Through The Looking Glass [1/1]
Title: ICE/SB crossover oneshot: Through The Looking Glass
Pairing: YunJae
Rating: G
Length: Oneshot
Genre: AU, fluff, slice of life
Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the story. I wish I had YunJae and if I had my way, they'd move to New Zealand so they can be civil-unionised here :P
AN: Add those black framed spectacles to Mirotic!Jaejoong here and you get SB!Jae in this fic….. The other photo is self-explanatory… I’M GOING TO DIE.
WARNING: SERIOUS SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ ICE.
Jaejoong is humming to himself as he takes the steps two at a time. He has been told by his supervising professors to go the creche to observe one of the children by request, and he is running late.
Once inside, the sound of crying hits him, and he is transported back to the day he met Jiyool in this very creche for the very first time. He sees the crying baby from a distance and he hurries quickly to the reception area.
History appears to repeat itself because the second the baby catches sight of him, he stops crying, blinking tearfully at him, before opening his arms and attempting to swan dive out of the woman’s arms.
Jaejoong does not even pause as he rounds the reception, picking the struggling baby out of the frazzled looking woman’s arms. The kid, who looks to be a boy snuggles quickly under his chin and goes limp, quiet and content.
“What happened?” Jaejoong asks as he starts to rock and sway, nuzzling the sweet smelling baby.
“He’s a new kid. He’s here with his sister and was asleep when his parents dropped him off. He slept for over two hours but when he woke up, all hell broke loose.” The creche staff is a younger woman, but she was here the day Jaejoong met Jiyool and her father and she remembers it clearly. Though unlike that day, she knows why this baby quietens the second he sees the younger man.
The baby whimpers unhappily as his tummy growls, and Jaejoong looks up in surprise.
“He hasn’t been fed?”
“We tried. We really did. It’s been almost an hour. We were just about to call his parents when you showed up.”
Jaejoong clicks his tongue disapprovingly as he walks with the woman back into the baby room. A quick look around reveals his own son nowhere in sight.
“What is he meant to have?”
“Instructions were milk or fruit. His parents are meant to be back in an hour.” She does not hesitate to hand Jaejoong the baby’s still warm bottle of milk which he takes quickly.
The baby is still hiding in the crook of his neck though, and nothing Jaejoong says coaxes him out. He can feel the baby still trembling slightly, and he walks out to look for an empty feeding room.
“What’s his name?”
“Jongdae.”
Jaejoong starts cooing as he walks, kissing the baby’s head, nuzzling him as he enters the room. He leaves the door open as he settles in the rocking armchair, flipping the baby on his back in the crook of his arm. He watches as the baby’s eyes fill instantly, but before he can start crying, he pops the bottle into his mouth, lifting him high on his chest so he feels secure. The baby’s eyes widen, but he immediately starts sucking hungrily, holding his own bottle, allowing Jaejoong to use his free hand to wipe away at the streaks of tears on his face.
“That’s Hero’s son.” The staff member blurts out, unable to help herself as she watches the soft smile on Jaejoong face as he rocks gently.
“Hero?”
“The rock star.”
Jaejoong laughs, jostling the baby but he keeps feeding, staring up at the beautiful man holding him.
“Noona, do you really think I have the time to know who the rock star is? All the entertainment in my life is reduced to colourful animation or singing puppets.”
“But…you sang It’s Raining Men.”
“So?”
“He sang that song.”
“He did?”
She nods fervently, truly surprised that Jaejoong does not know Hero. But then again the man is only 23. Or was it 24?
“How old is he?”
“30.”
Jaejoong chuckles, shaking his head. “I meant Jongdae, not his father.”
“He has two fathers, and Jongdae is fifteen months.”
“Oh? I thought he’d be younger. He’s a little small isn’t he? Changmin is younger and he’s about the same size, maybe marginally smaller.”
“Your misnamed Minnie is bigger than every baby his age and beyond, Jaejoong-ssi.” The woman teases fondly.
The bespectacled young man grins, beaming in pride as he bends over to kiss the baby’s sweaty brow. “Speaking of Minnie, where is my son?”
“Napping with his siblings. He’s feeling a little warm and was really unhappy this morning when Yunho-ssi dropped him off.”
“Did the brat make himself sick?” Jaejoong shakes his head. “He isn’t sick. He just didn’t want to come today and wanted to stay home with me. He’s still feeding, can you believe it?” Jaejoong shakes his head again. “I’m trying to wean him off before my milk dries up and he starts blaming me with those ridiculous bambi eyes of his.”
The woman laughs, knowing exactly what the man is talking about, nodding her head. “Yes, he seems to have that mournful you wronged me look down pat. Where did he learn that from? One look into his eyes when he’s like that and everyone practically trips over themselves trying to appease him.”
“Don’t fall for it. He’s a little manipulator.”
“I think we rather enjoy falling for it. He’s a gorgeous boy.”
Jaejoong clicks his tongue again, grinning and kissing the toddler in his arms once again, speaking to him. “You’re gorgeous too aren’t you, Jongdae?”
The little boy simply stares back up at him, still sucking hungrily.
Jaejoong is reminded of the silent Jiyool, and he kisses his brow once again. “It’s ok. You finish your food before we figure out if you can talk.”
“It’s his sister you’re supposed to be observing today by the way. But she’s still sleeping last we checked. Your kids wore her out.”
As if she was heard, Jaejoong notices movement and sees Jiyool rubbing her eyes sleepily in the doorway.
“Mama?”
“Hey, baby.”
“Who’s that?” She asks as she walks forward. She is used to seeing her Mama with other children, but she’s never seen this boy before. She steps up next to the armchair, kissing her Mama on the cheek before gazing down at the still feeding baby.
“This is Jongdae.”
Jiyool rubs his head gently, smiling as he finishes his bottle and pops it off, staring up at her, dark eyes unblinking.
“Hello, Jongdae,” she whispers softly, bending over to kiss his head. To the creche staff’s surprise, the little boy grins, reaching over his head to try and grab her.
“I think he likes you.” Jaejoong observes, leaning over to drop the toddler to his feet.
“He’s cute,” Jiyool agrees as she sits on the floor next to the armchair, holding her arms out.
The two adults watch as he shakily walks towards her, falling willingly into her lap with a gurgle. Jiyool starts patting his back like the way her parents do after her brother is fed, and the little boy thinks it is a game, giggling and squirming as she does it.
Jaejoong stands up, brushing off his clothes. He is barely able to take a single step before the baby starts to cry, looking up at him a little accusingly.
“Jongdae honey, I have to go. You play with Jiyool first ok? Look at your noona? Isn’t she pretty?”
But the little boy does not spare Jiyool a second look, clambering out of her lap and crawling rapidly to Jaejoong’s feet.
“Aish…this baby. I thought he was happy with Jiyool?”
“He woke up in an unfamiliar place without his parents so I think he’s feeling a little insecure.”
“But why me?”
“You look like Hero.”
“I look like his father?” Jaejoong bends over to scoop up the crying toddler with a grunt. “You’re so heavy now that you’re full of milk.” He kisses Jongdae on the nose as the baby’s crying slowly ceases. “You’re a big boy, aren’t you?” He continues to coo at the baby who smiles, showing off his four teeth.
“You have the same mouth,” Jiyool answers. “His face was covered by sunglasses but his mouth definitely looks like yours, Mama. But he dresses funny and his hair is red.”
“And his other daddy looks like daddy.”
All heads turn to the doorway where JJ is standing, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.
“Aish…how did you manage to sneak out too? I think you’re going to need more eyes on the children in the nap room,” Jaejoong chides the creche staff gently.
The woman blushes and nods, excusing herself quickly as she heads out. She does not try to defend herself or the creche because in reality, the Jung children are practically allowed the run of the place. They are the most well-behaved children the center has ever had, even more than the variety of Kim children, and although there definitely is someone watching over the children in the nap room, trying to keep these kids from their Mama would be asking for a whole load of trouble. All five children appear to have a sixth sense when it comes to their Mama, knowing almost instantly the second the man steps foot in the building. It is uncanny the connection the children have with him, and she knows without asking that both Jiyool and JJ went unerringly into that feeding room without bothering to look into any others along the way to find their Mama. All she can do now is try and head off the twins because Jaejoong has noticed, and if his husband finds out, the creche will have some explaining to do.
