a/n: been sometime since i wrote a one-shot and i found this in my drafts from two months ago.

i sing tonight i've fallen and i can’t get up

joohyun watches seungwan fuss over their daughter

(parenting-AU)

***

“Five more minutes…” Seungwan grumbles onto her pillow, wisps of blonde hair falling to screen her face. Her hand flies to hit the snooze button on her ringing phone, tapping on the screen blindly until the alarm dies and the dark room is once again filled with the hum of the air conditioning and Seungwan’s light snores.

Joohyun giggles softly beside her, aching to kiss her on the nose to jolt her awake.

“You said that on the first ring, Wan.” Joohyun admonishes half-heartedly. Admiring Seungwan’s sleeping face has to be her favorite pastime.

It’s free.

It’s therapeutic.

It’s Seungwan.

Joohyun lifts a finger to her girlfriend’s jaw instead, lightly tracing the edges as if to memorize the contours. As if she hasn’t already. “And on the second, on the third, on the fourth…” Seungwan slightly winces at the touch.

Cute.

Joohyun removes her finger and grins. Her lips are tingling to press them against the slope of the blonde’s nose, but she battles the urge, remembering the late homecomings, the endless pinging of her beeper, and the stream of patients requiring Seungwan’s expertise.

She’s a renowned doctor after all.

An extra shut-eye won’t hurt.

Seungwan can have five more minutes.

“Mooommy!”

Or maybe not.

Joohyun moves to swing her legs over the bed, but Seungwan is quick on her feet, like lightning making contact with the ground, dashing to the bawling toddler with a heightened sense of urgency. It’s amazing to witness someone develop the ability to run first thing in the morning.

And Seungwan has never been one for sports.

“Okay, I’m up, I’m up!”

If there’s anything that can push Seungwan out of the bed and do the impossible, it’s their daughter.

“Mooommy…”

Joohyun lingers at the doorway of the four year-old’s bedroom, just as ready to scoop the whimpering child into her arms, watching Seungwan overtake the role with so much maternal instinct to appease the small brunette. She settles for leaning against the doorframe, heart so full at the sight of them.

A picture-perfect image of her most treasured people in her life.

“Shh, Mommy’s here, Seohyun.” Seungwan tenderly cradles their daughter, swaying in place and rubbing Seohyun’s back in an up and down motion, easing the staggered sobs into regular breaths.

Seohyun struggles adorably to flutter her eyes open, little brows fused at the morning sunlight filtering through the blinds of her bedroom window. She snuggles against the junction between Seungwan’s neck and shoulders, plump cheeks squished like dumplings that Joohyun could no longer help herself.

She pads behind Seungwan, wrapping her arms around the blonde in a back-hug and kissing a heavy-eyed Seohyun on the nose, mumbling into her daughter’s ear, “Mommy Joohyun is here too.” Seungwan hugs Seohyun closer. The little girl wrinkles her nose at another kiss.

Joohyun smiles. When she walks out of the room, Seohyun smiles back.

The ferry ride to Jeju Island has Seohyun gurgling with glee at every ocean wave, at every passing bird and at everything in general. This is her first trip outside of Seoul. High from the sugary snacks she had devoured, the rambunctious ball of energy runs around the deck, looking over her shoulder cheekily, as Joohyun trails after her with Seungwan not too far from them.

“Slow down, Seohyunnie!” Joohyun calls after the bouncing pigtails. The mirth shining in her daughter’s eyes gives her an indescribable amount of joy, vowing to protect the unbridled happiness no matter what.

How can a tiny being affect her like this?

“Watch where you’re headed, Hyun, or you might—” Seungwan’s reprimand is cut off, her legs launching into a sprint worthy of an athlete’s the moment their daughter crashes onto a stranger’s legs.

Joohyun is tempted to say that Seungwan worries too much, that the slight bump wouldn’t inflict a scratch on their daughter, but the stranger catches Seohyun by her arms in preventing her fall, and seeing someone else hold her child kicks Joohyun’s own maternal instincts into overdrive.

“Oh, careful there, little one.” The woman steadies Seohyun to regain her balance, smiling down at her. Even though she appears to be harmless and is only helping out, Joohyun couldn’t placate herself.

For any concerned parent, danger lurks everywhere.

“Thank you.” Seungwan bows at the stranger, while Joohyun crouches to inspect Seohyun’s knees just in case.

“No worries. Is she yours?” The stranger asks Seungwan in particular.

Joohyun stills in her position on the floor.

The hesitation within Seungwan is palpable without having to see her expression. It would have been an easier question for Joohyun to answer, being responsible for bringing Seohyun out into this world that one fateful rainy afternoon.

But she’s Seungwan’s, Joohyun wants to yell, Seohyun is hers. She’s a parent more than Seohyun’s biological father will ever be, the kind of partner far greater than anyone could have asked for. She’s the parental figure the little girl has looked up to and loved since her birth. The voice she would react to during Joohyun’s trimester. The voice she sleeps to every night.

She’s hers in ways scientific evidence couldn’t explain.

Seohyun’s arm shoots up, someway reading into the apprehension from Seungwan’s lack of response, slotting her hand into the blonde’s open palms. She curls her fingers around bigger ones, and Seungwan nips on her bottom lip, eyes glistening with the onset of tears. Seohyun is glancing up at her with a reassuring smile that puts the sun to shame, out of business.

Joohyun has to will herself from crying right then and there.

Feeling the renewed courage and confidence, Seungwan doesn’t let go of Seohyun. “Yes. She’s mine.”

Joohyun stands up, looping an arm around Seungwan’s, and looks into the stranger’s eyes.

“She’s ours.”

Seohyun is knocked out cold in her carrier at the backseat of the rental car Seungwan has reserved online. She’s clutching her prized stuffed animal she lovingly calls “Manen” which the blonde bought as a present from her overnight work trip to Japan a year ago. Her attachment to the yellow and orange cartoon character makes Joohyun beam from the passenger seat.

The drive to their destination is an hour and a half or two from the ferry terminal. Joohyun hasn’t seen the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival since her pregnancy, the trip delayed year after year after year despite the heavy persistence from Seulgi. Seungwan would say her demanding profession is a hurdle to their out-of-town plans.

Joohyun believes otherwise.

It’s been long overdue.

“Eyes on the road, Wan.” Joohyun warns, spotting the blonde steal glances from the rearview mirror to check on Seohyun for the umpteenth time in thirty minutes. She rolls her eyes. Seungwan has always been protective to a fault.

Maybe that’s the very reason why she has been putting off the trip at a later date whenever the festival looms at a distance. The idea itself scares her. Seohyun hasn’t travelled past Seoul’s borders. Hasn’t been on a plane. Hasn’t been on a boat. Hasn’t been on a two-hour car ride.

Until now.

Thankfully, Sooyoung managed to persuade Seungwan into giving in this year. Into giving in to Joohyun’s wishes. The reward for the blonde was to be the receiving end of a barrage of nose kisses the night she booked their ferry tickets to Jeju. Joohyun couldn’t stop laughing at how she kept sneezing.