It’s raining when Jaebum gets home.

He’s struggling to juggle the umbrella and the groceries Jinyoung had asked him to pick up from the provision store a few blocks away, whilst trying not to get his knapsack wet, because he knows for a fact that if he smudges any of the printed spreadsheets from this afternoon’s meeting, he probably won’t be seeing a promotion for another year or so. And with his salary giving them just a little more than enough to make ends meet as of now, that might not be the best idea, especially with someone’s education to start paying for in the coming year.

Rain, thick, crystal drops, gleam orange and white under the streetlights as he approaches the apartment block, giving the box of breakfast cereal and soap refills in the plastic bag he’s carrying a perfunctory check, before hurrying on towards the building. He can feel his shoes getting wet, water seeping into inexpensive (not cheap) loafers and dampening his socks, and he wishes for a moment he were home already- anyone would be crazy to want to be out here in this weather.

Then Jaebum rounds the corner and stops, almost in the middle of a puddle (the whole pavement’s a puddle right now, if he’s to be honest), because apparently someone does want to be out here right now.

There’s a meagre grass patch in front of their apartment, some valiant but feeble attempt to pump greenery into this cluster of residential blocks that’s struggling to survive, and a few wooden benches arranged haphazardly on the grass, covered in graffiti and scratch marks from kids’ skateboard tricks and rough games. The place is flooding now, as it always does when it rains, but that apparently isn’t deterring the boy sitting on the middle bench, head lowered, so the glare of the streetlight illuminates the damp tips of his dark hair and the desolate hunch of his back.

Jaebum hesitates. It’s late, and though he has no doubt many teenagers would be out and about at this hour, he highly doubts the burning desire of any of them to be sitting alone in the pouring rain. He wonders when this boy plans to go home, then, after a split second, if the boy has a home to go to at all.

He takes a few steps forward, chest constricting in apprehension. The boy looks about sixteen, seventeen, and though he doesn’t have the typicalkkangpae aura about him, Jaebum wonders if he’s playing into some sort of trap here, as he comes to a sluggish stop near the grass, on the way to the apartment.

Jaebum almost leaves, almost, before thinking twice, and of what Jinyoung might say if he found out Jaebum left a boy out in the rain for the night to fend for himself.

I should really stop getting myself in these situations. Jaebum heaves a sigh before turning to the boy, carefully manoeuvring the groceries.

“Hey, hey kid,” he tries to say over the thundering of the rain against the sidewalk. “Kid!”

The boy starts into movement, blinking in the rain, and in that moment, as their gazes connect, Jaebum feels inexplicably assured. There’s something about the clarity in his eyes, even in the darkness, that calms him, familiar and reassuring.

“Sorry?” the boy hesitates before speaking, like each word that leaves his lips might be a time bomb, and Jaebum shakes his head.

“Shouldn’t you be going home?” he says, hoping the meaning of his words gets across, even in the howling wind. “You aren’t planning to stay out all night in the rain, are you?”

The boy pauses again, eyes darting away nervously, before he continues in just over a mumble, so Jaebum has to struggle to hear. “I don’t have a home here, sir.”

Well, .

“Oh,” Jaebum says, then curses himself for even trying. What now? “Listen, do you need a place to stay, at least for the night? It’s not safe to be out here.”

Yeah, and that might be because of people like him. What if you’re inviting a burglar into your house, Im Jaebum?

The boy’s worrying his lower lip now, head hung, looking absolutely miserable, drenched from head to toe, and Jaebum feels another tug ofsomething- like he knows what he’s doing.

“Come on, you’re going to catch something if you stay out here in the cold like this,” Jaebum nods towards the lobby, wincing as a strong gust of wind picks up.

The boy finally seems to give in, sloshing through the ankle-deep, muddy water to get to Jaebum, before the two of them walk into the lift lobby, Jaebum closing his umbrella and grimacing at how wet his clothes and bag feel. It’s a good thing he thought to tuck the important documents into a plastic folder before leaving- it might not keep all the water out, but it’s better than nothing.