Jaejoong exits the feeding room, following Jiyool and JJ as they walk hand in hand, leading him into one of the larger nap rooms for the older children. As he enters, he is immediately surprised to find an anomaly. Yoochun and Junsu are not sleeping side by side as they normally do. Instead, they are sandwiching a pretty girl in a blue dress. Well, at least it probably started off that way. Junsu is now sleeping perpendicular to her and Yoochun is on his front, snoring quietly, turned away from her.
“Who’s that?” Jaejoong whispers as he settles himself on the floor next to Changmin who is sleeping with a furrow in his brow as if he is still annoyed at being there.
Jiyool sits on Changmin’s other side, patting his legs absentmindedly as she stares at the trio. JJ snuggles next to her Mama, fitting herself under his arm as he kisses her head.
“That’s Hyuna.”
That is the name of the girl he is supposed to be assessing. Jung Hyuna. The creche noona’s words from earlier come back to him. This must be the same little girl.
Jongdae catches sight of his sister just then, and he struggles to be let out of Jaejoong’s arms. The young man watches as the boy crawls towards the little girl, waking her.
“Is that his sister?”
“She says she has a brother, but we never saw him. I guess so?” Jiyool answers, moving next to Junsu who is starting to wake from the commotion next to him.
Jaejoong watches as his twins and the girl wakes up slowly. He smiles as both Junsu and Yoochun beam sleepily at him, coaxing their new friend to come closer. The little girl though is staring at him a little confusedly.
“Daddy?”
“I’m not your daddy, honey.” Jaejoong answers in English. “Your daddy will be back later.”
She continues to stare, tilting her head from side to side as if trying to figure it out. Her new friends watch as well, curious to see how she will react to their Mama. All their friends love their Mama.
“Red hair. My daddy has red hair.”
“What colour is my hair?”
Jaejoong can see Junsu waving madly from behind her, wanting to answer the question and he has to swallow his chuckle at his son. Instead he puts his palm to his lips, their universal sign for silence and Junsu immediately drops his hand. However the little boy does not stay still, crawling the short distance to Hyuna, as if to whisper in her ear.
“Su-ah…” Jaejoong’s tone is mild. A little too mild apparently as the naughty twin giggles and leans in towards the little girl.
“Mama!” The relative silence of the room is broken by a very loud and indignant voice.
Jaejoong finds himself with a lapful of chubby baby, who immediately dives into the low neckline of his shirt. Well, he really is not technically wearing a shirt, just a jacket because feeding Changmin makes him feel much too warm in general so he wears the minimum he can get away with on the mild winter’s day. He feels Changmin’s mouth close over a nipple and he winces when the little brat bites him before starting to suckle.
Hyuna and Jongdae watch, a little stupefied by the big butt wiggling in their direction. Changmin, not even bothering to “assume the position” is on his hands and knees and feeding very awkwardly. His nose is smushed against his Mama’s chest, feeding very messily with milk trickling down his chin.
Jaejoong pokes playfully at his son’s forehead, making his other children smile, quite used to this.
“Minnie-ah…” Jaejoong prods his furiously feeding son again, and he gets another bite for his trouble.
“He is not mini!” Hyuna blurts out, staring at the round bottom, making all the other Jung children burst out laughing.
~~~
“We should have left earlier!”
“Jae, you seriously need to calm down.”
“I am not calming the fuck down. Do not tell me to calm the fuck down.” Jaejoong growls as he pulls into the parking lot, next to a silver Lamborghini. He is clearly not quite all there when he manages to slam the door of his black Audi into the side of the expensive car, making Yunho groan at the impact.
“I hope to god that car does not have a JUNG licence plate.”
“So what if it does? Who the fuck cares? You act like they need to be worshipped or something.” Hero Jaejoong bites out, extremely annoyed with his younger partner as he slams the door. He mentally apologises to the other car as he digs into his bag to scribble a quick note to leave on the windshield wiper.
Out of curiosity, he walks to the front of the car to check the licence plate, and he winces inwardly.
JUNG 08
“Fuck.”
“Shut up, Yunho. This is all your fault. I don’t know how you talked me into this. How many million times do I have to tell you I can work with the children with me? You can go to the office, I can work from home. You can go to the games, I can sit in the VIP box with them. I can go to a concert, and you can sit backstage with them. Or if you’re going to be onstage with me, Jihye and Max can babysit them. I am not leaving our children with strangers!”
“This is not about you, Jae!” Yunho is beyond exasperated. They have been arguing for the better part of their time away from the kids. Even during the board meeting, Hero Jaejoong spent most of it texting angry messages to Yunho sitting right across from him. It helped with the Hero facade he needed to have for that particular meeting, the singer being extra snarly and impossible, but Yunho is bearing the brunt of it. Even his mother had not been able to calm the rock star down, pulling Yunho aside at one point talking about something called separation anxiety.
“Of course it’s not about me you idiot! It’s about our kids! They’re not safe!”
“That fucking building is like Fort Knox. No one is going to kidnap our kids.”
“Kidnap?” Hero’s eyes widen and he starts to run towards the front of the building.
He is thwarted by Yunho who grabs him harshly, pulling the rockstar up short and forcing him to stay still.
“Calm down, Jae. I don’t want our kids seeing you like this. They won’t understand. Breathe, babe. You need to fucking breathe.”
Jaejoong collapses against the younger man’s chest, trembling and shaking. He can feel the panic trying to overwhelm him, but Yunho is always there to catch him. He knows he is being ridiculous and overly paranoid but his experience on this earth has taught him that he needs to always be resilient and watchful. He can never be too careful. People cannot be trusted, least of all strangers he does not even fucking know.
“Look around you. I don’t even see a single fan.”
“I don’t want to look.”
Yunho sighs, wrapping his arms around the shorter man and rubbing his back as he nuzzles his hair.
“Jae…we’re doing this for the kids ok? Remember what the doctor said?”
“There is nothing wrong with Hyuna,” Jaejoong mumbles against Yunho’s jacket. “The doctor is an ass and I want a second opinion.”
“This is the second opinion.”
“This is not even a proper assessment.”
“You didn’t want that remember? You didn’t want her being poked and prodded and tested. I know there’s nothing wrong with Hyuna, but she’s very very very quiet for her age. She won’t even play with the children in the park.”
“She played with those little boys.”
“Here. Exactly. Can’t you see it’s already doing her some good?”
“What if they forget us?” Jaejoong asks, his actual fear finally coming to light. “What if they like it so much they don’t want to come home with us?”
“Oh Jae…” Yunho squeezes him tight, kissing his temple. The ice cold rockstar is a complete and utter pushover when it comes to their children. Yunho is the disciplinarian in the house, Jaejoong utterly useless in that regard. The children would be more than spoiled if it was not for Yunho.
“What if, Yunho? I don’t think I can do this…”
“Holding them tight will just smother them. Let them breathe a little. I let you breathe, didn’t I? And you came back.”
“They’re just kids!”
“Kids feel more than you realise.”
“Since when did you become an expert?”
“Since my sister landed in my life when I was five.”
“That doesn’t count!”
“Yes, it does. I have arguably more experience than you.”
“That’s a ridiculous argument.”
Yunho smiles as he coaxes the singer to move with him. “Come on, babe.”
“I’m not your babe.”
“What are you then?”
“Anything but a babe.”
Yunho rolls his eyes as he tugs the now reluctant older man to walk with him. “Come on. I want to see how they’re doing.”
Jaejoong stops short, digging in his heels. “Can’t you go without me?”
“But why?”
“I don’t think I can face it if they start crying because they want to stay.”
“They will do that.”
“What!”
“Jae, just trust me ok? Don’t you trust me?”
Jaejoong scowls as Yunho puts on his puppy dog face, pouting cutely. “That is fucking unfair, you manipulative bastard!” He punches Yunho in the arm, but all it does is make the younger man smirk.
“Later.”
“Fuck, later.”
“Exactly.”
~~~
Jaejoong watches as Jiyool and JJ attempt to complete the puzzles they are playing with. Jongdae is sitting on the table, “helping” them, making the young girls giggle every time he tries to place a coloured shape in the wrong place. They correct him every single time and after about half an hour, the boy appears to be able to at least distinguish between the colours, if not the shapes. A puzzle that will normally take Jiyool less than five minutes to complete is still sitting in a mess, but she does not appear to mind. The two girls are having more fun playing with the toddler than their shapes.
Hyuna, is currently under the table with his twins playing incy wincy spider. He can hear their giggling and the touch of small fingers dancing up and down his calf as they pretend that it is their water spout. It takes a lot for Jaejoong not to accidentally kick a child during their play because he is rather ticklish. Incy wincy spider going up the water spout is not really the problem. The problem is when the rain comes down to wash the spider away, their soft hands tickling him as they swipe as his pants.
