Special Delivery [3/3]
Special Delivery [3/3]
jaesu; 3,350 words
A/N: Sorry for the longish wait and a very very very special thanks to illuminations for being mean and nasty and forcing me to get this done. :D
When Jaejoong had asked him a year ago why he wanted to stay together, to live together, and to love each other, his answer was simple, perhaps a little naive.
Love didn't sound too bad.
So, Junsu's answer was, "Because when I come home at night, I want the light to be on and the house to be warm. I think that would be really nice, to know someone's waiting."
He stood there, waiting for Jaejoong's reaction, scared that that wasn't going to be enough. Not for them.
Jaejoong said it was more than enough.
An empty bed in the morning tells Junsu differently. He stares at the sunlight on the sheets, fingers walking their way into the warmth. Jaejoong had insisted on having that side to wake up when the world did, not wanting to waste a minute of the day. Junsu, consequently, would always be awoken by a Jaejoong squishing over to his side trying to get five more minutes of sleep. He curls fingers and pulls at the sheets until they come untucked from the bedside, not liking the appearance of an untouched bed, looking too clean and sanitized to be welcoming.
When Junsu looks over his shoulder at the quiet tap-tap behind him, Jaejoong still has his knuckles resting on the door and his other hand on the knob. The door is only opened slightly, and his feet are still planted in the hallway.
"Don't have to knock." Junsu rolls over to face him.
"Breakfast." Jaejoong's voice is quiet, his cheek pressed again the door as he leans toward it.
"Come here."
Jaejoong pads over, steps looking overly careful to Junsu. He reaches for the man's wrist as when Jaejoong moves close enough, pulling him down to sit on the bed.
"That's not how you wake me up," Junsu says as he sits up, hand still around Jaejoong's wrist.
Jaejoong bites on his lip, looking down at their hands, and shrugs. "You were already awake."
"Good morning," Junsu whispers, letting go of Jaejoong's wrist to tilt his head up by his chin up and kiss him, slow and insistent.
Jaejoong mumbles a 'morning' back against his lips.
Junsu pulls back when Jaejoong doesn't kiss back, question in his expression. He waits for Jaejoong to say something, to explain, but knows he has to take initiative when an uncomfortable silence settles in the room. "I'm sorry. About last night."
"We're okay?"
"If you couldn't tell."
Jaejoong smile-pouts at being teased and Junsu takes the opportunity to peck another kiss onto his lips.
"You think kissing me will fix everything," Jaejoong half-whines, lips still pressed to Junsu's.
"It's worked so far. I love kissing you."
"I love you," Jaejoong whispers between them.
Junsu hopes Jaejoong knows that it's a smile he's pressing against his lips. Out of the corner of his eye though, he can see Haneul toss in her crib, so he whispers back, "Your baby's waking up."
The smile Jaejoong flashes him comes off strained, but Jaejoong speaks before he can say anything about it. "Just put on a shirt, Mr. Sexypants."
Junsu snorts, quickly does so and shuffles after Jaejoong toward the crib. He hugs Jaejoong from behind, watching Haneul playfight with him, giggling and smacking his hands away whenever Jaejoong tries to pick her up.
"Don't you have to eat breakfast too little missy?"
Junsu chuckles, pressing his laugh against Jaejoong's nape, as Jaejoong tries his best to put on his I'm-very-serious-and-strict face. He feels Jaejoong huff when Haneul slaps his hand away, seemingly finding Jaejoong's distress very amusing.
"Alright, you bad baby," Junsu says, letting go of Jaejoong, and leans over the crib. To his surprise, Haneul starts making grabby hands at him.
"Unfair." Jaejoong pouts at him.
"Be nice to papa Jaejoong." Junsu frowns to himself as he tries to figure out exactly how to hold Haneul comfortably, smiling at Jaejoong when the other man helps out. "She's just teasing you, you know?"
"I think I get enough of that from you," Jaejoong says, chewing on his bottom lip. "I'll get her breakfast ready."
Junsu stays behind a little after Jaejoong leaves, pretending to just tidy up the crib a little, not that Jaejoong seems to notice. Haneul grabs his nose and starts smacking it. He catches her hand in his to stop her. "Hey, aren't you here to make Jaejoong happy? Magic baby, you're not doing your job." She looks sorry enough to make Junsu feel bad about lecturing her. What was he thinking? She's just a little toddler.
"Baba."
