Myungsoo returned to reality to get a bit of a shock (and massive sense of shame) that the kids were putting their fingers in something dangerous. While Woohyun immediately took his hands out of it, Sunggyu just rolled his eyes and continued to try to open it(?). 

“Oh my god, oh my god!” Myungsoo dashed to redeem himself and pull Sunggyu’s hands out of the socket when a sound was heard.

“A-ha!” Sunggyu gasped happily and threw what seemed to be a fake socket to the side as his friend wowed.

“Thank God, it's fake.” Myungsoo sighed in big relief, not only because he was afraid of the boys hurting themselves, but because he would also be scolded for staying there like a daydreaming clown and not paying attention to what the boys were doing.

Sungyeol, who was slightly behind his lover, didn't seem to understand what happened right away. He was sure Myungsoo was on another planet and the kids were about to get hurt but it turned out the danger wasn't real. In the end, nothing happened, the three of them escaped a scolding, and now Sunggyu was trying to detach something from inside the wall. 

“No wonder it didn't turn anything on,” He sighed as well before inquiring. “What is happening here? What is this?” 

Woohyun shrugged because he was too lost for both questions, while Sunggyu tried to answer the second one. “My treasure.”  He said then gave his back to the adults and resumed his detaching activity, which seemed pretty safe by now.

The adults were still puzzled and Woohyun could only shrug again, but then, he looked from Myungsoo to Sungyeol and back at his dad. He winked a very obvious wink before turning to Sunggyu. “Let me help you, my fingers are smaller.”

“No, you’ll start sneezing.” Sunggyu turned to look at his friends and that’s when Myungsoo got his lover's hand and pulled him to the door before the taller had the chance to talk.

“Saved by the bell Kim Myungsoo.” Sungyeol playfully scolded as they moved back to the living room. “Were you daydreaming?” He added with amusement.

“Sorry,  I…” Myungsoo was about to give him a sheepish apology - and he didn’t know what else to do - when Sungyeol interrupted. 

“They didn’t get hurt so…” Sungyeol shrugged and headed for the table where the food was sitting on. “What was that wink all about?”

“I have no idea.” The young dad lied and the elder squinted his eyes in doubt. 

Myungsoo's face seemed clueless but Sungyeol knew Myungsoo was able to lie through his teeth and fool anyone. So, whenever he couldn’t tell if the younger was lying or not (rarely, he must admit), he got angry with himself for not being able to figure it out. He sustained his gaze for a few seconds and the younger didn’t flinch but he didn’t want to pick a fight - it was probably not even worth it - so he ended up letting go and changing the subject. “Did you have a look around the apartment? What do you think of it?”

“When I think about the pictures you showed me, you did awesome work here.”

“Right?” Sungyeol smiled pleased. “And the heating is fixed, technically you can already move in.”

“Wow, calm down.” Myungsoo raised a hand. “I’m not gonna move here with Woohyun.”

“Why, didn’t you like it? There is too much color for you? Because if it is, it needs a new layer of paint anyway so I’m sure we can paint it entirely the way you want it.”

“Well, a light tone of gray would be perfect in the main room…” The young dad started saying, and Sungyeol was already making mental notes until... “No!” He shook his head to focus. “It doesn’t make any sense to live here with Woohyun. And it’s way bigger than anything I’ve been searching online.” 

“It can be free during the time you need it.” Sungyeol winked.

“And why would you think I’d accept that when it crosses the boundaries we successfully implemented and harms Sunggyu college fund?”

Sungyeol took his time to breathe in and out before he could counter that. “Firstly, you do know that Sunggyu only needs me for decision-making, right? His father left him so much money that I don’t use my own for his expenses. He can pay two graduations even if we consider future inflation.” He said calmly while pulling a chair and sitting on it.

“Then Sungjong might need that money,” Myungsoo argued and sat down too.

“While that might be true, I consulted with him before I offered it to you, he said he doesn’t mind.”

Myungsoo rolled his eyes, surely Sungjong would say he wouldn’t mind when he was planning a takeover of Sungyeol’s apartment. Either way, if the elder brother said no, the middle brother would probably move out of the dorms and take Moonsoo with him to somewhere they could have privacy. “How about our boundaries, mister?” Myungsoo challenged.

“They are still up,” Sungyeol argued but once the younger made a doubtful look, he looked down the table as if he was about to get scolded. “But I’m overstepping, isn’t it?” A frustrated sigh. “Sorry, I just wanted to buy you more time so we could enjoy our plans fully. But you are right, it’s way too big for you and Woohyun, and I should respect your decisions.”

“Yeah, but my current apartment in its entirety is almost the size of the main room, so…” The younger tried to joke but Sungyeol just sighed, disappointed in himself. “Hey, I didn’t mean to scold that hard, was I overboard?” Myungsoo asked in concern.

“Oh, no, by all means, It’s just… I deluded myself for the past hour but deep down I knew you would say no. I’m disappointed at myself for butting in too much again, not at you for saying no.” He said fiddling with his fingers above the table until Myungsoo slid his hand over them.

“No, don’t be, your heart was in the right place.” The young dad said soothingly, besides he thought it was impossible to offer a solution and impose it when Sungyeol didn’t know what exactly was the problem. If Myungsoo just wanted a roof, he could choose anything within his paycheck. For other details, he and Woohyun were willing to adapt. What he and Woohyun really wanted… only depended on Sungyeol.

“That changes nothing and I’m feeling bad about myself now. But don’t worry, it will wear off.”

“It changes everything though.” Sungyeol raised an eyebrow. “It’s just… this is not like a year ago, that you knew exactly what the problem was and thought ahead all of the possibilities until you found one that could work. Right now I think you can’t do whatever you’re blaming yourself for.” That made Sungyeol feel slightly better but he frowned in confusion while trying to think what he was interpreting wrongly. “My main problem is not this particular apartment or its size, although it plays a part in my earlier ‘no’. If you could offer me any other apartment, big or small, close or far, cheap or expensive, I’d probably say no again. And I know this may seem like I’m saying no because of you and our previous problems, but this it’s something else.”

“Where is the real problem then?”
“Things are not like you imagine them to be.” He said and could practically hear the other brain working.

“Ok then, I misunderstood something. But how in the world could I have interpreted your need to move - the reason not being that relevant - wrongly?”
“Well, you didn’t, that part is an indisputable fact.” Sungyeol frowned and the younger could practically see flying question marks all over his head. “There is nothing wrong in your interpretation too, it’s just I ended up keeping something to myself, that is quite essential to solving… everything. You aren’t a mind-reader, so…” The younger shrugged.

