When Daehyun got up that morning, it was two hours before his usual wake-up time and to an obnoxious alarm that honestly wasn't his - Daehyun wouldn't dream of even attempting to start his day with something so shrill. So it was grunting, mumbling profanities of all that was good in the world, that he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, propping up on one elbow to peer into his still dark room.

If perhaps wasn't for the still asleep face of his lover in the space just by him - deadweight arms thrown lazily around Daehyun's waist and making it near impossible to crawl free - Daehyun may have thrown a fit.

Sighing, because Youngjae will be Youngjae (leave it to him to set up the world's most obnoxious alarm and be unable to wake from it), Daehyun reached over the lump of his mate to reach the blaring smartphone on the other side. Acrobating his arm across, he fiddled with the passcode - because Youngjae liked the swap it around every couple of days - before deactivating the alarm, only then able to fall back in bed with a heaved sigh of relief. God damn everything if he had to bear through another minute of that.

And for a minute, though he knew he should have been waking Youngjae up right now, Daehyun laid peacefully in bed, a smile tracing his abnormally thick as he watched his significant other's eyes twitch under drowsy lids and lips open and close in mute conversation. Youngjae always had had a tendency to sleep talk in his sleep. (Daehyun had before held a legitimate - at least, he thought it was - conversation with the year younger man about what they would have for dinner without realizing that Youngjae had been asleep.) Youngjae was adorable, all the stress of his work and career whisked away, when he was asleep. Not that he was any less cute awake.

When a close range of five minutes flew by, Daehyun decided it was time to wake his husband, before the younger man was late for his work - his blast job as a programmer for some fancy, high end game company or something (Daehyun wasn't as enthusiastic of codes and graphics as his other half). It was a good seven minutes past Youngjae's alarm; he'd just have to speed his sorry up and wash in the speed of light if he didn't want to miss the company bus.

"Youngjae baby?" Poking his husband's shoulder lightly, Daehyun gave a slight frown, clearing his voice to get his usual pitch back up. "Wake up, you'll be late if you sleep in."

When poking failed, Daehyun moved to pressing sloppy kisses across the whole of Youngjae's face, starting with the quivering eye lids and ending with a final long smooth on those plush lips he loved. And unsurprisingly, it was quickly answered back with hands tightening around his waist, tugging him closer to the warmth radiating from his lover's form.

It took all he had to pull back (how much he would have rather kept going). "Babe," he whimpered, pulling just back enough to brush their lips together, whispering, their morning breaths (no matter how disgusting, it was a flaw they'd learned to love about one another) mixing in the space between. "You'll be late for work."

(It was times like this, that Daehyun began feeling like he wore the skirt of their relationship. He refused to be the mommy - he had a fully capable, functioning asset sitting between his thighs.)

Youngjae gave a low grumble, face falling into base of Daehyun's neck, a sly tongue rolling along his collar bone and the dip in between, knowing too well it'd bring shivers crawling down Daehyun's spine. "Five more minutes, please?"

Laughing, breathily, Youngjae's tongue making it so very hard to think logically - what was the point in getting up if he could just roll around in bed (destroy their mattress in the process) with his dearest Youngjae? -, Daehyun shook his head, pressing his palm against Youngjae's head to pry him off. "You'll be late." Five more minutes would lead to five hours in bed; best friends since diaper days, Daehyun knew better than to give Youngjae a five minutes break.

And Youngjae had probably understood that Daehyun would reject his plea before the words had escaped. The smile on his face as he peeked back up was almost expecting.

"Morning baby."

Daehyun smiled, leaning down to press another kiss to his lover's forehead. "Go wash up, you pig."

(He regretted not letting Youngjae sleep in when the younger's body heat escaped his side.)

Curled up in bedsheets, Youngjae's pillow pressed up against his nose (Daehyun's legs kicked around the large fluff, ing the object), Daehyun lay half asleep, half awake, in all forms of lazy as he waited for the minutes to tick by. He'd, sure, woken too early no thanks to Youngjae's alarm - a dolphin call, who the hell set a mind cracking dolphin screech as their morning alarm? - but sleep didn't quite seem to want to revisit. If Daehyun ended up dumping pots of coffee down his throat in sad attempt to stay awake later in school, he was going to skin Youngjae.