“What’s your name, kid?” Jaebum asks, watching the boy wringing water out of his clothes near the doorway, which proves to be useless, because the stream of it that seeps down seems to be never ending. In the light from the lobby, though, he can make the boy’s features out a little better- the hair Jaebum previously thought was black turns out to be a lighter chocolate shade of brown, black studs in the single piercings on both ears, and when he straightens up he’s almost taller than Jaebum is, even, but with the way his wet clothes are clinging to him now, he looks frighteningly skinny, like he hasn’t been eating well in weeks.

It’s then, too, Jaebum notices the puffiness of the bags under his eyes, sore and reddened, nose flushed a red that can’t just be from the cold, droplets of water clinging to his jaw that he isn’t so sure are just from the rain, and almost asks if everything’s okay- before he remembers that that’s a useless question, and even if it isn’t, he has no right to ask in the first place. He turns his eyes instead to the dark messenger bag the boy’s clutching close to his front- what he’d been leaning over to protect from the rain just now, he realises.

Jaebum extends a hand hesitantly, after transferring his umbrella to his other hand. “My name’s Im Jaebum, I live with my husband and son here.”

“Yugyeom, sir,” the boy replies respectfully, shaking his head slightly, as though to clear it, droplets of water flying everywhere, as he accepts the hand. Jaebum raises a brow, then, as the elevator dings to a stop at the lobby, firstly because this boy didn’t even bat an eyelash at the mention of Jinyoung or the fact that he and Jaebum had a child together, but also because-…

“Yugyeom? That’s a pretty big coincidence,” Jaebum laughs, as they get into the lift. “It’s a pretty unique name, isn’t it? What’s your family name?”

Yugyeom hesitates again, saying something in a mumble.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“K-kim,” Yugyeom clears his throat. “Kim Yugyeom.”

They arrive at the third floor, and Yugyeom holds the door open for Jaebum to get out, before trailing after him, glancing over his shoulder worriedly at the puddles he’s leaving in his wake.

“Just hang on a sec, okay?” Jaebum tells him, watching Yugyeom nod quickly, before he unlocks the door, stepping in, putting the plastic bags and his knapsack on the table. “Jinyoungie?”

“Hyung!” Jinyoung calls out as he emerges from the kitchen, hair falling into his eyes as he glances down to make sure the kitchen floormat’s still in place, a roll of cling wrap in his hands, soft teal sweater sleeves rolled to his elbows. “There are some leftovers here, I was wondering-…”

“Hey, hey, Jinyoung,” Jaebum lowers his voice, and Jinyoung draws closer, puzzled. “Listen, there was a kid downstairs in the rain just now. I asked- he said he didn’t have a home around these parts.”

“And you brought him up, right?” Jinyoung says quickly, and Jaebum rolls his eyes internally- of course, predictably, Jinyoung would’ve had his head if he’d said he’d left Yugyeom out in the rain.

“Yes, Jinyoungie, he’s outside now,” Jaebum sighs. “Listen, we don’t know anything about him, he might not have the best intentions, we need toexercise caution-…”

“Oh my goodness, he’s drenched,” Jinyoung pushes past Jaebum out into the corridor, before dragging Yugyeom inside, fussing over him immediately. “How long were you out there for? You could’ve caught a cold, or gotten hypothermia-…hyung, could you get some towels from the bathroom?”

“I’m wet too, you know,” Jaebum huffs, heading off to get the towels anyway, unable to hold back a smile at the sound of Jinyoung’s melodic laughter as he does so.

“What a tragedy, I’m sure your ego must’ve been frozen out there,” Jinyoung takes one of the towels, wrapping them playfully roughly around Jaebum’s head in a messy turban, before turning back to Yugyeom, who, Jaebum notices then, is watching their exchange curiously.

“This is my husband, Jinyoung,” Jaebum introduces, then, and Yugyeom bows, still looking at Jinyoung, wide eyed. “Jinyoungie, you won’t believe what his name is.”

Jinyoung opens his mouth, then, either to continue complaining about how drenched Yugyeom is or ask what his name is, but Jaebum never finds out, because the bedroom door’s pulled open quietly, and he grins widely, arms opening instinctively.

“Daddy?” the tiny figure, previously looking curiously out into the hallway, clutching a toy car, wanders curiously into the living room, eyes trained on the stranger in the room as he hurries towards Jaebum. “It’s raining hard outside, isn’t it? Did you have your umbrella?”

