Chapter Text
"Look at you," Taehyung coos, taking Soyon out of her crib and staring at her chubby cheeks and wide eyes.
"How are you doing, sweetheart?" He pulls her to his chest, winding an arm under her hips to support her. "Are you hungry? Yes, you must be, my sweetie," he chats, leaving a noisy kiss on her cheek as he winds down the stairs towards the kitchen.
Jeongguk is already in there, in sweatpants and sleepy eyes, flipping pancakes on the stove and smiling wide when they cross the threshold.
"Look who's up already," Jeongguk directs at their daughter, walking in their direction to press a kiss to the top of her head.
"She wanted to see daddy off to work today," Taehyung jokes, inching his chin up for Jeongguk's morning peck.
"Such a polite little girl," Jeongguk smiles, reaching to tickle her tummy.
Soyon giggles, her stubby white teeth poking out of her gums.
"Want me to fix her bottle?" Jeongguk offers, going back to his place at the stove but still blowing kisses Soyon's way.
"No need, I can make it in a bit," Taehyung settles her in her high chair, turning back to make her morning bottle.
"So," Taehyung continues, heating her bottle and resting against the counter, "we having pancakes today?"
"Hn," Jeongguk smirks, "I was feeling like pleasing a certain someone," he reaches to pinch the skin of Taehyung's belly under his sleeping shirt.
Taehyung chuckles, batting his hand away. "You flirt."
"Seriously though," Jeongguk says later, plating the pancakes. "Will you pick the children up today?"
Taehyung blinks. "Oh, is it Thursday already?"
"Yes," Jeongguk hands Taehyung his plate, taking Soyon's now warm bottle and advancing in her direction. "Did you forget it?" He turns to ask Taehyung over his shoulder, taking the chair beside Soyon's to support the bottle for her. The baby has been growing increasingly stronger and is now able to hold her own bottle herself. They still try to help her but as soon as she gets to it she tends to refuse their help. Taehyung can't believe that seven months ago she was just a wiggly bundle in his arms.
"No, of course I didn't," Taehyung sits down across from Jeongguk, pouring them both orange juice. "I just didn't realize it was this soon, like-"
"Yeah, sorry, it was kind of short notice," Jeongguk bites into his pancake, holding his fork with one hand and Soyon's bottle with the other. "Hyejin had to change some shifts."
"Yes, you mentioned," Taehyung takes a sip of his juice, avoiding Jeongguk's eyes.
This topic always makes him uneasy, whether he wants it or not. The truth is that he and Jeongguk's children don't quite get along. Not that Taehyung doesn't try his best, but it's difficult. Hyejin, Jeongguk's ex-wife, was apparently too busy today and asked Jeongguk to pick the children up from school. But Jeongguk works almost twelve hours a day, and of course she knows it. Needless to say, his husband had asked Taehyung the other day if he had a problem with picking them up. And Taehyung wasn't going to say yes.
"I forgot to mention actually," Jeongguk continues, "she called yesterday. Hyejin."
"Oh," Taehyung finishes his pancakes and props his chin on his hand, sliding his finger up and down the condensation on his glass.
"She wants to revoke the last agreement we had," Jeongguk pauses, "on the children's custody."
Taehyung can feel his eyes widening slightly and swings his gaze away, shrugging and opening his mouth to say something.
"It's nothing much, really," Jeongguk hastens to amend, "just some points she wants to change."
Nowadays Hyejin has about seventy percent of the children's custody but Jeongguk's lawyer and hers are always at each other's throats, always agreeing and disagreeing on something.
Apparently, the fact that Jeongguk has a husband and a new baby pushes most of the custody towards Hyejin, which Taehyung personally doesn't agree with. But then again, he doesn't agree with the fifty-fifty Jeongguk wants to go for. Not that Taehyung hates his stepchildren, but he wants his space with his husband and their daughter, and whenever he tries to interact with them Taehyung just feels silly. They hate him.
"Okay then," Taehyung bites the corner of his bottom lip, putting on a smile when Jeongguk looks up at him. "I'm sure everything is going to come out fine."
Jeongguk gives him a wide smile, letting go of Soyon's bottle when the baby manages to hold it herself. "Always the optimist," he teases.
Taehyung laughs quietly, winking his way. "That's why you love me."