“And you kept it to yourself because…” The elder asked carefully and Myungsoo pulled his hands back to press his temples. “You can tell me if you actively wanted to leave me in the dark, I’m not gonna be hurt.” 

“No, it’s just…  It’s not like I wanted to leave you in the dark, if I had to leave Seoul I’d need to forget all about it so I guess I just didn’t want to take a step bigger than my legs right off the bat.” The younger confessed sincerely and offered an apologetic smile.

Well, he also needed some courage, which Myungsoo gathered over some months in which he waited to be sure he wasn’t rushing or anything. He had that in check for some time already and that’s what made him check the idea with Woohyun, that surprised him not only by almost screaming in joy but by massively encouraging it. Nothing was holding him back anymore, so this conversation was perfect for his first attempt.

Since it seemed Myungsoo entered his thoughts, Sungyeol thought about it a little and then cringed a little. “So today's visits inevitably were all useless right? Sorry for making you waste your time then.”

“On the contrary, the point - and you knew that - was not to close a deal right away, so it was useful to some extent.” Myungsoo dismissed his lover’s concerns with a chuckle and prepared himself to just say it. “It’s just no apartment right now would be fitting because…“

“Hyung! Hyung! Look at this!” Sunggyu appeared running with a few papers in his hand and then they saw Woohyun trying to hold him back with tickles. “What’s with you Woohyunnie? Stop! Hahahaha.”

Myungsoo turned with the most annoying expression ever, which was quite comical. But the kids appeared after miraculously spending some time quietly, which allowed them to have this conversation, and the food was getting cold so there wasn’t that much they could do.

“Later.” Sungyeol assured by holding his lover's hand before addressing the kids. “What is going on over there? Stop with the tickling and come over here.” The taller encouraged as he moved to unwrap the food.

“Yeah, come here, the food is getting cold,” Myungsoo said, and only then Woohyun let his hyung go.

“You naughty!” The elder accused before running to his brother. 

Meanwhile Woohyun looked at his father and, upon noticing the elder try to school his annoyed features, immediately made an apologetic face. The elder sighed and slightly shook his head and patted a chair right beside him. 

“Hyung, look what I had in my treasure!!” Sunggyu waived a photo paper in his brother's face. “I thought you’d find and throw it away but it was still here all of this time.”

“Wow, Sunggyu!” Sungyeol slightly complained at the waving and then managed to grab the paper. “What’s is… Oh my god!” He gasped in surprise and his eyes immediately filled with tears.
“What?” Myungsoo stopped cutting a piece of lasagna to ask and instantly got worried when he noticed some tears in his lover's eyes. Then, the elder turned the picture so everyone could see and he understood everything.

Everyone in the picture was sitting on one couch and some elements (perhaps Sunggyu’s hat), made it seem that there was a party going on. A younger version of Sungyeol was sitting in one corner with his legs crossed and holding some soda in one hand while a plate of food was in the other. He might have just settled but they wouldn’t know. 

What they could infer was that he sat there to talk to Sungjong - that had an empty plate in his hand, and sat beside him - and his mother, that sat on the other corner of the couch holding a toy(?). The woman resembled the one in Myungsoo’s mother's pictures way back and had large eyes, that seemed full of joy, pride, and a little amusement at what was happening.

Maybe she had been holding Sunggyu before the picture was taken, Myungsoo wouldn’t know, but what made the picture funny, was what the boy was doing and everyone’s reaction. The woman was smiling largely, and Sungjong had been laughing and actively doing nothing else, but Sunggyu was stealing from Sungyeol plate and the picture seemed to be taken the minute Sungyeol noticed that (when he was just surprised and not ready to shoot laser beams through his eyes yet).

Myungsoo resisted the urge to not laugh and had to press his lips together for a bit. “Awn a family picture, that is so sweet.”

Well, there was nothing very sweet about having his food stolen but that wasn’t Sungyeol focus either. “I know it’s my fault we have so few. Look at her.”

“As I was explaining to Woohyunnie, it was my third birthday.” Sunggyu happily offered

“Your mom was so beautiful.” He said, looking from the picture to the elder a couple of times. “You look a lot like her.”

Now Myungsoo wanted to make an indirect compliment but Sungyeol didn’t notice. “Nope, she copy-pasted herself on Sungjong, I’m just a big mix.” He explained idly and then started to analyze the picture again. “I think I got angry, better yet, I know I got angry but now it feels kinda funny and… and… bittersweet. It’s a pity it’s folded.” He concluded

“Sorry hyung,” Sunggyu said guiltily but then he remember something. “Is there any way we could fix that?” 

“I’m still good with photoshop.” Myungsoo offered before turning to look at Woohyun and filling his plate.

“Thanks, Myungsoo, that would be great.” The elder said softly.

“If it doesn’t work, maybe Hoya hyung could do it as he did for Woohyunnie's mommy and sister. And then we could print it again, and put it on a frame in the living room.” Sunggyu offered as he sat beside Woohyun.

“Hoya hyung is very good at it, it will be awesome too.” Woohyun chirped idly even though he and Myungsoo might have just had a mind-reading moment.

Sungyeol chuckled as he dried his eyes. “You don’t want it in your room?” 

“I want to share it with you, and Jongie, so everyone should be able to see it,” Sunggyu said, very decidedly.

“Smart choice.“ Myungsoo said, getting ahead with serving everyone.

Sungyeol sighed fondly then put the picture out of disaster range. “I’ve seen all our family pictures but I couldn’t even remember this one, how do you have it?”

“Dad printed for me once, when I asked for pictures of you.” The boy confessed something he kept to himself for a long while.

“Why would you want pictures of me back then? I was weird to you.”He said with a surprised expression.

“I liked you back then too.” The boy shrugged as he played with some smaller pictures and that successfully melt both adults' hearts. “When he gave me, I hid in the treasure spot that dad made for me, Jongie hyung didn’t even know about it. I thought you would find it because you’re so smart but...” Sunggyu said. 

“Well, I didn’t it, but now we need to search through your dad’s stuff and discover if he has more stored somewhere. Do you think we might have more from this day? Maybe a funny one of you and I?”

“There is no need to search.” Just like Uno cards, Sunggyu started to put picture after picture on the table (small polaroids) and they all could count at least ten. Some from the same day and the others from brief encounters with his mother that Sunggyu and his dad happened to be present. In most of the pictures, they didn’t even interact, but it counted to Sunggyu that they were in the same frame. 

“It’s more than I expected.” The elder blinked in surprise.

