MAMMA || KIHYUK

Chapter 13

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"You go first." The two victims of Changkyun's tantrum were still cradled up against the wall, watching as the tiny devil glared into the TV. None of them knew if he was enjoying whatever he was watching or if he hated it, because they both knew by now that Changkyun had a chronic scowl on his face.

Hoseok gulped and gently pushed Jooheon's shoulder. "You're insane, that child hates me!" The man with the cute dimples rolled his eyes and slapped the other's back of his head, huffing. "Idiot, we need to put that kid to sleep before the father comes back and rips our chests open."

Finally, Hoseok gave in and stood up, cautiously walking up behind the couch where Changkyun was sitting down, clearing his throat softly to catch the baby's attention.

As expected, the boy heard and Hoseok saw how his hands curled slowly into fists before slowly turning his whole body to look at his uncle, not surprisingly, staring daggers into his soul. "Kyun... it's uh, late and..." the toddler rolled his eyes and turned his body back around, watching his movie. 

Hoseok looked up at the TV and sighed when he noticed his nephew was watching his all-time favorite movie. He didn't know how the kid could love it so much; after watching that movie, Hoseok himself had been scared of an ugly monster coming out of his closet to literally scream to his face.

For the first time since the incident, the buff man swallowed his fears and sat down next to the toddler, completely ignoring the boy who was still cozy against the wall in fetal position. "Changkyun, I know you don't like me. But can you at least try to behave for once?" The child grunted and crossed his arms, letting the other know he was going nowhere.

His uncle was so exasperated by him that he didn't think anything through when he grabbed the remote control and turned the bright screen off. He felt instant regret when Changkyun gasped and his lower lip started quivering. Panicked, Hoseok turned the TV back on... but it was too late now.

Changkyun had taken his knees to his chest and started rubbing his eyes with his fists, a signal that he was about to cry everything that was in him. "I want daddy to tuck me in, not you!" Tears started coming out of his eyes and his sobs were quiet. He hid his face in between his knees as if he didn't want to be seen.

This time, he didn't want attention from them. Nor did he want to make their lives impossible. He was just upset because his father was not there. He was sad because he was not used to being away from his family this late at night. And he was tired... because it was already time to go to bed.

Something inside Hoseok broke. He only knew angry and whiny Changkyun, who screamed and kicked when he saw uncle Seokkie, who threw tantrums to make him go away. But he had never seen his only nephew so vulnerable.

So the man knew what he had to do as this kid's second father; he carefully pulled the toddler onto his lap, not caring about being yelled at, punched or scratched. He just cradled the child into his arms and waited until the heartbreaking sobs morphed into quiet sniffles and Changkyun stopped gripping his clothes to hold onto his uncle's jacket ever so gently.

"Alright, we won't tuck you in. But we can watch the movie together, yeah?" Both Changkyun and Hoseok looked at Jooheon who had taken a seat next to them and the youngest of the three of them pouted deep in thought for a quick second before slowly nodding.

Changkyun was visibly comfortable sitting across his uncle's lap, sucking his thumb as he recited the lines to the movie without even having his eyes on the TV... he really needed some friends.

Jooheon was trying hard to focus on what was playing on the screen, but he had been feeling watched this whole time. Really, he wanted to ignore it because he knew exactly who it was. The pressure was just too much, though.

The college student turned to his side and it was, indeed, the little boy next to him who was eating him up with his stare. But what terrified him the most was the devilish smile of his, creeping up his face once Jooheon met his gaze. 

Well, yeah; the kid was adorable and whatnot when he wasn't screaming and crying. But he wasn't cute either when he gave him that look. His head tilted down, his eyebrows furrowed as he smiled as wide as he could while his thumb was still in his mouth. It gave the poor boy goosebumps and made him snap his head back to the TV as fast as he could almost breaking his neck.

'They are paying you well for this, Honey, just hold on a little longer...'

Soon, when Jooheon stopped feeling anxious about being murdered at such young age, he heard a tiny yawn obviously coming from the child and both Jooheon and Hoseok looked each other in the eye, smiling brightly in victory.

The man is in the jacket turned his head down to look at his nephew and caressed his cheek before talking to him. "Sleepy?" Changkyun nodded as he rubbed his eyes gently, pouting faintly as his lips had grown tired as well.

Hoseok scooped Changkyun up carefully and held him against his chest as he walked into the child's room, leaving Jooheon in the living room alone. The "family portrait" the kid had drawn has circling around Jooheon's head along with many questions about it.

The movie had already ended and Jooheon was scrolling through his phone trying not to get bored when Hoseok came back out of Changkyun's room. Jooheon directed his eyes away from his little screen when he felt the space next to him abruptly sinking. 

"You look surprisingly okay." Hoseok nodded and smiled widely, sinking into his seat slowly as he sighed in content. "He didn't resist, there was no crying, biting or scratching. I had to sing a song for him while he fell asleep, but I didn't feel forced to do it. Do you know how good it feels?"

Jooheon smiled softly and put his phone aside, turning his body to face the man next to him who was struggling to keep his eyes open. "Does he only live with his father?" Hoseok shot his head up and stared at Jooheon for a few seconds before nodding. 

"He's actually adopted." Jooheon gasped and widened his eyes in horror as if he was not supposed to hear this. Hoseok sensed the boy's discomfort and laughed, shaking his head. "It's okay. Minhyuk doesn't mind anyone knowing about it. He just doesn't think it's that important."

Jooheon seemed to relax and he nodded. "And his mom?" This time, Hoseok inhaled sharply and scratched the back of his head, letting the other know he didn't have an answer. "Is he..."

Hoseok widened his eyes, shaking his head. "No, of course not. My brother wouldn't go as low as to buy a kid. The process was one hundred percent legal." Jooheon seemed confused at first but eventually let it go when he knew he was not getting more answers on the topic.

"Do you know when Minhyuk is coming back? I need to go back home to my cats." The other man shrugged and he took his jacket off, "no idea, I hope that's soon, though. I have cats of myself at home as well!"

They started talking about nonsense, trying to stay as quiet as possible in order not to wake the kid up. They realized they had a lot in common and Hoseok talked more than Jooheon because he just had a lot to say about his journalist boyfriend.

"And look at this picture of him on our first date! He looked so cute!!!" Jooheon liked seeing the man next to him so happy, but he was getting sleepy and bored of looking at Hyungwon's face.

His eyes were slowly closing and he started hearing less and less by the second when he was woken up again by Hoseok's phone ringing loudly and the man picked up right away.

"Minhyuk, are you okay? What happened? Breathe..."

Minhyuk was basically shouting through the phone so Jooheon could hear him. He sounded out of breath and his voice cracked when he said his next words.

"Hoseok, come to the hospital. Leave Jooheon with Changkyun, but please... I need you here."

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A/N: HELLOOOOO, sorry for not updating earlier this week... it's been ROUGHHHH.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please take care of yourselves!

Also, I'm sorry for the sloppy chapter  :c it will get better the next!