-
Taehyung settles Soyon on her baby chair in the backseat of his car, turning back the way around to get on the driver's seat. The baby is distracted by her toy, squeezing and juggling it in her fist as its bells tinkle.
"Are you excited, darling?" Taehyung prompts, turning the car on and backing out of their garage. "Do you miss your brother and sister?"
They are Soyon's halfbrother and halfsister, to be precise, but Taehyung doesn’t want to confuse the baby's head.
He makes the somewhat unfamiliar way to the city's school, singing to Soyon all along and trying to find a slot in front of the school's yard. He can hear the bell ringing at this distance and watches the way the students flow out of the building.
Luckily, a car pulls away from a slot and Taehyung is able to turn on his blinker and park in front of the school. He keeps the air conditioner on, looking outside to try and spot one of Jeongguk's kids.
There are a hundred kids and teenagers walking around and Taehyung taps his fingers on the steering wheel calmly, trying to peer into the kids' faces. Soyon babbles excitedly, tilting her head and shaking her toy in her fist.
Taehyung entertains her, babbling along in a baby-voice. They spend at least one minute like that, the car humming and Soyon giggling. Soon enough, a kid approaches the car.
It's Jihun, Jeongguk's eight-year old, whose blue backpack bounces along with his every step in the car's direction. He opens the door to the backseat and sits down.
"Hello, Taehyung," he says.
Jihun is Jeongguk's spitting image. With short black hair and an increasing game addiction which Jeongguk and Hyejin are trying to stave off, Jihun keeps to himself most of the times.
"Hey," Taehyung greets, shooting him a smile from the rearview mirror. "How was class?"
"Good," Jihun answers, already pulling his nintendo DS out of his backpack. He glances at Soyon and gives her a tiny smile when the baby tries to reach for the game.
"Soyonnie," Taehyung calls out, "leave Jihun alone."
Soyon remains watching Jihun curiously, twisting the head of her toy on her lap and peering into his gameplay.
"It's alright," Jihun says, the sound of his key smashing permeating the car.
Jihun is a sweet kid. He's the least of Taehyung's problems.
"Where is your sister?" Taehyung finally asks two minutes later, watching the increasingly emptier front yard.
"She's coming," Jihun answers, not taking his eyes away from his screen.
"Does she know I was the one who was going to pick you guys up today?"
"Yeah. Mom told us last night."
"Hn," Taehyung stares out of his window, trying to spot Yuna's long, black hair. Jeongguk told him she was entering a goth phase now. As though she wasn't already scary enough.
"Oh, there she is," Taehyung spots her.
Walking slowly towards the car, Jeongguk's eldest daughter pulls her earphones out of her ears and opens the door to the passenger seat.
"Hi, Yuna," Taehyung greets cheerfully, "how was class?"
Yuna shrugs before sighing, storing her earphones in the outer pocket of her pink backpack and pulling her hair behind one ear. "Normal," she says, turning to buckle in her seatbelt.
"Okay," Taehyung says, veering away from the slot and towards his and Jeongguk's house.
It's silent inside the car, only the sound of Soyon's toy tinkling this way and that. Taehyung pauses in a red light, trying to come up with something amicable enough to say. As if sensing his attempt at a conversation, Yuna fishes a glittery-cased cell phone from her pocket, swiping down the screen.
Soyon decides she wants Jihun's attention though, and throws her toy his way.
"Ouch," Jihun speaks out, frowning at the baby before going back to his game.
"Soyonnie," Taehyung reprimands, watching her from the rearview mirror, "don't throw your toys at Jihun. What an ugly thing to do."
Soyon scrunches up her face, balling her small fists before starting to whine. Both Yuna and Jihun take in a sharp breath when she starts wailing.
"No, no, darling, don- Jihun, could you get her toy for me, please?" Taehyung asks, inching his neck up to try and see where Soyon's toy could've fallen.
Jihun pouts but obeys all the same, bending to retrieve the toy from the car's floor.
The car behind them honks loudly and Taehyung cuts his attention back to the now green light. "Sorry, sorry," he says as though the other driver could hear him, pulling off.
Things in the backseat are chaotic. Soyon isn't interested on her toy anymore and though Jihun even makes an effort and shakes it around the baby only wails all the louder.
"Get her pacifier for me, please, Jihun," Taehyung calls out, "it's in the baby bag, left pocket. The one with the bear embroidered on it."