“Dad hid and took them.” Sunggyu smiled in amusement.

Woohyun looked at one in particular and then chuckled after looking at Sungyeol. “You’re so funny, hyung. It looks like you’re about to cry as well.”

“Let me see that,” Myungsoo said and dived for it the next second but only to chuckle. “Indeed.” He said as he inspected a red-eyed and teary Sungyeol trying to hold what looked like a six-month-crying Sunggyu.

The elder sighed. “First time meeting him probably.  It's not like baby Sunggyu made me cry, I was still dealing with… stuff so I cried randomly during that time. I guess it was some kind of triggering moment? I don’t know and I don’t want to remember details.”

“You’re happier in this one.” Sunggyu chose another and held it for his brother to see. In this one, anyone could see that Sungyeol had been trying to feed some ice cream to an eager two-year-old Sunggyu, but trying to look like he wasn’t awwing inside. 

“Oh my god, that one is so so cute.” Myungsoo slightly squealed but Sungyeol ended up stealing the one in his hands and the one in Sunggyu’s. 

“If we don’t eat we will need to reheat our lasagna. Let’s eat now and see pictures later ok? We need to have a conversation with you guys.” He said as he piled the others near Sunggyu and Myungsoo made a face. “What? You said you’d tell them.”

“What?” Sunggyu asked as he prepared to eat.

Myungsoo took a deep sigh as the boys ate, looking at him waitingly, and then he started the talk they were supposed to have.

“Ok, good news first: I’ve renewed my contract and that means I will continue living in Seoul, and I also got a raise.”

“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!”

“A raise? For real?” Woohyun asked incredulously, he wasn’t expecting that part, but he was glad to hear it. “Can we go to Disney Japan now?” 

Myungsoo and Sungyeol shared an alarmed look. “Ahem. One day. Soon.”

“We should go next year, right Woohyunnie?” Sunggyu said in excitement.

“On Halloween.” The young boy squealed.

“No to Halloween, it’s the middle of the semester.” The elder chastised. “None of us can skip anything.”

“Then next Christmas.” Woohyun offered, still delighted.

Both adults held amused smiles and shared a suspicious look that neither boy noticed. “During Christmas might be too cold, but let’s see how you behave,” Sungyeol said and both kids were about to complain and say they behaved just fine when Myungsoo decided to continue with the conversation.

“Before that, I have more serious news to share.” He said and both boys looked at him. “I wasn’t expecting that but, the owner of my apartment asked to… there is a bunch of difficult words to explain but what’s happening is that we won’t be neighbors anymore because Woohyunnie and I are getting kicked out.”

Sungyeol watched for the boys’ reactions intently and while he could see Sunggyu hyperventilating and blabbering ‘what?’ left and right, Woohyun just stuck his fork on the poor lasagna and took a bite. 

“No! No! No, No, No!” Sunggyu entered in denial and tried to hold Woohyun left hand. “No, you can’t go, you two can’t live far away.”

“Life is not like that Sunggyu, they are been forced to move.” Sungyeol tried to explain.

“And that .” Woohyun completed, much to the elder surprise.

“Maybe if you ask the owner nicely...” Sunggyu tried.

“Not everything can be solved like that.” Sungyeol said while looking questioningly at Woohyun, did he know already?

“But none of you needs to worry ok? I will search for an apartment close or, I don’t know, I’m hoping to solve this soon and without a long distance between us, ok? So you two need to trust me on this.” Myungsoo said carefully.

“Sure thing.” Woohyun quickly accepted, not sad to separate in the slightest, and that’s when Sungyeol confirmed. The kid already knew and was acting as if nothing when he was the one worrying. Tsc, Tsc.  The boy was about to go for another bite, but Sunggyu wouldn’t just release him. “Hyung, let go! We are best friends forever and ever remember? We won’t separate, there is nothing to worry about.”

“Why are you fine with that?” The older boy asked.

“That’s an excellent question,” Sungyeol said, squinting his eyes at the boy.

“I’m not fine with that, I just think it will not happen.” The boy shrugged nervously.

“Why?” The pair of brothers asked together.

“Because… because… I trust him in this?” The boy stammered and looked at his father for help. Sungyeol did the same, and the look on his face said that he already discovered everything. Myungsoo threw an apologetic expression to his boyfriend, that sighed, then back at Sunggyu. 

“Gyu-ah, I know you’re sad but it won’t be that bad. Come on, I’m dating your brother, we will always see each other, so you’ll keep seeing Woohyun inside and outside the school all the time.” Myungsoo grabbed one of Sunggyu’s hands and squeezed. 

Sungyeol sighed again and grabbed Sunggyu’s other hand. “We’re not purposely separating you, we are not breaking up either. There is no reason for you to stop seeing each other as much as you do it now.”

“Hyung, can’t you move into another apartment in our building?” The elder boy threw a begging look at his brother's lover, then at his friend, and back at him. “Please?”

“We checked that option already, it’s not possible.” Both adults managed to say at the same time, much for Sunggyu's despair. 

“Then you’ll go back to Incheon?” The boy asked and Woohyun almost choked, as if that never had crossed his mind.

“No?” Woohyun promptly snorted and Sunggyu was mildly relieved.

“No, dear. I work and Woohyunnie studies here, we can’t commute every day. It’s too troublesome so I need to find an apartment here.” Myungsoo offered a sad smile. “I understand this is not what any of us wants but we need to. I promise it won’t be that different from when Woohyun stayed with my parents…”

“I don’t think that counts.” Woohyun offered awkwardly.

“It big time,” The elder boy complained.

“It sure did.” Woohyun shuddered, not wanting to think about the time he was away from his dad, massively confused and just plainly suffering.

“Everyone was sad back then but now everyone is happy and you still want to…” Sunggyu argued, looking from his friend’s father to his brother. “Hyung, can’t you do something, please?”

“Gyu-ah, what can I do? I have power over you not on them,” Sungyeol was a bit at loss but when Sunggyu's mood started to darken, he tried to be positive. “But I promised to help them find a good place, right Myungsoo?” He looked at his boyfriend and the said man quickly nodded.

“Yeah and I’m sure that with your brother’s help we will find an apartment,” Myungsoo assured.

Woohyun grabbed him by the cheeks and looked deep into his eyes. “Yes hyung, I’m sure Sungyeol hyung will help. I’m not sad so don’t be sad too.”

Sunggyu blinked some tears and pulled his face and hands away from everyone. “I hate you all.” Sungyeol sighed. “I don’t.” He withdrew his word the next second then put his elbows over the table and rubbed his hands on his face a couple of times until he half-dried his tears and managed to think about a little more. 