They have gone over the nursery rhyme at least ten times now, and they do not appear to be done yet.
He is making notations about his observations of Hyuna. The girl is not as spontaneous as his own children, but the twins especially appear to be rather good at pulling her out of her shell. She appears to have an equal fondness for both boys, and it is rather surprising to Jaejoong to find the twins able to play with her so easily.
Almost treating her like a long-lost triplet.
Her English vocabulary is that of a child older than her almost four years, but her Korean is sadly lacking. She understands far more than she speaks, Jaejoong noticing the way she turns her head when she hears it being spoken. She is able to understand instructions very well though, and is even more well behaved than JJ. She is older than the twins, yet she allows them to lead her in their play, rarely suggesting alternatives, though when prompted, she will make a choice if necessary.
She is a little uncoordinated for someone her age, unable to figure out how to touch her nose while hopping on one foot. Neither can she figure out how to jump backwards. She does not appear to have a dominant hand, using both almost equally. This is a weakness in a sense because her hand eye coordination is almost non-existent due to the fact that she takes too long trying to figure out which hand to use to catch the ball being tossed at her.
The most surprising thing about the young girl is her spatial awareness. She solves puzzles almost as fast as Jiyool, and much faster than JJ who is closer to her age.
Jaejoong continues to write, humming to himself as he sees his twins emerge from under the table. He can still hear Hyuna singing softly about spiders under the table, and he wonders why she is not out with the twins.
“Mama, wee wee.”
Ok, that explains it. Jaejoong nods towards a creche staff member hovering helpfully nearby as his twins start to strip.
Everything comes off.
Even their little beanies.
Jaejoong would move if he could but he has a milk drunk baby in his lap who is still drinking despite being practically half asleep from a milk induced coma.
-
Yunho and Jaejoong are met by two naked shrieking toddlers running out of the room they were directed to. They are being chased by a rather calm looking woman who smiles at both of them before scurrying after the boys who have already disappeared around the corner.
“Was that…?”
“Yes,” Yunho nods as he backtracks a little to look around said corner to see the twin boys entering a bathroom.
“Should I be thankful Hyuna isn’t with them?”
“Don’t you remember trying to pee as a kid? I think those boys got it right. Or at least their parents did. The number of times my mother complained bitterly about pee soaked pants when she’s aggravated with me is not something I’d care to inflict on our children.”
Jaejoong merely huffs in response as he walks gingerly into the room.
The first thing he notices is his son sitting on a low table, laughing as he adds a green object to a pile of other green objects. He has an audience of two, the same little girls from this morning who are handing him a blue object this time. He can hear them coaxing him to put it in the right pile, and the burst of pride in his chest when he does is something that actually surprises him.
The next thing he notices is the man seating with them.
“Holy mother of sweet fuck.”
Jaejoong turns to Yunho who is gaping, completely poleaxed as he stares at the beautiful bespectacled man.
“You’re going to catch flies,” Jaejoong remarks a little snidely as he elbows the younger man, walking quickly towards the table.
The much younger man tilts his head up at the disturbance, eyes widening slightly as he stares at the rockstar who is wearing a carefully blank expression.
“You must be Hero.”
Hero nods, and as he does, catches sight of the baby in the other man’s lap, feeding sleepily. His blank expression is lost in an instant as he is unable to hold back his gasp at the vision of this young man feeding his baby.
“Oh my god! I thought you can’t feed past three months?” The rockstar blurts out, pulling a chair out and sitting down quickly, not really caring that he is staring a little rudely. The man practically has his fucking face. He can stare all he wants.
“You try telling that to him,” the other man laughs lightly, jostling the baby as he does.
Immediately, a small hand clutches at his chest, sharp fingernails digging into him, the baby waking from his doze long enough to make sure his Mama is not going anywhere, before his mouth starts working languidly again, eyes fluttering shut.
“Watch.” Jaejoong instructs the other man as he slips his finger into Changmin’s mouth, prising him away from his nipple.
The indignant squawk that fills the room is extremely loud, taking the attention of everyone else. Jaejoong gets his fingertip chomped on before he manages to rescue it. He moves the howling baby over to the other side, Changmin latching onto the other nipple quickly, biting his Mama once again before sucking contentedly.
In truth, the baby boy is more than gorged, but he is afraid that if he lets go of his Mama, he will not get him again, and so he just keeps feeding.
“I feel like a chew toy.”
“I bet you do.” Hero sympathises as he shoots a look at the still gaping Yunho who somehow now has Hyuna in his arms. He turns back towards the table to find his son staring back and forth, between himself and the other man, a frown marring his face.
“I think Jongdae might be a little confused.”
“You know his name?”
“I’m the one they called to observe your daughter.”
Hero leans back, eyeing the other man up and down. He cannot even be Yunho’s age surely.
As if hearing his thoughts, the beautiful man who is legitimately practically glowing, smiles softly. “I’m a PHD student specialising in early childhood development and behavioural issues. This is part of my compulsory clinic hours.”
“They couldn’t send an actual doctor?” Hero scoffs, his tone clearly conveying what he thinks about the young man as he gathers his son in his arms. He immediately finds himself being confronted by angry children.
“My Mama is better than a doctor!”
“My Mama is better than you.”
“You’re old.”
“You’re mean.”
“I like Hyuna but I don’t like you.”
“Girls!” Jaejoong’s voice cracks out like a whip. “I did not raise you to be rude. Apologise immediately.”
“But Mama!”
“Jiyool.”
One look at her Mama’s face and the little girl knows she is not getting anywhere with him. Her arms are crossed as she stares defiantly at the man with the red hair who sort of looks like her Mama but not really. She glares at him, not at all amused when his mouth curls up in what looks like a smile. Why is he smiling?
“Yoolie…” Jaejoong’s voice holds a hint of warning. The older girl needs to set an example for her younger sister who is also glaring daggers at this Hero person. Strange name to be sure.
“I’m sorry.”
Silence.
“Yoolie…”
Jiyool shoots a look at her Mama, and then she sighs, dropping her arms. “I’m sorry I said mean things. Please forgive me.”
“There was nothing to forgive. I’m sorry I was rude to your Mama.”
“I’m sorry too.” JJ pipes up, looking back and forth from her Mama to the other man.
Hero smiles, reaching out a hand to ruffle her hair but stopping short just before reaching her, his hand frozen in mid-air.
“It’s ok,” Jaejoong nods towards his daughter. “She won’t bite.”
The singer lets out a sharp bark of laughter, his hand continuing on its journey to ruffle the young girl’s hair, before shaking his head at her mama.
“I didn’t think she would.”
“I know,” Jaejoong winks conspirationally, making Hero feel really gauche all of a sudden.
The slightly tense atmosphere is immediately broken, in large, thanks to the wife of Jung Yunho.
Someone clears their throat, interrupting the rock star staring at his likeness, but yet not really. He turns to see Yunho wiggling his eyebrows as if trying to tell him something.
“Oh, right. Hyuna. Is my baby ok?”
“She’s fine. I’ll pass on my report to the creche who will forward it on to you. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Really? But the doctor said she is behind for her age.”
Hero watches in surprise as the beautiful man’s soft doe eyes harden instantly. His angelic countenance gone in the blink of an eye.
“Hyuna is not behind in anything. In fact, her spatial awareness is off the charts for her age. My Yoolie can do puzzles meant for children over the age of nine, and Hyuna can match her puzzle for puzzle.”
“Really?” Yunho finally speaks up, pulling out a chair to sit next to Hero.
Jaejoong blinks at the young man, seeing his Yunho in his features but not really. This man has an open face, wearing his thoughts and feelings on his sleeves, nothing at all like his husband. They do resemble each other as his children have noticed, but to Jaejoong, it is an extremely superficial resemblance.
“Yes, really.” He smiles, recovering from his brief flyaway thoughts. “She appears to have an aptitude for mathematics or something similar. Her language abilities are good for her age too. If you two are speaking in Korean around her and assuming she does not understand, I’d advice you think twice about that. Your little girl understands far more than she speaks.” Jaejoong grins as Hyuna smiles shyly at him. “Don’t you, Hyuna sweetie?”
To Yunho and Hero’s surprise, their daughter nods at Jaejoong’s question even though he is speaking in Korean. She hides her face in her appa’s neck when she realises she is being observed by everyone.
