Work Text:
6:15
The sky is still dark and the neighborhood is mostly still asleep. It's late autumn, the nights are longer and the wind is surely much colder. It is a quarter after six and Yuta is already jogging to work. He's been doing this for almost a year now yet he can still feel his body, along with his lazy youth, cry with this kind of routine.
He yawns one more time as he sees the ten-story, residential and commercial building he's come to memorize on his daily trek to work. Turn right once reaching the intersection where it stands at and three blocks away is the daycare center Yuta works in.
Cherish Daycare Center is small but well-known in their area in Sinsa-dong. There are two classes in the center, the Caterpillar class which consists of 2-year-olds and the Butterfly class of 4-year-olds. There are usually 10-15 children in each class, it’s a hassle but the two to four teachers assigned make it work in some ways or another. Yuta is assigned in the Caterpillar class, and in a normal playtime setting with the kids, he lets a bunch of 85cm midgets tackle him down and wrestle his energy away.
Looking after children is hard and draining but Yuta is happy in his current arrangements. His co-workers are great people and the children aren't even that hard to interact with. His salary is enough that he doesn't need to jump into searching for a three jobs. The location is also not far from his rented apartment, he's calculated the walk from home to Cherish Daycare Center to be four and a half songs long - which may vary a lot but this is his average computation.
6:33
Yuta arrives at the center and is greeted by Taeyong - the one who he became close with first - who is toeing off his shoes by the entrance. “Morning, Yukkuri .”
“Hi, Tyong . You're not early today.” He snickers, as he replaces Taeyong in front of the shoe rack and takes off his shoes.
Taeyong rolls his eyes but waits for Yuta to place his shoes on the rack before answering. “Just because I've arrived a blink before you doesn't mean I'm late.”
6:45
Yuta finished rearranging the toys on the shelf, lining the cars and sitting the dolls nicely. He doesn't really care much about the organization of things but it's a protocol of Minseok, the owner of the daycare, and Yuta isn't one to disobey his bosses.
He moves next to the bookshelf before glancing at Taeyong, who's busy in the kitchen with Johnny. He grumbles and plops down on the mat, back slowly making contact with the flat surface as he moves to lie down. It's too early and he needs someone to talk with to stay awake but his Taeyong is ignoring him for someone who should be in the Butterfly room. They could've even let him join in their conversation but he was banished to alphabetized the books. Useless same aged friends.
He rolls on his stomach, facing the yellow, wooden shelf and takes a book off it. Before he even gets to open the book, something drops on his back and Yuta groans in surprise and pain.
“Yuta- ssaem .” comes a tiny giggle behind him before a fluff of hair nuzzles his neck.
Yuta holds the small body on top of him to prevent crushing it when he's rolling to his side. “Good morning, Jeno.” He greets the 2 year old who is smiling at him brightly.
Before Yuta can attack the smiling angel with tickles, a nagging voice stops him, “Yuta, what are you doing lying down?”
Yuta gazes up and a frowning Dongyoung comes to his view. Dongyoung takes Jeno from Yuta's hold and carries the child, still frowning at the blond. “Good morning, Dongyoung seonsaeng-nim.” Yuta sits up smiles at him, wide and showing his pearly whites perfectly.
Dongyoung shakes his head and walks off towards the kitchen with Jeno. He puts the kid down a few steps from Taeyong and Johnny, he whispers something Yuta couldn't hear and leaves the area with Jeno making his way in between the two other men's legs.
Watching, Yuta straightens up when he notices Dongyoung approaching him again. He gives the younger wide eyes and a small pout which received a scowl from younger in return.
“How many times have I told you not to lie down when the kids are around?” Dongyoung says as he picks up the neglected book on the floor.
“I didn't even know Jeno's going to be here already.”
“You know I'll be coming soon, and you know I bring Jeno here.”
Dongyoung is still pouting as he starts doing Yuta's work earlier. He arranges the book by height though and Yuta stops him, “It's supposed to be alphabetically.” The younger one glares at him and Yuta removes his hand on the other's. “Okay, sorry.”
“...It's not bad to do that, but the kids might copy you and it somehow encourages laziness and we can't have that.”
Yuta grins in amusement as he watches Dongyoung (ignore how he tried to change topics and) move to straighten the crooks in Yuta's arrangement with the toy cars. “I'll really try to refrain from doing that again.”
“Don't try, do.”
People who are new around will think Dongyoung is a strict prick but the raven haired male just loves children and would do anything for their decent education - and Yuta is someone who just loves to bend rules and play around which is inconvenient for the younger.
7:00
Yuta checks the clock hanging by the door again. It's the third time and it's still a puzzle to him that Jeno is still the only kid in the Caterpillar room. He shakes his head and walks off to the door with the thought that parents are getting lazier in dropping their kids to daycare. Maybe Minseok should start a school service thing just like what he watched in the television a few days before, it'll probably help both parties - the parents and the daycare.
The entrance door rustled, brushing all thoughts off Yuta's mind and making him stand straight with a friendly smile on his face. He sees a mother and daughter enter the hall. Taeil - who was also standing guard by the Butterfly room - greets and approaches them, crouching down to talk to the girl on eye level.
