Archive of Our Own

Heeseung has always liked so many things about Jake.

He’s always liked the bright smile which would stretch across Jake’s face, no matter the situation. There’s something about Jake, something in the way he never tries to be optimistic, but simply always is because he doesn’t want to spread negativity by expressing it. And while Heeseung himself always offers an ear, because late night snacks with Jake are never complete without at least some conversation, his success rate is still rather low.

He’s always liked the sound of Jake’s laugh. Heeseung thinks it’s one of the most unique sounds in the world: there is no one who could laugh like Jake, just like how there is no one who can turn the whole atmosphere around with one single laugh. Heeseung’s ears are now accustomed to perking up whenever he hears the lovely sound, and it’s something which he wonders if the others have managed to pick up on. He hopes not, just because he isn’t too sure how he would explain that.

He’s also always liked the way Jake takes care of the younger members. He very much does not have the obligation to do so, but Heeseung thinks the desire to see the younger members happy comes from the fact that Jake never had any younger siblings growing up. Jake always entertains them whenever he can, and always listens to them drawl on and on about whatever it is they wanted to talk about. He’s good at tending to them, which is why Heeseung more often than not allocates the ‘mother’ role to him when he’s asked.

Though he’s noticed it a bit more, as of recently. It’s honestly hard not to, especially with Riki’s birthday coming up so soon. Heeseung has noticed Jake’s habit of doting extra lovingly on members when it’s near their birthdays (he too has been on the receiving end of Jake’s affection), but it’s eminently noticeable when it’s nearing one of the younger members’ birthdays.

That’s not the only reason Jake’s actions have been more prominent, however. It may have something to do with how Heeseung’s feelings are also becoming more prominent. It’s been like this since Heeseung met Jake, all those months ago in a studio setting, but it’s only gotten worse after debuting with him.

Not that Heeseung would ever complain, of course. He still holds the memory of Jake choosing to suffocate him in a hug first after having made his way to the debut lineup very close to his heart. Likewise, living in very close quarters with Jake has done nothing but deepen his feelings for him: the same feelings he thought would go away if he gave it enough time.

It was a foolish thought, really, and he should’ve known there was no turning back from already having one leg dipped into the infinite dimension of Sim Jaeyun.

Because seeing Jake’s puffy, sleepy face is nothing new. They’ve spent months living together even before debut. What’s new is the way Jake now had a healthy glow to accompany his sleepy, puffy face. A glow which struck Heeseung right in the heart, and didn’t ever show any mercy of leaving. Somehow, Heeseung thinks Jake looks even more handsome now, even despite how much he already used to gush about the younger when he hadn’t even known him for longer than a few weeks.

Additionally, seeing Jake at his worst wasn’t anything new either. Heeseung has seen them all at their worst even before debut, they’ve all seen each others’ worst. But once again, the new part is the way Jake doesn’t find the need to cower into a corner of the room where there aren’t any cameras. Nowadays, Heeseung finds that Jake doesn’t bother hiding from him at all. From ugly tears and stretched-thin tempers, to frustration stemming from the inability to express himself and eventual defeat, Heeseung has seen it all.

Living with Jake has simply given a new meaning to everything Heeseung thought he knew from before. Living with anyone brings out a new vulnerability no matter what, and it’s usually hard to continue and fawn over every little detail of a person after being cooped up together.

But just like with everything else, Jake manages to transcend Heeseung’s preconceived ideas.

Living with Jake has simply enhanced Heeseung’s feelings: they’re now constantly loud, right in his face, almost screaming at him to do something about them. And at first, it was very easy to ignore his heart’s desperate pleas and signals for him to do something , but he can’t say the same anymore.

With every passing day, it’s becoming increasingly harder and harder to look at Jake without his heart skipping a beat, or his brain turning to mush. Heeseung prides himself in control, but that so-called control is essentially non-existent around Jake.

And just when he thinks he can earn a break by escaping into the confines of his room and burrowing under the blankets for the rest of the night to wallow in his own thoughts and self pity, he’s proven wrong, once again.

It’s late right now, being just a bit after 11:00 PM. It’s relatively silent throughout the dorm too, seeing as a busy day of schedules calls for an early bedtime call for the majority of them. Heeseung is the exception, because of course he is. His body’s circadian rhythm has yet to recover from the late-night hours he spent sitting in front of a computer playing games, despite his best (half-assed, admittedly) efforts at righting that.

What disrupts this welcome silence however, is footsteps padding through the halls. 

At first, Heeseung doesn’t think anything of it, because there’s very well no reason to think anything of it. It’s only when he hears the telltale sounds of a winter coat and the heavy sounds of winter boots that he becomes curious, and strains his ears.

Like he had suspected, the sounds which welcome him are the sounds of someone shrugging on a coat, the zipper being unmistakable. Thoroughly confused, and extremely curious, Heeseung gets out of bed in order to investigate. He may not be Jungwon, their dearest leader who keeps tabs on everyone outside of schedules for his peace of mind, or Jake who has a habit of head-counting at any given moment, but he’s still the eldest who feels a sense of responsibility in situations like these.

And plus, Jake and Jungwon could be sleeping right now, which only leaves him with a handful of options in regards to who is awake right now and (most likely, from what Heeseung has gathered from context clues) is about to go outside.

Heeseung is surprised when he sees that it’s Jake who’s shuffling about while everyone else is sleeping. Clad in a padded winter coat, baggy sweatpants, chunky winter boots, and a beanie which Heeseung thinks is actually his (yes—his heart does a little thing which he wills himself to ignore), Jake looks up at him like a deer caught in headlights.

Though, once he registers that it’s only his Heeseung hyung, he visibly relaxes and smiles sheepishly at the other. Jake probably counted on not getting caught, going by the look on his face, but alas.

“I thought you were asleep,” Jake says first, facing Heeseung properly now. The latter takes a few steps closer to Jake, leaning against the wall as he brings a hand up to cover his mouth as he yawns. 

“I could say the same for you,” Hesseung points out. He meets Jake’s eyes. “You’re usually the first one knocked out after a long day. Where are you going?”

Of all answers Jake could give, he doesn’t expect to see him frown. It fills Heeseung with the need to frown as well, but he has enough sense left in him to refrain himself from doing so. Still, he watches as Jake’s lips are pulled downwards, and wonders what exactly it could be which made him frown.

“Ni-ki…” he starts, and it’s enough to have Heeseung’s ears perked, and heart racing.

“Did something happen?” he asks before his brain can catch up to his mouth and tell him that the logical thing to do is to wait for Jake to finish speaking. But when the other starts off so vaguely like that, looking flustered, his brian is fast to come to a conclusion.

Jake notices that too.

“Oh, no! No, nothing bad happened,” he assures Heeseung, shaking his head side-to-side, as much as his padded jacket, zipped all the way up, will let him. Heeseung visibly relaxes. “Don’t immediately go thinking the worst, hyung,” he teases. “Ni-ki had been wanting bungeoppang all day, so I told him we could have it for breakfast.”

“So why aren’t you waiting for breakfast?” Heeseung asks, though he already has an idea towards what Jake’s answer is going to be. The inkling probably comes from having observed the way Jake behaves around their youngest.

“I want him to wake up to already having bungeoppang here. Hyung, he’s really been talking about it all day,” Jake insists, and while Heeseung never denied that Riki had in fact talked about it all day (because it is one of the more believable things in the world, after all), he finds Jake’s vehement defense a bit… Cute. “The convenience store isn’t far…” he adds weakly, noticing how Heeseung doesn’t say anything.

Heeseung watches as Jake shrinks smaller into his jacket, and he has to tell himself to get it together before he says something stupid in front of Jake. Quite the demanding task since his brain is just yelling at him to envelop Jake in a hug, especially given how small he looks right now.

“You were gonna go alone?” Heeseung finally asks, a dumb question which stems from his equally as dumb brain, which is now the equivalent of soup. If Heeseung were a worse person, he’d say the state in which Jake renders him is degrading. 

“Well I can’t bring Riki-ah with me! It’s almost midnight and he’s only sixteen…”

Heeseung is about to bite his own tongue off in a last-hope effort of keeping himself from expressing how he really feels about what Jake just said. 

How can one person be so cute ? Heeseung blames it on the late hour, and how Jake is up way past when he usually falls asleep. He has no excuse for himself though: he’s been up way past this hour on many occasions.

“Of course you wouldn’t bring him,” Heeseung snorts, finally starting to function like the twenty-one year old human being that he is. He takes a couple steps forward, and grabs his winter coat from just behind Jake. “But you could’ve always asked hyung, Jake-ah.”

Jake at least now has the gall to look a bit sheepish. Despite that, he still finds it in himself to admit that, “… Didn’t wanna bother you.”

“You know better than to think you’d ever be a bother to me,” Heeseung laments not even a second later, spewing the words which immediately fall onto the tip of his tongue.

