Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Categories:
Fandom:
Relationships:
Characters:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Stats:
Published:
2023-05-12
Updated:
2023-08-01
Words:
4,742
Chapters:
2/?
Comments:
46
Kudos:
210
Bookmarks:
29
Hits:
3,153

let's build with only beautiful times

Summary:

At some point, the man ends up dozing off. Their ride is a little under fifteen minutes, but the poor man looks really tired. Hao isn’t exactly surprised that he ends up falling asleep while the child on his lap, Yujin, settles back comfortably and alternates between looking out the window and staring at Hao.

Hao zoned out, staring into space, and startled to feel something heavy on his shoulder. Red warmth blooms across his face when he realizes that in his sleep, the motion of the bus has knocked the man onto his shoulder, where he continues to sleep almost…peacefully.

“Oh, shit,” he mutters under his breath, instantly regretting it when Yujin’s large, doe-like eyes turn on him with interest. He hopes he hasn’t taught the kid a new swear word.

or, a chance encounter on the bus that ends with Hanbin falling asleep on Hao's shoulder and begins a tentative friendship (with two kids in between being both endearing and annoying) might be a little more than that with mutual pining that goes unnoticed on both sides.

///discontinued.

Notes:

LMAOOOO SO. this is literally an idea i played around with for maybe an hour before i went fuck it and wrote the entire first chapter in one sitting. just to be clear: this is going to be. kind of funny and lighthearted but there will be angst because obviously you can't be a single parent without some things to unpack there. also i'm me what do you expect

yujin and ollie are indeed like six years old. i had so much fun writing their bits specifically and as i've said before yujin is practically my kid so this was even more fun!

thank you to sophia for the kid / parent dynamic & behavior help and jade for the chinese honorifics help!

the title is from hello future by nct dream <3 have fun and let me know what you think!

edit: i forgot to say this but some elements of the fic are inspired by this wonwoong fic lmao give it a read!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: hao's gay crisis: begin

Chapter Text

Zhang Hao really doesn’t know how he ended up here, with possibly the cutest man he’s ever seen in his life somehow asleep on his shoulder, and an inquisitive-looking child looking up at Hao from the man’s lap—his uncle? Older brother?—with something resembling pity.

The fact that the kid in question can’t be any more than maybe six or seven years old really does not help Hao’s increasing anxiety. And the self-berating thoughts, actually.

All he knows is that he had asked the bus driver to wait for the man and child running frantically for the bus, and the kind driver had agreed, and the pair had safely made it in with the man saying his thanks over and over again. “I wouldn’t have noticed you two if not for this kind young man here,” the driver had said, and Hao flushed at the look of sheer gratitude that the man had shot him.

After that, they’d grabbed the last two seats remaining, with the man and child sitting by the window as the child had asked for it. Hao didn’t mind—the child is adorable and he’s around the same age as Hao’s own nephew. Plus, he’s twenty-five; he’s a bit too old to want the window seat.

The arrangement had worked out fine; the child was very quiet, and the man had thanked Hao again and told him that they were on their way to the house of the child’s—Yujin’s—friend for a playdate. Hao had told him that he was on his way to his sister’s place to pick up some things he had left there by accident, and that his friend’s place was close by.

He didn’t say that the two of them were going to try out a traditional dance routine (read: break all the bones in Hao’s body) because Kuanjui insists that his life is too boring and therefore has made a decision that Hao is going to at least try and participate in the latest gig that Kuanjui has. He doesn’t trust himself to not end up complaining about and the poor man already looks sleep-deprived. He’s certainly not in need of listening to Hao whining.

At some point, the man ends up dozing off. Their ride is a little under fifteen minutes, but the poor man looks really tired. Hao isn’t exactly surprised that he ends up falling asleep while the child on his lap, Yujin, settles back comfortably and alternates between looking out the window and staring at Hao.

Hao zoned out, staring into space, and startled to feel something heavy on his shoulder. Red warmth blooms across his face when he realizes that in his sleep, the motion of the bus has knocked the man onto his shoulder, where he continues to sleep almost…peacefully.

