Little Ba Reum AU - The roads not taken

Chapter 34

Hyuk took Ba Reum down, the little clinging tightly to the man while they entered the kitchen.

"Oh, look at that, hi there," Chang Wook said with a smile, "did we have a nice nap?"

Ba Reum gurgled in response to the attention, pressing his face in Hyuk's neck. He was still feeling rather shy and barely awake yet, and the words were difficult to make sense off.

"He's rather small right now," Hyuk said, looking affection at the little, and pressing a kiss on the side of the head.

"Well perhaps our little Ba Reum will fancy some dessert?" Chang Wook said, getting up from the chair he was seated in, "we still got the strawberries here."

"You know, that seems like an excellent idea. And if you don't like the fruit, sweetheart, you can have some pancakes. You liked those, right?" Hyuk said.

Ba Reum had pushed himself back a little while Hyuk was talking, promptly shoving two fingers in his mouth while he looked at the caregiver.

"Mama?" the little asked, seemingly a little confused about what all was being said around him.

"You want some strawberries?" Hyuk repeated, keeping his sentence short.

"These things," Chang Wook said, having taken the box out of the fridge. Ba Reum shifted a little in Hyuk's arm, not knowing how to answer that. He never had them before, but a lot of people seemed to like them.

"Taste?" the little asked, hoping that it was okay to just try one and in case he wasn't fond of them, leave the rest for mommy. Or perhaps he should just leave all of them for mommy?

"You can taste one, just a moment," Chang Wook said, going to the sink and rinsing them, "why don't you go sit, son. Keep him on your lap, to be sure he doesn't fall."

"Sure," Hyuk said, amused at his dad's caring attitude.

Sitting down, he shifted Ba Reum so the little was facing the table. He could see the curious eyes on Chang Wook, who was done washing the strawberries and was now cutting of the green leavy top and when he was done, put a bowl on the table.

"Here, let's try one," Chang Wook said, holding the bowl to Ba Reum, who hesitantly took a small exemplar, "you want one too, Hyuk?"

"Of course," the large man said, reaching past Abel to grab one of the bigger ones.

The little turned to look at him, and Hyuk smiled and ate his.

"Yummy?" Ba Reum asked, still holding the strawberry.

"Very," Hyuk said, pleased that they were already sweet despite the earliness of the season.

Ba Reum nodded and look a bite of his. His eyebrows lifted while he chewed the soft fruit, surprised by its taste.

"And? What do you think?" Chang Wook asked, and both he and Hyuk looked curiously at Ba Reum.

"Is yummy!" the little said, eating the second part of his strawberry and looking happy. Hyuk smiled at the expression and Chang Wook looked pleased as well.

"Here, have some more," the man said, and Ba Reum was small enough to not think too much about the offer and just took one.

The three of them were happily munching on the fruit, Ba Reum barely noticed when his hand was getting sticky with strawberry juice.

The wetness was a little annoying, and without really thinking he wiped it off on his front. Suddenly he froze, looking down at the overalls and shirt he was wearing and seeing several red stains on it from where he had just wiped his hands.