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Trying his best to ignore Kim’s quiet hustle and bustle in his small kitchen, Kenta realized quickly that he would no longer be able to. If Kim had simply been preparing one plate each of whatever Korean meal he was cooking, Kenta would have assumed the driver was just making enough for himself. Some kind of meal for bulking, maybe. There was certainly a lot of meat. But when he saw him place down a second plate of meat on the table before going back to tear up leaves of lettuce into smaller halves on an extra plate that had forks next to it instead of long chopsticks, there was no denying it. Kim was making a meal for all four of them. He wouldn’t have set out forks and been making things easier if he didn’t intend to call the pups to dinner.
Which meant Kenta would also have to eat with him. The pups would want him at the table.
Kim had already finished setting the table for four.
They’d been doing fine ordering groceries to be delivered. Kenta knew how to make basic meals, and the kids weren’t fussy, always eating whatever was placed in front of them. They seemed to be enjoying it, even, something Kenta would have taken pride in if not for the fact that the two had spent the past year eating meals at the Omega prison facility and before that a children’s center. Anything was better than that. Taro had even figured out how to make some basic things so if Buddy got hungry when Kenta wasn’t there to cook, he’d be able to feed them both. Kim had not needed to make food for the pups since they had been dumped there by Pete. It was Kenta’s job to provide for their needs, as their father and their only guardian.
And now Kim had made enough for all of them.
“Go get the kids ready for dinner,” Kim told him simply, as though it were something normal and regular that they all did, eating together. “I made samgyeopsal for you. Not sure if you’ll like it.”
For the pups, not for him, surely. Kim didn’t need to look at him like that.
“We’re not picky,” he said, and then went to get his pups from where they were reading together in their room. Taro gave him a cautious look when Kenta announced that Kim had made dinner for them, but neither pup protested. They simply put their slippers on, the colorful slippers that Kim had come home with despite how he simply leant Kenta one of his own pairs, and went to go wash their hands before following their dad back to the table. Buddy chose the seat beside Kim, and Kenta lifted him up to sit him down in his spot.
The pups surveyed the food set in between them. Buddy grabbed his fork and frowned when he couldn’t really reach the food. Then Taro stared at their dad. Kenta also looked down at the samgyeopsal and had no idea how he was supposed to eat it properly. He’d never had Korean food before.
Kim told them they could dig in. Taro’s eyes bore into Kenta’s side. Climbing up a bit onto his chair so he could reach, Buddy picked up a piece of lettuce with his hands and looked down at it, not at all thrilled by the plain vegetable. When Kenta hesitated, Kim glanced between the three. Seeing that Kenta and Taro weren’t going to make a motion to start, and that Buddy was starting to nibble on the lettuce like a bunny, he smiled a little and then began to make a ssam for himself.
“I’ll make yours for you, Buddy,” Taro told his brother, immediately beginning to copy what Kim was doing.
“I wanna make it too, Nii-san,” Buddy protested. “Daddy-!” And Kenta had to reach over to push the plates closer to his youngest so he could get it more easily, before the pup climbed up further.
If the pups weren’t at the table, Kenta would ask Kim when he was leaving. The driver was supposed to return to Korea soon, and Kenta would have liked to know when he was supposed to expect to be turned back into Pete’s care. But his sons had already dealt with so much insecurity about safety and shelter, being ripped from the only home they’d known and then having to flee again and again from everywhere else they’d sought refuge, and the children really didn’t need to worry about just how temporary their current living situation was. Kenta would shoulder that burden, and bring them along once he knew wherever they’d be headed to next.
It also would have been nice to share his thoughts about Chris, how he didn’t trusted the alleged researcher and how Pete had confided in him about practically everything. But, yet again, it wasn’t a topic to be brought up in front of his pups. He would have to wait.
After all, Kenta absolutely did not want Kim talking to him about his feelings for Pete in front of the kids. He couldn’t let them know why things were so awkward between him and his former foster brother. He hated that Kim knew, that he could potentially make a connection between his old heartbreak and the first pup he’d delivered so damningly soon after Pete had left the Foundation.
Taro put together an overstuffed ssam and grimaced at it, as though it were its fault that it didn’t look like Kim’s and not the fault of the one who had overfilled it. And though he’d insisted he wanted to make one himself, Buddy abandoned his own attempt and eagerly reached out for the ssam his brother had made for him as soon as it was assembled, already opening his mouth even before Taro handed it over to him.
Kim chuckled at the sight, and Kenta was able to pull himself out of his feelings. A fond smile tugged at the corners of his lips, and he went to make himself a ssam as well.
Only for Kim to raise up and reach out with the one he’d made for Kenta to eat, leaving Kenta flabbergasted but with no choice but to be handfed by the Alpha. His face hot, Kenta averted his eyes to avoid Kim’s satisfied expression.
“Have this too,” Kim told him, not giving him much of a chance to look away, bringing up something else with his own chopsticks.
As he leaned forward to take that as well, he could see Buddy staring at them with big, wide eyes, his mouth open mid-chew.
A quick glance to the side and Kenta could see Taro had an equally shocked expression. The older pup started to bristle, and Kenta knew his son was building up to a growl even before the sound could leave his throat.
Before Taro could get defensive over Kim being too close -too affectionate- to his dad, though, Buddy loudly announced, “I wanna feed Daddy too!”
The younger pup assembled a small ssam as quickly as he could and hopped down from his chair. He rounded the table to get to his dad and held up the sloppy little ssam to Kenta, his eyes sparkling and eager. With much less reluctance, Kenta leaned down to eat that one as well, Buddy giggling as he took it from his little hands.
“Was it good, Daddy?”
He nodded, his mouth full.
“Better than mine?” Kim asked, voice light and teasing.
“It was,” Kenta swallowed and answered, to Buddy’s delight. The pup gave him a quick hug before rushing back to his seat to make more. And it was better, really, with Buddy being the one to give it to him. How he’d managed to have a little pup so cute, he had no idea.
From his left, a third ssam entered his field of vision. Kenta sat up and this time Taro was holding out another one for him to take, a serious look on his face that turned into a pleased little smile as Kenta ate his as well.
“Daddy, I’m gonna make another one for you!”
“I’ll make more too, Dad-”
Kenta raised his hands to stop them, trying to resist how cute it was that they were both trying to take care of him. They also needed to eat. “You need to eat dinner too.”
“But-”
Holding back laughter, Kim told them, “We can’t just feed all of this to your dad. Make sure you guys eat plenty as well. It’s for the four of us.”