“Oh, shit,” he mutters under his breath, instantly regretting it when Yujin’s large, doe-like eyes turn on him with interest. He hopes he hasn’t taught the kid a new swear word.

His sister already wants to break his arm for accidentally teaching his nephew a few swear words (although, in his defence, a kid who hangs out with Hao—who happens to be friends with people like Kuanjui, Shuaibo, and Cha Woonggi, who is undoubtedly the boldest, most unashamed person in a room at any given moment—will be bound to pick up a few things).

His stop is in like five minutes, and he doesn’t know how to get away. Without waking up the man or getting them both embarrassed.

He tries edging away a little bit, but that just makes the man’s limp weight go with him.

Then he tries to manually push the man’s head away and rest it on the seat, but he realizes immediately that that specific approach will just wake him up and result in a lot of embarrassment.

So, he just ends up sitting there for the good part of the next two minutes or so, helpless. He hopes no one else sees how red his ears are getting, and how the flush is beginning to creep down his neck. Summer is still a few months away—it’s only mid-February—and he’s dressed in a turtleneck sweater with his jacket unzipped, but that still doesn’t hide the redness of his neck very well.

His eyes meet Yujin’s, who blinks back at him wordlessly. Hao is beginning to wonder if this kid has got any emotions at all.

He opens his mouth to say something softly at Yujin, when the kid turns around and pokes the man sharply in the collarbone. Ouch, that’s painful. “Dad, wake up. Dad. Dad. Dad,” he repeats, each repetition marked with another jab.

Wait. Dad?

Hao mentally revises his assessment of the man’s looks. He looks young, around Hao’s age, actually. But there’s dark circles under his eyes, barely visible, but still there. And even in his sleep, he holds his arms in a protective, practiced circle around Yujin’s waist. Definitely a father and not an uncle, or something.

“Hm?” the man’s eyelids flutter open. “Yujinie?”

Hao goes absolutely still, eyes fixed to the seat ahead of him. The man also freezes, before bolting upright with a cry of, “I am so sorry!” and that’s when Yujin starts giggling. Hao’s face is burning and a look at Yujin’s father tells him that he’s just as embarrassed, as Hao had known he would be. His round eyes, similar to Yujin’s, are open so wide it looks like they’re about to fall out of their sockets. His pale pink lips keep moving in an endless repetition of apologies and belated explanations, and Hao decides he can’t take any more of this mortification.

“It’s fine!” he manages to cut off the man in the middle of his sentence. “Really, it happens to the best of us. Don’t worry about it.”

“Ah, but this is so embarrassing,” Yujin’s father groans, almost a whine. Hao must be delusional, or all the blood rushing to his head is making him dumb, because that’s actually quite adorable, the way he tugs Yujin closer and his lips form a semi-pout, eyebrows pulled together and looking both anxious and horrified. “I never…I’m usually much better at keeping myself awake…”

“It happens,” Hao repeats, smiling awkwardly. It’s hard to wipe it off, but it’s so fucking awkward. “I really don’t mind. Sleepless nights aren’t uncommon, especially for a father.”

“Yujinie doesn’t give me trouble at night anymore,” he ruffles his son’s hair affectionately. Yujin lets out a whine and bats his father’s hand away. “I was just very busy with work last night, so I didn’t get to sleep until really late.”

“Same here, actually,” Hao admits. Being a violin teacher is difficult enough without Kuanjui and Shuaibo terrorizing him. There’s a second of awkward silence, and he manages to get out, “you’re really alright, don’t worry about it,” again, before the bus lurches to a stop. It’s his stop.

They both get up in unison, Yujin hopping to his feet with all the grace of a gangly little baby deer. The older two look at each other. “Your stop?” they echo. They both nod in synchrony, too.

Hao definitely wants the ground to swallow him up whole right about now.

“Um, well,” Hao says, still with that awkward tone, “let’s get going, then…?”

