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Baekhyun hadn’t had a bath for probably years—only quick showers to make sure that he was still hygienic, but he hadn’t had a proper wallow to lie back and relax on. He was a big fan of baths, especially in his college years, with all kinds of salts and oils that he bought probably nearly every week. Though on the new prospect that Chanyeol now paid his bills, and now he doesn’t have to worry about the water, Baekhyun was able to relive it over again—this time, with a very excited Minhyun.

Minhyun was beyond excited. Aghast, almost. He was shrieking as the tub filled up with warm water and bubbles, swirling it around with his fingers and clapping his hands. He never had a bath before—he only heard it from his friends in his school, or at storybooks, and probably longed at the prospect of a mini swimming pool right in your own house. He was experiencing his very first bath. And if that wasn’t exciting, Minhyun doesn’t know what else is.

“Bath! Bath! Bath! Bath!” Minhyun hollers, almost at the top of his lungs, repeating it between bouts of “Daddy, has it finished filling up yet?” It fills about halfway, with the bubbles almost b to the top, and Baekhyun finally stops the continuously running tap, chuckling at his son’s excited impatience.

“Daddy, how many bubbles do you think there are?” Minhyun gasps, cupping the bubbles in a palmed hand, handling it carefully as if it was fragile. Baekhyun simply laughs, undressing himself before he undressed his son, shaking his head.

“I don’t know! Lots of it, it seems.”

“Maybe, umm, maybe millions and millions and millions of bubbles! Three million and seventy-two!” Minhyun exclaims, already tip-toeing between his toes, clearly impatient to go in the bath. Baekhyun laughs before he hoists his son up, suspending him in air.

“Ready to take a bath, Minhyun?”

“Yes!” Minhyun cackled, clapping his hands.

“Yeah? Here we go—one, two, and—“

Baekhyun swung him lightly before setting him down on the bath, Minhyun shrieking with laughter. Baekhyun climbed in after him and Minhyun was simply wallowing in this tiny little heaven of his, splashing his arms around and grasping at bubbles with his starfish hands, giggling when they popped in his touch.

“Minhyun, look—“ Baekhyun gathered up the bubbles and smeared them across Minhyun’s chin, “—you’ve got a beard!”

This seemed to amuse Minhyun to the point that he almost fell back to the water from his laughter, his mouth open in the widest grin possible, producing an endless bout of giggles. In turn, Minhyun gathered as many bubbles as he could with his arm before he crowned in on his father’s hair, pointing and chortling.

“Daddy has a hat!” Minhyun exclaims, before falling into peals and peals of laughter. Baekhyun patted the gathering of bubbles on his head and laughed whole-heartedly, both of them cupping bubbles into their hands to shape appendages to place onto each other.

Soon, Minhyun calms down from his high of bubbles and lets Baekhyun wash him. He sits obediently while Baekhyun rubbed shampoo into his hair, gentle as to not get any soap near his eyes. Baekhyun was about to wash himself before Minhyun grabs the shampoo bottle and pours a too-generous amount in his hands.

“I wanna wash Daddy’s hair!” he insists, slapping the slab of shampoo onto the top of his father’s head. Baekhyun chuckled and allows his son to do a work of his hair, Minhyun’s tongue sticking out as he does what he thought is a very professional work. His little fingers scrabble over the black strands, sometimes tugging Baekhyun’s head back but was mostly harmless. Then, out of his own amusement, he raised his father’s hair into a Mohawk and he giggled, before he sets it down again.

“Can I wash Daddy’s back, too?” Minhyun asks, prodding at his father’s spine. Baekhyun nods and hands him the liquid soap, shifting himself around so that his back faced Minhyun.

“Very gently, okay? Don’t use the loofah.”

“Okie-dokie.”

Minhyun carefully soaped up his father’s back, his fingers gentle on what was largely made of scar and skin grafts. It covered the whole expanse of Baekhyun’s back and, despite never really seeing it, Baekhyun winced whenever anything came to direct contact with it, hit with the memory of what had caused in in the first place.

“Daddy,”

“Yeah?”

“When, umm, you know, when you got a very very big burn on your back,” Minhyun stuck out his tongue and poured more soap, “How did you fix it all up?”

“The doctor took the skin from the back of my arms and my legs and put it on my back,” Baekhyun said, raising his arm a little from the burial of bubbles to show the scarred skin from his arm, “See?”

“Did it hurt lots and lots? And did you have to go to hospital and the doctor tells you lots of grown-up words?”

“Yes. I stayed there for a long time,” Baekhyun said, then added quickly, “But I’m fine now, see? All you have to do is put cream on it.”

“Did you almost die?” Minhyun asks with the innocence of a child, and Baekhyun’s smile narrows into an almost worried frown, wondering where his son gathered such knowledge.

“Nearly, but I didn’t.”

“Daddy, you know when I can’t breathe and I get very very tired, and the doctor said I have a problem with my heart, will it hurt lots and lots and I have to go to hospital and will I almost die too?” Minhyun continues, and Baekhyun could almost feel his heart plummeting to the bottom of his stomach. He turns around and faces his son with glassy eyes, biting his lip, Minhyun’s cheek.

“Minhyun, sweetheart… Where did all of this come from…?” Baekhyun whispered. Minhyun shrugged, pouting his lips, playing with his hands.

“It’s okay, Daddy, you can tell me,” Minhyun mumbled, looking down at the bubbles, “You work very very hard and then you found out that I’m sick and then you work and work and you get tired but it’s okay if Daddy doesn’t have enough money to make me better—“

“Minhyun! Minhyun, stop,” Baekhyun almost cries, snatching Minhyun into his arms, embracing him tightly as if Death had suddenly been there to take his son away. He rocks back and forth, his mouth filled with cotton wool and his eyes pooled with tears, holding Minhyun into his chest as if he was never going to let him go.

“Daddy…” Minhyun spoke, almost smothered in his father’s arms, murmuring against his wet shoulder, “I don’t want Daddy to hurt himself and work too hard and be very tired. It’s okay if I hurt lots and lots because then Daddy wouldn’t have to—“

“Minhyun—“ Baekhyun says hoarsely, a sob settling onto his throat. He pulls apart and cupped his son’s face, the tears finally spilling from his glassy eyes, his mouth shaking to form the words, “—Minhyun, I don’t want you to hurt. Ever. Not even a little bit. I—“

He takes a stuttering breath and a hitch whistles from his mouth, trying to hold back his emotions, looking into the innocence of the child’s eyes.

“—Daddy loves you. Daddy will do anything and Daddy doesn’t care if it hurts him—Daddy loves you so much, Minhyun. Don’t—Don’t ever leave me—okay?—d-don’t—“

Baekhyun broke in two. The feelings overcome him and he finally cracks, sobbing and crying, his body wracked with so much emotion. Minhyun watches his father’s shoulders shake and tremble, wet hands coming up to cover his damp face—and Minhyun never saw his father in such a fragile state.

“Daddy, please don’t cry,” Minhyun murmured, coming up to hug his father. He burrowed himself into his father’s arms, snuggling in as close as he could, pa