ateez family au

o74

Hongjoong brought the basket in the kitchen to Seonghwa. Next to him was Jeonghan, they were having a loose chat. Seonghwa's brows knit when his eyes caught the present. "Huh? Who brought that?" the older eyed the basket. It had two bottles of expensive wine and cookies that looked like handmade.

"Yonghwan's girlfriend" Hongjoong commented and wiggled with his brows. "Hmm, looks like she knows how to flatter the evil auntie" he joked.

"Don't say that! I am not!" Seonghwa gave back and slapped his husband's shoulder. "Ah, he probably told her to look out for me..." he sighed. "Even though, what a coincidence it's my favorite wine..."

"Oh? We're going to have special guests?" Jeonghan asked from the side.

"Ah, yes, more or less. Yonghwan, his mentor, brought his girlfriend with him so we could meet her for the first time. I haven't seen her at all" Seonghwa explained and packed the wines out of the neatly decorated basket. "He and Hongjoong always refer to me as the noisy auntie at the weddings, which is wrong-" Seonghwa threw death glares at his husband "all I'm doing is checking if she fits our family!"

Jeonghan laughed "Ah Hongjoong, that's the cycle, every new family member has to go through that"

"Yah, Seonghwa!" Yonghwan's joined the little group in the kitchen  "You like the basket I see" he chuckled

"Ah, let me guess you told her I'm an evil witch!" Seonghwa gave back outraged and shook his head. "why does everyone think that?"

"Hm... Maybe because you scared off everyone until now?" he gave back "No worries, she's well prepared this time!"

"tks, we will see that" Seonghwa decided to play along and took the prepared meet out of the refrigerator. "Here, go out, people are hungry! Don't just stand there" he hushed Hongjoong and Yonghwan's out of the kitchen and house.

Outside, Hongjoong started the barbecue with his mentor to his side. "You gave up on older women, is see... How old is she?" he asked quietly and stole glances over to Chaewon, who was talking to Seungyoun, a member of Yonghwan's crew and a close friend of Hongjoong.

The elder scratched the back of his neck "uhm... 29" he said carefully.

Hongjoong's mouth fell open and eyes widened. "29? She's Seonghwa's age? Ten years younger than you?... How even -?"

"Shh! You don't have to be so loud!" Yonghwan's slapped Hongjoong's shoulder. "She moved in the apartment above my studio a year ago and after that well... It happened I guess" he told "where is the problem though? Were both legal adults"

"I was just shocked... I mean you usually went for older, divorced or widowed women... Nice catch I guess" Hongjoong gave back.

~

"I'll be waiting for you then! Don't take long!" Jeonghan said and grabbed a bundle of silverware to take it outside. The food was almost ready.

"Yeah, I will be outside in a second!" Seonghwa replied and turned to the refrigerator for a last time to get the cold beverages. He joined the big table just a moment later. Seonghwa sat down between Jongho and Hongjoong and let his eyes wander over the table, while his husband greeted everyone as a whole. His eyes then fell on their special guest and for a moment they locked eyes. Chaewon gave him the same confused look as Seonghwa. He felt like he knew that face. But he didn't have the time to spent a second thought to it, as he was starving.

The gathering started their meal with little conversations here and there. For a second Hongjoong had eye contact with Jihoon from the other table. He looked like he was just a second before snapping. Unfortunately, they couldn't fit everyone at one table, so, they had set up two smaller ones for the kids. The only one excused from the kids table was Jisoo. The young man was sticking his tongue out at Junhui and the twins Wonwoo and Jihoon. The rest seemed to be fully content with the rather loud table.