“Sehun, you need to eat, it’s almost eight and you’ve got to go to bed soon!” Kyungsoo stands on the other side of Sehun’s door, who’s done his five-year-old best to lock it. The door doesn’t actually have a lock on it, so Sehun’s leaning on it with all his weight.

They’ve been at this for half an hour now, ever since Kyungsoo had finished cooking his best dish – kimchi spaghetti. He’d left Sehun to play in his room alone after he had stepped on another suspiciously placed pile of Legos, and ever since Sehun has refused to leave his room. At least he’d tried for a couple of hours; he even thought Sehun had been enjoying himself… until he’d killed off Kyungsoo’s Dinosaur Prince for the fifth time.

Kyungsoo sighs, rubbing at the remnants of permanent marker on his skin. Unwilling to make Sehun dislike him even more than he already did (Chanyeol owes him, big time), he’d agreed to draw with Sehun for a little bit. He just hadn’t realized drawing meant on him, and it was too late to protest when Sehun had pulled out a set of Sharpies with a devilish look on that cherubic face. Kyungsoo had sat and suffered, colouring in one of Sehun’s half-finished colouring books half-heartedly while Sehun drew all over his arm.

“That’s me,” he’d said sweetly, afterwards, pointing to a short stick figure, “and that’s Daddy,” he continues, pointing to the enormously lanky figure beside the short one. “And that one is you.”

Kyungsoo had spent a good 10 minutes desperately scrubbing his arms at the sink later, scowling fiercely down at the deformed ape thing smiling stupidly beside “Chanyeol”.

“I don’t wanna!” Sehun yells, again<, and the kid has got< to be hungry. Kyungsoo is kind of impressed, actually, at how stubborn Sehun could be. Must have inherited it from Chanyeol, he ruminates as he stands helplessly at the door. “Go away! I want Daddy!”

His brattiness seems familiar too…

“Daddy’s not going to be home for a while, Sehun, I’m all you’ve got.” The word daddy falls awkwardly off of Kyungsoo’s tongue, nose wrinkling a little. Chanyeol certainly wasn’t his Daddy.

“I don’t want you!”

Ouch. Kyungsoo would feel more insulted, except that he thought he’d heard a suspicious waver in Sehun’s voice.

“Sehun? Are you okay?”

It’s barely audible, but Kyungsoo swears he hears a small sniffle from the other side of the door. Crying children are not Kyungsoo’s forte (children in general are not Kyungsoo’s forte), but this is Chanyeol’s crying kid. Not only does it make him feel a little more responsible, but also a little more sympathetic; he’s seen Sehun with Chanyeol and how good the kid could be. Whatever Sehun’s beef with Kyungsoo was, it would have to wait.

“Sehun?” Kyungsoo tries again. “Why don’t I call Daddy for you? If you come out, you can talk to him on the phone a little.” He’s sure Chanyeol wouldn’t mind.

There’s a pause before Kyungsoo hears Sehun get up from the door. A moment later, Sehun’s opening the door, eyes a little red and pink lips trembling. He doesn’t say anything to Kyungsoo, but he does look at him with a silent pleading in his eyes. It’s the first time he’s looked at Kyungsoo with anything other than spite.

“Hi, Sehun,” he says in relief, heart tugging at the sadness on the boy’s face. “Why don’t you come into the kitchen with me, so I can get my cell phone?”

Sehun nods, messy hair falling into his face, and trails after Kyungsoo into the kitchen, pulling himself up onto the stool at the kitchen island as Kyungsoo retrieves his phone to dial Chanyeol.

The phone only rings once before Chanyeol’s already picking up. There are sounds of raucous laughter and shouts in the background that fade away as Chanyeol walks away from it.

“Kyungsoo? What’s wrong? Is everything okay?” Chanyeol asks as soon as he picks up, words tripping over themselves in concern.

“Yeah, nothing’s wrong… well, sort of. Sehun’s not hurt or anything, but he suddenly got really upset about you being away and refused to leave his room.” Kyungsoo glances over at Sehun, who’s watching him and listening.

“, seriously? Should I go home, then?”

“No, you don’t have to go, but Sehun does want to speak with you on the phone.”