He wonders if it’s the wrong thing to say when he hears what Jake says next.

“Oh, romantic,” he mutters, but it’s loud enough for Heeseung to hear, loud enough to make every cortex of Heeseung’s brain tell him to instinctively freeze all motor functions. But he doesn’t , because he’s gotten so good at ignoring his body’s will whenever he’s around Jake, and because that’ll probably open a can of worms he’d rather remain closed for the unforeseeable future.

So, he does the next best thing, the thing which is what could be considered the foundation for why Heeseung and Jake are as close as they are, and keeps the atmosphere light as he steps into his own winter boots.

“Y’know how it is, happy wife, happy life.” And it’s so lame , there are probably tens of millions of words he could’ve strung together and it would’ve definitely been better than his poor choice of a sexist Facebook quote he saw from decades ago.

Thankfully though, Jake doesn’t fret about Heeseung’s poor choice of words.

“Wife,” he giggles, but leaves it at that. He doesn’t say anything else as Heeseung finishes tying up his shoes and then pockets his phone, putting a baseball cap on his head to cover his atrocious mop of bed head.

The convenience store is in fact close; close enough to the point where they can walk, and while they really should because it’s precautionary and they will for sure get in trouble if they’re caught, they don’t let anyone except for their ENHYPEN KakaoTalk group chat know where they are. It was too much of a hassle to let the managers know, wait to get the stamp of approval, and then explain why they opt for not receiving transportation.

Given what time it is, and the location of their neighbourhood, the convenience store is empty, save for the cashier who looks like he’d rather be doing anything other than sitting behind that counter. Thankfully the circumstances work in their favour, and Heeseung checks that both his and Jake’s masks are secured on their faces before they enter the store.

“Take everything,” Jake gasps once his eyes fall onto the almost empty shelf display of bungeoppang. “There’s so many of us to feed—”

Heeseung’s heart is around three heartbeats away from palpitating right out of his chest and thumping onto the ground as a bloody heap. Jake is fretting over their meals—and it sparks something inside of Heeseung which he’d been trying to ignore for the past few months. 

It’s not obvious, because it rarely shows when they’re not together. But then again, they were together more often than not: Jake is so maternal. He has a pull towards things like entertaining the youngests in any way he can, and performing head counts even though that was Jungwon’s job on paper, and going out of his way to buy Riki bungeoppang because there really isn’t anything Jake wouldn’t do for the brat—

And Heeseung adores it. Probably likes it a bit more than he should, if he had let his observations and conclusions contribute to how useless his brain becomes around Jake, and how fast his heart beats around the other. But can you blame him? Can you really blame him? Seeing Jake like this (being the only one to see Jake like this—in his true, very real maternal state, and not the one he brushes off in front of cameras) makes him melt.

It’s part of the reason why his answer is always so consistent when fans ask: he’s the Riki-proclaimed dad of the group (Heeseung has long since learned to not argue with Riki about that), and Jake is the Riki-proclaimed mother.

Except they became more than just Riki-proclaimed roles, because the other members agreed, heck even Heeseung agreed, and now it’s some sort of weird unofficial dynamic they have floating around the dorm and on schedules, but it’s one that puts him and Jake together, so can he really complain?

Heeseung is snapped out of the hurricane of thoughts in his brain when he hears Jake dump an absurd amount of plastic wrapped bungeoppang into the shopping basket he had shoved into the older man’s hands without him even noticing. And oh, now Heeseung is thinking about how they’re on what could be considered a grocery run (in the lightest sense of the term, but Heeseung will take what he can get) for the others at home. As if to make matters worse for Heeseung’s already weak heart, Jake just has to open his mouth and mumble to himself about how,

“Will these be enough for the kids?”

If Heeseung really tried, he could start crying right in the middle of this convenience store. But he’s better than that, and if he really isn’t, then at the very least he wants to pretend like he’s better than that.

“I’m sure it’ll be more than enough,” Heeseung says after he’s able to pull himself together and actually do a rough count of how many snacks Jake had dumped into their basket. “There’s only seven of us.”

“And three of them are growing,” Jake reminds him, as if Heeseung could ever forget. Still, the older doesn’t say anything, and just watches Jake contemplate for a minute before he ends up adding a few more packets into the basket. “Growing boys need a lot of food.”

“You know, until two weeks ago I could’ve also said you were still growing,” Heeseung points out. Jake acts like he’s the eldest member in moments like this, and it seems that the other feels called out too, since his cheeks flush pink. Heeseung finds the pink to be a cute look on him.

“Shush,” comes Jake's weak defense. Heeseung doesn’t comment on it, so they make their way away from the bungeoppang display (which is now significantly more empty compared to when they first arrived in the store). “Did we need to buy anything else?”

“Ramyeon?” Heeseung asks, just because it’s easy to. They usually always need to restock their supply anyways.

“We still have a lot from that day we filmed EN-O’CLOCK,” Jake reminds him. Admittedly, Heeseung had forgotten about that supply.

And then, as he’s looking at the different bottles of drinks lined up in the refrigerators, Jake yawns. Heeseung wouldn’t have been able to tell if it weren’t for the countless late nights they’ve spent together, since Jake’s mask and beanie obscure the majority of his face. But there are a lot of little things, like the way Jake’s eyebrows look when he yawns, that Heeseung has tucked into the Sim Jake corner of his mind. And those things come in handy during moments like this.

“You’re tired,” Heeseung notes, stating the obvious. “Let’s buy the bungeoppang and head back for the night. We can always do some proper groceries during the day if we need to,” he reasons.

Jake doesn’t argue with him, so the two of them make their way to the counter to pay without much else. Heeseung reaches for his wallet instinctively, but his hand gets knocked out of the way when Jake brings his own card into view.

“Ah,” Heeseung starts, a rebuttal ready on the tip of his tongue. He’s done this before: they all have. Heeseung finds that for him, at least, it’s become a bit common to insist on paying whenever he’s out with Jake. It doesn’t occur often, because it’s not often that they’re out alone somewhere without the rest of the group. But they are right now, so Heeseung hopes to take advantage of the situation. “Jake—”

“I promised Riki,” he says earnestly, and the look in his eyes is enough for Heeseung to give up immediately. There truly isn’t much he wouldn’t do if he were on the receiving side of such a look from Jake. “It can be your turn next time, okay, hyung?”

Next time.  

All Heeseung can do is nod his head, too lost in his own thoughts about there being a next time . Spending time alone with any member is a rarity, given their close quarters and the nature of their jobs, but it’s doable. He’s gone shopping with Sunoo alone before, he manages to snag a lot of free time alone with Riki to play games, and he somehow always finds himself having conversations with Jungwon that suck him in so much to the point where he doesn’t even realize they’re alone. Jay and him end up alone a lot of the time at the company either brushing up on things or practicing for the sake of practicing. Alone time with Sunghoon has been a bit more common now since they’ve started going to the gym together. And with Jake—

Heeseung spends the least alone time with Jake. And it’s not because he doesn’t want to be alone with Jake (that’s what he wants an unhealthy amount of the time), it’s just that he can never seem to ask for it without sending his brain and body into overdrive.

Sunoo is the one who ends up asking if he’d like to go step out with him, he knows Riki would never turn down a round of FIFA, Jungwon is the first person Heeseung goes to when he has something plaguing his mind, Jay always just happens to be staying back at the company the same nights he is, and Sunghoon double checks if Heeseung would like to tag along before he leaves for the gym.

With Jake… Heeseung supposes he’ll always have their late night sleepy conversations over a steaming pot of ramyeon which tastes a million times better in the dead of night than any other time of day, but that’s the thing . He’ll always have that, and unless he can get a grip on himself and somehow start functioning like a normal person in front of Jake, it’ll be all he has.

“Ready to go?” Jake asks. Heeseung didn’t even realize he had finished paying, but he sees that Jake is now standing next to him with a stupidly large conveinice store bag full of bungeoppang, looking at him as he waits for an answer.

“Yeah,” he croaks out, and then clears his throat before something embarrassing happens the next time he speaks. “It’s late.”

It’s somehow quieter now than when they were last outside when they both step out of the convenience store, to the point where even the sound of their footsteps echo loud through the empty streets. The rustling of the plastic bag in Jake’s hands doesn’t go unnoticed either.

“I’m telling Riki he drained your bank account at midnight just for some bungeoppang,” Heeseung says after some time, reaching across the foot-wide gap between them, and Jake’s body until he can take the bag filled with snacks in his own hand.

“Don’t do that,” Jake chides, and his fingers flex on the hand that was holding the bag. Heeseung notices, and smiles despite himself. His hunches about Jake have never failed him before, and they don’t seem to be getting any weaker. “He’ll feel guilty… I don’t want him to feel like he can’t ask me for things, y’know?” Jake frowns, and so Heeseung hums, and says the first thing he can think of that’ll lift Jake’s mood even just the tiniest bit.

“You sound like his mother.”

