Archive of Our Own

Johnny slung his camera straps when his phone rang for the third time that day. Begrudgingly, he took the call.

“Hello?”

“Hyung! Where are you? We’re all here!”

“Here…?”

“Hyung! We’re surprising Ten hyung, remember?!”

Oh shit.

It had flown from Johnny’s mind that Ten, Taeyong’s boyfriend, is celebrating his birthday today! The fact that Jaehyun is the one calling him means Taeyong is probably stressing out trying to conduct a perfect cute little party for his boyfriend of, what? Ten months? A year? Johnny didn’t quite keep tabs on his friends’ romantic relationships when he, himself, is already neck deep buried in assignments since he’s inching closer to his graduation.

“Oh shit, Jae, I’m outside for a shoot. It’s in Taeyong’s apartment, right?” Johnny asked, wedging his phone between his ear and his shoulder as he packed his camera into his bag.

“Duh, yes! Drag your ass here quick, because I’m stressed out! You know how Taeyong hyung is when he’s stressed, and add Doyoung to the mix, and this one friend of Ten… I’m stuck in a house full of OCDs!”

Johnny, under normal circumstances, would laugh at Jaehyun’s remark. But Johnny knew, he shouldn’t be laughing because Taeyong would kill him if he doesn’t show up. And Ten too, probably. Johnny had known Ten pretty well when the younger dude started dating Taeyong, and together they form a pretty scary combination.

Johnny ended his call after giving Jaehyun some reassurance, quickly hopping inside his car to his friend’s place. When he arrived at Taeyong’s apartment, the door was opened by a stranger. Well, not really. Johnny had seen the man a couple times, hanging out with either Ten or Doyoung, but Johnny had never been properly introduced to him.

The man was taller than Ten and Taeyong, but shorter than Jaehyun, Doyoung, and of course, him. No one is ever taller than Johnny. The man was pale skinned and kinda cute, and he offered Johnny a small smile.

“You must’ve been Johnny-sshi. Jaehyun is having a mental breakdown, waiting for you,” the man said, opening the door wider so Johnny could step inside.

When Johnny stepped inside, the apartment is already decorated halfway, and Jaehyun is hovering with a stressed expression as Taeyong and Doyoung ordered him around.

“Johnny hyung! Thank fucking goodness! Help me hang, I don’t know what the hell is this, decoration! Please,” Jaehyun said breathlessly.

Johnny chuckled, disposing his precious camera bag on the coffee table and rolled the sleeves of his shirt to start helping his friend.

“Kun hyung, I beg you, please, I don’t know, control those two,” Jaehyun whined.

The man, apparently named Kun, chuckled, patting Jaehyun’s shoulder before nodding. He had a pretty nice dimpled smile.

Once the man was out of sight, Johnny turned to Jaehyun, helping the dude inflating some balloons.

“Who’s that? Kun?”

Jaehyun shrugged as he tied one of the inflated balloons, “Ten and Doyoung’s best friend. He’s studying Music like Doyoung. A cool guy, I’ve met him several times. Very nice and kind. A calm mom type, which was understandable since he’s friends with someone as chaotic as Ten and someone as ineffable as my boyfriend,” Jaehyun chuckled.

“Huh. I rarely saw him. He wasn’t there on Ten’s New Year’s Party, right?” Johnny asked.

“Nope. If I remembered quickly, Doyoung said he went back to his hometown or something. He’s a foreign student.”

Johnny nodded, continuing his balloon inflating duty.

The man came back, he was carrying two glasses of cold water, setting them on the coffee table.

“Drink first, you guys,” he smiled warmly.

“Oh, thank you, Kun hyung. You’re a savior!” Jaehyun beamed, downing his water quickly.

“Er… Thanks, Kun..?”

“Yeah, I’m Kun. And you’re Johnny-sshi?”

“Yeah. I’m Johnny.”

The man smiled, his two dimples showing, “Nice to meet you!”

Johnny had a feeling that it won’t be the last time he saw the man.

나에게 같은 하루 같은 세상 속에, 너라는 바람이 마음에 불어와

in the same day and in the same world for me, a wind called you blows into my heart

It wasn’t.

It was a few weeks after Ten’s birthday, a big success by the way, because Ten was bawling his eyes off when they surprised him. Anyways, a few weeks had passed and Ten had called Johnny, saying he needs his input because he’s buying something for Taeyong since it’s going to be their first anniversary. Ten argued that Johnny knew Taeyong the longest among all of them so Johnny probably knew the dude best. Well, that’s right. Johnny did spend two years of military enlistment with the guy, and also their entire college years, and they’re going to start a business together too.

Of course, Johnny knows him.

Ten mentioned he’ll be bringing Kun because the man was rational and probably will provide a much-needed advice before Ten decided to do anything impulsive. A good decision, Johnny thought, because the younger guy does get sidetracked easily.

Ten said he’ll be meeting them in the coffee shop near the campus ground. Johnny frequented that place often, and he entered the place with comfort. Johnny ordered himself a tall glass of ice americano—he needs energy if he’s going to be dealing with Ten—and looked around for the said guy.

He couldn’t spot the eccentric man, but Johnny did spot his best friend. Tucked in a corner booth, Kun was sitting by himself, scribbling on a moleskin journal with his ears plugged in with earphones. He was dressed comfortably in a sweatshirt that looks too big on him. He looked so snug and warm, and Johnny felt slightly jealous when he glanced at his own shirt. He had to meet a professor prior to this, so he had to dress formally.

Johnny walked towards the man’s table, tapping the guy’s shoulder once to get his attention. The man jerked and opened his mouth in surprise.

Cute.

“Oh! Johnny-sshi, right?”

Johnny shrugged, “That’s me. Kun… right?”

The man nodded, scrambling to tidy his journal, “Ten must’ve asked you to come. Ten did said he’s inviting one of Taeyong hyung’s friends. I thought it would be Jaehyun.”

Johnny smiled, “Well, sadly it’s me.”

“Oh, no! It’s fine. I’m just… We’re not that close. Uhm, since you’re the same age as Taeyong hyung should I call you hyung or sunbaenim or…” he said sheepishly, fiddling with his sleeves.

“We should get to know each other, then! And no, don’t need to get too formal with me. Just Johnny is more than fine, Ten never called me with any title too anyways,” Johnny smiled.

The man in front of him nodded shyly.

“I’m Johnny. Multimedia major, I’m focusing on photography though.”

“Ah… Like Jaehyun? I’m actually a music major, like Doyoung. But I’m focusing more on music composition,” Kun smiled.

“Jaehyun focused on videography more, actually. We’re planning on opening a studio together; Jaehyun, Taeyong, and I. The plan is going well, we’re just working on the funding.”

“That’s cool! So, you’re taking your Master’s or…”

“Bachelor, actually. That’s why, don’t call me sunbaenim. It’s the other way around! I actually went into university pretty late. I took courses first in the States, and then I moved here to Seoul for my enlistment and that’s when I met Taeyong. He told me about this university which he was going to apply for. I told him that I was aiming for this campus as well. We sort of bonded in the camp,” Johnny chuckled fondly, pausing to sip on his coffee.

“What about you? Doyoung’s taking his Master’s. You must’ve been too?”

Kun nodded shyly, “Yeah… I’m finishing my Master’s.”

“Did you get your bachelor degree here too?”

“Ah, no… I finished my bachelor degree back in China. I went here for my Master because of my professor’s recommendation.”

“Oh, China? Cool! You’re from there then? Beijing?”

Kun nodded, “Yes, but no. I’m from Fujian, a pretty small city. What about you?”

“I’m from Chicago, the States. But, hey! I’m actually good at Chinese!” Johnny grinned,

“You… what?”

Johnny’s grin got wider. He’s never had a chance to flaunt his Chinese skills, but yes, he did speak Chinese.

“I’m sorry if it’s a little rusty, I haven’t used it in years ever since I moved to Seoul,” Johnny said in Chinese.

Kun literally had his jaws opened, staring at Johnny like he just grew a third head or something.

“That’s…. You’re good. How?”

“A big Asian community in Chicago, but my family was the only Korean. I was very close to many Chinese people; I sort of picked up the language ever since I was young.”

Kun beamed, his eyes crinkling and dimples showing as he laughed.

“Oh my god, you’re amazing!”

Johnny shrugged proudly.

“So… What instruments do you play? Since you’re a music student and all,” Johnny asked.

“Uh… Piano is my best instrument. I played a little guitar and bass; I know the basics of drums… But I only know them enough so I can produce tracks. I rarely play them though since I can just recreate their sounds using my keyboard and music producing application,” Kun blushed as he answered.

“Whoa… Still, that’s cool. So, you’re the classical type?” Johnny asked. Kun seems very prim and proper, polite, like the type to drink wine at 8 p.m while listening to Chopin or something.

Kun chuckled, “I don’t have a type…? I do learn classical piano at first, but nowadays, I just make all sorts of music, especially since I’m friends with Ten.”

“Ten?”

“We sort of have symbiotic friendship…? I helped make the music for his dance performance, and the music I made, usually I submitted them as assignments. Ten wanted all sort of genres so it’s a good learning and practicing opportunity for me as well.”

“I’ve watched Ten’s performances before… Which ones were you producing for him for?” Johnny asked, genuinely curious.

Kun shyly blushes as he takes out his phone, pulling up his music player.

When he hit the play button, Johnny was thoroughly surprised.

It was an EDM track. The one with the drops and trap beats. Johnny glanced at the guy who was wearing the oversized pastel yellow sweatshirt, with chocolate brown hair… Definitely not an EDM type of guy.

“Oh, wow…”

Kun chuckled, pressing the next button, this time playing a slower track, a ballad, complete with a whole strings section, and is that harp?

“You played the violin?!”

Kun laughed, shaking his head, “Of course not. Except the piano, everything else were made using an application.”

“Stilll... Cool! So, you’re planning to work as a producer or something?”

“I’m actually working remotely for a producing team that works under SM.”

Johnny nearly spat his coffee.

“SM?! SM Entertainment?

“Uh… yeah?”

“Dude! You’re… Geez!”

Kun shrugged in embarrassment, “Uh, not really. Like I said, I’m working remotely, mostly making demos and submitting them through the producing team I worked for.”

“Whoa, but still, it’s a great achievement. And speaking of which, it’s also a great achievement that we talked for nearly an hour, yet Ten is not here. Shall I give him a call?” Johnny asked.

“Oh! Right! I forgot about him!” Kun panicked, quickly scrolling through his phone messaging app.

“He texted me! He said he’s stuck in a dance practice with his dance professor. Ugh,” Kun sighed.

Johnny had the exact same text sent to him.

“Well… I’ll just head back to my apartment then. I could afford some rest,” Johnny chuckled.

Kun chuckled, nodding his head, “Same.”

“Do you go here by car?” Johnny asked,

“No. I took the subway here,” Kun said, packing his journal and phone into his bag.

“Oh, where do you live? I can give you a lift! I have my car with me,” Johnny offered.

“You don’t have to! It’s only one subway stop away! I live in Daemyung Complex,” Kun smiled, mentioning his apartment complex.

“No shit, man! I lived there too! Come with me then!” Johnny beamed.

“Really?”

“Yeah! Come on!”

Johnny dumped his empty coffee cup and waited for Kun to catch up with him.

Once they arrived in their apartment building, they board the elevator together.

“Which floor do you live in?”

Kun pressed number 6 on the lift buttons.

“Sixth floor?”

“Oh, no! I’m going to… visit someone first. My place is on the eighth floor.”

Johnny balked, grinning widely, “Dude! I live in 807!”

Kun laughed, his dimples on full show and Johnny had this urge to poke them, which of course, he didn’t do. He didn’t want to spook out the cute guy in front of him.

“I’m in 812! We’re living nearly across each other!”

Johnny took out his cellphone, “Hey, can I get your number or something? We should hang out sometimes since we have mutual friends, and we’re neighbors as well!”

Kun shyly took Johnny’s phone, keying in his number and then giving his own phone a miss-call.

Later when Kun left the elevator at the sixth floor because he’s visiting a friend, he left along a contact saved as Kun Qian on Johnny’s phone.

It seems like destiny had its way with them, Johnny thought. Back then, he rarely met Kun despite having mutual friends. Kun wasn’t someone who came to college parties a lot, and according to Doyoung, he loved to be holed up in his apartment making music instead of going out and socializing. He rarely even attended the get-together Taeyong loved to organize despite knowing everyone in the small circle.

But now, it seems like they crossed path very often. For instance, they often met at the lobby of their apartment, and it’s normal now for Johnny to give the younger guy a lift to the campus. Sometimes they met in the coffee shop, sometimes in the campus ground. Still, Kun rarely went to the get-together that their group has, always having an excuse for something, which strangely, Doyoung and Ten didn’t mind. There must’ve been something, but the two dudes really didn’t mind it.

Which was strange. Ten could mangle Johnny if he refused to come to this get-together thingies, but whenever Ten called Kun and heard his response, Ten would always say, ‘Okay, good luck, we’ll miss you!’ and that’s it.

Was the man having his exam? Or finishing his thesis? What does Master’s students do, anyways? Doyoung doesn’t seem to be that busy in comparison.

Despite not meeting during their group’s hangouts, Johnny still met Kun often by chance. They also now texted, quite a lot. It happened at first because Johnny was asking for Kun’s favor. He had a small exhibition, and he was asking if Kun had any music that would sort of fit his ambience. It was one of Johnny’s ambitious project—mainly because it was worth nearly 80% of his grades—so Johnny also asked for Taeyong’s help for some art installations to go with it.

Johnny expected for Kun to give him some of his old tracks, but no, the man actually composed not one, not even two or three, but FIVE new compositions for Johnny!

Johnny was the most thankful man on earth.

The songs were all beautiful, and it was a great soundtrack for the exhibition and his professors loved it. Johnny even offered the man some commissions, but the kind guy refused, saying it was a great practice opportunity for him and he doesn’t charge his friends.

Still, Johnny insisted on treating Kun to several meals because of how thankful he was—yes, he got a fat A on his grade and a recommendation letter for future use from his professor—and that’s how they started to sort of go out together for meals.

They’ve became… sort of close? Not as close as Johnny to Ten or even Doyoung, but definitely close enough for them to approach the other when they saw each other passing by randomly. And definitely, close enough to text each other random things, like Kun sometimes sent him pictures he found interesting and would ask Johnny how to take that kind of pictures using his phone, and Johnny would give him some tips, and Kun would send back some of his creations. Johnny too, sometimes would send Kun Spotify links to songs he found interesting musically, and sometimes he got surprised whenever Kun said replied nonchalantly, ‘Oh I made that song with my producing team!’. That man and his talent would be the end of Johnny some days.

After moving to Seoul for a few years already, Johnny did date around a few times, nothing too serious because no one seems to take Johnny seriously. Johnny is what Taeyong called, a true hopeless romantic. In Johnny’s defense, it fits his esthetic perfectly as a photographer. Johnny is indeed a romantic. He’s not the type to do flings and fool around. No. When he’s entering a relationship, he wants to be serious with it, and he wants to be in it for the long run.

That kind of scared people away.

Kind of expected, since Johnny is older by a few years compared to his classmates because he entered college late, much like Taeyong, so he found it hard to date his classmates seriously. Seniors don’t take him seriously even though there were some who was his age. And in general, the Korean society doesn’t really do serious relationships when they’re under 30, and that frustrates Johnny sometimes.

