It has to be perfect. The perfection of perfect, no less of it. Seunghyun had calculated it, had done his research, had a late night shopping trip with his manager grumbling for being dragged along, had begged Youngbae to do anything to get Daesung out of the house. Everything is fine, everything is all smooth, just as what he had planned so now, here he is, in his kitchen with a Macbook on the counter and all the things he needs on the table.

Perfect.

He logs in to his YouTube account and types in the search bar.

How to make a –

“Appa!” Ken latches himself onto Seunghyun’s legs, still wearing his bathrobe which is a gift from Seungri. Seunghyun didn’t know how Seungri could find an expensive bathrobe for a four years old kid nor did he ask about it. “Brownie is swimming.”

–a cupcake, Seunghyun finishes typing and waits for the videos to load.

“Appa,” Ken tugs on his shirt. “Brownie is swimming.”

“Hmm,” Seunghyun frowns over the result. How is he going to find perfect video of steps of making cupcakes?

“He is flying in water,” Ken untangles himself from Seunghyun’s legs, his hair is still dripping wet from the shower.

Seunghyun hums absentmindedly, wondering if he should choose the 10 minutes video or the 5 minutes ones. Why on earth there are so many videos about making cupcakes? Are there a lot of people out there also in need of giving surprise for their lover?

He chuckles at his own thought. Daesung’s birthday is tomorrow and Seunghyun had been preparing for surprise for almost two weeks. It’s so hard to keep secrets from Daesung and there were times when Daesung looked at him suspiciously but Seunghyun managed to dodge it all somehow. He only has to make this cupcake, just four cupcakes perfectly so Daesung can blow candles right at midnight and then they will be flying to Japan tomorrow morning. It’s short trip but it’s the first one they would be going as three with their son instead of just them two. Seunghyun can only wish that their fans won’t be coming in their ways but recently they’ve been becoming more and more respectful to their personal lives so maybe he doesn’t have to wish so hard.

“Can I swim too, appa?”

“No,” Seunghyun blinks and finally looks at his son. “I’m a little busy here, baby, why don’t you play with Brownie, hmm?”

“But Brownie is swimming!” Ken frowns. “I want to swim too!”

Seunghyun kneels in front of his son. “But you can’t swim yet, can you?”

“Appa promised to teach me.”

“Later,” Seunghyun smiles. Soon, I promise.

Ken pouts.

“Now, let’s get Brownie,” Seunghyun pats his son’s cheek. “Where is he?”

“Swimming,” Ken says, annoyed for repeating. He looks a lot like Daesung, Seunghyun’s heart blooms at the thought.

“Where? In Lego pool?” Seunghyun raises his eyebrow. Daesung’s fans sent them a mini castle (it looks like a Barbie house but Daesung calls it a castle because nobody in their house plays Barbie) made of Lego blocks last year and Ken often used it as Brownie and Tofu’s house.

“No,” the toddler shakes his head, taking his father’s hand and leads him to the bathroom. “Tub.”

Seunghyun’s jaw drops as he watches the kangaroo plushie floats in half full bathtub with the shower still running. “You –you took him for a bath?”

Ken nods. “He smells gross.”

Seunghyun sighs, thinking about the flour, eggs, baking powder, fruits and recipe that have to wait.

***

“Is he not dizzy, Appa?” Ken rubs his eyes as he squats in front of the washing machine, watching his toy spinning and spinning inside it.

“No, he’s not,” Seunghyun hopes so. “Let’s wait for him to dry,” he takes his son’s hand and leads them both back to the living room.

“What are you doing, appa?” Ken picks up a banana.

Seunghyun peels the fruit for him and hands the yellow thing back to his son’s hand. “I’m making cupcakes.”

“Cupcakes!” Ken squeals happily. “Chocolate?”

“Yes,” Seunghyun ruffles Ken’s hair softly.

“Let’s call Daesung–appa?”

“No,” Seunghyun says quickly it startles the boy. “It’s a surprise, remember what day tomorrow is?”

Ken nods and bites more of his banana. “Daesung–appa’s birthday.”

He’s been told by his grandmother before. She said he could make a present for his Daesung–appa too so he drew a picture of Daesung–appa wearing a black shirt, because his Daesung–appa wears black shirt a lot and sometimes shirtless at home. His grandmother chuckled and said that she would keep the present so his appa wouldn’t find out before it’s time. His grandfather laughed and said that Ken had drawn the eyes perfectly. He felt proud of himself, his grandfather rarely spoke but he smelled almost the same like his Daesung–appa.

“Right,” Seunghyun beams. His son is getting smarter and smarter every day, he feels so happy yet sad because he’s growing up too fast, in his opinion. “So I have to make it ready before he comes back tonight.”

“I help!” Ken exclaims excitedly. “I help appa!”

“Uh, well…,” Seunghyun isn’t sure if it’s the best idea since he himself doesn’t even really know what to do.

“I help,” Ken, already finishing his banana, looks at him with eyes shining it’s almost bring Seunghyun to tears.

“Okay, let’s get to work.”

“Cupcake!”

***

“So, Ken, I need the bowl.”

“Bowl,” Ken nods and brings the item to Seunghyun. He doesn’t have an apron and he insisted on wearing one just like his appa so Seunghyun had come to emergency solution, wrapping towel around his waist so it would at least cover his pants. Ken just agreed, too overwhelmed with the idea of baking cupcakes.

“Not this bowl, baby,” Seunghyun chuckles lightly and gives the Batman bowl back to his son. “That bowl.”

Ken frowns. “Why, appa?”

“This one is too small.”

The toddler looks at his favorite bowl, which is actually a gift from Daesung’s manager. It’s a small bowl with Batman logo printed on the outer side that came along with matching spoon, fork, and mini chopstick for, well, toddler. “But this is good.”

“It is, but it’s not big enough to mix all our ingredients.”

“Mix?”

“Yes, baby, we’ll be mixing the flour.”

Ken’s eyes widens at the mention. “But…cupcakes?”

Seunghyun blinks. “We’ll be…making it?”

“Why is flour?”

“Because that’s what cupcakes are made of, bubble,” Seunghyun sighs. “Now, the bowl, please?”

Ken reaches for the large transparent bowl, finally giving it to Seunghyun with new determination shining in his eyes. “Appa?”

“Yes?”

“Can I make cupcakes too?”

“Eh? Aren’t we?”

“No,” he grins widely it brings smile to Seunghyun’s lips as well. “I make in my bowl.”

Seunghyun doesn’t know how to say no. He lets out a nervous laugh as his son over-excitedly reaches for the bag of flour that then, of course like in a classic comedy scene, slipped through his tiny hands and covers the floor with its white.

Seunghyun can only watch in horror as Ken screams ‘snowyyyyyyyyyyyyy’ over the disaster.