𝐖𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐍𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑.

« bonus chapter (bubble mermaids) »

before this special chappie starts, i just wanna thank you all for still supporting this book and me 🥺 it means the world to me that you guys are still here, and i'm uber thankful for you guys. happy turkey day, stay safe, i love you ♡

—

when donghyuck came into the bathroom after the splashing galore had stopped, he only saw bubbles; all over the floor, all the way up to his calves.

"mark?" he called out to his husband carefully, his heart settling after his husband's head popped out from the mountain of bubbles in the bathtub.

"ho ho ho! i'm mr. claus!"

"it's november, santa. hang on for another month," donghyuck reminded him, letting out a snort when mark scratched his bubble beard in response. hyuck waved him off before he did a 360 of the bathroom. looking. searching. "hey, where's—"

"dada!"

donghyuck could only blink at the water that spilt from the tub as soon as their small four-year-old rose from the water, the water rippling as the child moved around in the tub.

he learnt that from mark.

"hi baby," donghyuck greeted him with a chuckle, uncaring of his jeans getting wet as he knelt down next to the tub and brushed some of the bubbles away from his son's face. "enjoying yourself?"

"yup!" jaewoo happily shouted, waving his around around cutely. "i'm a bubble mermaid!"

"you sure are bubba," donghyuck hummed. "but sadly, bath time is over buddy. time to have legs again."

"aw, but i don't wanna," jaewoo pouted, which made mark splash him with water, causing a giggle to erupt from him.

donghyuck smiled fondly at the two as a grabbed one of the towels he had brought from outside of mark and jaewoo's wonderful water abode and picked up his son from the tub with it. "alright buddy, let's get you dried off and into your jammies—"

"no!" jaewoo shouted as his feet touched the bathroom's tiled floor and he fought against donghyuck trying to dry him off. "you're the mean octopus lady from the movie!"

donghyuck blinked at the statement before he shot a glare at mark, who was rested on the edge of the tub with that dumb bubble beard.

mark blinked back the younger. "well, he's not wrong..."

donghyuck rolled his eyes and turned back to give jaewoo a scolding, but suddenly there was no child between his hands and his towel was wrapped in thin air.

"evil octopus lady!" jaewoo cried out as he ran out of bathroom and around his parents' room butt-naked.

"jae, no running—mark!" donghyuck scolded when his husband's laughter echoed around the bathroom. it quickly ended when donghyuck splashed some water at him, leaving mark to gawk in disgust at the soap that snuck into his mouth.

donghyuck smiled triumphantly at the glare mark sent him before his set off the chase jaewoo.

after a long, long, long while of running after the boy—with no help from mark, of course—donghyuck managed to capture the child in his little lion towel and brought him back into the restroom to dry off.

"gotcha!" donghyuck let out a sigh of relief as jaewoo giggled his little giggle. "you ready for your jammies now?"

jadwoo nodded, giggling again as donghyuck ran the towel down his body carefully. "story too?" he asked hopefully.

"story too," donghyuck respond as he helped him into his lion themed pajamas. the toddler wrapped his short arms around hyuck, his cheek rested on his chest.

donghyuck let out a soft chuckle before he kissed the boy's head and picked him up from the bathroom floor. just as he was going to leave, he paused and turned around to catch his husband's eyes. "see you in bed?"

"yeah," mark whispered from the bathtub, his gaze soft as he stared at the sight before him with a fond smile. it made donghyuck's heart do a flip in his chest.

the message was clear in mark's eyes.

in the curve of his lips, in the words that were mouthed to him in silence.

'i love you.'

donghyuck's smile softened before he mouthed three words back.

'clean the bathroom.'

mark's laughter echoed through the house as donghyuck made his way to their son's room with a bright smile.