And that’s why it frustrates Johnny more when he realized he had developed a sort of silly crush on Kun. They don’t even meet regularly, so how could Johnny fell for someone he saw mostly through texts and quick exchanges?

The man was cute. Really cute. Not really the type Johnny usually goes for, but undeniably cute. There’s something about his deep dimples and the way his eyes crinkled when he laughed that made Johnny felt as if there were a choir of angels serenading him. Kun is also very organized, and he seems to always have his shits together. Not as OCD as Doyoung, or as insufferable as Taeyong, but still very put together. He kind of felt like a catharsis to Johnny’s clumsy and chaotic nature.

But the man was very mysterious. He’s quite closed off, and unlike Johnny, he rarely shares about his personal life details. He’s also a big homebody, rarely leaving his apartment space. And that fueled Johnny’s interest for the man. He wanted to find out more, what kind of person Kun is and how he ended up being friends to someone like Ten and Doyoung.

For a few months following their latest meal together, Johnny didn’t see him again aside from texting. Ten does said that he, himself, doesn’t even see Kun that much nowadays. When Johnny asked Ten why, the man avoided the question.

“Kun is a hermit,” Ten said once.

Weird.

But what was weirder is the fact that Johnny is on E-Mart, at 3 in the afternoon, standing in front of the cereal aisle because he was craving for cereal.

Johnny scrutinized each colorful packaging, waiting for anything to spark up his interest. He’s not here for his usual grocery run, he doesn’t even get a cart, he’s only holding a basket filled with a pack of beer, a bottle of ranch, and a carton of milk. He came solely for cereal, and anything that caught his eyes.

He was in the middle of judging a box of green onion flavored cereal—who the hell would eat that, an abomination, Johnny thought—when he heard the sound of a baby whining and someone softly chiding in Chinese.

Johnny could make out some of the Chinese words, something along the lines of calm down baobei and it’s okay we’ll get out of here soon.

The thing with Johnny is, he can’t stand anything cute. He loves everything cute. And babies equal cute. He’s the type to get sidetracked during a shopping trip because he talked to a lady who was carrying a baby, and he’s also the type to forget his entire grocery list because he helped a lost toddler found his parents. Yes. Johnny loves kids because they’re cute. And he loved greeting them even though they’re strangers.

The baby left a gurgling sound and a giggle, only to whine again. It sounded so cute! Johnny prepared himself to turn around, plaster a smile, and then greet the baby or something. Maybe if he’s lucky the parent will let him play with the baby a bit! And when he does turn around, he was left with his jaw hanging.

Just a few shelves away from him, is Kun, the same Kun Qian he was having a stupid crush on. He’s looking soft as he usually is, but he appeared a thousand times softer for the fact that he has a baby carrier strapped to his front which held a small baby, probably not even a year old yet. The baby was clutching into the front of Kun’s shirt, babbling nonsense, wiggling his legs.

“Kun?”

Kun just wanted to have a peaceful shopping day. The freshman who usually babysat Chenle had an exam this week so Kun had to take care of Chenle by himself. One thing Kun was thankful for is that Chenle is fairly docile, so he braved himself to bring Chenle out today and hoped the baby is in his nice calm mood. But somehow, the baby is a bit whiny today. Kun thanked the Gods and Deities above that at least Chenle isn’t wailing his lungs off, but still, Kun was in the middle of pondering which muesli will go well with this brand-new almond milk he decided to try and Chenle’s whines is going to attract unwanted attention.

“Calm down, baobei. We’ll get out of here soon. Let me pick a cereal for breakfast f—”

“Kun?”

Kun’s hand which was holding a box of muesli hung mid-air as he turned his head, eyes widening in utter shock when he saw Johnny approaching him.

The alarm inside his head just went SHIT SHIT SHIT and he was torn in between fleeing the scene or praying for the supermarket ground to eat him alive when Johnny appeared right in front of him with a ridiculously wide grin.

“Kun! Nice to see you again, finally! Who’s this? He’s so cute! Is this your younger brother? Hi!”

Chenle whipped his head to the side, eyes widening owlishly at Johnny’s towering height. Kun was mentally preparing himself for Chenle’s scared whimpers or worst, cries, when the baby suddenly let out a small gurgle. His eyes turned into slits, his mouth forming a cute toothless grin.

“Oh, you’re such a cutie, aren’t you!”

Johnny gave Chenle’s chubby cheeks a gentle pinch, causing the baby to giggle.

“Johnny,” Kun said breathlessly, still in disbelief, because out of all places, he met Johnny on the cereal aisle, when he’s bringing Chenle out. Definitely not a meet cute.

“Your brother is really cute, Kun!”

Oh. So Johnny thought Chenle was his brother…

There’s no harm of denying that so Kun just shrugged.

“How old is he?” Johnny asked, cooing when Chenle grabbed one of his long fingers, shaking it in amusement.

“He’s eight months old,” Kun answered, smoothing down the baby’s hair.

“Ah, so cute. Is this why you’ve been super busy lately? Taking care of your brother?” Johnny assumed.

Kun shrugged, “Kind of.”

“What’s his name?” Johnny asked, shaking Chenle’s tiny fist which was still firmly wrapping his index finger.

“Chenle. His name is Chenle.”

“Hi, Chenle! I’m Johnny!”

That’s not the end of Johnny’s meeting with Chenle. Sometimes Johnny would see Kun with Chenle on his hip as he took a delivery package. Other times, Johnny would meet the brothers by chance at the recycling center. There are weird times when Johnny would meet them on the 24 hours pharmacy when he had just finished drinking with Ten and was buying some Advil to prevent hangover. There, he saw Kun cradling a fussy Chenle while scrambling to look for baby fever medicine. It was definitely a weird meeting.

Today was definitely a weird by chance meeting as well. Kun looked like he’s about to die. Chenle wasn’t in his carrier, rather, he was settled on Kun’s hip as the man struggled to carry his groceries bags with one arm.

“Hey! Kun! Need some help?”

Kun jumped in shock, dropping his bags, letting a few cans of food rolling out of it.

“God! I’m sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you!” Johnny exclaimed quickly, scrambling to collect the cans, stuffing them back into the recyclable cute eco bags Kun had.

“Here, let me help,” Johnny offered, taking the two bags, leaving Kun with just one. Johnny wondered how the hell Kun managed to carry three bags and a baby by himself. If he remembered correctly, Kun doesn’t have any car or other transportation method.

“Thank you so much, Johnny! Chenle is in one of his moods today and he refused to be strapped in his carrier,” Kun sighed as he followed Johnny into the elevator.

“Ah, babies. Moodier than teenager nowadays,” Johnny joked.

They arrived at the eighth floor, Kun pressed the passcode to his apartment, kicking the door open so Johnny could come in. As Johnny expected, the apartment was neat. Super neat. On brand with Kun really. Well, it’s as neat as it could be with a baby living in the house.

The living room floor is lined with playmats, and there were a few rattle toys collected into a clear box on the coffee table. There was a… is it a dog gate?? There’s the—something that eerily resembles a—dog gate, separating the living room from the kitchen.

“Ah… I installed the gates because Chenle is… an active crawler nowadays,” Kun chuckled sheepishly when he noticed Johnny staring at it. He set Chenle down on the mats, and the baby went into a crawling spree right away. Looking at him, Chenle’s crawling ability could put some soldiers to shame, Johnny thought, as he reminisced his days on the military camp.

“You can set them here,” Kun pointed to his kitchen island.

“Wow, your apartment is so neat. It’s as if Taeyong lived here,” Johnny mused.

Kun laughed, “If Taeyong lived here, there will be art pieces, Johnny.”

Johnny chuckled, Kun was right. The apartment is very sparsely decorated, but Johnny likes that actually. It made the studio apartment seems wider.

“Oh, are you free after this or do you have things to do?” Kun asked suddenly as he began taking his groceries out of the bags.

“I’m free actually. When I met you, I was just getting back after wandering around. I was about to go back to my place to order some lunch,” Johnny answered, already taking his phone out, opening his delivery app. Maybe he should order some too for Kun while he’s at it.

“Oh, no need to order! I’m about to cook lunch. You could stay over!” Kun said amicably, already taking out a pan out of nowhere.

“Eyy, I don’t want to be a burden. You seemed tired,” Johnny refused politely. Kun does really looked like he needs a rest.

“No, you won’t be. I still have to cook for myself and for Chenle. Cooking for one more person doesn’t really change anything,” Kun chuckled, rolling his sleeves and began cleaning some vegetables under the sink.

“Shall I help then?” Johnny asked. He doesn’t want to be rude. Not in front of his crush!

“You can help me chop up some kimchi….? You don’t mind having kimchi jjigae for lunch, right?” Kun asked.

“What? Of course, no!”

Johnny would never refuse free homemade food!

The two work in relative silence. Kun was humming random songs under his breath, Chenle graciously provided them with background noises of him screaming and giggling. Kun would sometimes look back and smile at the baby.

The stew is bubbling on the stove and Johnny watched as Kun took out some vegetables that he steamed—Johnny still had no idea what they were for.

“Do kimchi jjigae needs steamed danhobak? I’m not good at cooking, I don’t know,” Johnny asked curiously.

Kun actually laughed as he popped the danhobak and also… is that cooked fish? Well, he started dumping random items into the food processor.

“It’s not for us. It’s for Chenle.”

Johnny felt dumb.

“Apparently, Chenle is on a danhobak craze nowadays. He loved it so much, I don’t know why,” Kun shrugged as he pulsed the food processor, adding a few spoonfuls of brown liquid to make it a tad smoother.

“It’s chicken broth. He’s not allowed to have salt yet,” Kun explained. Once the assorted food had turn into one slightly chunky mush, Kun plated it into this cute little plastic bowls that has dolphins on it.

“Geez, children appliances are so cute,” Johnny gushes, picking up the small plastic spoon, admiring the small size. It’s so little! It’s barely the size of his gigantic thumb.

So cute!, Johnny wanted to scream.

“I know, right? It requires a lot of self-restraint so I won’t buy every single item I laid eyes on when I went shopping,” Kun sighed as he turned off the stove.

“Shall I bring the dolsot to the living room? Uh, or, where do you usually eat?” Johnny scratched his head.

Kun chuckled, “Yeah, at the coffee table. Thank you!”

Johnny used a kitchen rag to hold the dolsot, carefully dodging Chenle who was crawling everywhere.

Kun picked Chenle up, settling the baby on his hip as he brought the baby food to the coffee table.

“I hope you don’t lose your appetite,” Kun said apologetically as he settled Chenle on his lap, putting on a silicon bib on the baby’s neck.

Johnny wanted to scream because the bib was so cute?!?! And on Chenle?!?!?

His brain screamed CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE right away, and if he’s living in anime world his eyes would shoot out hearts right now.

“Does he eat by himself? I don’t know, but babies in videos like to eat by themselves…” Johnny trailed off.

Kun laughed and nodded as he gave one spoon to Chenle before taking another spoon himself. The baby looked happy, mashing his food around as Kun fed him small spoonful of porridge.

“You should eat first before the stew goes cold, Johnny,” Kun said kindly.

“Nah, I’ll wait for the host like the good guest I am,” Johnny joked.

In fact, he just wanted to marvel at the very cute act of Kun making plane noises to get Chenle to stop playing with his food and actually eating it.

“So, you’re just gonna watch me try not to strangle Lele while our food goes cold?” Kun quirked an eyebrow playfully.

“Lele?”

“Ah, that’s just a nickname for him,” Kun chuckled as he successfully fed a spoonful of porridge into Chenle’s awaiting mouth.

“Okay, that’s cute,” Johnny cooed.

Kun widened his eyes for a split second, because… did he just witness an over 6 feet tall giant cooing? No? Yes?

“It must’ve been fun, having him around,” Johnny mused, heart melting at the sight of Chenle giggling.

“It is. A bit of a burden though, but a nice burden,” Kun sighed fondly.

Chenle, thankfully, finished his lunch quickly. Kun brought the baby to the sink and nimbly cleaned him up, dropping the bib into the sink, before letting the baby crawl back on the playmat.

“Let’s eat before it gets colder!” Kun grinned.

Johnny bowed his head politely as he received the eating utensils from Kun. When he took the first sip of the broth, he felt like crying.

IT. WAS. SO. GOOD.

Yeah, it was already lukewarm, but it still tasted so good. Finally, Johnny found someone who could rival Taeyong’s food. But probably don’t tell Taeyong that, Johnny still values his life.

“Wow, it’s so good!” Johnny finally decided to verbally praise the man.

“Thank you,” Kun shyly ducked his head, his cheeks flaring.

“I should probably come over often, your food is phenomenal,” Johnny joked as he took another sip of the red broth.

“Oh, please do! We’re neighbors, anyway!”

Okay, Johnny totally didn’t expect that.

“I was just kidding,” Johnny chuckled.

“No, really, please do come. It… It gets a little lonely sometimes. Ten and Doyoung rarely comes nowadays. And I can’t go out often because I have to take care of Chenle, and I don’t really have a stabile fund for a babysitter,” Kun said sheepishly.

“You should’ve brought Chenle along then!” Johnny suggested lightly.

Kun didn’t answer.

Kun never brought Chenle out, and he kept missing the group’s get together.

But Johnny became a frequent visitor of his apartment.

The second time Johnny came over to eat, it was randomly. Johnny just finished a project with flying colors, and he happened to go to E-Mart, yes, the same E-Mart he met Kun, and he was thinking of buying some soju so he could drink alone to celebrate.

He was getting sidetracked—as per usual—because he passed by a discount shelf filled to the brim with plushies. Has he ever mentioned how much he loves cute things? No? Not enough?

Johnny loves cute things. There, in case everyone forgets.

His eyes happened to land upon a dolphin ragdoll peeking from behind a mountain of dog plushies. It was made with assorted soft scrap fabrics sewn together, and it was oh so soft to the touch and the dolphin reminded Johnny of the shrieks Chenle let out whenever he’s excited.

Without thinking much, he was already at the check-out, soju forgotten, and instead he has the ragdoll inside his basket alongside with his groceries.

Once he arrived at home, he stared at the doll, quite confused on what to do with it. One, he could keep it for himself because it was indeed that cute, but it won’t fit the esthetics of his monochromatic apartment. Two, he could go knock at Kun’s door and give it to Chenle…. But what would he say?

Hey, so I was shopping and I got distracted by plushies and I got this for your brother?

That would be so weird.

Johnny kept the doll sitting on his nightstand for three days before he decided he’ll just go to Kun’s place.

He felt like he need to pay back for the free lunch anyway, so he came with his best culinary creation… coffee. Johnny isn’t gifted with cooking, but he is indeed good at making coffee. His milk to espresso ratio is on point as Ten would say.

He clutched a big thermos of his coffee mix and also the cute doll on his other hand before knocking Kun’s door.

“Wait!”

The door opened, revealing Kun wearing an oversized t-shirt with sweatpants, wire-rimmed glasses perched on his nose haphazardly, with Chenle, oh sweet little Chenle, on his hips, clad only on his diapers.

“Johnny! What a surprise! Come inside!”

Johnny grinned, bopping Chenle’s cheek which the baby replied with a high-pitched shriek as he took off his sneakers, entering the cozy apartment.

Johnny saw a very cute, is that dolphin patterned!?!?!, onesie on the playmat and some baby products.

“Chenle just had his bath after he finished his lunch because he was being a messy baby today, and I was just dressing him up,” Kun explained.

“Oh, sorry! Was I intruding?”

Kun laughed, shaking his head, “No! It’s okay! Just a little unexpected. What’s up?”