He looks down at her, shocked, but she's already back to chewing on her fist, looking into the hallway. He doesn't know how he'll tell Jaejoong about this. He heard Haneul's first word. It seems like something Jaejoong would have wanted to be there for, something he'd want to share. Haneul stays relatively still and quiet in his arms on the way to the kitchen, and upon their arrival Jaejoong hands over a bottle of milk with a simple 'here' and goes back to heating up the rest of the food.
"Look at your papa, making breakfast for us. Say thank you papa, thank you" Junsu babytalks to Haneul, bouncing her in his arms, disappointed when she doesn't listen.
Jaejoong nods, smiling slightly as he walks over, fixing the ends of Junsu's shirt, smoothing out the wrinkles and pulling it even. "Yeah. Your favorite. Leftover dinner," he smiles and laughs nervously at Junsu.
"Only if it's takeout. You know I don't like the stuff you cook."
A more natural smile spreads on Jaejoong's face. He rests his chin on Junsu's shoulder, making Haneul lean forward to see what he was doing. "You didn't really call pizza that night did you?" He tilts the bottle to Haneul's mouth.
"Was about to place my order when you closed my cell phone."
Jaejoong 'hmphs'. "Don't lie. I checked your call history."
"Don't ask stupid questions then." Junsu smirks and places a kiss on his nose. "Don't pout. I'll feed you breakfast."
Junsu ends up feeding two mouths for breakfast, with Haneul patting his cheek every time he feeds Jaejoong for a second too long and whining when Junsu doesn't give her his attention right away.
But that's not to say that Jaejoong doesn't basically do the same thing.
Junsu starts getting impatient, grumbling about how he hasn't gotten more than two bites of his own food yet, but he starts to feel bad when he gets two pairs of guilty looking puppy eyes. "Don't make those faces at me," he groans, watching Haneul's face as Jaejoong directs his hand to tilt the bottle higher. He watches on suspiciously, and leans over to whisper to Jaejoong, "I think she speaks Korean."
Jaejoong blinks. "What do you mean?"
"She-" Junsu cuts himself off when Jaejoong starts pointing at Haneul, and he looks down to see Haneul leaning forward, seemingly trying to listen. "What are you doing?"
She makes grabby hands at Jaejoong. "Baba."
"Me?" The surprise in Jaejoong's voice makes Junsu laugh.
"Her first word." Technically he's not lying. Junsu smiles, trying to hold onto Haneul as she tilts forward to Jaejoong.
"Super baby!" Jaejoong picks her up by the underarms, letting Junsu take her almost finished bottle away, and makes like she can fly. "You secretly like me don't you? You just pretend to be mean."
"Baba!"
"Alright since you're being so good, we're going to try this new baby food." He reaches over on the table to get the applesauce they were going to give her anyway. She reaches for it when Jaejoong brings it close and examines it with interest when Jaejoong lets her hold it. "Junsu, can you get the baby spoon over there?"
Junsu gladly hands it over, watching in awe as Jaejoong babytalks to Haneul, opens the baby food and starts to feed her. It feels a little crazy and strange to him, the way seeing Jaejoong this happy can make his chest swell and his stomach twist in all kinds of non-dangerous, non-illness related ways (though really, he can only guarantee the non-illness related part).
"Junsu?"
"Hm?" Junsu snaps out of his his daze, watching as Haneul dips her hand into the applesauce jar while Jaejoong's still looking at him confusedly.
"You were staring."
"Oh. Uhm. Baby," he says and points at Haneul. By the time Jaejoong looks down she's already looking up at him, eating applesauce off her fingers, effectively turning Jaejoong into a puddle of mushy mush.
"She's so cute."
"She's messy."
Junsu gets applesauce thrown at his face. He yells out and tries to wipe it off with the back of his hand. "Why is she being mean to me all the sudden? Is there any left?"
"Just here." Jaejoong quickly moves in to kiss the side of his mouth. "You taste like apples."
Junsu snorts and gets up, earning puppy faces from the two at the table. "I'm going to wash my face," he explains and quickly departs.
Things seem to be back to normal when Junsu comes back to the dining room, where Haneul is trying to convince Jaejoong that the new hair gel is applesauce. They spend the rest of the day playing around the house, together then taking turns because apparently Haneul is housing some sort of supernatural energy source.
"You don't think all babies are like this, do you, hyung? Like, real babies?"
"Haneul is a real baby."
"Like babies not from storks."
"I think all babies are this rowdy."
Junsu laughs, watching as Haneul steps into a carboard box, sits herself down and starts making car noises. "Did she learn that from TV?"
"Papa Junsu lets you watch too much TV," Jaejoong says as he drags the box along their carpet and Haneul moves her hands like there's a steering wheel in front of her.
