"HOW ON EARTH COULD YOU LET THAT HAPPEN?!?!?!"

"I TOLD YOU IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!!"

"IT'S ALWAYS AN ACCIDENT WITH YOU, BYULYI!!!"

"OH, SHUT UP, YONGSUN! YOU KNOW I PAY ATTENTION!!!"

"GOOD WAY TO SHOW IT!!!"

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!"

"YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING - YOU BEHAVE LIKE AN IRRESPONSIBLE CHILD!!"

"DON'T START!!!"

"I'LL STOP STARTING WHEN YOU STOP IT AND START BEING CAREFUL!!!"

"I. WILL. START. BEING. CAREFUL. WHEN. YOU. STOP. SCREAMING!!!!!" Byulyi yelled at the very top of her lungs, finally surpassing Yongsun's already considerable volume. Their dogs whined, ears too sensitive to deal with Yongsun and Byulyi's screaming.

Silence fell over the living room, but it didn't last too long.

"I swear to you, Byul-ah, you make me feel ing alone in this sometimes," Yongsun muttered through her teeth.

"It was an accident!" Byulyi groaned. "I told you!!!"

"We can't afford accidents," Yongsun said coldly. "Accidents might make us lose the most precious thing we have."

Byulyi fell silent upon hearing those words. Her tone got softer. "I won't let that kind of accident happen. You know that. Just... funny accidents?" she said, trying to lighten the mood.

"It's not funny," Yongsun wouldn't have any of it. She turned away from Byulyi reproachfully, and bent down to pick up their three-year-old from the spot on the floor where he was sitting, observing his moms with Byulyi's phone in his hands and a quizzical expression. 

"It is just a liiiiiittle bit funny, to be honest," Wheein laughed. 

The two women were startled to hear their friend's voice and to see her face on the screen of Byulyi's phone. "HANEUL!" They admonished the toddler at the same time.

The child frowned. "You fight, so I timeface auntie Wheein!"

"You need to ask permission before you use mommy's phone!" Byulyi reprimanded her son.

"Now you decide to act like his parent?" Yongsun raised an eyebrow as she adjusted the child's weight on her hipbone. 

"Don't start again!" Wheein shouted. "The little guy was lonely while you were over there throwing cereal at each other so he decided to call his auntie! Nothing wrong with that! Now, will anybody tell me what happened? What did that degenerate woman do to this poor child?" 

"I make haircut, auntie Wheeinie," Haneul announced proudly. "Mommy wasn't looking."

"I can see that, kiddo - you look very handsome!" The compliment caused a huge grin to break out on Haneul's face. "Will you hand the phone to mommy Byulyi now, please?"

"Can you bring candy when you come here?" Haneul asked, not intending to do Wheein's bidding for free. 

"You got it, boy."

"Okay - bye auntie Wheeinie!"

Haneul finally let Byulyi take the phone from his hand. He was hoping to be able to listen to his mommy's conversation with auntie Wheein, but - "Come on, baby, let's go sit in front of the mirror and see if we can make you look like a sane person again" - his mama Yongsun grabbed the electric hair clippers lying forgotten on the floor, and carried him away from the living room. 

"So? Looks like you've really done it this time, Byul-ah," Wheein prompted, trying and failing to hide the laughter in her voice.

"I swear to you, I lost sight of him for literally two seconds. I mean, fifteen seconds tops. I was peeing," Byulyi sighed. "And now she hates me."

"She doesn't hate you - she just got scared. A three year old playing with hair clippers is scary, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"I have to say though, the result was hilarious." 

"Right?" Byulyi's face brightened for a second before falling again. "I wish Yongsun would think so too."

"She'll get there. You'll laugh about this in a few days."

"This was all her fault in the first place!"

"How is it her fault?! You were supposed to be watching Haneul and cutting his hair!"

"I only decided to work on his hair because she gave him the most hideous DYI haircut the day before yesterday! She put a bowl on his head, Wheein! A bowl! On my son's head!"

Wheein's laughter exploded upon hearing Byulyi's genuine dismay. "Byul-ah, Haneul is the cutest kid in South Korea. It couldn't have been that bad."

"It was so nerdy! Totally uncool! Easy for Yongsun not to care - but I still work in the public eye and nobody's going to buy my albums anymore if they see pictures of my son with a bowl haircut! This family's livelihood is at stake, Wheein-ah!"

"God, Byul-ah, will you listen to yourself," Wheein chuckled. "You're such a drama queen. No wonder you and Yongsun are constantly having petty fights. Talk about this whole livelihood thing with your therapist, okay?"

Byulyi grunted. "I guess."

"She's gonna shave his head completely anyway now - that's more like it, isn't it? That reminds me - do you have five more minutes? I went out with this bald guy the other night..."

.

"Knock knock?" Byulyi knocked on the bathroom door.

"Who's there?" Haneul's playful voice answered from inside the sink where he was sitting cross-legged. 

"It's mommy."

"Mommy who?"

"Mommy's really sorry about what happened."

"Come in," Yongsun said, the absence of warmth in her voice feeling like a knife in Byulyi's stomach. 

Byulyi walked in the room. 

"Mama gave me a new haircut!" Haneul said joyfully. "Mommy, touch my head! It feels like a kiwifruit!"

Byulyi laughed, quickly glancing at her wife to observe her reaction. Their eyes met, and Yongsun's lips twitched upwards with a shadow of a smile.

"It does feel like a kiwifruit," Byulyi chuckled, rubbing her hand over her son's close shaved head. "Mama did a really nice job, didn't she?"

"Yeah! I show my friends at school tomorrow!" 

"Sounds good, buddy." Byulyi leaned over to place a kiss on Haneul's head, smiling. When she straightened back up, she decided to risk it and place a quick kiss on Yongsun's cheek too. To her utmost surprise, Yongsun intercepted her movements and kissed her on the lips instead. 

"Can I call auntie Wheein? To tell her you kiss now?" Haneul asked innocently.

His moms immediately parted. "No!" They said at the same time. 

Author's note: This was really fun to write! I tried to experiment with a technique where I introduced the key plot elements little by little, and in a way that is delayed compared to the flow of events in the story, but I'm not sure I managed to do it in a way that makes sense. Did you find the story confusing?

One more thing: Moonsun's kid's name is a tribute to the fandom, I've seen the name in other fanfictions and I love how a lot of us agree that Haneul (sky) would be how they'd call their son! Also, this is what I imagine Haneul did to his hair in the story.

Thank you Sensih for the prompt, I hope you liked this chapter!