maneojiyong:
[ ... ]
“hey there, wolf pup. are you ready for beach day?” the question earns him a loud, “yeah!” from the young boy, accompanied by excited clapping. jiyong normally isn’t fond of loud noises, but he has found himself to be more patient and tolerant when it comes to kangmin—or children in general, which comes as a surprise to him. he had never considered having a family of his own until recently, and he thinks that maybe someday he could be as good of a dad as dabin is. “so am i!” is the cheerful response he gives kangmin before he turns his attention back to his best friend. “let me put my stuff in the back real quick.” the medic leaves the door open and walks to the back of the car to open the trunk and toss his bag in. it takes but seconds before he plops himself down in the passenger seat and fastens his seat belt. “alright, now i’m actually ready to go,” he laughs, clapping his hands together, which prompts kangmin to start clapping again too.
dabin keeps his eyes on his rearview mirror as jiyong walks to the back of his car to put his bag in the trunk. he finds himself stealing glances at his best friend more often than not lately. one of these days the friend facade he’s been holding together is going to crack and he’s not going to be able to go back from it. the thing that terrifies him most is confessing to jiyong and him not being comfortable enough to stay friends with dabin. it doesn’t just affect him anymore, but kangmin as well. his son has grown extremely attached to the witch and dabin has encouraged it since the two of them had met, but it seemed to be one of his biggest dilemmas now. jiyong removing himself from their life would have just as much of an affect on kangmin as it would on him and he refuses to risk that.
he watches as jiyong comes back around and takes a seat, riling up kangmin again when he starts clapping and with the both of them smiling it’s hard for him to not smile as well. “seatbelts on?” he asks, knowing they both do, and winces when kangmin yells, “yes, dad! now go, go, go!” dabin laughs, despite the high volume within the small car and concedes. he puts on his kangmin playlist and makes sure the sound is shifted towards the back before he glances at jiyong out of his peripheral vision. “how’ve you been, ji? we haven’t seen you around much,” he says. kangmin misses him. dabin misses him, but he doesn’t want to admit that right now. he just wants to make sure everything is okay with his best friend. he shifts in his seat a little bit and his fingers itch to reach out and hold onto his. it wouldn’t be entirely abnormal, they’ve cuddled in dabin’s bed enough that any type of physical affection is okay. he just hates that it means more to him that it does to jiyong.
“oh, we brought kimbap,” he says and shoots the boy in the backseat a smile, “kangmin helped make it, right, baby?” the small boy nods quickly. “uh huh! jiji, dad said i’m the best chef, but i think you’re better,” kangmin says, leaning forward to push his tiny fingers through jiyong’s headrest and touch his neck. dabin narrows his eyes at him in the mirror and kangmin pouts, eyebrows pinching. he knows his son is upset that dabin’s been reprimanding him so much, but he doesn’t expect the boy to kick jiyong’s chair in retaliation. “yah, song kangmin,” dabin says, turning his head to look at him for a moment now that they’re on a straightaway to the beach. kangmin retreats his fingers and tucks his feet under his legs without responding at dabin’s look. his wobbling lower lip almost gets to him, but he just sighs and looks back at jiyong. “it’s like his terrible twos all over again. he hit four and it’s like he thinks he doesn’t need to listen anymore because he thinks he’s not a baby.”
“i’m not a baby,” kangmin says back and dabin cannot resist chuckling at his defiant tone in such a high pitched voice. “okay, min,” he says to pacify him with a pointed look at jiyong. “see what i mean?”
