“No.” Hansol pouted.

“Hansol,” Seungcheol sighed.

“No, thank you.” Hansol reiterated softly, turning away from his father.

Seungcheol cracked a smile. “Thank you for being nice, but we’re still going,”

“ Daddy, ” Hansol whined, eyes shining with tears. Seungcheol got up from his side of the table and scooped his son up. Hansol, despite the feeling of utter betrayal, wrapped his tiny arms around Seungcheol’s neck and buried his face into his father’s shoulder. Seungcheol hugged his son close and rocked him in an attempt to calm him down. “I don’t like that place.”

“I know, kiddo, but we won’t be there for long. We go in, get what we need to get, and then we’re out.” Hopefully.

“Nuh uh, we’re going to be there forever . Just like always,” Hansol replied with a pout, and he was right. It was never a quick “in and out” because 1) Seungcheol was a single father, a young one at that, and 2) Hansol wasn’t fully Korean so that obviously meant there was a backstory to explore; they attracted all kinds of attention, and it might have given his son some kind of trauma (on top of the fact that Hansol just doesn’t really like busy places).

“What if I told you it was for Tzuyu and her mommy?” Seungcheol almost smirked as his son pulled back and looked at him, various emotions crossing over his small face.

“It’s for Tzu—yu and her mommy?” Hansol’s eyes sparkled with consideration.

Seungcheol nodded. “Yep, because Tzuyu and her mommy need a little help sometimes, and daddy wants to help them out since he can. Do you want to help them too?” Hansol nodded furiously and Seungcheol smiled big and bright. Seungcheol nuzzled up to his son who complained about his chin being itchy, so Seungcheol switched to giving Hansol kisses. Hansol giggled and tried to escape his father’s arms, and Seungcheol refused to let him go for a little while until Hansol started exclaiming about having to pee. As soon as Seungcheol let go of Hansol, the little one ran to the bathroom (Seungcheol was surprised, assuming his son had only used that as an excuse). Seungcheol ended up following him down the hall, preparing his and Hansol’s outfits for the day before heading back to the bathroom so they can wash up and make themselves presentable.

“Dad, you look...different,” Hansol looked his father up and down and Seungcheol wondered how his five-year-old learned to be so mature (read: subtly judgemental with the perfect hint of sass; honestly, he was a bit impressed). Nonetheless, Seungcheol looked his own self up and down in the mirror in front of them. He was wearing the bare minimum in terms of style, his goal for the day being to not attract as much attention as usual—he was simply wearing a classic white tee, some grey sweats, and he’s been considering wearing a bucket hat as well, but raising a child has made him feel years older than he actually was, so he’s leaning more towards not wearing it.

“I’m going incognito, kiddo,” Seungcheol smiled down at his son despite the judgement he recieved.

“In...In-con-gito?” Hansol tried to sound it out, his brows knitting together as he worked the word through his head.

“In-cog-nito,” Seungcheol repeated with a laugh. Hansol tried it again, and although it was still a bit shaky, he nailed it nonetheless and Seungcheol ruffled his hair. “see you got it!”

“What does it mean?” Hansol asked as he stepped down from his stool, done preparing for their outing. He dragged it over to the side near the tub and sat on it, watching on as Seungcheol finally began to shave.

“It means to be in disguise, you know, like undercover….ah! Sneaky!” Seungcheol explained.

“Ooooh,” Hansol drew out the sound in realization, nodding his head. “what about me, dad?”

“You’re too cute to be incognito,” Seungcheol peeked over just in time to see Hansol grimace before letting out a little giggle. The two continued conversation as Seungcheol finished up shaving, and then they were heading out the door. Seungcheol played rocket with Hansol all the way to the car, hopefully distracting him for the time being.

The drive to the mall was spent singing along to all sorts of children’s songs and Seungcheol trying not to cause an accident due to laughing at Hansol’s failed attempts at high notes. When they got there, it was as busy as Seungcheol expected, and he could hear Hansol sigh softly accompanied with a little whine. For a moment, Seungcheol wondered if he should have left Hansol in Jihoon’s care during this small trip. Nonetheless, Seungcheol parked and retrieved Hansol from the backseat, holding onto the little one knowing very well Hansol would rather miss an episode of Pororo than walk to his untimely demise (those weren’t his exact words, but it was pretty much what the little boy had said to Seungcheol once).