“Well someone has to do it,” Jake says matter-of-factly.

“His own mother?” Heeseung prompts, not really knowing what he’s expecting Jake to make of this conversation.

“Who is a very wonderful woman,” he starts. Heeseung is reminded of the many phone conversations Jake has had with Riki’s mother in his poor attempts at broken Japanese. “She said she trusts our members to take care of Riki, and maybe she was joking because she said that like, last year right before debut, but who am I to take a mother’s words lightly? Riki is a baby!”

While Heeseung didn’t have expectations towards what Jake was going to say, he didn’t think it’d be anything along these lines. There Jake goes again, being maternal because it just comes to him instinctively, and pulling at his heartstrings at the same time. Jake is full of lethal combinations, it seems.

“Riki is turning seventeen next week,” Heeseung reminds Jake, just for the other to shake his head. He looks unfairly cute as he does so, swaddled in his coat.

“Don’t remind me,” he sulks, burrowing even further into his coat and looking down at the ground as they continue their path back to the dorm. “My baby…”

Oh, it’s getting ridiculous at this point. Jake might as well just reach into Heeseung’s chest himself and then squeeze his heart dry of all the blood in it if he’s going to be like this and continue to render him useless.

Or maybe Heeseung is being beyond dramatic at this hour because he desperately needs to sleep.

He’s leaning more towards desperately needing to sleep, especially when he thinks he hears something which sounds a bit too much like footsteps, a sound which is a bit too loud considering that they’re alone in the middle of the night on this street.

While Seoul doesn’t sleep, their isolated neighbourhood certainty does.

“Jake,” Heeseung calls as calmly as he can, but his footsteps have slowed down. He hears that Jake’s have too. “Don’t yell.”

And that’s all the warning he gives Jake before grabbing the younger’s hand and quickly dragging him behind a bushy cluster of trees. Thankfully, Jake doesn’t make even a peep, and the short trunks, big leaves, and thick branches obscure enough of the view in front of them for Heeseung to believe that they’re also obscured from view.

“What is it?” Jake asks after a minute or so goes by. When he speaks Heeseung is able to pick up on the note of anxiety which bleeds into his tone. He supposes pulling Jake behind trees without much of a warning in an attempt to hide wasn’t the smoothest way to go about things.

“I thought I heard someone following us,” Heeseung explains, and by the way Jake tenses and immediately steps closer to him, Heeseung rushes to elaborate. He doesn’t want Jake to be unnecessarily tense. “But it could’ve just been in my head since I’m a bit tired…”

His sheepish explanation sounds stupid even to his own ears once the words are vocalized and out in the open, but it seems to quell Jake enough. He’s no longer as rigid as before, but he doesn’t make a way to move from where he’s practically pressed to Heeseung’s front.

“I didn’t hear anyone, so it may have been in your head,” he agrees, turning around just a bit to look over his shoulder and at Heeseung. Under the moonlight and in his sleep deprived mind, Heeseung starts to feel dizzy from how handsome Jake looks and how he has to look up at him in order for their eyes to meet. “Maybe you’re the one who’s more tired,” he teases.

“Yeah,” Heeseung agrees dumbly, because looking at Jake from this close does that to him. Even if his pretty eyelashes and droopy eyes are the only things he can see, given how the rest of Jake’s face is covered by a mask.

But Jake’s eyes are enough, because he seems to get lost in the enthralling brown pool. So much so to the point where he doesn't realize how much time has passed where he’d just been staring. Not until he flinches when he feels three of Jake’s cold fingers press themselves right into his neck, where his pulse is jackhammering against his skin. And of course Jake doesn't miss the feeling of it thumping under his fingers.

“That bad around me, huh?” Jake asks, and his question takes Heeseung so far aback that it doesn’t even register in his head.

“I-I thought we were being followed!” Heeseung argues in a weak attempt to reason and justify why his heart is beating so fast. It starts beating even faster when Heeseung processes Jake’s words properly.

“It’s not the first time this has happened, hyung,” Jake giggles, and Heeseung has to know, where the hell is this coming from? Jake had noticed all the other times his heart was making a pathetic show of itself around him?

If he were thinking rationally, he’d recall all the times Jake’s back was pressed to his chest, able to feel his heartbeat. Or all the times Jake had been laughing, and had fallen into his neck or chest, able to feel his heartbeat. Or maybe even all the times Jake had spontaneously held his hand or wrist, and had been able to feel the way Heeseung’s pulse had spiked under his own hand.

But he isn’t thinking rationally, which is why he wants nothing more than for the ground to suddenly open up, and swallow him whole. He’s not too sure how he’s supposed to face Jake after this.

He feels like a deer caught his headlights. And he realizes how horrible of a comparison that is, because Jake is still standing so close to him when their eyes meet for a second time, just for him to say—

“Relax, bambi hyung,” he grins, bright eyes boring right into Heeseung’s own wide ones. “It’s late. Let’s go home, Mommy’s tired!”

Jake is teasing him, Heeseung knows that much. Had teased him when he decided that now was the right time to point out his rabbit-like heartbeat (it actually made sense—since they were alone). Had teased him when he called him ‘bambi hyung’ (okay—what if Heeseung likes the nickname, but only when Jake says it? Hypothetically, of course). Had teased him just a few seconds ago too, by calling himself ‘Mommy’ (Heeseung is going to die ), referencing his earlier, very dull witted statement from before they left the dorm.

But there’s nothing Heeseung can do about it.

Because Jake can tease him all he’d like, but at the end of the day, they had spent time alone, Jake had put his heart through the equivalent of a triathlon, there’s already a next time to think about…

… And Jake didn’t make fun of Heeseung’s feelings. Despite his stupid pulse being obvious and giving him away, Jake isn’t stupid

So Heeseung closes the distance between him and Jake, and they finish the trek to the dorms with the familiar conversation which always accompanies them during their time alone at night.

(The next morning, Heeseung does point out how Jake had gone out of his way to get all that bungeoppang over breakfast—however he does also omit the part about it having been midnight, and the part about Jake’s bank account. His revelation is met with a lot of the members calling him ‘mom’, and then teasing him by making absurd requests, which even Heeseung wonders if Mommy Jake will get around to fulfilling. Isn’t that what they say, anyways? That nothing can come between a mother and their child?)

»«

From then on, the shift is clear.

Jake’s suit is pink, and his hair is styled in a new way. Heeseung has never seen him like this before, and a small, irrational part of his brain seethes when he realizes that the whole world will get to see Jake like this in a few weeks. He tells that part of his brain to shut up—it’s their job to be seen worldwide, after all.

Heeseung isn’t with Jake right now, but Jake is still in his field of view. A stylist is finishing her touch ups on his hair, and while he has to bend his knees a bit to make it easier for the both of them, he can still see Jake leaning against an empty wall on set.

From afar, Heeseung can still make out the details of his hair. He wants to run his fingers through it despite how thick and firm it is, what with all the product.

He watches as Jake is looking at the details of the buttons on his sleeve when Riki starts making his way towards him. This isn’t anything new to Heeseung, Riki is always found either hanging off of Sunoo or Jake when they’re somewhere new. Sometimes it’s even him, but that’s usually in partnership with Jake as well.

Unable to tear his eyes away, Heeseung watches Riki manage to sneak up behind Jake, until he’s close enough to drape himself over the shorter man. One of Riki’s long arms falls over Jake’s shoulder, while the other loops around his waist.

And maybe it’s because Heeseung is watching from such a distance, but Jake’s waist looks tiny in Riki’s arms. Sure, he’s acknowledged how fit the other is, and granted, Jake’s waist looks and feels small when Heeseung throws an arm around there too, but he supposes that since this is the first time he’s seeing it after whatever the hell happened on their late night convenience store run, his head spins a bit faster than usual.

Jake tenses for all of half a second before he recognizes the arms holding him belonging to Riki, and the resounding giggles their maknae lets out manages to reach Heeseung’s ears. 

Riki is only dressed in his outfit since he hasn’t gotten any makeup or hair done yet, and Jake turns around in the other’s hold when he notices this. He takes the liberty to brush Riki’s hair out of his eyes, having to look up as he does so. 

Heeseung’s stomach flips.

Thankfully, the stylist working on him chooses this exact moment to take a step back and let him know he’s ready, and to be careful while waiting for the standby.

Once she turns to leave, Heeseung starts taking steps towards where Riki and Jake are still by the wall, lost in their own little conversation. The closer Heeseung is getting to them, the more he can hear. 

“—anything! If I could, I’d wanna take you out again for another trip. Preferably longer than the fishing one.”

“With Heeseung hyung again too?” Riki asks.

“What about Heeseung hyung?” Heeseung himself asks once he’s close enough to the two of them. He doesn’t know what they’re talking about, but their fishing trip has been mentioned, so he’s relatively intrigued. He finds Jake’s gaze, and raises a sculpted eyebrow.

