Family 

[2014 words / chansoo / chansesoo / park family / fluff / domestic au] 

It was the third year into their marriage, seven years since they've fallen in love and ten years since they've become friends when Chanyeol sat Kyungsoo down for what he called 'the talk'. Looking more serious than he had ever been, so much that it even made Kyungsoo anxious, Chanyeol said solemnly: "When we married, you gave me a family. Now I want to give someone else a family. I want to give them the same love you had selflessly given me and let them experience the love I have had the fortune of knowing."

A knot formed in Kyungsoo's throat as he gawked at the taller man looking back at him with conviction shimmering in his eyes. He could not believe what he was hearing. 'After all of these years, it still comes down to this huh...' He thought bitterly and tried to ignore the wrenching pain in his heart. Taking a shallow breath, Kyungsoo croaked in a low voice.

"So you're breaking up with me...?"

"...What??" Chanyeol snapped in shock and a deep frown gathered instantly in between his brows, "I'd never break up with you, not even when I'm in my grave! Why the hell would I ever want to do that?? How could you say that, Kyungsoo! I was talking about adopting a child together and give him/her a new family! How cou-"

"Stop, or at least, slow down," Kyungsoo scowled in slight annoyance at Chanyeol's escalated voice even though deep down he was extremely relieved and happy to hear the taller man's frank words. Then out of nowhere, it hit him.

"Wait, what did you say?"

"I said, how could you think I'd break up with y-"

"No, after that!" Kyungsoo interrupted his flustered husband and stared wide eye at him again. Slowly, a sheepish smile bloomed on Chanyeol's face and he repeated himself.

"Let's adopt a child together, Kyungsoo, and give him/her a family. Let's start a new family!"

Three full seconds later Kyungsoo's fists came flying at Chanyeol's chest as he shouted angrily: "You could have just said that from the beginning, you stupid giraffe!"

Chanyeol burst out laughing and half-heartedly dodged his husband's attacks. He knew this was how Kyungsoo expressed his embarrassment; he had spotted the tear of relief welling at the corner of Kyungsoo's eyes as well as the uncontrollable expression of happiness on his blushing face. When the punching and the shouting calmed down, Chanyeol looped his love into a tight hug. For a long while, they embraced each other in the middle of their living room on that late spring afternoon. Outside, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and the sun was warm as were their hearts.

---

It had taken another year before they were approved as adopting parents but neither Kyungsoo or Chanyeol had minded because they wanted to do it right. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom again as they stood outside the orphanage. Chanyeol gulped nervously as he listened to the sound of playful children on the other side of the wall, and he gripped tightly onto Kyungsoo’s hand like a scared child on his first day of school. There were dark eye bags beneath his eyes. He had barely gotten any proper sleep the night before.

“What if I make a horrible father? What if my kid hates me? What if I am not ready to be a dad yet and mess the kid up?”

Throughout the night, Kyungsoo watched as his gentle giant paced anxiously around their apartment while muttering his self-doubts. Hiding an amused smile, he forced Chanyeol into bed and hugged his fidgety husband from behind. Kyungsoo could barely wrap himself around Chanyeol’s broad frame, but he managed by tucking his chin in the crook of the other’s neck and entangling their legs together. Then as he slowly caressed down the side of the nervous man’s long arm, Kyungsoo whispered in a firm yet soothing voice.

“You’ll make a great dad, Chanyeol,” he repeated all night long until the taller man fell into a light slumber, “I know you will.”

Giving his husband’s clammy hand another reassuring squeeze and a cheeky smile, Kyungsoo led them both into the orphanage. Throughout their tour and introduction to the staffs, Chanyeol was unusually quiet, partially because of his nerves but also because he was saddened by how many children were waiting for a home. He wished he could offer all of them a family but he knew that’d be impossible; it’d be unfair to Kyungsoo and all of these innocent children. Each of them deserves their own family that can give them all of the love and attention in the world.

Then as they passed by a small room crammed with baby beds, Chanyeol slowed down and his hand slipped out of Kyungsoo’s. His attention was captivated by an old cradle by the window. As if guided by an invisible hand, he walked up to the small bed and carefully peeked in. A pair of crescent shaped eyes smiled at him and a tiny, chubby hand grabbed at him. Dazed and grinning softly in return, Chanyeol reached in and offered his pinky finger. Immediately, the baby boy gripped tightly onto it and squealed softly as if saying hello. Chanyeol chuckled and shook his hand a little, swaying the baby to his rhythm.

“Hello there,” he whispered, “What’s your name?”

“The staff says his name is Oh Sehun,” Kyungsoo answered from behind as he joined his husband by the cradle. Looking down at the baby boy smiling gleefully at both of them, he also offered his hand and little Sehun did not hesitate at all to grip onto his pinky finger as well.

“Hello, Sehunnie,” Chanyeol greeted the happy baby who squealed again to answer him. Kyungsoo chuckled and also shook his hand, rocking Sehun in his tiny bed.