"Maybe we should buy her one of those toy cars."
"The electric ones with the motor?"
"I meant the tricycles with a steering wheel."
//
There's a knock on their door later in the evening. Junsu places the hair ties he was holding down next to Jaejoong, letting the man finish up Haneul's hair now that's she's finally calmed down a little.
"Hey."
"Hey you. You have a baby?" Yunho's voice is concerned but more masking his excitement as he peeks around. "Is this a trick?"
"No. I promise." Junsu decides that showing Yunho is going to be more affective than any words he could use, so he opens the door a bit further, revealing Jaejoong and Haneul on the couch.
"Oh my god." Junsu can swear he sees Yunho actually melting. "Baby!"
Junsu's are-you-serious face is ignored as Yunho rushes passed him and makes his way over. He shakes his head, same old Yunho, and goes into his bedroom to quickly change so he can rejoin them in the living room.
"So what are you doing here?"
"Well," Yunho starts off and looks over to Junsu who's returning to join them. "Junsu?"
"Well," Junsu pauses and motions between them. "I wanted us to have a night out."
"With Yunho?"
"No!" Junsu waves his hands in front of him. "Alone. Yunho's here to babysit because I knew you didn't want some 16 year old girl taking care of our kid."
"Our kid?"
Junsu blushes a little from the slip of words. "Yeah. So get dressed."
Jaejoong seems to be containing an implosion as he carefully hands Haneul over to Yunho and gives Junsu a life-threatening hug along with a wet messy kiss on his cheek. Junsu stands there, a little stunned and a little embarrassed from the public display of a affection, only snapping out of it when he hears Haneul giggle. He looks over and she is indeed, laughing at him.
"You think Junsu is really funny, huh?" Yunho's already starting with the baby talk, which Junsu assumes can only mean good things. He watches on as Haneul inspects him, blinking as if she's wondering, 'Who is this strange man that's carrying me?' Yunho gets her stamp of approval though, little slaps on his mouth, to which Yunho starts pretending he's going to eat her little hands, effectively making her burst into giggles.
"How do I look?"
Junsu looks over to where Jaejoong is, standing in the hallway. "Should I change?" He looks down at his own outfit, black shirt and jeans, and feels underdressed or just really really plain when Jaejoong a nice button down shirt (which isn't 100% buttoned right now -- yet -- ever) and his date jeans (which Junsu only knows are date jeans because Jaejoong said they are).
"No, you're perfect," Jaejoong insists, taking his hand as he walks over to give Haneul a goodbye kiss on the cheek and receives a light tap on his cheek from her. Junsu just lets her hold on to his finger and shakes hands. "Be good," he says, and blows her a kiss as they step out the door.
The elevator doors are barely done closing when Jaejoong presses him against the wall, attacking his mouth. Junsu can't really complain though, chuckling as he kisses back.
"It's been so long."
"Yeah but, hyung, I thought we'd save this part for after the date."
"We're not just going to make out at the movies?" Jaejoong hugs him around the waist, resting his head on Junsu's shoulder.
"No," Junsu glances at his watch. "I made reservations for us."
He sees Jaejoong smile out of the corner of his eye. "You did?"
"Yeah. At this new restaurant."
"You made plans," Jaejoong practically squees.
"Yeah."
Jaejoong plants a big, messy kiss on his lips, and proceeds to pull him out of the elevator as soon as the doors open. Junsu's arm becomes Jaejoong's new favorite accessory as they speed walk their way to the restaurant, arriving 15 minutes earlier than their reservation time.
//
To Junsu's relief, Jaejoong loves everything from the soft candle lighting to smooth jazz soundtrack.
"Anything else to satisfy my hyung?" Junsu says so sweetly he almost makes himself laugh.
"Dessert!" Jaejoong quickly takes the dessert menu from its stand and flips through oohing and ahhing at all the pictures. "This one, this one. Share it with me?" He flips the menu to show Junsu a picture of a dessert that's basically fruits cut into heart shapes of all sizes.
"Really, hyung?"
"It's cute." Jaejoong starts giving him puppy eyes. "And delicious," he adds, pointing to the word 'delicious' in big, bright print on the menu.
Junsu agrees quickly before he can show any signs of weakness to Jaejoong's puppy eyes, feeling like he's done a good job so far of keeping their efficacy a secret, and asks the next waiter that passes to take their order.
"Junsu."
"Hm?"
"This is really nice."
"Well, I tried," Junsu answers smartly, smirking.