“Yah, no hugs, you’re going to get his clothes wet, and I’ll have to deal with three boys getting pneumonia in this household,” Jinyoung smacks Jaebum’s arm when he reaches out to hold the boy. “What were you saying his name was?”

“About that,” Jaebum rests a hand on the little boy’s shoulder, who’s now staring fully at the drenched teenager, standing in a growing puddle of rainwater. “Im Yugyeom,” he gestures to the boy, before turning back to Yugyeom. “Meet Kim Yugyeom. He’s going to be staying the night, at least until the rain stops. Yugyeom,” he turns to the teenager, who’s looking calmly at the child. “This is my son Yugyeom, but everyone just calls him Gyeom or Gyeommie-…at least we won’t get confused with names.”

“Yugyeom?” Jinyoung says, surprised. “It’s been a while since I’ve found someone else with that name- I had a couple of friends back in high school and uni with it, but that’s it,” he chuckles, draping the towel around Yugyeom’s shoulders, voice softening when he speaks next. “Where’s your family, Yugyeom?”

Jaebum’s surprised at how unperturbed Yugyeom seems by that question- the silence in his dark eyes barely seems to flicker for a moment, before he replies dutifully. “They’re around here.”

He doesn’t say anything else, and Jaebum doesn’t feel like he has the right to press him for answers, so he stays silent as Jinyoung shooes Yugyeom to the bathroom, murmuring to himself about how Yugyeom will probably fit some of Jaebum’s old things, before he’s bustling off to get a towel and some dry clothes.

“You too,” Jinyoung snaps, as Jaebum sneezes once, teeth chattering slightly. “Don’t give me any of your it’s just a little bit of cold crap, you’re going to fall sick like everyone else if you try to stay out here.”

“Okay, okay,” Jaebum mutters, wrapping the towel a little tighter around himself as he heads towards the master bedroom, and Jinyoung disappears back into the kitchen after giving him a warning look.

Jaebum passes his son’s room on the way, though, and smiles when he sees him standing again in the doorway, peering in the direction of the kitchen bathroom curiously.

“Hey, Gyeommie-ah,” he smiles, ruffling the boy’s hair, voice lowered so Jinyoung won’t hear. “You don’t mind, do you? Letting this hyung stay here for a night so he won’t have to be out there by himself in the cold?”

“Yeah,” Yugyeom’s always been a solemn, quiet child, the soft lines of his youthful face permanently fixed with caution, but he seems even more reserved than usual tonight, probably from the surprise appearance of this stranger.

“What do you think about him, anyway?” Jaebum lowers his voice a little, getting down to his knees so he can talk properly with his son. He wonders why he hadn’t thought of asking Yugyeom before- it’s something Jackson and Mark have always commented on when they come over, that even as a child, Yugyeom’s always incredibly perceptive, to the point it seemed like he had a sixth sense, almost. He’d caught wind of the fact that they were planning a surprise fourth birthday party for him two days before it was due to happen, only because he’d overheard Jinyoung making a cake order over the phone, so when Jaebum was driving him over to Jackson and Mark’s place that day he’d innocently asked if that was where the birthday party was being held. “Do you think he might be a bad person?”

To Jaebum’s surprise, Yugyeom shakes his head immediately. “No. He wants to do good things.”

Jaebum laughs a little at his son’s choice of words, even more reassured that letting the teen in was a good idea now. “As long as he doesn’t steal anything or let anyone bad into the house, I don’t mind anything he does. Good things would be a bonus.”

He’s caught between amusement and slight worry at the degree of severity on Yugyeom’s young face- even at the orphanage they’d adopted him from, he’d been labelled by the caretakers as serious, always lost in his own world, and it made Jaebum wonder just what the little boy thought of all the time that made him so grave.

“Done all your Math exercises?” he deliberately changes the topic, then, and Yugyeom pouts, changing back into the six-year-old he really is, and Jaebum laughs again, wrapping the whining boy up in a dripping hug, before hurrying off to the master bathroom, grinning, before Jinyoung can come out of the kitchen and start yelling at him.