Their entrance to the mall was smooth; Hansol buried his face into Seungcheol’s chest while Seungcheol made eye contact with exactly no one, and he wondered if the mask he decided to slip on last minute and the cap pressing his bangs to his forehead, covering nearly the other half of his face, had something to do with his unapproachability. He’s not complaining, though, because they manage to make it to the second floor just as smoothly as they entered.

“Daddy, I hate it here,” Hansol whined as he looked up at Seungcheol. Seungcheol pulled down his mask with his free hand and pressed a kiss to Hansol’s forehead as he stepped off the escalator.

“I know, sweetie, do you want something to play with? There’s a toy store over there?” Seungcheol began making his way over to the store despite Hansol’s delayed, slow nod. Seungcheol smiled as Hansol pulled his mask back up for him, patting it gently with his small hands. They entered the toy store that was, unsurprisingly, a bit busy and Seungcheol made a beeline for Hansol’s favorites. “Which one do you want, Sol? I don’t think you have one like this?” Seungcheol pointed to a stuffed Shin-chan toy, but Hansol shook his head after Seungcheol discovered that you could pull its pants down. Seungcheol went down the aisle slowly, pointing out different toys that Hansol might like, but not quite hitting the jackpot.

Almost as soon as they turned the corner, Hansol gasped lightly and pointed out at a doll with more speed than Seungcheol has ever seen him display. “That one, daddy!” He exclaimed quietly, and Seungcheol walked towards where Hansol was pointing, the little boy daring to reach further and further out the closer Seungcheol got.

“Wah-boo-fey!” Hansol exclaimed happily despite not being able to pronounce the name correctly, and he hugged the toy close to him, his smile big and bright. Seungcheol hugged Hansol closer to him and nuzzled the little boy’s head.

“You are the love of my life, kiddo.” Seungcheol said as he moved his mask down to press small kisses to Hansol’s forehead again. “So this is the one?”

“Yeah!” Hansol snuggled up to the toy and Seungcheol smiled warmly. The man made his way to the cash register, easily maneuvering his card out of his wallet as he went to pay. He managed to luck out on any personal questions, the cashier being a teenage male who looked ready for his lunch break already. With a refusal of a bag and quick thanks, Seungcheol and Hansol were off to their original destination.

“Thank you, daddy,” Hansol giggled and leaned into Seungcheol’s chest once more. The little boy looked a lot more relaxed than when they first came in and Seungcheol was more than grateful.

“No problem, sweetie. You always make it worth it,” Seungcheol muttered the last part more so to himself than to Hansol as he makes his way over to the baby and toddler store. It’s a bit of a walk, and with Hansol too occupied with his toy to bury his face into Seungcheol’s chest and Seungcheol’s mask pulled down once more, he’s gotten a couple of stares and was even stopped a few times. They made it though, but Seungcheol knew this is where the real war began. Seungcheol pulled out a shopping cart and situated Hansol into it (Hansol didn’t like the ones with the cars because he couldn’t see his father and that scared him, and when Junhui asked Seungcheol if he cried about that, he quickly answered a resolute “Yes, I absolutely cried, thank you for asking”).

“Oh, how cute!”

“Is that really your son?”

“You look awfully young…”

“Where’s the wife?”

Seungcheol smiled tightly as he navigated his way through young mothers and the middle aged women living through them. He repeated flat responses of “Thank you”, “Yes, he’s my son”, “That feels good to hear being halfway to thirty”, and his personal favorite, “Oh, there’s no wife…” like a mantra. He dodged personal questions with even more strained smiles and excuses of needing to complete this errand quickly before lunch (which wasn’t really an excuse, because he’ll be damned if these women make his baby boy starve for even a second).