“What if they stay here in mom’s apartment?” He suggested and while Myungsoo gasped with the idea coming from the boy’s mouth (no wonder those two were brothers), Woohyun looked pleasantly surprised and low-key excited. So the boy liked the apartment? That weight on his dad's thoughts.
Sungyeol looked at Myungsoo then down at his half-eaten lasagna. “I offered it, but Myungsoo doesn’t want it.”

“Why?” The boy looked at Myungsoo in disappointment and Woohyun seemed to be in disbelief.

“It’s too big for him and Woohyun.” The elder explained only for Woohyun to glare at his dad. My room would have been so big. “Maybe there is something else too, I don’t know.” Sungyeol shrugged. “I also don’t think Myungsoo figured out what he wants in an apartment yet. But once he does, he promised to tell me, and then I will help him with whatever he needs.” Sunggyu's lips quivered again as he felt another round of tears would come. “While he doesn’t decide, let's eat before the food gets completely cold, then we can laugh at our pictures and tell them stories, ok?” He tried to grab his brother's hands again but Sunggyu just evaded him and placed his hands over his eyes.

“I don’t want to. This night , I want to go home.” The boy whined.

“We will, but let’s eat first, hm? Just a bit? You played all day, you’ve got to be hungry.” Sungyeol tried to coax his brother and soothe him and while that happened the atmosphere felt heavy for the pair of son and dad. Myungsoo couldn’t believe that things with Sunggyu would be worst than with Woohyun, but then again his son knew about his intentions, but the other boy didn’t. Even so, what to do now? How to get out of this weird mood? How did he even start some conversation that led to the question that he wanted to make and that would surely soothe everyone?

“Hyung… hyung…” Even Woohyun tried but Sunggyu wouldn’t take the hands out of his face. He sighed and looked at his dad that made an apologetic face, which wasn’t ok for the boy. Ask it. He mouthed.

Now? Myungsoo mouthed back.

The young boy shrugged. Ask it.

Myungsoo took a deep breath and decided to start his first official attempt. “I didn’t dislike the apartment… It’s too big for just two people, maybe under the right circumstances…”

“I got you when you said no the first time. You don’t have to accept what you don’t want just to please us. You’re not offending us and  I understand your position and Sunggyu eventually will too.” Sungyeol tried to smile while Myungsoo wanted to claw his own eyes in annoyance, the elder wasn’t paying attention to the message between the lines. “Right, Sunggyu?” Sunggyu promptly shook his head, but his brother knew that wasn’t true. “You will, and then we will find an apartment so he can stay with Woohyun. Then we will help them move out and have fun decorating everything together...hm? What do you say?”

“You could help me with my room.” Sunggyu only made more sobbing sounds at his friend’s offer so the maknae of the group threw sharp looks at his dad. Thankfully, Myungsoo could use his lover's words in his favor. 

“I’m sorry I’m upsetting you with this sort of news Sunggyu.” He apologized first. “It caught me by surprise too, but we still can get to live in the same city and that helps a little.” Woohyun let a loud and supporting agreement so he continued. “Before that happened we made so many plans, and hyung and I promised a big surprise - that we all are looking forward to - it would be a pity if that’s the only thing you can think about from now on.”

“But… but… how can I think about something else now that I know you two are going far, far, far away?” The boy whined

“I’m sure they’ll not move that far away Sunggyu, there is no need for you to exaggerate that much.” Sungyeol voice came out so softly that it didn’t seem like he was scolding the boy.

Myungsoo shrugged. “Then I need to fix this problem soon right?”

“I guess.” The boy mumbled, but that was enough.
“Since you don’t want us to move far, far, far away, why don’t you help us find something suitable to our needs? What do you say?” Myungsoo asked and Sunggyu finally cleaned his eyes a bit, which relieved Sungyeol a lot.

“Fine.” He said to Myungsoo then looked at his friend. “Will you let me help decorate your room? I’ve never decorated anything.”

“So the walls in your room don’t count?” Sungyeol squeezed his eyes but was massively ignored by the two kids.

“Of course, I will let you!” Woohyun guaranteed which relieved his friend a little but then looked determined at his friend’s dad.

“You’ll live in the next building then.”

“Wait a minute Sunggyu, that’s not how things get solved, we need to search around and figure out where the available apartments are.” The tallest tried to explain.

“Next block then.” The boy insisted, only for Sungyeol to sigh deeply.

Myungsoo chuckled a bit. “Wherever it is, I’m sure we all will be able to adapt. But it has to be bigger than what we have now so we can have a bed solely for you, what do you say?”

“That would be nice, Woohyunnie bed is getting cramped.” Sunggyu didn’t even blink before answering and that left Sungyeol a little uncomfortable.

“You’re imposing now, I’m sure if Woohyun has a trundle/guest bed, it will be enough.” Sungyeol tried to argue.

“You're not imposing, Sunggyu, you can have your own.” Myungsoo confidently said right after which made Sunggyu turn to his brother and show his tongue. When Sungyeol turned to ask what was that, the younger dad continued. “And we could have a bigger room that fitted a big bed for us, and all our stuff too, what do you think?” He asked and blushed right after.

Sungyeol eyes got big at the suggestion. It seemed a bit scandalous to hear about them sharing a bed in front of the kids, which was something that they avoided whenever the kids were around. Well, there were sleepovers but either they slept all in one place or one of the adults got the couch. As for their intimate moments, they mostly happened when the kids were out. 

As surprised as he was, the initial reaction from the kids was pretty meek, as if sharing a bed was just similar to what they were used to doing, therefore they didn’t care about it at all. For a fraction of a second that made him relax (even though he felt like he scolding his lover) until Sunggyu enlarged his eyes and a smile appeared on his lips, while Woohyun clapped his hands excitedly, beaming in utmost joy. 

It was right then that he noticed there was more to it, especially because Myungsoo’s bed fitted two adults just fine. As he registered his lover's words, Sungyeol could recognize that his speech wasn’t about just making a point to demonstrate their relationship had adult aspects they didn’t demonstrate often. Myungsoo used ‘we’ plus a verb that indicated ownership, and used other words to say that a drawer wouldn’t suffice.

“For real? For real?” Sunggyu repeated looking from one to the other as Myungsoo’s face looked redder by the second.

“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!” Woohyun squealed happily. The boy knew this was coming as well, didn't he?

