On that Sunday the kids had a blast. By morning they watched a movie in Sungyeol’s apartment, then Woohyun went back to his to eat the kimchi jiggae of yesterday, then Sunggyu went there to play with him in the afternoon. At night they took a bath and ate in their respective apartments and then played more in Myungsoo’s apartment.

The adults had seen each other briefly and treated each other politely, and Myungsoo had returned and thanked again the recipient that was once full of his favorite dish. He made sure to not compliment his neighbor too much, Sungyeol had promised to change but Myungsoo wouldn't let himself be won by his belly.

At exactly 7:30 AM Sungyeol knocked on the neighbor's door with Sunggyu rocking his body side to side in anticipation, Woohyunnie will ride with him, WOOHYUNNIE WILL RIDE WITH HIM!!!!! KYAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!

To Sungyeol’s surprise, it wasn't Myungsoo that opened the door but Woohyun, who looked at him warily even if his dad had said it was ok for him to relax in the presence of Sunggyu’s brother.

“Where's your father?” Sungyeol asked.

“Bath.” The younger replied then bit a banana he was holding and ok, ok, Sungyeol admitted that Woohyun was a cute thing munching too much food for his little mouth.

“Do you want to hurry him? We are going to get late.” Sungyeol suggested and the young boy was halfway the living room when his father emerged, dressed in black jeans and T-shirt, unlike Sungyeol that used a white button up, drying his hair with a towel but looking like he was sleepwalking.

“Daddy, Sc-Sungyeol hyung is already here.” The boy announced then gave his banana another bite.

Myungsoo eyes finally shot open and he cursed inside, he was already late on the first day Sungyeol offered them a ride. “Just a second. Woohyun go get your bag.” He ordered then ran back into his room. Sunggyu and Sungyeol eyed each other as the pair left them at the door and disappeared, and the eldest took that small moment to look inside the neighbors’ apartment from the door since he didn't pay attention before.

The first thing he noticed it was that their apartments had more or less the same layout, but, unlike his, Myungsoo didn't have much furniture aside one big couch and a small table near their own kitchen which left a good space for the boys to play around, which was good because after Sunggyu and Sungjong moved in with him he had to free the room he used as a library and all the shelves had to be moved to the living room, which made said living room a bit cramped.

Both father and son emerged from their respective rooms a few seconds later and Myungsoo made a quick stop to the kitchen to grab a banana for himself before both of them left their apartment and bowed a couple of times in apology.

The car ride was a bit weird, probably because it made them both remember their first ride together, which wasn't the nicest. Differently from last time, Woohyun wasn't talking 100% of the time, maybe 70%, this time Sunggyu was helping the conversation and the boys joyfully talked about their AWESOME weekend.

The adults didn't talk much, maybe because Myungsoo was still eating his breakfast, and trying to force sleep out of his system, and all that Sungyeol could think about was that, as soon as he stepped foot in school, Dongwoo would somehow about this. He only could hope Dongwoo didn't embarrass him too much in front of Myungsoo, he didn't need to be more awkward with him.

The moment the boys stepped on school grounds Sungyeol knew he wouldn't escape Dongwoo, simply because once the boys saw him they were excitedly running to tell him the good news, and, by the time the adults got close enough to the teacher to hand him their bags, Dongwoo was looking at them with a knowing grin, thing that Myungsoo didn't notice.

“Woohyun-ah.” Myungsoo called his son and went ahead, maybe to tell him to brush his teeth before class started with the toothbrush he always placed in the younger’s bag. He left Sungyeol alone with Dongwoo for a moment and the teacher was about to say something but Sungyeol was already annoyed by his hyung's expression.

“Oh, shush it.” He hissed and Dongwoo laughed and placed his hands up in surrender, but ended up asking anyway.

“How did this happen?”

“We talked.” Sungyeol answered annoyed. “I tried to follow your advice.” He added in a barely audible tone.

Sungyeol was expecting to be teased right then or maybe hearing some 'I told you so' or something, maybe he forgot he was talking to Dongwoo instead of Hoya because the pink haired teacher just placed his hand on the taller shoulder and gave a little squeeze.

