Happy Wife, Happy Life

Part 5

"this is my bed!" riki shouts, dropping his bags to the floor and, quite literally, body slams himself onto the bed. "this is my bed. i claim it."

heeseung walks to the other bed, setting his things down, "careful, riki, you might break it," he scolds lightly, and riki immediately fixes himself into a sitting position.

one grocery run and a two-hour transit after, they've finally reached the fishing site. the view is simply breathtaking, and the lodging isn't too bad, either. 

"what? why do you get to sleep alone?" jake asks, and riki sticks a tongue out at him. damn brat.

"i say we let him sleep alone. he's a growing boy, and it's only sometimes he can sleep by himself." heeseung says, and he reaches out to tug jake to his bed. jake follows limply, still mourning the possibility of him having the bed to himself. heeseung smiles and lets jake sit on the bed, "besides, you're  small enough to fit in with me."

jake heats up at that. heeseung's words, to him, were always duplicitous in their meaning. he blames himself for overanalyzing. 

he stands up and busies himself with putting the groceries away into the cooler—groceries which heeseung had paid for, by the way. (jake had been in line, ready to pay, until heeseung stepped in front of jake and handed the cashier his card. as much as he didn't want to admit it, the butterflies in his stomach flew absolutely rampant.)

heeseung sighs from his spot on the bed and murmurs something about the weather. "riki, get up and prepare the fishing equipment."

"why? it's still early. i thought we were going to fish in the afternoon." riki whines, turning over in his bed, eyes stuck on his phone screen. jake will bet anything he's browsing through shinee memes.

heeseung narrows his eyes at riki's insubordination. "jake, tell him."

"riki," jake calls lightly, and stubbornly, riki looks over his shoulder to peek at him. jake smiles. "please." 

riki lets out a groan that sounds like it emerged from the depths of hell and, very dramatically, drags himself off the bed. "fiiiiine." he says, throwing his phone onto the bed and grabbing the stuff off the ground.

he zips the tent down in a way that screams i hate that you're making me do this and other similar phrases that teenage repugnance tends to conjures up. he stomps outside, heaving the fishing rods and the bait containers along. heeseung frowns. "we need to teach him how to be more obedient," he mutters disapprovingly, clicking his phone off. 

over the past few days, jake has more or less understood why they call him and heeseung the parents of the group. it's only been a few hours into the fishing trip, but jake is already seeing bouts of evidence he failed to see all this time. 

"no, hyung, seriously. riki can have it."

"see, hyung? give it to me!"

"that's not fair, riki-yah, jake has eaten so little tonight,"

"i'm really okay!"

"he's really okay! give it here!"

—and making jokes about company staff, but at the end of it, their stomachs were filled and the stress has more or less seeped out of their bodies.

"i'm done!" riki says, walking out of the bathroom. jake and heeseung are in bed, both freshly showered as well, upper bodies leaning against the headrest.

"did you brush your teeth?" jake asks, tilting his head and shifting his attention away from the book in his hand.

riki gives a guilty little smile. "no, i wanna eat some chips first, so—"

"brush your teeth, riki." heeseung says, not even glancing at the boy as he responds to sunghoon's texts asking how they are. "the company said no chips, too."

"but.. but.." when he decides he has nothing to say, he looks to jake, beseeching. and jake thought he had pretty good puppy eyes.

"maybe you can eat chips tomorrow?" jake offers, a sweet smile on his face that riki can't stay mad at, so the boy groans and walks back in to brush his teeth.

jake already knows what heeseung's going to say when he hums, teasing. "told you." heeseung says lightly.

"what?"

"you cuddle him." heeseung sings, and once again, jake feels warm—him and heeseung seemed to fall into the natural rhythm of a married couple a little too well. 

jake only shakes his head and returns to his book, too scared to speak lest he says something stupid.

riki comes out and rummages around in his bag, pulling out his trusty, downright appalling switch. he grabs a huge pair of headphones while he's at it.

"i'm going to go out and play the new pokemon game!" riki says.

heeseung snorts. "we're here on a fishing trip to connect with nature, and you're going to play your nintendo switch?"

riki looks at heeseung like he's an idiot. "duh."

heeseung purses his lips. "fair enough."