From words to reactions, everything pointed to something that - despite needing to consider some aspects - seemed very nice but Sungyeol couldn't believe it. He crossed his arms and opened a very dumb/confused smile and Myungsoo could only shift nervously under his gaze.

“So?” The younger one prompted, after a few seconds where Sungyeol was so still he didn't even seem to breathe. Meanwhile, the kids placed their hands together and started doing their most adorable expressions, and started to plead.

“Wow, I’m… I'm speechless…” He said only for Woohyun to frown and look at Myungsoo, while Sunggyu kept chanting ‘please’. “Where is this coming from?” The elder couldn't help but ask, even though the dumb smile was kept in place.

Myungsoo fiddled with his nails and felt a new wave of heat coming to his face as he tried to explain. ”You know that last year I was unsure about continuing this relationship…” 

“Which you had reasons for…” Sungyeol said, not sad, not extremely guilty, but bravely owning up to his mistakes.

“And even though we decided to continue it, I had a phase where I couldn't stand to see you every day…”
“That was kind of essential. We needed it, you more than me, but we needed it.” The elder assured.

“And with effort, we reached where we are now, which is incredibly different but at the same time it resembles what we had before… everything.” 

“Which is good, isn't it?” Sunggyu asked, looking from one adult to the other.

“Of course it is!” Woohyun assured while Sungyeol could only nod and patiently wait for the young dad to continue. 

Myungsoo screeched his forehead a bit nervously. “The idea is not exactly new, I've been thinking about it for a while now,” He revealed, and the other three either gasped or let their jaws hang low. “But it went against what we were trying to do and even some of our rules. Since we're trying to make our relationship as normal as we could, I also thought I was rushing things so I just pushed the thought away for a while.” He gulped hard. “But later I realized that it is impossible to have a slow-paced relationship because we have things that speed up the process a lot.” He threw a glance at the kids and scratched his temples again as he looked back at his lover. 

“I’ve tried to process that by myself for a while, and now I’m sure that’s what I want,” Myungsoo said as confidently as his red cheeks allowed. “We never really talked about it so I don’t know if you feel the same way, or if you are ready to do it now… I might still be rushing, but since I need to find a new apartment and-and the kids seem to be totally on board,” Both of them raised their thumbs while Sungyeol could only blink. “I thought we could… you know, at least discuss it?” 

The kids resumed with their pleads while the elder’s jaw moved up and down a couple of times. Something just exploded in his head and then it dripped over his body until it settled in his heart and warmed it. He could recognize he had improved as a person, but he didn’t think there was anything to unlock in himself anymore. To his surprise, here it was: a brand new sensation, a very nice one.
Despite trying hard to have relationships, Sungyeol didn’t think he would ever reach this point with anyone. He always thought of himself as too self-centered and individualistic to even think about sharing his space with anyone. It felt invading, it put him on the edge, probably due to his past. It felt a bit like this when they decided to put up with each other (way before any romance happened), but he didn’t feel like that for a long time now. It had been so long that he forgot all about it.

He couldn’t lie though. To know Myungsoo went through all that cycle, evaluating everything on his own, surprised him. Their relationship improved drastically and that was their merit, but, to propose such a thing, Myungsoo had to be sure Sungyeol could handle it. Sungyeol felt that yes, he could, and that was all thanks to Sunggyu. Even if they were to fight every day back in the day, the kid had been making him change even before Myungsoo and Woohyun appeared.

“I-I …” Sungyeol was the one stuttering now but his smile grew wide and his eyes started to sparkle. “I didn’t see that coming and-and a lot is going through my mind right now…” The kids crossed their fingers, an answer was about to come out. “I’ve never thought…” The elder started saying but then dived to hold Myungsoo’s hand. “Yes, yes, yes- oh my god- yes!”

“Did you hear that? Did you hear that?” Sunggyu couldn’t help but want to be sure he heard correctly, because that meant a massive and very welcome change.

“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!” Woohyun cheered loudly.

Despite hearing Sungyeol repeat his answer, Myungsoo's brain also short-circuited. He couldn’t believe that Sungyeol said yes that easily, and without reflecting deeply (but fastly) about all of the possible outcomes. 

“What? Oh my god.” He got up and pulled Sungyeol up and then hugged his boyfriend tightly. Sungyeol felt trembling against his body, much more nervous than he initially thought. Once they parted, they couldn’t help but share a kiss, which the kids were used to seeing every now or then, but surely not one like this one. 

“I can’t believe it!!” They shared a couple more kisses and giggled a bit before finally sitting down. 

“Oh my god, we will all live together!” Sunggyu said dreamingly, now completely forgetting he had been pretty upset about 5 minutes ago. “Together!”

“It’ll be so awesome!” Woohyun added right after. “We will have Sungyeol hyung food every day!”
“And we don’t need to wash up and dress up before seeing each other. Or-or need to return home to prepare for bedtime.” 

“And, we can do homework together every day!”

As the kids took turns to highlight changes in their routine, the adults could only watch them with amusement until Sungyeol excitement had a break and some questions popped into his head.

“Since you’ve been thinking about it for longer, how do you propose we do this?” He asked as the kids started to ignore them in favor of their conversation, and take interest in the food (probably cold, though they didn’t seem to care) again.

“Well, this was the main thing I needed to figure out before any other thing.“ The young dad smiled and caressed his lover's hand. “Now your opinions will have the same importance as mine, so we can try to figure out our requirements and discuss them to find a middle ground.”

“But how about the practical aspects of it? Have you thought about it?”

“Well, I didn’t think that far,” Myungsoo confessed sheepishly. “I wanted to think about it together.”

“OK then.” The elder agreed and started thinking about it. “What if harms your career? I don’t want that to happen because of me.”

“I believe that as long as we keep it low profile, as we’ve been doing so far, it shouldn’t be a problem. Basketball is not super popular in Korea so, despite being a good player, I don’t exactly have celebrity status.”

Sungyeol thought a bit, he agreed with it to some extent. It was not like they were super obvious when they went on dates too, they could pull it off. They had supporting friends that would keep it quiet, the main problem was: neighbors. Homophobic neighbors they already had, to be more precise.

“What about our neighbors? They can tip the press or, harass us daily, we need to think about that, especially because it can harm the children.” Sungyeol showed concern and Myungsoo could only sigh.

“Yeah, this is why if we want to do this we need to get out of that building. Our neighbors don’t pester us because they think we are friends that got close because of our kids, but once we move in together any doubt will be confirmed.”

“Agreed. But, even if we move elsewhere, this would still be a problem.”

