Update 2/3

#80 – Cards

“Go fish,” Jinae announced and Munhee sighed. 

“This birthday stinks,” he announced, pulling a card from the pool of random cards scattered on the floor in the middle of the little family. 

Kibum pressed his lips together before pulling the little boy into his side.  “Don’t say that.” He chided lightly, ruffling his fingers through the boy’s hair.

“The power will come back on soon!” Jinae insisted with a smile, smiling at the now seven-year-old boy.

A freak storm had whipped up out of nowhere, downing trees and powerlines and cutting power to most of Seoul.  The family had been planning on a movie day for just them, with their big family party actually being tomorrow, but with power out, they really couldn’t do much of anything. 

They sat on the floor of their living room, playing card games, with a couple of empty tubs of ice cream that they had needed to eat before they went bad with the lack of refrigeration. 

Jinae successfully trounced them all in another round of Go Fish and Munhee sighed pitifully, tucking himself against Kibum’s side. 

“Oh buddy,” Kibum partially mumbled, pulling the child into his lap and patting at his soft dark hair, “I wish the day was better for you.” He laid a gentle kiss to the top of the child’s head and smiled forlornly at the two sets of discouraged eyes that glanced at them. 

Taemin pressed his lips together in a line, it killed any parent to see their child so down – especially on a day that was supposed to be something exciting.

The writer glanced out the window and saw that the storm had long since lost its ferocity and dropped to a mere persistent drizzle.  Small shafts of sunlight were starting to break through the clouds though and were forcing that horrible grey hue away. 

Suddenly Taemin smiled.

He met Kibum’s eyes and drifted his own back towards the window before meeting his husband’s gaze again.

Kibum sighed internally.  He knew what Taemin wanted to do, and any other day he would have told Taemin to have at it with the children and kept himself inside to watch.  But this was Munhee’s day – and Munhee wanted to spend it with all of his family. 

He could see Taemin’s smile grow, knowing that the older man had given in without any words having passed either’s lips.

Taemin stood up and lifting the growing boy from his Appa’s lap. 

“Let’s go out!” He said excitedly, sounding more like Munhee’s older brother than his father.

Munhee looked confused and Jinae added, “But everything’s all wet...”

“I know!” Light danced about Taemin’s eyes and he could see his enthusiasm starting to catch in Munhee, who was so desperate to have fun today.  “We can go and run around in the rain, jump in puddles – just have fun!  And no one else is out to stop us!”

He leaned to Munhee and whispered conspiratorily, “We can play at the playground and not have to worry about waiting for other kids on the slide...or the swings...”

Munhee had started to complain about the playground – saying he was a big kid now and playgrounds are for babies – but both men knew that he still really liked to play around.  And with no one else outside, Munhee wouldn’t feel weird doing it. 

Munhee glanced down at where Kibum was still sitting on the floor, “Appa too?”

Kibum plastered a smile on his face and resigned himself to ruining a pair of shoes.  He stood up and ruffled the boys hair once more before wordlessly holding out a hand to Jinae and help her up. “Appa too.” He smiled gently, “Appa and Papa and Jinae and Munhee – the whole family.”

A small smile creeped onto Munhee’s face.  “Okay...”

“Go get changed into something you don’t mind getting dirty.” Taemin put the boy down and he ran off after his sister to change clothes. 

“You’re going to owe me a new pair of shoes...” Kibum said without looking at his husband.

“You should just buy a pair of shoes and designate them as your grungy shoes from the start – that way you’ll have something in times like this.” Taemin smirked, knowing that there was no way the other man as going to do that.

And predictably, Kibum raised an eyebrow at that statement, even though the two were looking down the hallway after their children and not at each other and Taemin could not see him one bit.  The other man probably knew he was doing it anyway.  “I was a designer for how many years?” He asked, slightly petulantly.

Taemin just laughed, finally turning to look at his husband and laying a soft kiss to Kibum’s temple where a few grey hairs had started to appear in his usually dark hair. 

“You’re going to have fun too!  Even if you don’t think so now.”  Taemin insisted, before dropping to his knees, intending to pick up the discarded deck of cards that still lay scattered about the floor. 

“I’m going to go change,” Kibum murmured after laying a gentle hand against the back of Taemin’s head as he gathered the cards into one massive pile.

He was almost out of the room, smiling as he heard a happy giggle for the first time out Munhee all day, when he half-turned, taking in Taemin as the man stood up.  Rotating the cards in his hand mindlessly, trying to get the all to face in the right direction. 

“How do you know it’ll all be fun?  What if someone get’s sick?  Probably me.”  He added with a aelf-depricating smile.

Taemin glanced up at Kibum and smiled once more, and Kibum noticed that the corners of his eyes crinkled up more than he remembered that action causing – they were both getting older it seemed.

Taemin finally sorted the deck out and walked forward.  He stood before Kibum, with his eyes holding laughter and lighting tapped the deck against Kibum’s forehead.

“It’s all in the cards.” 

Oh my God, I can’t believe that I just wrote that ending.  It’s soooo corny and predictable...and yet, even as it made me kind of cringe...I liked it.  It made me smile, in the same way that watching cartoons from my childhood makes me smile.  In that totally nonchalant, isn't that adorable, kind of way.  So I hope that it made you smile too.