cute

• thirty-seven •

"And then they grew their wings and flew away from the mean witch."

Jin lifted his rubber ducks up through the air, the pink and yellow ones 'flying' away from the purple one that remained in the bubbly water of the bath. Namjoon sat on the floor beside the bathtub, chin on his palm as he hummed at the conclusion of the rather eventful story. It had initially started out as some highschool type story but had escalated into ducks becoming fairies and witches. At one point there were bubble aliens.

"You should write your stories down bub," Namjoon suggested as he pushed the purple duck through the bubbly water. Jin dropped his own ducks in the water and pushed them over to the third.

"Saying them is funner," Jin replied as he scooped up some bubbles in his hands, "do you want a beard dada?"

"No thanks," Namjoon softly smiled as he watched the boy carefully put the bubbles on his own face, making a hole for his mouth so that he wasn't breathing in soap. He deepened his voice and pretended to be Santa, repeatedly saying 'ho ho ho' and mentioning all his helper elves. After five or so minutes of his acting, the boy grew bored of his bath and was pulling the plug out.

Namjoon pulled Jin up to his feet and quickly turned around to let the boy dry himself off and get dressed into his fluffy pyjamas.

"Dada, if you eat lots of churros do you turn into a churro?" Jin asked as he grabbed his toothbrush, squirting a generous amount of toothpaste on it. Namjoon did the same – not using as much toothpaste – and proceeded to wrap one arm around his littles waist while they brushed their teeth together in front of the sink mirror.

When they spat and rinsed, Namjoon replied with, "yep, you become doughy and sugary."

A worried look came across Jin's features as his hands went to his stomach. As requested a few hours ago, the boy had come home with churros to watch cartoons on the couch while cuddling with Namjoon who had fallen asleep an hour into the show. Admittedly, he may have eaten too much.

"I'm just joking," Namjoon reassured as he ruffled the boys hair, "you'll be fine."

"Promise?" Jin held out his pinkie finger to which Namjoon hooked his finger with it. They shook once to seal the deal.

After that, Jin ran to the bedroom and jumped onto the bed, rolling himself up in the freshly washed blankets and sheets. His head poked out from the blankets and Namjoon just about melted in the spot from how endearing the sight was. But despite the rather perfect afternoon with his boyfriend, and the gorgeous sight before him, there was still something bothering the man. He sat down on the edge of the bed with a light sigh as he pulled on a pair of socks to keep his feet warm.

Jin immediately noticed and untangled himself from the sheets. He crawled over to his caregiver and sat behind him, resting his head on the mans shoulder and wrapping his arms around his waist.

"What's wrong dada?"

"Nothing bubba," Namjoon tried to reassure but he was fooling no one.

"Did I do something wrong?" Jin worried, his grip on the man growing a little tighter at that.

"No, no, definitely not."

Jin dipped his head into the mans neck and peppered delicate kisses across the skin, running up and down. Not only did he wrap his arms tighter around the man but he wrapped his legs around his hips, now in a koala like position on his back.

"Did someone hurt my dada?" Jin asked, his lips drawing up to glide along Namjoon's jaw, leaving occasional pecks.

The man leaned into the touch and mumbled, "not really, I'm just . . . stressed."

"About?"

Namjoon sighed and turned himself around, "I don't know. The library has been pretty busy lately and . . . damn I don't know."

Jin pulled Namjoon against him, comfortingly running his fingers through his hair. This didn't happen often, but there had been a few occasions in the past where Namjoon had just gotten a little too overwhelmed with everything happening. There was never anything in specific. It was just stress that the man didn't quite know how to deal with very well. He bottled it up until it confused him too much.

"Take some time off," Jin, having come out of little space to comfort his boyfriend, stated more than suggested.

A frown came over Namjoon's lips and Jin knew what he was about to say so he cut the man off before he could talk.

"You won't be missing anything and you won't get in trouble for it," Jin spoke gently but there was a sternness lacing his tone, "it's ok to put yourself first Joonie."

There was still hesitance in his eyes so Jin added, "for me, please?"

How could Namjoon deny Jin now? The last thing he'd ever want to do is disappoint or worry his boyfriend. So, although it totally went against his 'go-to-work-everyday' type attitude, he decided to take a couple days off - just to give himself time to get over this period of stress that was definitely unnecessary and getting in the way of other things. The recent trouble with Hoseok had most definitely not helped either.

Namjoon lifted his head off Jin's chest and their eyes met, "fine, but only . . . two days."

"It's not that bad," Jin rolled his eyes with a little smile at Namjoon's wary voice, "you can sleep-in and read and enjoy some relaxing time to yourself."

"What if I want to spend it with you?" Namjoon asked, once again falling against the boy's chest because he liked how soft Jin's pyjamas were and how warm his body was against him. The other playing with his hair was also an added bonus.

Jin's smile grew a little at the question, "I don'tmind."