“Finally,” Seungcheol sighed heavily as he finally reached the section where the car seats were. He carefully looked through each and every one, even the really expensive ones although he knew he wasn’t going to get them. He ended up settling for a heftily priced purple car seat, since this was for the sake of someone else’s kid, after all. He lifted the box and settled it into the cart—right next to Hansol—with ease. Hansol stared at the car seat, confused, and then he looked back up his father for the first time since they got into the store.

“Dad, I already have one of these, right?” Hansol questioned, placing a small hand on the box.

“Yep, but this is for Tzuyu and her mommy, remember?” Seungcheol leaned against the cart as he pushed it back through the store towards the cash register. Some of the ladies from before eye him and he bows to the ones who he accidentally makes eye contact with awkwardly. There’s a small line at the register that shook Seungcheol’s nerves a bit, he didn’t like being idle in this store for too long, it made him uncomfortable because it made him susceptible to small talk.

“We can get you over here, sir,” A cheerful voice called out to Seungcheol and gestured over to her register. Seungcheol sighed in relief and hurriedly moved over to her line. He picked the box up and set it on the conveyor, silently hoping that this teen was just like the last he encountered and didn’t care much for small talk.

Unfortunately, Seungcheol’s never really been the overly lucky type.

“So,” the girl started, smile bright as she takes her time checking Seungcheol out (and man, does he wish that he only meant his item). “is he your kid?” She completed, and Seungcheol figured that he’d try extra hard to reel in the annoyance since he is just a teen (at least, that’s what he’s been assuming).

“Yeah, I adopted him when he was a baby,” Seungcheol replied smoothly, contemplating whether he should point out that he did so with his partnerand not wife .

“Your wife not able to have kids?” She followed up with a sad look on her face, as if his theoretical wife not being able to have kids was the worst thing in the world.

“No, no, there was never any wife,” Seungcheol smiled and he couldn’t help the tightness around the edges. The girl nodded and she began ringing Seungcheol up a bit quicker. Whatever realization she came upon, Seungcheol wasn’t sure, but he was glad for it, whatever it was.

“So, did you adopt another kid, or…?” The girl asked as Seungcheol paid.

Seungcheol paused, because he figured that while that wasn’t really the case, it wasn’t entirely wrong either.  “In a way, I guess I did,” He settled with, taking his card back and putting back into his wallet. Seungcheol assumed that the girl didn’t exactly know what to say to that, so she finalized the transaction in silence. She said her standard customer service goodbyes and Seungcheol smiled politely and bowed as he took the box and placed it into the cart once again.

“Why is everyone so nosy?” Hansol questioned when the two of them were by the entrance again.

“Because we’re two very beautiful humans,” Seungcheol answered as he stuffed his wallet into his pockets with his phone and gathered a giggling Hansol into his arms before grabbing the box out of the cart. He put the cart back into place before finally leaving the store and heading back down.

Exiting the mall was much, much easier than entering, Seungcheol found. He figured it was the fact that he was carrying a kid and a huge box, and no one would want to inconvenience him (despite the fact that he was hardly exerting himself). After situating the box into the seat adjacent from Hansol, and strapping his son into his own car seat, Seungcheol slid back into his car with a pleased sigh. However, before he could start the car, his phone buzzed.

Jihyo: Hey, sorry to bother you, but I need a little pick up if it’s not too much trouble…

Jihyo: It started raining down my way, and just as we were about to leave :(

Seungcheol: Sure, no problem, I already told you you’re not a bother lol it’s actually perfect timing

Seungcheol: Where am I headed?

Jihyo: You’re honestly a life saver. Really, thank you! :D

Jihyo: [location sent]

Jihyo: Sorry if it’s a bit far…

Seungcheol: Not too bad, a good little drive to calm Hansol’s nerve after forcing him to come to the mall lol

Seungcheol: I’ll be there as soon as I can ^_^

Seungcheol docked his phone in it’s holder after setting the GPS. “Sollie, we’re going to go on a little drive okay? Tzuyu and her mommy are gonna get their surprise today!” Seungcheol cheered a bit exaggeratedly, but it spurred Hansol on nonetheless, which made Seungcheol smile all wide and gummy as usual. He glanced back at his son who looked comfortable and excited before exiting the mall parking lot and heading on his way.