"Really though," Jaejoong reaches across the table, taking his hand.
"You needed a break, worked so hard taking care of Haneul."
"Have to or else she won't remember me." Jaejoong's fingers curl on the back of Junsu's hand. "She likes you so much."
Junsu flips his hand to hold Jaejoong's. "She likes you too, 'baba'."
Jaejoong's snort surprises Junsu. "I'm not the first one she said it to."
Junsu strokes Jaejoong's wrist with his fingers. "No?"
"No," Jaejoong pauses and shakes his head. "That night, when she woke up... I think she called for you."
Junsu sighs, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry. I know she was like your baby-"
"Our baby, Junsu. Our baby. I just really wanted her to be ours. That's why I was so happy when she called me 'baba' too." Jaejoong glances up and catches his eye, but quickly looks back at their hands. "Like we were a family."
Junsu squeezes his hand, feeling stupid about how after all this time, he's still unsure of how to comfort Jaejoong. "Hyung."
"It just seemed like you didn't care, you know? But I thought maybe, maybe it's just because it comes easy to you, like everything else does." Jaejoong bites his lip like he feels like he's said too much.
"Things come easy to me?"
"You never have to put as much effort in. Our relationship. Raising Haneul. You don't even have to try that hard to love me, you could just say my name and my stomach can still gets these flippy floppy feelings. You've never even told me if you feel the same way. And the baby, just..."
"Why don't you talk to me about these things?"
Jaejoong shrugs but Junsu waits for words. "I don't want to scare you away." He laughs nervously. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I kind of love you."
A pause. "Me too." Junsu says quietly. A silence falls over them as their dessert arrives, a pile of fruity hearts. "Say something."
"You too what?"
Junsu stabs a honeydew heart with his fork, and points it at Jaejoong. "I love you too," he says and promptly presses the fruit against Jaejoong's lips.
Jaejoong makes no move to eat, just smiling behind the piece.
"You said it's delicious."
Jaejoong opens his mouth and talks as he chews, "You said you love me."
"I do." When Jaejoong just keeps chewing and smiling (and possibly glowing) at him, Junsu decides to continue, taking a deep breath first, staring off at their entwined fingers. "And maybe, maybe it's just that I'm scared that once I actually put the effort in, that you might leave, because it'll be different. And you, you're amazing, and I want to be with you. I could have something with you. But I'm not ready for a baby. Maybe I'm still in that stage where I just... don't want to share you yet."
He looks up and Jaejoong's pushing an apple heart against his lips. "I'm yours, Junsu."
//
They get back to the apartment to find a post-it note on their door. Junsu peels it off so they could read it inside.
I've stolen your baby away for ice cream!
We might be back on time, we might not >:]
Okay so call when you need her back.
"Does that mean he's not going to return her?"
Jaejoong hugs him from behind to read over his shoulder. He hums and shrugs. "I'm not sure."
"Are your hands undoing my pants?"
"Is your butt going to move to the bedroom?"
//
Jaejoong cuddles like a kitten, rubbing himself all over Junsu and purring. Junsu chuckles, combing through Jaejoong's hair, massaging his scalp. He hears his phone beep, but ignores it.
"It's Yunho." Jaejoong reaches over to get the phone, but lays himself back down on Junsu and reads the text message out loud: "Are you guys done being indecent yet?"
Junsu smiles to himself. "Like he's all that decent."
Jaejoong texts back for him. "Never. Junsu's too delicious."
"Hyung, don't send that." Junsu already knows it's too late though when Jaejoong smiles big, lips pressed against his neck.
"But you are."
"Private knowledge."
His phone beeps again. Jaejoong laughs before reading again: "The girlfriend wants to warn you that any longer and we might be keeping Haneul for good."
Junsu looks down and when he makes eye contact with Jaejoong, he knows that they might be thinking the same thing. "She'd be in good hands."
"She grew on you though."
Junsu presses his lips together, rather just keep quiet than deny it.
"She grew on me too."
"I just want to know that she's in the hands of someone who can take good care of her."
Jaejoong sends another text: "Actually... about that."
//
Junsu glances at his watch as he listens to his phone ring, wondering why Jaejoong isn't picking up yet.
"Hello?"
"Hyung. Almost thought you were working a late shift."
"No. Where are you?"
"On my way back from Yunho's, should be home in 5 minutes."
"How is she?"
Junsu smiles, even though Jaejoong can't see. "Luckily, really happy. Tell you more about it when I get home."
"Lights are on. I'm waiting."
"Not just because I have our dinner, right?"