“My birthday,” Riki answers before Jake can. His voice effectively snatches Jake’s attention away from Heeseung, the other’s eyes finding their way back to the youngest. “Jake hyung said he’d get me anything!”

“Aren’t you giving him too much liberty?” Heeseung asks, but his words are teasing. “Why was I brought up?” “If it were up to me, I’d take Riki-ah on another trip somewhere. Overnight, this time,” Jake explains with a forlorn sigh. Heeseung has a feeling he’s thought about this before. “With you too, of course.”

“Why me too?” Before Ja ke can answer Heeseung’s question, Riki does.

“How can I go anywhere without the both of you?” he asks, looking between Jake and Heeseung like the answer is obvious. “You’re like… Honorary parents.”

“I’m too young to have kids,” Jake sulks, going along with Riki’s scenario.

“I’m too young to be a dad ,” Heeseung adds, because if Jake is having fun, then so should he. And plus, it’s always fun when it comes to indulging Riki.

“You’re the one who goes around calling yourself one,” Riki points out. Heeseung has a feeling he’s referencing the one time he had made an off-handed comment about looking like a dad during his vlog filming. “Jake hyung and Heeseung hyung. Mom and dad.”

Heeseung isn’t sure which one turns his ears red first: Riki’s comment, or Jake’s knowing eyes. Probably a mix of both, since Heeseung’s brain always chooses the worst moments to plague itself with thoughts about Jake in this light (because he really shouldn’t be thinking of how lovely Jake is with kids on the set of a photo shoot, but alas…). 

“Let us know what you’d like for your birthday, Riki-san,” Jake says softly, evading any continuation of the topic very well. Or at least, that’s what Heeseung thinks as he sees Jake continue to brush the younger’s black hair back. But then he adds, “Mom and dad will take care of it.”

Heeseung’s tongue feels like a heavy weight in his mouth. Feels like sandpaper against his gums and his palette. 

Thankfully, this is the moment where a stylist calls Riki over, and their maknae is whisked away to get his hair and makeup done. However, that now leaves Heeseung alone with Jake. And while on any normal day, he’d love to snag even a few mere moments alone with the person of his affections, he doesn’t know what to do with himself after hearing Jake refer to them both as ‘mom and dad’. It’s a bit different in comparison to just Jake calling himself… ‘Mommy’ (Heeseung still feels like he’s about to die whenever he thinks back to that moment). This way, Jake is acknowledging the two of them together, and that makes Heeseung’s stomach do more than just some flips.

“Hyung,” Jake says after Riki is a good distance away. Heeseung notes that it’s just until Riki is out of earshot. “You’ll help me with Riki’s birthday, right?” Jake grabs Heeseung’s wrist in his hand, and it short circuits the other’s brain long enough for him to have to wrack his brain for an answer.

“Of course,” he ends up agreeing, because it’s not hard when he’s with Jake. Like he’s said before, there is not much he wouldn’t do if it was Jake that asked. “We’ll make it special for him,” he adds, and the way Jake’s smile lights up the area around them is so worth it.

But he doesn’t say anything after getting Heeseung’s compliance, which confuses the latter. He waits, but when Jake continues to stay silent while slowly running his thumb along Heeseung’s wrist, he has to ask, “What are you doing?”

“Nothing much,” Jake answers. His eyes are still following his own thumb running around Heeseung’s wrist. “Just confirming that you like it when I refer to us as mom and dad.”

Heeseung splutters. Jake can no doubt feel his reaction, since the older realizes only now that Jake has been checking the rate of his pulse this entire time.

His heart is good for nothing, with the way Jake is pulling its strings.

“What are you doing? Why are you doing this?” Heeseung asks with just a bit of an edge to his voice. It’s nothing serious, just something to let Jake know that a proper answer is what he’s looking for. Jake always gives a clean-cut answer whenever Heeseung talks like this.

Which is why Heeseung knows Jake isn’t pulling some sick joke when he answers with—

“Because I like it too…” There is mirth swimming in the younger’s eyes, and it’s something Heeseung doesn’t see often at all. He’s always on the receiving end of Jake’s softer, gentler, and sweeter intentions, but he can’t deny or ignore the strange pull of desire from this look in Jake’s eyes. From this Jake, who seems bolder, and more adamant on getting Heeseung right where he wants him. And it’s probably because of all of those factors combined that he leans in, fingers still curled possessively around Heeseung’s wrist, to whisper something just for the two of them to hear.

There are staff around them, the rest of their members are scattered around the set. Cameras are everywhere, multiple of them are running. There are flashes going off, momentarily painting Heeseung’s vision completely white. But despite all of that, Jake comes closer, and closer and closer until his plump lips are practically touching the shell of Heeseung’s ear.

And then he whispers something so sweet, something so horrendous, so enthralling and so telling , just for the two of them to know about.

“You’re not the only one who likes it, Daddy.”

Heeseung thought that making it a point to not be found alone with Jake would be something that would make his life easier.

He’s sorely mistaken, when an audience is what simply spurs Jake on.

And it’s funny, when he thinks about it. Because Jake is still just Jake . He still dotes on their youngest members, he still does a head count without needing to. He still goes to bed the earliest out of all of them, he still asks Heeseung to eat late night snacks with him, he still goes and finds Heeseung when there’s something on his mind.

Jake is still Jake, except he’s also not .

He doesn’t call Heeseung that… Godforsaken word anymore (Heeseung’s brain can’t function at all when he remembers that moment), and he doesn’t go around calling him any godforsaken words either. 

So what’s different, Heeseung concludes, is that now Jake knows what he’s doing. 

He dotes on the youngests, but he does it a lot when Heeseung is nearby to see it. He does head counts, but he counts out loud when he’s next to Heeseung. He goes to bed early, and just for Heeseung to hear, says it’s because the kids exhausted him. 

Still asks Heeseung to have late night snacks with him because Jake likes quality time, comes to him when there’s something weighing on his mind, and he only said it once but he still said—“If I can’t tell my husband these things, then who can I tell?”

And now it’s just painfully obvious that Jake is having fun with it. Which Heeseung supports completely, by the way! He loves when Jake has fun! He just doesn’t know how much longer he can be the cause of such fun activities before he spontaneously combusts like the women in the nineteenth century.

“Hey, hey, Heeseung hyung.”

And here he comes again, skipping towards where Heeseung is just trying to enjoy a video game on the living room couch without feeling like he was going to explode because his heart didn’t know how to handle so many emotions.

Nonetheless, it’s Jake . So Heeseung hums to let the other know he’s listening, but his eyes are still stuck on the screen of his game.

“Taste this for me?” Jake asks, but he doesn’t wait for his answer before a spoonful of something is prodding at his lips. Heeseung opens up because it’d be rude not to, and because Jake is feeding him, and yeah, it was kind of cute. “Tell me, is it good? Do you like it?”

“It’s good,” Heeseung says honestly, finally finishing the round he was playing and then putting the controller down. He looks at Jake, and swipes his tongue over the insides of his cheeks, and the roof of his mouth to catch the remnant, sweet flavours of whatever Jake had fed him. It’s a desert, he knows that much. “What is it?”

“You can’t tell?” Jake asks with a small frown crawling onto his face. His shoulders drop a bit too, and alarm bells start ringing in Heeseung’s head to quickly alert him to do something to wipe that look off of Jake’s face. “Did I do it wrong…?”

“No, it’s really good,” Heeseung assures, and sees Jake’s uncertain eyes meet his own. Heeseung’s heart melts at the sight. “I mean it. Don’t worry, Jakey, you did it right. It’s some sort of mousse, right? Strawberry?”

“Yeah,” he nods, and now he sounds a bit more sure of himself. “For Sunghoon and Riki… Their birthdays are soon,” he explains.

“And Jay let you use the kitchen unsupervised?” Heeseung teases and it earns him a light slap on the shoulder.

“I’m quite well equipped in there,” he pouts. “In fact, you know that very well.”

“‘Suppose,” Heeseung shrugs. He fixes Jake with a look, catches sight of a headband pushing his hair out of his face, trails his eyes further down to see a couple telling pink stains on Jake’s worn sweater, and then finally he sees the sleeves fall over Jake’s hands. The words leave his mouth before he can run them through his brain. “You’re sweet, Mommy.”

His own eyes widen when he registers what he just said, and for the first few seconds, Jake blink owlishly too, taken aback. But Jake regains his composure before Heeseung does, that familiar glint back in his eyes. A smirk curls his lips up, and he plops himself down right next to Heeseung.

“Do you like it when I cook?” he asks, the question being something Heeseung wasn’t expecting. But, his answer stays honest

“I like your cooking,” he agrees, and the younger hums, satisfied with the answer. Yet, it looks like he’s contemplating something, a calculating look in his eyes.

“Do you like it when I cook for you?” he asks again, and once more, honesty wills Heeseung to answer immediately.

“I do.”

“Do you like it when I cook for the kids?”