Johnny lost his voice as he watched Kun expertly buttoned the cute onesie onto Chenle’s little body.

The dolphin pattern is so cute!!!

“Yeah, it is, isn’t it?”

Okay, fuck. Johnny just said that out loud.

“When Chenle shrieks, Ten said he sounded like a beluga. Doyoung said Chenle had a big head, so he’s probably going to be smart in the future, and he could be a dolphin. I bought it because I thought it fits him. It did, right?” Kun grinned as he softly patted some baby powder into Chenle’s cheeks.

It smells so good, and thankfully, Johnny finally decided against putting his foot in his mouth and only think about it instead of blurting it out loud.

“So, why are you here suddenly?” Kun asked as he let Chenle crawl away.

“Uh, so… I have yet to thank you for that random free lunch, so… I mean, I can’t cook, but my coffee is pretty bomb, so…”

Johnny handed the thermos to Kun who accepted it with his bright signature dimpled smile.

“Oh my god! Thank you! Just what I need!”

Johnny grinned before showing the second item.

“Also, I happened to pass by the discounted plushie section on E-Mart… And I guess it’s Chenle’s trademark… because I got reminded of him so much when I saw this doll and I kinda bought it on impulse…”

Kun gaped at the cute ragdoll, holding it carefully with his hands.

“Oh, Johnny! This is so cute! Lele! Come here!”

Chenle perked up having his name called, and he excitedly crawl towards Kun.

“Johnny gave this to you!”

Chenle made grabby hands when Kun dangled the doll in front of him.

When Kun gave it to him, Chenle eyed it curiously before hugging the doll, and the adults can’t help but to coo at the cuteness he displayed.

“Wait, let me…”

Johnny quickly whipped out his phone, aiming it at Chenle before snapping a few shots.

“Kun! Look!”

Kun squealed at one of the pictures, “Ah, no wonder you’re a photography student! Can you send it to me?”

Johnny nodded quickly, sending the pictures he took to Kun’s number.

Kun’s eyes shone as he swiped through the photos. Johnny discreetly set his favorite picture as his lock screen, replacing the picture of a random stray cat he took last week.

“By the way, have you had lunch?” Kun asked as he picked Chenle up.

“Nah, I was planning on calling deliveries once I got back!” Johnny smiled, tucking his phone back to his pocket, preparing to leave.

“Oh, please stay for lunch! I made… uh, it’s a Chinese dish… But I think you might enjoy it. Let me warm it up for you!”

“What? Kun! No need to, I don’t want to burden you. You seemed busy with Ch—”

“Nonsense! It’s okay. Wait here!”

Kun stood up, still having Chenle perched on his hip as he trudged to the kitchen, taking a food container from the counter and popping it into the microwave. 3 minutes passed, and after the microwave beeped, Kun brought the container into the coffee table, heading back to the kitchen only to come back with a bowl of rice and a pair of chopsticks.

“It’s a new recipe. I was playing around with some ingredients. Please do become my judge!” Kun said sheepishly.

In front of Johnny, is a chicken dish, sort of braised, and the smell of the marinade was truly making him salivating. He took a tentative bite and nearly moan from the taste.

 Is Kun secretly a chef?

“Haha, no! I just liked cooking!”

Oh, shit. Johnny just said that out loud. Again.

“You could be one though,” Johnny finally commented, swallowing down his embarrassment.

Kun rolled his eyes as he moved Chenle’s position to his front, slightly patting the boy’s back who was still holding the ragdoll from Johnny.

“Is it Chenle’s nap time?” Johnny asked.

“Huh? Yeah, supposedly, but apparently, he’s not sleepy yet. Let me just grab his formula and hoped it’s enough to induce a food coma,” Kun joked, standing up again, and back to the kitchen. This man is busy.

He came back with Chenle curled to his chest, one hand holding the ragdoll—Johnny seriously felt like shedding tears because the fact that Chenle liked the doll touched the deepest part of his heart—and the other one holding his milk bottle.

Kun brought a mug over with his free hand, and he pour out Johnny’s coffee into it before taking a sip.

Johnny watched carefully, gauging the man’s reaction.

“If I could be a chef, then you could be a barista,” Kun commented, causing a faint blush to grace Johnny’s cheeks.

“Eyy…”

“Really! The coffee to milk ratio is perfect! Do you grind your own beans?” Kun asked.

Johnny shook his head, “I don’t have fancy tools, just a cheap coffee maker I bought from Yes24. I bought ground beans from this local coffee shop. It’s a bit pricey, but If we add up the cost, it’s still cheaper than getting a cup from Starbucks every day!”

“Seriously, it’s good,” Kun raised his mug, bringing it to his lips.

Johnny finished his lunch, and it was super good. He volunteered to wash the dishes which, of course, Kun objected. But Johnny is one of the most convincing people on earth, so he managed to make Kun retreat to his room to tuck Chenle in for his nap as he washed the dishes.

“Why are you washing my pots?! Johnny! You don’t have to!”

Johnny turned around, looking at Kun who had abandoned his glasses, hands on his hip with a sulky expression on his face.

Johnny laughed as he set the clean pots on the drying rack, “I need to repay you for the free food!”

Kun rolled his eyes, “I feel indebted. Look, you even wiped my counter!”

Johnny laughed again, “Kun, it’s really nothing!”

Kun pouted his lips and Johnny had the urge to—

Stop it, Johnny!

“How about you come over again tomorrow? I’ll cook you a dinner as a payment!”

“What? No!”

“Yes!”

“Alright, but I’ll wash your dishes again!”

“What?! No!”

“Yes!”

Long story short, Johnny does come the next day, and yes, he washed the dishes, and yes, that was just a beginning to the routine dinner they had together at least three times a week.

And did Johnny fall harder for the younger guy?

You bet the fuck he does.

It was one of the days when Taeyong felt like making something and invited all his friends to his place that he shared with Ten. Doyoung and Jaehyun were out on their weekly date so they tapped out, and Kun… of course he’s not there with no excuse and Ten just let him be.

Johnny lounged on Taeyong’s couch, sipping on whatever concoction Taeyong made as part of his culinary experimentation. It tasted a bit too sweet for Johnny’s taste, but Johnny’s a softie for his friends so he sipped it down to its last drop for his bestie.

“Hey, can I borrow your phone? Do you have anything new on your Spotify playlist?” Ten asked.

Johnny grinned. He takes pride in his impeccable music taste and his friends loved to go through his weekly updated playlist. Johnny handed his phone to Ten who smiled excitedly.

Johnny set down the now empty glass on the coffee table, waiting for Ten to compliment him on this new indie artist he found by chance.

“Wait… Johnny? This… How do you get this photo?”

Johnny turned to his left to see Ten pointing at his lock screen which shows the picture of Chenle beaming in his dolphin patterned onesies, holding the dolphin ragdoll Johnny gave him.

“Oh, I took it! Isn’t it cute?! I never knew Kun has a baby brother that cute!” Johnny gushes.

“Kun has a brother?!”

Taeyong sauntered to them with a plate of cookies he just made.

“Yeah! Quite a big age gap, but really, the kid’s cute!” Johnny grinned, proudly showing his lock screen to Taeyong.

“Kun’s… How old is he again? He’s the same age as Ten… So, he’s 24? And how old is his brother again?”

“Around eight or nine months! He’s so cute though, he was like crawling everywhere, Yong! Reminded me during our enlistment years where we have to crawl on the field every day!”

Ten gulped but he made no comment.

“How old is his parents? My mother would not have the strength to pop out a baby at her age,” Taeyong scratched his head.

“That’s not important. What’s important is, how the hell did you get so close to Kun?!” Ten asked, switching the topic.

“We actually live on the same floor! How can you not tell me this, Ten? He’s like… super cool, and his food are like restaurant quality! No offense, Yong, you’re still a good cook, but Kun’s food… Man. Michelin!” Johnny exclaimed, making a chef’s kiss gesture.

“I never thought you’d hang out with Kun, so I never felt the need to tell you… But, really? How did you get so close to him? This picture… This is his living room, right?” Ten glared at Johnny pointedly.

“We met by chance, on E-Mart! Can you believe it? And then we just kinda bumped into each other often, I helped him carry his groceries once and he made me stay for lunch, which was ultimately the best kimchi jjigae I’ve ever had, and then we kind of had dinner together quite regularly,” Johnny shrugged.

“Johnny!”

“What?”

Taeyong and Ten were both gaping at the sudden piece of information.

“What? Is there anything wrong? We’re basically neighbors! We met accidentally too often. Sometimes in the convenience store, sometimes the pharmacy, and weirdly we met often at the recycling center,” Johnny shrugged.

“How can you be so close to him, this is unfair! He was my best friend first!” Ten moped.

“You’re wrapped around Taeyong all the time, it wasn’t his fault. He’s quite cute like a lonely hermit,” Johnny pointed out.

“Are you… Oh! Johnny! I know this look! You’re interested in him, right?!” Taeyong giggled.

Johnny felt his cheeks warming up, and he stuttered a response, “Hey? Uh, what? Hey!”

Ten laughed out loud, clutching his stomach, “Oh! Dude! You’re totally smitten by Kun! Ah, I was right all along. The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

“I thought you liked me because I banged you good,” Taeyong sent Ten a pointed look.

“Oookay guys no need to disclose your bedroom life to me….” Johnny grimaced.

“No, Taeyong! It was your scones! Your scones were so phenomenal that one night I was thinking like, God, I need to wed this man and eat his scones for the rest of my life,” Ten said dramatically.

Taeyong laughed, literally jumping over Johnny to press a kiss onto Ten’s cheek.

“Alright, enough PDA, no need to rub it over your very much single friend here,” Johnny grunted, lifting Taeyong by his armpits, settling him back on his other side.

“Seriously, dude, I’m happy for you if you ended up with Kun. He’s a truly great guy, maybe too kind for his own good, but really, he’s great. He’s a bit mysterious, and very… secretive and silent, but I don’t know, you’ve changed your type I guess,” Taeyong shrugged.

“The two of you will make a weird pair, but if an insufferable OCD like Doyoung and golden retriever incarnate like Jaehyun could make it, then the two of you could. You’re going to make an unlikely pair, but still lovely nonetheless,” Ten beamed.

“And then our group will turn into a full circle of gay couples! Woot, woot!” Taeyong cheered.

“I haven’t said anything about liking Kun, geez,” Johnny sneered.

“But it shows in your face! Johnny, I know you well! You’re the biggest hopeless romantic I’ve ever met in my whole 25 years of living. One look at Kun with a baby with him already got you imagining a future with him raising kids, living in a white picket fenced house, I don’t know, chasing a dog in the backyard or something,” Taeyong commented.

Johnny didn’t want to admit that yes, that crossed his mind more than once.

Ten smiled softly, patting Johnny’s thigh, “I’ve known Kun for years, more than I’ve known you, of course. One thing I can say for sure, is that Kun is as much as a hopeless romantic as you. It’s just he doesn’t actively seeks…. Love? I guess? He doesn’t actively try to date around like you, and he’s not that good at expressing his feelings. He might be slow sometimes, but he’s a sweet guy. A sweet guy with a… tough life. That’s the only thing I can tell you.”

Johnny glanced at Ten, and the shorter man just shrugged.

“If you want to know more about him, about Chenle, and probably get closer to him, then do it. Approach him. He could use some company, y’know? His life is way more complicated than we all knew, and I’m convinced he could win some Oscars because he acted too damn good at hiding his internal turmoil. Doyoung and I… in the span of our 4 years of friendship together… had seen much, about Kun. But we still can’t figure out much. There are things that Doyoung and I knew, that maybe you, Taeyong, and Jaehyun didn’t… But it’s not our place to tell.”

Taeyong furrowed his brows, “What’s wrong with Kun?”

“A lot,” Ten answered shortly.

“You scared me,” Johnny blinked his eyes.

“If me giving you a little spoiler of Kun’s life already scared you that much, then I suggest you to back out. I might be close to you after I dated Taeyong, but Kun was the first friend I made here in Korea. He’s someone I treasured a lot, and I don’t want you to hurt him,” Ten shrugged, sipping his own drink.

“I’m not planning to hurt him or anything… I mean, okay, I admit it. I like him. Truly.”

“I’m just saying. Hypothetically. I knew you’re a good guy, Johnny. And if you truly liked Kun, then it’s okay. It’s hard not to like someone like Kun. If the two of you could make it work, I’d be the happiest friend on earth,” Ten smiled.

Kun grumbled as he took off his specs. He just wanted to have a peaceful day finishing this damn song he’d been trying to produce, but there’s always something. Chenle looked up from next to him on the floor, blinking his eyes, and then the bell rang.

“Who the he—”

The bell rang again, this time furiously. There’s only one person on earth who would abuse Kun’s bell like that.

He picked Chenle up, settling him on his hip before opening the door.

“T—”

“HI CHENLE! MY MOST FAVORITE NON-BIOLOGICALLY RELATED NEPHEW!”

Ten barreled inside, taking Chenle from Kun’s hold, spinning the baby around, causing him to shriek excitedly.

“Why are you here?” Kun sighed.

Ten shot him a pointed look, “Kun! I missed you and Chenle! You kept missing the get together at Taeyong’s place!”

Kun sighed again, pinching his nose bridge.

“That freshman who usually babysat Chenle went back to her hometown. I haven’t been able to find a replacement, so I’ve been staying at home more. If I have a class, I can always put Chenle on a daycare, but the fee’s quite pricey and I’m saving because my lease is up next year, so…”

Ten sighed, finally putting Chenle down on the mat before sitting next to Kun on the couch, “Oh, Kun…. You could’ve told me, or Doyoung! We’ve babysat Chenle before when he was still pooping and peeing and vomiting everywhere. Although, maybe tell me. Doyoung’s too cranky nowadays.”

Kun chuckled, “You’re busy with your dance projects, Ten. And you live with Taeyong now. He doesn’t know of Chenle’s existence.”

“Well, he kinda did now…”

“TEN! You told him?!”

“No! Hear me out! Johnny… He came to our place. Remember when Taeyong invited all of you because he was on a cooking spree? Yeah, that time. Only Johnny showed up, and long story short, I borrowed his phone. And you know what? His lock screen was Chenle!”

Kun gaped, “Chenle was his lock screen?”

“Yeah! I was so shocked. I mean, I knew the two of you had started to get to know each other, but I thought your relationship was limited to saying hi when meeting on random occasions. I didn’t know that he regularly has dinner here and meet Chenle and I don’t know… buy him dolls!”

“Johnny… He thought Chenle was my little brother.”

Ten rolled his eyes, “Quite dumb, he is. Can he even do math? That means Chenle will have a whooping 23 years of age gap with you. That’s ridiculous.”

“You didn’t tell him, right?!” Kun asked in sheer panic.

“Of course, not! Kun, my mouth might be loose sometimes, but I know my limit. Doyoung had kept silent as well. Don’t look down on us like that,” Ten pouted.

“Sorry… I was just… I don’t know.”

“Johnny liked you, you know?”

“H-huh?”

“He likes you. Like… genuinely.”

Kun furrowed his brows, “Why?”

“What do you mean why? He’s a normal gay man with good eyes!”

“I mean… Why me? I’m nowhere near attractive, and whenever he saw me, I was always in a questionable state because I was running only on 3 hours of sleep.”

Ten rolled his eyes, cupping Kun’s cheek, forcing the man to look at him straight in the eyes.