"Hey, ert." Minutes past, and long fingers gently raked through Daehyun's hair, fresh minty breath - Daehyun could smell it, Youngjae's favored brand of toothpaste - blown against the shell of his ear. "I'm gonna head out. Wanna give me a kiss goodbye?"

Giving a light snort to the ert crack - just because he was humping his mate's pillow, did not make him a ert (at least he hadn't broken out that saved shot of Youngjae he had hidden on his phone yet) - Daehyun flipped over on his back, pillow still tucked in his arms, as he puckered his lips. "Have a good day at work baby." Much as he'd rather have Youngjae crawl back in bed with him, for the sake of their future, he'd have to let go.

"Mn, you too. Now go back to sleep and don't stain my pillow again, alright? I think we're running out. And try not to wake Jonguppie with your ."

(Daehyun reached out to slap Youngjae, but the latter simply skipped out of his reach with a ridiculous laugh.)

As he watched Youngjae creep out of the dark room, Daehyun let his eyes fall back closed, replacing the fluffy pillow over his face to inhale the already longing scent of his dearest. He stayed just like so as sounds of doors cracking open (a slight whimper, probably Jongup’s), an obnoxious kissy sound (another whine), and the front door closing radiated through their tiny apartment. And then, he sounded down the seconds until the master bedroom’s door would again creak open, revealing their baby boy - though, Jongup liked to say that he wasn’t a baby anymore - sliding in with his pillow tucked in arms, as he did every morning after Youngjae left the house.

“Daddy?”

Right on time.

Daehyun hummed lightly in greeting as he reached over to lift the edge of his bedsheets, welcoming his baby boy into the warmth beside him. An invitation Jongup took gladly, jogging over and huddling over the mattress to snuggle into his father’s warmth.

“When’s Daddy coming home today?” Jongup cooed softly into Daehyun’s side, his already soft voice greatly muffled by the older’s night shirt. “I wish Daddy would stay home more often.”

To this, Daehyun agreed. He absolutely detested Youngjae’s job and manager. The bastard had a knack for keeping his boyfriend slash husband at work for extra hours, and then calling him back at the most ridiculous hours of day. If Daehyun could, he could have shot the guy dead a thousand times over - or at least tied his dearest boyfriend up in bed (he was sure Youngjae wouldn’t have complained).

Sighing, he pressed his nose into the child’s hair, “I don’t know Jonguppie.”

“But Daddy knows everything!”

Jongup gave a huff, digging his fingers into Daehyun’s shirt with a drawn out whine. Whenever he’d had a question to ask, Daehyun had always had an answer. (“Daddy, why’s the sky blue?” “Because if it was green, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between trees and the sky, would you?”) Even if the answer brought an irritable buzz to Jongup’s head - thinking wasn’t a part of his expertise - he had always had an answer. Jongup had grown up assuming that Daehyun knew everything.

He missed playing with his two fathers - though, legally, Daehyun was his brother and Youngjae just the date of his sibling - and having Youngjae help with his math homework (something Daehyun had seizures over).

As  much as it saddened Jongup to know his second father wouldn’t be home to play with him after kindergarten, it did a close effect on Daehyun as well. He wished he knew when Youngjae would be home. At least then, he could perhaps prepare a proper dinner instead of watching his younger boyfriend over cook his instant noodles with drowsy eyes.

(Youngjae had been getting increasingly thin since their marriage and Daehyun wasn’t the least proud of that. He missed the plush cheeks on his younger husband; he missed squishing them between his hands and watching Youngjae’s lips crawl to a puckered fish face begging for a kiss.)

“I’m sorry baby,” Daehyun sighed, brushing his fingers through Jongup’s messy bedhead. “Daddy’ll be back soon to play with you, alright?”

Sometimes, Daehyun missed having Youngjae sit around at home, a bum without a career. He didn’t mind working a couple extra hours at his school to bring ends meet. Youngjae’s job was nice (his pay even nicer), but worked too many hours to the family’s liking.

