a/n: Why?? Because...well, they never fight, do they?

It was late, on a Friday night when Siwon finally walked through the front door. This day, like the four that had proceeded, had been long and tiring, and he could barely keep his head up as he closed the door behind him.

Standing in the living room, Kyuhyun watched Siwon as he leaned over to untie his shoes. He could quickly sense the anguish coursing through his husband’s body, because it mirrored his own.

The clock on the wall read 1:34 am, and neither of them was happy to see it.  Because his English language abilities were higher than any of his peers, Siwon had been drafted to stay late after work to continue structuring a new project with an American client. It had been stressful to think in a language that he didn’t use everyday for hours on end, and he head legitimately hurt after such long days.

And things had been no better for his husband.

With Daerim finally turning five months, many changes came for her. The biggest being teething. Kyuhyun had known it would be difficult, but he had no idea it would be this stressful for them both. For the last hour, he had been walking Daerim around, trying to coax her to back to sleep, after she had suddenly woken up crying, unable to soothe her swollen gums. A routine he had gone through too many times that day.

Bags had formed under his eyes and a soreness ran through his legs, surfacing every time he stopped, which prompted Daerim to begin crying again. His voice was beyond too tired to sing to her anymore and he could only hope that the simple act of feeling his heart beat as he paced the floor, along with the ice cold teething ring he held, would be the remedy she needed.

Upon entering the dorm, Siwon had still been in a daze from work, not realizing Kyuhyun was watching him until he heard Daerim’s restless whines from the lack of movement.

“Kyu? What are you doing up?” asked Siwon with a concerned look on his face.

Kyuhyun lifted Daerim up as an offered answer for Siwon’s question.

“Again?” asked Siwon with a defeated sigh.

“She’s still teething Wonnie,” sighed Kyuhyun as he rubbed at his eyes with the back of one of his fists. “I just wish this G-d forsaken tooth would show itself already so she wouldn’t be in so much pain! She wont take her teething rings or toys anymore and I don’t know what to do. I can’t walk forever!”

Siwon sighed in recognition.

“Baby, just give her the medicine, I know you don’t want like the idea of it, but it’ll stop the pain and make her sleepy,” said Siwon walking up to them. “Come on, just for tonight at least.”

Kyuhyun sighed, looking down at Daerim. He hadn’t been a fan of the medicine that had been recommended to them, because he didn’t like the idea of Daerim being constantly drowsy day in and day out, but he couldn’t take another sleepless night.

“Fine,” he nodded.

After Daerim had been given her medicine, Kyuhyun put her to bed once again, although he knew she would end up crying for a short while. Even though it pained him, he knew it would be temporary, so he forced himself to walk across the hall and into his room with Siwon.

Siwon had made it as far as out of his suit only to have fallen face down onto the mattress. He was still in his undershirt and socks, but he had been too tired to care.

Kyuhyun couldn’t help but chuckle once he saw him, although he completely understood the feeling. Siwon had only been working for a month since his return, but for some reason, the adjustment had been harder than he expected. Somehow, during the three months of raising their daughter, he had forgotten about language barriers, meetings with potential clients, extensive paperwork, long hours, and the hoesik, company dinners and drinking that could last long into the night.

Hate was a strong word, but work was definitely draining him and he truly missed the days of spending alone time with Kyuhyun and their friends. He just needed a stress release, something that he hadn’t been able to do in a while, to remind himself that there was life outside of the office and even the apartment.

Although he wasn’t aware of it, Kyuhyun felt the same. Since Siwon had left, the burden and responsibility of raising Daerim alone had taken it’s full effect. Although he loved his daughter immensely, she was the only other person he communicated with on a regular basis. And because she had recently begun teething, their world had been turned upside down with fevers, tantrums, and tears. Something he hadn’t exactly been prepared for. Although he understood completely that she needed him for everything, he couldn’t help but yearn for the days of being with his buddies or even just his husband, alone.

