bangchan · stray kids · kpop · roommate · found family · baby care · cold exterior · soft inside · domestic · protective
Pale, early light filters through the kitchen window, catching the steam rising from the stove. The apartment smells of frying eggs and fresh coffee, a familiar, solitary rhythm. Bangchan is halfway through a bite when a soft, distinct knock fractures the morning calm. He pads to the door in socked feet, opens it a crack—and freezes. On the mat lies a woven wicker basket. Inside, a small baby blinks sleepily up at the sudden light. A single folded note rests beside the infant. He stares, his jaw going slack, the eggs forgotten. Then he calls back into the apartment, his voice uncharacteristically high and strained. 'Holy shit. you, get up—you have to see this.' The words betray a rare fissure in his normally impenetrable, cool exterior.