“Yoochun, that is not food.” Jaejoong suddenly calls out, though he remains smiling at the couple in front of him whose eyes widen as they look around wildly.
“Mama has eyes behind his head.” An awestruck babyish voice declares from behind Jaejoong.
Both Yunho and Hero peer around the young man to find one twin holding a plastic apple, and the other holding a bunch of plastic grapes. The grapes have a thin line of saliva linking it to the twin holding who is staring at it in consternation.
“Mirror,” Jaejoong whispers conspirationally, nodding towards the wall of mirrors opposite him. “But it’s helpful if they think I have eyes everywhere.”
“Daddy! Daddy!” The room erupts as four children suddenly call out at the same time.
Yunho and Hero twist in their chairs to find the man from this morning leaning in the doorway, his eyebrow cocked at his wife. He bends over to haul a twin up, tossing him into the air and making him giggle before dropping him back safely to the ground before doing the same to the other twin. He then crouches over and is immediately hugged by his daughters who plant loud wet kisses all over his cheeks.
All four children are babbling loudly, telling their father about their new friends, and he listens carefully, asking questions and conversing with them quite seriously. Looking at him, you would not think he is in fact discussing the best way to divide five people to play tag, or how Jiyool always wins at ‘Queen of the Castle’ because she’s the tallest and has the longest legs.
Hero leans over to whisper into Yunho’s ear. “This is why his kids are so articulate.”
“Shhhh. I want to know how to divide five people to play tag too.”
Hero rolls his eyes, turning back around to look at the other man. He is amused to see the look of adoration he is wearing, as he stares up at his husband who has finally managed to convince his children to play building blocks for a little bit.
“I see your plan didn’t quite work out.”
Hero almost chokes on air as the other Jung Yunho finally speaks. Holy shit his voice is like velvet. He wants to roll himself in it, and he almost face palms himself at the thought. His voice is a shade lower than his own Yunho’s, and damn if it is not making his trained ears perk up at the beautiful tone.
“He’s your son.”
Yunho and Hero watch, their eyes going back and forth between the couple. If Hero thought the young man looked adoringly at his husband, it is nothing compared to the look Jung Yunho is giving his wife. He looks like he genuinely believes his wife is an angel.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Too many little ears around for me to explain without speaking Russian.”
“Jaejoong…” there is a delicious warning in his voice, his expression is closed off, but his eyes speak volumes.
“You speak Russian?” Yunho blurts out, getting an elbow to the arm from Hero. Hyuna has dozed off on his shoulder, as has Jongdae.
“No,” Jaejoong grins, turning towards the seated couple, acknowledging them before turning back to his husband. “Yunnie-ah. This is Hero and…” he glances apologetically at Yunho who stands up, offering his hand to the black suited man.
“Errr… Yunho. Jung Yunho.”
“Jiyoung’s son?”
“Yes.”
“I know your parents and your grandparents,” Jung Yunho shakes his counterpart’s hand, his expression neutral though a tiny smile plays about his lips. “You’re actually named after me.”
“Really?”
“Ask your mother to tell you the story some day. Send her my regards.”
“Gladly.”
Jung Yunho passes his gaze over Hero without so much as a pause, shaking the man’s hand politely before dismissing him and turning back to his wife.
“So what are you going to do?”
Hero and Yunho might as well be invisible really. Jung Yunho only has eyes for his wife. His own social circles are so used to it, they do not consider it rude anymore. Hero though is feeling the sting as he whispers into Yunho’s ear.
“Ouch. And double ouch.”
“I told you he practically dug up the Han River for his wife.”
“His wife looks like me!”
“Yes…and no.”
“Are you fucking with me?”
“Don’t take it personally. It is well known how much he loves his wife.”
“How do you know so much? I thought you’ve never met them.”
“Jae…look at them. Look at their kids. A love like theirs is legend. I hear a lot of talk, but I’ve never actually seen it in person. Now I know what people are talking about.”
“What about a love like ours?”
“We’re getting there.”
“We better.”
“I thought I was the competitive one?”
The whispering couple is distracted when Jung Jaejoong stands up, pulling the baby from his chest. To everyone’s relief, he does not wake, as he is passed from his mama to his daddy.
“Kids, pack up the toys.”
“But Mama…”
“Now, baby.”
“But Mama…”
“Junsu.” Jung Yunho’s voice is quiet, but the command is there.
The twin in question looks sadly at his half built tower of coloured blocks.
“Su, you have the same blocks at home. I’ll help you build a much taller tower alright?”
“Really, Daddy?”
“Yes, really.”
“Chunnie help?”
“Of course.”
“And JJ?”
“JJ too,” his father agrees, smiling at his son. He is patting the baby on his shoulder who is starting to wake from the voices around him.
“Yoolie?”
“And Yoolie.”
“Can we play in the pool, daddy?”
“You want to play building blocks in the pool?” Jung Yunho asks his other son who grins cheekily at his father.
“Swimming with blocks!”
Jung Yunho glances over at his wife for help. The younger man is looking extremely amused as he gathers his own papers, and packing away the puzzles from earlier.
“Chaerin was diving for blocks with them yesterday when the girls came over.”
“How did I not hear about this?”
“You got home late, remember?”
“Daddy, swimming blocks, yes? Yes?” Yoochun is bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.
“Mama! Mama! Mama!” Changmin interrupts, fully awake now, and the little round ball is annoyed once again to find himself away from his source of food.
“You know what? I really don’t think I can handle more than two kids.” Hero is staring at the controlled chaos around him, as the baby starts to kick at his father, trying to hurl his fat little body towards his smirking Mama.
“Two is definitely more than enough.”
“Yun-ah, you take my car. I’ll drive the Chrysler.”
“I saw the blue Aventador you wanted by the way.”
“Oh shit, the Lambo…” Hero mutters, but he is caught by Jung Yunho who turns curiously to him.
“What about his Lambo?”
Hero Jaejoong, worshipped by thousands, perhaps millions, chooses this moment to get completely tongue tied as the tall, dark and very handsome man who radiates power from every line of his suit finally gives him his full attention.
“Uh…”
Yunho has to shake his head at the stupefied expression on Hero Jaejoong’s face. This has got to be a first.
“We accidentally banged his door. Our car is the Audi next to his.”
Instead of getting angry, Jung Yunho smirks instead. “That’s alright. I can replace it with that blue Aventador instead.”
“Jung Yunho, you are not buying me a new car just because my old car has a scratch!”
“My daddy can buy a whole candy store.” JJ pipes up, causing all eyes to land on her. Beaming at the attention, she continues. “Mama played a mean trick at Halloween and we made daddy buy us a candy store.”
“He didn’t.” Jaejoong shakes his head, but his daughter keeps going.
“But he did, Mama! Remember Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and we got to take all the candy we wanted?”
“For the orphans, baby. Remember? We were buying candy to take to the orphanage.”
“We could take anything we wanted.” JJ eyes are shining at the memory. “All the Reeses Peanut Buttercups!”
Jiyool groans at that, shaking her head at her sister. “Please don’t remind me. I am never eating peanut butter anything ever again.”
The girls continue to discuss candy. Or really, JJ wants to discuss candy and Jiyool is trying to change the subject. But JJ is nothing if not determined, and Jiyool acquiesces to the topic with a long suffering sigh.
“I’ll have the report for the creche tonight and you should get it tomorrow morning.” Jaejoong turns back to the couple again as he cradles his son, watching his husband round up the children to finally get them out the door.
“Just email us directly,” Hero says, eyes wide as he follows the progress of the four chatty children.
“Wait, wait! Mama can Hyuna and Jongdae come over?” Jiyool finally remembers the conversation from earlier.
“Yes, yes, Mama! Please?”
Jaejoong suddenly finds himself surrounded by four pairs of very large puppy dog eyes.
“You’ll have to ask their daddies.”
Yunho and Hero are not equipped to say no to the same four pairs of eyes, both nodding immediately, though neither are quite sure what they are agreeing to.
Jung Yunho hands Yunho a card, as he finally gets his children to walk out the door.
“Call this number. You can discuss the details with my wife.”
And after some quick goodbyes, the large family exit the room, leaving the smaller family of Jungs staring at each other in bemusement.
“What the hell was that?”
“Wonderland.”