“What if we keep half of my story true and say we’re family?” Sungyeol raised an eyebrow. “Well, we can say I was married - which is true - and had Woohyun, then we moved to Seoul for better opportunities - also true - and are staying with our cousins.”

“Nah, I don’t think that can work because, aside from height, we don’t have any physical feature remotely alike. Also, it makes me feel a little uous, and urgh, no.” The elder shuddered and made a face.

“We can say we are roommating with random people to save money and the kids got along well?” The younger suggested and Sungyeol seemed to consider it.

“That might be believable to some extent.” He said though he wasn’t entirely sure yet. “The best scenario would the one in which we are 100% sure we wouldn’t have trouble with our neighbors.”

“And how that would work? Would we knock on every apartment in the building and ask ‘ excuse me, are you homophobic?’ to choose an apartment? If that happened, the landlord would probably rent the apartment to other people before we can finish asking about it.”

“When you put it like that…”Sungyeol sighed deeply but once he breathed in, he seemed determined. “While you’re not wrong, there is a way we can lessen every risk possible.”

“Which is?” The young dad asked hopefully.

“To live here.” Myungsoo blinked and Sungyeol straightened his body to continue with growing excitement. “Come on, this apartment is bigger, there are fewer units here, therefore fewer people to worry about. We already know the next-door neighbors are ok, but Sungjong lived here, he can tell us how the rest are.”

“I don’t know,” Even if that were to help with their peace of mind, Myungsoo still seemed a little conflicted. He didn’t feel exactly ok about living in Sungyeol’s mother's apartment. Not because of the size only - it was still a little bit although it could be better used by four people - he didn’t want to be freeloading anything. “It belongs to the three of you and…”

“Come on, Sungjong was ok when I talked about you and Woohyun living here, he wouldn’t mind even more if we occupied the apartment together. And Sunggyu doesn’t even have age to say anything, but I’m sure he would love it, right Sunggyu?” He ended up interrupting the kids' conversation about things they would do together in the future to ask.

“What?” The boys asked together, unaware of what the adults had been talking about.

“I’m trying to make Myungsoo rethink his decision about our mother’s apartment. Would you like to live here again, Sunggyu? With Myungsoo, Woohyun and I this time around?” He then moved his eyes to the younger boy. “What about you, Woohyun? Did you like this apartment? Would you like to live here?“

“Can we?” Woohyun gasped in surprise as he looked from one adult to the other.

“Oh my god, please, please, please Myungsoo hyung, please!” The older boy clasped his hands together and chanted in the young dad’s direction.

“See? Sunggyu doesn’t mind. Besides, aside from fewer problems with neighbors, it has a good location for both of us, a nice park with fountains they could play in the summer, it’s also close to Hoya hyung… and it is so big each one can have their room when they become teenagers. We can stay here for an undetermined amount of time…” Sungyeol counted on his fingers and was about to try more arguments when he was interrupted.

“Ok, I understand it is a very good option. And I quite liked the apartment.” Myungsoo said, and the other three made hopeful squeals until he made hand motions for everyone to stop and looked right into Sungyeol’s eyes. “But freeloading doesn’t sit well with me… it is a trigger and it makes me feel incapable. That’s a boundary that I don’t want to cross.  I don’t want those kinds of issues resurfacing, it would bring us to ground zero again.” He argued. 

“What if it doesn’t have to?” Sungyeol challenged. “Instead of paying rent, you can choose a ratio to compensate for other expenses. Or if you insist on paying rent, we could figure out a number…” He shrugged. “Having that money wouldn’t change anything for Sunggyu and I’m not needing either because, since I’ve become a university teacher, I don’t have to make extra money anymore. It’s helpful with Sungjong allowance but I can rent my apartment and figure things out.”

Myungsoo placed a hand on his chin and scratched lightly as he thought intently. He wasn’t exactly sure about the numbers but, if he and Sungyeol stopped paying two bills for everything, maybe their expenses would be smaller. If it didn’t get cheaper they’d still pay less because they’d share. A ratio could be good especially when he knew Sungyeol didn’t get to save that much because he had to help Sungjong, that was well behaved financially but still had quite the amount of expenses.

Living in Seoul was expensive per se but in the dorms? Once his family mentioned briefly the amount they paid for Moonsoo’s dorm experience and he remembered thinking how wise he’d been commuting for the majority of his graduation. No wonder the younger pair wanted to leave the dorms, he would also want if he was in their position. And if he hadn’t Woohyun, he definitely would need more privacy for him and Sungyeol.
“Can I counter-propose?” The young dad asked in a business-like manner, as the kids seemed annoyed at that.

“Again?” Sunggyu complained because that kind of situation happened often now.

“Just accept it Myungsoo-shi.” Woohyun demanded, and his dad sent a half glare his way which no one knew if it was because the boy was using his name or interrupting the adults.

Sungyeol stretched the corners of his lips in amusement and leaned slightly forward, interested. “If it’s not about food, you’re getting things your way 99% of the time over the past year,” The elder stated only for Myungsoo to look back at him with amusement on his features. 

“You might be a genius, but I’m the one that has a Ph.D. in modern Lee Sungyeol, and I got that in two years, isn’t that a record time? I might be a genius too.” Myungsoo looked at his nails pretending not to be interested but letting his tone get playful.

Sungyeol wanted to laugh out loud because his lover wasn’t remotely wrong. Myungsoo already had him before they both were aware, and if the young dad hadn’t that amount of trouble during the previous year, he might have gotten that ‘Ph.D. in modern Sungyeol’ even sooner. “Hit me.”

“Ratio is good, I liked the ratio thing.” He revealed, and Sungyeol seemed to like it. “We can do the math and figure out ideal numbers later but…” He made a dramatic pause in which the kids tried to figure out with each other if that was a yes. “The dorm expenses of your brother are more than I pay for rent now, so what if you trade a bit of Sungjong allowance for your apartment rent?” Sungyeol raised a surprised eyebrow. “You’d be able to save at least a bit and that would give him privacy, which isn’t something he has right now. And if our brothers are careful and Moosoo ends up joining him, I’m sure my parents won’t let him freeload either. That way everybody saves a bit and so you’d still have some extra money.”

Sungyeol looked up and started to consider it. “Well…”

“I’ve not finished,” Myungsoo warned and straightened his body to continue with the most interesting part of his suggestion. “I know you’ll keep saying you don’t need that money and that everything can be free but how about we take that money and make a joint vacation fund? Hum? Hum?”

“What's that?” Woohyun furrowed his brows.

“I don’t know but I liked the vacation part,” Sunggyu replied right after. 