At that moment, there was magic in the air. Even though they have never met before, Chanyeol felt as if Sehun was waiting for them this whole time. As he blinked at the small life gripping tightly onto his and Kyungsoo’s pinky fingers, Chanyeol’s eyes welled up with tears. Family isn’t always blood, it’s people in your life who want you in theirs; and Chanyeol was certain then that he wanted Sehun in his life, just like how he was sure he wanted Kyungsoo in his life a decade ago. It was a gut feeling that he could not ignore and when he locked gaze with Kyungsoo, he knew they both felt the same.

May it be fate or perhaps it was chance but their path in life had crossed and Chanyeol was glad the three of they found each other.

“From now on, I promise you I will protect you with everything I have,” Chanyeol declared solemnly as he cradled the sleeping Sehun in his arms on their first night as a family. Glancing at Kyungsoo next to him, the gentle giant pressed a kiss on his husband and his new son’s forehead. Then as the small family huddled together in the cozy night, Chanyeol promised the two men in his life the world.

“I will always love you no matter what because from now on we are a family… my family.”

---

“Appa, Yoda is bullying me again!”

“Ya! Is that how you should be talking to your appa?”

“You’re not appa, you’re Yoda!”

“Ya! Get back here, Oh Sehun!”

Kyungsoo sighs deeply and stops the task at hand. Abandoning the half decorated cake, he cleans his hands with a towel and makes his way towards the living room. When he enters, he is greeted with the scene of a small child and a giant child wrestling on the ground. Sehun is straddling Chanyeol by the waist as his arms are being held above his head by the childish adult, who is grinning at his son smugly. Sehun’s cheeks are flushed red as he is mustering all of his strength to try and escape from his dad’s death grip but failing miserably. Kyungsoo raises an unimpressed brow as he approaches his two fools and breaks them up.

“Enough, enough,” he says calmly and tickles Chanyeol on his side, making the giant wiggle on the ground like a caterpillar. Picking his giggling son up in his arms, Kyungsoo puts on a pretend angry face.

“Oh Sehun, you’re turning six this year so you need to start acting like a responsible six-year-old,” Kyungsoo lectures his son, who is now pouting at him cutely, “look at all these wrinkles on your clothes… I just ironed them for you last night too!”

“It’s Yoda’s fault…” Sehun mumbles and snuggles closer to Kyungsoo, rubbing his fuzzy hair against his favourite appa’s neck like a kitten. Then he pulls back and smacks a wet kiss on Kyungsoo’s cheek.

“I’m sorrrryyy,” the six-year-old whines and delivers more kisses, “I love you, appa!”

Unable to resist his son’s aegyo, Kyungsoo breaks out into a heart-shape smile and also showers Sehun with tiny kisses, making the boy squeal happily in his arms. Lying on the floor, Chanyeol watches his family fondly with a wide smile plastered on his face.

He cannot believe five years have already passed since they brought Sehun home. It only seemed like yesterday when the cheeky boy was just a fragile bundle of softness in his arms. Sehun’s first word, his first step, the first time he was able to call him and Kyungsoo ‘Appa’ and say ‘I love you’, all of those memories are still fresh in Chanyeol’s mind. Children always grow up too fast and sometimes Chanyeol wishes he could just stop time so that Sehun will always be this child who needs him and goes around calling him Yoda every day. But he knows that’s impossible. One day, Sehun will grow up and he will leave their home. He will find someone he loves and build a family of his own. Their family will expand and even well into his death, their family will continue to grow. At that thought, Chanyeol suddenly feels sentimental and he tears up a little. Fanning his eyes, he tries to blink away the sadness welling in his heart.

Birthdays are supposed to be happy occasions, even though it is also somewhat bittersweet.

The doorbell rings and Sehun jump out of Kyungsoo’s arms. Running towards the door as fast his little legs could carry him, the birthday boy hollers at the top of his lung: “Jongin and Junmyeon ajusshi are here! They are here!” 

“It could also be Baekhyun and Jongdae ajusshi too, you know,” Kyungsoo mumbles as he follows his son’s footsteps. However before he could get far, he gets tugged behind and his back slams into Chanyeol’s broad chest. Wordless, the gentle giant envelops Kyungsoo into his arms as if wanting to merge their bodies together. Chanyeol takes a deep inhale of the familiar scent that reminds him of home and of love, and he smiles.

“Thank you,” he mumbles into the nape of Kyungsoo’s neck, “for everything.”

“Mmm,” Kyungsoo replies and presses a kiss on the back of Chanyeol’s hand. Releasing himself from the embrace, he turns around and kisses the taller man on his eyes, the tip of his nose, then on his lips. For some people, they spend a lifetime looking for the person that makes them utterly and completely happy. Kyungsoo thinks he is so lucky because he has not only found one but two: his husband and his son.

“Jongin-ah!”

“Sehun-ah! Happy Birthday!”

“Ya Park Chanyeol, stop flirting with Kyungsoo and get your out here!”

“Kyungsoo yaaaaaah!”

“Kyungsoo-shi, Chanyeol-shi, we are here!”

The plethora of voices interrupts the intimate moment and Kyungsoo scoffs but a genuine smile stretches across his face. It seems like there is never a moment of peace in his life anymore but he doesn’t mind it much, at least for most of the time. Giving Chanyeol one more kiss, he links their hands and they make their way towards the front foyer.

This is their family, the Park family.

FIN.

Happy Sehun Day! To my favourite OTP and their baby <3