“I'm proud of you Sungyeol. I'm really proud that you put your differences to rest, Sunggyu can't wish for a better birthday gift right?” The older spoke softly and Sungyeol eyes, that were already big, got even bigger. Now, Dongwoo didn't mean anything more than to praise Sungyeol for a mature decision, but unconsciously he made Sungyeol feel the worst person in the world because he had totally forgotten that Sunggyu’s birthday was around the corner.

“Did I say something wrong?” Dongwoo asked worriedly as Myungsoo approached them and frowned, Sungyeol’s expression was a mix of surprise, worry and maybe guilt but it was definitely comical.

“Am I interrupting something?” Myungsoo decided to ask just so Sungyeol’s soul would return to his body.

“Ehr no.” Sungyeol cleared his throat. “Let's go or else we are going be late. Bye Dongwoo hyung I'll talk about this with you another time.”

The two young men moved back to the car even though Sungyeol seemed a bit out of himself and Myungsoo chose not to say anything about it but, damn, he was curious about what Dongwoo had said that left his neighbor like that. So, when the car started moving, Myungsoo decided to initiate small talk to see if Sungyeol touched the subject, and if he didn't, at least they would get close a bit, either way, he would win something out of it.

“So, Sungyeol shi, I mean, hyung, Sunggyu doesn't give you trouble to go to school anymore right?”

“Ahn yeah.” Sungyeol agreed distractedly. “I don't think he likes to go, but he doesn't complain anymore because there is where he can spend a day with Woohyun?” Sungyeol offered, he thought that the idea of only being allowed to see Woohyun in school forced Sunggyu to adapt, but he wouldn't say that aloud, it would seem like Sungyeol was evil just so Sunggyu behaved in a certain way.

“Hum, that's good for him then, and less trouble for you.” The young dad agreed.

He wanted to ask why Sunggyu was like that when they met - he remembered Sungyeol saying he didn't have problems but it was a little bit strange that Sunggyu, that was roughly a year older than Woohyun, would be a grade behind his peers, and it seemed to him, from what he could gather here and there, that Sunggyu frequented school for a period of time but then he dropped? - but before he could, Sungyeol stopped at a red light and rested his head on the steering wheel before letting out a long sigh.

Myungsoo was taken aback with Sungyeol doing that, he knew he might be butting in Sungyeol’s life, but he was curious, his neighbor was acting strange since they left the boys school. “It's something the matter?” He tried to ask with the softest tone he could muster.

Sungyeol raised his head and looked at him but also saw the light becoming green and started driving again before answering. “Nothing too big, Dongwoo hyung reminded me something that has a lot of implications.”

“Implications?” Myungsoo asked more puzzled with Sungyeol cryptic answer than fussy.

Sungyeol bit his lips but decided to tell Myungsoo anyway, he didn't believe Myungsoo had the power to make anything better, but he couldn't make anything worse either. “It's... it's Sunggyu birthday.”

“Oh.” Myungsoo smiled. “Are you going to celebrate it?” Myungsoo was not aiming to force Sungyeol to invite him and Woohyun or anything, but if so he wanted to work his schedule so Woohyun could attend.

“My mom was the kind that liked to throw parties. When Sungjong and I were kids she would invite our friends over and cook a lot of delicious food.” Sungyeol talked using a sorrowful tone and Myungsoo for a moment wondered why he was speaking like that when it seemed like he was talking about happy memories, not to mention that didn't answer his question. Yet.

“This kind of things didn't work for me, and soon the only other kid that came to such events was my cousin Hoya, but I only got to meet him when he was adopted by my uncle, I think we were around five back then. It was weird because he seemed scared and hesitant and I'm not on the social side so we just kept measuring each other.” He chuckled at the memory even though he still had his sorrowful undertone.