Jihun sighs, reaching over Soyon at the other side of the backseat, where the baby bag rests. Taehyung tries to keep his attention in the traffic but cuts his gaze to the rearview mirror every once in a while.
Jihun finds Soyon's pacifier easily enough and things seemingly go back to normal. Soyon quiets down, munching on her pacifier.
Taehyung sighs in relief. "Thank you, Jihun. She doesn't like staying put for too long."
Jihun makes a noise in assent and goes back to his game.
The house comes into view a few minutes later and Taehyung enters the garage, turning the car off. Yuna and Jihun open their doors and are out of the vehicle before Taehyung has even successfully unbuckled his seatbelt. He swallows down his irritation and goes back to retrieve Soyon and her baby bag from the backseat.
Jihun is plopped down on his belly on the couch, still playing on his DS. The absence of his sister makes Taehyung come to the conclusion that she must have gone upstairs already.
Both Yuna and Jihun have a room of their own upstairs, right next to Soyon's nursery. It's a big house, Taehyung knows it. They'd gotten it a few years ago after their wedding. The four bedrooms came in handy at the time since they knew Yuna and Jihun would spend some time with them and would need their own spaces. The third room was destined for the child they had planned, which is now Soyon's nursery.
Taehyung still remembers the tantrum Yuna threw when Taehyung had decided on turning her old room into Soyon's nursery. Thing was: as soon as they'd gotten the house Yuna had decided on keeping the biggest room to herself. But when Taehyung had fallen pregnant – and since she spent so little time with them – he'd spoken to Jeongguk and both of them agreed to turn Yuna's room into Soyon's nursery seeing as it was closer to their own room. Yuna's things would be moved to the one across the hallway, which had a nice view of the backyard and was closer to the bathroom.
But Yuna wasn't having it, and after a fight that involved at least half the family, with Jeongguk's mother even butting in to come to Taehyung's defence – which she seldom did -, Jeongguk finally backed out and let his eldest keep the room she wanted.
Taehyung didn't really care, but it still hurt a little. Back at that time everything was somehow worse than it is now – not that things have progressed much – and Taehyung had absolutely no standing in Jeongguk's family. His word wasn't law inside his own house. Yuna's was. Because Yuna was and would always be Jeongguk's little girl. And she played it so she wouldn't ever lose the spot either.
Taehyung knows she doesn't like him, maybe even despises him. But he isn't fighting for his husband's attention, and figures competing with his stepdaughter is a bit pathetic. She's fifteen years old, Taehyung is thirty-three. He knows wrong from right. And yet... yet there were some moments, some really intense moments when she would make a snarky comment or send a look his way that had something hot like lava bubble up inside Taehyung. He knows it's just a matter of time until it gets the best of him.
-
Taehyung is no extraordinary cook. Jeongguk spends twenty minutes in the kitchen and whips out things tastier than the bland pasta Taehyung spends one hour into making. But Jeongguk is still working and Taehyung needs to feed the children and himself in a couple hours.
He doesn't want to mess this up. Grabbing a recipe from the internet, Taehyung heads to the kitchen, settling Soyon in her high chair as he dons on his apron and starts gathering the pans and pots he will need.
One of the first times Yuna and Jihun had spent the weekend with them Hyejin had called Jeongguk afterwards and said the children were sick because of Taehyung's food. Taehyung doubts it was true, he ate the food himself and he was just fine. But Jeongguk was always stuck in that middle where he wanted to please everyone and ever since, whenever the children would come to be with them Jeongguk would order out. He said it had nothing to do with Taehyung's food or the possibility of making his children sick again but Taehyung knew it.
"Is this parsley?" Taehyung asks Soyon, pointing at the leafy thing he was considering.
The baby stares at him over her chewing toy, kicking her feet and babbling.
"Yeah, I think it is," Taehyung decides, taking the parsley to the cutting board and slicing it in small bits like the recipe advised.
Taehyung mixes it into the sauce he's been steadily stirring on the stove, tasting it every once in a while like he'd seen people do in the movies.
The timer in the oven reads one minute before the chicken breasts Taehyung was preparing were ready. He puts on his gloves in anticipation, crouching in front of the oven and peering inside.
"Why is there a box in my room?"