They stayed like that, knotted together in a mess of arms, legs and sheets until Daehyun’s phone alarm - Youngjae’s recorded coos: “Jakiya ~ Daehyunnie ~ Wake up! The sun’s up and shining ~” - went off, stirring the sleep out of the two males cuddled together in bed. And again, it was Daehyun to first wake, stretching and basking in the sweet calls of his boyfriend’s voice before crawling up to shut off the alarm, albeit a tad regretfully.

“Wake up Jonguppie,” he then yawned, shaking his son lightly by the shoulder, knowing he’d have to resort to other methods as he did always with Youngjae. “Come on baby, Daddy’ll be late for work if you don’t get up.” And when Jongup still refused to get up, Daehyun opted to picking the tiny child up by the legs, carrying him upside down to the baths, trailing behind them their drowsy son’s giggles.

Thus starting their mourning routine.

Getting Jongup washed and clothed each morning was never the problem. The boy did his best to listen to his father, knowing well that Daehyun was already stressed at work, but when it came down to eating breakfast, there really wasn’t another way around.

Jongup stirred his now soggy bowl of cereal with a deeply etched frown, picking up a spoonful, only to fountain it down in the colorful milk and sugar infested bowl. “Daddy, may I be excused?” He really didn’t like eating in the mornings.

It was the opposite for Daehyun. Breakfast (as with lunch, dinner and snack time in between) was the most important meal of the day, and it was especially important for little Jonguppie to get everything he can down so he could grow big and strong - well, at least as tall as - like his two father’s before him, even if they weren’t biologically his parents.

His eyes automatically scanned the boy’s plate, frowning at the floating lumps of cereal in the colored milk. “Jonguppie, you need to eat more.” Because if Jongup too began to lose weight, Daehyun wasn’t sure what he would do with himself.

“Not hungry.”

Daehyun sighed, reaching his arms out for his child, who gladly climbed in, seating himself comfortably on Daehyun’s thighs. “You have to eat, baby. Don’t you want to get taller?”

The question wasn’t a very kind one to the child; it wasn’t his fault, necessarily, that he was the smallest in his group of friends at school. They were just stupidly tall. Jongup wasn’t small at all (or so he claimed).

“But I’m not hungry!”

It was a daily exercise for Daehyun to struggle with the smaller boy at the dining room table, fussing over breakfast and the need for nutrition. But usually, Jongup won, fat blobs of tears escaping squinted eyes as he sobbed for his second father already at work. Youngjae never forced Jongup to eat, not when the child didn’t want to.

That way wasn’t anything different, as Jongup’s face began to tint red in preparation for tears he quickly lifted his arms in surrender, dumping the boy’s Pororo spoon back in the bowl with a drawn out sigh.

He really had to learn out to win it out again tears.

Wiping the remaining tears, patting the crying boy on the back, Daehyun whispered a sorry and pressed a gentle kiss to the baby’s forehead, trying out a smile for the younger to copy. “Promise you’ll eat all your lunch, alright?” With pinkies intertwined, Jongup swore.

Another blunder to Daehyun’s day had to be his unfavorable time schedule. As much as he would have liked to sit out by the curve until nine to watch Jongup’s bus take him to his school, his job demanded that he be present at the school before the homeroom bell rang. That meant having to leave Jongup with the neighbor with kisses, apologies and a promise to buy all the candies he wanted later that evening. (And when Daehyun was assigned on night study hall duties, Jongup had to stay with the said neighbors until whenever Daehyun could make it back home.) Sometimes, Daehyun wanted to just quit and become a stay-at-home dad to Jongup.

“Don’t fight with the other kids, alright baby?”

Jongup nodded diligently, one hand squeezing Daehyun’s pinkie finger while the other wrapped tight on the strap of his bag. “Is Jonguppie staying with Yookwonnie today after class?”

Daehyun always cringed inwardly whenever his baby boy spoke of himself in a third person point of view. It reminded him of that time one of his students in class had an anxiety attack, referring to herself solely in third person until her attack wore thin. It scared Daehyun that Jongup could possibly have anxiety problems as well. He didn’t want that for his kid.

“No, Daddy’ll be there to pick Jonguppie up this week.”

Moving to wrap the full of his hand around his smaller child’s fingers, he gave them a gentle squeeze. He wanted Jongup to grow up as normal as he could be (hopefully more sane than his two makeshift fathers right now).