AN: Oh god I’m procrastinating again because I don’t want to end ICE… This happened with SB too so I guess you’re going to get a drabble/oneshot or two…
AN2: LOL… I had fun writing this. How many of you got confused? I didn’t…but then I’m the author OTL
Pairing: YunJae
Rating: G
Length: Oneshot
Genre: AU, fluff, slice of life
Disclaimer: I don't own anything apart from the story. I wish I had YunJae and if I had my way, they'd move to New Zealand so they can be civil-unionised here :P
AN: Add those black framed spectacles to Mirotic!Jaejoong here and you get SB!Jae in this fic….. The other photo is self-explanatory… I’M GOING TO DIE.
WARNING: SERIOUS SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ ICE.
Jaejoong is humming to himself as he takes the steps two at a time. He has been told by his supervising professors to go the creche to observe one of the children by request, and he is running late.
Once inside, the sound of crying hits him, and he is transported back to the day he met Jiyool in this very creche for the very first time. He sees the crying baby from a distance and he hurries quickly to the reception area.
History appears to repeat itself because the second the baby catches sight of him, he stops crying, blinking tearfully at him, before opening his arms and attempting to swan dive out of the woman’s arms.
Jaejoong does not even pause as he rounds the reception, picking the struggling baby out of the frazzled looking woman’s arms. The kid, who looks to be a boy snuggles quickly under his chin and goes limp, quiet and content.
“What happened?” Jaejoong asks as he starts to rock and sway, nuzzling the sweet smelling baby.
“He’s a new kid. He’s here with his sister and was asleep when his parents dropped him off. He slept for over two hours but when he woke up, all hell broke loose.” The creche staff is a younger woman, but she was here the day Jaejoong met Jiyool and her father and she remembers it clearly. Though unlike that day, she knows why this baby quietens the second he sees the younger man.
The baby whimpers unhappily as his tummy growls, and Jaejoong looks up in surprise.
“He hasn’t been fed?”
“We tried. We really did. It’s been almost an hour. We were just about to call his parents when you showed up.”
Jaejoong clicks his tongue disapprovingly as he walks with the woman back into the baby room. A quick look around reveals his own son nowhere in sight.
“What is he meant to have?”
“Instructions were milk or fruit. His parents are meant to be back in an hour.” She does not hesitate to hand Jaejoong the baby’s still warm bottle of milk which he takes quickly.
The baby is still hiding in the crook of his neck though, and nothing Jaejoong says coaxes him out. He can feel the baby still trembling slightly, and he walks out to look for an empty feeding room.
“What’s his name?”
“Jongdae.”
Jaejoong starts cooing as he walks, kissing the baby’s head, nuzzling him as he enters the room. He leaves the door open as he settles in the rocking armchair, flipping the baby on his back in the crook of his arm. He watches as the baby’s eyes fill instantly, but before he can start crying, he pops the bottle into his mouth, lifting him high on his chest so he feels secure. The baby’s eyes widen, but he immediately starts sucking hungrily, holding his own bottle, allowing Jaejoong to use his free hand to wipe away at the streaks of tears on his face.
“That’s Hero’s son.” The staff member blurts out, unable to help herself as she watches the soft smile on Jaejoong face as he rocks gently.
“Hero?”
“The rock star.”
Jaejoong laughs, jostling the baby but he keeps feeding, staring up at the beautiful man holding him.
“Noona, do you really think I have the time to know who the rock star is? All the entertainment in my life is reduced to colourful animation or singing puppets.”
“But…you sang It’s Raining Men.”
“So?”
“He sang that song.”
“He did?”
She nods fervently, truly surprised that Jaejoong does not know Hero. But then again the man is only 23. Or was it 24?
“How old is he?”
“30.”
Jaejoong chuckles, shaking his head. “I meant Jongdae, not his father.”
“He has two fathers, and Jongdae is fifteen months.”
“Oh? I thought he’d be younger. He’s a little small isn’t he? Changmin is younger and he’s about the same size, maybe marginally smaller.”
“Your misnamed Minnie is bigger than every baby his age and beyond, Jaejoong-ssi.” The woman teases fondly.
The bespectacled young man grins, beaming in pride as he bends over to kiss the baby’s sweaty brow. “Speaking of Minnie, where is my son?”
“Napping with his siblings. He’s feeling a little warm and was really unhappy this morning when Yunho-ssi dropped him off.”
“Did the brat make himself sick?” Jaejoong shakes his head. “He isn’t sick. He just didn’t want to come today and wanted to stay home with me. He’s still feeding, can you believe it?” Jaejoong shakes his head again. “I’m trying to wean him off before my milk dries up and he starts blaming me with those ridiculous bambi eyes of his.”
The woman laughs, knowing exactly what the man is talking about, nodding her head. “Yes, he seems to have that mournful you wronged me look down pat. Where did he learn that from? One look into his eyes when he’s like that and everyone practically trips over themselves trying to appease him.”
“Don’t fall for it. He’s a little manipulator.”
“I think we rather enjoy falling for it. He’s a gorgeous boy.”
Jaejoong clicks his tongue again, grinning and kissing the toddler in his arms once again, speaking to him. “You’re gorgeous too aren’t you, Jongdae?”
The little boy simply stares back up at him, still sucking hungrily.
Jaejoong is reminded of the silent Jiyool, and he kisses his brow once again. “It’s ok. You finish your food before we figure out if you can talk.”
“It’s his sister you’re supposed to be observing today by the way. But she’s still sleeping last we checked. Your kids wore her out.”
As if she was heard, Jaejoong notices movement and sees Jiyool rubbing her eyes sleepily in the doorway.
“Mama?”
“Hey, baby.”
“Who’s that?” She asks as she walks forward. She is used to seeing her Mama with other children, but she’s never seen this boy before. She steps up next to the armchair, kissing her Mama on the cheek before gazing down at the still feeding baby.
“This is Jongdae.”
Jiyool rubs his head gently, smiling as he finishes his bottle and pops it off, staring up at her, dark eyes unblinking.
“Hello, Jongdae,” she whispers softly, bending over to kiss his head. To the creche staff’s surprise, the little boy grins, reaching over his head to try and grab her.
“I think he likes you.” Jaejoong observes, leaning over to drop the toddler to his feet.
“He’s cute,” Jiyool agrees as she sits on the floor next to the armchair, holding her arms out.
The two adults watch as he shakily walks towards her, falling willingly into her lap with a gurgle. Jiyool starts patting his back like the way her parents do after her brother is fed, and the little boy thinks it is a game, giggling and squirming as she does it.
Jaejoong stands up, brushing off his clothes. He is barely able to take a single step before the baby starts to cry, looking up at him a little accusingly.
“Jongdae honey, I have to go. You play with Jiyool first ok? Look at your noona? Isn’t she pretty?”
But the little boy does not spare Jiyool a second look, clambering out of her lap and crawling rapidly to Jaejoong’s feet.
“Aish…this baby. I thought he was happy with Jiyool?”
“He woke up in an unfamiliar place without his parents so I think he’s feeling a little insecure.”
“But why me?”
“You look like Hero.”
“I look like his father?” Jaejoong bends over to scoop up the crying toddler with a grunt. “You’re so heavy now that you’re full of milk.” He kisses Jongdae on the nose as the baby’s crying slowly ceases. “You’re a big boy, aren’t you?” He continues to coo at the baby who smiles, showing off his four teeth.
“You have the same mouth,” Jiyool answers. “His face was covered by sunglasses but his mouth definitely looks like yours, Mama. But he dresses funny and his hair is red.”
“And his other daddy looks like daddy.”
All heads turn to the doorway where JJ is standing, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.
“Aish…how did you manage to sneak out too? I think you’re going to need more eyes on the children in the nap room,” Jaejoong chides the creche staff gently.
The woman blushes and nods, excusing herself quickly as she heads out. She does not try to defend herself or the creche because in reality, the Jung children are practically allowed the run of the place. They are the most well-behaved children the center has ever had, even more than the variety of Kim children, and although there definitely is someone watching over the children in the nap room, trying to keep these kids from their Mama would be asking for a whole load of trouble. All five children appear to have a sixth sense when it comes to their Mama, knowing almost instantly the second the man steps foot in the building. It is uncanny the connection the children have with him, and she knows without asking that both Jiyool and JJ went unerringly into that feeding room without bothering to look into any others along the way to find their Mama. All she can do now is try and head off the twins because Jaejoong has noticed, and if his husband finds out, the creche will have some explaining to do.