Yuta greets the mother as well before she leaves and doesn't forget to wave and welcome the cute girl in pigtails as they walk pass their room. Taeil makes a face at him though, which he answers back with a weird face too. Maybe that is why the little girl is pulling on Taeil's hand, rushing off to the room and never looking back at Yuta.
Taeil laughs in confusion and Yuta is just lost.
7:10
Ten minutes passed with just kids of the Butterfly room arriving, and Yuta ends up sitting down by the Caterpillar door already. He still stands up straight and greets parents from time to time but that did not stop him from slowly sliding down to sit as the parents leave and as the children walk to the other room with either Taeil or Jungwoo. Dongyoung would probably nag at him again. Good thing the younger is busy with Taeyong inside.
The entrance door opens up once again and Yuta stands up, expectation back on his face as he waits for whoever opened it to enter the center.
“Hello, Renjunnie.” Yuta coos at the small child who made his way to the shoe rack, pulling his mother with him. Yuta greets and gives the mother a sweet smile as he approaches them and engages the old woman in a small conversation.
Yuta grew a soft spot for both Renjun and his mother ever since he was assigned to assist the newly transferred Chinese kid for a month to help him adjust. He liked the idea of taking care of a foreign kid. A jealous Taeyong used to tease him on teaching the kid horrible Korean but Yuta is confident and Renjun’s current Korean vocabulary isn’t bad compared to his when he first moved in Korea. Maybe being a teacher really is his calling in life.
Renjun stands quietly between the two adults. He then slips his hands in Yuta’s and lightly tugs on it to gain the older’s attention. Renjun’s mother laughs as she realizes that her child is eager to go inside the room already. Yuta laughs as well before bidding the lovely lady goodbye and skips with Renjun to the room.
“How are you, baby?” He says, crouching down and assisting the child with his bag.
Renjun tries his best to tell the elder about how his morning went. Yuta tries hard not to chuckle at how cute Renjun is when he slurs and mixes some words with one another. He ends up patting the child’s head in adoration and sits with him on the table as they wait for the others to arrive.
It’s still only Jeno and Renjun in the room, both of them are seated peacefully by the small table. Jeno’s just sipping his milk while Yuta’s playing with Renjun. Yuta was in the middle of dying in the hands of Renjun while they were playing action figures when Dongyoung arrived with a bowl of apples. He places it in the middle of the two kids and offers it to them.
Jeno happily grabs a piece and gives Dongyoung an eye-smile. Yuta nudges Renjun first for the child to notice the apples on the table.
“Take some apples, Renjunnie.” He says, pushing the bowl closer to the child.
“Mom packed s-sandwiches for me.” Renjun says, standing up and rushing to where their bags are placed. Yuta follows him immediately and when their about to return to their seats Taeyong calls out to him.
“Yuta seonsaeng-nim, I need some help here in the kitchen.”
The blond gives Taeyong a ‘wait’ gesture before squats down to be eye-level with Renjun once again. “Renjun-ah, Taeyong seonsaeng-nim needs Yuta- ssaem. Be a good boy and go to Doyoung seonsaeng-nim first, he’ll help you with your sandwich. Is that okay?” He pops an ‘okay’ hand gesture after pointing Dongyoung who’s busy chatting with Jeno.
Renjun stares at Dongyoung for a minute too long before finally nodding his head. Yuta lightly ruffles his hair, standing up and walking with the younger back to the table.
“Dons, look after Renjun for me. Taeyong called me in the kitchen. Wouldn’t be as long as one full song. Maybe just a nursery rhyme long, that long.” He pats on the younger’s shoulder as Renjun sits back down his chair.
Dongyoung looks lost for a moment before nodding slowly. Not longer than a nursery rhyme, Yuta assured him and there’s no one else to trust in this situation but Yuta.
He barely talked to Renjun for the whole 1 month and a week the child’s been going to the center and he’s a little scared on how their interaction will end for today.
Yuta gives his shoulder another pat before dashing off to Taeyong, leaving Dongyoung to approach the child struggling with the wrap of his sandwich.
“Hi Renjun-ah.” He smiles, wide. Gums out and all. Renjun only eyes him and pushes the wrapped sandwich to him.
“Oh, let me help you.” Dongyoung says, taking the sandwich.
“So,” he starts, “Renjunnie.” Dongyoung is peeling the wrapper slowly, acting like the sandwich is very delicate. “How did your day go yesterday?”
He pauses in unwrapping, waiting for Renjun to answer.
Nothing comes. The boy just stares at him and back at the bread in his hand.
“Oh, okay.”
The time of Dongyoung unwrapping the food and Renjun just waiting for his meal pass by in silence. It's even more quiet when Renjun is already munching on the sandwich and Dongyoung is left to just watch the two kids eat.
Dongyoung was barely awkward with Jeno but it is not avoidable that he’ll be rigid in his seat when a quiet baby like Renjun is stuck with him for God knows how long. Renjun is a quiet and shy kid, it took Yuta almost a week for Renjun to finally warm up to him.
He is scared because he doesn’t have enough experience with children before entering the daycare center. He makes baby relatives cry most of the time. Children look too small to him, he’s afraid to hurt them in every single way. He deeply believes that Minseok only took him in for he is disciplined and patient. Looking at the situation carefully, Taeyong does need a helping hand in the Caterpillar room - if he has to take care of 16 children max in a day.