While the kids expressed their thoughts, Sungyeol looked up again and Myungsoo could practically see his brain working. Above the elder's head, numbers popped in the air and then arranged themselves in tables of expenses. The numbers changed around as the math was done and he considered different scenarios until he was done.

He looked back at Myungsoo with a surprised but very amused expression. “Damn, Myungsoo!” He said and moved his head down to hide his face and giggle before lifting again with a broad smile. “Haven’t you just said you didn’t think that far?”

“Well, I had time to think until a certain point before I had the chance to talk to you about it…” Myungsoo explained with a shrug. “And then I just slightly adjusted some of my suggestions during our ride.” 

“Yeah, you know me a lot now.” Sungyeol still giggled in amusement but when it died down, he looked fondly at his lover. “I’ve liked that, I’ve liked that a lot.” 

“Then?” Woohyun pressured it for an answer.

“We will live together, right? Right?” Sunggyu pressured further and Sungyeol turned to reply but Myungsoo still had something to say.

“One more thing.” He said and everyone looked at him. “I don’t want to feel like we’re invading your space so you won’t put extra resistance if Woohyun and I want to change something, right?”

“I’ve told you we can paint to your tastes.” Sungyeol compromised right away, which made the kids think that the negotiation would probably end up in a way that they would like.

“I’m talking about more than painting.” The young dad clarified and Sungyeol looked around to think.

“Well, I’m sure Sunggyu can agree that it doesn’t look like when my mother lived here for a good time already.” The boy promptly nodded. “If it is not the kitchen - that’s currently the way I have always wanted it to be - I’d be fine with anything. Though I don’t think we can break down walls without you waiting for more days to move and that wouldn’t be ideal for you.”

“I don’t think we will reach that point.” Now it was Myungsoo's turn to laugh. “I was talking about the furniture style and decorations. I had to take our apartment as it was, we couldn’t change anything much so it would be good if we lived in a place our style like…. Every one of us style.”

“Well, painting first so the apartment gets safe for Woohyun, then we can all decide it together.” The elder said as he opened a huge smile and offered a hand. Myungsoo looked from his lover's eyes to his hand and grabbed it. Then they tangled their fingers.

“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY” Wooohyun cheered first and Sunggyu grabbed his friend by the shoulders and started shaking him.

“It’s happening! It’s happening!” He couldn’t help but keep repeating until Woohyun also grabbed him and started doing the same until they started laughing.

“I also can’t believe it will happen,” Myungsoo confessed.

“I know, but I’m really glad that it will.” Sungyeol added softly, yet still stupefied somehow. The younger lover leaned in and gave him soft kisses and if it was on Sungyeol, he would stretch time so they could stay like that a little more until Myungsoo abruptly leaned back.

“We have another problem!”

“What?” “NO!” The kids turned to them to complain, talking on top of each other.

“What now?” Sungyeol asked, now becoming annoyed by the second.

“The-the time available and the ‘surprise’ length are still a problem.” He said much for the boys' confusion and Sungyeol eyes grew big, understanding what his lover was talking about right away.

“Lenght? What about the surprise?” Sunggyu inquired, though wasn’t exactly heard. 

It wasn’t the biggest problem in the world, considering they just agreed on a solution, but what Myungsoo was pointing out affected it. “Oh my god, you’re right.” He gasped. “We all need to figure everything out before Bora-” Myungsoo gasped and Sungyeol halted his words, but it was done, the elder had already said enough to get the two kids curious.

“Who is Bora?” Woohyun asked, with squinted eyes and a dark aura.

Sungyeol looked apologetic to Myungsoo, that sighed. “Bora is not a person. It’s Boracay actually. It’s a beach, in the Philippines, and we’re going to take you there since it might be too cold to visit Disney Japan this time of the year.” Both boys gasped loudly.

“We wanted for it to be a surprise so sorry for ruining it.” The elder seemed apologetic but also what he said next explained a lot of his concerns. “We’re gonna leave on the 21st, and come back on January 6th and, as far as I know, Myungsoo and Woohyun need to leave their apartment before the year ends.” The boys gasped for a second time. 

“Oh my god, we’re gonna live together and even go on a trip? Awesome~~~~! This the best break ever~~~~!!” Woohyun pulled Sunggyu's shirt to get his attention, of course not identifying any problem right off the bat. “We’d be cousins for real now!”

“Yeah… we’d be...” Sunggyu was about to reply with the same enthusiasm until he registered what his friend just said. “No, Woohyunnie, not cousins, brothers.” He corrected, also not identifying any problem, which made Woohyun squeal and Myungsoo amused.

“Things had to get complicated at some point,” Sungyeol half-assed a complaint. “No, from all the things, why and how would you be brothers?”

“I got this.” Myungsoo patted the elder's shoulder and took it upon himself to do some explanations. “Sunggyu, because of Moonsoo and Sungjong, you already are my brother-in-law and you’ll keep being that to me.” He said 100% sure of what he was talking about and then turned to his son. “I think Sungyeol hyung could be like an extra dad for you Woohyun,” Myungsoo said as he looked from his son to his lover. The two of them were already close but the young dad wanted to make sure for both that it was an upgrade that meant a lot to him. As Sungyeol froze, he ended up blinking in surprise at what he said. “Wow, you’d have like three dads.”

“Dad? Woohyun’s dad?” Sungyeol tested the word. It seemed weird but at the same time made his chest grew so warm.

“Eh?” The boy made a face and then half glared at his main(?) dad. “Two dads.” He made a point to correct.

Despite still being shocked with Myungsoo officially including him in Woohyun’s parenthood, Sungyeol also felt happy with it because it meant he had more of Myungsoo’s trust now than he ever dreamed to have. 

On the other hand, Woohyun's correction made his heart sink. They loved each other a lot but not enough for the boy to remotely look at him that way. It was ok, really, but still, it unexpectedly hurt.

Myungsoo noticed disappointment appear on the elder’s face and that surprised him, but not more than Woohyun's reaction. He had been so supportive that the young dad thought Sungyeol was already perceived that way. There was something that intrigued him though, he wasn’t sure Woohyun really didn’t Sungyeol as an extra dad in his family or if he was pissed with the mention of the biological (which was taboo). He wanted to ask which one it was, and then figure out a way in which everyone could come out of this situation ok when Woohyun stretched his lips in an unsure smile.

“It only matters what we feel, right?” The boy as he looked from one adult to the other. “So it has been just you two. For a while now.” The two adults immediately froze as Sunggyu could only gasp and enlarged his eyes in surprise. The older boy hadn’t thought about how those words impacted the adults, but he was quite shocked to hear his friend acknowledge Myungsoo as his father for the first time in a year.