Already in his pajamas, Kyuhyun crawled on the bed and lay beside Siwon’s still body.

Siwon’s face had been turned away, facing the edge of the mattress. But when he felt the weight of Kyuhyun beside him, he turned his head over to face him.

“Hi,” he said softly.

“Hi,” smiled Kyuhyun, his eyes heavy with tiredness.

Even though there were visible signs of exhaustion on both of their bodies, especially their faces, they were still happy to finally only be seeing the other.

“I have waited all day…almost 17 hours, to see that smile,” said Siwon slowly, reaching out to Kyuhyun’s cheek.

Kyuhyun closed his eyes, glad to feel Siwon’s touch on his body again after such a long and taxing day.

“I’ve been waiting all day just to hear your voice again,” said Kyuhyun blinking languidly.

Siwon had been so busy this week, he hadn’t been able to talk to Kyuhyun at all during the day like he used to. So, although they both wanted to enjoy every moment of this precious time they had together, neither seemed to be able to keep their eyes open for very long.

They both watched each other, smiling when they realized how stubborn the other was, not wanting to be the first to give in.

“You go first,” whispered Siwon.

Kyuhyun bit his lip as he slowly shook his head.

“No, you,” Kyuhyun whispered back.

Siwon grinned, his dimple appearing as he too mustered the energy to shake his head no.

With his last push of strength, he leaned forward to give Kyuhyun a kiss, their first of the day, before his head hit the pillow, this time his eyes closing for good.

Kyuhyun soon followed and they slept close like this, throughout the entire night.

When morning came, Kyuhyun was woken up again by a teary Daerim. As he heard her cries, he woke up suddenly, only to be slightly annoyed that Siwon was still laying beside him, completely knocked out.

Rubbing his face,  Kyuhyun dragged himself out of bed and went to tend to his hurting child.

The rest of the morning seemed to play out like the work week had. When Siwon finally woke up, he had a few more work things that he had to tend to while enjoying his breakfast of coffee. Kyuhyun mainly tried to keep Daerim comfortable while also trying to complete their household chores.

It wasn’t until later that day in the early part of the evening when things settled down. Daerim had just been put down for her nap, Siwon was in their bedroom, and Kyuhyun was sitting in the living room, finishing up a phone call.

“I cannot wait for this! I’ve been wanting to go for the past two months since it opened,” he said with a megawatt smile on his face.

“So I’ll see you in about an hour, right? Okay, great.”

 The smile never left his face as he ended the call, standing up to go get changed.

He was finally going to have a night out with Changmin. It had been so long since Kyuhyun had gone out for fun, let alone with his best friend, so he couldn’t wait for his evening to start. Siwon had been slumming around ever since he finished his work from earlier in the morning. So he assumed that he’d have no problem watching Daerim for just a few hours while he went out for drinks.

But as he about to head towards their bedroom, the door opened and Siwon stepped out in a tank and a pair a basketball shorts. His gym bag was slung over his shoulder and his old basketball was underneath his arm.

Kyuhyun stopped dead in his tracks when he saw him.

“Wh…where are you going?” he asked with an uneasy laugh.

“To the park, the hyungs and I are finally getting together to go play basketball,” said Siwon with a grin as he spun the ball in his eager hands.

“Huh…no you're not,” said Kyuhyun incredulously.

Siwon paused and tilted his head to the side. “What?”

“Wonnie, you can’t go out tonight,” said Kyuhyun shaking his head.

“Why not?” asked Siwon, he was nervous that he had forgotten something.

“Because who would watch Daerim?” asked Kyuhyun.

“…you? Right?” asked Siwon, still very confused.

“No. Not me. I can’t watch her because I’m going out,” said Kyuhyun.

“Wait, baby, what do you mean you're going out? You never said anything to me about wanting to go out.”

“That’s because I just finished planning it with Changmin-ah. He and I are going to go to the new wine bar that opened in Gangnam. I’m supposed to meet him in an hour.”

