Strawberries and Cigarettes

Three

Little Jongho had just turned five months old when Hongjoong moved in with them. Being the only father figure the little one has, he was happy to see him more and he even volunteered to watch him at night when Seonghwa worked third shift at the nursing home. Jongho loves him, always cuddling him while watching super hero movies or Disney Pixar short films. Seonghwa loved the bond his son and his boyfriend had, he really wished Hongjoong was Jongho's father. But honestly, he's happy with the way things are, he will always be a daddy to Jongho more than his actual daddy.

Here lately though, they needed a time to themselves especially with Christmas finals coming up.

One of the few days Hongjoong had off, happened to line up right with Seonghwa's days off, and the two instantly decided to have a date night. Liv volunteers to watch Seonghwa without him asking, saving him from asking his mother who was probably going to refuse.

They decided to eat at a Chinese restaurant and then go see Captain Marvel at the movie theater down the road from the restaurant. They giggle and eat their food plentifully, occasionally feeding one another.

That is, until a familiar person ran into them in the middle of their date.

"Well, look at you two eating and being romantic," a deep voice interrupts their conversation, Hongjoong immediately tenses up and sets his jaw when he seen Henry.

"What do you want," he asks sharply, not taking his eyes away from the man.

"Oh nothing," Henry chuckles, sitting in front of them, eyes immediately lock on Seonghwa and he winks, "You're looking as beautiful as ever."

Seonghwa rolls his eyes, "Jongho isn't here, so don't pretend to be supportive."

"I was wondering why I didn't see a car seat, but then again I thought there was a third person with you guys," Henry hums, narrowing his eyes at Seonghwa, "You didn't leave my son alone at home did you?"

"For your information," Hongjoong breaks in, "He's not your son, you're nothing to that child. Secondly, you would be a fucking idiot to leave a BABY alone at home. Especially, a five month old. Which considering you've never been in the child's life, I can see you doing that since you obviously can't take care of yourself-"

"You got a mouthy one," Henry speaks to Seonghwa.

The boy rolls his eyes, "Henry just go, seriously. We're trying to enjoy our date together and we can't when we've got a burr up our ass. A.K.A, you!"

"Ahh, I see. This is a small date you are having because parenthood is so hard," Henry pouts, "You know if I had shared custody of the kid it wouldn't be hard at all."

"I'd rather run over my feet with a tank, than give you custody of MY child," Seonghwa growls, leaning forward towards Henry as his voice deepens and grew dark.

"Oooh, I see I hit a nerve," Henry sucks air through his teeth as he stands from the booth, "Welp, I'm going to go now, you both enjoy your date night," he winks at them both but he stops to lock eyes with Seonghwa once more, "I'm serious about shared custody with my son."

Seonghwa grits his teeth, Hongjoong was angry as he stands, "I'll be back," he mumbles and heads out the door.

Seonghwa panics, quickly throwing money on the table and racing after Hongjoong before he can do something stupid. Like, getting in trouble by beating Henry's face in, stupid. He pushes out the door, looking down both ways and seeing Hongjoong walking towards his car hunched over. He frowns, "Babe!"

Hongjoong turns to him, a puff of smoke leaves his mouth and a freshly lit cigarette in his hand. Seonghwa freezes, staring from him to the death stick, "W-What are you doing?"

"I've not smoked one all day and I really need it before all of this bullshit starts," Hongjoong confesses, "Why is it that every time we're having a good time Henry has to show up and fucking ruin it? Huh!?"

Seonghwa frowns, "When did you start smoking?"

Hongjoong sighs, feeling his anger slowly slip away as the nicotine enters his system, all stress seeming to slip away and leave his body as he breathes in the toxicity. Seonghwa walks closer to him, his eyes locked on Hongjoong, "When did you start smoking?" He asks once more, sharper this time and more snappy.

"About a month after Jongho was born... it was once a week but now it's like.... I have to smoke at least three times a day or I get hostile or stressed-"

"Why didn't you tell me," Seonghwa asks softly, walking up to Hongjoong and really tempted to take the cigarette out of his boyfriend's mouth, but he can visibly see Hongjoong relaxing, "You didn't smoke around my baby did you?"

"No. I would never," Hongjoong answers immediately, looking at Seonghwa and the look on his face broke his heart, "I would never want Jongho to see me like this. He may still be a baby but babies absorb so much. I never want him to see this."

"Good, because if I find out you smoked around my child or even get close to him with a cigarette in your hand I'm sorry but we're done," Seonghwa says sternly, grabbing Hongjoong's hand that was empty and squeezing it, "Please. I know it helps you but you need to stop. I care about you and Jongho really cares about you. You're like his father figure.... if anything happened to you..." Seonghwa shakes his head, leaning his forehead on Hongjoong's shoulder.

The younger sighs, throwing his halfway used cigarette on the ground and stomping it out, "I'll try. Let's go see our movie and forget everything that's happened. Deal?"

Seonghwa smiles taking out a piece of mint gum and making sure his boyfriend chews it a bit before kissing him. When he pulls away, he looks into Hongjoong's eyes, "Promise me, that you won't smoke around me or Jongho ever again. And that you'll try your best to quit."

Hongjoong nods, kissing Seonghwa once more before answering, "I will try, I'm not making any promises, because I've already become addicted and it's going to be hard."

Seonghwa hums, "We'll find a way. I'll help make sure you quit and stay away from them. I care about you and I really don't want you to get sick and be gone before Jongho graduates high school at the rate you're going."

Hongjoong chuckles, leading his boyfriend down the street to the movie theater, "I wouldn't miss little man's life events for the world."

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So one part of our story came into play today! When will the strawberries come though? Keep reading to find out 😘