Myungsoo’s eyes instantly filled with tears. “I…” He started to try to dry his eyes as he dared to place his hand over his son’s. “Yeah, Namu, it only matters what we feel.”

The boy smiled and squeezed his hand and Myungsoo grabbed Sungyeol’s hand to place it together with theirs. Woohyun seemed to like it because he opened a very satisfied smile, but before Sunggyu could even feel excluded, Sungyeol dived to grab his hand and bring it to the pile of hands as well. 

“If I go anywhere, I’ll take you too, right?” He said. “If you hadn’t taught me the patience I don’t think we both would be here today.”

“Thank you Sunggyu.” “Thank you hyung.” To the boy’s surprise, the pair of father and son thanked him right after and the kid couldn’t help but feel a bit shy. He didn’t even know what his brother was saying happened, and he didn’t think it was a big deal, but damn he liked to hear that. He liked it a lot.

The four of them kept holding hands, looking at each other and smiling with the excitement and anticipation of someone who had hopes of a good future. They stayed like that for a few moments but once they let go, Sunggyu had a question.

“What Woohyunnie will be to me?”

“Well, I think you would be like his uncle,” Myungsoo said and the boy seemed a bit shocked.

“Hyung, you're an uncle, you're old.” Woohyun dissolved himself into adorable giggles right after.

“Hey, don’t .” Myungsoo half assed an scolding.

“I'm not old!” The older boy complained. “I'm just nine!” He added, at loss.

“Yeah, you’re young, this is weird.” Sungyeol agreed. 

“Look Sunggyu, forget what I just said, ok? You always treated Woohyun in a brotherly manner and for me, you’re like a son too, it only matters what we feel.” Myungsoo assured and Sunggyu could only nod, still a bit unsure.

Since that issue seemed to be over, Sungyeol thought it was better if they focused to solve their time constraints problem and clapped his hand to get everyone’s attention.

“We still have a problem so here’s what we’ll do.” The other three looked at him expectantly as he started to pull the kids' plates in his direction. “The food got cold so I~ will reheat everything and while you wait, I want you to go to your room and think about how you want it to be.” He said and while Myungsoo tried to hold a fond smile, the boy's eyes lit up. They were too happy they’d be closer than they imagined, so sharing a room wouldn’t be a problem, it would be the best solution ever. “If we want to enjoy our vacations without worrying, and live together as soon as we come back, we’ll have a busy week ahead of us so try to make some decisions right away. Now go, go, go, go!” He urged and then got up to walk towards the microwave.

“The last there is a monkey uncle!” Woohyun shouted and started to scramble out of his chair, too determined to do what he was told quickly. 

Sunggyu came a long way in the past two years and now he was capable of playing that racing game without losing every time. Well, he was taller and older, he won every time he didn't want to purposely let his friend win. This time though, he felt like cheating a bit.

“Wait Woohyunnie!” He said with an urgency that made his friend halt his steps. “I'm a monkey uncle.” He admitted.

“Are you giving up? Hum? Hum?” Woohyun teased then giggled as the elder climbed out of his chair calmly.

“But I am.” Sunggyu insisted and got close enough to his friend. “And from now on I will be your uncle too.” The younger one blinked and Sunggyu couldn't help but smile mischievously. “And that means you’re the monkey.” He poked his friend's forehead.

“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! HYUNG!” The boy complained after an indignant gasp that made his father hold himself not to laugh. Meanwhile, Sunggyu just stuck his tongue out to and dashed and Woohyun could only try to catch up.“COME BACK HERE!' 

Once they disappeared, Myungsoo allowed himself to relax and properly giggle. The boy’s interaction had been funny but he couldn't help but think that those sorts of scenes would be the norm from now on and his heart got all warm. 

He was sure these two would still fight now and then - just as they did as friends - or perhaps their disagreements would increase as they started to treat each other as brothers that shared a room. That aside, Sungyeol’s mom’s apartment their new apartment was bigger, and the boys could run around and have more expansive plays without knocking him or Sungyeol, or bumping into things until some of them fell to the ground. They even had space for some (hopefully) controlled mess.

As for the adults, now the kitchen could fit two comfortably and the couch was surely bigger than each of them had now. They could completely lay on it together or let the kids be the ones laying but still sit comfortably on it instead of the ground. There was enough space for a music room, all the books Sungyeol had piled in his living room (if he wanted to keep them), some weights he had to exercise, and all his photography equipment.

Even so, the best part of it was to know that no wall of the main room was shared with the kids' room. Of course, he and Sungyeol would need to ensure some rules, even if Woohyun rarely asked to sleep with him nowadays, but they would be able to spend the whole night in the same square (bed). Hopefully, they would be able to have more (and more spontaneous) intimate moments as well - maybe they would even be able to try new stuff too - without worrying the kids might hear.

Myungsoo got easily distracted by his thoughts, and a million different scenarios of different kinds of experiences they would have as soon as they all started to live together. His eyes became unfocused and he was smiling to himself when Sungyeol returned to the table to get their half-eaten food.  

“Myungsoo?” He called and the younger blinked quickly as he returned to reality. “What are you doing sitting there and smiling like a fool?”

Myungsoo shifted a little embarrassed as he managed to hear in the distance the kids discussing where their beds would be. “Did you hear them?” He chuckled. ”They had this funny exchange and now…” 

“… and now they are doing what I asked them to.” The elder concluded and stayed rooted in place. 

Myungsoo felt a bit confused as to why the elder decided to stand in front of him like he was waiting for something but it wasn't like Sungyeol had free hands to put them on his waist and better communicate with his whole body language.

“What exactly made you think that what I said didn't apply to you?” Sungyeol asked, pretending to be confused by Myungsoo’s lack of attitude even though he knew the younger still needed time to process today's conversation as a whole. Maybe he needs to let it sink in too. “ We need to buy paint and everything else we’ll need so go check our room, make a list of things you want to change, I don't know.” Sungyeol said in a mix of an urge and a scolding but as the younger blinked again he pretended to lose his patience. “Come oooon~~!”

The younger then got on his two feet and ran towards the main room to do what he was told and Sungyeol took a second to chuckle. Out of nowhere, he felt movement and when he turned, the teacher received a soft kiss on his lips before Myungsoo left for real this time.

“I can do this.” He said. “I-” He was about to repeat it when he realized he didn't need any self-assurance. He opened a smile from ear to ear. “We can do this.” He said with confidence.