They do, with Yujin staring up at Hao as he ambles along, holding his father’s hand, a small smile of amusement playing on his lips. Why does he feel like he’s getting judged by a kindergartener? At least, he assumes Yujin’s a kindergartener.

Getting off the bus doesn’t prove to be any less challenging, because as it turns out, they’re walking in the same direction, too. Yujin’s father apparently hates the silence between them, and they start talking, thankfully less awkward than before.

“I’m Sung Hanbin,” he introduces himself, placing emphasis on the last syllable. “Yujin-ah, introduce yourself.”

“Hello,” Yujin says shyly, sticking close to Hanbin’s side. For his teasing smile, Yujin doesn’t seem to be very social. “I’m Han Yujin, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Han?” Hao blurts out before he can stop himself, noting the difference in their surnames.

“His mother’s surname,” Hanbin explains with a sheepish smile. He doesn’t offer any further explanation as to why, and Hao doesn’t ask.

“Oh, I see,” he responds with instead. “I’m Zhang Hao. It’s nice to meet you too, Yujin. And, uh, Hanbin-ssi.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Zhang Hao-ssi,” Hanbin says with a light, airy laugh. Hao definitely is delusional because he seriously likes the sound of that laugh. He doesn’t remember the last time he found someone so attractive, and he can’t believe it’s someone who accidentally fell asleep on his shoulder. Who also seems to be a good father, judging from the way he handles keeping the ‘conversation’ with Hao going while holding Yujin’s hand, guiding him.

“There’s my sister’s place,” Hao points to the apartment building right in front of them, just because he can’t find anything else to say. Hanbin raises a brow.

“That’s Yujin’s friend’s place, too,” Hanbin says. “Which floor does your sister live on, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Uh, the fourth.”

“Oh, really?” Hanbin’s eyes widen, as do Hao’s. “Your sister wouldn’t happen to have a son named Ollie, would she?”

“She does,” Hao confirms. Hanbin and him stare at each other for a full three seconds.

“Well, damn,” Hao finally says. “Who would’ve thought?”

 

 

“Yujin’s here!” a female voice yells inside the apartment door before it opens and pretty woman who looks similar to Zhang Hao stands before them. “Hi, Hanbin, you’re right on—Hao?” she cocks her head, startled. “Aren’t you supposed to be with Kuanjui?”

“Hi, jie,” Hao greets his sister, five years older than him. The siblings share very similar features and get along pretty well in addition to even being built about the same, except Mei is obviously much willowier than Hao is. “Nice to see to you too.”

“You saw me three days ago,” Mei deadpans. “Come in, both of you. Yujin-ah, why don’t you go and join Ollie? He’s in his room.”

“Thank you,” Yujin says softly before darting off towards Ollie’s bedroom. In the split second before the door shuts again, Hao hears Ollie’s signature excited shriek and Yujin’s yell of surprise. The adults look at each other, suspect Ollie to have knocked the poor boy to floor simultaneously. They all decide the kids will be fine.

“So, Hao,” Mei says, switching to Mandarin, the language they’re both more comfortable with, directing Hanbin to sit on the black sofa—an investment made after she learned she was pregnant and decided to get that part over with quickly—that matches the minimalistic black-and-white theme of the living room, and shoving him none too gently into the armchair beside the couch. “Why’re you here? You told Ollie you’d take him out later today, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Hao says, shoving Mei back but much gentler, “but I left my violin here the other day. I dropped by to take it with me to Kuanjui’s—maybe he’ll lighten up on the torture if I let him practice on it, or something.”

“I see,” Mei rolls her eyes. “Forgetful as always, aren’t you?”

“I’m not forgetful,” Hao protests. “I forgot it once!”

“And you’re here with him?” she switches back to Korean for Hanbin’s convenience. “I didn’t realize you two knew each other.”

“Oh, no,” Hanbin says quickly. “We just happened to be on the same bus on the way here.”

Hao realizes that Hanbin really doesn’t want the falling-asleep incident aired out, and it’s not like he wants that to be said, either, so he nods and agrees. It’s not exactly wrong.