He shoots a glance at the kitchen where the two older teachers are busying their selves with something on the counter. Taeyong turns around for a moment and Yuta follows suit. He mouths a small ‘help’ to them, Taeyong shakes his head in amusement and Yuta just laughs at him.
Dongyoung ends up pouting as he turns his attention back to the two kids.
“He’s not talking to me.”
A moment later, Dongyoung stands up and walks five steps from the kids and a little bit closer to the kitchen. “Renjun wouldn’t even spare me a glance.” He whines.
Taeyong snickers loudly as he washes some utensils in the sink. “You want to get their attention now, Dongyoungie?”
Dongyoung opens his mouth to protest but Yuta is faster in throwing in his two cents in the conversation. “Didn’t you hate children, Dons?”
“I did not say that.”
“Aren’t they little demons?”
“That literally isn't what I said.” Dongyoung groans.
Taeyong is the one to shake his head quickly, “You did! It was on your first day and Johnny asked you that before kids started entering the building.”
Both of them laughed at Dongyoung's reaction as they pick on him again.
The youngest leaves to go back to the children's’ side with a sour face which only made them giggle some more.
Yuta stares at Dongyoung a little longer before going back to work. He smiles fondly at the raven haired boy, proud of the character development.
8:34
Later, when more kids arrived and everyone is busy playing, Dongyoung bumped Yuta's shoulder with a big grin on his face.
“Renjun smiled at me.” He says, happiness evident in his tone and face.
Yuta smiles at that and he cracks up after knowing that the reason is because Dongyoung spilled something while cleaning up.
9:01
By 9 o'clock, thirteen children are already making a mess in the room.
A wave of tiny kids came entering the facility minute by minute at 8 and the quiet Caterpillar room is now filled with laughter and screams of 2-year-olds.
A kid named Donghyuck had attached himself on Yuta, head sleepily nuzzling the older's neck as the blond plays with Renjun and three more kids who are Jisung, Yeeun, and Hyunjoon.
Jeno is still glued next to Dongyoung even if he’s one of the four students Taeyong was reading a storybook to. He’s a foot apart from Dongyoung who’s playing race cars and action figures with three kids.
10:12
The kids are gathered in two rows with Kun, another teaching assistant who was late, helping Jongdae, the main lecturer, set up his materials in front. For an hour and thirty minutes, he’s going to tell a story to the kids and, maybe, teach them a life lesson or two.
Yuta goes to the back and sits down behind the kids. Dongyoung sees him and quietly slides from the front row to where he is with the sick child he’s aiding.
“Hi Jaemin.” Yuta whispers to child, the back of his hand instantly attaching itself on Jaemin’s forehead. “You’re not that warm anymore.” he cheers.
Jongdae then asks for everyone’s attention, especially the kids. It made Yuta stop talking to Jaemin. He glances at Dongyoung as he moves out of the child’s personal space.
Dongyoung holds the eye contact for a minute longer before turning back to Jaemin and softly ensuring that the child is alright and paying attention.
Yuta smiles at Dongyoung once again before looking back at Jongdae who's actively narrating how a magical bear saved a king. His voice changes when he read a line of the bear and is so into character that everyone enjoys it. Even Jaemin who's only clung onto the teachers since he has arrived is quietly giggling at Jongdae's minimal acting.
10:44
Jongdae has finished two stories at this time. The first one was short and Jongdae only had his big book as a prop, for the second story though, he had assembled a small box in front of the children and performed a small puppet show about a rocket that got stuck on the crater of the moon.
It was short, weird but comical that the 2-year-olds still enjoyed watching the small show made for them.
11:05
Everyone is outside of their respective rooms. Both the Caterpillar and the Butterfly class are on the main hall, sharing the big area as a playing space.
Some 4-year-olds are trying to climb the climbing wall in the middle of the hall. There are some who are playing house and market at the corner. A group of 2-year-olds were running around and chasing a teacher - it's most likely to be Johnny although no one is sure how he got stuck with 2-year-olds when he's teaching in the Butterfly class. Then there are those who are quietly doodling in the art corner, on the big white paper pasted on the wall and on the stacks of paper on the table.
It's a mess and Yuta can't do anything but just watch in awe while Yerim, a kid in Butterfly class, and two children from Caterpillar class put a pink rabbit headband on him and press a small powder puff on his cheeks.
“Hyung, you look pretty.” Jungwoo says as he looks up from sketching.
Kun hears Jungwoo's compliment and before Yuta can even thank the other he has snapped a shot of Yuta. “Yuta seonsaeng-nim is so pretty, you guys did a good job.” He compliments the children who dolled Yuta up.
11:48
Taeyong and Dongyoung calls Yuta in the Caterpillar room to help with lunch preparations. He sadly bid the girls goodbye with a promise that they can play dress up with him too.
They cheered as they let him go and Yuta wishes his theory of the clothes being too small for him is really true.
Once he enters the room, Taeyong whistles and Dongyoung tries hard not to let his snickers be heard but fails.
“Yeah, yeah. I know I'm too pretty, dolled up like this and all.” He dismissed them possibly making fun of him and went straight to setting up tables with Taeyong.
Dongyoung stops him before getting the trays of food to be placed in the table. He reaches out to Yuta's left cheek and softly wipes the thick layer of pink powder on it.