“But we would have barely started playing by then,” said Siwon shaking his head. “Besides, I told you about this before, so why would you have planned to go out when you knew I was going to play basketball?”

“Wait a minute. First of all, you never told me that you were going to play basketball today,” said Kyuhyun crossing his arms.

“Baby, I’m sure I did. We planned it earlier in the week, so I had to have told you at some point—

“No Wonnie, you didn’t. I would have remembered something like that. Besides when do you think you would have had time to tell me? Every night you came home, Daerim and I were either asleep or she was crying. You left in the morning before we even woke up. And you never had time to call me during the day. So when? When would you have told me this?!”

“Kyu, why are you getting upset with me? I’m sorry that my work schedule has been so full, but you know that’s not my fault. I stayed home for over three months, of course my schedule was going to be tight when I returned.”

“That is not the problem here. The problem is that I’ve spent all week cooped inside with a teething five month old. I’m about to loose my mind. I want—no, I need to go out tonight with my friend so that I can have one night off,” said Kyuhyun.

“Don’t you think that’s what I want to? Kyu I’ve been working almost nonstop this entire week. I need just a few hours of doing something that isn’t work related so that my head doesn’t explode. I haven’t played basketball in months. All I’m asking for is one night off from my responsibilities.”

“But don’t you realize that’s just it? I don’t get a night off from my responsibilities. Daerim needs attention every waking second of the day! And ever since you left that’s all fallen on me!”

“I haven’t left you Kyu, I’m right here,” said Siwon frowning, he didn’t like the feeling that Kyuhyun’s words left him with. “You know that I still try to help you with her, but I’m that one that has to go to the full time job every day.

“And taking care of your daughter is just some part time gig I signed up for? A hobby? I never get to clock out from being with her! Ever since she started teething I haven’t been able to leave the apartment because her crying gets so bad! I want the chance to have an intelligent conversation with another adult, drink good wine, and laugh!—G-d I miss laughing so much,” said Kyuhyun rubbing his hands through his hair.

“Kyu, listen, calm down. I get it, I do, but I’m just asking you to please understand where I’m coming from. I really, really just need this time. Daerim’s asleep now, so it won’t be that bad. Why don’t you ask Changmin to come here?”

Kyuhyun exhaled harshly as he squeezed his eyes shut.

“What’s wrong now?” asked Siwon with a sigh. “What did I say?”

“You’re not hearing me!” Kyuhyun burst out. He was completely frustrated now.

“Shhhh! Of course I am—

“No! No you're not!” said Kyuhyun not caring how loud he was. “Why do you think that your freedom is more important than mine?!”

“That’s not what I said at all!” said Siwon now growing defensive.

“You might as well have! I need to get out of this box Siwon! It’s like a prison for me these days—

“So that’s how you look at our life here together? Our family? As a prison?” asked Siwon softly.

“No! I just—aish! Fine, just forget it Siwon, just go!” said Kyuhyun walking around Siwon in the direction of their bedroom.

“No, wait, don’t just walk away like this!” said Siwon grabbing Kyuhyun’s wrist.

He pulled Kyuhyun back over to him before Kyuhyun snatched his arm away.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore!” said Kyuhyun through gritted teeth.

“Well I do. You can’t just say all of those things to me and then storm away! You haven’t even given me a chance—

“Are you going to play basketball?”

“We need to talk about it—

“What do you think we’ve been doing?!” said Kyuhyun, completely exasperated. “We both want to go out but you suddenly think you're more deserving because you’re the one who brings home the money!”

“I never said that!” hissed Siwon frowning.

“But it’s what you meant!  So just go! Have fun!” said Kyuhyun shoving his way past Siwon again.

Siwon tried to grab him again but Kyuhyun swatted him away and stormed off towards their bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

Soon, Daerim’s cries filled the apartment as Siwon stood in the middle of the living room floor chucking his things to the floor and Kyuhyun’s body slid down the length of the closed door. He gripped his hair in frustration trying his hardest to resist the urge to cry.