“How’s Mingyu?” Those were the first words Seungcheol said when he walked into the room, coat still wrapped over his body. He put his bag on the dining table as he looked at Jun who was sitting on the floor between the sofa and table in their TV room (well, technically it’s just a small space in a room shared with the kitchen and dining table, so TV corner might be more accurate).

Jun put the iron on the table before turning to face Seungcheol.

“He’s fine,” he said with a smile. Seungcheol still felt the need to confirm for himself, but he felt much relieved thanks to Jun’s calming voice and reassuring eyes.

Just then, a high pitched groan was heard from across the wall, followed by noisy group of footsteps and Mingyu showing up with bandaged right arm and a huge grin. Right behind him was Seungkwan, face all puffed and red, complete with a pout.

Mingyu ran so fast he almost hit Seungcheol. Luckily Seungcheol stretched his hands quick enough to hold Mingyu’s shoulders and prevent him from crashing into Seungcheol’s legs. Seungcheol didn’t have to bent down to reach the boy’s shoulders and it reminded him of how tall Mingyu had been growing.

“Why do you always do that? I don’t like it!” Seungkwan screamed as he glared at Mingyu. Meanwhile the older boy didn’t seem to be affected by Seungkwan’s glare, the huge grin still intact.

Seungcheol saw Jun unplugged the iron (wouldn’t want fully heated iron in the room with the kids) and walked towards Seungkwan. Jun patted Seungkwan’s head and the boy clung to his Papa’s legs.

The room was finally quiet again and Seungcheol took the chance to look down at Mingyu and said, “Your arm?”

The boy looked up, still grinning. “I got a long cut, Dad! It’s so cool!”

The answer didn’t exactly soothe Seungcheol’s heart but at least Mingyu looked fine. It’s time to move on to the next topic.

“Why is Seungkwan upset?”

“I pinched his cheeks.”

“Even though you know he doesn’t like it?”

“But they’re cute!”

“I know but I don’t like them stretched!” Seungkwan chimed in, the cheeks in question puffed into cute buns.

As Seungcheol was thinking how to get his youngest children to make up, Wonwoo came into the room. A beat later, the doorbell rang. Jun looked at Wonwoo and the boy nodded as if they could understand each other. Wonwoo walked to Seungkwan and held the boy while Jun slipped off to answer the door. Not long after Jun was back with Joshua and Jeonghan.

Jun looked slightly confused when he said, “They said they came to pick up the kids. Did you call them?”

Now Seungcheol was confused too and he shook his head.

“We called them!” Mingyu said.

Before Seungcheol could ask why, Wonwoo had stepped up to answer it.

“Dad and Papa haven’t been on a date so long, so we thought we’ll stay at Uncle Joshua and Uncle Jeonghan’s.”

Seungcheol was surprised. He exchanged glances with Jun and saw that his husband seemed equally surprised.

While leaning into Wonwoo’s hold, Seungkwan said, “But I don’t want to go to Uncle Josha and Uncle Hannie. They cook bad.” Jeonghan and Joshua chuckled at that, not looking offended at all; they were mature enough to admit it.

“But they buy us burger, pizza, chicken, cola,” said Wonwoo with slight excitement in his usually calm voice.

“And I want to play with Minghao!” Mingyu added with more obvious excitement.

“I like Hansol’s place better!” said Seungkwan.

Wonwoo responded with, “Their fathers are too noisy.” Seungkwan mumbled about how he liked Uncle Soonyoung and Uncle Seokmin, but he didn’t protest anymore because he liked Wonwoo more.

The kids finally quieted down and gathered around Joshua and Jeonghan. Jun said that the couple didn’t have to take care of the kids since he and Seungcheol didn’t have plans anyway, but they dismissed him by pointing out how he and Seungcheol had been busy with work and kids that they barely had any time for themselves. Jun couldn’t argue with that. After making Joshua and Jeonghan promise to not let the kids have too much junk food, Jun sent them off.

“So... You wanna go somewhere?” Seungcheol asked.

Jun blinked his eyes at Seungcheol. “I’ll go anywhere you go.” They both laughed at that.

When the laughter died down, Seungcheol noticed the bags under Jun’s eyes and his slightly pale skins. As Seungcheol walked closer, he could also see the redness in Jun’s smiling eyes. He figured that Jun was probably as tired as he was.

“How about ice cream and movie marathon?”

Jun’s eyes sparkled as he nodded. Seungcheol smiled before leaving Jun for their bedroom, quickly changing into his favorite star pajamas and took out his laptop from his bag. When Seungcheol was setting up the laptop on the bed, Jun came in with a bucket of ice cream in one hand, a large bottle of water in the other, and a pack of chips under his arm.

“You still have some chips?”

“I save it for times like this.” Seungcheol chuckled at that. He never understood Jun’s liking for mixing sweet and salty food, but Seungcheol loved how Jun looked so happy whenever he had them.

Jun put the bottle of water on the floor next to the bed before joining Seungcheol on the bed. He leaned his back on the headboard and Seungcheol followed suit, head placed on the crook of Jun’s neck. Ice cream bucket on Seungcheol’s lap, chips bag on Jun’s, and laptop spread on both of their stretched legs, they were ready for the long overdue movie date.

They watched a fairly new romance movie, once in a while commenting or giggling at the movie, nuzzling heads into each other just because, moving their hands alternating between feeding their mouths and drawing circles on the back of each other’s hands (Jun’s potato-chips-contaminated hands were greasy but Seungcheol didn’t mind). Sometime during the movie Seungcheol thought of the day he got lost on his way for job interview, going back to the same bus station at least 5 times before Jun approached him and offered some help; the day it all started. The thought brought a feeling of gratitude inside Seungcheol, and when the film ended, he kissed Jun’s forehead in a hope to convey it. Jun looked at him with so much affection in his eyes that Seungcheol felt even more thankful. They set aside the laptop and remains of their night snacks before resuming to look at each other, bodies snuggled in a cuddle, until sleepiness took over and left them safe and peaceful in each other’s embrace.