“Sungjong loved those kinds of things, whenever his birthday came our apartment was filled with so many children that it would give me a headache, thankfully at the time I had Hoya to keep me company though we never connected the way our parents were hoping and as the years passed he got closer to Sungjong.” At this moment someone maneuvered their car against theirs and Sungyeol had to honk to complain, he cursed a bit but continued right where, sort of, he left, even though Myungsoo didn't know what seemed to be the problem yet.

“Sunggyu was somewhere between me and Sungjong. He wasn't extremely popular on kindergarten but he wasn't like me either, for his birthday mom cooked a big feast as well but there were fewer kids around, which was ok for me, the is too big and Sunggyu and I were never close, at this point I only went for the food. But when...” He hesitated a bit. “Last year we didn't celebrate his birthday.... we... we were having a funeral instead...”

Right then Myungsoo understood what this was all about, their mom probably died near Sunggyu’s birthday and, although he didn't understand the pain of losing a mother, he understood that situation pretty well, after all, Woohyun’s mom died shortly after giving birth.

Myungsoo thought that this Sungyeol seemed much more like the broken one he overheard in the college corridors, he knew that the other was trying to put up a front right now, but it was clear as day that he couldn't deal properly with things related to his mom death. Myungsoo instinct was to comfort him, and if they hadn't started on the wrong foot he would even give him a hug, but he wasn't sure Sungyeol would accept something like that from him.

“I'm very sorry to hear it, but did Sunggyu say something about this?”

Sungyeol sighed heavily as he entered the college parking lot. “I didn't ask him yet, but I wonder if it is right to celebrate a birthday when it also marks a year without our mom.”

“Hyung...” Myungsoo hesitated with the word, it felt too strange to call Sungyeol like that. “I may be butting in your family affairs, but it's Sunggyu’s day so you should ask him if he wants to celebrate.” Myungsoo tried to advise. “Sunggyu hasn't celebrated his birthday last year, so because your mom died he will have to stop to celebrate his birthday every year? Besides, it is a tradition for your family to have parties no? You can show you remember your mother by visiting her grave, you don't have to associate her death to Sunggyu’s birthday and make it harder on the three of you.”

Sungyeol stayed in silence for a couple of seconds, more recomposing himself than thinking about Myungsoo's words, but when he talked again he chuckled dryly. “Do you have ready answers and advice for everything?” He asked with a hint of amusement, subtly implying Myungsoo was patronizing, as he tried to park his car.

“No.” Myungsoo answered dryly now as he noticed what Sungyeol was doing. “And I may not have lost my mother but I have lost my wife so I've have gone through something similar.”

Sungyeol finished parking surprised, he hadn't noticed Myungsoo wearing a ring before, actually he didn't pay his neighbor much attention in general, he noticed the guy had a handsome face but that was all. “You were married?” He gasped and now turned his head to look at his neighbor.

Myungsoo merely puts a hand on his collar and pulled it down a bit to reveal two rings hanging on a necklace. “Woohyun was two days old when she died.” He said and sighed sadly himself. “When his first birthday came I wasn't ok to do any kind of celebration yet so he didn't have any, it helped that he couldn't have a say in it and wouldn't probably remember it anyway, but from the second onward I celebrated every one of his birthdays so he could have good memories, after all, it's his birthday. The day Sunggyu freaked out we went to visit her grave so I brought Woohyun to school late, that's why you found me there with your brother.” He explained.

Sungyeol shoulders slumped and he looked at Myungsoo as if he didn't know what to say, and he didn't, once again he went ahead of himself and judged his neighbor. “I'm sorry.” He ended up saying guiltily.

Myungsoo offered a kind but sad smile. “It's ok, you didn't know.” Sungyeol sighed defeated. “I wish I could say the things you feel would disappear but they won't, you just get better dealing with them with time. At least it was like that for me.”

Sungyeol looked at Myungsoo from the corner of his eyes, the young dad didn't seem mad, maybe because Sungyeol didn't have any intentions of being hurtful, still this was a major slip up and Sungyeol felt bad for saying that when he promised he would change.

“Don't beat yourself up for this, people don't change overnight.” Myungsoo chuckled to himself and patted Sungyeol briefly on the shoulder before opening the car door and walking towards their building.