“Kun, listen. You’re a great guy, okay? You’re charming, your dimples are a God sent gift, you’re sometimes too nice for this world, and your food can put Gordon Ramsay’s creations to shame. And also, do you even know Johnny? According to Taeyong, Johnny is a sucker for domesticity and simplicity. The fact that you have Chenle and you never bothered dressing up or being pretentious was your selling point. He’s a big sap with a romantic heart, Kun.”

Kun shrugged, “I don’t know… He’s a genuinely good guy. He’s very nice and he’s a great company. I admitted, I was a bit lonely these days, so I enjoyed his visits for dinner, and Chenle also likes seeing a new face instead of just staring at me all day. It’s just that… I don’t know… He’ll be disappointed if he knew.”

“Kun, listen. Listen, okay? You don’t have to tell Johnny if you’re not ready. But please know, that Johnny is genuinely interested in you. I gave him the green light to approach you. Not that I’m your mother and you’d need my permission to date him, no. But I knew you the best, I happened to know Johnny well, and I know he won’t disappoint. You’ve been in this hell hole by yourself all this time. You deserve some company, you know? And a gigantic mush like Johnny might be your perfect company. He’s a man with a lot of love to give, Kun. Maybe he doesn’t love you and Chenle yet, but he will. Oh, he will. I’m sure,” Ten said resolutely.

Kun leaned his head on Ten’s shoulder, eyes trained on Chenle who was crawling around giddily.

“I’m the only relative Chenle has… And Chenle’s the only family I have left. We’re a package deal, Ten. I’m not making Johnny a father at the tender age of 25.”

“Oh, Kunkun….”

Ten hugged his poor friend tightly.

“There’s a reason why I never go out again. I felt like I lost a sense of reality sometimes. I sometimes felt like my life is a huge, cruel, fever dream. I liked Johnny. A lot. He’s nice and kind, his coffee tasted better than the overly priced shits in Starbucks, and even though his humor sense is a bit questionable, he’s all around a good guy. A good guy like him deserves a lot more. He talked about his dreams to me. He’s starting a studio with Taeyong hyung and Jaehyun, right? He said the plan is coming up nicely, he had a trust fund from his parents that he could use to rent a space and buy equipment, he said he’s been getting more photography gig that could support his portfolio and earn him more… He has a lot of dreams and being with me and Chenle would only tie him down.”

“Or, it could motivate him. Like I said, Johnny’s a sucker for domestic shits. He loved all things family related, Kun. The biggest reason he likes you was because of you and Chenle. He’s maybe the one for both of you.”

“I don’t know…”

“I won’t force you, okay? I’m just… opening your eyes. Next time he comes around, you should notice the efforts he pulls, okay? He really admitted to me and Taeyong that he likes you. I cornered him before he went home and he told me he wanted to court you. He said he can’t wait to be Chenle’s brother-in-law, do you believe he said that? Ah, if only he knew he signed up to be Chenle’s dad instead…”

“Exactly, Ten! I don’t want him to feel pressured once he knew Chenle wasn’t my brother!” Kun groaned.

“Okay, I said the wrong thing, never mind! Just… He’s going to start courting you, okay? Don’t get freaked out. This is me spoiling Johnny’s plan so his plan would work. Please consider telling Johnny the real story. If he decided he wanted to stay, please let him. If he tapped out, I’m always ready to play murder and I can find somewhere to bury his body. I’m sure Doyoung would be a great help covering the trace. He’s meticulous.”

Kun laughed, “Silly. No murder, okay? I can handle this. I’m a grown ass man. Alright, I’d probably cry if he tapped out, but it’s his right. I can’t get mad at him. I’m already prepared to die single, anyways.”

“Nooo, Kun! Look, if by the age 40 you’re still single, I’ll convince Taeyong so that we can be in an… I don’t know… polyamorous stuff. That shit is hot nowadays.”

“Ten! Your mind!”

Ten grinned, relieved to see Kun laughing.

“Okay, okay. I’ll just stick to my initial plan of Mission: Johnny x Kun then.”

“No. No mission.”

“Yes. Yes mission. I’m going to play cupid and make this work.”

“Teeeen.”

“Oh, I will.”

After the talk with Ten, Kun had been hyper aware of Johnny now. Kun noticed that now Johnny come for dinner almost every day, as opposed to the two or three times a week schedule they had going.

Johnny always washes the dishes for him even though Kun insisted him not to.

Johnny always sends a new thermos of coffee every morning to his doorstep, and they tasted good every time.

Johnny sometimes shows up with a cute onesie or toy saying he got sidetracked when he was shopping because he can’t look at cute things without remembering Chenle.

Johnny is also apparently very good at making burgers. He invited Kun and Chenle to his apartment, and it’s surprisingly monochromatic instead of decorated with burst of colors as Kun first expected.

Johnny found a porridge recipe on the internet that has minced meat in it because he claimed Chenle should taste meat when the adults eat one. It was too watery for a nine months old baby, but Chenle doesn’t seem to mind.

Kun nearly cried on the spot because of his sweet act.

At one point, Johnny attempted to cook something that’s not burgers or coffee, and Kun actually got food poisoning. But Johnny himself was strangely fine?

He was super apologetic and promised to make up for his lack of culinary ability that harmed Kun’s health. Johnny did come, three times a day, bringing medicine and food—thankfully, take outs—and made sure Kun was still alive. It was a tad awkward being with just Johnny in his apartment while he was sick, because for once, Kun let Ten took Chenle out since Taeyong was away for an art excursion in Ulsan, and Johnny thought Chenle was with his parents.

It was awkward, just being with Johnny without Chenle’s loud shrieks filling the place. But it was nice. Kun liked the silence. Kun liked the tea Johnny made because apparently the guy could also brew a good ass tea, not just coffee. And Kun doesn’t question it when Johnny tucked him in and left a kiss on his head when he thought Kun was already asleep.

This sends Kun spiraling into a state of panic. Were all of those actions the one Ten mentioned as Johnny trying to court him? Why though?

Kun had been fine being single all these times. He dated three girls in the past before coming out to himself that no, he doesn’t like girls. He was in college when he first dated a guy. It didn’t work. He dated two more guys before deciding that maybe, he’s not meant to be with someone.

He’s fine being with himself, surrounding himself only with a few close friends. He admitted, after Chenle came, things took a 180 turn. Sometimes Kun felt lonely. Sometimes he felt tired. Sometimes he locked himself in the bathroom and cried pathetically because work had been hard, he had unfinished assignments waiting to be done, and he also had Chenle to take care of.

Kun is not someone who likes to depend on someone. Ever since he was a kid, he was used to being independent after spending a majority of his childhood under his grandparents’ care. He always thought he can do everything by himself. He doesn’t like burdening Ten and Doyoung because he knew his friends were also busy with their college projects and their part-time jobs. Both of them already had boyfriends of their own too, and Kun felt bad robbing their dating time just so he can get some help. He doesn’t even need that kind of help. Kun is a perfectly capable man.

Nowadays when he saw his friends’ Instagram post, he realized he was just lonely. He envied Ten’s Instagram page which were filled with cute date nights with Taeyong, café hopping, late-night walks, and all those sappy things Kun would love to try. And then there’s Doyoung who had Jaehyun attached to him like a leech. Kun envied the fact that Doyoung’s soundcloud is filled with love songs he wrote for Jaehyun, and sometimes Jaehyun would make these cute video edits to accompany it that were so cute they made Kun squeal.

Sometimes Kun envied their posts when they were hanging out, all of them, Ten, Taeyong, Doyoung, Jaehyun, and Johnny. Kun would love to join, but he had Chenle to take care of. He can’t just bring Chenle along with him because he doesn’t know how to explain the situation without feeling pain creeping his whole body.

Sometimes Kun hoped his friends would just... call or something? Kun gets lonely a little too often right now, and his days were mostly occupied with doing assignments, making music, and playing with a baby who can barely talk. He wanted to talk about the awful comments he got on his assignments, the newest deal he signed because his demo was accepted, this new recipe he wanted to try…

And then Johnny suddenly comes. Johnny, the six feet two gentle giant who loves everything cute. Johnny who would text him a random meme at 3 a.m in the morning, Johnny who made the best coffee, Johnny who was very good at washing the dishes… Johnny who would come visit him and accompany him at his lonely apartment, Johnny who looked at Chenle like the baby was life’s biggest miracle, Johnny who was awkward but always gentle.

Kun admitted, it stirred something foreign in his stomach, something he couldn’t quite comprehend. He talked to Doyoung and Ten once about this, and the two happily exclaimed that Kun might have just developed some sort of feelings for Johnny.

It scares Kun.

Developing feelings for his own friend is never in his agenda. All he wanted to do was get his Master’s done, climb his way up in the agency as a music producer, raise Chenle well, and after he’s a bit older he thought he could apply for PhD so he could be a music professor like he always wanted to.

Inserting Johnny into his life plan was very, very, tempting. But Kun knew, Johnny had his own dream and plan, and being a father at 25 was definitely not on Johnny’s plan. Heck, it wasn’t even in Kun’s plan. Life was just being cruel at him.

But Kun cannot deny, he loved it when he spends time with the tall dude. He loved how he could vent about the nasty guy he had to work with for his music project and Johnny would listen attentively, even providing the curse words to make Kun feel better.

Kun thought, that was the extent of Johnny’s kindness and he’ll get over him one day.

But no.

Kun was cooking seaweed soup that day. Johnny had called, asking if Kun would like to join him for breakfast. Kun politely declined the man, saying that he’s already cooked breakfast, some seaweed soup for Chenle and him, and even politely asked back if Johnny would like some as well like a good apartment neighbor he is.

Johnny asked whose birthday is that and Kun truthfully answered, “Chenle’s.”

What Kun didn’t expect was to have Johnny knocking on his door approximately twenty-five minutes later with a bag filled with God knows what.

“It’s Chenle’s first birthday?!” Johnny asked excitedly as he entered Kun’s apartment.

“Uhm… Yeah?”

“We should do a doljanchi! Wait, do Chinese people have doljanchi? I don’t know, but Korean does, so we should do one for Chenle!”

Kun was a bit confused, so he made Johnny sat down and join him and Chenle for some seaweed soup first. Johnny claimed the soup tasted as good as the one his mother usually makes and it cured his homesickness, and Kun might have made a mental note to make some for Johnny’s birthday next year.

After breakfast, Johnny put the coffee table away, and set various things on the playmat. He had a piano keychain, a toy hammer (Kun doesn’t know where Johnny got that, or why he has that out of all things), a vitamin bottle, a magnifying glass (really, where does this man gets all these weird items), a pen, a one thousand won bill, a ball, and a digital camera.

“This will determine Chenle’s future! Well, it won’t, but it’s fun pretending it will, anyways. I grabbed a stethoscope on my doljanchi and my parents were all over the moon thinking their son will be a doctor, but look where he is now!” Johnny laughed.

“What does…. All of these… means?” Kun asked curiously.

“Oh! Um, since you do music, I have this one little piano keychain, if Chenle picked it he might have taken an interest in music like you! I was thinking of laws and all I had in mind was the judge’s hammer but I don’t have one… But I happened to have this toy hammer Jaehyun gave to me randomly when he was drunk, so yeah. This vitamin bottle, I don’t know, symbolizes healthcare? Chenle could’ve been a doctor in the future for all we know! This magnifying glass, I don’t know… Detectives? Oh! Could also mean scientist! A pen for a writer, or maybe journalist, and then money… I don’t know he could’ve been in the business world. And camera… Uhm, I don’t know since I’m a photographer, it’ll be fun if Chenle is interested in photography like me.”

Kun was touched. He was close to crying at that moment.

“Come on, Chenle!”

Kun set Chenle down in front of him, while Johnny sat behind the assorted items, clapping his hands excitedly, motioning Chenle to come closer.

“Wait!”

Johnny took his phone camera and recorded the act, calling Chenle’s name.

Kun was smiling from ear to ear, even clapping along, as Chenle crawled towards the line of items.

To their surprise, Chenle picked the piano keychain… and then the magnifying glass.

“A scientist musician! Good choice, Lele!” Johnny beamed, and Chenle squealed excitedly.

Kun can’t help but shed a little tear, quickly dabbing them away with the sleeves of his shirt.

“Your brother will be a scientist who’s good at music. That’s cool! Oh, he could be like Lee Jangwon! He went to KAIST but he’s super good at music, wow, Chenle!”

Chenle threw the items away, before crawling into Johnny’s laps, gurgling happily as Johnny tickled his tummy.

It was a beautiful sight and Kun was glad he experienced it in this lifetime.

The forgetting Johnny agenda is effectively down the drain.

“We should celebrate Chenle’s birthday!” Johnny suddenly exclaimed.

“H-huh?”

“Let’s go to COEX Aquarium!”

“Aquarium?!”

“I mean, Chenle’s spirit animal is dolphin, right? We definitely should take him to meet a real dolphin. Probably put them side by side for a shrieking battle,” Johnny chuckled as he let Chenle played with the toy hammer.

“Y-you want to go to the aquarium to celebrate my s—brother’s birthday?!”

Johnny nodded, “Do you have anywhere to go today?”

“Um, no, actually. I thought I’d just bake a cake or something…”

“We should go to the aquarium, then! We can take my car!”

“I-is it okay with you?”

“What?! Of course, it is! I was the one who suggested it, aren’t I? Come on!”

Kun doesn’t know how life turns out to be this way, but he found himself inside a water tunnel, holding Chenle on his front, the baby clapping his hands excitedly as a manta ray passed by them.

“Chenle looked! The fishies are saying hi!”

Johnny looked more excited than Chenle to be in the aquarium, but they both shared the same happy looks on their faces.

“Yu,” Kun whispered softly. The Chinese for fish.

Johnny perked up and grinned, “I know that one! Yu! Means fish, right?”

Kun nodded with a smile as Chenle wiggled on his embrace, asking to be brought closer to the tank.

“Yu!” Johnny repeated, pointing to a rainbow fish passing by in front of them.

“Yu!”

They both froze.

“Repeat that again, Chenle?!”

Johnny quickly took his cellphone out as Chenle excitedly pointed out, this time to a school of fish swarming by in a shoal.

“Yu! Yu!”

Kun can’t help but laugh out loud, “Johnny! That’s his first word! His first real word! It’s fish! His first word is fish!”

Johnny had a hard time focusing his phone. Shall he focus on Chenle who was still screaming FISH FISH FISH in Chinese, or Kun who had a thousand watts smile on his face, beaming at Chenle proudly?

“Kun! That’s his first word? Okay, Chenle, please grow up as a marine biologist, okay?” Johnny joked, ruffling Chenle’s hair.

The two adults walked under the tunnel, with Chenle in Kun’s hold, excitedly pointing at every colorful looking fish.

“We should watch the dolphin show! Come on! Have you been to COEX before?” Johnny asked Kun.

Kun shyly shook his head as he felt Johnny casually slinging his arm around his shoulder, pulling him towards a line that probably leads to the dolphin show.

“I’ve been here twice. The first time, Taeyong brought me here. I probably looked just like Chenle did. I can’t help it! The fish were all so cute! And then the second time, I went here for a photography project. It was wonderful. I really like the tunnel, the dolphin show, and the giant shark whale tank the best!” Johnny chirped.

Kun could only nod, trying to keep up with Johnny’s excitement. Kun is just buzzing with warmth inside with Johnny’s arm around his back and Chenle wriggling with joy on his front.

Johnny pulled him to sit down, as the show was already about to start.

Within minutes, Kun saw two dolphins leaping out of the water, letting out a very loud screech.