"Because I love you."
"Love you too."
jaesu; 3,350 words
A/N: Sorry for the longish wait and a very very very special thanks to illuminations for being mean and nasty and forcing me to get this done. :D
When Jaejoong had asked him a year ago why he wanted to stay together, to live together, and to love each other, his answer was simple, perhaps a little naive.
Love didn't sound too bad.
So, Junsu's answer was, "Because when I come home at night, I want the light to be on and the house to be warm. I think that would be really nice, to know someone's waiting."
He stood there, waiting for Jaejoong's reaction, scared that that wasn't going to be enough. Not for them.
Jaejoong said it was more than enough.
An empty bed in the morning tells Junsu differently. He stares at the sunlight on the sheets, fingers walking their way into the warmth. Jaejoong had insisted on having that side to wake up when the world did, not wanting to waste a minute of the day. Junsu, consequently, would always be awoken by a Jaejoong squishing over to his side trying to get five more minutes of sleep. He curls fingers and pulls at the sheets until they come untucked from the bedside, not liking the appearance of an untouched bed, looking too clean and sanitized to be welcoming.
When Junsu looks over his shoulder at the quiet tap-tap behind him, Jaejoong still has his knuckles resting on the door and his other hand on the knob. The door is only opened slightly, and his feet are still planted in the hallway.
"Don't have to knock." Junsu rolls over to face him.
"Breakfast." Jaejoong's voice is quiet, his cheek pressed again the door as he leans toward it.
"Come here."
Jaejoong pads over, steps looking overly careful to Junsu. He reaches for the man's wrist as when Jaejoong moves close enough, pulling him down to sit on the bed.
"That's not how you wake me up," Junsu says as he sits up, hand still around Jaejoong's wrist.
Jaejoong bites on his lip, looking down at their hands, and shrugs. "You were already awake."
"Good morning," Junsu whispers, letting go of Jaejoong's wrist to tilt his head up by his chin up and kiss him, slow and insistent.
Jaejoong mumbles a 'morning' back against his lips.
Junsu pulls back when Jaejoong doesn't kiss back, question in his expression. He waits for Jaejoong to say something, to explain, but knows he has to take initiative when an uncomfortable silence settles in the room. "I'm sorry. About last night."
"We're okay?"
"If you couldn't tell."
Jaejoong smile-pouts at being teased and Junsu takes the opportunity to peck another kiss onto his lips.
"You think kissing me will fix everything," Jaejoong half-whines, lips still pressed to Junsu's.
"It's worked so far. I love kissing you."
"I love you," Jaejoong whispers between them.
Junsu hopes Jaejoong knows that it's a smile he's pressing against his lips. Out of the corner of his eye though, he can see Haneul toss in her crib, so he whispers back, "Your baby's waking up."
The smile Jaejoong flashes him comes off strained, but Jaejoong speaks before he can say anything about it. "Just put on a shirt, Mr. Sexypants."
Junsu snorts, quickly does so and shuffles after Jaejoong toward the crib. He hugs Jaejoong from behind, watching Haneul playfight with him, giggling and smacking his hands away whenever Jaejoong tries to pick her up.
"Don't you have to eat breakfast too little missy?"
Junsu chuckles, pressing his laugh against Jaejoong's nape, as Jaejoong tries his best to put on his I'm-very-serious-and-strict face. He feels Jaejoong huff when Haneul slaps his hand away, seemingly finding Jaejoong's distress very amusing.
"Alright, you bad baby," Junsu says, letting go of Jaejoong, and leans over the crib. To his surprise, Haneul starts making grabby hands at him.
"Unfair." Jaejoong pouts at him.
"Be nice to papa Jaejoong." Junsu frowns to himself as he tries to figure out exactly how to hold Haneul comfortably, smiling at Jaejoong when the other man helps out. "She's just teasing you, you know?"
"I think I get enough of that from you," Jaejoong says, chewing on his bottom lip. "I'll get her breakfast ready."
Junsu stays behind a little after Jaejoong leaves, pretending to just tidy up the crib a little, not that Jaejoong seems to notice. Haneul grabs his nose and starts smacking it. He catches her hand in his to stop her. "Hey, aren't you here to make Jaejoong happy? Magic baby, you're not doing your job." She looks sorry enough to make Junsu feel bad about lecturing her. What was he thinking? She's just a little toddler.
"Baba."