This time, honesty in both Heeseung’s brain and heart makes his breath hitch right before the words can escape his mouth. Jake notices, because of course he does, and his smirk just gets all the more smug.

“Answer me,” Jake prods, leaning in all the more into Heeseung’s space. He doesn’t pull away, since Jake’s presence is always welcome. No matter how close. “Do you like it, hyung?” But right after asking his question, Jake tsks his tongue and shakes his head at himself. “No, that’s not right,” he mumbles to himself. Jake makes direct eye contact with Heeseung right after, and the latter knows he’s done for before the words even leave Jake’s mouth. “Do you like it when I cook for the kids, Daddy?”

“Sim Jaeyun—”

“Lee Heeseung,” Jake teases, and now, his breath is but a hair's width away from Heeseung’s lips. “How much longer are you going to pretend, hm? Mommy’s tired of waiting.”

Well, Jake seems to have no more qualms around the matter, around the names, around him . So Heeseung supposes it’s only fair that he throws his qualms out the window too.

“Yeah? Well Daddy’s tired of your games.”

Jake’s smile at his words is brilliant . And that twists Heeseung’s gut in more than one way, a mess far more entangled than anything else Jake has ever managed to create.

“Don’t say that,” Jake whispers. His eyes keep darting between Heeseung’s own eyes, and his lips. “Don’t call your feelings a game, hyung.”

That seems to break the spell.

Heeseung flinches, remembers they’re in the living room, and that Jake was right. This isn’t a game. His feelings are involved. So what is Jake doing, then? If he knows all of this…

“Jake-ah…”

“Let’s talk, okay hyung? Not now, because I wanna talk properly .” Jake gets up from his seat after that, and while Heeseung is a tangled ball of nerves, the gentle smile Jake gives him is definitely reassuring. This is what he’s used to, after all: the softer, gentler, sweeter Jake who, yeah, sends his brain into overdrive, but also melts his heart and manages to effortlessly pull a blanket of reassurance over him. “I don’t want Daddy getting the wrong idea since… I like him very much.”

Jake is bounding back to the kitchen before Heeseung even finishes processing the words.

»«

“Riki-san, happy birthday!”

The only light is coming from the candle illuminating Riki’s birthday cake, but Heeseung thinks the smile on Riki’s face when he sees that it’s Jake holding the cake shines brighter.

Of course, his smile only brightens even more when he takes in the sight of all the other members around him, happily singing him happy birthday. Ironically, it’s off-pitch, but Heeseung doesn’t point it out. Instead, he has a popper ready to go in his hand, and waits until the last note in the song rings to an end before pulling it open and garnering applause from everyone.

“Happy birthday!” he cheers, looking over Jake’s shoulder to see the cake topped with strawberries. Last night, Sunghoon’s had been topped with grapes. “Make a wish, Riki.”

They don’t settle down for another hour, because the maknaes are unable to get to bed after having experienced even the smallest bit of excitement. It had been like this for Sunghoon’s birthday last night too, and while it is fun, it’s not ideal. They have schedules, busy ones at that, for the next few weeks. And unfortunately, tomorrow is rather busy as well.

“I’m gonna clean up,” Jake lets everyone know when he catches Riki letting out his third yawn in the past five minutes. “You guys need to all brush your teeth and go to sleep.”

Heeseung had advised against eating cake right before bed, the sugar not a good mix with their hyperactive brains, but watching Jake pick up the half eaten cake, he really should’ve known better.

“Okay, mom,” Jungwon sighs, rolling his eyes as he does. Jake thinks it’s kind of cute since his eyes are puffy with the need to sleep. “Sunoo hyung, let’s go.”

Jungwon drags an equally sleepy Sunoo to the bathroom with him to brush their teeth, so Jake proceeds to carry everything over to the kitchen. Heeseung follows in his steps and picks up a couple glasses and the streamers from the popper he had used earlier.

He sees Riki make way to clean up too, but interferes before he can do anything.

“Go to sleep,” Heeseung tells him

“But I should help—”

“You should sleep, ” Heeseung corrects, looking at their maknae gently. “Growing kids need all the rest they can get.”

“Okay, dad,” Riki scoffs, but he gets up from his seat on the couch nonetheless. “You’ll help Jake hyung, right?”

“Of course I will,” Heeseung says obviously. “You can thank him in the morning. I know you’re tired.”

“But I want—”

“Riki-ah,” Jake sighs, stepping back into the living room. He had expected it to be empty, but he’s surprised to see Riki and Heeseung still here. When he picks up on a snippet of their conversation though, it makes sense. “Don't give Daddy a hard time.” Jake is teasing, so Heeseung elbows him. “I made you dessert for breakfast, the quicker you sleep, the quicker you’ll be able to eat it.”

And like always, bribes plus Jake’s sweet words are what gets through to Riki.

“Okay,” he finally relents. He looks between the two of them one last time, and smiles cutely, in the way only he can. “Thank you, hyungs. You two really are like my temporary parents.”

He’s off to get ready for bed after that, but the atmosphere he leaves around Jake and Heeseung is a bit thick with tension.

Just… Not the bad kind of tension.

“He said it himself,” Jake laughs, a quiet and soft sound which Heeseung tucks into the Sim Jake corner of his heart. Alongside many other things, of course. Jake sighs, and then picks up the used plates from the coffee table. “Help me clean up, hyung.”

And so they work in comfortable silence, dancing around each other in the kitchen when it comes to stacking plates in the sink, and putting the leftover cake in the fridge. Heeseung puts on the rubber gloves before Jake can, just because he doesn’t want the younger doing the dishes on top of all the preparations he made for Riki’s midnight celebration.

“How much do you want to bet that Riki isn’t going to bed for a couple more hours? He’s probably reading birthday wishes from fans right now,” Jake laughs.

Heeseung hums, picking up the first dish in the sink.

“He’ll pass out with his phone falling onto his face,” he agrees.

“Then he’ll crawl into Sunoo’s bed—”

“And Sunoo will pretend to hate it,"

“… And when I go to wake them up tomorrow morning, they’ll be tangled together.”

“But Riki will be taking up most of the bed.”

Jake laughs, and for the nth time today, Heeseung is rendered weak in the knees by the sound. Unsurprisingly (but honestly a bit surprisingly), Jake must notice something in Heeseung’s movements. Like the way Heeseung knows every tell of Jake’s, the latter must know his, in turn. Because there’s no other way to explain how Jake says,

“You’re really bad at hiding how you feel, hyung,” he points out.

Heeseung feels called out, but he shrugs his shoulders instead of fighting for his life to try and find something to say.

“It’s not a bad thing…” he says eventually, running a soapy dish under the water. Once it’s clean, he puts it on the drying rack. “To be honest.”

“I never said it was,” Jake hums. “It’s one of the things I like most about you.”

Heeseung’s movements are slower as he reaches for another dish. But he still can’t look directly at Jake.

“You’ve been saying that a lot lately,” he notes quietly.

“You’ve been letting your feelings show through the cracks a lot, lately,” Jake counters, and likewise, Heeseung hums. He doesn’t know what to say to that.

“That’s because… I like you,” Heeseung whispers, the sound of the running tap deafening. He’s glad it’s there though, the sound of silence might have been even more deafening. 

“I like you too.” The way Jake speaks sounds easy, as if the words roll off his tongue like butter.

“But I like you,” Heeseung emphasizes, because he might as well bite the bullet. He also doesn’t want to back out now—if he’s going to let Jake know, then he’ll let Jake know properly.

“I know, I heard you, hyung,” Jake giggles, and once again, he sounds so light and the words fall so easily. “I like you too. Was I not being as obvious as you were?”

Heeseung is glad he’s done washing the dishes when Jake asks this, because there’s no way he would’ve been able to focus on both washing them and this conversation. He turns the tap off, takes the rubber gloves off, and then mirrors Jake's position. Now, they’re staring at each other, sides pressed to the counter. The only light is the light from the kitchen, and the only sound is the faucet running in the sink. It must be Riki, who’s brushing his teeth.

“You’re calling me obvious,” Heeseung states, blinking at Jake dumbly. The younger nods in agreement. “So why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Jake starts, and Heeseung inhales a sharp breath. His brain has already started taking this the wrong way, so he really needs Jake to speed this up. “But seeing you turn to mush every time I was with you… It was cute.”

Heeseung’s mouth falls open unattractively as he sputters around the words he doesn’t know how to say. In the end, he settles on a bland and boring—

“Cute,” he repeats. Jake tilts his head too, and takes one step closer to Heeseung. One step which bridges more of the gap between them. “You thought—that it was cute? ”

“Yeah,” Jake admits. He looks up at Heeseung, smiles, and the other feels like he might faint. “It was cute seeing how much you like Mommy.”

“And why—” Heeseung groans, closing his eyes to just take a moment to collect himself. Because if he looks at Jake after he had addressed himself like that (again!), Heeseung is going to spontaneously combust. “Why do you keep calling yourself that?”