It was to his greatest regret and sadness that he waved his younger son good bye at their neighbor’s door, taking steps away, then running back to kiss Jongup exactly five times (once for his forehead, both cheeks, nose and finally his lips) before jogging back to the stairs. He was going to miss his baby boy for the whole of their ten hours apart.

Still, he didn’t want to give up his other children at school either.

Back when Daehyun had first spotted Jongup, he had been twenty and a freshman to his college career. It was by pure coincidence that his volunteer club had decided to help out at that orphanage the other neighborhood over. A coincidence that Daehyun found himself lost and in the infants section of the care home, in utter awe at the tiny baby boy curled up in old blue sheets.

Upon his first seeing baby, Daehyun had decided that he was his.

Their fourth meeting, Daehyun constantly appearing at the orphanage with or without the rest of his club mates, Daehyun had already come up with a name for the newborn child. Jongup. And the baby, surprisingly enough, had taken a fondness for the young freshman, cooking gently whenever Daehyun’s fingers grazed over the baby’s tinier ones.

By their tenth time together, the freshman had already gone through the whole of child adopting procedures, complaining wildly at the age and career restraint that held him back.

Exactly two months since he decided he’d adopt Jongup, Daehyun struck a deal with his parents: they adopt Jongup legally, or Daehyun kidnap the child in the middle of the night illegally.

Within one year, Jongup was tucked into Daehyun’s arms, bright smiles and giggles.

It didn’t matter to Daehyun that legally, Jongup was his younger brother. To him, and everyone close to him enough to care, Jongup was his baby. As long as his baby called his Daddy and he the younger baby, what did it matter what the others said?

And it wasn’t long after that, when Jongup was still a mess of fluff and giggles that Daehyun married Youngjae. When Jongup got to meet his second father.

Youngjae and Jongup didn’t quite hit off in the best of ways. Jongup had cried and Youngjae totally panicked. Quite frankly, it had tickled Daehyun silly to watch the two males of his life freaking out at the sight of each other. If Jongup didn’t tug desperately at his pant legs, demanding to be picked up (if Youngjae didn’t slap him on the chest to do something) Daehyun might’ve just as well spent the whole day laughing.

When the two finally did get used to one another, however, it was a scene for the cameras.

Living together had definitely helped speed the process through.

“Teacher?”

Daehyun blinked, shaking his head as he tried on a comfortable smile for his confused students. He must’ve dozed off in the middle of class. Plastering an apologetic smile, he rubbed the indent between his eyes, waving his free hand in excuse.

“Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep last night,” he excused, closing his textbook with a small smile. “Let’s just have a free day today.” It was the first day of the semester anyways, who in their right mind taught on the first class?

When Daehyun and Youngjae got married, Daehyun had already had his goal set in his mind. He would become a teacher. So with help from his much dear boyfriend, Daehyun had graduated the top of class and somehow landed a job at some fancy all girl’s middle school as their English teacher - even if Daehyun’s English pronunciations weren’t exactly top scale.

By pure luck, Daehyun, at the age of twenty four, became the youngest (and most loved by the student body for his young appearance) teacher in the school. No doubt, it meant some bullying (playful, of course) on the parts of the other members of the faculty, but it wasn’t nothing Daehyun couldn’t handle.

He loved his job and his students. Surely, it was better than tutoring students who didn’t want to learn but was there solely because their parents had forced them.

“Do you girls have anything you want to ask about me?”

It was better at school, where the girls were generally a little more enthusiastic.

Hands were immediately propped in the air as soon as the words had slipped from Daehyun’s lips, everyone so obviously curious on the new - hot - English teacher their school had somehow scored. It made the teacher smile, his thick lips in slight embarrassment.

“Uh, yes?” He pointed toward the one in the front row, the girl who her hair tied back to a loose pony tail.

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

The whole class giggled, obviously a question they’d all been begging to ask. If Daehyun was single, maybe perhaps (in say a good six to seven years) they could actually have a chance.

But the question was quickly knocked back when Daehyun flushed a slight pink, coughing into his fist. He had a boyfriend, but just how accepting would the girls be of his relationship? Daehyun wasn’t willing to find out.

Instead, he lifted his hand to show off his wedding band, smiling a little. “I’m married.”