Jaejoong exits the feeding room, following Jiyool and JJ as they walk hand in hand, leading him into one of the larger nap rooms for the older children. As he enters, he is immediately surprised to find an anomaly. Yoochun and Junsu are not sleeping side by side as they normally do. Instead, they are sandwiching a pretty girl in a blue dress. Well, at least it probably started off that way. Junsu is now sleeping perpendicular to her and Yoochun is on his front, snoring quietly, turned away from her.
“Who’s that?” Jaejoong whispers as he settles himself on the floor next to Changmin who is sleeping with a furrow in his brow as if he is still annoyed at being there.
Jiyool sits on Changmin’s other side, patting his legs absentmindedly as she stares at the trio. JJ snuggles next to her Mama, fitting herself under his arm as he kisses her head.
“That’s Hyuna.”
That is the name of the girl he is supposed to be assessing. Jung Hyuna. The creche noona’s words from earlier come back to him. This must be the same little girl.
Jongdae catches sight of his sister just then, and he struggles to be let out of Jaejoong’s arms. The young man watches as the boy crawls towards the little girl, waking her.
“Is that his sister?”
“She says she has a brother, but we never saw him. I guess so?” Jiyool answers, moving next to Junsu who is starting to wake from the commotion next to him.
Jaejoong watches as his twins and the girl wakes up slowly. He smiles as both Junsu and Yoochun beam sleepily at him, coaxing their new friend to come closer. The little girl though is staring at him a little confusedly.
“Daddy?”
“I’m not your daddy, honey.” Jaejoong answers in English. “Your daddy will be back later.”
She continues to stare, tilting her head from side to side as if trying to figure it out. Her new friends watch as well, curious to see how she will react to their Mama. All their friends love their Mama.
“Red hair. My daddy has red hair.”
“What colour is my hair?”
Jaejoong can see Junsu waving madly from behind her, wanting to answer the question and he has to swallow his chuckle at his son. Instead he puts his palm to his lips, their universal sign for silence and Junsu immediately drops his hand. However the little boy does not stay still, crawling the short distance to Hyuna, as if to whisper in her ear.
“Su-ah…” Jaejoong’s tone is mild. A little too mild apparently as the naughty twin giggles and leans in towards the little girl.
“Mama!” The relative silence of the room is broken by a very loud and indignant voice.
Jaejoong finds himself with a lapful of chubby baby, who immediately dives into the low neckline of his shirt. Well, he really is not technically wearing a shirt, just a jacket because feeding Changmin makes him feel much too warm in general so he wears the minimum he can get away with on the mild winter’s day. He feels Changmin’s mouth close over a nipple and he winces when the little brat bites him before starting to suckle.
Hyuna and Jongdae watch, a little stupefied by the big butt wiggling in their direction. Changmin, not even bothering to “assume the position” is on his hands and knees and feeding very awkwardly. His nose is smushed against his Mama’s chest, feeding very messily with milk trickling down his chin.
Jaejoong pokes playfully at his son’s forehead, making his other children smile, quite used to this.
“Minnie-ah…” Jaejoong prods his furiously feeding son again, and he gets another bite for his trouble.
“He is not mini!” Hyuna blurts out, staring at the round bottom, making all the other Jung children burst out laughing.
~~~
“We should have left earlier!”
“Jae, you seriously need to calm down.”
“I am not calming the fuck down. Do not tell me to calm the fuck down.” Jaejoong growls as he pulls into the parking lot, next to a silver Lamborghini. He is clearly not quite all there when he manages to slam the door of his black Audi into the side of the expensive car, making Yunho groan at the impact.
“I hope to god that car does not have a JUNG licence plate.”
“So what if it does? Who the fuck cares? You act like they need to be worshipped or something.” Hero Jaejoong bites out, extremely annoyed with his younger partner as he slams the door. He mentally apologises to the other car as he digs into his bag to scribble a quick note to leave on the windshield wiper.
Out of curiosity, he walks to the front of the car to check the licence plate, and he winces inwardly.
JUNG 08
“Fuck.”
“Shut up, Yunho. This is all your fault. I don’t know how you talked me into this. How many million times do I have to tell you I can work with the children with me? You can go to the office, I can work from home. You can go to the games, I can sit in the VIP box with them. I can go to a concert, and you can sit backstage with them. Or if you’re going to be onstage with me, Jihye and Max can babysit them. I am not leaving our children with strangers!”
“This is not about you, Jae!” Yunho is beyond exasperated. They have been arguing for the better part of their time away from the kids. Even during the board meeting, Hero Jaejoong spent most of it texting angry messages to Yunho sitting right across from him. It helped with the Hero facade he needed to have for that particular meeting, the singer being extra snarly and impossible, but Yunho is bearing the brunt of it. Even his mother had not been able to calm the rock star down, pulling Yunho aside at one point talking about something called separation anxiety.
“Of course it’s not about me you idiot! It’s about our kids! They’re not safe!”
“That fucking building is like Fort Knox. No one is going to kidnap our kids.”
“Kidnap?” Hero’s eyes widen and he starts to run towards the front of the building.
He is thwarted by Yunho who grabs him harshly, pulling the rockstar up short and forcing him to stay still.
“Calm down, Jae. I don’t want our kids seeing you like this. They won’t understand. Breathe, babe. You need to fucking breathe.”
Jaejoong collapses against the younger man’s chest, trembling and shaking. He can feel the panic trying to overwhelm him, but Yunho is always there to catch him. He knows he is being ridiculous and overly paranoid but his experience on this earth has taught him that he needs to always be resilient and watchful. He can never be too careful. People cannot be trusted, least of all strangers he does not even fucking know.
“Look around you. I don’t even see a single fan.”
“I don’t want to look.”
Yunho sighs, wrapping his arms around the shorter man and rubbing his back as he nuzzles his hair.
“Jae…we’re doing this for the kids ok? Remember what the doctor said?”
“There is nothing wrong with Hyuna,” Jaejoong mumbles against Yunho’s jacket. “The doctor is an ass and I want a second opinion.”
“This is the second opinion.”
“This is not even a proper assessment.”
“You didn’t want that remember? You didn’t want her being poked and prodded and tested. I know there’s nothing wrong with Hyuna, but she’s very very very quiet for her age. She won’t even play with the children in the park.”
“She played with those little boys.”
“Here. Exactly. Can’t you see it’s already doing her some good?”
“What if they forget us?” Jaejoong asks, his actual fear finally coming to light. “What if they like it so much they don’t want to come home with us?”
“Oh Jae…” Yunho squeezes him tight, kissing his temple. The ice cold rockstar is a complete and utter pushover when it comes to their children. Yunho is the disciplinarian in the house, Jaejoong utterly useless in that regard. The children would be more than spoiled if it was not for Yunho.
“What if, Yunho? I don’t think I can do this…”
“Holding them tight will just smother them. Let them breathe a little. I let you breathe, didn’t I? And you came back.”
“They’re just kids!”
“Kids feel more than you realise.”
“Since when did you become an expert?”
“Since my sister landed in my life when I was five.”
“That doesn’t count!”
“Yes, it does. I have arguably more experience than you.”
“That’s a ridiculous argument.”
Yunho smiles as he coaxes the singer to move with him. “Come on, babe.”
“I’m not your babe.”
“What are you then?”
“Anything but a babe.”
Yunho rolls his eyes as he tugs the now reluctant older man to walk with him. “Come on. I want to see how they’re doing.”
Jaejoong stops short, digging in his heels. “Can’t you go without me?”
“But why?”
“I don’t think I can face it if they start crying because they want to stay.”
“They will do that.”
“What!”
“Jae, just trust me ok? Don’t you trust me?”
Jaejoong scowls as Yunho puts on his puppy dog face, pouting cutely. “That is fucking unfair, you manipulative bastard!” He punches Yunho in the arm, but all it does is make the younger man smirk.
“Later.”
“Fuck, later.”
“Exactly.”
~~~
Jaejoong watches as Jiyool and JJ attempt to complete the puzzles they are playing with. Jongdae is sitting on the table, “helping” them, making the young girls giggle every time he tries to place a coloured shape in the wrong place. They correct him every single time and after about half an hour, the boy appears to be able to at least distinguish between the colours, if not the shapes. A puzzle that will normally take Jiyool less than five minutes to complete is still sitting in a mess, but she does not appear to mind. The two girls are having more fun playing with the toddler than their shapes.
Hyuna, is currently under the table with his twins playing incy wincy spider. He can hear their giggling and the touch of small fingers dancing up and down his calf as they pretend that it is their water spout. It takes a lot for Jaejoong not to accidentally kick a child during their play because he is rather ticklish. Incy wincy spider going up the water spout is not really the problem. The problem is when the rain comes down to wash the spider away, their soft hands tickling him as they swipe as his pants.
