i was bullied into writing this by V and Eney

It was 6:43pm and Seunghyun was wondering what to order in for dinner since Jiyong had texted him a half hour earlier saying that he had work at the studio and there was a high probability that he won’t be coming home.

He looked at their little girl, Minhee, who was sitting open mouthed at the cartoon show that was playing on the TV, hugging her pink teddy bear. What are we going to eat? he wondered.

So he asked her. “Minhee, what do you want to eat for dinner sweetie?”

Minhee turned her big brown eyes—so much like Jiyong’s—at him and simply said, “Ice cream.”

Seunghyun chuckled. Even though she had inherited most of Jiyong’s looks, she was basically a younger version of him. “No sweetie, we can’t have ice cream for dinner. That’s for dessert,” he reminded her. “Besides, Appa will have my head if I let you eat ice cream before dinner,” he mumbled, mainly to himself, remembering the last Jiyong found them sneaking in the kitchen, their heads buried deep in the freezer, giggling.

In the end they settled on instant noodles (with a side of kimchi for Seunghyun) since it was the easiest thing to do. After Minhee helped her dad with clearing the table and entertained him as he washed the few dishes they ate in she asked him, “Now can we have ice cream?”

Seunghyun laughed and nodded his head, kissing her head on his way to the fridge. He grabbed the bucket of ice cream from the freezer along with two spoons, one big and one small (there was no need for bowls since Seunghyun didn’t want to wash anymore dishes), grabbed his daughters hand and made their way to the living room. They settled themselves on the floor in front of the large coffee table in the middle of the room, facing the TV.

“Daddy~” Minhee whined. “Why is your spoon bigger than mine? I want the big spoon too,” she pouted.

“Because my mouth is bigger than yours,” Seunghyun teased, demonstrating by taking a large scoop of ice cream and shoving it into his mouth. Minhee stared at him wide eyed for a moment, her lips drawn down in an upset frown before a bubble of laughter spilled out of .

“What?” Seunghyun asked his mouth still full of ice cream.

“You got all dirty, daddy,” Minhee squealed, pointing at her dad’s mouth.

Seunghyun swallowed the ice cream. Instead of wiping the remains of the ice cream around his lips with a napkin, he leaned down towards his daughter and tried smearing it on Minhee’s cheeks. She realized what he was about to do a second before he did it and squealed before scrambling to her feet and running away from Seunghyun, hiding her face in the fluffy cushions of the couch.

Seunghyun crawled after her, grabbing her by her waist and pulling her gently from the couch. “You can’t run away from me!” he exclaimed, altering his voice. The little girl laughed harder and scrambled to get away, her little hands grabbing on to the cushions as she tried to hoist herself up and away.

In the midst of all this, Seunghyun heard his phone ringing in the kitchen. “I’m gonna get you soon,” he said in the same growly voice, digging his fingers in Minhee’s ribs and tickling her. She screamed and flailed in his arms until her let her go.

He caught the phone right before it stopped ringing. “Hey,” he greeted his voice breathless.

“I was about to hang up,” Jiyong admitted. “Looks like you guys are having fun.”

“We’re doing alright,” Seunghyun said, as he watched Minhee soundlessly getting off the couch and moving to hide behind it. “We’re playing hide-and-seek now apparently.”

He heard Jiyong’s laugh. “I wish I was there with you guys,” Jiyong said, “but unfortunately I have work to do,” he added sadly.

“We miss you too baby,” Seunghyun said, hoping his voice would transfer all the love he felt for his husband. “Did you have dinner?” he asked, his voice worried. Jiyong usually forgot mundane things like eating dinner when he immersed himself in his work. He needed to be constantly reminded to take care of himself.

“I ate something, but I didn’t even register what it was,” Jiyong admitted, a small chuckle following it.

Seunghyun frowned. It was times like this when he wished he could be around Jiyong all the time, taking care of him, making sure he’s well fed, well rested. In the end he could do nothing but sigh. They had a little girl now and taking care of her was more important than anything.

“Just…remember to take a break and sleep,” he said in a soft voice.

“I love you Hyunnie,” Jiyong whispered through the phone.

“I love you more, baby,” Seunghyun replied before hanging up.

As he was tiptoeing back into the living room and saw Minhee’s head poking out from behind the couch, curious as to what was taking her father so long. When she saw him, she stifled a shriek and made her way back behind the couch.

Seunghyun pretended not to see.

“Hmm,” he said. “I wonder where Minhee went.” He started pacing in the living room. “Could she be under the table?” he asked himself out loud. “No, she’s not there. I wonder where she could’ve gone.”

He heard his baby girl giggling behind the couch. “What was that?” he stage-whispered. “Where was that voice coming from?” He made his way to the back of the couch, silently. Minhee was looking for him from the other side, so she never saw him coming. Quietly, he squatted down behind her and grabbed her tiny legs, pulling her towards him. “Gotcha!”

They spent an hour playing around, eating the ice cream and watching cartoons. They then took out Minhee’s toys and started playing with them. They played with cars and trains and teddy bears. They colored and drew various things. After a couple of hours Minhee was yawning and her eyes were dropping. Seunghyun picked her up and headed to the bedroom to change her and get ready for bed.

By the time Jiyong got back to the house it was almost 9am. He knew for certain that Seunghyun and Minhee were going to be asleep. He planned to go straight to the bed, cuddle them and sleep.

His eyes grew wide at the state of the house as he entered.

Toys were strewn all over the floor, the couch cushions were upturned, and a bucket of ice cream was melting on the coffee table. The kitchen was a mess of dishes and plates. Flour covered almost every surface of the kitchen counters. He could make out Minhee’s tiny palm prints next to Seunghyun’s large ones. A wave of jealousy swept over him. He wanted to be here with them last night, but his work demanded that he be in the studio. He had the rest of the week off, however, because he worked through the night, finishing what he had to do so he wouldn’t sleep the night away anytime soon.

As he made his way into the bedroom, he noticed that the bed was empty.

The covers were a heap in the middle of the bed, but there was no one under them. He didn’t hear the sound of water coming from the bathroom either.

“Hyunnie?” he called out. “Minhee~ where are you guys?”

He heard the sound of muffled laughter coming from the next room. Confused, he his heel and walked towards the room next to theirs; Minhee’s room.

The sight he found there brought tears to his eyes.

His husband and daughter were both smeared with flour from head to toe, wearing aprons that were also covered in flour and something else. Chocolate. In front of them was a small table with a large tray full of pancakes, bacon, and orange juice.

His stomach rumbled, loud in the silent room.

All three of them laughed and Minhee got up and grabbed her father’s fingers, dragging him towards the table and making him sit down before making herself comfortable on his lap. Seunghyun leaned over and placed a chaste kiss on Jiyong’s lips. “Welcome home, baby.”

Jiyong beamed at him and hugged his daughter closer to him. Minhee picked up a slice of bacon and fed it to her father, who gladly accepted. Seunghyun pouted. “I wanted to do that!”

Minhee stuck out her tongue at her dad and stuck her plastic fork in a pancake, taking a huge mouthful.

Jiyong and Seunghyun just looked at her lovingly, glad that they had her in their life.