The groan was unanimous through the entirety of the classroom. Probably the only time they’d all agree.

“Then do you have a kid?”

It was the shorter one in the back of the room who blurted the second question out without raising her hand. But at this point, order and regulations seemed to have gone out the window anyways. Daehyun couldn’t figure out why he shouldn’t be allowed to answer.

“Yes.”

“What’s his name?”

“What old is he?”

“Is it a girl? I think teacher would have a girl!”

“No way! Teacher looks like he’d have a son. It’s a son, right?”

Daehyun laughed at the sudden onslaught of questions bursting out from the students. He’d never seen anyone quite so excited to ask questions (he had before taught at the school as an assistant teacher during his internship) during class before. Was talking about someone else’s love love all that much more exciting?

Digging out his cellphone from his back pocket, Daehyun scrolled through to a picture of Jongup he had collected in a separate folder - a smile automatically latching onto his lips. “He’s a boy. Five years old and his name is Jongup.”

A proud blush tinting his cheeks pink, Daehyun passed his phone through the classroom, the students piling on top of each other to see their hot English teacher’s son. To see if the kid was equally as hot.

“Awh, he’s adorable!”

“He looks just like you, teacher! Tanned skin!”

“You should bring him to class someday!”

Daehyun hummed. Maybe. Perhaps someday, Daehyun would bring Jongup to class with him.

(That is, if the school let him anyways.)

By the time the final bell for school rang, Daehyun was exhausted. His fuel gage had hit empty and he was surely ready to sit the sack and raise his arms in surrender.

In fact, he just barely stood up to pass out announcements and receive the final goodbye of the day from his homeroom class. They giggled at the sloppy way Daehyun’s tie had fallen, amused at how the newbie teacher couldn’t quite exactly handle the (wo)manpower of their school.

(Whoever had said that all-girls’ schools were angelic deserved to be cut up alive.)

Summoning up the last of his strength, Daehyun had somehow managed live through bidding his farewell to the rest of the staffs - earning hearty laughs and slaps on the back (sometimes his bum) at his ninety degree bow - and crawl out the front gates of the school when a crowded mumbling filled his ears. It took him the whole of his concentration to figure out what the murmurs were of.

“Oh! Isn’t he so hot?”

“I wonder who he’s waiting for.”

“That kid! In his hands, doesn’t that look like Daehyun teacher’s kid?”

“Daehyun teacher?”

“You know, that new English teacher we got. The hot one!”

“You have him! Lucky! I had boring old Sukgu Teacher. Is he really as hot as they say?”

Maybe he was just hearing things. Shaking his head, slapping his hands over his cheeks, Daehyun sludged out to the front gates, waving his hands gently to the greetings the students around him sent.

‘Just a few more minutes, Jung Daehyun,’ he had to reassure himself, ‘a few more minutes until you’re home with-’

“Daddy!”

‘That’s right, Daddy- … … ?’

Daehyun’s eyes grew wide as a lump of weight crashed against his legs, slim arms crawling around his knees and a tiny face digging into his bony knees. If he hadn’t already prior been trained against the art of Jongup-headbutt attack, he might’ve landed on the hard concrete floor with a concussion and a mess of his five-year old son all over him.

“Jongup?”

His eyes were wild and bulging at the sight of his son clinging to his knees. He didn’t recall ever telling Jongup where he worked (just that Daddy had to go to school - but there were a million schools in the general Seoul district). In fact, the only person he remembered telling was …

“Jongup, let Daddy walk properly.”

The smooth voice, the one that’d whisper sweet affection in his ear at nights - no matter how exhausted -, was back, jellifying Daehyun’s knees by just the slight. If Youngjae hadn’t been there to catch him, Jongup might have ended up as pancake-up within seconds.

“Youngjae?” Daehyun’s voice wildly squeaked as he whispered his husband’s name, blinking a million times a second, wondering if he was actually just hallucinating - or perhaps he’d fallen asleep at his desk without realizing. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at work?”

Did it matter that he’d totally forgotten that he was at work? That the girls from his classes were now watching on, hands pressed up against their lips to cover giggles?

His husband’s hand was at his elbow, holding him upright (but still liquid-ifying his knees with that gorgeous smile).