“We met on the bus,” Hao offers, looking at Hanbin again, and hoping the flush on his ears haven’t reappeared—the heat inside the apartment is making it hard to tell—but Hanbin is definitely a little red from embarrassed. “We sort of talked. And then we found out Ollie’s my nephew.”

“Oh,” Mei nods slowly. Hao really doesn’t like the way she’s looking at him. Her eyes are far too mischievous for his liking. Hao hasn’t even done anything. “Well, you’re in luck. Ollie and Yujinie are practically attached at the hip. You have two little menaces to deal with now.”

“What is that supposed to—” Hao begins, but he’s stopped by Ollie and Yujin appearing from nowhere, Ollie creeping up behind his mother none too quietly and excitedly yelling something.

“Mom can Yujinie go out with me and Hao-ge today?!” he begs, already clinging to the hem of Mei’s shirt. “Please? Pretty please?!”

“Well…” Mei hesitates, looking at Hanbin and Hao both. Hanbin looks back at her, not really understanding why they’re all looking at him now. Hao realizes that Ollie had spoken in Mandarin.

“He wants to know if Yujin can go out with me and him today,” he quickly translates. Hanbin makes an ‘oh’ sound, mouth circling cutely as he does. “I mean, if you’re okay with it…”

“Please, Dad?” Yujin pleads, already pouting. “I really want to go!”

“Maybe another time, baby,” Hanbin says gently. “I don’t think Zhang Hao-ssi can handle two kids at once.”

“I can, actually,” Hao feels the need to affirm. He’s dealt with enough of Ollie’s hyperactive six-year-old friends before. Including a sugar-overdosed Ollie and Daniel Kim, who’s normally a pretty easy if excitable kid but the sugar-high had tempted Hao to get high himself. With a good drink. “I’ve babysat for him and his friends before.”

“Still…” Hanbin hesitates, too polite to say what Hao already knows. He literally just met Hao and he can’t just trust a complete stranger with his kid, even if that stranger’s sister is Ollie’s mother. “I don’t know…”

“Dad,” Yujin gives Hanbin the huge puppy-eyed look. Given Hanbin’s current mental state, exhausted and a little frazzled, Hao can see Hanbin begin to give into it.

“Maybe next time,” Mei tells Ollie firmly. “One day all five will go out together and have fun, yeah? Just not this time.”

“Awh,” Ollie pouts. “Why not?”

“Ollie—” Mei sighs, but Hao quickly steps in.

“Yujin’s dad is a little too busy today, that’s why,” he’s inventing an excuse, there, but Hanbin doesn’t protest. He looks a little grateful, in fact. “Another day, we’ll take him along. Alright?”

“Alright,” Ollie huffs, sulkily walking back to his room, Yujin on his heels. Both kids look pouty, but at least they’re not throwing tantrums. Mei sighs again, far too used to Ollie’s antics, at this point. They both are. Hao only visits like once a week, but he’s witnessed Ollie’s tantrums up close and has had to intervene before Mei lost her shit, too.

“Thank you,” Hanbin tells Hao. “I appreciate you stepping in, considering…”

“It’s not a problem,” Hao says. Oh, god, is he feeling shy right now? Seriously? “You’re welcome.”

“I’ll get going, then,” Hanbin says, rising to his feet. His light brown hair—dyed, presumably—is ruffled but it’s a cute look on him. Hao begins to think, a little wildly, that this is the beginning of a puppy-love kind of crush.

At least he’s self-aware enough to reach that conclusion. The ordeal with Kuanjui and their messy feelings will always be the one thing he refuses to think about, at all.

“Already?” Mei asks. “It’s fine if you stay over for a bit, Ollie’s father will be home soon, too.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I really have somewhere to be,” Hanbin bows. Hao doesn’t think the two of them are close, given that Mei talks a lot about her friends, but a Sung Hanbin has never come up. Maybe that’s why he’s bowing. “I’ll see you later, Mei-ssi. Thank you for having Yujinie over today.”