He looks down at her, shocked, but she's already back to chewing on her fist, looking into the hallway. He doesn't know how he'll tell Jaejoong about this. He heard Haneul's first word. It seems like something Jaejoong would have wanted to be there for, something he'd want to share. Haneul stays relatively still and quiet in his arms on the way to the kitchen, and upon their arrival Jaejoong hands over a bottle of milk with a simple 'here' and goes back to heating up the rest of the food.
"Look at your papa, making breakfast for us. Say thank you papa, thank you" Junsu babytalks to Haneul, bouncing her in his arms, disappointed when she doesn't listen.
Jaejoong nods, smiling slightly as he walks over, fixing the ends of Junsu's shirt, smoothing out the wrinkles and pulling it even. "Yeah. Your favorite. Leftover dinner," he smiles and laughs nervously at Junsu.
"Only if it's takeout. You know I don't like the stuff you cook."
A more natural smile spreads on Jaejoong's face. He rests his chin on Junsu's shoulder, making Haneul lean forward to see what he was doing. "You didn't really call pizza that night did you?" He tilts the bottle to Haneul's mouth.
"Was about to place my order when you closed my cell phone."
Jaejoong 'hmphs'. "Don't lie. I checked your call history."
"Don't ask stupid questions then." Junsu smirks and places a kiss on his nose. "Don't pout. I'll feed you breakfast."
Junsu ends up feeding two mouths for breakfast, with Haneul patting his cheek every time he feeds Jaejoong for a second too long and whining when Junsu doesn't give her his attention right away.
But that's not to say that Jaejoong doesn't basically do the same thing.
Junsu starts getting impatient, grumbling about how he hasn't gotten more than two bites of his own food yet, but he starts to feel bad when he gets two pairs of guilty looking puppy eyes. "Don't make those faces at me," he groans, watching Haneul's face as Jaejoong directs his hand to tilt the bottle higher. He watches on suspiciously, and leans over to whisper to Jaejoong, "I think she speaks Korean."
Jaejoong blinks. "What do you mean?"
"She-" Junsu cuts himself off when Jaejoong starts pointing at Haneul, and he looks down to see Haneul leaning forward, seemingly trying to listen. "What are you doing?"
She makes grabby hands at Jaejoong. "Baba."
"Me?" The surprise in Jaejoong's voice makes Junsu laugh.
"Her first word." Technically he's not lying. Junsu smiles, trying to hold onto Haneul as she tilts forward to Jaejoong.
"Super baby!" Jaejoong picks her up by the underarms, letting Junsu take her almost finished bottle away, and makes like she can fly. "You secretly like me don't you? You just pretend to be mean."
"Baba!"
"Alright since you're being so good, we're going to try this new baby food." He reaches over on the table to get the applesauce they were going to give her anyway. She reaches for it when Jaejoong brings it close and examines it with interest when Jaejoong lets her hold it. "Junsu, can you get the baby spoon over there?"
Junsu gladly hands it over, watching in awe as Jaejoong babytalks to Haneul, opens the baby food and starts to feed her. It feels a little crazy and strange to him, the way seeing Jaejoong this happy can make his chest swell and his stomach twist in all kinds of non-dangerous, non-illness related ways (though really, he can only guarantee the non-illness related part).
"Junsu?"
"Hm?" Junsu snaps out of his his daze, watching as Haneul dips her hand into the applesauce jar while Jaejoong's still looking at him confusedly.
"You were staring."
"Oh. Uhm. Baby," he says and points at Haneul. By the time Jaejoong looks down she's already looking up at him, eating applesauce off her fingers, effectively turning Jaejoong into a puddle of mushy mush.
"She's so cute."
"She's messy."
Junsu gets applesauce thrown at his face. He yells out and tries to wipe it off with the back of his hand. "Why is she being mean to me all the sudden? Is there any left?"
"Just here." Jaejoong quickly moves in to kiss the side of his mouth. "You taste like apples."
Junsu snorts and gets up, earning puppy faces from the two at the table. "I'm going to wash my face," he explains and quickly departs.
Things seem to be back to normal when Junsu comes back to the dining room, where Haneul is trying to convince Jaejoong that the new hair gel is applesauce. They spend the rest of the day playing around the house, together then taking turns because apparently Haneul is housing some sort of supernatural energy source.
"You don't think all babies are like this, do you, hyung? Like, real babies?"
"Haneul is a real baby."
"Like babies not from storks."
"I think all babies are this rowdy."
Junsu laughs, watching as Haneul steps into a carboard box, sits herself down and starts making car noises. "Did she learn that from TV?"
"Papa Junsu lets you watch too much TV," Jaejoong says as he drags the box along their carpet and Haneul moves her hands like there's a steering wheel in front of her.