*

“So,” Jinyoung says, as Jaebum’s sipping grumpily from a cup of hot lemon honey tea in the kitchen, having just been force fed vitamin C tablets and supplements by his husband. He’d come out from the shower to see Jinyoung putting Yugyeom up at the couch- their tiny apartment didn’t have the luxury of a guest room, but the teen seemed grateful anyway, thanking Jinyoung over and over again and telling him he didn’t have to. Jaebum’d peered over after putting Little Yugyeom (that was how Jinyoung insisted on referring to the two of them) to bed, to see Yugyeom tucked under the blanket, poring over what looked like a worn planner in the dim light, probably from that messenger bag he’d been trying to protect from the rain just now, scribbling down things in pencil. Letting his eyes linger a second longer revealed little glossy dark rectangles and squares on the paper, too- pictures, probably, printed out and pasted onto the paper. Jaebum had wondered what he was writing for a moment, before deciding that it wasn’t his place to know.

“So,” Jaebum echoes, leaning against the counter, taking another sip from his tea. He has to admit, though, no one makes honey lemon tea like Jinyoung does.

“I’m surprised you brought him up at all,” Jinyoung says honestly, smiling a little. “I thought you would’ve been all, he’s probably going to give us more trouble than what it’s worth and everything.”

“I did have to think about it a little before I brought him up,” Jaebum admits. “But he seemed like a good kid, I guess- something about his eyes, you know?”

“Yeah, I saw it too,” Jinyoung says, quiet laughter bubbling up at Jaebum’s description, and Jaebum nudges him with his knee in revenge, still smiling. “Something about him that makes him seem-…I don’t know, transparent, if that makes any sense.”

“And Gyeommie seems to be okay with him,” Jaebum sips again, shrugging. “But that doesn’t mean we can let our guard down completely- I’m still wondering if he’ll try anything tonight.”

“Come on, you know both you and I are light sleepers, and Gyeom’s worse than both of us combined,” Jinyoung scoffs quietly. “We’ll know if anything’s going to happen. Besides,” his voice lowers a little here, and he glances towards the living room- Jaebum recognises the worried way his mouth is set at once. “I don’t-…I don’t know what this means exactly, but just now, when I was passing him the clothes and the towels in the bathroom, I saw-…something.”

Jaebum raises a brow, tea semi-forgotten in his hand.

“He was-…” Jinyoung hesitates, like he’s unsure of how to phrase it. “He was hurt, hyung, all over,” Jinyoung gestures vaguely to his back, worry lines crinkling the skin on his forehead. “I was just passing him the things so I didn’t see much, but there were definitely bruises, cuts, like someone had smashed glass into his back-…” Jinyoung hesitates here, clearly unaware of how to broach the topic. “You don’t think-…his family…?”

“Whether he has an abusive family or not isn’t our business, Jinyoungie,” Jaebum says firmly, then. “We’re just giving him shelter for the night and nothing more. He’s old enough to know what to do for himself, and we don’t have the right or the obligation to pry. Besides, we don’t even know how he got hurt in the first place- it could’ve been from a fight outside as much as it could’ve been from his home.”

Jinyoung deflates, looking at him reproachfully, but Jaebum holds fast- he’s heard too many horror stories around these parts to give in to Jinyoung on this.

“If it was just you and me I wouldn’t be as worried, but we’ve got Gyeom now, and we can’t afford to slip up,” Jaebum says quietly, swirling the tea in his mug. Jinyoung doesn’t stop sulking, though, and eventually the other man sighs. “Okay, fine, we’ll see how things go tomorrow before deciding, but I’m just asking you to stay on your guard, okay? And call me immediately if anything happens tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Jinyoung says, noticeably happier, and Jaebum grumbles something about how no one takes him seriously in this household into his tea, which sloshes ungracefully in the mug as Jinyoung leans over quickly to place a kiss on his cheek.

“I love you,” Jinyoung’s eyes crinkle into pretty crescents, soft hands like down and silk between Jaebum’s fingers, and by default, then, Jaebum melts like putty, setting the mug down to lean over and kiss Jinyoung properly.

“I’m just worried, alright?” he murmurs against Jinyoung’s lips after a moment of silence, eyes half-shut. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Jinyoung smiles, then, voice sinking tender little anchors in Jaebum’s soul when he speaks next.

“Good thing I’m never leaving, then.”