Chenle, who had been excited, froze in his lap almost immediately. Kun looked down in panic, he couldn’t deal with a screaming baby in a public place like this!

But to his surprise, Chenle paused only to screech along, causing a few visitors to look at him in shock.

Johnny turned to Chenle and laughed, apologizing to the people around him, “I’m sorry, he’s just very excited. He loves dolphins!”

Thankfully, people were fine with it and instead coo at how cute Chenle was and how absorbed he was watching the two dolphins do tricks.

“Chenle! Look! They’re going through a fire ring!” Johnny pointed out.

Chenle beamed, pointing at the dolphin, giggling excitedly.

“Gosh, Kun! See?! I knew Chenle would love this. He’s really a dolphin incarnate!” Johnny gushes, squeezing Kun’s arm.

Kun felt like hyperventilating for a second but he suppressed himself and grinned awkwardly, nodding.

Just how many times Johnny would make Kun felt like this today?

Apparently, so many more times.

Right after the dolphin show ended, Johnny insisted them to check out the giant tank. He said there’s usually a diver who would put on a feeding show, feeding the iconic giant whale shark.

It was indeed a magnificent sight. The tank was gigantic. There were hundreds of sea creatures swimming in it! Jelly fish, octopus, fish, fish again, all kinds of fish Kun can’t name one by one.

“Oh! Oh, there’s the diver!”

Johnny, who still had his arm wrapped around Kun’s shoulder, pulled him to the front of the tank to admire it along with other visitors.

Kun took in the sight before him, laughing along with other visitors when the diver pretended to enter the whale shark’s head.

“Kun… Can I… Can I hold Chenle?” Johnny asked shyly all of the sudden, diverting Kun’s attention from watching the diver.

Kun was a bit surprised by the question.

“Y-you want to hold him?”

Johnny nodded with a sheepish grin, “He’s too cute! I can’t help it!”

Kun felt his stomach twisting, in a good way, as he watched Johnny gazing at Chenle fondly.

“Uhm... Sure?”

Kun expected Johnny to be awkward at first, because that’s what happened with Ten and Doyoung. But no! Once he got Chenle safe in his arms, the baby giggled excitedly, probably enjoying being in the arms of someone other than Kun.

“Oh, goodness, Kun! Wow!” Johnny looked at Chenle like the baby was the center of the universe, momentarily forgetting the giant tank in front of him.

Kun can’t help but smile. God, help, his cheeks hurt from smiling too much that day.

“Hey, let me do this. My father used to do this to me all the time when I was a kid,” Johnny suddenly said.

Kun watched as Johnny lifted Chenle up with ease before setting the baby on his shoulders, hands firmly holding Chenle’s legs. Kun’s eyes widened impossibly large at the sight of Chenle standing at six feet something.

“Johnny!”

Worriedly, Kun put a hand on Chenle’s back. The baby doesn’t seem to mind. If anything, he seemed to enjoy the sudden increase of height. He seemed excited, pulling at Johnny’s thick brown locks.

“Chenle! You’re going to tear his hair out!” Kun exclaimed, standing on his tippy toes so he could reach Chenle’s hands.

“Relax, Kun. He’s not going to make me bald,” Johnny chuckled calmly.

“But…”

“Hey! That’s the diver passing by! Chenle! Say hi to the diver!”

Kun decided to spare himself from the stress and let go for once, pulling out his cellphone and taking a picture of the two instead.

Johnny waved his hand, and Chenle copied his act. The diver passed by their front, sending them finger hearts.

Johnny turned to Kun with a bright smile that caused his eyes to crinkle beautifully, “Kun! Can you take a picture of me and Chenle in front of the tank?”

Of course, Kun cannot say no.

He snapped a few pictures and decided, the one where Chenle peered down and Johnny beaming at the baby will be his new lock screen.

Apparently, once he experienced being carried by Johnny, Chenle refused to go back to Kun’s hold.

“The air up here must’ve been different from down there,” Johnny said teasingly, nudging Kun’s shoulder.

Kun grumbled as he walked by Johnny’s side.

“I was just kidding. You’re not that short,” Johnny chuckled.

Kun smiled and sighed. It felt nice. It really did. He finally left the apartment for once, to a place which wasn’t the studio, the campus, or the grocery store.  It felt so nice, being able to laugh freely, and enjoying the unrestraint happiness that Chenle exudes today.

“Johnny?”

“Hmm?”

Kun took a moment to appreciate the view of Johnny, holding Chenle close to his chest, the baby curled peacefully against him.

“Thank you.”

따스하게 녹여주었던, 너는

you warmly melted me

“Johnny hyung!”

Johnny gave Jaehyun a hug when the younger opened the door to Taeyong’s apartment. They’re about to celebrate the new year together. What Johnny doesn’t understand is why everybody was insistent on starting the party at 6? It’s too early for a party!

“Why are we so early?” Johnny asked, hanging his coat on the coat rack by the door.

Ten let out a dramatic gasp, appearing from behind the couch—what was he even doing there—with his hands on his hips.

“Johnny! Kun’s birthday is coming up!”

“H-huh?”

“I thought you were courting him? This is basic information, Johnny! How can you not know? Kun is a New Year’s baby!” Ten said exasperatedly.

“Who’s courting who?!”

Doyoung appeared from the kitchen looking frazzled.

“Johnny’s courting Kun,” Taeyong answered nonchalantly as he passed by the living room.

“You’re really courting Kun hyung?” Jaehyun’s eyes widened comically.

Johnny chuckled sheepishly, taking a seat on the couch.

“How is it going?” Taeyong asked curiously.

Johnny shrugged, “We’re getting closer, definitely. And oh! Ten! You should see this!”

Ten raised his brows. He blinked his eyes seeing Johnny’s newest lock screen—the one where he had Chenle perched on his shoulder—but he said nothing.

“Chenle took his first steps!” Johnny chuckled, excitedly pulling up a video from his phone gallery.

Ten’s eyes widened when he saw a shaky video from Johnny’s point of view which shows Chenle wobbling a few steps before crashing into Kun’s awaiting arms, which was followed by an excited holler from Johnny and a string of praises in Mandarin coming from Kun.

“He walked?! And Kun didn’t even bother telling me?! I’m going to fucking castrate him when he got here later!” Ten fumed.

“Kun’s coming here?!”

“Who’s walking?”

Ten turned to Johnny, “Yeah. The purpose of this gathering is to celebrate his birthday, you giant doofus,” he then turned to Doyoung, “Chenle. Chenle just took his first steps, Doy!”

“Johnny knew Chenle?! Did he—”

Ten gave Doyoung a not so discreet glare that Johnny managed to see before pretending to act normal and calm, “Yeah, Johnny’s lock screen is him with Chenle by the way.”

Doyoung looked like he was just struck by lightning.

“H-how?!”

“Chenle’s Kun’s younger brother, right? I’ve seen him often! Cute kid he is,” Johnny said innocently.

“Who’s Chenle and since when Kun hyung has a younger brother?” Jaehyun furrowed his brows.

Johnny showed his lock screen to Jaehyun, “Isn’t he cute?”

“Oh. Okay,” Doyoung awkwardly nodded before disappearing into the kitchen.

“So, when are you gonna officially ask him out? It’s been months,” Ten commented, changing the topic smoothly.

“You’ve actually courted Kun hyung for months?!” Jaehyun gaped.

“You’re so late,” Ten rolled his eyes.

Johnny shrugged, “I’m still gauging his reception. So far, we’ve been really good friends.”

“At first I thought he was joking… Wow… The two of you would make a very unlikely couple… But I guess you two would be compatible,” Jaehyun commented.

“Well, thanks for the encouragements,” Johnny chuckled nervously.

“Alright, instead of just sitting down like fools, what about the three of you helped me and Doyoung in the kitchen? We still have to frost the cake for Kun!”

Kun had been self-conscious about coming to Taeyong’s new year party. He’s been missing a ton of their gatherings, and he doesn’t feel right coming suddenly. He couldn’t even make it to their Christmas party! But, Ten and Doyoung had pestered him so much that Kun can’t do anything about it.

No daycares are open on New Year’s Eve so Kun was initially confused about the whole Chenle situation. He’s not comfortable in introducing Chenle to Taeyong and Jaehyun yet. Thankfully, the freshman that usually babysat Chenle was available under one condition: Kun must pick Chenle up before ten because she wanted to attend a college party.

Kun told Ten this and Ten assured him it’ll be fine.

And so Kun found himself fidgeting in front of Taeyong’s apartment. He adjusted the collar of his coat nervously. He had brought a batch of cookies that his friends liked, personally packed in five different boxes with different cookies inside. Red velvet for Jaehyun, chocolate almond for Doyoung, apple cinnamon for Taeyong, dark chocolate with cashew for Ten, and coffee cookies with cocoa nibs for Johnny.

Gosh, Kun missed Johnny. He hadn’t seen Johnny since a few days before Christmas and he kind of missed his stupid laugh and dad jokes.

Okay, maybe he missed the dude a lot, but Kun decided he would still act in denial tonight.

After giving himself a five minutes pep-talk, Kun finally rang the bell. It doesn’t take too long before the door was opened, revealing Johnny, smiling widely.

“Kun!”

Kun didn’t have time to react before Johnny engulfed him in a bear hug, nearly lifting him off the ground.

“I missed you so much! Come inside! Taeyong and Doyoung are in the kitchen, Ten and Jaehyun are in the middle of a very intense Kart Rider battle.”

Kun smiled, feeling relieved that he can finally see Johnny again, before entering the apartment.

“Kun?! Is that you? Kunkun!”

Ten literally leaped from the couch to hug his best friend.

“Hi, Ten. I brought cookies for everyone. I got your favorites,” Kun said softly.

“The choco cashew one?!”

“Uh uh.”

“Kun! I love you! Don’t tell Taeyong!”

“Don’t tell me what? Oh, Kun! Come here! I missed you! I haven’t seen you in months!”

Taeyong took off his apron before approaching Kun, engulfing him in a tight hug.

“Doyoooung! Kun’s hereee!”

Doyoung came running from the kitchen, dropping his spatula before launching himself to hug Kun.

“Okay, group hug!”

Kun honestly felt like crying as he was surrounded by his four friends. How come his friends were very receptive of him after he went MIA for months?

“I brought cookies…?” Kun said tentatively after a minute or two of hugging, jiggling the eco bag he had on his hands.

“Cookies?!”

“I made different flavors for each of you. A little… gift from me. Sorry for being idle for too long. I was… busy with life,” Kun said timidly before giving out the boxes as his friends let him go from their group hug.

“Busy flirting with Johnny, you mean?” Doyoung raised his brows playfully.

Both Johnny and Kun turned red, but neither made any comments about it.

Dinner was nice. Kun was ushered to the kitchen after the group hug, and he was happy to be cooking again with Taeyong and Doyoung. The casserole turned out nicely, and the fried chicken recipe Doyoung found on the internet turned out good. Kun even experimented with a yangnyeom recipe he tried making once, tweaking it with whatever ingredients Taeyong had on his kitchen, and surprisingly, the yangnyeom chicken was a big hit among them.

Kun sat on the couch, feeling happy and warm inside as he watched Doyoung and Taeyong bicker about God knows what and Jaehyun and Ten trying to win against one another on a game of Kart Rider—which they both apparently sucked at.

Kun missed hanging out with friends. He sometimes wondered how would it be if that accident didn’t happen and he wasn’t a single father.

“Penny for your thought?”

Kun nearly jumped from his place when Johnny popped next to him with a can of beer.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Johnny chuckled.

Kun smiled, accepting the beer. He wasn’t planning to get drunk. Not when he had to pick his son up later. But still, he took a few sips. He’s not a lightweight anyway, he won’t get drunk from a can of beer.

“So? What were you thinking about?” Johnny asked again.

Kun shrugged, “I just… Missed this. Missed hanging out and fooling around.”

“I’ve always told you to come but you’re always busy,” Johnny pointed out.

Kun grimaced and nodded.

“I’ll… I’ll try being more present next year. Yeah… That’s my resolution,” Kun breathed out.

Johnny grinned, bumping his shoulder against Kun, “That’s the spirit!”

“Alright, lovebirds, enough flirting! Johnny, drag your ass to the kitchen. Help me with something,” Ten suddenly said, causing Kun to froze and blush when Ten called them lovebirds.

Johnny rolled his eyes, but he sent a wink towards Kun direction before disappearing into the kitchen, causing Kun’s ears to redden even more, earning a teasing whistle from Doyoung.

Doyoung also stood up, following Ten and Johnny to the kitchen.

“Are they trying to cook something?” Kun asked worriedly to Taeyong who seemed very relaxed. Ten and Johnny in the kitchen doesn’t seem like a good combination. There’s Doyoung too, but still…

“Nah. Just wait for it,” Jaehyun grinned as he took out his phone.

Kun blinked his eyes in confusion, until Ten popped from the kitchen, blowing silly strings everywhere.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, QIAN KUN! SAENG IL CHUKHA HAMNIDA! SARANGHANEUN URI KUNKUN… ZHU NI SHENG RI KUAI LE!!”

Trust Ten to be extra, but Kun felt touched at the somewhat off-pitched trilingual happy birthday song, especially because Doyoung joined in to sing. Kun felt like crying when Johnny emerged with a slightly askew two-tier birthday cake with the number 52 candles instead of 25 being lit—probably courtesy of Ten.

Taeyong was clapping like seals, while Jaehyun was documenting everything with his phone.

“Quick! Blow the candles! We ran out of frosting, so the cakes weren’t glued together enough!” Johnny exclaimed.

Kun was half laughing half crying as he blew the candles, before Ten and Doyoung engulfed him into a big hug.

“It’s only a few hours before you turned 25, but that’s okay! Congratulations on being old and following Taeyong and Johnny’s step!”

“HEY!”

Kun laughed, hugging his best friends, “Thank you, guys. Wow.”

Taeyong pried Ten and Doyoung off of Kun before hugging the man, “Happy birthday, Kun! I hope you will show up more on our gatherings next year, okay? I missed cooking with you!”

Kun smiled, “Thank you, hyung. I’ll try!”

“My turn!”

Jaehyun crushed Kun into a tight hug, “Happy birthday, hyung. You’ll be graduating soon, right? Hope everything went well, and also hope your job in the producing team went well too! I’m looking forward to hearing your songs!”

Kun laughed, patting Jaehyun’s back. The youngest among them was a very cute and soft-hearted boy.

“Come on, cut the cake,” Johnny smiled, coming closer with the cake.

“O-oh, right.”

Kun accepted a knife from Doyoung, before carefully cutting the cake.

“Okay! Let’s eat the cake!” Ten cheered.

Kun laughed, just enjoying his stupid friends, hyping the close-to-falling-apart cake.

He nearly lost track of time, with Ten and Doyoung excitedly talking about things, Taeyong triggering Doyoung into a debate, Jaehyun laughing at every single thing, and Johnny.

Johnny who sat close next to him on the small couch, who was rubbing his arm comfortingly, smiling and making stupid comments, and subsequently made Kun’s stomach twisted with raw feelings.

He glanced at his own wristwatch and gasped when he noticed it’s already nine. He needs to play Cinderella right now and pick Chenle up before he made the freshman upset that she will refuse to babysit Chenle again in the future.

“Uh, guys, I’m really sorry… I have to go…” Kun spoke up.

“Huh? Kun! It’s still… 9! We haven’t celebrated your real birthday yet!” Taeyong whined.

