“It’s a week, Jihoon. What can happen?”

Jihoon gives him a look that pointedly says a lot can happen in one week. Especially with an excitable six-year-old.

Seungcheol kisses his forehead. “It’ll be fine. You’re worrying too much, love,” he murmurs.

“I barely survived two days when you had to go to Busan for that conference. But this is a whole week! And you’re in Hong Kong! It’s even further!” Jihoon protests and Seungcheol winces when Jihoon accidentally kicks his shin in his wriggling.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, burying his face into Seungcheol’s shoulder.

The older just laughs. “You’ll be fine, Jihoon. Seungkwan and Hansol are a phone call away if you ever panic, and you know you can still call me,”

“No I can’t,” Jihoon huffs childishly, “You’ll be in meetings, and having fancy dinners, and eating yummy food without me,”

Seungcheol raises an eyebrow. “I feel like you’re more upset about me leaving because of the food,”

“I want egg tarts,” Jihoon whines.

Seungcheol grins and kisses his forehead again. “It’ll be fine, Jihoon, promise. Now let’s get some sleep.”

Jihoon sighs, snuggles closer to his husband and tries to drift off to sleep, but it doesn’t come easily.

Seungcheol leaves a sleep deprived Jihoon with a bright eyed six year old waving energetically from the apartment window as he climbs into a taxi to catch his flight.

“Dad, can we go to the bookstore after school today?” Minjae asks as he scurries back to his room to put on his uniform. Jihoon smiles tiredly.

“Of course, baby,” he says, helping Minjae wriggle into his school uniform. “Anything you want,”

Minjae grins brightly and Jihoon can’t help but mirror it.

“I’m going to die,”

“It’s been two hours. Seungcheol-hyung only just got on a plane,” Soonyoung replies calmly.

“I’m still going to die,” Jihoon groans as he slumps at his desk.

Soonyoung’s laugh is soft, almost breathless. “Jihoon, did you give him breakfast?”

“Yes,”

“Get him into his uniform?”

“He put it on himself,”

“Remembered his lunch?”

“Packed it the night before,”

“Got him to school without any emotional breakdowns or car collisions?”

“Of course. Minjae knows not to cross the road unless the pedestrian light is green and he’s holding my hand - ”

“Then you’ve done just fine,” Jihoon can’t see him but he knows Soonyoung is smiling.

He lets out a helpless whimper. “I can’t do this, Soonyoung. I’m the parent who isn’t… hands on. Seungcheol is the one helping him bathe, the one who feeds him and tucks him into bed and - ”

“But you’re still his parent, Jihoon,” Soonyoung says. “Just because you don’t normally do it, doesn’t mean you can’t ever do it,”

“Minjae prefers Seungcheol over me,” Jihoon mumbles in a tiny voice.

Soonyoung sighs. “You don’t love Minjae less than Seungcheol-hyung simply because you show it differently, right?”

“Of course not!” Jihoon protests quickly.

“So who says Minjae can’t love you as his parent just as much as Seungcheol-hyung? He just might show it differently, because you receive affection differently to Seungcheol-hyung,”

Jihoon goes quiet for a long moment. Then, “Wipe that smug smile off your face, Hoshi,” Jihoon mutters.

Soonyoung giggles. “Okay, Woozi, go do your work. You have a six-year-old to pick up from school later today.”

The last thing Soonyoung hears as he hangs up is Jihoon’s groan.

Nearly bowled over by two young boys chasing each other through the corridors, Jihoon is taken by surprise when an excited six-year-old crashes into his legs.

“Dad, Dad, look what we did today!” Minjae says excitedly and waves a slightly crumpled piece of paper at Jihoon.

“What did you do today, baby?” Jihoon asks, as he crouches next to his son to look at his paper. It’s a drawing of a family, two adults holding the hands of a child.

“Is that us, Minjae?” Jihoon asks and Minjae excitedly nods, pointing out Seungcheol - who is the slightly taller adult, Jihoon notices - as well as Jihoon himself and Minjae with an oversized smile and his favourite t-shirt.

“And who’s this?” Jihoon asks, pointing out the other slightly less detailed figure to the side, next to some other stick figures.

