city park

@lee mark ⋆ Jaemin is more than fine with handing the shopping bags to Mark, making sure to keep both twins securely in his arms. "Don't let them look inside yet. Also me? A good parent? Absolutely not," Jaemin says, walking back towards the children's park. He kisses the top of Mino's head and then Minha's when she complains about not receiving one, a fond smile on his lips. "And you're a perfectly good mother yourself." He turns to grin at Mark mischievously, "Even if you have trouble keeping up with the youngins like me and the babies sometimes."

@na jaemin "there you are—" mark sighs, making his way towards the rest of them with an annoyed frown though it is nothing but pretence. while his kids are nothing but nice and quite obedient, too smart for their own age and less troublesome for Mark's own sanity — they treat him as if they needed to protect their damsel of a mother which is sweet but kinda sad though mark can't do a thing about it. it's always comforting to know they're most childlike with jaemin. "someone will think you're the good mother of these two. look how docile and spoiled they act in front of you. hand me the bags. they missed you too much to let you go now."

@lee mark ⋆ "Yes. Say 'thank you, Nana, you're the bestest friend ever, I couldn't ask for a better uncle,'" he teases, speeding up to a jog when he spots the playground. "Hanging up now." Jaemin pockets the phone and slips it into his back pocket, making a beeline for the trees when he spots a tiny figure darting behind the foliage. "Ah, ah, ah," Jaemin quickly scoops up the little rascal in his arm, grinning as Minha squeals, drawing the attention of her brother who calls excitedly upon seeing Jaemin's familiar face. "You know better than to run away from your mommy. Where is he, hm?" he asks, though he can already see Mark in the corner of his eye as he bends over to pick up Mino as well, one kid in each arm and the shopping bags still hanging off his elbow.

@na jaemin "yeah. yeah. you never got them wrong. want me to praise you, nana samchoon?" mark snorts, "baby, no. don't do that. that's dirty. yah! you little — comeback here. sorry. they're being pain in the head. we're at the playground. but uhh...they kinda ventured into the woods. hurry up!"

@lee mark ⋆ "Markie~" Jaemin holds his phone between his shoulder and ear, searching through the shopping bags hanging off of his arm. There's a delighted smile on his lips as he walks down the park path. "Minha likes blue and Mino likes green, right? Or is it the other way around now?" He covers the gifts he's prepared with tissue paper and takes the phone into his hand, now looking around the park. "Also, where are you guys? I just got here and I can't see you."

@lee jooheon ✹ every year that went by since he'd lost his partner and his son was like agony for Chan, but there was one thing that he had to look forward to now that his son was turning five and that was that Dani would be starting pre-school. chan expected his partner's family would enroll him into one of the most prestigious private schools in the city, so it didn't take much to narrow down exactly which. now, he knew it was going to be hard to see him. as the first week came approached, there was the smallest, defeatist whisper in his mind that told him maybe he shouldn't. maybe it would be better if he just... moved on. but he couldn't. he /had/ to see him.

when the day came, though, Chan felt physically ill as he waited just far enough away from the school gate to glimpse who was being dropped off. his hands shook as he clasped them tightly together, his palms cold and clammy in his nervousness. god, why was he here? was this just a big mistake? how could he think that he'd be able to walk away once he actually saw him after all this time? Chan's thoughts continued to spiral, the rest of the sounds of the city becoming white noise in his ears. And then he saw him... His boy. Unmistakable with his little mess of curls and his father's nose. Or at least from what he could tell through the stream of tears that immediately ran down his cheeks. He stood there on the sidewalk, blubbering like a baby, and had to grip the edge of the nearby bench to keep from falling over as he watched the boy talk to someone who was neither his partner, nor any of his family that Chan knew. Was this... his replacement?

@bang chan ˡᵘⁿᵃ I can't help but smile warmly as I look at the young boy as I walk with him. "You excited to go today? It's supposed to be show and tell today. And you know after I come back to pick you up, I promised a picnic at the park. Your grandma said it was fine as long as I got you back before it was too dark." However I wonder if it was because they had no interest in him and just wanted him out of their hair. It hurt him that this young boy had to suffer through that. I could only hope that his father was at least treating him well. "I packed all your favorite food and after that, on the way home we can get ice cream, that's going to be fun!" Looking up, I see the school coming into view and smile more before I pick him up and kiss his cheek. "Now, be nice and don't argue, if someone picks on you, go tell an adult and you tell me okay?"