“Because you like it,” Jake answers simply, taking yet another step closer. From this close, Heeseung has to look a bit down as well in order to make proper eye contact. “And I like you too. So what’s wrong with playing Mommy and Daddy, hm?”

“You’re ridiculous,” Heeseung blurts out, but all it does is make Jake smile even wider. He nods his head, he takes the final step needed to close the distance between them completely, and now they’re standing chest to chest.

“Sure. But aren’t you a little ridiculous too, Daddy?” he hums, raising one hand to trace the neckline of Heeseung’s t-shirt. “I never thought that spoiling one of the kids would be all it takes for you to crumble.”

Heeseung feels hot under his collar, and he’s sure Jake can feel it too. And while normally this would be the part where his brain spews out nonsense thoughts which render him useless in front of Jake, tonight, he can see the tips of the younger’s ears flush red.

Maybe it’s because of their proximity that Heeseung is able to notice it this time.

“Jaeyun-ah—”

“I really, really like it when you call me that,” Jake hums, pressing himself even closer to Heeseung. The latter has to put a hand on the counter in order to brace himself, feeling the jackhammering pace of Jake’s heart against his own chest. This time, it’s comforting to know that he isn’t the only one who feels this way anymore. “But I like it even more when you call me something else…”

Jake’s tone bleeds off into a teasing little chime, one which gets sent straight to Heeseung’s brain.

He’s been on the receiving end of Jake’s teasing for the better part of the past two weeks, so it doesn’t take him long at all to know what he’s talking about. Despite that though, Heeseung closes his eyes once more. He takes a deep breath through his nose to ground himself, because he knows that if he doesn’t practice some self restraint, he’s going to taint their kitchen.

Then he opens his eyes, just to meet Jake’s own brown orbs filled with unbridled mirth, unmatched shine, and unmistakable desire.

So the word falls off his tongue easily.

Like butter.

“Mommy,”

Jake grins, moves an inch closer, and their lips meet in the middle, warm.

“What was it you said? ‘Happy wife, happy life?’” Jake repeats, and Heeseung’s ears flush even more at the pitiful reminder of his terrible attempt at a joke. Jake giggles right in his face, and then kisses him square on the mouth. “What a lucky day for you, Lee Heeseung. Your wife is so, so happy.”

»«

And Jake stays happy too. Because of course Heeseung makes sure of that.

There’s not much they can do now since schedules are so busy, but their late night routines don’t change much.

Jake still goes to bed first, but ends up coming out of his room after a few hours just to find Heeseung. By this point, everyone else is already either getting ready for bed, or tucked into their covers. Heeseung however, if he’s not on his phone in his room, is on the living room couch, playing games.

Expectedly.

So that’s how Jake finds him tonight too.

There’s someone in the kitchen when he walks out of his room, but he doesn’t bother to check who it is. He makes his way straight to where Heeseung is sitting cross-legged on the couch, eyes glued to the television screen in front of him, with a controller in his hands.

Jake finds him cute like this. Bambi-eyes wide as they concentrate on the screen, his mouth open just the tiniest bit.

Unceremoniously, Jake doesn’t say anything before plopping himself down on one of Heeseung’s legs, back pressed to the other’s chest. Given how Jake slumps back into Heeseung, he isn’t blocking the other’s view.

“You’re awake?” the older mumbles as he manoeuvres his arms to get into a better position. Now, they both go around Jake’s waist before meeting the controller in the middle. “You should go back to sleep soon.”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Jake mutters, getting comfortable against Heeseung.

He stays like this for a few more minutes, watching Heeseung play his game. He’s not particularly interested, but it’s nice to feel Heeseung’s steady heartbeat right between his shoulder blades. He also may or may not just be waiting for whoever was in the kitchen to finally leave.

Turns out, it was Sunghoon in the kitchen. When he goes to leave, he throws a look over at Jake, since the latter is already looking at him. Speaking with their eyes, something which only he and Sunghoon are seemingly able to do, Sunghoon lifts an inquisitive eyebrow.

Jake’s glare is more than enough to let Sunghoon know to mind his own business.

So it’s with a snort that Sunghoon bides them goodnight, and then disappears into his room. That leaves just him and Heeseung in the living room, everyone else tucked away behind the closed doors of their rooms.

“Hyung,” Jake says when he sees Heeseung’s round finish on the screen. His boyfriend (because yes—Heeseung had also bit the bullet with that one and asked the golden question) hums, letting the younger know he’s listening.

But Jake wants a bit more than just his listening ears. Jake wants all of Heeseung’s attention, so he gently takes the controller from his hands, and tosses it to the other end of the couch.

“Someone’s needy,” Heeseung teases as he watches Jake do this, and then shuffle completely into his lap. With his knees bracketing either side of Heeseung’s hips, Jake fiddles with the collar of Heeseung’s pyjama set.

“I like this set on you,” he comments, smoothing out the nonexistent wrinkles in the fabric. “Makes you look like a dad.”

“Hm, and we all know that’s what you like more than anything, isn’t it?” 

Jake pouts, snapping his eyes up to meet Heeseung’s gaze.

“Are you really gonna act like you don’t like it when I call you Daddy?” Jake accuses, and the instantaneous reaction of Heeseung’s cheeks heating up is satisfactory. “You have a kink!”

“So do you!” Heeseung blurts to his defense. His hands find their way to Jake’s waist to hold him with stability, shifting around until his back is pressed to the back of the couch. “You’re way too insistent on me calling you Mommy for it to just be a casual thing.”

“At least I won’t deny it,” Jake sulks. His hands move from Heeseung’s collar to hold his face, each hand cupping a cheek. “It’s cute when you say it. Because I know that you mean it.”

Heeseung raises an eyebrow, running his hands up and down Jake’s sides, just because it gives him something to do. And maybe because he likes the feeling of Jake’s skin warming up right under his hands, and the faint, pink hue which begins to grow on his cheeks.

“Do I mean it?” Heeseung asks, despite knowing the answer very well himself. He just wants to hear Jake say it.

“Oh, now you’re going to act like you don’t get hot and bothered when you see me taking care of the house? Or taking care of our kids?” Jake raises his own eyebrow, and he’s looking at Heeseung like he’s daring the older to try and deny the claim.

But like he said, there’s nothing wrong with being honest.

“It gets me even more hot and bothered when you call them our kids,” Heeseung admits, and it sounds maybe a bit weird at first. Logistically, things are off. But Heeseung has a lapful of pretty, pretty Jake Sim who likes being called Mommy , so he allows himself the liberty to glaze over the finer details.

“Really?” Jake giggles, tilting his head to one side, as if he didn’t already know the answer. But Heeseung knows that he does, or else he wouldn’t take every given opportunity to refer to them as ‘their kids’. “Then what are you gonna do about that, Daddy?”

Heeseung inhales sharply, and Jake’s eyes get darker at the sound. The latter hums, hands sliding down from cupping Heeseung’s cheeks to now holding him by the nape of the neck. Heeseung would’ve been able to let it go if it weren’t for the way Jake’s hips start to move around in his lap.

“Y’know, I’ve been very patient with you these past few days,” Heeseung starts, fixing his boyfriend with a look. A look which Jake smirks under. “But you’re wearing me thin, Jaeyun.”

“You were getting on my nerves,” Jake admits. His cheeks are noticeably pink now. “I have a super hot boyfriend who I’ve been trying to fuck for days , and he won’t spare me any attention.” Now he’s pouting, sounding awfully like he was genuinely upset.

“Mommy’s been a brat,” Heeseung growls, his hands tightening their hold on Jake’s waist. The younger gasps, and hopes that Heeseung’s fingers will leave bruises which he can marvel at the next morning.

“Then do something about it,” Jake practically whines, and as he watches his resolve crumble, Heeseung can tell that this is exactly what Jake had wanted, what he had been playing at. “Daddy—”

Heeseung kisses him, something hard and punishing . He kisses to bruise, and Jake wants those same exact bruising lips all over his body. Hands tightening around him, tongue prodding at the seam of his lips demanding entry, hot mouth swallowing all of his tiny sounds of pleasure—Jake has always wanted Heeseung. But he wants him so bad right now, he’s going to lose his mind.

But Jake isn’t any better. Jake nibbles Heeseung’s lip, because he wants to know if it’ll drive the other mad, and he gets his answer in the form of Heeseung’s hands gripping the bottoms of his thighs, and then picking him up like he was weightless.

Jake knows Heeseung is strong, if their countless arm wrestling tournaments are anything to go off of. He goes to the gym with Sunghoon too, but he didn’t know just how strong he is, not until now. When he’s in Heeseung’s arms, and being carried all the way to the other’s room.

Heeseung shuts the door behind him, and then pins Jake’s back against it. The latter breaks their kiss just to catch a desperate lungful of air, but Heeseung uses the moment to trail his kisses down to his jaw, bruising lips unforgiving against his skin.