“Of course! Can you pass the phone to him, please?”

“Here you go, Sehun,” Kyungsoo says, offering the mobile to the boy, who accepts it quickly. He leans against the kitchen counter to wait, chewing on his lip unconsciously in worry.

“Daddy?” Sehun says the word uncertainly, quietly, eyes flickering up to meet Kyungsoo’s before moving away.

“Hey, baby. What’s wrong? Kyungsoo-hyung was worried about you and said you were upset? You know I’m just at Kris’ house and I’ll be home soon.” Sehun’s shoulders relax the moment Chanyeol’s voice comes on over the line and he moves to rest his elbows on the island, head coming down to lie on his arms.

“I just miss you,” Sehun replies, the faintest hint of a whine in his voice. “I want to watch Dragon Ball Z.”

“You can ask Kyungsoo-hyung to watch it with you, Sehunnie; you know he wouldn’t mind. But I can come home early if you want.”

Sehun bites his lips, worrying them, and glances up again at Kyungsoo. The older male has his back turned now, fiddling with the food and obviously trying to give Sehun a bit of privacy. The gesture is sweet, and Sehun appreciates not being coddled.

“No, it’s okay,” Sehun finally replies, frowning a little. “I’ll just ask Kyungsoo-hyung to watch with me…”

“Are you sure, baby?” The endearments really only ever come out when Chanyeol is worried, and Sehun hates it when Chanyeol is worried.

“Yes, I’m sure. Just—just come home, please.”

“Of course I will, Sehun. I always will.”

It takes a few more minutes of Chanyeol fretting for Sehun to finally hang up, but when he does he looks much less upset than before.

“Thank you, Kyungsoo-hyung,” Sehun says politely as he returns the phone and Kyungsoo’s eyebrows raise in surprise. The sudden change of heart is unexpected, but Kyungsoo is hopeful nonetheless.

“It’s no problem, Sehun.” He hesitates before gesturing to the plate of food he’d prepared in the meantime. “Did you want to eat now?”

Sehun’s stomach grumbles and he flushes a little in embarrassment as he nods, “Yes, please.”

Kyungsoo tries to hide a smile as he sets the food in front of Sehun. “It’s a little hot,” he cautions, waiting anxiously as Sehun picks up the silver fork to dig in.

It’s so hugely gratifying to see Sehun’s eyebrows to lift in surprise when he tries the food. Although everyone Kyungsoo’s ever met has loved his food, somehow Sehun’s opinion matters so much more.

“It’s good, right?” he says, pleased smile on his face.

Sehun nods, mouth full but lips pulled up in a slight smile around the food. “Yeah,” he answers once he’s swallowed, barely pausing before shoveling more into his mouth. Kyungsoo sort of feels like dancing in celebration, but he doesn’t really ever dance, so he settles on pouring Sehun a glass of water and offering him a tissue to wipe his saucy mouth.

It doesn’t take very long for Sehun to finish. Kyungsoo finds a quart of ice-cream in the freezer and doles out two portions before carrying them out into the living room. Sehun had asked him to watch Dragon Ball Z with him, and of course Kyungsoo had agreed.

“I don’t know how to work it,” Sehun explains when Kyungsoo walks in, holding the DVD in his small eyes. He looks unbearably cute like that, put out in his wrinkled pajamas; Kyungsoo suddenly envies Chanyeol for it.

Kyungsoo doesn’t know either and together they spend five minutes working out the DVD player. When the title screen comes on with the theme song blaring, Sehun shouts in excitement, proud to have helped get it to work. They settle onto the couch together with their ice-cream (Sehun explains with a smirk that he isn’t usually allowed to eat on the couch). Sehun even sits right beside Kyungsoo instead of moving away, like Kyungsoo had expected, and the small warm presence beside him is nice.

Three episodes later, Sehun is sleepy but determined to wait up for Chanyeol. Their bowls sit on the coffee table in front of them and Sehun had dragged out a blanket to hide under, offering Kyungsoo half. He’d even let Kyungsoo help him brush his teeth during a break between episodes.