"Maybe we should buy her one of those toy cars."
"The electric ones with the motor?"
"I meant the tricycles with a steering wheel."
//
There's a knock on their door later in the evening. Junsu places the hair ties he was holding down next to Jaejoong, letting the man finish up Haneul's hair now that's she's finally calmed down a little.
"Hey."
"Hey you. You have a baby?" Yunho's voice is concerned but more masking his excitement as he peeks around. "Is this a trick?"
"No. I promise." Junsu decides that showing Yunho is going to be more affective than any words he could use, so he opens the door a bit further, revealing Jaejoong and Haneul on the couch.
"Oh my god." Junsu can swear he sees Yunho actually melting. "Baby!"
Junsu's are-you-serious face is ignored as Yunho rushes passed him and makes his way over. He shakes his head, same old Yunho, and goes into his bedroom to quickly change so he can rejoin them in the living room.
"So what are you doing here?"
"Well," Yunho starts off and looks over to Junsu who's returning to join them. "Junsu?"
"Well," Junsu pauses and motions between them. "I wanted us to have a night out."
"With Yunho?"
"No!" Junsu waves his hands in front of him. "Alone. Yunho's here to babysit because I knew you didn't want some 16 year old girl taking care of our kid."
"Our kid?"
Junsu blushes a little from the slip of words. "Yeah. So get dressed."
Jaejoong seems to be containing an implosion as he carefully hands Haneul over to Yunho and gives Junsu a life-threatening hug along with a wet messy kiss on his cheek. Junsu stands there, a little stunned and a little embarrassed from the public display of a affection, only snapping out of it when he hears Haneul giggle. He looks over and she is indeed, laughing at him.
"You think Junsu is really funny, huh?" Yunho's already starting with the baby talk, which Junsu assumes can only mean good things. He watches on as Haneul inspects him, blinking as if she's wondering, 'Who is this strange man that's carrying me?' Yunho gets her stamp of approval though, little slaps on his mouth, to which Yunho starts pretending he's going to eat her little hands, effectively making her burst into giggles.
"How do I look?"
Junsu looks over to where Jaejoong is, standing in the hallway. "Should I change?" He looks down at his own outfit, black shirt and jeans, and feels underdressed or just really really plain when Jaejoong a nice button down shirt (which isn't 100% buttoned right now -- yet -- ever) and his date jeans (which Junsu only knows are date jeans because Jaejoong said they are).
"No, you're perfect," Jaejoong insists, taking his hand as he walks over to give Haneul a goodbye kiss on the cheek and receives a light tap on his cheek from her. Junsu just lets her hold on to his finger and shakes hands. "Be good," he says, and blows her a kiss as they step out the door.
The elevator doors are barely done closing when Jaejoong presses him against the wall, attacking his mouth. Junsu can't really complain though, chuckling as he kisses back.
"It's been so long."
"Yeah but, hyung, I thought we'd save this part for after the date."
"We're not just going to make out at the movies?" Jaejoong hugs him around the waist, resting his head on Junsu's shoulder.
"No," Junsu glances at his watch. "I made reservations for us."
He sees Jaejoong smile out of the corner of his eye. "You did?"
"Yeah. At this new restaurant."
"You made plans," Jaejoong practically squees.
"Yeah."
Jaejoong plants a big, messy kiss on his lips, and proceeds to pull him out of the elevator as soon as the doors open. Junsu's arm becomes Jaejoong's new favorite accessory as they speed walk their way to the restaurant, arriving 15 minutes earlier than their reservation time.
//
To Junsu's relief, Jaejoong loves everything from the soft candle lighting to smooth jazz soundtrack.
"Anything else to satisfy my hyung?" Junsu says so sweetly he almost makes himself laugh.
"Dessert!" Jaejoong quickly takes the dessert menu from its stand and flips through oohing and ahhing at all the pictures. "This one, this one. Share it with me?" He flips the menu to show Junsu a picture of a dessert that's basically fruits cut into heart shapes of all sizes.
"Really, hyung?"
"It's cute." Jaejoong starts giving him puppy eyes. "And delicious," he adds, pointing to the word 'delicious' in big, bright print on the menu.
Junsu agrees quickly before he can show any signs of weakness to Jaejoong's puppy eyes, feeling like he's done a good job so far of keeping their efficacy a secret, and asks the next waiter that passes to take their order.
"Junsu."
"Hm?"
"This is really nice."
"Well, I tried," Junsu answers smartly, smirking.
"Really though," Jaejoong reaches across the table, taking his hand.