They have gone over the nursery rhyme at least ten times now, and they do not appear to be done yet.
He is making notations about his observations of Hyuna. The girl is not as spontaneous as his own children, but the twins especially appear to be rather good at pulling her out of her shell. She appears to have an equal fondness for both boys, and it is rather surprising to Jaejoong to find the twins able to play with her so easily.
Almost treating her like a long-lost triplet.
Her English vocabulary is that of a child older than her almost four years, but her Korean is sadly lacking. She understands far more than she speaks, Jaejoong noticing the way she turns her head when she hears it being spoken. She is able to understand instructions very well though, and is even more well behaved than JJ. She is older than the twins, yet she allows them to lead her in their play, rarely suggesting alternatives, though when prompted, she will make a choice if necessary.
She is a little uncoordinated for someone her age, unable to figure out how to touch her nose while hopping on one foot. Neither can she figure out how to jump backwards. She does not appear to have a dominant hand, using both almost equally. This is a weakness in a sense because her hand eye coordination is almost non-existent due to the fact that she takes too long trying to figure out which hand to use to catch the ball being tossed at her.
The most surprising thing about the young girl is her spatial awareness. She solves puzzles almost as fast as Jiyool, and much faster than JJ who is closer to her age.
Jaejoong continues to write, humming to himself as he sees his twins emerge from under the table. He can still hear Hyuna singing softly about spiders under the table, and he wonders why she is not out with the twins.
“Mama, wee wee.”
Ok, that explains it. Jaejoong nods towards a creche staff member hovering helpfully nearby as his twins start to strip.
Everything comes off.
Even their little beanies.
Jaejoong would move if he could but he has a milk drunk baby in his lap who is still drinking despite being practically half asleep from a milk induced coma.
-
Yunho and Jaejoong are met by two naked shrieking toddlers running out of the room they were directed to. They are being chased by a rather calm looking woman who smiles at both of them before scurrying after the boys who have already disappeared around the corner.
“Was that…?”
“Yes,” Yunho nods as he backtracks a little to look around said corner to see the twin boys entering a bathroom.
“Should I be thankful Hyuna isn’t with them?”
“Don’t you remember trying to pee as a kid? I think those boys got it right. Or at least their parents did. The number of times my mother complained bitterly about pee soaked pants when she’s aggravated with me is not something I’d care to inflict on our children.”
Jaejoong merely huffs in response as he walks gingerly into the room.
The first thing he notices is his son sitting on a low table, laughing as he adds a green object to a pile of other green objects. He has an audience of two, the same little girls from this morning who are handing him a blue object this time. He can hear them coaxing him to put it in the right pile, and the burst of pride in his chest when he does is something that actually surprises him.
The next thing he notices is the man seating with them.
“Holy mother of sweet fuck.”
Jaejoong turns to Yunho who is gaping, completely poleaxed as he stares at the beautiful bespectacled man.
“You’re going to catch flies,” Jaejoong remarks a little snidely as he elbows the younger man, walking quickly towards the table.
The much younger man tilts his head up at the disturbance, eyes widening slightly as he stares at the rockstar who is wearing a carefully blank expression.
“You must be Hero.”
Hero nods, and as he does, catches sight of the baby in the other man’s lap, feeding sleepily. His blank expression is lost in an instant as he is unable to hold back his gasp at the vision of this young man feeding his baby.
“Oh my god! I thought you can’t feed past three months?” The rockstar blurts out, pulling a chair out and sitting down quickly, not really caring that he is staring a little rudely. The man practically has his fucking face. He can stare all he wants.
“You try telling that to him,” the other man laughs lightly, jostling the baby as he does.
Immediately, a small hand clutches at his chest, sharp fingernails digging into him, the baby waking from his doze long enough to make sure his Mama is not going anywhere, before his mouth starts working languidly again, eyes fluttering shut.
“Watch.” Jaejoong instructs the other man as he slips his finger into Changmin’s mouth, prising him away from his nipple.
The indignant squawk that fills the room is extremely loud, taking the attention of everyone else. Jaejoong gets his fingertip chomped on before he manages to rescue it. He moves the howling baby over to the other side, Changmin latching onto the other nipple quickly, biting his Mama once again before sucking contentedly.
In truth, the baby boy is more than gorged, but he is afraid that if he lets go of his Mama, he will not get him again, and so he just keeps feeding.
“I feel like a chew toy.”
“I bet you do.” Hero sympathises as he shoots a look at the still gaping Yunho who somehow now has Hyuna in his arms. He turns back towards the table to find his son staring back and forth, between himself and the other man, a frown marring his face.
“I think Jongdae might be a little confused.”
“You know his name?”
“I’m the one they called to observe your daughter.”
Hero leans back, eyeing the other man up and down. He cannot even be Yunho’s age surely.
As if hearing his thoughts, the beautiful man who is legitimately practically glowing, smiles softly. “I’m a PHD student specialising in early childhood development and behavioural issues. This is part of my compulsory clinic hours.”
“They couldn’t send an actual doctor?” Hero scoffs, his tone clearly conveying what he thinks about the young man as he gathers his son in his arms. He immediately finds himself being confronted by angry children.
“My Mama is better than a doctor!”
“My Mama is better than you.”
“You’re old.”
“You’re mean.”
“I like Hyuna but I don’t like you.”
“Girls!” Jaejoong’s voice cracks out like a whip. “I did not raise you to be rude. Apologise immediately.”
“But Mama!”
“Jiyool.”
One look at her Mama’s face and the little girl knows she is not getting anywhere with him. Her arms are crossed as she stares defiantly at the man with the red hair who sort of looks like her Mama but not really. She glares at him, not at all amused when his mouth curls up in what looks like a smile. Why is he smiling?
“Yoolie…” Jaejoong’s voice holds a hint of warning. The older girl needs to set an example for her younger sister who is also glaring daggers at this Hero person. Strange name to be sure.
“I’m sorry.”
Silence.
“Yoolie…”
Jiyool shoots a look at her Mama, and then she sighs, dropping her arms. “I’m sorry I said mean things. Please forgive me.”
“There was nothing to forgive. I’m sorry I was rude to your Mama.”
“I’m sorry too.” JJ pipes up, looking back and forth from her Mama to the other man.
Hero smiles, reaching out a hand to ruffle her hair but stopping short just before reaching her, his hand frozen in mid-air.
“It’s ok,” Jaejoong nods towards his daughter. “She won’t bite.”
The singer lets out a sharp bark of laughter, his hand continuing on its journey to ruffle the young girl’s hair, before shaking his head at her mama.
“I didn’t think she would.”
“I know,” Jaejoong winks conspirationally, making Hero feel really gauche all of a sudden.
The slightly tense atmosphere is immediately broken, in large, thanks to the wife of Jung Yunho.
Someone clears their throat, interrupting the rock star staring at his likeness, but yet not really. He turns to see Yunho wiggling his eyebrows as if trying to tell him something.
“Oh, right. Hyuna. Is my baby ok?”
“She’s fine. I’ll pass on my report to the creche who will forward it on to you. You have nothing to worry about.”
“Really? But the doctor said she is behind for her age.”
Hero watches in surprise as the beautiful man’s soft doe eyes harden instantly. His angelic countenance gone in the blink of an eye.
“Hyuna is not behind in anything. In fact, her spatial awareness is off the charts for her age. My Yoolie can do puzzles meant for children over the age of nine, and Hyuna can match her puzzle for puzzle.”
“Really?” Yunho finally speaks up, pulling out a chair to sit next to Hero.
Jaejoong blinks at the young man, seeing his Yunho in his features but not really. This man has an open face, wearing his thoughts and feelings on his sleeves, nothing at all like his husband. They do resemble each other as his children have noticed, but to Jaejoong, it is an extremely superficial resemblance.
“Yes, really.” He smiles, recovering from his brief flyaway thoughts. “She appears to have an aptitude for mathematics or something similar. Her language abilities are good for her age too. If you two are speaking in Korean around her and assuming she does not understand, I’d advice you think twice about that. Your little girl understands far more than she speaks.” Jaejoong grins as Hyuna smiles shyly at him. “Don’t you, Hyuna sweetie?”
To Yunho and Hero’s surprise, their daughter nods at Jaejoong’s question even though he is speaking in Korean. She hides her face in her appa’s neck when she realises she is being observed by everyone.