“Tae… It’s okay, Kun! Stay safe!” Ten cheerily said, cutting his boyfriend off.

Johnny glanced at Ten who seemed like he was hiding something, and Doyoung who pretended the ceiling fan was the most interesting thing in the world.

“Uh… I’m really sorry. Next week or something… Uh, yeah. We should see each other again a few weeks after the New Year, I hoped,” Kun said guiltily.

“Of course, Kun. Stay safe on your way back! Are you ordering a cab?” Doyoung finally said.

“Yeah. I’m about to order KakaoTaxi now.”

“Okay! Take care, Kunkun!”

Ten stood up, hugging Kun before whispering something to Kun’s ear, making the guy smile. Kun hugged each one of his friends, and stopped in front of Johnny who was standing near the door.

“Happy birthday. I’ll see you soon?”

Kun smiled and nodded, feeling warm when Johnny pulled him for a hug.

God, it feels too nice.

“Bye, everyone!”

Once Kun left, the room turned awkward for a second, before Ten stood up, claiming he’d get some beers and popcorn, and ordered Doyoung to play a movie or something while they wait for the New Year’s count down.

Johnny sat silently. It’s weird. Why would Kun go home early? He didn’t state his reason at all. And Ten and Doyoung… They really let him go! Without asking! Johnny figured that there must be something that Ten and Doyoung knew and he doesn’t, since they were Kun’s closest friends.

Johnny had a hunch that Kun would probably be at home. With whom? Alone?

Kun went MIA for Christmas. Johnny predicted that he went to visit his parents? Bringing Chenle along with him and returning his brother to his parents, perhaps?

Johnny hadn’t seen Chenle too, so probably Chenle was with Kun’s parents back in China?

If Chenle went back permanently, Johnny would be devastated, though.

He really enjoyed being with that cute baby. He was really, truly, a bundle of joy. Johnny had to admit, he loves Chenle a lot. Like, a lot, lot.

And to be honest, he kind of love his older brother too.

Kun came in without notice into his life, and Johnny never thought he’d find someone who matched him so much like Kun. Which was weird, because they were so starkingly different.

But Kun made him happy, and all Johnny wants is to pay a visit to his apartment every day, eat his delicious food, play with his younger brother, talk shits about their daily lives, make him listen to his horrible jokes and then watch the dimples appear on his cheeks.

According to Ten, Johnny and Kun was way too domestic for someone who were still in the process of courting. Johnny kicked Ten’s shin when he made that comment, but now that he thinks about it, yeah.

And he likes domestic things. It’s just the way he is. Johnny is a romantic. And he likes all things domestic.

There. It even rhymes.

Johnny thought about Kun, who was always overthinking, and always complaining of being lonely. What is he doing now? Is he at home?

Deciding to pull an impulsive act, Johnny pretended to take his phone out.

“Wait… guys... It’s 9.30?!?!”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Oh, shit! Shoot!”

Johnny made a show of standing up abruptly, nearly sending the bowl of popcorn by his side flying.

“What’s wrong, Johnny?”

“I forgot to submit my year-long project! Shoot!” Johnny lied through his teeth smoothly.

“Project?”

Johnny gathered his belongings as he answered, “Yeah, there’s this year long project, the deadline is December 31^st at 10.30 p.m! I have one hour to race home and upload my projects. Oh, shit!”

“You stupid thing! Quick, then!” Taeyong berated him, helping him into his coat.

Johnny thanked God that being clumsy was totally on brand with him that none of his friends thought he was lying.

“How could you forget that, Johnny?” Ten sighed.

“You know me, Ten, my head is always all over the place. Guys, I’m sorry, I didn—”

“Eyy, save it. Go save your grades,” Jaehyun cut him off, patting his shoulder.

Johnny grabbed his keys and waved his hand, “Bye everyone!”

Johnny passed by Kun’s door. He can’t see if Kun’s home, and there’s no way of knowing besides actually ringing the bell and waiting for a response. Johnny decided to head back to his own unit first.

He got inside, not even bothering to change his clothes, only dropping his belongings and bringing his phone inside his pocket. He noticed the unopened bottle of Merlot he had sitting on his fridge, a gift from his professor after his successful exhibition. He decided to bring it along.

He paced in front of Kun’s apartment before deciding to gather his balls and pressed the bell.

It took two minutes before the door opened, revealing Kun who had changed into comfortable clothing.

“Johnny?”

“Uh… hi?

Kun literally gaped in confusion.

“W-why are you here?”

Johnny cleared his throat before answering, “I forgot to submit my year-long project, so, I head home in a rush. I’ve submitted it, don’t worry. And then I’m too lazy to go back to Taeyong’s place and I just tried my luck to see if you’re at home…”

Kun smiled softly before opening the door wider, “Well, I’m home. Come in.”

Johnny took off his shoes before stepping into his living room. It was still as neat as the last time Johnny came over, it’s just that it’s silent.

“I brought wine…? We could wait for the countdown together. And, uh… celebrate your birthday officially, I guess?”

Kun blushes and nods, “Thank you. I’ll grab the glasses.”

Kun went to the kitchen, coming back with two wine glasses.

“It’s weird not having Chenle crawling everywhere. I’m going to miss that kid a lot,” Johnny mused as he poured wine for both of them.

“He’s… He’s actually asleep in my room,” Kun admitted.

“He’s here?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s not going back to your parents’ house?!”

“No, of course not. He’s staying with me.”

Johnny blinked his eyes before sighing in relief, “Thank God. Well, that’s kind of weird, but okay. I actually really missed the little guy. I’m glad he’s here to stay.”

Kun sipped his wine, feeling a bit restless. Johnny still doesn’t know about the truth regarding Chenle. Kun thought Johnny would dig around for information from either Ten or Doyoung, but the man seemed genuinely clueless. Kun felt bad. Johnny had been nothing but a super sweetheart to him and Chenle.

If what Ten said was right, that Johnny was courting him, Kun felt the need to tell Johnny the truth. The kind man doesn’t deserve to be kept in the dark. And plus, Kun himself was attracted to him.

Who was he kidding? Johnny was attractive, and he was a kind soul. He’s everything that Kun isn’t, and he has everything that Kun wants in a man.

And so Kun will tell Johnny the truth tonight. He promised him anyways, that he’ll be more present the next year. Tonight, he’ll tell Johnny. Next month, probably Taeyong and Jaehyun. After that, no more hiding.

He took big gulps of his wine. He will need alcohol to buzz his system a bit so he’d get the courage to speak.

The two of them drank in silence. The wine that Johnny brought tasted good.

“Kun? Don’t you want to slow down a bit? Is there anything wrong?” Johnny asked worriedly when Kun poured himself another full glass.

Kun shook his head and smiled grimly, “Nah, I need this.”

“You need this…?”

“Yes. I have… I have to talk to you.”

“O….kay? You can always talk to me about anything, Kun. There’s no need for excessive drinking. Promise, I won’t judge,” Johnny said, putting a comforting hand on Kun’s shoulder.

Kun turned to face Johnny. He took a moment to admire the soft strands of chocolate brown hair that fell across his forehead, the dark almond eyes, the pointed nose, the deep cupid’s bow, and the plump lips. Johnny looks like God sculpted him Himself.

“Johnny?”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you too kind?”

Johnny furrowed his brows in confusion at the weird question, “What do you mean?”

“You… you’re too kind. Aren’t you curious? Why I left the party early… Why I disappeared during Christmas… Why Chenle lives with me?” Kun mused.

Johnny gulped, choosing his words carefully.

“Of course. Of course, I’m curious. But it’s your privacy, and it’s not my place to pry.”

“You don’t even bother asking Ten or Doyoung?” Kun squinted his eyes.

Johnny firmly shook his head, “No. I’d rather wait for you to tell me yourself. I’d rather use my time to get close to you and gain your trust rather than digging around behind your back.”

Kun felt like sobbing at how kind Johnny was.

“I… I lied to you. To Taeyong. To Jaehyun.”

Johnny paused, not knowing how to respond. Instead, he turned to face Kun properly.

“I left the party… Because I had to pick Chenle up. The person who babysat Chenle could only keep him until 10.”

“Oh. Well… That’s okay, Kun. You should’ve told us, we’re fine with that,” Johnny replied softly.

Kun shook his head, continuing, “I disappeared during Christmas. The truth is, I… I wasn’t going back to my hometown. I never went back during Christmas ever since my first year here, anyways. I was… I was hiding here at home. I wasn’t visiting my parents, or Chenle’s parents.”

Kun took a deep breath, feeling his own fingers tremble as he’s about to open the biggest secret he had kept for nearly a year already.

He decided to completely down his wine, deciding he need the extra alcohol running through his veins.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me if it’s uncomfortable,” Johnny sighed worriedly, grabbing Kun’s trembling hands. It’s his first time seeing the usually composed Kun so jittery and nervous and tense like this.

“No, no. You… Out of all people you should know. Give me a second,” Kun said.

He took a few deep breaths, focusing his attention on the way Johnny was squeezing his hands.

“Okay. Alright. So… I wasn’t in my hometown. I haven’t been there since earlier this year. Because… because my parents had died. And also, my sister. And my brother-in-law too. I have no relatives left in Fujian.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that, Kun,” Johnny replied softly, patiently waiting for Kun to start talking again.

“I-it’s not your fault. Shit happens. And Chenle… Chenle wasn’t my brother. I was the youngest son.”

Johnny paused. He had done the math when Taeyong pointed at how wide the age gap between Kun and Chenle. But still, it baffled him that Chenle was really not his brother.

“Chenle… Chenle was my nephew. He was my sister’s son. But now… But now, Chenle’s mine. He’s my son now.”

If this was a 90s cartoon, Johnny’s eyes were already probably the size of saucers.

“Son?”

Kun nodded, chuckling bitterly.

“Earlier this year, I was planning to go back to Fujian on late January or early February for Chinese New Year. That’s because I have gone back on November, around the time Chenle was born. That was the only time I’ve seen Chenle. When he was only a few days old. But then early January, I got a phone call from the local authorities. My… my family died in a car crash. My parents, my sister, my brother-in-law… All four of them died. My parents died on the spot, my sister died on the way to the hospital and my brother in-law died after two nights in the ICU.”

Kun paused to take a breath, feeling the gentle squeezes Johnny gave to his hands.

“I remembered it clearly. It was movie night with Ten and Doyoung, here at my place. And then I got the call from the police officers. I was crying and shoving clothes into my bag, I was just in a daze. Doyoung was the one who bought the plane ticket for me, and Ten helped me pack my clothes properly. They brought me to the airport and I left in a haste to Fujian. When I got there, I was brought to the police office immediately. I was asked to… to identify the bodies. They were indeed my family. I wasn’t able to eat meat for 4 months after that,” Kun chuckled bitterly, remembering the gruesome sight of his family’s pale, wounded bodies.

“I held a humble funeral for them with the help of my neighbors. I completely forgot about Chenle’s existence. The police officer called me again, asking me about Chenle. I was confused. They gave me two options since they didn’t manage to find other close relatives of Chenle. The first option was to give him up for adoption. They will put him under social service’s care, in an orphanage. The second option, was to transfer the custody to me since I was the only relatives he had left. I was confused and scared, because the first and last time I’ve ever seen Chenle was when he was three days old.”

“So, you accepted the custody?” Johnny finally talked.

Kun nodded.

“At first, I was seriously considering the adoption choice. But then, if he got adopted, no one will be able to tell him about his parents. He was only two months old during the accident. He was actually in the car, and he survived without a single scar. It was a miracle, really. And also, he’s the only remaining relatives I have. The only one with the Qian blood that I knew of. I felt like it was fate that he survived and I was offered his custody. That’s how I got him.”

Johnny nodded, rubbing soft circles on Kun’s palms.

“You’re brave, Kun. You’re the bravest, strongest, kindest, person I’ve ever met. You were so amazing. You brought Chenle here, raised him like your own son, without prior experience. You must’ve struggled a lot.”

Kun felt his lips tremble when he remembered the first few days after he brought Chenle to Seoul. He was a mess. He cried along when Chenle cried. He didn’t know what kind of milk a two months-old baby drank. He didn’t know how to change his diapers or how to bath him.

He remembered turning to Google, Youtube, even freaking WikiHow articles!

If it wasn’t for Ten and Doyoung who broke into his apartment one day, Kun was sure he’d ended up dead.

Kun looked up when he felt Johnny caressing his face.

Oh, he was crying.

“Hey, it’s okay. You got us now,” Johnny whispered, wiping Kun’s tears before bringing the shorter male into his arms.

Kun cried silently, allowing Johnny to rub his back soothingly.

“Thank you for telling me the truth, Kun. I really appreciate it. Please, never hesitate to talk to me, hmm? Don’t hesitate to ask for help as well. I will gladly help you, okay?”

Kun pulled himself away and took a few deep breaths to stabilize himself.

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?”

“Why are you so nice to me? Ten… Ten convinced me that you actually liked me. But I’m a mess, Johnny. You’ve heard it yourself. Please don’t like me,” Kun said timidly.

“Oh, Kun… I…”

Johnny sighed. This is not the scenario he had in mind when he confessed his love to Kun, but well, he had to make do.

“I like you. I like you genuinely. I like you and I like Chenle too. I was planning on confessing to you, maybe not now, but well, I’ll just tell you. I’ve been attracted to you since that day during Ten’s surprise birthday party. That means that was just on February… A mere month after you brought Chenle here. It’s nearly January again. Almost a year of me being attracted to you.”

Kun was thankful his face was already red from crying so Johnny doesn’t have to see him blushing madly.

“And then I saw you and Chenle on E-Mart. I literally couldn’t forget the two of you for weeks until that day when you invited me for lunch. We began texting and meeting more frequently and I realized, I wasn’t just attracted physically. I actually liked you a lot,” Johnny confessed shyly.

Kun fiddled with the hem of his sweatshirt nervously.

“You liked me?”

“I do. And I want to… I want to start a relationship with you if you’d let me,” Johnny said.

“You… You know the consequences, right?”

“What do you mean by consequences?” Johnny furrowed his brows.

“I… I have a son, Johnny. Not biologically mine, but lawfully, yes. I… I can’t date around or have flings. I have a big responsibility as Chenle’s father.”

“I want to be here for the long run,” Johnny said firmly.

“Johnny, I’m not making you a father at the age of 25,” Kun sighed.

“What if I said I wanted to?”

“What?!”

“I want you. And Chenle too. In my life. I want us to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner together, and teach Chenle how to walk, and visit the aquarium again. I want to bring you guys on a trip and took countless pictures. I want to do sappy domestic things that Ten and Doyoung hates. I’m this kind of person, Kun. I don’t do flings,” Johnny said, squeezing Kun’s hands.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“This is not the alcohol speaking right?”

Johnny laughed, “Kun, you’re the one who was drinking your head off. And plus, I have a good alcohol tolerance.”

Kun blushed, fidgeting on his seat until they heard people cheering. He glanced at the clock, it’s almost 12 o’clock.

“I think they’re starting the countdown. Let’s watch, it’s going to be your birthday,” Johnny smiled, standing up, pulling Kun along with him. They stood side by side near the big window. They could see people on the streets gathering, preparing for the New Year countdown.

“Tomorrow… When we’re both completely sober and awake… Will you still like me?” Kun asked softly, timidly.

Johnny turned Kun around to face him, cupping his face tenderly, “What kind of question is that? Of course, Kun.”

“Even though I have Chenle?”

“Well, he’s one of the biggest reasons why I fall head over heels for you.”

