"Remind me again why we decided to build the crib ourselves?" Minseok asks, frustrated, wishing they had taken his mother's offer to use his old crib still in their attic.

Joonmyun sighs, about ready to throw the instruction sheet in the shredder. They wanted to do something special for the little boy they decided they'd adopt, and when all the paperwork had finally been processed, this is the first purchase they made. And he had insisted that they build the crib themselves.

And so far, it was turning into a mess. They'd opened the massive box to find a few bolts missing and screws for which they had no screwdriver. When they'd come back from the hardware store with spare bolts and the proper screwdriver, they'd opened the instructions and found them all written in Japanese.

"Come on, this really isn't so bad," he cheers meekly. Minseok looks at him sternly, furrowed eyebrows and harsh glare. It really is that bad.

"But we're almost done!" he tries again, and at least then Minseok smiles. With a lot of hair pulling and arguing, they'd gotten the box frame of the crib put together and relatively sturdy. They'd put it up on its legs (which took a lot of big words and hope and a little bullting on Joonmyun's part to convince Minseok that yes, the legs of the crib were sturdy and no, their boy wouldn't be found in a carnage of wood and stuffed animals).

Minseok sighs, flopping on his back. "I don't wanna continue!" he whines, legs kicking like a child as he curls on the ground and threatens to rip up the unhelpful instructions. "I want to wave my magic wand and have the crib built properly instantaneously."

Joonmyun is immediately on Minseok's waist, struggling to pull the instructions from his husband's vice grip on them. He cringes as the paper begins to rip. "Please, baby, we need the instructions!" he begs, bouncing on Minseok's stomach, hands working to pry Minseok's fingers from the paper.

"No! the instructions, it's useless anyway!" Minseok wheezes, trying to push Joonmyun off his chest. Joonmyun struggles to stay on, clutching to Minseok's biceps and smothering laughs in Minseok's shoulder. He's thrown off easily enough, rolling onto the floor and clutching at his stomach as he laughs. Minseok chuckles along, scooting closer to him and cuddling close.

The laughter dies out and silence fills it, but neither Minseok nor himself particularly feel like talking. Anything that needs to be said is in the way they lace their fingers together, wedding bands clinking as their fingers fold, and the way their bodies react as they press into each other, hearts beating like a drum line.

"Hey," Minseok whispers in the silence of their home, squeezing Joonmyun's hand in his, "we're getting a little boy soon."

Joonmyun almost feels his heart quake in his chest with every fear of being a dad threatening to tear his heart apart. But he knows he's ready for this next adventure. "I think we're ready for it."

Minseok turns and their eyes meet, and Joonmyun's pretty sure his heart has stopped. How could he ever deserve someone like Minseok. Patient and selfless, Joonmyun doesn't know what he's done in his life to deserve his husband.

"You know, our little boy's going to get married someday like us," Minseok whispers, lips pressed against Joonmyun's neck, causing a pleasant shudder to run down his spine.

"Hey, no one's going to marry my baby. He's gonna be thirty before he even starts dating." Joonmyun knows it isn't true. Their little boy could have kids of his own by then and they'd be grandparents. Oh, grandparents, a stage of life Joonmyun would never be ready to get to.

Minseok smiles, lifting their hands to his lips and kissing the back of Joonmyun's hand. "But don't you remember when we tried to get married?"

Joonmyun remembers it, crystal clear. Bringing Minseok to his parents had been easy enough. Just four months after they had been dating and his parents had been eager to meet his boyfriend. They were easily smitten, constantly teasing Joonmyun about how he found a man too good for him (it's true, he thinks about it more often than he should). His parents had accepted Minseok into their lives easily. It was easy enough when they watched how their son's eyes would light up with Minseok was around, how their son came out of his hardened shell for another person. They knew this was it, even before Joonmyun did.

Meeting Minseok's parents had been a different story. They'd waited until just before Joonmyun had planned to propose. The meeting was full of disapproving glares from Minseok's mom and constant snide comments from his father. They'd scared him out of his wits, and he'd come back having completely sweated through his shirt. And for a while, they'd called Minseok and told him Joonmyun wasn't good enough for him. He should find another man at least, that there were so many other guys better than Joonmyun. Minseok had his rough nights of battling with his parents, fighting to hold himself together as his parents slowly ripped him apart. And Joonmyun did his best to hold his boyfriend together, wrap him in his arms and pick up the pieces as they fell. It took every ounce of Minseok to stand up to his parents, tell them that Joomyun would be the only one for him and his parents had a choice to accept it or not.

Joonmyun nearly cried when Minseok's parents had finally approved of him.

He still gets a little teary-eyed now when he thinks about it. It was the one hurl stopping him from all he wanted in life, anything he could've ever imagined and more. Minseok was his soulmate, if they even existed. He was his other half forever and always. Minseok is his best friend, crime fighter, first mate, comrade, and husband. Minseok means more than the world to him.

"At least that time is over," Joonmyun sighs, holding his husband in his arms as best as he can being pressed to the floor. He feels Minseok's heart beating in the tempo of his own. "It's over and you're mine, we have a little boy on the way, and you'll be by my side forever. What more could I have asked for."

Minseok blushes, slapping weakly at Joonmyun's stomach. "I love you, baby. I love you for all that you are."

Joonmyun's tongue tied when he tries to say the same, but Minseok knows, as he always does, and kisses away the furrow in his brows as he tries to say how much Minseok means to him. At least he's got a lifetime to do so.