'What---?' Minseok gasped, eyes wide as he shot up in bed. He fumbled around in the darkness and checked for the time on his phone - it was quarter to three in the morning! The doorbell continued to ring incessantly and Minseok shuffled out of bed, his sock-covered feet padding against the floor as he headed downstairs.


Cautious, he peeked through the peephole, his eyes widening even more. Minseok wasted no time in throwing the front door open and engulfing the male in a tight hug.
'Jongdae, is it really you? God, you're freezing!' Minseok babbled, pulling his husband in along with the two suitcases he'd brought along. No sooner did he shut the front door than he found himself pinned to it by Jongdae.

'I missed you so much,' Jongdae breathed out, crashing their lips in a messy kiss that Minseok hungrily replied to. They pulled away after long moments, their chests heaving and faces flushed.
'Go change,' Minseok sighed, tenderly cupping the younger's cheek and his cheekbone. 'You must be tired; we'll talk tomorrow.'
'But---'
'Jongdae,' he cut in with a quiet voice. 'We have a tomorrow this time.'

Said male stared into his husband's carved eyes - oh, how he missed them! - before pulling away hesitantly.
'Also, Jongdae... I'm sorry.'

'Yeah... it just wasn't meant to be.'







































'Baba?' Luhan called out meekly, hugging Dino to himself and staring at Minseok from behind the kitchen door. Minseok set the stove on a low flame and scooped his son into his arms, peppering him with light kisses.
'Good morning, baby,' he greeted, pushing back Luhan's messy hair. The boy dropped his plush toy and hugged his older father tightly, much to Minseok's surprise.
'What is it, Luhan?'
'There's someone in your bed, baba,' Luhan said, whimpering and hiding his face in his father's neck. Minseok smiled to himself and patted Luhan's back.

'Let's go see who it is, shall we?'
So saying, he carried a quiet Luhan upstairs and soon found himself staring down at Jongdae's sleeping form, the younger male's face hidden by the bedsheets.

'Let's pull the sheets together - one, two, three!' Minseok counted slowly. Luhan stretched a hand out and yanked at the bedsheet with all his might, immediately hugging Minseok and squealing excitedly.
'Who is it, baba?' he asked loudly.
'See for yourself, Lulu.'

Luhan gasped loudly when he saw his younger father and squirmed in Minseok's arms, begging to be put down. He sat on Jongdae's waist and patted his torso impatiently. Soon, Jongdae awoke with a frown.
'I'm up, manager; I'm up,' he mumbled, sitting up with a start and relaxing when he saw Luhan on his lap being steadied by Minseok.
'Appa!' Luhan squealed, throwing his arms around Jongdae's neck and pushing him back into bed.
'I missed you so much, appa,' the boy cried. The startled look in Jongdae's eyes softened and he gently rubbed circles on Luhan's back, the other hand smoothing out the child's wild hair.

'Please don't leave like that, appa,' Luhan sobbed.
'I won't baby, I promise. I'm sorry, can you forgive your appa?'
'Why did you leave us, appa? I promise to be a good boy.'
Jongdae felt his voice catch in his throat as his son lisped on, his tears rolling off Jongdae's neck and soaking up into the pillow cover.
By then, Minseok had left the room and Jongdae continued to reassure his son that he wouldn't ever leave.

'We missed you, appa,' Luhan sniffed and Jongdae smiled when the boy carelessly blew his nose into Jongdae's old shirt.
'Even baba missed you, appa.'
Jongdae looked down at his son curiously, shifting to rest Luhan on the middle of the bed and lying on his side.
'What do you mean, Lulu?' he asked, a hand still rubbing circles on Luhan's chest as the child let out occasional hiccups.

'Baba used to stare off, not eat sometimes... I even heard baba cry in the kitchen once - he thought I was bathing.'
Luhan continued to rat out on various things - on how Minseok stopped smiling as much as he used to, on how tired and distracted he seemed to be all the time and more. Jongdae listened to everything silently, humming every now and then.

Luhan sighed, throwing his leg over Jongdae's waist and stretching. Jongdae ignored the punch to his chest and hugged his son close, pecking the top of his head.

'You're not going to leave again, are you, appa?'
'Never, Lulu,' Jongdae promised.







































He found the older male standing by the window near the front door.
'Good morning,' Jongdae greeted, hugging his husband from behind and resting his chin on his shoulder. Minseok leaned back into his chest, twining their fingers together and closing his eyes.
'Where's Luhan?'
'He's in the bathroom,' came the reply. Minseok turned in Jongdae's arms after a few moments, hugging him and pressing his face into his neck.
No words were exchanged as the two stood in each other's embrace, breathing each other's presence in and taking comfort in the fact that they were finally with each other.

'You've no idea how I felt when I woke up to you this morning: You were drooling on my arm, my foot was numb because of yours crushing it, I couldn't breathe because you were squeezing me. Your hair was poking into my mouth and wow, it smelled sweet because of the shampoo,' Minseok ranted, his words a little muffled but voice growing steady by the passing seconds.
'I'm sor---'
'And you've no idea how much, just how much I missed all of it and how these past six months have felt like an absolute void without you. Because while I had Luhan, I didn't have you. I felt lonely all over again and I tried not to l