Sungyeol sighed deeply as he observed Myungsoo retreating back, while he thought to himself how this was going to be difficult.

____________________________________________

When it was time, Sungyeol went school to pick up his brother and honestly since he gave Woohyun and Myungsoo a ride there he didn't see a problem to take Woohyun home too, but he knew that, for safety reasons, a kid only could be taken from school by a family member or by another person if they had some kind of authorization for it. He knew Sunggyu wanted Woohyun to come with him (because now it seemed to him that he could) but the boy only had the authorization to leave with his uncle or grandparents so Sungyeol had to take Sunggyu pouting home after skillfully avoiding Dongwoo’s questions about his apparently newfound friendship with Woohyun’s dad.

Sunggyu was still sort of upset through dinner, although Sungyeol explained to him that without Myungsoo’s authorization he couldn't pick up Woohyun from school as well, but still he decided to try to approach the maknae about his birthday.

“Sunggyu, I know you're upset but I kind of have to ask you something important so please look here.” Sungyeol asked and the boy sighed, looked at him and pouted again as he waited for his brother to talk.

“You know what day is today?”

“April 23rd.” The boy replied.

“Do you know the events we have this week?” Sunggyu then let his head hang down and his pout dissolved in order for a sad expression take place but he nodded slowly.

“Hyung, I miss her.” The boy ended up mumbling. “And daddy too.”

“Hey,...” Sungyeol promptly approached him and squatted beside him. “I miss her too, and Jongie does too, it's ok to miss them.” He tried to awkwardly pat his brother, he wasn't good in comforting him yet. “Do you wanna visit your parents? We can visit them again this Saturday.” He offered and the boy was about to nod when he remembered something.

“But Saturday it's my birthday.”

“So because it is your birthday you don't want to visit them?” Sungyeol asked and Sunggyu eyes instantly got big in an almost horror-like manner, he shook his head as hard as he could. “Is it because you want to celebrate your birthday?” Sungyeol tried again and this time the boy bit his lips and looked down his lap where his hands played nervously on it, he seemed guilty.

“Hyung... is... is it wrong for me to celebrate it?” The boy finally took some courage to look at his hyung although he seemed scared to hear the answer to his question.

“Is up to you. Do you want to celebrate it? Will you feel comfortable with it?” Sungyeol asked softly. “I don't think I can organize a party like those mom used to do, but we can do both if you feel comfortable with, we can go see mom and your dad in the morning and then we can go out to have dinner and celebrate your birthday, what do you say?”

“Can... can I?” Sunggyu asked with eyes full of hope. “ Won't they be mad?”

“I don't think they would be mad.”

“Will Jongie hyung come?” Sunggyu asked timidly.

“Well, if he gets to see you I believe he will put up with me, you know Jongie hasn't forgiven me yet.” Sungyeol sighed dramatically, this was another problem he had to solve, Sungjong was actively not answering his calls. “If he doesn't come out of his own free will I'll be forced to be evil with him, let's hope I don't need to do that.”

Sunggyu nodded then started to think hard until he looked at Sungyeol hesitantly. “Can Woohyunnie come too?”

“If his dad lets him, he can.” Sungyeol offered with a smile. “Do you want to invite someone else? Maybe another friend?”

Sunggyu nodded quickly, he was becoming excited. “Dongwoo hyung and dancing hyung.” Ok, that was not the answer Sungyeol was expecting, deep down he hoped Sunggyu would say the name of two or three other kids, but maybe he wasn't ready to take another step in the friendships road although he had been improving a lot in it, liking or not, with the help of Woohyun.

“Ok then, what do you want to eat?”

“Mc Donald's.” The boy answered in less than a heartbeat.

“Sunggyu, Mc Donald's?” Sungyeol gasped half in surprise half in disgust. “No, let's eat something else, how about we go to one of mom’s friends’ restaurant so we can eat tasty food?” He ended up suggesting.

“Nooooo, Mc Donald's!” The kid insisted.