Taehyung almost jumps out of his skin, turning to find Yuna in the kitchen, resting against the counter as she watches Taehyung, waiting for an answer.
"Jesus, you scared me," Taehyung chuckles, a hand to his chest. "Um, I don't remember putting anything in your room," he offers.
"Well, there's a box in it. With children's toys-"
"Oh, yeah," Taehyung slaps his own forehead with his gloved hand. "Those are Soyon's toys, I must have forgotten to put them in her room yesterday. I'll take it out, don't worry."
"I did it already," Yuna replies, "I put it in your room."
"Cool, uh, thank you," Taehyung smiles, turning off the timer when it rings.
Yuna is walking out of the kitchen when she pauses, reconsidering, and turns back around, her ponytail whipping with the movement. "You know, mom is revoking our custody’s deal," she says.
Taehyung opens the door to the oven, waving some of the heat away. "Yeah, your father mentioned."
"Good, so, you know mom is probably going to get half of it, right? Which means dad will get the other half," Yuna continues, crossing her arms over her chest.
Taehyung frowns, not liking her tone. "That's a possible outcome, yes."
Yuna quirks her lips in a stubborn pout. "Great. So, since you'll be seeing more of me from now on it would be nice if you would stop using my room as your personal storehouse."
She doesn't wait for Taehyung's reply, turning on her heels and walking out of the kitchen. Taehyung is left speechless, eyeing the spot she'd vacated. What the hell?
Scoffing, he takes the chicken breasts out of the oven, almost dropping the tray in his haste.
"Shit," he murmurs, dropping the tray with a clang on the counter. Taehyung sighs, supporting his hands on it and counting to ten under his breath. What a problematic little girl he'd gotten as a stepdaughter.
Taehyung forces his gaze up when the sound of an engine becomes louder, Jeongguk's car entering the garage. Taehyung gets himself back together, taking out the plates and the glasses to set the table.
"Daddy!" Jihun screams from the living room, where he's been ever since Taehyung picked them up from school.
"Hey, kiddo!" Taehyung hears Jeongguk replying just as excitedly. "How are you? Miss daddy too much?"
"Yes, yes!" Jihun answers, their voices getting louder as Jeongguk crosses the threshold to the kitchen, a lapful of Jihun.
"Hey," he greets Taehyung over Jihun's shoulder. "Did you cook? You didn't have to, love."
"It's fine," Taehyung smiles softly. "I need the practice anyway."
Jeongguk groans under Jihun's weight. "'Kay. I'll get back to you, hold on. Need to see Yuna, is she upstairs?"
Taehyung nods his head, dripping the sauce he'd prepared over the chicken.
"Jihun, why don't you help Taehyung set the table?" Jeongguk asks, tapping Jihun's backside to prompt the boy out of his lap.
Jihun, for lack of an alternative, climbs down from his father's arms and moves towards Taehyung, taking the plates he'd put over the counter and moving to the dining room as Jeongguk climbs up the stairs loudly.
Taehyung gives the food its finishing touches, handing Jihun the glasses and the tableware as the boy dutifully helps him out. Soyon babbles to herself, watching Taehyung with curious eyes.
Yuna's scream is hearable from upstairs and the baby gets a bit distressed. Taehyung picks her up from the high chair and rocks her until she settles back down, Jeongguk's and Yuna's muffled voices still hearable from the upper floor.
"Let's have dinner, little girl?" Taehyung prompts Soyon, moving her to the dining room. He moves her high chair and settles it beside his seat on the table.
Taehyung has just finished moving all the food to the table when Jeongguk and Yuna come down the stairs.
"Thank you so much, dad," Yuna is saying, all smiles as Jeongguk pulls her to his side and kisses the top of her head.
"It's nothing, darling," Jeongguk is already in sweatpants and a white shirt, giving Taehyung a smile when he spots him. "Hey, baby," he moves towards his husband, "didn't greet you properly," he pulls Taehyung to him and gives him a kiss. Yuna passes them by wordlessly.
"You got here earlier than I thought," Taehyung muses, accepting his kiss and smiling.
Yuna and Jihun are already sat down, Jihun with his DS on his lap and Yuna twirling a lock of hair in her finger. She looks like she's in a good mood and Taehyung wonders if it has anything to do with the way she was thanking Jeongguk earlier. Taehyung pushes his suspicions to the side and sits down.