“Heeseung hyung,” Jake calls breathlessly. His fingers make their way to tangle in the older’s hair in an attempt to ground himself. Heeseung’s lips are hot wherever they touch, and his tongue does nothing to cool the sensations down. Kissing lightly turns into suckling hickeys onto the small spot behind his jaw, under his ear. “Hee—hyung!”

From his jaw, Heeseung decides to press wet kisses along his neck now. The sensitive parts of his skin which tickle when there’s air blown onto them now have him squirming in Heeseung’s hold. As his boyfriend sucks bruises onto the skin below the collar of his shirt, the problem between Jake’s legs is getting harder to ignore.

“The walls are thin, Mommy,” Heeseung taunts, voice lower than Jake ever gets to hear it. Not even Heeseung’s morning voice can compare to the timbre of his voice right now. “The kids are sleeping… You don’t wanna wake them up, do you?”

Jake learns right now that Heeseung is cruel. He asks his question like he expects an answer, but he doesn’t give Jake any way to answer by sealing any sounds shut with a kiss, and finally moving him from against the wall to against the mattress of his bed.

“Do you?” Heeseung asks again, leaning off just the slightest bit in order to catch his breath. Their lips still touch with every rise and fall of both their chests, but the space is enough for Jake to answer. 

“No,” he shakes his head, leaning up again to catch Heeseung’s lips in a hot, desperate kiss. He won’t ever get tired of kissing Heeseung. “Come on, fuck me hyung.”

“Tonight?” There are schedules tomorrow, but they don’t start until the early afternoon. He’s sure that technically, it’ll be fine, despite the late hour they already find themselves in. But then… Heeseung takes in the sight of Jake’s flushed face underneath him, his chest rising and falling with heaving breaths, and his eyes… Heeseung will always, always be enamoured by Jake’s eyes. “Don’t wanna make it hard for you tomorrow…”

“Don’t get so cocky if you’re not gonna show me,” Jake scoffs, pushing himself up to his elbows. “I want you, hyung. Do you want me too?” Heeseung thinks it’s unfair to ask such a question with his tongue coming out to swipe at his bottom lip, since it’s like being put in a trance. Heeseung’s eyes follow the movement of Jake’s pink tongue, and then can’t help but lean down once more to kiss those sinful lips, taste that sinful tongue.

“I want you,” Heeseung assures, looking right into Jake’s eyes. “I want you so bad, Mommy.”

“Then there’s nothing stopping you,” Jake whispers. One of his hands come up to tug at Heeseung’s top. “You want me. I want you.” He grabs a fistful of Heeseung’s shirt, and pulls him forward until their noses are touching. “So now please… Fuck me, Daddy.”

From there, it’s a whirlwind. Heeseung’s hands grab at every part of Jake, until the latter urges him to take off his clothes. A flurry of garments later, they’re both stripped down to their boxers, and Heeseung could start crying at the feel of Jake’s soft and warm skin beneath his palms.

“Beautiful,” Heeseung murmurs through mouthing at Jake’s chest. He looks up under his eyelashes, just to see heady, pleasure-clouded eyes staring back at him. “You’re so beautiful, Jakey.”

Heeseung takes a nipple between his teeth, and then takes Jake’s breath away too. With a stuttered gasp, Jake’s hands grab onto the closest thing, which happens to be Heeseung’s head of bright pink hair.

“ Mm, hyung please,” he gasps, Heeseung’s hand coming up to pinch at his other nipple. Both sensations are enough to have Jake’s back arching off the bed, chest searching for more of Heeseung’s addictive touch. Warm hands, warm tongue, warm, warm, warm .

Heeseung makes Jake feel so warm: inside and out.

Hands all over, mouth all over, bruises all over, and everything else Heeseung seems to know that Jake wants without the latter even having to say anything. He supposes Heeseung really had been keeping a keen eye on him.

Kisses trailing all the way down the center of his chest, teasing licks along the waistband of his boxers, and Jake finally having enough when he locks his thighs around Heeseung’s shoulders.

“You’re teasing,” he notes breathlessly. Heeseung looks a bit too good between his legs, looking up at him with bambi-eyes.

“Don’t you like it?” Heeseung questions, an eyebrow raised. His tongue pokes out to wet his bottom lip, and then he sends Jake a sweet smile. “You’re not really in a position to complain.”

Breath hitching, Jake narrows his eyes down at his boyfriend.

“Heeseung—”

“Not my name, Mommy,” the other growls, cutting Jake off with something more than a nip to the flesh of his thigh. Teeth sinking into skin, a high pitched sound ripped from Jake’s throat. It stings, but the sting gets sent right between his legs, where he can feel Heeseung’s breath ghosting. He’s so close, close, close, but it’s not enough.

“Daddy,” Jake mewls, legs falling a tiny but looser around the other’s shoulders. It’s just enough space for Heeseung to nose at the inside of his thigh, lips following the trail with hickeys and bites to follow.

The kiss is fluttery.

The bite is stinging.

And the accomplished bruise is marking.

“I wanna stay here all night,” Heeseung chides, looking a bit more than happy, a bit too at home between the younger’s thighs. “Kiss you all over, leave my mark on every inch of your body.”

It’s a promise, whispered into the tight air between them, and sealed into the flesh on Jake’s body. And while Jake would like nothing more (he’ll gladly spend an indefinite amount of time underneath Heeseung), now he’s going to spontaneously combust if Heeseung doesn’t do something soon.

“Next time,” Jake promises, somehow managing to push himself up to his elbows despite how weak they feel. “Please—”

“Brat,” Heeseung cuts off, speaking the word simply, his mouth hovering over the single, thin cotton barrier which is separating his mouth from Jake’s arousal. “Mommy’s been a brat.”

“I’m sorry,” Jake blurts out before thinking about it, because the one thing on his mind now is Heeseung’s cock, and getting fucked by his cock. “I’m sorry—"

“Sorry’s not enough, Mommy,” Heeseung grunts. His mouth lowers to lick at Jake through his boxers, and it makes the latter throw his head back in pleasure. “You’ll prove you’re sorry, won’t you?” Heeseung’s words come out a bit muffled because of the soaked fabric he’s mouthing at, but Jake is still able to understand what he’s saying.

“Yes,” Jake moans, eyes squeezing shut when Heeseung finally takes mercy on him and hooks his fingers into the sides of his waistband. “Yes Daddy, I’m sorry Daddy—”

“Be good, Mommy,” Heeseung grins, pulling Jake’s boxers all the way down and off his legs before situating himself back in between them. Like this, his breath hits Jake’s bare cock, and the younger knows he won’t be able to last much longer. “Be good for me, and you’ll get what you want.”

Jake nods head, and falls lax around Heeseung.

And now, it’s Heeseung’s warm mouth engulfing Jake’s cock, his wet tongue tracing prominent veins, and his large hands splaying across Jake’s thighs, moving up and down, side to side, driving Jake up the wall.

Jake is reminded of the fact daily, but it seems all the more prominent now, with Heeseung this close and all around him.

Heeseung is big . Big mouth which swallows Jake whole, big hands which engulf Jake completely, big shoulders which cover him in all his entirety—and Jake feels a bit small , despite his actual size.

But it’s a welcome feeling around Heeseung, so he lets go of the reins, and trusts Heeseung to steer them both towards the direction of completion.

And it works, because there’s a coil growing in Jake’s gut which becomes increasingly difficult to ignore. 

“‘M close, Daddy,” Jake moans breathlessly, sweat accumulating on his brow bone. Likewise, his palms are a bit clammy where they’re still fisted in Heeseung’s hair. “Wanna come, I’m gonna come—”

“You wanna?” Heeseung asks, coming off of Jake’s cock with a lewd pop. Jake nods his head vehemently. Heeseung smiles, and it’s all sugar sweet. “But I don’t wanna let you.”

“Please,” Jake whimpers, pouty lips pushed out naturally, an endearing sight. His eyes are wider, filled with lust, neediness, and all the other good stuff which makes Heeseung swallow the gathered pool of spit in his mouth. “Please, Daddy?”

“Because you were good for me?” Heeseung asks, pulling off of Jake and crawling back over his body. “Because you took everything I gave you?” Mindlessly, Jake nods his head. He’s not really processing Heeseung’s words, his head far too full with other, more important thoughts. Like the impossible boner Heeseung still has confined in his boxers. Of course, the older notices this. “Cute, Mommy.”

And that name , it doesn’t do anything to settle the fire running through Jake’s veins, along his body, the fire raging between his legs.

Hot, hot, hot.

Hot everywhere Heeseung has touched him, and still equally as hot where he hasn’t.

“Fuck me,” he begs, on the brink of losing his mind entirely. He’s so hard between his legs it practically hurts , and he has no idea how Heeseung has managed to play for so long without any sort of relief. “Fuck me, please, please—”

Heeseung kisses him, and the fire burns even hotter.