“Yoochun, that is not food.” Jaejoong suddenly calls out, though he remains smiling at the couple in front of him whose eyes widen as they look around wildly.
“Mama has eyes behind his head.” An awestruck babyish voice declares from behind Jaejoong.
Both Yunho and Hero peer around the young man to find one twin holding a plastic apple, and the other holding a bunch of plastic grapes. The grapes have a thin line of saliva linking it to the twin holding who is staring at it in consternation.
“Mirror,” Jaejoong whispers conspirationally, nodding towards the wall of mirrors opposite him. “But it’s helpful if they think I have eyes everywhere.”
“Daddy! Daddy!” The room erupts as four children suddenly call out at the same time.
Yunho and Hero twist in their chairs to find the man from this morning leaning in the doorway, his eyebrow cocked at his wife. He bends over to haul a twin up, tossing him into the air and making him giggle before dropping him back safely to the ground before doing the same to the other twin. He then crouches over and is immediately hugged by his daughters who plant loud wet kisses all over his cheeks.
All four children are babbling loudly, telling their father about their new friends, and he listens carefully, asking questions and conversing with them quite seriously. Looking at him, you would not think he is in fact discussing the best way to divide five people to play tag, or how Jiyool always wins at ‘Queen of the Castle’ because she’s the tallest and has the longest legs.
Hero leans over to whisper into Yunho’s ear. “This is why his kids are so articulate.”
“Shhhh. I want to know how to divide five people to play tag too.”
Hero rolls his eyes, turning back around to look at the other man. He is amused to see the look of adoration he is wearing, as he stares up at his husband who has finally managed to convince his children to play building blocks for a little bit.
“I see your plan didn’t quite work out.”
Hero almost chokes on air as the other Jung Yunho finally speaks. Holy shit his voice is like velvet. He wants to roll himself in it, and he almost face palms himself at the thought. His voice is a shade lower than his own Yunho’s, and damn if it is not making his trained ears perk up at the beautiful tone.
“He’s your son.”
Yunho and Hero watch, their eyes going back and forth between the couple. If Hero thought the young man looked adoringly at his husband, it is nothing compared to the look Jung Yunho is giving his wife. He looks like he genuinely believes his wife is an angel.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Too many little ears around for me to explain without speaking Russian.”
“Jaejoong…” there is a delicious warning in his voice, his expression is closed off, but his eyes speak volumes.
“You speak Russian?” Yunho blurts out, getting an elbow to the arm from Hero. Hyuna has dozed off on his shoulder, as has Jongdae.
“No,” Jaejoong grins, turning towards the seated couple, acknowledging them before turning back to his husband. “Yunnie-ah. This is Hero and…” he glances apologetically at Yunho who stands up, offering his hand to the black suited man.
“Errr… Yunho. Jung Yunho.”
“Jiyoung’s son?”
“Yes.”
“I know your parents and your grandparents,” Jung Yunho shakes his counterpart’s hand, his expression neutral though a tiny smile plays about his lips. “You’re actually named after me.”
“Really?”
“Ask your mother to tell you the story some day. Send her my regards.”
“Gladly.”
Jung Yunho passes his gaze over Hero without so much as a pause, shaking the man’s hand politely before dismissing him and turning back to his wife.
“So what are you going to do?”
Hero and Yunho might as well be invisible really. Jung Yunho only has eyes for his wife. His own social circles are so used to it, they do not consider it rude anymore. Hero though is feeling the sting as he whispers into Yunho’s ear.
“Ouch. And double ouch.”
“I told you he practically dug up the Han River for his wife.”
“His wife looks like me!”
“Yes…and no.”
“Are you fucking with me?”
“Don’t take it personally. It is well known how much he loves his wife.”
“How do you know so much? I thought you’ve never met them.”
“Jae…look at them. Look at their kids. A love like theirs is legend. I hear a lot of talk, but I’ve never actually seen it in person. Now I know what people are talking about.”
“What about a love like ours?”
“We’re getting there.”
“We better.”
“I thought I was the competitive one?”
The whispering couple is distracted when Jung Jaejoong stands up, pulling the baby from his chest. To everyone’s relief, he does not wake, as he is passed from his mama to his daddy.
“Kids, pack up the toys.”
“But Mama…”
“Now, baby.”
“But Mama…”
“Junsu.” Jung Yunho’s voice is quiet, but the command is there.
The twin in question looks sadly at his half built tower of coloured blocks.
“Su, you have the same blocks at home. I’ll help you build a much taller tower alright?”
“Really, Daddy?”
“Yes, really.”
“Chunnie help?”
“Of course.”
“And JJ?”
“JJ too,” his father agrees, smiling at his son. He is patting the baby on his shoulder who is starting to wake from the voices around him.
“Yoolie?”
“And Yoolie.”
“Can we play in the pool, daddy?”
“You want to play building blocks in the pool?” Jung Yunho asks his other son who grins cheekily at his father.
“Swimming with blocks!”
Jung Yunho glances over at his wife for help. The younger man is looking extremely amused as he gathers his own papers, and packing away the puzzles from earlier.
“Chaerin was diving for blocks with them yesterday when the girls came over.”
“How did I not hear about this?”
“You got home late, remember?”
“Daddy, swimming blocks, yes? Yes?” Yoochun is bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.
“Mama! Mama! Mama!” Changmin interrupts, fully awake now, and the little round ball is annoyed once again to find himself away from his source of food.
“You know what? I really don’t think I can handle more than two kids.” Hero is staring at the controlled chaos around him, as the baby starts to kick at his father, trying to hurl his fat little body towards his smirking Mama.
“Two is definitely more than enough.”
“Yun-ah, you take my car. I’ll drive the Chrysler.”
“I saw the blue Aventador you wanted by the way.”
“Oh shit, the Lambo…” Hero mutters, but he is caught by Jung Yunho who turns curiously to him.
“What about his Lambo?”
Hero Jaejoong, worshipped by thousands, perhaps millions, chooses this moment to get completely tongue tied as the tall, dark and very handsome man who radiates power from every line of his suit finally gives him his full attention.
“Uh…”
Yunho has to shake his head at the stupefied expression on Hero Jaejoong’s face. This has got to be a first.
“We accidentally banged his door. Our car is the Audi next to his.”
Instead of getting angry, Jung Yunho smirks instead. “That’s alright. I can replace it with that blue Aventador instead.”
“Jung Yunho, you are not buying me a new car just because my old car has a scratch!”
“My daddy can buy a whole candy store.” JJ pipes up, causing all eyes to land on her. Beaming at the attention, she continues. “Mama played a mean trick at Halloween and we made daddy buy us a candy store.”
“He didn’t.” Jaejoong shakes his head, but his daughter keeps going.
“But he did, Mama! Remember Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and we got to take all the candy we wanted?”
“For the orphans, baby. Remember? We were buying candy to take to the orphanage.”
“We could take anything we wanted.” JJ eyes are shining at the memory. “All the Reeses Peanut Buttercups!”
Jiyool groans at that, shaking her head at her sister. “Please don’t remind me. I am never eating peanut butter anything ever again.”
The girls continue to discuss candy. Or really, JJ wants to discuss candy and Jiyool is trying to change the subject. But JJ is nothing if not determined, and Jiyool acquiesces to the topic with a long suffering sigh.
“I’ll have the report for the creche tonight and you should get it tomorrow morning.” Jaejoong turns back to the couple again as he cradles his son, watching his husband round up the children to finally get them out the door.
“Just email us directly,” Hero says, eyes wide as he follows the progress of the four chatty children.
“Wait, wait! Mama can Hyuna and Jongdae come over?” Jiyool finally remembers the conversation from earlier.
“Yes, yes, Mama! Please?”
Jaejoong suddenly finds himself surrounded by four pairs of very large puppy dog eyes.
“You’ll have to ask their daddies.”
Yunho and Hero are not equipped to say no to the same four pairs of eyes, both nodding immediately, though neither are quite sure what they are agreeing to.
Jung Yunho hands Yunho a card, as he finally gets his children to walk out the door.
“Call this number. You can discuss the details with my wife.”
And after some quick goodbyes, the large family exit the room, leaving the smaller family of Jungs staring at each other in bemusement.
“What the hell was that?”
“Wonderland.”
AN: Oh god I’m procrastinating again because I don’t want to end ICE… This happened with SB too so I guess you’re going to get a drabble/oneshot or two…
AN2: LOL… I had fun writing this. How many of you got confused? I didn’t…but then I’m the author OTL