Jeongguk is kissing Soyon and mashing the baby food Taehyung had prepared for her, turning back to eye the food with a pleased face.
"Woah, are you sure you cooked this, love?" Jeongguk asks, the smartass.
"Shut up," Taehyung gives him the tongue, "it's chicken breast. I hope everyone likes it," he says, appraising Yuna and Jihun.
"Well, let's check it out," Jeongguk speaks up, already taking two for himself and helping Jihun cutting his own.
Taehyung's food is okay. Not that he thought it would taste terrible, but he's glad to know no one has any complaints.
"How was school?" Jeongguk asks out to the table, pausing on his eating to feed Soyon another spoonful of her baby food.
"It was fine," Yuna says, taking a sip of her water.
"Just fine?" Jeongguk looks between Yuna and Jihun, chewing on his food. He frowns at the young boy. "Jihun, are you playing under the table?"
"No," the boy shakes his head, but visibly hides his game under the table as he grabs his fork and takes another bite of his dinner.
"What did your mom and I talk to you about last time?" Jeongguk makes a serious face, still watching Jihun.
Taehyung keeps to himself, reaching to feed Soyon and dabbing at her chin with her bib.
Jihun sighs, putting his game aside. "Sorry," he says with a pout.
"No biggie, champion," Jeongguk says, "but no more playing while eating. Did you do your homework?"
Taehyung tenses in spite of himself. Shit. He'd forgotten Jihun had homework to conclude. He can't really be blamed though, he is not used to having an eight year old.
Jihun squirms on his chair, visibly trying to stall his answer.
"Did you?" Jeongguk presses, an arched eyebrow.
Taehyung feels Yuna watching him and glances at the girl out of the corner of his eye. She's looking at him like the cat that got the cream. She could've reminded Taehyung her brother had homework, for god's sake.
"Actually, love," Taehyung cuts in. Jeongguk turns to him and even Jihun seems surprised that Taehyung spoke up when he generally kept his mouth shut whenever Jeongguk was disciplining his kids, "I didn't know Jihun had any homework today. So I let him play during the afternoon while I watched over Soyon. Sorry."
"Yes, but he knew he had homework, didn't you, Jihun?" Jeongguk goes back to his kid, who glares down at his plate and stabs his chicken.
"I hate homework," Jihun mumbles.
"Well, you'll do it after dinner then," Jeongguk settles, "and no more playing during the afternoon. We agreed on only one hour, remember?"
Jihun nods controversially.
"And Taehyung," Jeongguk continues. Taehyung looks up from where he'd been feeding Soyon, a strange quietness falling over the table. "Jihun isn't allowed to play all day long, so if he ever does it under your watch thinking he'll come out fine just because it's you," he extends a reprimanding look towards his son, who pretends Jeongguk can't be possibly talking about him, "you're free to call him out on it and take his game away from him. He's your son as well."
Taehyung nods, busying himself with his food. Yuna twists her nose unpleasantly at her father's statement. She'd made her opinion on Taehyung being her father very clear a long time ago.
"Yuna," Jeongguk calls. The girl looks at him, chewing on her rice. "Do I need to ask if you did your homework as well?"
Yuna chuckles, rolling her eyes. "Come on, dad."
Jeongguk smiles. "Soyon, what about you, did you do your homework?" He jokes, turning to the baby, who watches him with an 'o' shaped mouth. "Or did you just nap on mama's lap all day long?" He teases, pinching her nose.
Soyon agitates herself, giving Jeongguk a wide smile and a high-pitched whoop in response.
Taehyung laughs, adjusting her fringe of wispy black hair and fussing over her onesie. "She didn't, she even helped me cook this evening."
Jeongguk gasps in mock surprise. "Did you? My big girl," he coos, lifting Soyon from her high chair and settling her on his lap. He kisses the top of her head and repeats the nonsensical syllables she throws at him.
Taehyung laughs under his breath at the scene, only then glancing at Yuna. The girl is watching her father and the baby wistfully, a glint of sadness in her eyes when she looks at Soyon peeling herself in giggles. She quickly looks away when she catches Taehyung's eye.
-
"Tae," Jeongguk calls from the bed. He's lying down with Soyon on his chest, the baby wiggling and slapping her hands on her father excitedly. "She doesn't want to sleep," Jeongguk whines, "what do I do?"