“My Mommy’s so desperate,” Heeseung whispers. He sounds pleased against Jake’s lips, one of his hands is still between Jake’s legs, squeezing his inner thigh comfortingly. “So loud too. What did I tell you, Mommy, hm? The walls are thin, the kids might hear you,” he reminds him with faux concern marring his voice. It makes Jake’s head dizzy.

Dizzy with arousal, dizzy with heat , dizzy to the point where he doesn’t even notice Heeseung retrieving lube or a condom from his bedside drawer. He’s only brought back when the semi-cool, wet sensation of lube presses against his hole.

When his eyes snap up to Heeseung, who’s still looming above him, he finds his boyfriend already looking right at him, right in the eyes.

“But maybe you’d like that,” he smiles, the tip of one finger prodding at Jake’s entrance gently. A stark contrast compared to the snarl curling around his lips, and the passion in his eyes. “Because you’re dirty, Mommy.”

Jake lets out a cry, a sound which accompanies Heeseung’s words, and the finger which breaches his entrance, and starts moving around his walls, exploring to its heart’s content.

Heeseung’s heart’s content.

Two follow one, three follow two, and Heeseung’s mouth follows a familiar path all the way up to Jake’s own, keeping him quiet with messy kisses which involve way too much tongue, and clash their teeth together too often.

But he loves it. 

Because it’s Heeseung’s Jake moaning into his mouth.

Heeseung’s Jake clawing at his back in an attempt to ground himself.

Heeseung’s Mommy, made a complete mess by him.

So what’s there not to love?

“Daddy,” Jake moans between them, red-flushed cheeks, tear-wet eyes, kiss-swollen mouth coming into Heeseung’s view, looking absolutely ruined, like the brat deserved . “Fuck me now , please,” he begs, cries, sobs , and it’s all Heeseung could ever want and more.

Jake, all his, and Heeseung, all Jake’s.

“Mommy asked so nicely,” Heeseung coos, easing his fingers out of Jake slowly. The latter nods his head at Heeseung’s statement, keeping him close by wrapping his legs around Heeseung’s hips. Once again, Heeseung finds Jake so cute. “Maybe I should finally give him what he wants.” Now Jake’s nodding turns furious.

Heeseung chuckles, and finally, finally frees himself from his boxers, tossing them onto the floor alongside the pile of their other clothes.

He moans gratefully at the feeling of being free, and as he tears the condom packet open, he doesn’t miss the way Jake’s eyes remain fixed onto the arousal between his legs.

In any other circumstance, Heeseung would blush firetruck red, and splutter. And while his cheeks still do heat up, he does more than that too.

“I told you I didn’t wanna give you a hard time tomorrow,” he recalls as he rolls the condom onto his length. A hand generously coated with lube follows, and he jerks himself for a while in order to slick himself up. “But Mommy was so desperate for my cock. Daddy will show you now, hm? Isn’t that you wanted, Mommy?”

In lieu of a verbal answer, Jake’s legs spread open wider. His cheeks are still painted red, his lips are still kissed swollen, but his eyes are now bruning with an unbridled passion, a yearning desire.

And Heeseung is reminded once more, in this very moment, that he will always give Jake what he wants.

Heeseung’s movements are slow and careful, but Jake can’t even find it in himself to complain about that. Not when the feeling of Heeseung filling him full leaves him breathless. Inch by inch, until they’re flush together, touching everywhere.

“Daddy…” Jake moans off into a whisper, and it’s a satisfying sound which does a bit more than just inflate Heeseung’s ego. “… Big.”

Heeseung hums offhandedly, wondering if Jake can see the way his blush darkens.

He probably can, given the way he giggles.

“You liked that,” he notes, despite not needing to. Heeseung is giving Jake moments to adjust, but the younger seems to be taking advantage of that by pulling Heeseung closer by digging his heels into the small of his back. 

Heeseung is panting with the urge to control himself from thrusting just yet, but it’s proving to become a challenge when he catches Jake’s eyes, just to see that all too familiar mirth swimming in his eyes.

“Does Daddy like it when I compliment him?” Jake continues to prod, shifting his hips just a little bit, and moaning at the sensation it unleashes. Loudly, unabashedly, whorishly . “Fuck me hard and I can tell you just how good you are, Daddy—”

Heeseung clamps a hand over Jake’s loud mouth to shut him up the same time he draws his hips back halfway, and thrusts back in.

Jake lets out what’s practically a borderline scream , and thankfully, it’s somewhat muffled by the hand over his mouth.

“Shut up, Mommy,” Heeseung grunts, sounding just as breathless as Jake looks. But he can’t help it, when Jake’s heat around him is so tight , so intoxicating. “The kids are gonna hear you.”

But Jake doesn’t shut up. If anything, his moans get louder, harsher, higher in pitch. Heeseung’s hand can only muffle so much, but he still doesn’t make a move to take it away.

“Mommy feels so good,” Heeseung hums lowly, moaning softly into Jake’s ear when the younger clenches around him at the words. “Oh? Does Mommy like it too when I tell him how good he is?” he taunts, referring to Jake’s earlier words. 

Instead of an answer, Jake kisses Heeseung’s palm, and looks at him with desperate eyes. Somehow, it’s enough to let Heeseung know to remove his hand.

And the second he does, Jake’s kissing him. Harsh pants into his mouth, muffled whimpers, and fingers which press so hard into his shoulders, Heeseung is sure it’ll leave a bruise. He wants it to leave a bruise.

“‘M gonna come,” Jake warns him, hooded eyes looking right into Heeseung’s own. “Please let me come, Daddy…”

Jake hiccups, words interrupted by sweet moans and repeated sounds of pleasure which have Heeseung’s high approaching quickly as well. 

“Then come,” Heeseung groans, snapping his hips harsher, gripping Jake’s waist tighter. All in the hopes of fresh bruises in the shape of his fingers, in the morning. “I bet Mommy looks so pretty when he does.”

One,

Two,

Three. 

And then Heeseung has to kiss Jake quiet, because he learns that his boyfriend is loud when he comes. Painting white onto his own chest, some on Heeseung’s too. He takes the older’s bottom lip between his teeth and pulls on it, if only to hear and feel the vibrations of Heeseung’s deep moan from up close.

“Come in me, Daddy,” Jake sighs, body sated, heart racing, and arousal stinging just the tiniest bit from the overstimulation of Heeseung’s hips still pistoning in and out of him. Breathless like this, spent and boneless, Jake still finds it himself to push at all of Heeseung’s buttons. The right buttons. “Let’s make another baby.”

Heeseung fills the condom inside Jake white, and then all but slumps onto the smaller boy.

And of course, Jake chooses this moment to giggle .

“Is it that funny, hm?” Heeseung asks tiredly. He doesn’t pull himself off completely, but adjusts his head enough so that he can see Jake’s smiling face, where one thought comes to mind: the post-sex glow looks heavenly on Jake. Heeseung’s own smile blooms at the sight, soft. “You really are so beautiful, my Jaeyun.”

The rosy blush which paints Jake’s cheeks is also soft this time.

“Nothing’s funny,” Jake clarifies. One of his hands is carding through Heeseung’s sweat-damp hair, while the other is holding his boyfriend’s face gently. “I’m just happy. I…” Heeseung raises an eyebrow, patient as he waits for Jake to continue. It’s easy to do since he could spend an eternity just staring at the sweet smile on Jake’s face. “… Love you. I love you, Heeseung hyung.”

Heeseung only lets four seconds pass by before saying something.

“I know.”

Jake looks at him funny. 

“You know?” he repeats, like he didn’t quite believe him. “You didn’t even know I liked you until a week ago.”

“Maybe not, but you told me all the signs which made your feelings obvious—”

“And you remembered them?” Jake asks quietly, his hands still carding slowly through Heeseung’s hair. “What I said?”

Heeseung fixes him with a certain look.

“Of course. I like to remember everything you say. Everything about you.” Jake blinks at him, and Heeseung wants to kiss him all over. But he settles for just kissing his lips, as slow as the fingers are moving in his hair. “You know why?” Heeseung hears Jake’s breath hitch. “Because I love you, Jake.”

Jake blinks again, but this time it’s more rapid. This time, his eyes get wet, wet, and wet again, until the first tear spills over.

“That’s c-cute,” Jake stutters out, breath shaky. He brings a hand up to wipe his face, but Heeseung catches it before he can.

“You… You think everything about me is cute, huh? Even after I fucked you into the mattress?” he asks incredulously, wiping Jake’s tears himself. “You’re something else, baby.”

“Next time you’ll just have to fuck me harder,” Jake retorts, and the bratty attitude is back. But just a bit muted, because his words come out of his throat thick with the tears still streaming down his face.

Heeseung sighs fondly, and swipes his thumb over Jake’s cheeks to wipe the tears away.

“Okay, baby. Just because I love you.”

Jake knees Heeseung in the ribs for making him cry harder at that.