Work Text:
Lee Jihoon was stressed.
Due to the workload the day prior, he didn’t get enough sleep and worse of all, he overslept. Now, this wasn’t necessarily a problem for him since he was an adult and worked as a producer. His work allowed him to be flexible with his own schedule, as long as the results are turned in.
No, the problem was Chan. His only son, his pride and joy.
Because his son had to go to the daycare which was a bus ride away from their apartment building. And since Jihoon overslept, Chan overslept as well and possibly missed their bus. The consequences were clear. Chan would be late for daycare, the workers would start to suspect that Jihoon was not a capable single father, they would send him to court and he would lose his precious son and then-
Jihoon let out a sigh to stop his over-thinking. No, this wouldn’t happen. Not at all. He would calmly explain the daycare workers his situation and they would mostly leave him alone.
Well, the small family need to arrive at the daycare in the first place before they could receive the consequences. Chan wasn’t thrilled to be woken up by his panicking father either. And the stress he was sensing around him caused him to get upset as well. The lack of food in his stomach added another reason of stress for the younger.
So, it really shouldn’t surprise Jihoon when Chan eventually started to cry. It started with small droplets of tears at the bus station before it turned into full on crying with Chan clinging onto him like a koala.
At times like these, Jihoon wished he had gotten his driving license. Because the judging stares of the other passengers started to get on his nerves. He felt a little sorry for them. After all, who wanted to deal with a crying toddler in a bus in the morning. But that was all the sympathy he gave the staring strangers. His priority was to calm his son down at the moment.
Jihoon had to fight back the urge to sigh as he patted the back of his son for comfort. He told himself that he was a good father and that meant showing patience and understanding to his child. And it seemed to work. After all, Chan started to calm down, sniffling quietly next ti his ear and even let out a few laughs escape his lips.
Wait, laughs?
Jihoon couldn’t move his head since Chan was still clinging onto him like a koala. But the laughing definitely came from his son. He also heard a few small giggles coming from someone behind him. He heard rustling of clothes, meaning that something behind him was moving in swift motions.
So, he turned around, with his whole body and saw a man. He looked out of the bus's window and held onto the bus’ handrail. He wore casual attire as well and didn’t look much older than Jihoon himself. Or maybe it was the fluffy black hair that made him look younger.
The young father raised one of his eyebrows since the behavior of that man was very suspicious. He was almost avoiding Jihoon’s gaze and his uninterested expression looked painfully enforced. Jihoon could tell, even though he was only looking at the side profile of the man.
On the inside, Jihoon smirked to himself and turned around again. He wasn’t stupid. He could read the situation he was in. Almost immediately, the minute after he turned around again, he could hear rustling again. A few seconds later, there was Chan’s laugh again. He could even feel his son loosening his grip around his neck to reach out to something, or rather someone, behind him.
“Hansom!”, laughed Chan and wiggled his arm at something behind him. Jihoon could hear hushes coming from behind him as well.
When Jihoon turned around again this time, he couldn’t hide his smirk when he saw the same guy in the same awkward position again. Holding onto the handrail and looking out of the window with a poorly acted, bored expression. This time, his ears caught a red color and his position looked a lot more stiff as well.
Jihoon would be lying to himself if he said that he didn’t like to tease the awkward stranger. But he didn’t want the stranger to die out of embarrassment so he turned around one last time and would let the stranger play with his son until he arrived at his stop.
However, a sudden stop of the bus caused him to lose his balance. He tripped over his feet and fell backwards, only to collide with the stranger who was on his mind for the past few minutes. The back of his head touched a toned chest. Screw his height, how tall was the guy even that he collided with his chest? The producer could also feel large hands on his free shoulder and on his other arm to secure Chan from falling.
Now it was Jihoon’s turn to feel awkward, stiff and embarrassed. While Chan seemed to enjoy the fall, Jihoon felt like he could pass out any minute. Even after the bus regained itself, it felt like an hour to Jihoon just leaning onto the (cute) stranger. The last time he felt that embarrassed was when his former partner had found sappy old love songs he wrote back in middle school.
”Fly! Fly! Again! Again!”, cheered Chan. But his voice was muffled since his face was pressed against the body of the stranger.
The stranger helped Jihoon standing up straight again. They have reached their bus stop but Jihoon didn’t want to seem rude and just go out. After all, falling onto someone and then just walk out? He still had some human decency left.
So he turned around one last time to face the stranger. This time, he got a full view of him and not just his side profile. And the stranger looked even cuter.
But he didn’t have enough time to think about the small details because the bus was already stopping at their stop.
“I’m sorry for what happened. Have a great day.”, he said with a quick voice before he escaped the stranger and the bus. Once finally out, the responsibility of a father came crashing onto him. He didn’t had time to think back of the cute stranger and instead quickly jogged towards Chan’s daycare center.
Luckily, the workers there understood Jihoon’s situation and forgave him. After all, Chan wasn’t that late according to them and there were still a few children who would arrive late. Apparently, there was a problem with another bus line as well. He said goodbye to his son who was already eating cookies with his friend Hansol.
Jihoon was walking down the streets to his studio which was fortunately close to the daycare center. He took the free time to finally respond to the unread messages left in the morning. But one message in particular stood out.
It was a number he didn’t recognize. The number send him a picture of a bead bracelet with a phone number. His phone number.
It was actually a bracelet for Chan. In case of emergency when his son could get lost somewhere. It seemed that it had fallen off.
Followed by that picture was another picture. This time, it was the stranger with a black fluffy hair back in the bus, smiling at the camera in a cheeky way while holding the bead bracelet next to his face. Jihoon’s heart started to beat a little faster when he saw that.
Under the picture were a few messages. A smile danced onto his lips when he read the messages.
+82***960615
>Hello! This is Kwon Soonyoung who is searching for the cute owner of this bracelet. It belonged to a cute child I saw on the bus today. He was there with his equally cute father.
>I hope this is you. ;)