"I told you not to rile her up," Taehyung steps out of their bathroom, splaying his hand cream on his fingers, "now she won't go down."
"I didn't rile her up," Jeongguk defends himself, trying to shush Soyon to no avail.
"Yes, you did," Taehyung sits on the mattress beside his husband, "you tickled her."
Jeongguk pouts up at Soyon at that, "see? Your mama thinks daddy shouldn't tickle you any longer."
"That's not what I said," Taehyung smirks, pulling the sheets back and crossing his legs.
Jeongguk murmurs to Soyon some more before pulling her up and passing her over to Taehyung. "Will you rock her, love?" He asks, "you always calm her down."
Taehyung tries to put on his most stubborn pout but reaches out to get Soyon all the same. "Just because you asked nicely," he mumbles, already fitting Soyon's body diagonally to his chest. She whines and throws her arms but Taehyung makes her favourite hushing noise and crowds her closer to him.
Jeongguk yawns on the bed, moving closer to rest with his head on the crook of Taehyung's knee. "Were the kids okay today?" He asks absentmindedly, eyes already drooping.
"Yeah," Taehyung says, lowly as to not disturb Soyon, who'd stopped fidgeting and was now watching him attentively as Taehyung rocked her.
"Good," Jeongguk mumbles, "I was serious about Jihun though. We don't want him playing all the time, his grades have dropped. God," he sighs, "I should've never given him that damned game."
Taehyung hums, caressing the crown of Soyon's head and watching as her eyes begin to wander aimlessly, delicate eyelids already at half-mast. "By the way," Taehyung speaks up, "what was with Yuna's mood at the table?"
"Hn?" Jeongguk makes, looking up at him with one open eye, "why? Was she broody earlier?"
Taehyung makes a so-so gesture with his head which Jeongguk doesn't catch seeing as he is almost asleep. "She just... spent the whole evening in her room. I know she doesn't usually like my company-" Taehyung trails off at that. He wants to tell Jeongguk about Yuna's confrontation in the kitchen earlier but doesn't know how to do it.
"She was probably doing her homework," Jeongguk yawns again, "studying. She wants to be a doctor as well, did you know it?" Jeongguk still musters a wide, pleased smile. "I thought Hyejin would want to change her mind, you know, try to make her into a nurse like herself."
"She's only fifteen," Taehyung reminds Jeongguk, "isn't it a bit early to try to make her mind?"
Jeongguk rolls to his side of the bed with a moan. "I can't be held responsible. I didn't put anything inside her head. I think she just looks up to me."
Taehyung gives a curt sigh through his nose. It's impossible to change Jeongguk's mind about his precious daughter. If Taehyung were to tell him about how she still sees herself as Taehyung's nemesis Jeongguk would probably think he was lying or just being petty.
"I just thought it odd. She was so happy at the table," Taehyung continues. He doesn't want to admit it, but he wants to know why Yuna was thanking Jeongguk earlier before dinner. She usually broke into wide smiles whenever her father was around but this was new.
"Hn," Jeongguk makes, and for a moment Taehyung thought he had already fallen asleep, "oh yeah," he continues, "I got her a ticket to that boy band concert she wanted to go to. Like a late birthday gift. She was so happy, you should've seen her."
Taehyung frowns. "Wasn't the iPhone enough of a birthday gift?"
"Uhh," Jeongguk makes and Taehyung can see the way his lips tug downwards, "I spoil my kids," he realizes, whining.
Taehyung chuckles, "yes, you do." He leans forward to kiss the slope of Jeongguk's shoulder, "go to sleep, daddy," he whispers, getting up to put Soyon in her crib.
Jeongguk groans, grin expanding on his face. "Look who's riling me up," he teases, hand reaching to pinch any part of Taehyung he can get his hands on which is fortunately none, as Taehyung dodges him.
Soyon is a mushy ball of sleep as Taehyung settles her in the crib. He arranges his toys next to her and makes sure she's comfortable and completely asleep before he turns off the light to the nursery and goes back to his bedroom.
On the way, he passes in front of Yuna's bedroom, her lights still on, visible through the crack of the door.
Jeongguk sleeps under the illusion that his daughter is an angel, and you know what? Taehyung isn't going to meddle.
-