ateez family au

166

"Thank you again for watching the kids, Yonghwan. I hope they weren't much of a burden to you and Chaewon."

"No worries, Seonghwa," the elder replied and leaned against the door frame, "they are just like angels"

The father chuckled nervously and looked behind Yonghwan to his girlfriend who was collecting stuff the kids had left. "I'm really thankful, to you too," he said again, this time looking at his long-time friend.

"Oh they are such angels, Hwa, you can leave them to us any time," she assured and reached to pat Seonghwa's shoulder.

They bid their goodbyes and Seonghwa maneuvered his kids down the high apartment komplex to the family van outside. He loaded them inside and made sure everyone had their seat belts on, then got behind the steering wheel to take on the way home.

"How was the weekend, hm? Did you have fun with your uncle and aunts Chaewon?" he asked and looked through the mirror back to the seats.

"It was fun," Mingi replied and leaned into the middle to see their father better. "On Friday we cooked together. And auntie told us stories about you two when you were younger... And on Saturday we went out to the amusement park!"

"Oh?" Seonghwa rose his brows at his child and gifted a smile, "the you had a very adventurous time?"

"Mhm!" Wooyoung said, leaning to the middle from Mingi's left side. "Auntie even let me help cooking!"

It was a peaceful car ride home, where everyone added another detail and another one, excitedly telling their father about all the fun things things they were allowed to do at their uncle's house and not at home. Including playing with the producing equipment which, he had to admit, was a really fun thing to do. Hongjoong didn't like his workspace touched, by anyone. And it was rare that he goofed around with it.

"Uncle said he's going to flood Dad's emails with the sounds we made," Yeosang chuckled, "every mail marked with 'urgent'"

Jokingly, Seonghwa rolled his eyes, "Why terrorize your father?"

"Because it's fun?" Jongho stretched his head from the seat behind Seonghwa and out his little hand on his father's shoulder from behind. "it's fun to do that," he simply replied.

"I told you," Yunho chimed in from the passenger seat beside Seonghwa, "he's an exact replica of you-"

~

Hongjoong took the last, cold sip from his coffee and leaned back in his office seat. A sigh left his mouth, his eyes roamed over his working desk. His head hurt, and if he had to continue looking at all the papers to study, sign and categorize he would surely go insane.

The corridor was quiet, the house too. Over the years it had really become a rarety: the loud rumbling and yells, laughter and screams. A sign of how times changed and life went on. It left him with a dull feeling in his chest when he walked through the corridor and looked at the walls, filled with the many colorings his kids had made over the years, over to Yeosang's paintings, the whole Jongho made with his waking roller, the colored markings on the wall were they had marked their kids' heights.

Seonghwa stuck his head out of the kitchen, looking at his husband with a nostalgic smile. "They grew up so fast, don't you think?"

"Faster than I could grasp," Hongjoong replied and walked over to the elder. He slung his arms around him, buried his face in the warm crook of his neck that smelled like home. "Yunho is going to graduate soon, is maybe going to debut even
... Jongho and Wooyoung are going to start middle school at some point... Am I ready to console them on the way of life?"

"You're their father, of course you are," Seonghwa put his hand gently on Hongjoong's head and stroked over the buzzcut, "... Don't you think it's time to come out of the past, stop worrying about the future and enjoy today?"

~

"You really don't want to?"

"I'm just a child, Sir. I really don't want to."

The man looked Yunho up and down, then sighed and scratched his name off the list. "You would have been successful from the scratch, Yunho," he said as he lifted his eyes from the paper in his hands.

"I want to concentrate on school, Sir. I'm not ready yet." to sell my soul to the public, the teen added in thoughts and excused himself respectfully.

Debuting was the best that could happen to you. Success rate at KQ was high, you were paid well, taken care of well, trained well, and given the opportunitues of your life.

And in between all stood Yunho, remembering and slowly understanding all the times his father had come home late, or not at all, refused to eat dinner, missed his birthdays, had cried in his home-studio, had cried just in front of him, in his Papa's arms, had made his Papa carry the heavy responsibility of him and his siblings, so that only now he could life comfortably.

He was just a child, not ready to let go of his defective human nature.

Even though he knew that other people had no right to have an opinion, he knew that it would get to him at some point.

"You just wanted to be a dancer," Yunho told himself as he walked back to the practice rooms, "how did you get involved in idol training, huh?"

~

Yeosang stared at the wall of his bedroom in silence for a moment.

"You look like a psychopath, what's wrong?" San asked from his bed on the other side of the room, not lifting his eyes off his switch.

"I think I can't like."

"The fuck-oh shit no-" and as he died in his game, the twin put his switch away and sat cross-legged turned to his brother. "what do you mean?"

"Eundal is a really nice guy and he's sweet and polite and all that stuff," he said and turned his head to San, "then why can't I like him the way he likes me?"

"Did he ask you out?"

"Yes."

"And you don't feel like you feel the same?"

"Yes."

San pressed his lips in a like and tilted his head, thinking of an helpful answer. "Did you tell him you don't feel the same?"

"No... That would hurt his feelings," the twin replied and let his head hang. "I really like him, but... I was so excited at the beginning, why is this now? I don't want him to hate and ignore me"

"Papa says you can't force to like something. It's unfair for him to keep waiting if you know you don't feel the same... But I think you two should talk about it..." San hopped off his bed and sat next to Yeosang, hitting him lightly with a fist in his side, "Maybe there is a solution? I think Eundal is really understanding of things. And smart. Did you know he's the year's top student?"

Yeosang giggled lightly and hit his twin back. "And I'm second dumbass-"

"hey! I just do what I need to do, I'm practical!"

"sure, practically dumb-"

"I'll tell Papa!"

~

Heyaaa peopleee

I find it funny that I need to start the last chapters with ayo not ded yet lol bwhahahaha

But I'm not dead yet lol bwhahahahahshs

I didn't know Abitur and adolescense takes so much time wtf

Aaaaannnyyywayyy

I'm trying to come back onto here

And I hope I will have more time soon

And until then I hope you're alright and well

Stay healthy and safe

-gulsubb