Kun laughed at Johnny’s silly response. He glanced at the window again. The countdown is about to start.

“It’s almost your birthday. And the New Year too. Can I… Can I kiss you?” Johnny asked carefully.

“10..!”

“9…!”

“8…!”

“Will you still want to kiss me tomorrow once you realized how much of a mess my life is, and also how much emotional baggage and responsibilities I carried with me?”

“7…!”

“6…!”

“5…!”

“Tomorrow, I’ll pick you up. We’ll celebrate your birthday with proper food, and I’ll kiss you again. I’ll tell you again how much I like you, and I’ll convince you until you accepted me if I have to.”

“4….!”

“3….!”

“2…!”

“Then yes.”

“1….!”

Kun gasped when Johnny pulled him in. Johnny’s lips felt soft and warm as they enclosed his. His whole body felt like it was lit up. Kun could hear fireworks blasting faintly outside, and the faint cheer of the people.

But all he could focus at was the feeling of Johnny’s plush lips against his own, the one hand Johnny used to cradle his face and the other one wrapped firmly around his waist.

Kun stepped closer, clutching onto the front of Johnny’s sweater, finally kissing him back.

Once they pulled away, Kun can’t help but blush when Johnny smiled at him so softly before pressing a kiss on his forehead and pulling him into his arms.

“God. That was amazing. Happy birthday, Kun. I hope this year you’ll be happier. And I hope, I will be the one who makes you and Chenle happy.”

Kun smiled, burying his nose into Johnny’s shoulder. He feels warm. So warm, even though it’s technically still winter and his apartment is so freaking cold. He’s warm. Inside and out.

“I have a feeling I will. And I have a feeling you will.”

얼어붙은 꽃처럼 홀로인 날, 따스하게 녹여준 너는

on a lonely day like a frozen flower, you warmly melted me

When Johnny woke up in the morning, it was way past morning. It’s probably around ten? Or eleven?

He woke up feeling giddy as he remembered the events that took part the last night. It felt like a fever dream. Did he really confess to Kun and kissed the man?

But then he remembered tucking the man in next to Chenle and promising to meet again once they wake up… so yeah. It’s all real.

Johnny felt embarrassed that a grown man like him was rolling around in his bedsheets, squealing, because he just kissed his crush last night. God, he acted like a teenager that just hit puberty.

After burning out the excess excitement, Johnny finally rolled out of bed and took a much-needed shower, dressed warmly, and went straight to Kun’s place. He was bumbling with both excitement and nervousness that he actually needed a 5 minutes self-pep talk before he could ring the bell.

The door was finally opened after a few minutes, revealing Kun looking all over the place, still in yesterday’s clothes, with Chenle happily babbling on his hips.

“Oh, J-Johnny!”

Johnny chuckled at Kun’s frazzled state before inviting himself in. Chenle was still making gurgling noises, waving his chubby arms excitedly.

“Good morning, Chenle! And good morning to you too, Kun.”

Kun smiled in embarrassment as he shut the door close.

“Chenle woke up at 7 and demanded breakfast, it was a tough morning. I managed to make him sleep again after his breakfast and I accidentally fell asleep along with him.”

“Well, if it’s any consolation, I woke up at ten thirty and skipped breakfast entirely,” Johnny laughed.

“Do you want me to make breakfast for both of us then? I haven’t eaten anything as well,” Kun asked, settling down the baby on the ground.

“Oh, no! I was planning on taking you out. It’s your birthday, so I’m taking you to my favorite brunch spot. It’s close-by, and we can walk there if you want. It’s sort of in an American diner style, and it’s my comfort hangover food,” Johnny smiled as he bent down to ruffle Chenle’s hair as the baby crawled by his legs.

“Ah, but I haven’t shower yet and I’m nowhere near ready to go out…”

Kun felt embarrassed down to the core. Johnny was already looking nice and neat in his sweater and jeans, looking dapper and oh so handsome. Meanwhile him… He doesn’t even want to see the current state he’s in.

“I can keep an eye on Chenle while you shower! It’s okay, I can wait. Take your time,” Johnny grinned before bending down again, this time to pick Chenle up. The baby who had been carried by Johnny several times before shrieked in glee, enjoying the new height he was in.

“I promise I’ll be fast then,” Kun said.

“You don’t have to. Take your time! Dress nicely, I’m making this our first date!” Johnny hollered as Kun entered his bedroom.

God, Johnny Suh will be the end of him.

Kun decided to wear something similar to Johnny, a soft and warm cashmere sweater and thick jeans, before grabbing his coat.

When he went to the living room, Johnny was bending down, helping Chenle walk. It’s a funny sight, really, because he was definitely too tall for that.

“We’re bringing Chenle too, right?” Kun asked.

Johnny whipped his head in surprise before breaking into a smile, “Of course! Why would we leave him out of our date? No one said we cannot bring our son to a date,” Johnny laughed.

“Uhm, well, let me get a shawl for him first then,” Kun said, blushing at the mention of going on a date with Johnny.

Kun came back with Chenle’s jacket and his fuzzy socks, as well as a thick shawl.

“Chenle hates wearing thick jacket. This is the thickest jacket he would wear, he refused wearing anything thicker than this,” Kun chuckled as he zipped up the jacket.

“Oh, Kun! This is the single cutest jacket I’ve ever seen! Where did you even get this?!”

Johnny squealed when he saw Chenle wearing a fluffy brown hooded jacket, and the hood has two fluffy ears on it so Chenle looked like a little teddy bear.

“I found it randomly online and decided I should get it just because it looks cute. Well, it does look cute and it’s the only jacket he accepted. I was scared he’ll get cold, but he loved to be swaddled. I don’t know, maybe it’s a baby’s thing? He preferred being swaddled than being bundled up in thick padded jackets,” Kun said as he wrapped Chenle up in the shawl like a burrito.

“I swear, this baby will be the end of me,” Johnny sighed dramatically as he took out his phone, snapping a picture of the chubby baby bear burrito in front of him.

Kun laughed, because indeed, Chenle looked so cute.

He picked the bundled baby up, nestling him on his chest before wrapping his big coat over him.

“Kun! It’s like… It’s like a baby kangaroo! Oh my god, the two of you are so cute it’s unfair,” Johnny squealed.

“I know, we’re cute. Come on, show me the place. Are we walking there? Let’s hurry, I’m famished.”

They decided to walk to the place Johnny was taking them to, enjoying the cold January breeze. The street is empty, but there are remnants of confetti, probably courtesy of last night’s New Year’s countdown.

The diner Johnny mentioned was actually really close by. It’s vintage-looking, and it’s hidden away between other modern looking cafes.

Once they were inside, the servers all greeted Johnny with familiarity, which suggests that he indeed went here often. Johnny brought them to a booth at the corner near the window, and requested for a high chair for Chenle.

“Alright, baby marsupial. Time for you to get out from your comfy heat pocket,” Kun joked as he unwrapped Chenle. The baby grinned and flailed his arms around excitedly.

“Let me get him in,” Johnny offered, lifting Chenle up, making soft wee woo noises that made the baby giggle, before plopping him into the high chair.

Kun helped strap the baby in, and once Chenle is safely strapped, the two adults sat back down happily.

“So, what’s good in here?” Kun asked, flipping through the menu book.

“Personally, I like the chicken and waffles the best. It’s a good way to load carbs and make me feel better after drinking too much,” Johnny chuckled.

“Waffles?? With chicken??”

“Wait, you’ve never had chicken and waffles before?! Well, yeah, it’s an American thing, but really, you should try it. It’s good. It’s revolutional,” Johnny insisted.

“I’m skeptical, but I’m always open to trying new things, so… okay. Is the coffee good here? I haven’t got any caffeine in me this morning,” Kun said tiredly.

“Their coffee is good! They served it black usually, but I knew the servers here, I can make them make it the way you like it,” Johnny offered.

“Oh! You don’t have to; I don’t want to be a burden—”

“Nonsense!”

Johnny winked before calling one of the servers over, ordering the large chicken and waffles, along with two coffees. Kun was seriously touched when Johnny instructed the server on how to make the coffee for Kun, and the server sent Johnny a teasing look which he replied with a shy, “He’s my boyfriend, okay!”

Kun felt himself burning red in shyness when Johnny said.

So, that’s what they are now?

“Uhm, sorry. I knew that server personally, he was just teasing,” Johnny said sheepishly.

“So… we’re boyfriends?” Kun asked timidly.

Johnny felt the tips of his ears reddening and he shyly cocked his head to the side, “Are we not…?”

“Uh, I-I didn’t mean it like that, I was... I was just…”

Johnny laughed when both of them turned red from embarrassment.

“Last night... Last night you asked me, if I’d still liked you in the morning. Uhm, the answer is yes…?” Johnny said carefully.

Kun fiddled with a loose thread of his sweater nervously, “Y-you do?”

Johnny nodded, “I was… I was rolling around in my bed from sheer giddiness when I woke up, just letting you know. I liked you too much, and last night you… You were receptive. Please don’t tell me it was just a drunken response or something, though…”

“N-no! I mean, uh, well… I… I felt the same way…?” Kun answered shyly.

“Oh, thank God,” Johnny sighed in relief, slumping a bit on his seat.

“I’m sorry, I’m bad at these kinds of things. I didn’t have a… stellar record, on dating,” Kun said sheepishly.

“It’s okay. I’m just… I mean, I just want to let you know that I’m serious about this, okay? I’m never one to take a relationship lightly. I-I want us to be in this for the long run. If you ever feel overwhelmed, or burdened… Tell me, alright? The reason I wasn’t able to date much was because of that, I guess? I’m… I’m too committed for a mere 25 years old,” Johnny said nervously.

Kun felt his smile growing. That’s exactly what he was looking for in a man. Someone who was willing to be committed.

“It’s the other way around. I’m glad… I’m glad you’re taking this seriously. I wasn’t… I wasn’t really looking to be in a relationship after I got Chenle. I knew that nobody was sane enough to want to date me because of the additional baggage I have. When Ten told me you liked me, I was skeptical at first, because you didn’t know the real truth about Chenle. I was a bit hell-bent on not letting myself have feelings for you, but it was hard you know.”

Kun took a sip of his coffee, steadying himself before talking again.

“You were so kind, Johnny. It wasn’t that hard to fall for you. That’s why I was really scared, because I’m just terrified, you’ll back out once you knew about Chenle. I really enjoyed getting close to you, so I put out from telling you the truth. But I don’t like lying to you when you’ve been nothing but kind to me. That’s why I told you last night. And that’s also why I asked you if you’d still feel the same the next day. I’m just worried that once you woke up, you’ll realize the kind of deal you just signed up for, and then you’ll regret it, and you’d tap out.”

“Oh, Kun… How could I! It’s really the opposite of what I’m feeling. I’m just happy and relieved that Chenle will never leave, and I’m hoping you won’t leave as well. I really enjoy being with the two of you. I’m looking forward to see how this year will turn out. I definitely started my new year right,” Johnny smiled.

“We’ll be graduating, this year. Isn’t it crazy?” Kun finally smiled softly.

Johnny nodded excitedly, “The studio plan with Taeyong and Jaehyun is going on really smoothly. We found a good place to rent, we’ve also been saving enough to buy newer equipment… And then I got you and Chenle too! I know this year is going to be great!”

Kun chuckled fondly, “You’re going to do well in life, Johnny.”

“And you will too. We’ll support each other, okay?” Johnny said, his eyes shining with optimism.

Kun smiled, feeling lighter than he has ever been since Chenle came into his life, “Yeah, we will.”

Once their food came, Kun was thoroughly impressed because the chicken waffle thingy was actually good. The coffee was good, but it’s nowhere near as good as Johnny’s. Johnny looked so happy when Kun told him that. When they went back home, Johnny insisted he wants to hold Chenle and it was seriously the most endearing sight Kun had ever seen.

It was still snowing lightly, and Kun enjoyed standing in front of his big window, looking at the snow fall as Chenle babbled nonsense while crawling on the floor with Johnny laughing at every single Chenle’s acts.

It felt nice. Really nice.

“What are you thinking?”

Kun jolted when Johnny appeared on his side.

“It’s still snowing. Beautiful, right?” Kun mused.

“Not as beautiful as you,” Johnny joked.

“Oh my god, don’t do that,” Kun groaned.

Johnny laughed, wrapping his arm around Kun, “You should get used to it.”

To be honest, as cheesy and cringy as it was, Kun was looking forward to hearing more of that. But there’s no way he’s telling Johnny that. No need to fuel the man to keep saying the silliest thing that could make Kun flustered in a split second.

“Anyways…”

“Hmm?”

“There’s one more question you asked me last night. Here,” Johnny said, squeezing Kun’s arm.

SHIT.

Kun felt himself reddening. He kept his gaze on the window, watching the snow fell down from the pastel blue sky, refusing to look at Johnny.

“You asked me if I’d still like you the next morning. I told you the answer already. Your second question was if I’d still kiss you the next morning. Don’t you want to know the answer?”

Kun bit his lips nervously, glancing up at Johnny who was a head taller than him. The man was looking at him expectantly. Kun felt his blush creeping all the way from his cheeks to the tip of his ears and to his neck.

Well, here goes nothing.

“And what would your answer be?” Kun asked, lifting one of his eyebrows teasingly.

He gasped when Johnny turned him around, his grips on his arms tightening as the taller man pulled him in for a kiss.

It was… phenomenal.

Kun was holding firmly into Johnny’s waist because he seriously felt like he’s going to lose his footing at any time. Last night he was slightly intoxicated, but now he was completely sober and aware. Kun felt Johnny cupping moving his hands to cup his cheeks, feeling Johnny’s cold large palms against his warm face. He felt like crying, honestly.

Once they pulled away, they were both panting, blushing, and grinning from ear to ear.

The apartment was cold, but Kun was feeling warm inside and out.

Kun paced inside his bedroom nervously. He could hear Chenle’s excited squeals and Johnny’s booming laughter in the living room.

The whole gang finally found out that Johnny and Kun had begun dating after Johnny posted on Instagram a picture of them on one of their outing to Hangang Park. It doesn’t even show Kun’s face, just his backside as he looked at the river. Chenle was hidden because he was on Kun’s hold, but people can make out little feet peeking from Kun’s side, slightly. It was a silhouette picture that Johnny took with one of his fancy cameras. Kun doesn’t even know how Johnny managed to take such a good picture.

But anyways, his friends’ eagle eyes managed to guess that the backside belongs to Kun. It didn’t help either that Johnny only captioned the picture with two hearts, sparking a heated interrogation from the four.

As a result, the four of them had been blasting the group chat asking for confirmations, and Taeyong held onto the promise Kun’s made on his New Year party on having a get together a few weeks after the New Year.

It’s been nearly three weeks after the party and Taeyong demanded everyone to come to his apartment for their first ever get-together in the New Year.

Kun had been pondering and contemplating all week. Should he put Chenle on the daycare? Should he bring him along and started telling everyone the real story? Everyone, well Taeyong and Jaehyun, still thought Chenle was his younger brother.

Kun heard his bedroom door being knocked before Johnny popped his head in, Chenle on his hip.

“Are we going now? We’re putting Chenle on the daycare first, right?”

Kun glanced at Chenle who was trying to climb Johnny’s torso like a little monkey. It wasn’t like Chenle was a kid he conceived out of a wedlock. It’s not also that he got him by kidnapping. He doesn’t have to be embarrassed.