Yuta stares at him as he does so. It's not new for Dongyoung to be like this. He's always the one who silently reaches out to someone's face or head to fix something. Yuta happens to be someone who he does that to most of the time.
He should be used to it but he's frozen and his breathing has completely slowed down. He did not think that it could slow down to a complete stop but Dongyoung then looks straight into his eyes and he started gasping for air a minute after.
“The loose powder could've dropped on the food.” he says with a pout.
Yuta lets him wipe the other cheek, “I haven't actually checked my face in the mirror yet, didn't know it's that much.”
Dongyoung grins as he finishes and pats the older's cheek.
“You look cute. Don't worry.”
“Thanks.” Yuta laughs. He takes the bunny ear off him and puts them on Dongyoung. “You too.”
12:00
At twelve, they called in everyone back into their own rooms. Sooyoung asked everyone to clean up before rushing in.
Taeil got out of the Butterfly room to help too. He wants the kids to eat already so he stacks up the blocks and legos in a quick motion before he gushes the 4-year-olds in a line.
Before going back though, he compliments Yuta's rosy cheeks.
Maybe, Yuta can never live a peaceful day of no mockery in the daycare.
12:17
All the kids in the Caterpillar room, with bibs tied up neatly around their necks, are already seated on the table. Their tray with rice is set in front of them and their utensils are placed at their right.
The teachers are giving each kid a plate of mandu and a bowl of seaweed soup.
Some kids are patiently waiting, then there is Donghyuck.
The little bub is not terrible at all, he just loves food so much that lunch time gets undeniably noisier than expected.
“Where is Donghyuck's mandu ?” Donghyuck whines for his food again. They just started handing out the plates and bowls and the kid is already crying for his share.
Taeyong eyes the child for 5 seconds long, “Donghyuck, everyone is going to get mandus. Let us wait for a moment, yeah?”
He says it so sweetly that it almost covered the fact that he just stared at the kid with fire in his eyes. Yuta is undoubtedly scared of Taeyong.
Donghyuck pouts and pulls at Dongyoung's sleeves. The teacher almost spilled the soup he's putting on the table for Jaemin.
“Wait, Hyuckie. Ssaem is going to get it from the cart.” Dongyoung sings, trying to calm the child.
Yuta sees the situation and immediately slides two plates of mandus in front of Dongyoung and Donghyuck. “Here you go, baby.”
He gets a piece of mandu , places it on Donghyuck's plate before getting another piece, and feeds it to the child. “Donghyuckie, eat well.” He says, ruffling the child's hair.
Before he leaves, Dongyoung stops him. “You're a lifesaver. I don't think I can handle Hyuck's tantrums and Nana's cries at the same time.”
“Eh? Why's Jaemin crying?” Yuta asks, leaving the two, last in his mind.
“He doesn't want to eat.”
“Jaemin-ah, does it hurt?” Yuta asks the baby and he nods with a loud cry. He’s red with his fringe sticky on his forehead due to a thin layer of sweat. He softly pats the younger’s forehead, drying off the sweat and checking if the cool fever patch is still somehow cold. “Oh, must have hurt bad. I'm sorry Jaemin-ah, but you need to eat so that you'll be healthy again.”
Jaemin sniffles as an answer, Yuta reaches to him and softly pats his cheek. The child then buries his face to Dongyoung's chest and the adults just smile at him and at each other before Yuta finally turns to leave.
12:33
Taeyong got everyone to clean up then line up near the washing area. There, Kun and Dongyoung help with washing up the children and brushing their teeth.
Yuta and Taeyong are the ones clearing up the tables. They pushed and folded tables to the side of the room, wiped the floors and started laying down various mats and blankets for the kids.
12:45
A quarter before one, blankets are laid around and the kids are assisted to their respective comforters.
Jeno is clinging onto Dongyoung, crankier than ever. His eyes are heavily drooping with sleep and Dongyoung feels a little bad that the child has to stay awake longer than his body plans to. He can't have Jeno sleep without brushing his teeth and washing his face after meal. It'll be unfair to everyone especially to the other sleepy kids.
Donghyuck pushes his way towards his laid out blanket, bumping into Jeno in the process. Dongyoung opens his mouth along with the latter who cries out in frustration.
The man immediately soothes the crying child, sitting Jeno down his lap and calling for Donghyuck's attention. “Donghyuckie,” the child wouldn't even spare him a glance, he's looking for something under the desks, Dongyoung's call last in his list of things to attend to. “Donghyuck-ah.”
“Hyuckie.” Yuta calls and claps his hand to gain the attention of the child. “Come here.” He says, sitting down near Dongyoung and Jeno. He had just helped tuck Renjun under the blankets when he saw Dongyoung having trouble. “Come here and teacher will give you Tayo .”
That does the trick.
Donghyuck comes running towards their direction, excitement present in his eyes as he stops in front of Yuta, Dongyoung, and a sniffling Jeno. “Tayo! Tayo-ah!” he cheers.
Yuta shows a small plush of the blue bus and Donghyuck jumps to him. The teacher accepts the child with open arms and shushes him playfully. “Donghyuck-ah, listen.” He whispers as he moves his hand with the toy away from Donghyuck's eager hands.