“Sehun, why didn’t you like me at first?” Kyungsoo asks during a lull in the episode, Sehun’s head beginning to droop. He’s curious, and Sehun’s sleepy enough that Kyungsoo hopes he won’t have the energy to get defensive.

“I did like you,” Sehun replies simply, voice soft with sleepiness. “You’re nice.”

This baffles Kyungsoo. “But that first day in the café! You cried before I did anything…” He frowns, remembering; he’s still embarrassed about it, even now.

Sehun yawns, even as Goku begins pummeling Frieza onscreen. “Because I have to protect Daddy.” He turns to look up at Kyungsoo, blinking owlishly.

“Protect Daddy?” Kyungsoo repeats, brows furrowing.

“Mommy said,” Sehun begins before cutting off, frowning and looking away. “Mommy said to me. She said I have to take care of Daddy now. I have to protect Daddy because she can’t anymore, she said,” Sehun trails off. He avoids Kyungsoo’s gaze and stares resolutely at the screen, tense.

Kyungsoo has talked to Chanyeol about his wife before; it had been an amicable split, though Chanyeol had been heartbroken at first. He’s never been jealous, he’s not the type, and he’s always seen the father and son as doing perfectly okay by themselves. But he feels his heart break for Sehun, who’d lost a mother that he still remembered. He understands how Sehun must have felt threatened, who would be so possessive over his father.

He wraps an arm tentatively around Sehun, holding him when the boy doesn’t protest. “Well, Sehun, that’s a relief,” he says gently. Sehun looks up at him, confused. “Looks like we’re both trying to take care of Daddy. We would work better as a team, though, don’t you think?”

Sehun considers him for a long time, but eventually he nods. “We can be a team.”

“Deal.”

They lapse back into an amicable silence after this, relaxing back into the episode. Kyungsoo feels ecstatic over the development of his relationship with Sehun, but he keeps his smiles to himself as Sehun eventually falls asleep on him.

Chanyeol comes home an hour after Sehun falls asleep. They’re still on the couch, Kyungsoo unwilling to wake Sehun to move him to the bed. Besides, he was kinda getting into the series and was a little eager to find out what would happen with Vegeta.

“Oh my god, that’s so cute!” Chanyeol squeals, hushed as he takes in Sehun’s sleeping form. His feet stamp in excitement and Kyungsoo rolls his eyes at his boyfriend’s antics. Chanyeol, bless him, is carrying a takeout tray of bubble tea in his arms.

“I didn’t want to move him,” Kyungsoo explains as Chanyeol comes over, setting the drinks on the table.

“It’s okay,” Chanyeol says as he gingerly picks Sehun up with a practiced ease. Sehun stirs in his arms, whining under his breath as he blinked sleepily. A smile blossoms on Sehun’s face as he recognizes his father, settling himself in his embrace and allowing himself to fall back asleep. “I’m sorry about earlier, though.”

Kyungsoo shakes his head, following as Chanyeol goes to put Sehun to bed. “It’s no big deal; I think he likes me now.”

“He’s always liked you,” Chanyeol says with a fond look, “He’s just always a little… difficult with new people.” Chanyeol shrugs, tucking the covers closer around Sehun’s body. “Usually he’s okay with spending time apart; I mean he spends all day at kindergarten fine. But when he’s not totally comfortable, he gets anxious easily. It was never a problem before… before his mom left.”

“Yeah, I kind of guessed as much.” Kyungsoo decides he’s going to keep his conversation with Sehun to himself; he has a shrewd suspicion that Sehun’s not the only one still struggling with the divorce. He glances at his watch, surprised at the time. “Oh, but I guess I should get going. It’s getting really late.”

“Stay over,” Chanyeol insists. “It’s dark out. Besides… we’ve never gotten to spend the night before. But now with Sehun okay, I’d really like it if you slept over now and then. If—if you want, of course.”

Kyungsoo smiles, surprised but pleased nonetheless. “I’d love to, but I don’t have any of my things with me…”

“I’ve got extra bathroom things. And you could just borrow some of my clothes.” Kyungsoo chuckles at the eagerness in Chanyeol’s eyes.

“Okay, Chanyeol, I’ll stay over.”