“Finished my project,” Youngjae cheered back, plush lips practically hanging off his ears. “I have the rest of the day and week off. And I didn’t want to wait to come see my baby.” The last bit was whispered directly into Daehyun’s ear, setting off a rise of squees from the female population nearby and lighting flames in the tanned eldest’s ear.

Wow. This was embarrassing.

“S-stupid!” He coughed awkwardly, pushing Youngjae off and slapping him lightly on the shoulder, finally remembering where he was by the giggles set off around him. “We’re at school, you idiot.”

His face was greatly comparable to that of a tomato.

Youngjae simply laughed though, picking a whining Jongup up following Daehyun when the older stormed through (still flashing red, steam practically radiating off of his red ears) the crowd back towards their apartment. It was the younger husband that bade Daehyun’s students goodbye, telling them to go back home directly without stopping at fishy locations.

And what surprise for Daehyun, when he arrived at home to a fully cooked dinner set up on their dining room table, all complete with flowers and unlit candles waiting to be flamed? His face nearly exploded from the heat rushing.

“We haven’t had dinner together as a family in a while.” Youngjae really wasn’t helping with the whole red face deal by his wandering hands crawling around his waist (dancing just below his belt line where it wasn’t supposed to go when Jongup was anywhere near). “Thought we should change that.”

That was about as intimate as their engagement went for the moment as Daehyun elbowed Youngjae in the gut with both a thanks and apology, skidding toward his seat and cooing at Jongup who desperately explained that he’d helped. It wasn’t long until the younger joined them at the table, rubbing his hand over his stomach with an exaggerated pout (“That hurt Daehyunnie.”).

After dinner, Daehyun was doing the dishes - Youngjae and Jongup at the table, the father listening to the boy’s explanation of his newly made friends - when his ears exploded a whole new shade of red. And to his dismay Youngjae only found this absolutely hilarious.

“Should Jonguppie go to sleep early today?”

“Early? Why?”

Daehyun wanted to ask the same question as his husband. Why?

“Jonguppie wants a little sister.”

The child explained, with a tone that seemed to deem his fathers stupid for not knowing why.

“Yookwonnie told Jonguppie that if Jonguppie wants a sister, Jonguppie has to go to sleep early and not wake up even if Daddys make weird noises in their bedroom. Even if Jonguppie’s really, really curious. Yookwonnie said that the sound means the baby’s being made!”

Daehyun almost choked.

And Youngjae laughed, Jongup giggling along in the background.

“So should Jonguppie go to sleep now?”

word count: 4738

a/n: yes jonguppie, you should go to sleep so daebb can go get preggo and -- COUGH I MEAN.

i should be studying right now. lol. i should be doing japanese but here i am doing this. lol. ahahaha. (/crey). first things first, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAKA. HOPE YOU HAD AN AMAZING BIRTHDAY. I AM EVER SO GLAD THAT YOU WERE BORN. KAY? LET ME JUST STUFF YOU IN MY POCKET AND KEEP YOU FOREVER. DON'T EVER DREAM OUT ESCAPING ME ♥ and second I AM SO SORRY ABOUT THIS HORRENDOUS WORD BARF. I DON'T KNOW WHAT I DID. i was originally going to have daejae! after this (jaedae, top!jae ftw) but ... ... that's not fluff? anyways. i seriously do have to go shower and start actually studying now if i don't want to end up with a c in the class. byebye.

EVERYONE GO WISH BAKA A HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

I CAN'T GIVE YOU HIMCHAN ON THIS POOR COLLEGE STUDENT BUDGET BUT YOU KNOW I'D GET HIM FOR YOU IF I COULD. THANKS FOR EXISTING AND BEING THERE THOUGH I NAG LIKE A MOTHER AND HAVE THESE HORRIBLE MOMENTS WHERE YOU PROBABLY JUST WANT TO SEND A RIGHT HOOK THROUGH MY NOSE AND ALL. YOU'RE AWESOME FOR BEING ABLE TO PUT UP WITH ME AND ALL MY STUPID. AND I JUST DON'T KNOW HOW YOU CAN AND JUST WOW. R U EVEN HUMAN MANG? I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU. YOU'RE AMAZING. DON'T EVER CHANGE. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BB.