“Donghyuck-ah, you bumped onto Jeno earlier and he fell. What should we say to Jeno?” Yuta talks slowly and points to Dongyoung and Jeno.
The teacher is tucking Jeno in, patting the boy's head and wiping tears out his eyes.
Donghyuck pouts and approaches the two, “Sorry.” He mumbles. “Donghyuck is sorry.”
Dongyoung smiles, he urges Jeno to answer and helped the two children to make up. Donghyuck left as soon as Jeno nods and whispers an: it's okay.
Donghyuck returns in a blink of an eye, pulling his blanket to Jeno's space. “You want to sleep next to Jeno, Donghyuck?”
The child nods.
Yuta immediately moves and fixes the child's blanket properly as the two kids hug to seal their reconciliation. He then hands Donghyuck the Tayo plush he bribed the child's attention with earlier. The boy then offers it to Jeno and the two of them giggle brightly before hugging again.
Donghyuck crawls to his blanket and pulls Yuta's hand to tuck him in. Yuta chuckles and he does so. He leans in and whispers praises to Donghyuck. Along with the compliments, Yuta showers the child with kisses that makes the boy giggle.
He sees Jeno looking at them and Yuta grins at the sleepy boy. “Jeno, want to give Donghyuck a goodnight kiss?”
The boy shakes his head, “It is not yet night time.”
Yuta tries his best not to laugh out loud with that statement, “Do you want ssaem to give you a kiss?”
Jeno nods and Yuta swears his heart did not just become an acrobat right after. He gets kisses from the daycare kids on a daily basis but it still did not stop him from feeling too happy when things like this happen. Yuta coos at the baby and leans in to give Jeno a kiss on the cheek and forehead. “Sleep well, Jeno-ya.”
Dongyoung is leaning on the wall closest to where Jeno and Donghyuck are camped. He's watching on the sidelines as Yuta pamper the two children before tucking them in and he can't help but smile widely at the view.
Yuta stays looking over the children, eyes darting from the two kids he just tucked in to Renjun who is already sound asleep, four steps away. He waits a few more minutes before he crawls towards Dongyoung who is currently on his phone now.
“No phones allowed while on duty.” Yuta grumbles, eyes obviously pretending to throw daggers at the younger.
Dongyoung chuckles, shaking his head. “Nagging doesn't suit you.”
“I can make it suit me.” Yuta shrugs, leaning in and taking away Dongyoung's personal space. “What are you busy with?”
“Well, that's a nice photo.” Yuta compliments when the younger moves to show the screen of his phone to Yuta.
“You only look nice on rare occasions and I can't believe I managed to caught it on camera.” Dongyoung teases, exiting his phone gallery and opening the Kakaotalk app.
“What are you saying? I always look nice.”
Dongyoung hums and Yuta nudges his side making the younger snicker. “I’m sending this to the GC.” Yuta looks over Dongyoung’s shoulder again as the younger types up a caption for the photo.
“You think I'm a going to be a good dad, huh?”
Dongyoung snorts, “I said, you might be. That doesn't mean that you are.”
Yuta grumbles a whatever, pushing Dongyoung's arms before fixing himself to lie on his lap. “The others won’t see that until 6 PM, you know.”
“Jaehyun is off today, he might see it.”
Yuta moves around, trying to find a more comfortable position. Dongyoung helps in moving his legs for the older. “Will you post me on your sns account?” Yuta whispers as he closes his eyes, finally comfortable with head on Dongyoung's lap and face centimeter away from the younger's stomach.
Dongyoung didn’t answer immediately and they just stared at each other’s eyes.
“Why would I?”
“Well, it's a nice photo.” Yuta yawns and Dongyoung hums in contemplation.
“Come on, now you're like that to me.” Yuta whines.
“Like what?”
“You tease me all the time now, you've lost your respect for me.”
Dongyoung pockets his phone and grins wide at the older, pinching his right cheek. “As it should be.”
Yuta groans and reaches out to pinch Dongyoung's nose in return. It turns out to be soft and weak, Dongyoung just chuckles as he lets go of his cheek. They stare at each other for a few more seconds before Yuta rolls his eyes and finally closes them. He wishes for sleep to take him already, he cannot stand the feeling of Dongyoung caressing his cheek anymore.
14:47
Yuta felt his hair being gently stroked. He smiled in his sleep and twisted into another position.
He heard soft chuckles and that made him slowly open an eye. He's met with an image of an elephant smiling at him. He moves back and the chuckles are now louder.
Right. He fell asleep with his head on Dongyoung's lap. Again.
It's been a recurring event, him falling asleep on Dongyoung. He shakes his head as he gets up.
“Good morning, sleepy head.” Dongyoung greets, stretching his legs. “My thighs and legs are dead now.”
Yuta rolls his eyes at the younger's whine. He pats Dongyoung's numb legs before standing up. “Don't be too loud, the kids might wake up because of you.”
15:02 wakey
Dongyoung props a still sleepy Jaemin on his lap. He checks the child’s temperature and pats his cheeks before bringing him to Kun’s care. He’s scheduled to drink his medicine once again.
Taeyong and Yuta are going around, waking the children who weren't affected by the alarm. Yuta ends up carrying Renjun as the child did not want him to leave his side.