“It’s really no problem,” Mei smiles kindly. “Yujin’s a sweet kid. He’s always a delight to have him around here.”

“Ah, that’s so kind of you,” Hanbin laughs. “I really do appreciate it. I’ll be back for him at four?”

“Four is fine,” Mei confirms. It’s two p.m. now, and Hao realizes with a start that he really needs to get going if he doesn’t want Kuanjui blowing up his phone with notifications. “See you later, Hanbin.”

“Yeah.” He looks at Hao. “Uh. See you around?”

“Yeah,” Hao parrots back weakly. He’s always been bad at stopping himself from hyper-fixating on pretty boys. He’s been so busy these last two years or so, with finally securing his job and the rush of everything that comes after (not to mention his workaholic tendencies), he hasn’t really had time to get up close with any pretty boy (who isn’t his friends, anyway).

Still, that doesn’t mean he’s not pathetic for being this thrown-off in front of a pretty man. He’s a dad, for fuck’s sake, Hao seriously doubts he has time to hang out with him while managing a kid and an apparently demanding job.

(His brain does not stop noticing the little details—the way his fluffy, messy brown hair frames large, expressive eyes, his shy smile and manner making him resemble a cat—Hao needs to calm the fuck down.)

“So,” Mei begins, throwing herself onto the couch as soon as Hanbin is gone and fixing him with a gleeful look. “My little brother’s got a little crush!”

“Shut up, jie,” Hao groans. “I don’t. It’s not my fault he’s pretty.”

“But it’s your fault you were acting so flustered,” Mei counters. “C’mon, don’t you think you’d like a shot with him? When’s the last time you dated?”

“When me and Shuaibo pretended to date each other to play a prank on Jui,” Hao deadpans, exactly the way Mei does it, “like two months ago.”

Mei’s eyes widen. “You did what?”

“Never mind. Long story.” Hao waves it off. “Anyway, where’s my violin? Jui’s going to start blowing up my phone—” as if on cue, three notifications go off one after the other. “And there we go. Yeah, where’s my violin?”

“Up there,” Mei points to the bookshelf in the corner, where Ollie’s schoolbooks and his picture books and things are. Hao follows her finger to see his violin case resting at the top. “I didn’t know when you’d come back to get it, so I figured that I might as well as keep it out of reach of the kids.”

“Thanks.” Hao hauls himself to his feet and goes to get it. Hefting it properly in his arms, he wipes off the thin layer of dust that has already formed from being up there for three days. “I’ll get going, then. Tell the kids I said bye.”

“Already attached to his kid—”

“Mei-jie, I will actually—”

“Okay, okay, get going, then,” Mei snorts. “Have fun while Kuanjui tries to rearrange your skeleton. Don’t die.”

“Don’t worry,” Hao breezes out the door with the case slung over his shoulder. “I won’t.”

Chapter 2

Notes:

LMAO SO. yeah I have literally no excuses . . . all I can say is the baby cloud episode kind of broke me and I sort of. yeah. I can’t promise consistent updates because apparently updating chaptered fics is a chore and I can’t promise updates of consistent length either. have fun lol and stream in bloom <3

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

“So, you fell for a dude with a whole kid,” Kuanjui notes, in the process of stretching Hao’s leg to its limit. Beyond its limit, actually. Hao grits his teeth, being thankful that it’s not as painful as last week when he had no will left to even stand up. “How old is he again?”

“Same age as Ollie, I think,” Hao says, pushing him away to adjust his position. He’s trying to do a split, and even dressed in looser pants for the occasion, but he can’t really do it better anywhere near as good as the way Kuanjui is. Probably because the dancer doesn’t understand the concept of bones. “He and Ollie are close.”

“Oh?” Shuaibo looks up, interested. Of course. Hao wonders how the much more lowkey Jinxin can handle dating such a hyper, dramatic person, but that’s like asking how Woonggi and Keita are together. Nobody understands how they’d been so compatible, but it also makes perfect sense.