“Uncle Soonyoung, ‘cause he’s my favourite,” Minjae says, “and there’s Uncle Jeonghan, and Uncle Jisoo and...”

From: Jihoon
To: Soonyoung
Minjae called you his favourite uncle

From: Soonyoung
To: Jihoon
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Jihoon gets towed into the bookstore by his son, humming along to Jihoon’s latest track which is playing over the radio in the store. Jihoon can’t help the content smile that slides onto his lips.

They each choose a book and then Jihoon buys him ice-cream, kissing chocolate ice-cream smeared lips as he buckles his son in the car, and Minjae giggles happily.

When he gets home, he realises Seungcheol has probably arrived in Hong Kong by now.

“Want to call Dad?” Jihoon asks and Minjae perks up from where he’s obediently putting his shoes on the rack.

“Yeah!” he cries and slides and nearly falls over in his socks and Jihoon scrambles to try to catch him, but Minjae just laughs as he slips and slides his way into Jihoon’s embrace.

“Let’s call Dad, let’s call Dad!” he chants as Jihoon sighs a heavy sigh of relief he doesn’t have a six year old crying from falling on his face.

“Okay, let’s call Dad,” he says softly. He sits down in front of the couch and Minjae crawls into his crossed legs as Jihoon video calls Seungcheol.

There’s a groggy Seungcheol on the other end of the line, looking like he just woke up from a nap.

“Dad!” Minjae tries to grab the phone and nearly knocks it out of Jihoon’s hand.

“Hey, baby, how was school today? Were you good?” Seungcheol asks sleepily. His eyes are barely open but there’s a smile on his lips.

“Yeah, I was good! I drew us today, Dad!” he says. Jihoon smiles from behind his son.

“He did. You were taller,” Jihoon says and Seungcheol barks out in surprised laughter.

“Did you really, Minjae-yah?” Seungcheol laughs.

Minjae nods happily, still beaming with pride. “And then we went to the bookstore, and Dad bought me chocolate ice-cream -”

Jihoon pretends not to see the look Seungcheol gives him. Chocolate ice-cream is meant for special treats. Jihoon thinks having only one (slightly inexperienced) parent for a week requires the special treat.

“He drew all the hyungs on the side,” Jihoon says.

“Why don’t you draw a picture for all of them and give it to them when you see them tomorrow?” Seungcheol suggests, rubbing an eye and rolling over in his bed.

Minjae gasps like it’s the most brilliant idea ever. “I’m going to go do that right now!” he says, scrambling out from between his father’s legs and running to his backpack to get his pencils.

Jihoon chuckles, before turning back to see his husband watching him with a gentle, fond look in his eyes. “How’s everything?” Seungcheol asks.

Jihoon shrugs, a small smile on his lips. “I’m managing, I guess,”

“I’m sure you’re doing fine, Jihoon,”

Jihoon doesn’t answer that. Instead he asks, “You have to go soon?”

“Mm, you actually called me just after my alarm went off. I have to get ready for dinner. The meetings are tomorrow,” Seungcheol sighs, running a hand over his face.

Jihoon glances over to see Minjae furiously scribbling away at the kitchen table with his pencils.

“I should go make dinner, so I can get him to bed on time,”

“Don’t stay up too late, genius producer,”

Jihoon smiles. “Take care of yourself over there,”

“Will do, love. Take care of Minjae, but take care of yourself too,”

They exchange soft I love yous and even softer goodbyes, before Jihoon ends the call and goes to make dinner.
Minjae shows Jihoon his drawings just as Jihoon sets the dishes on the table. Jihoon smiles gently and tells him to pack his pencils while they have dinner, and Minjae obediently packs them away neatly before setting the table.

They share dinner as Minjae tells Jihoon about how he managed to score a goal in basketball during gym class. Jihoon proudly ruffles his hair before they clean up the dishes. Jihoon is very careful not to get shampoo in Minjae’s eyes as he bathes him, before they settle in Minjae’s room with his new book. Jihoon reads the story of the lost polar bear, with Minjae in between his legs, until the young boy is nodding off against his chest.