Jeno sits up and blankly stares at his surroundings. Taeyong chuckles at the dazed child, wiping his face to remove any marks of sleep on it. Jeno giggles right after and even hugs Taeyong.
Yuta goes to Donghyuck next, he squats beside the still sleeping child. He's sprawled out cutely all over the mat and Yuta couldn't help but smile in adoration at the child. “Donghyuck, it’s time to wake up now.”
The child squirms and whines in his sleep. Yuta tries to wake him some more. It’s a lot of work before Donghyuck finally obliges and gets up. Yuta pats Donghyuck’s cheek with his free hand. “Can Yuta seonsaeng get a hug?”
Yuta pouts. The child, although a bit grumpy, goes and hugs the older which made Yuta coo. He even kisses Yuta's cheek and Yuta swears his heart is now a puddle of goo.
This wonderful situation didn’t last long though for Renjun groans after being squeezed in the middle of Yuta and Donghyuck.
15:20
The tables are set up to form a U. Every kid is geared up in their aprons and hairnets. Taeyong is slowly and delicately demonstrating how to make a car sandwich.
Kun is assisting three kids, Renjun is stuck very close to him as he translates Taeyong's instruction in Mandarin for the child to understand better.
Dongyoung sits in between Jeno, Donghyuck, and Jisung. Jeno and Jisung is following Taeyong's steps attentively while Donghyuck just gave up and started eating the ingredients as is.
15:42
Dongyoung ends up feeding Donghyuck the car sandwich he made for the only ingredient left on the child's plate are three cucumbers that are supposedly the wheels.
Yeeun goes to him a slides a plate of a messily assembled car sandwich towards Dongyoung. “Oh, Yeeun-ah. What do we have here?” He asks, voice wrapped in sugar.
“Doyoung- ssaem ’s sandwich.”
“Did Yeeunnie make this for me?” Dongyoung’s so touched that his hands even flew up to his chest.
The child shakes her head though, “Yuta- ssaem made it. He told Yeeun to give it to you.”
Dongyoung turns to Yuta who’s already looking at him. The older winks at him and he just rolls his eyes in response. He thanks the little girl and gave her the bowl of extra cherry tomatoes.
He picks up the sandwich and divides it, giving pieces to the children. He looks up at Yuta when he hears the older whine from the other side of the table. “That’s supposed to be only yours?”
“Yuta, sharing is caring.” He jokes. His cheeks are heated though as he munches on a small piece of the bread. What is this, elementary school?
16:23
“Hyunjin-ah.” Yuta calls out. He's playing hide and seek with some of the kids during their playtime. “Where are you?”
They're up on the veranda with the Butterfly class again. Some kids are running around in the mini playground with Taeil while some are playing tag with the Sooyoung, Seunghwan and Jungwoo and there are also those who are just blowing bubbles with Dongyoung.
Donghyuck has himself attached to Johnny with matching bear headbands on as they stroll around, casually chatting up everyone in the place. There’s Jaemin sitting quietly at the side with Kun and Jeno, building blocks.
Yuta returns his attention back to finding Hyunjin. He’s checked behind the tables near the door but there's no sign of a kid in a red thick parka there.
“Yuta s-seonsaeng-nim. Eunbin will h-help you l-look for Jinnie.” Eunbin says, running towards Yuta ecstatically.
Yuta welcomes Eunbin in a hug when she’s dashing to him. “Okay. Thank you Eunbin.”
Eunbin then pulls on Yuta’s hand after a second of hugging him, “There!” he points to the other side of the veranda where pots of various plants and flowers are located. “Eunbinnie heard a fairy laugh there.”
Yuta laughs as he gets dragged by the 2-year-old to where the fairies are. Before they even got a foot closer to the pots, something crashes onto Yuta’s legs. He lets out a yelp, and holds onto the coat of the child that bumped into him before slowly going down pretending he was fatally hit.
He’s crouched down on the veranda, Hyunjin laughing on his side as he was caught and Eunbin screaming about being right.
“Hyunjinnie was so good at hiding!” he ruffles the child’s hair and reaches out to pinch his cheeks. He says all these in a cutesy voice he only uses to the children. Yuta then turns to Eunbin and hugs her, “Our Eunbin also did a good job in helping Yuta- ssaem. ”
They continued running around with Yuta. Whenever he will catch them they scream, laugh, and kick as he attacks them with hugs and tickles.
Dongyoung looks around for a minute and ends up with just watching the group as he blows bubbles with Sunwoo, Renjun, Youngjae, and Yeeun.
He feels twisted after spending minutes of just observing when he’s come to a realization that maybe, he also wants to be showered with Yuta's affection and kisses too.
He immediately looks away with dread obvious in his face.
“Doyoung seonsaeng-nim, are you o-okay?”
“Yes, Renjunnie.” He says, dipping the bubble wand before blowing on it again and watching the children happily pop the bubbles he’s made.
“Who wants to blow a batch this time?”
16:56
“Dongyoung, you okay?” Johnny asks him once they are all escorting the students back the hall and to their rooms.
The younger just looks at him with wide eyes and a confused expression.
“Oh, it’s just that you look a little pale than usual and you kinda seem out of it while we were in the veranda.”
Johnny guides the last Butterfly kid named Minhyung inside their room but doesn’t enter. He walks towards Dongyoung and whispers. “Something happened with Yuta?”
