheol listened to him babble about some cute socks he had seen at the store the other day, and how he wasn’t asking for them but wouldn’t exactly turn them down if they ended up on his bed one day.
 

the door to the studio opens quietly, and a head of fluffy blond hair peaks in. seungcheol glances over and takes note of soonyoung practically beaming at how affectionate the two were being. soonyoung mouths a, ‘is he?’ and seungcheol nods knowingly.
 

“hey jihoonie,” soonyoung says, voice raised in a slightly higher pitched tone than his usual one, and steps over to where he can look at jihoon over the leader’s shoulder, “how’s my baby doing tonight?” he leans forward and blows a raspberry on jihoon’s cheek, which jihoon reacts to as if it were the absolute worst thing to ever happen to him.
 

with his mouth open wide and arms crossed over his chest, jihoon grumbles tiredly, “that’s gross, soonyoungie. now i’ve got your spit all over me,” he rubs at his face with his sleeve and sticks his bottom lip out in a pout (which soonyoung promptly kisses away and apologizes to). he knew jihoon wasn’t actually annoyed, but they liked playing like this when jihoon was in his moods. any other time, jihoon would threaten to shove his foot so far up his it’d pop out of his mouth, but soonyoung would take whatever he could get, to be honest.
 

“do you want daddy soonyoung to take you back to the dorm?” seungcheol asks, just to have jihoon hum an agreement and reach his arms out for soonyoung to pick him up.
 

“up?” soonyoung teases, before bending down to let jihoon wrap both arms around his neck - his chubby little legs cross behind soonyoung’s back and he holds him up, one hand under his and one on his back. he bounces him around a little and presses a multitude of kisses to his cheeks and nose.
 

“wait,” jihoon protests, nose crinkling, and turns his head to point at the coloring sheet on seungcheol’s desk, “show soonie my fairies, i bet he’d like them.”
 

seungcheol is once again about to fall asleep but does as his little boy requests and shows the dancer his coloring page, to which soonyoung responds by making a gasp sound and looking at jihoon in playful shock, “you did this? our baby is so talented!” jihoon chuckles quietly before snuggling into soonyoung’s neck appreciatively - soonyoung waves bye to seungcheol and carries the very sleepy, very stressed boy out of the studio and into the van to go home.
 

mingyu smiles a sleepy grin when the two get settled into the backseat, and turns around ever so slightly to reach a hand out to jihoon. he wraps his hand around mingyu’s thumb and shakes it around tiredly.
 

“can you make me some hot chocolate when we get home?” jihoon pouts and leans into soonyoung like a child, snuggling up to his side. soonyoung has his arm around him and doesn’t hesitate to pull him close, making sure he feels safe and secure.
 

mingyu nods and presses a kiss to jihoon’s knuckles, “of course i can, sweetie. with the little marshmallows you like so much?”
 

jihoon nods and kisses mingyu’s hand in return, then melts into soonyoung’s hand in his hair, “yes, please! those are the best.” mingyu and soonyoung share a meaningful glance as the driver pulls out from the parking lot, and before they know it, jihoon is falling asleep as soonyoung massages his scalp, running fingers through his hair.