Plus, Chenle deserved to interact with more people aside from him and Johnny, and also Ten and Doyoung. Taeyong and Jaehyun had been nothing but kind and understanding to Kun’s hermit tendencies as well. They deserve to know the truth.

Kun smiled at Johnny before grabbing Chenle’s diaper bag from the floor, “I changed my mind. Let’s bring him with us.”

Johnny beamed before coming inside, wrapping his free arm around Kun’s frame.

“You’re going to tell Taeyong and Jaehyun?”

Kun hummed against Johnny’s shoulder.

“I’ll be there with you,” Johnny assured him.

“You’d better be!”

When Johnny came inside with Kun trailing behind, Chenle on his hold, Jaehyun who was on door duty was surprised.

“MY MOST FAVORITE NON-BIOLOGICALLY RELATED NEPHEW!”

Ten flew from the couch, taking Chenle forcefully from Kun’s grip, twirling the baby around, shocking Jaehyun and Taeyong effectively.

“Ten, he’s your only nephew,” Kun said drily, as he usually did whenever Ten said that phrase.

Doyoung who just came out of the restroom had his eyes nearly popping from his socket.

“Is that Chenle?!”

Taeyong and Jaehyun were very, very surprise to say the least.

“Uhm, hi?” Kun said sheepishly.

Taeyong and Jaehyun looked very curious, and they very much look like they’re waiting for some sort of explanation from Kun and Johnny.

“There’s so much to talk about,” Doyoung piped up.

Kun paled at Doyoung’s comment, because, yes.

“Doyoung! Don’t scare him! Here, have your emotional rock back,” Ten kicked Doyoung’s shin before handing Chenle back to Kun. Kun was grateful he could hold Chenle again. The smell of Chenle’s baby powder and shampoo was seriously the most calming thing.

“How about we sit down first?” Jaehyun quietly said, setting his butt down on the carpeted floor.

Doyoung quickly took his place next to Jaehyun, pulling Taeyong to sit next to him.

Ten settled down next to Taeyong, pulling Kun to sit next to him and allowing Johnny to sit on Kun’s other side.

“Okay, first and foremost, what the f—”

“Don’t curse in front of Chenle!” Kun grumbled, covering Chenle’s ears.

“—fish. You didn’t tell us you’re finally dating Johnny! I thought you were both still in this mutual pining state or something!” Ten grumbled.

“Eh, it just kinda happened,” Johnny shrugged.

“When. First, when,” Doyoung asked, short, to-the-point.

“Uh… After the New Year’s party. When I got home… I was, uh, kinda lying to all of you? I… didn’t have any year-long project whatsoever. I just, I just need an excuse to go home and see if Kun was okay…?” Johnny admitted sheepishly.

“YOU LIED?”

All four men, Kun included, can’t help but exclaim, shocking Chenle in the process, causing the baby’s lower lip tremble.

“Oh, no no no.. Baobei, it’s okay, it’s okay. Sssh, hey baobei,” Kun quickly picked Chenle up, calming down the shocked baby in a panic mixture of Chinese and Korean.

“Okay, maybe, no screaming? Let’s not threaten the future of Chenle’s ears,” Ten suggested.

“Good idea. You screamed the loudest though,” Doyoung pointed out, earning an eye roll from Ten.

“Okay, you lied. Fine. And then you started dating right away?” Ten continued.

“Um… The next day maybe? I was slightly drunk when the whole thing happened,” Kun admitted shyly.

“If it happened on the first day of the New Year… It’s been like, almost a month?! And you didn’t tell any of us?! Johnny hyung! I thought we’re best friends!” Jaehyun complained.

“We didn’t plan to hide it or something, trust me. We’re just… taking things slow and steady,” Johnny explained.

“I’m still hurt that you didn’t tell me first and foremost, but well, at least my friends are not moping and pining and we’ve now come full circle as a little elite gay club, so, okay,” Ten shrugged.

“Okay. We’re settled then?” Johnny asked.

“Totally.”

“Thank goodness,” Kun breathed in relief, finally loosening his grip on Chenle.

“Okay, the next topic. Your brother? I feel like besides me and Jaehyun, everyone seemed to know about something. Look, Kun, if you don’t feel comfortable about sharing this matter with us it’s okay. I mean, Jaehyun and I aren’t that close to you, and maybe—”

“No, no hyung. Really… No. I’m… I’m sorry if I made you and Jaehyun felt that way. It’s just that… I don’t know. I’m thankful to Ten and Doyoung for keeping my secret really well. I never meant to keep it to myself, I just don’t know how to approach the topic? We weren’t like super close, and I don’t want to make you guys feel… Burdened? I guess?”

“Oh, Kun! We’re friends, all of us! You should never think of burdening us, okay? You’re so kind and you’ve been helping me get together with Ten, and so does with Jaehyun and Doyoung. We’re friends. Friends help each other, okay?” Taeyong said, showing his infamous pity inducing pout.

“I was also processing the whole situation myself. I was an emotional wreck, Ten and Doyoung can testify to that. I just don’t want to ruin the dynamic of this little group,” Kun admitted, fidgeting with his fingers.

“Nothing will ever ruin the dynamic of this group, hyung, unless either one of us decided to break up or something. And trust me, no one’s planning for that,” Jaehyun said reassuringly.

“Well… I guess you’re right. After I told you guys, I will allow you guys to be mad at me. It’s going to be… shocking,” Kun said.

“I promise I won’t be mad, hyung.”

“Me too. We’re incapable of being mad. We’re not Ten or Doyoung,” Taeyong added, earning a slap on the back from Ten and a kick from Doyoung.

“Well, Exhibit A,” Taeyong shrugged.

Kun laughed, feeling some of his tensions being relieved by his friends’ comedic act.

“Okay. So… Uh, I guess it’s not too shocking, but, yeah, Chenle is not my brother.”

“Oh, thank God. I really thought your mother gave birth at 50 or something. It’s so dangerous,” Taeyong heaved a sigh.

Kun smiled, “Yeah. 23 years old is a big age gap. Uhm, so… Chenle is my nephew.”

“Nephew?”

“Uh uh.”

“You should’ve told us! There’s nothing wrong with having a nephew, hyung!” Jaehyun said.

“Uhm, the problem is… He’s now my son…?”

“Son?!”

Kun nodded, reaching for Johnny’s hand. He needs to anchor his self for this. The only time he ever spoke up openly about what happened was that one time with Johnny and it really drained him emotionally and physically.

“My… my parents had passed away. Ten and Doyoung knew of this. They were the one who drove me to the airport. That’s… that’s why I disappeared for weeks before New Year last year until Ten’s birthday. I was in Fujian. Dealing with the funeral, family inheritance, whatsoever. I was just… a mess? I don’t really know what to do. It was a car accident. My parents, my older sister, and my brother-in-law, all passed away because of it. And Chenle… He was miraculously fine. He was still less than two months old when that happened.”

“Oh, Kun…”

Kun felt Johnny squeezing his hand, and he shot the taller guy a soft smile before continuing.

“So yeah. It’s either giving Chenle up for adoption or taking him in because we really have no other relatives left. Chenle was literally the only relative I had left. I decided to take him under my custody and legally adopted him, and then brought him back to Seoul with me. I don’t… I don’t think I can live in Fujian again after that. It’s… too traumatic.”

“So, what you were saying is, you brought Chenle here and took care of him by yourself?” Taeyong asked in complete shock.

“At first, yes. After nearly two weeks I nearly killed myself from the stress. Thankfully Ten and Doyoung reached out for me. They helped me. Magically, they were able to help me raise a kid. It was a depressing sight to look at, at that time. But now it’s kind of funny. We turned to Youtube… Google…”

“FYI, Ten looked up WikiHow at some point,” Doyoung supplemented.

“Ten! WikiHow?! Oh my god, you’re raising a kid not baking brownies!” Tayeong groaned, feeling embarrassed of his boyfriend.

“Well, we were all confused at that time, okay! We’re barely 24 at the time! I have no knowledge of how to take care of a real living baby!”

“Wait… So, if Doyoung disappeared randomly during those days, he was over at your place?” Jaehyun asked curiously.

Doyoung nodded, “Ten and I had promised Kun not to tell. So yeah, sorry for lying.”

“I’m sorry for making the two of you lie to your boyfriends. That’s why after some time I decided that I’m going to learn how handle my own problems myself. That’s why I kind of disappeared. Daycare service is pretty expensive, so I mostly hire a freshman who offered babysitting service whenever I have class. When I went to the company or the studio, I just brought Chenle with me. If I was free, then I’ll just stay at home, trying to take care of him while finishing my studies and my composing works. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go M.I.A and left all of our gatherings. I just didn’t know how to manage my time,” Kun apologized.

“There’s no need to apologize, okay? It’s just a teeny tiny misunderstanding. I’m thankful that you’ve decided to share this story of yours to us. Starting from now, never hesitate to ask us for help, okay?” Taeyong said wisely.

“Thank you, hyung. Jaehyun, you too. Ten, Doyoung, Johnny, everyone. Really, thank you,” Kun smiled, tearing up a little. He felt so light and free. Finally, he let go of something that has been lying heavily inside his chest.

“Come on! Group hug!” Ten cheered, pulling everyone into a group hug, Chenle included.

After the endearing group hug, Taeyong insisted to order delivery food because he claimed no one have the strength to cook after the emotionally draining heart-to-heart talk session. It was also the first time that Chenle tasted japchae, earning a lot of squeals from his infatuated uncles. It’s safe to say that Chenle now has two more uncles that will surround him with love and unending supply of comedy, and he got a total of five grown men wrapped around his tiny little pinky.

Once lunch ended, Ten and Doyoung pulled Kun into Ten and Taeyong’s bedroom for some 96 liners only exclusive talk, leaving Johnny with Taeyong and Jaehyun on the living room looking after Chenle.

The two men looked at Johnny with amazement as Chenle grabbed onto Johnny’s knee for leverage before lifting his stubby legs, taking four wobbly steps before crashing into Johnny’s arms. Johnny laughed, hugging the baby briefly before steadying him again.

“Wow, hyung, you’re a natural,” Jaehyun commented.

Johnny laughed as he helped Chenle stand up again, “It’s still a learning process for me. But he’s cute. It makes it all easier for me.”

Taeyong cooed when Chenle fell on his butt.

“You’re okay with this, right, Johnny? You knew that he is Kun’s son, so if you dated Kun and decided to take things further, I don’t know, in the future, I guess… That means you’re signing up as Chenle’s father. Are you… y’know… ready?” Taeyong said slowly.

Johnny nodded with a small smile, “That was exactly what Kun said to me at first. To be honest, it scares me at first. I’m not even 26 yet. My father wasn’t even married at that age. Becoming a parent is a big responsibility, I knew that. But then, if I’m waiting to be ready… I don’t think I’ll ever be ready. I’d rather just jump into it and figure it out as time goes by. So far, I’m enjoying it. You knew me well, Tae. I’m someone who values commitment a lot. Being with Kun and Chenle requires a lot of commitment, and I’m happy to say that I’m more than okay with being committed to them.”

Taeyong grinned widely, scooting over to give his best friend a big hug. He had been with Johnny ever since that fateful meeting at the military training camp, and then they’re now starting a business together, and his friend is slowly becoming a father. Taeyong is proud.

“I really admire you, hyung. That’s so admirable of you,” Jaehyun said in awe.

“It’s nothing, Jae. I don’t know what drove me either. It’s just felt right. And it felt righter as I experienced it, as if I was really destined to be with Kun and Chenle. Right, Chenle?”

Chenle perked up when his name was called, letting out a small gurgling giggle which caused all three grown men to coo audibly.

“Come here you little monkey!” Johnny laughed, picking Chenle up, attacking him with kisses, causing him to let out his signature dolphin shriek.

Just then, the door opened, with Ten being the first one to exit the room with red rimmed eyes.

“Babe?” Taeyong asked in panic when Ten came slithering into his embrace like a cat.

“What happened?” Jaehyun asked, also slightly panicking when his older boyfriend came out of the room with roughly the same state. Doyoung was silent, deciding to sit next to Jaehyun, letting the younger pull him into a hug.

Johnny felt his heart racing when Kun came out last, silently closing the room. His eyes were also red, and there were traces of tears on his cheeks.

“Is everything okay?” Johnny whispered, opening his arms, allowing Kun to lean into his embrace.

Kun chuckled wetly, “It’s alright. Everything’s fine. We were just talking about lives in general. We promised each other, no more secrets except when we’re planning a surprise party, and no more holding back when we need help. We weren’t fighting, really. We’re just talking.”

Johnny pulled back to wipe Kun’s cheeks, looking skeptical. Kun rolled his eyes and pinched Johnny’s arm, “I’m really serious! Ten was just being dramatic and Doyoung was being emotional. I was already in a somber mood this whole week and when I started crying everyone just cried along with me!”

Doyoung finally laughed, untangling himself from Jaehyun’s hold, “I’m blaming Ten’s dramatic arse.”

“Hey!” Ten sulked.

“Ba ba?”

Chenle crawled towards Kun’s lap. The baby looked cute for pulling off a curious and worried look.

“He can call you ba ba now?! Was that his first word?” Ten exclaimed as Kun scooped Chenle up.

Kun nodded proudly, “It wasn’t his first word actually. His first word was fish.”

“Fish?!”

“Yu. Fish in Chinese. That was his first word. His second word was uyu. Milk.”

Johnny chuckled at the memory, “The third one was mamma, food. And the fourth one was kkakka, snack. Apparently, those four things were more important.”

Kun chuckled as he patted Chenle’s back, enjoying hugging the baby. Chenle was really his emotional rock.

“Ba ba?” Chenle asked again.

“Ba ba is okay, baobei,” Kun said softly.

“Your ba ba is okay, baobei,” Johnny repeated.

“Is that Chinese?”

“You speak Chinese?!”

“I totally forgot you speak Chinese!”

“Now I know why Kun liked you. You speak Chinese!”

Johnny laughed at his four friends’ response.

“Wait, wait. So, what language did you use to talk to Kun and Chenle?” Taeyong scratched his head.

“Random… I guess? Mostly I just talk in Korean, but sometimes I kind of gotten sidetracked and I ended up rambling in English and Kun never mind…? Kun too, sometimes he started a sentence in Korean and migrated to Chinese halfway...?” Johnny shrugged.

“Jesus Christ. Were you planning to raise Chenle to be trilingual?” Ten shot Kun a dirty look.

Kun glanced at Chenle and blinked his eyes slowly.

“That doesn’t sound too bad…”

“Ten! Don’t feed him the idea! God! Poor Chenle!” Doyoung groaned dramatically.

Johnny laughed. He felt happy that Kun doesn’t seem to be stressed and burdened, already laughing freely.

Like what he said to Taeyong, there’s going to be a lot of trial and error with this relationship he has with Kun. It’s forever going to be a learning experience for him. He also hasn’t told his parents that he’s dating a single father. It’s going to be a long call filled with explanation, and he could already predict all the lecture he’s going to receive. He’s also going to have to learn to divide his time on finishing college—which is going to end in a few months anyways—and also managing his new studio business with Taeyong and Johnny, on top of being with Kun and Chenle.

It’s going to be a long ass journey filled with adventures, but Johnny is seriously looking forward to it.

Johnny glanced outside. The sky was a comforting shade of blue and the snow was still falling from the sky, melting as it hits Taeyong’s heated window.

It’s still winter, and it’s kind of cold, but everyone felt warm.

시간을 지나갔지만 아직도 나를 따스히 안아주웠던 너를 기억해

time passed by, but i still remember you, who held me warmly