Jihoon smiles, puts the book away and gently extracts himself to tuck Minjae into bed. The young boy stirs a little as Jihoon reaches for the light.

“Night, Dad. Love you,” he mumbles.

Jihoon smiles and switches off the light. “Goodnight, Minjae. I love you too,” he says softly before stepping out, leaving the door open just a crack - the way Minjae likes it.

He lets out a deep breath. He’s survived day one.

“Daaaaaaaaaad, wake upppppp,”

Jihoon groans and rolls over, but then there’s a six-year-old on his back, poking his cheek.

“Dad, we gotta goooooo,”

“What time is it?”

Minjae stares at him, confused, before Jihoon remembers the clock in his room is analog and he hasn’t taught his son how to read analog clocks yet. He puts his son back onto the sheets, sitting up and rubbing his eyes as he looks at the time.

Nine o’clock. He went to bed approximately four hours ago.

But they’re meant to meet some of the other hyungs for a gathering. Since Seungcheol and Jihoon’s almost-divorce episode, the group has been trying to keep in contact more. And now that there’s two kids in the group, it also gives them an excuse to meet up - Soonyoung claims he has to see his favourite nephew at least once a month. (Jihoon’s remark that Soonyoung doesn’t have any other nephews falls to deaf ears.)

“Alright, I’m up, I’m up,” Jihoon yawns. “What do you want for breakfast, baby?”

“Can we make pancakes?!” Minjae asks, eyes shining brighter than the sunshine outside. Jihoon smiles and squishes his cheeks.

“Sure. Let’s see if you can flip them better than me,”

After a couple of pancakes ending up on the floor and Jihoon pointedly hushing Minjae’s incessant giggles, they set off to Hansol and Seungkwan’s place.

“Where’s my favourite nephew?!” Soonyoung’s voice bellows as soon as Hansol opens the door.

“Here!!!” Minjae squeals as he runs down the corridor, straight into Soonyoung’s waiting arms. Jihoon sighs as he steps inside and greets Hansol. The younger just hides a gentle smile.

“My baby!” Jeonghan gushes as soon as he sees Minjae, reaching for him, but Soonyoung pouts and shuffles away with the six-year-old, earning giggles from the young boy.

“Please don’t kidnap my son,” Jihoon sighs as he enters the kitchen. He greets everyone, smiling at Yoojung in Seungkwan’s arms. The young girl takes a moment to recognise him, but happily wraps her arms around his neck and lets him hug her for a good few seconds before she’s whining for Seungkwan again.

He can see Soonyoung and Seokmin playing some sort of charades with Minjae right now. His son is laughing brightly and it warms his heart. Yoojung is watching them all curiously from Seungkwan’s arms, but doesn’t make any move to indicate she wants to join. Yet.

“How’s Dad number two holding down the fort while Dad number one is away?” Wonwoo asks with a small smile. He’s munching on some of crackers Seungkwan has set out. Jihoon stocks himself up with a few before answering.

“Why am I Dad number two?” he asks. Mingyu opens his mouth to answer, but Wonwoo slaps a hand over his mouth.

“How are you doing at home with Minjae?” Wonwoo rephrases his question.

Jihoon sighs. “Okay, I think. I haven’t forgotten a meal or anything, and yesterday everything was fine at school. I just feel exhausted more than anything,”

“Seungcheol usually does all the playing, huh?” Jisoo asks as he appears beside Jihoon.

“Yeah. I do all the behind the scenes stuff, and Seungcheol does the hands on stuff,” Jihoon says.

They all turn as Yoojung whines and asks to be put down, to which Seungkwan complies and they all see her run over to join Minjae and Soonyoung and Seokmin. She happily plops down next to Minjae, but the young boy doesn’t seem interested in her, even as Seokmin easily begins to talk to her.

“You think Seokmin-hyung and Soonyoung-hyung are the next ones to get a child?” Hansol asks as he watches his daughter make faces with Seokmin.

“I’d worry for the child,” Jihoon deadpans and they all share quiet laughter.

Yoojung is excitedly tugging at Minjae’s sleeve, but the young boy seems only to be half listening. Jihoon frowns. He makes a mental note to talk