“Shuaibo, I am not going to entertain you. Go entertain Jinxin, or something,” Hao says immediately. If he tells Shuaibo, it’s going right to Woonggi’s ears, and from there he doesn’t even want to know what he’ll do.

Shuaibo just grins wickedly. He puts his phone in his pocket and comes to sit down near Hao on the hardwood floor. “I just texted him; he’s working on an essay due in like…two hours. Tell me about this cute man with a kid.”

“Ugh,” Hao groans, giving up. Both at the split and refusing Shuaibo’s curiosity. “Fine.”

“I’m listening,” Shuaibo says, giving Hao his most innocent look. Not that it works when he’s known the younger for around half a year now, but whatever. This is why Ollie is so spoiled. He lacks too much self-control.

“It’s nothing deep,” he kicks Kuanjui in the shin for trying to pull his leg, literally. “He’s just a dude who fell asleep on my shoulder and his adorable kid is best friends with Ollie, so there’s that.”

“He fell asleep on you?!” Kuanjui gasps, evading another kick from Hao for poking the tender bit of his thigh. “This is early development!”

“It’s nothing deep,” Hao repeats, this time in more of a whiny tone. “He was just tired, and we were sitting in the only two seats left. He fell asleep and the bus’s movement knocked him onto my shoulder. And then he woke up, got really embarrassed about it—I was too—and then we started walking in the same direction when we got off the bus and we learned that my sister is Ollie’s mom, and then we went inside, and his kid and Ollie went to play, and then he left.”

He looks at the clock mounted on the wall, though he reads it upside down since it’s behind him. Two minutes past four. “He should be on his way to pick up Yujin right about now, actually. That’s his kid’s name.”

“Is he cute?” Shuaibo asks. “Older than you?”

“I don’t know. He seems to be around my age, but I can’t be sure. Kind of a workaholic, I think, since he mentioned he slept late last night and already went off somewhere important after dropping Yujin off.”

“You’re one to talk,” Kuanjui snorts.

“Don’t avoid the question,” Shuaibo says. “Tell us more about him! He’s cute, isn’t he? What does he look like?”

“Zhang Shuaibo, you literally have a boyfriend. Why are you asking me about a guy I met completely coincidentally?”

He shrugs. “Tea. Plus, it’s nice to see our Hao-ge thinking about something that isn’t your violin and your classes at the uni.”

“Stop jabbing at my work habits,” Hao groans. “Fine, he’s cute. He kind of reminds me of a cat with that fluffy brown hair—I think the dye job is fading because I can sort of see the darker roots—and also, the way he smiles kind of gives him whiskers on his cheeks. He’s shy, too, but in the sense that he’s a little awkward. He’s definitely extroverted, unlike his kid.”

“Ah, to find love,” Kuanjui sighs.

“Says the aromantic in the room,” Hao mimics his tone from earlier. “And it’s not love! I literally just met him, Jui. Don’t be ridiculous.”

“One day it might be,” Shuaibo wiggles his eyebrows. “You never know! The heart is indeed a fickle thing.”

“Thanks, Master Zhang. But anyway,” he finally finds some will to get to his feet, “who wants to help me practice my new piece on the violin?”

 

 

It’s been a long time since Hanbin’s ever really allowed himself to think about someone like this. Ever since Yura, honestly. Taking care of a kid takes up a lot of his headspace and it doesn’t help that he was literally a teen dad.

Still, the man from earlier—Zhang Hao—he’s cute. Hanbin’s not sure if this is just a crush, or something, but he does think Zhang Hao’s cute. Yujin is telling him about how much fun he had with Ollie as they head to the bus stop together, but before that, he’d asked when they’d see Hao again.

“I don’t know,” Hanbin had answered truthfully. “Maybe some time.”

“I liked him,” Yujin said matter-of-factly. “He’s nice.”

“He is, isn’t he?” Hanbin smiled fondly at his son. Even the littlest things Yujin does is so endearing to him, especially now that he’s properly growing up. He’ll be seven years old in March; soon, he’ll be going off to grade school. It feels pretty surreal. He’s sure he’ll cry even more than he did the day Yujin went to kindergarten.

