Jongin had been planning on going shopping, the need to go out and spend unnecessary money being strong because he’s been wanting to buy Rahee a new outfit for school and luckily, he can still do so because he’s done this a million times with Raeon and Rahee - so, of course, he can do this with Jongdae’s son. They stop by the dorm to drop off the suitcases, Baekhyun scampering from the building faster than Jongin has ever seen him leave and he can hear Junmyeon slamming his door from upstairs; shrugging, the happy man grabs the pushchair and carries it back down to the car, ignoring the manager’s worried face when he slides into the passenger seat and looks over at the cooing baby. “Doesn’t this just make you want to have a bunch of kids of your own?” He wonders aloud and the manager chokes on his tongue.

The baby is quite content with Jongin, who instructs the manager to take photos of them randomly, posing and pulling faces to make the baby laugh. His own boisterous laugh echoes around them as they walk into various stores and Jongin buys too many things to be considered responsible with his money. There’s an outfit in the display window of a store that catches Jongin’s eye, his curiosity getting the better of him as he veers off in that direction and heads into the store. Panic begins to start behind him, shouting that reaches deaf ears because Jongin’s so used to hearing his name, so used to blocking out the insane screaming of fans, that he manages to tune it out as he talks to the store clerk about the sizes of the dress.

It’s not until he reaches for his wallet does he realise what he’s done.

“Oh no,” he looked around, noticing something very important missing as he runs out of the store and muttering to himself over and over again, “oh no, oh shit, hyung is going to kill me.” Jongin sees the chaos ahead of him and runs as fast as he can towards it; his cheeks flushed a deep red when he realises security has been called and even with everyone crowding around him, the child is chattering gibberish like nothing is wrong. “I’m so sorry,” he grabs the pushchair, bowing his head to everyone while security and the manager try to disperse the small crowd.

Jongdae is going to kill him when he hears about this.

Because he will, there’s no doubt about that.

He feels embarrassed about the events at the mall, guilty beyond all doubt and decides that giving his little nephew one hundred percent of his attention is the only way he can make up for it. He plots out the rest of the day, playing little hand games, singing songs, doing whatever his little mini Chen wants to do and making sure he’s fed, happy and healthy.

Which is easier said than done.

There are no tears, luckily Jongin has a way with children that seems to keep them calm and content but there is extreme chaos in the bombsite that is now the EXO dorm living room. Play time had created a mess of toys everywhere and amongst those toys is Jongin’s now spit-logged phone because the baby needed something to chew on to help his new tooth come through and even though Jongin did his best to ease the pain of the tooth cutting, rubbing soothing gel on it with his finger and having the digit harshly gnawed on, the phone seemed to be the only thing that kept the baby content. “I’m sure Jongdae hyung will buy me a new phone,” Jongin cringes as he watches the baby roll around the floor, chewing happily on the expensive iPhone - the second one he’s had within four months..

Dinner time was literally feeding time at the zoo; the microwave is covered in splattered baby food, there is a burnt pot soaking in the sink from the first attempt at cooking mashed potatoes, and Jongin has somehow gotten more food on his shirt and in his hair than he managed to actually feed the baby. “Here comes the aeroplane,” he makes the sound of a plane flying as he navigates the spoon towards the baby’s mouth. “Yummy isn’t it? Your father hates Kaichun’s cooking but I think I’ve gotten better, what do you say, Mini Chen?”

The response he is given is the food spat on his shirt before the mouth is opened for more food. Two out of three bites is a win in Jongin’s opinion.

A collective yawn passes through both male’s lips as Jongin rubs his eyes and notices the little one doing the same thing, “bath and then bed,” Jongin mumbles as he prepares the sink for a bath and does his best to make sure that every inch of the baby is sparkling clean despite everything around him being messy.

Jongin sets up a little bed on the floor, pillows and blankets from his room, amongst the minefield of toys and even though his mind is telling him to go to bed himself, Jongin can’t help but notice how comfortable it looks. “I’ll wait until you fall asleep,” he places an arm under the baby’s head and uses the pillow for himself, “when you’re asleep then I’ll go to bed.” Though the moment Jongin closes his eyes, it’s far too late for him to move.