"You needed a break, worked so hard taking care of Haneul."
"Have to or else she won't remember me." Jaejoong's fingers curl on the back of Junsu's hand. "She likes you so much."
Junsu flips his hand to hold Jaejoong's. "She likes you too, 'baba'."
Jaejoong's snort surprises Junsu. "I'm not the first one she said it to."
Junsu strokes Jaejoong's wrist with his fingers. "No?"
"No," Jaejoong pauses and shakes his head. "That night, when she woke up... I think she called for you."
Junsu sighs, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry. I know she was like your baby-"
"Our baby, Junsu. Our baby. I just really wanted her to be ours. That's why I was so happy when she called me 'baba' too." Jaejoong glances up and catches his eye, but quickly looks back at their hands. "Like we were a family."
Junsu squeezes his hand, feeling stupid about how after all this time, he's still unsure of how to comfort Jaejoong. "Hyung."
"It just seemed like you didn't care, you know? But I thought maybe, maybe it's just because it comes easy to you, like everything else does." Jaejoong bites his lip like he feels like he's said too much.
"Things come easy to me?"
"You never have to put as much effort in. Our relationship. Raising Haneul. You don't even have to try that hard to love me, you could just say my name and my stomach can still gets these flippy floppy feelings. You've never even told me if you feel the same way. And the baby, just..."
"Why don't you talk to me about these things?"
Jaejoong shrugs but Junsu waits for words. "I don't want to scare you away." He laughs nervously. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I kind of love you."
A pause. "Me too." Junsu says quietly. A silence falls over them as their dessert arrives, a pile of fruity hearts. "Say something."
"You too what?"
Junsu stabs a honeydew heart with his fork, and points it at Jaejoong. "I love you too," he says and promptly presses the fruit against Jaejoong's lips.
Jaejoong makes no move to eat, just smiling behind the piece.
"You said it's delicious."
Jaejoong opens his mouth and talks as he chews, "You said you love me."
"I do." When Jaejoong just keeps chewing and smiling (and possibly glowing) at him, Junsu decides to continue, taking a deep breath first, staring off at their entwined fingers. "And maybe, maybe it's just that I'm scared that once I actually put the effort in, that you might leave, because it'll be different. And you, you're amazing, and I want to be with you. I could have something with you. But I'm not ready for a baby. Maybe I'm still in that stage where I just... don't want to share you yet."
He looks up and Jaejoong's pushing an apple heart against his lips. "I'm yours, Junsu."
//
They get back to the apartment to find a post-it note on their door. Junsu peels it off so they could read it inside.
I've stolen your baby away for ice cream!
We might be back on time, we might not >:]
Okay so call when you need her back.
"Does that mean he's not going to return her?"
Jaejoong hugs him from behind to read over his shoulder. He hums and shrugs. "I'm not sure."
"Are your hands undoing my pants?"
"Is your butt going to move to the bedroom?"
//
Jaejoong cuddles like a kitten, rubbing himself all over Junsu and purring. Junsu chuckles, combing through Jaejoong's hair, massaging his scalp. He hears his phone beep, but ignores it.
"It's Yunho." Jaejoong reaches over to get the phone, but lays himself back down on Junsu and reads the text message out loud: "Are you guys done being indecent yet?"
Junsu smiles to himself. "Like he's all that decent."
Jaejoong texts back for him. "Never. Junsu's too delicious."
"Hyung, don't send that." Junsu already knows it's too late though when Jaejoong smiles big, lips pressed against his neck.
"But you are."
"Private knowledge."
His phone beeps again. Jaejoong laughs before reading again: "The girlfriend wants to warn you that any longer and we might be keeping Haneul for good."
Junsu looks down and when he makes eye contact with Jaejoong, he knows that they might be thinking the same thing. "She'd be in good hands."
"She grew on you though."
Junsu presses his lips together, rather just keep quiet than deny it.
"She grew on me too."
"I just want to know that she's in the hands of someone who can take good care of her."
Jaejoong sends another text: "Actually... about that."
//
Junsu glances at his watch as he listens to his phone ring, wondering why Jaejoong isn't picking up yet.
"Hello?"
"Hyung. Almost thought you were working a late shift."
"No. Where are you?"
"On my way back from Yunho's, should be home in 5 minutes."
"How is she?"
Junsu smiles, even though Jaejoong can't see. "Luckily, really happy. Tell you more about it when I get home."
"Lights are on. I'm waiting."
"Not just because I have our dinner, right?"
"Because I love you."
"Love you too."