“What? There’s nothing. What makes you think he’s involved?” Dongyoung chuckles, it’s nervous and he’s trying his best to avoid Johnny’s stare.
“There’s something between you two. I also noticed your expression changing when you were looking at him earlier.” Johnny gives his shoulder a squeeze before heading to the Butterfly room. “You better talk things out.”
“I hate it when you just go around observing everyone when it’s playtime.”
Dongyoung pouts and Johnny just chuckles before both of them enter their respective rooms.
Of course, Dongyoung will not listen to Johnny.
17:09
At 5 PM, there are already 7 kids who left for home in the Caterpillar class. Their guardians were patiently waiting by the entrance even before it was dismissal time.
Yuta walks Donghyuck to his mother. Before leaving though, the child gave him a fat kiss on his cheek and runs to Johnny at the Butterfly room, too. He hugs the other teacher tightly before dashing off to his mother and greeting all the teachers in the main hall goodbye.
17:12
Jaemin’s mother carefully took the drowsy child from Dongyoung’s arm and thanked the teacher for watching her son.
17:15
Kun assists Renjun as he wears his coat and puts his shoes on. He’s the one to escort the child to his guardian. Like Yuta, he started a short conversation with Renjun’s mother. This time though they are conversing in their mother tongues and even Renjun manages to join the conversation from time to time.
Yuta is standing by the door, there are only two children left inside, and he patiently waits for their parents to come by. Dongyoung approaches him and nudges him.
“Wanna walk Jeno home with me?”
Yuta turns to look at the two kids and nods. “His mom won’t be able to fetch him?”
“Yeah. Mrs. Lee got a late meeting today.”
A lady on her thirties enters the center and Yuta returns to the room, “Seungminnie, your mom is already here.”
The child runs to the door, bidding Jeno goodbye and leaving him alone in the play mat.
As Yuta is assisting Seungmin, Dongyoung goes to Jeno’s side with a “Let’s go after cleaning up.”
17:32
Jeno is playing with his feet as he wait for Dongyoung and Yuta to finally leave. He’s sat by the entrance, patiently waiting for the teachers to finish bidding each other goodbye.
Sooyoung is the first to leave. She pinches Jeno’s cheeks before she puts on her shoes and leaves the center.
After a while, Yuta and Dongyoung is by the entrance already with Jungwoo. They bid the others goodbye and wished Kun good luck for he’s mostly assigned in cleaning up. It’s a punishment Taeyong gave the other for being late.
Jeno’s attached himself on Dongyoung as they exit the daycare. The teacher makes sure the child is bundled up and isn’t cold before they start walking towards the bus stop.
Jungwoo walked off to a different direction when they reached the first intersection from the daycare. They bid him goodbye and Jeno even hugged him tight before he goes.
They continue to walk, Dongyoung holding Jeno’s left hand with his right and his left dangerously brushing against Yuta’s hand from time to time. The things Johnny had said earlier flashes in his mind and he tries his best to think of other thoughts.
It’s not new. Their friends putting a different meaning on how Dongyoung and Yuta act with each other. They raised the issue on his second month in the center. Both Yuta and Dongyoung wholeheartedly denied all their accusations. They’re just friends.
Taeil and Seunghwan called sus in the situation. Everyone did. Taeil claims that Aquarians and Scorpios don’t just get along and be friends. They just don’t, he repeats before the two being roasted laugh everything off.
They never spoke of it again, well, never with each other but their co-workers are persistent.
“I just realized,” Yuta starts, he’s putting on his earrings that he has to removed while on duty. Dongyoung turns to him, eyes unintentionally focusing on his fingers delicately locking the gold rings on his ears. He never understands why Yuta still bother wearing them if he always have to take them off but he never gets to ask. “It isn’t actually walking if we have to ride a bus.”
The younger pouts at that and shakes his head.
“Shut up, Yuta.”
18:10
After dropping Jeno to their house, the two of them rode the bus and gets off near the park. It’s near the Cherish Daycare, just a five minute walk but according to Yuta, it’s a two and a half song walk. Dongyoung used to argue with him about this but when they stayed back and walked to the park in one afternoon, it did take them two Super Junior songs - they were listening to the new releases as they walk side by side, sharing earphones and commentaries.
Them going out after work is also not new. They usually do this late at night, when Dongyoung is done with his classes or when he isn’t cramming any requirements and when Yuta is done with some part time he’s only applied to because his roommate forced him to.
They go on short walks, sometimes they do a number of rounds riding bicycles and exploring parks. There are also times where they go out of town and eat dinner there.
They call those dates. Platonic ones, they correct every time they relay their experiences to their friends. Anyway, if they count their platonic dates, it’s only three for now. Yuta is in search of new food places to take Dongyoung to in hopes to increase the number. They had a goal to try out many new and exciting food establishments this year.
They never consider the times they’ve had dinner on food chains in the area and the park nights as dates. If they do, their date counts would’ve exceeded 10 already.
18:24
They’ve walked around for a while now. They even got to play with three dogs earlier when someone brought their dog out for a night walk.
“Yuta.” Dongyoung calls out as he stops. Yuta hums but he doesn’t stop from walking so Dongyoung ends up walking again to catch up with the other. “I’m hungry.”