It’s also nice to see Yujin start warming up to other people. When he was younger, socializing was an impossible task. Since starting kindergarten and making friends, he’s really started to become better at it, though there’s no changing the fact that he’s a shy kid. Hanbin was like that, too, when he was a kid.

“He is,” Yujin affirms. “Do you like him, Dad?”

Hanbin knows Yujin doesn’t mean it like that, but his ears feel warm, nonetheless. “Of course. He seems like a good person.”

Though Hanbin regrets that he couldn’t let Yujin go have more fun with his best friend, he does think he made the right call. He doesn’t think Hao is a bad person, necessarily, just that he wants to be careful when it comes to his child. Trusting people with Yujin will never be an easy thing to do, ever.

Yujin starts talking about something else and Hanbin, though he feels a little guilty, tunes out most of it, responding with hums. He doesn’t do this often, but he genuinely doesn’t have enough energy in him to hold a proper conversation, even with Yujin, after that exhausting session.

Doing two teaching jobs at once, albeit very different ones, is not something Hanbin thought he’d be doing when he was in high school, while juggling university. He’s grateful to have gotten his teaching degree so that he can land a proper job at the nearby elementary school, just a few blocks away from Yujin and Ollie’s preschool, as well as the teaching job he earned at the local dance studio. It means he can keep one of his hidden passions close to him if he keeps that job.

Plus, it seems like Yujin’s taken to dancing, which makes Hanbin happier than anything else. He wonders if it makes other parents just as happy to have a hobby they share with their child.

 “Dad,” Yujin pipes up when they’re seated safely on the bus, “when will I see Mom again?”

Hanbin sighs. “You saw her last week,” he reminds his son. “She’ll see you again next month, Yujin-ah. Don’t worry.”

Yujin chews on his lip contemplatively. “Why doesn’t she live with us?” he asks for the nth time.

“Because your mother and I decided it was for the best, sweetheart,” he says gently. “She and I love you very much, okay? Just because she doesn’t live with us, it doesn’t mean we care less about you.”

Hanbin wishes he had more to tell Yujin than that. Yujin isn’t a baby anymore—even if he’ll always, always be Hanbin’s baby, he’s almost seven years old and he questions things more now. Yura told him the other day that Yujin had gotten upset over the fact she couldn’t come back with him to their place.

What else is Hanbin supposed to tell Yujin? That his mother resents her child for what happened with her life, almost as much as she resents Hanbin?

He takes a deep breath and puts his arm around the child. “Hey, how about this?” he says coaxingly when he sees the pout on Yujin’s lips. “You wanna come with me tomorrow when I go to the studio?”

“But what about school?” Yujin asks.

“After school,” Hanbin assures him. “You can meet my friends too. They ask a lot about you; did you know that?”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t help but talk about my baby,” Hanbin ruffles his hair. Yujin pulls away with a whine. “You’re my entire life, Yujin-ah, it’s only fair that I talk about you all the time.”

“Are they nice?”

“Very nice,” Hanbin promises. “You’ll love them almost as much as I love them.”

“But you love me best,” Yujin recites the thing Hanbin always tells him. It makes Hanbin smile bigger than he has all day.

“Always.”

Notes:

im so sorry this is so short :( i haven’t had access to my plot outline (read: a thread on discord lol) for a while due to the fact that i don’t have much internet access these days, and im also running low on inspiration. but i am trying to pick this back up because i do love this silly little fic. please be patient with me even as i write and upload other fics lmao.

with love, mari <3

Notes:

edit: im really sorry to disappoint you all, but i've completely lost steam on this fic. while i am considering a full rewrite, i have several other projects that take precedence, and i do want to get those done first. rest assured, i am not done with haobin in any capacity -- keep your fingers crossed that im not done with this fic, either <3 in the meantime, come find me on my socials!

twt | tumblr | retrospring