“Do you wanna head to the fast food chain on the other street?”
“I don’t want to have dinner yet. Can we just go to some convenience store and get ramyun?”
“Okay. I actually want some cola now.” Yuta takes Dongyoung’s hand and they start walking off to where they know is the nearest convenience store.
Before they reach the convenience store, they pass by a small stall of street foods and Yuta stops in his tracks. He looks at the variety on display and asks, “Still up for ramyun or is tteokbokki and odeng okay?”
“Their kimbap looks tempting.” Dongyoung says, walking closer to the stall and is already picking out a fish skewer. He points to three more dishes before calling for Yuta. “Hey, what’s your pick?”
Yuta finally makes up his mind and ask for three things to eat: tteokbokki, sundae , and twigim (battered snacks).
After being handed their orders, the two start digging in on their street foods. Yuta is happily munching on his battered snacks. He places a piece on Dongyoung’s bowl of tteokbokki. “Hey.”
“Try it.” Yuta encourages. “It’s better when it’s dipped in the sauce.”
Dongyoung is still pouting but he follows Yuta’s suggestion and he ends up smiling.
“See?”
The younger nods, in exchange he picks up a stick of the pig intestines he’s ordered and offers it to Yuta. “Then try this.”
Yuta complied and took a bite of the skewer. He hums in approval as he chews and even shows a thumbs up to the vendor who laughs at him.
Their small snack session ended up with them just feeding each other their orders and laughing about random things. Even the vendor is adored with them that she kept on offering them some other food.
“You young men are adorable.” The vendor smiles at them as she collects their money. “And brave too. Not all male are proud and out about their relationship.” She wishes them to last long.
Dumbfounded, Dongyoung denies it immediately. “Oh no, we aren’t a couple.”
The vendor is shocked, well, so are they. It’s actually funny. “Really? That’s a pity. But it must’ve been just my old eyes, I thought there’s something else in the way you look at each other.” She laughs.
“Why? If we are together, are our meals going to be discounted?” Yuta jokes and the three of them ends up laughing.
19:15
After filling their stomachs, the two went back to the park. They encircled it one more round before stopping and settling down on a bench. Both of their heads are leaned back on the bench and eyes focusing on a star-filled sky.
“Stargazing is better if we’re in a province. We can see them better.” Yuta suggests, disrupting Dongyoung who’s ranting about his university stess. “Let’s go up a mountain next time.”
Dongyoung agrees and still continues wailing about his tiring organization activities and mates.
“Hey, I’m inviting you for a stress-relieving trip out of town.” Yuta nudges him, stopping Dongyoung again.
“What?”
“I said, we should go up a mountain some time.”
Dongyoung is still confused and he turns to Yuta with his eyebrows creased. “Yeah, but how is that you inviting me?”
“I said we.” Yuta answers, irritation obvious in his tone but Dongyoung brushes it off because Yuta gets heated immediately whenever the younger pesters him about using the proper Korean terms.
“Well, we can’t go anytime soon. I have my midterms coming and there’s also the daycare.”
“We can go on holidays or even just on a weekend. It’s just for you to find peace and breathe.” Yuta says, face now looking straight in front of them. Eyes focused on something far off that Dongyoung doesn’t know what.
“So, are you in?”
Yuta looks at him intensely and Doyoung takes a deep breath to still himself and looks away. If he's not strong enough, he might've leaned in and kiss Yuta's pink lips. He turns his head forward instead and gives a hum as an answer.
“Just inform me ahead of time. Don’t just pull me in on a surprise road trip.”
Yuta frowns, “But surprises are fun, though.”
19:55
It’s late. They are at the bus stop, they are staring at each other again as they wait for the bus. It’s suddenly quiet after their small talk about the out of city trip. Dongyoung ends up resting his head on Yuta’s shoulder, whining about more things to worry about and how Yuta’s shoulder is low for him to comfortable lie his head on at the moment.
The older snorts pushing Dongyoung off him and pinching the younger’s sides.
Dongyoung almost falls off the shed’s seat when he’s trying to dodge Yuta’s pinches. The blond manages the grab his arm before he evan falls. It’s so cliche but they still end up staring into each other’s eyes like those characters in drama shows.
It was just pure shock at first, shock about almost falling, then shock at the fact that they have fallen.
Yuta drops his hold on Dongyoung’s arm quickly and they both turn their heads on different directions. From the ringing sound that filled their ears when Dongyoung’s about to fall, there is only a humming silence now.
Just when they’re about to open their mouths again, the bus Dongyoung is supposed to get on is slowly approaching. They slowly go quiet and just let the cold autumn breeze envelop them. It’s comfortable yet still deafening that they end up just giving short glances at each other.
Moments like this make it hard for them to just part and sleep peacefully at night. Both of them know there’s something they should stopping toeing at, and venture on it already, yet no one makes a move.
Dongyoung quietly stands up as the bus nears the stop.
Once the bus stops in front of them Yuta speaks, “Hey.”
“Wanna go to my place?” He continues when Dongyoung just pauses in front of the opened doors. The younger turns around, confused. “I mean, it’s late and my house is a mess. Plus I have a nosey foreign roommate. You can decline but I think we still ha-”
“Sure.” Dongyoung says approaching him.
“Huh?”
“I said sure. Lead the way now.”