“Fine, since I am trying to be a good hyung I'll let it pass because it's your birthday and you're behaving lately.” Sungyeol finally conceded and Sunggyu clapped his hands in satisfaction. “Tomorrow you'll invite Woohyun and his dad, and Dongwoo hyung once you arrive in school, but we can invite Hoya hyung and Sungjongie right now, what do you think?”

“Really? I'm gonna call Jongie right away then.” Sunggyu left his unfinished bowl at the table and sauntered across the living room to call his middle brother.

Sunggyu called Sungjong that answered his phone quickly this time. It had been over a week the two brothers didn't speak so Sungjong asked the maknae a bunch of questions that Sunggyu was trying to answer, but what really caught his interest was Sunggyu saying his weekend was awesome and that he played over Woohyunnie’s apartment and Woohyunnie came to play in their apartment too.

“No way!” Sungjong gasped over the phone.

“Hyung, I'm telling you!” The boy insisted. “And tomorrow I am going to invite Woohyunnie for my birthday and we will play together again so you'll have to come too.”

“Can you pass the phone for hyung, I want to talk to him.” The teenager asked and Sunggyu turned to his elder brother with a confused face then showed the phone to him.

“Go pick my phone in my room, so I can put Hoya’s number for you.” Sungyeol said as Sunggyu passed the phone to him and then disappeared to do what he was told. “Hello, Sungjong.” He finally greeted as he sat on his couch to take the call.

“Hyung.” Sungjong greeted back trying to speak without showing his emotions.

“So, I don't know if you want to visit mom on Wednesday, but I think it's better for Sunggyu and me to go Saturday morning.” Sungyeol went straight to the point, he didn't want to prolong a conversation with Sungjong if they were to fight again. “Saturday none of us has anything to do and we will be able to buy some pretty flowers and spend more time there, you're invited to join us if you want. We will come home in the afternoon to recompose ourselves then at night we are going to Mc Donald's to celebrate Sunggyu’s birthday. His choice of place, not mine, he could have asked to eat real meat.”

“Hyung, whats with you?” The younger demanded.

“Huh?”

“You heard me, what's with you?” Sungjong insisted.

“I don't get what you mean.” Sungyeol said dumbfounded.

“First Gyu started to talk to you out of nowhere then suddenly he is taking your side, and I was sure you'd had done some brainwashing in him last weekend but he told me you let him play with his friend in your apartment and in theirs and now he is telling me that Woohyun will be invited to his birthday.... care to explain?”

“If someone had admitted he was wrong and didn't act like a brat avoiding my phone calls he would've known.” Sungyeol said sarcastically.

“I was not...” Sungjong was about to hold his argument but decided to finally let it go. “I just can't understand your logic.” He ended up confessing.

“Sungjong I'll tell you again so you can understand. That day I wasn't telling you 'I'm right and you're wrong', I was telling you 'I was wrong first, but because you did something wrong you made me right in something else'. Looking back now I don't expect you to comprehend this fully because you're not the one taking all the responsibility for a young life, and the stress that comes with it, directly. You only can see the way Sunggyu suffers, which is ok, but you should know that Sunggyu’s mother is our mother as well and we equally became orphans, do you think because I am the oldest I don't have struggles caused by her death as well? I feel an incredible pressure to excel in taking caring of Sunggyu because if I can't, and you don't have money for it, guess what will happen? You side with Sunggyu on everything, please side with me a bit too. I did wrong prohibiting the kids to play but disobeying my orders like that is not a solution when it creates a bigger problem.” Sungyeol finished with a light scolding.

When he finished Sunggyu came holding Sungyeol’s phone and handed it to his brother so he would tap Hoya's number and give it back to him. Sunggyu then went to his room to talk to Hoya, after Sungyeol instructs Sunggyu to ask Hoya not to tell Dongwoo about his birthday and let him invite his teacher tomorrow, and only then he noticed Sungjong hadn't said anything back. He was hoping for Sungjong to continue arguing with him and maybe even screaming in his ear, but all Sungyeol could hear at the moment was only his brother breathing. Sungyeol was about to try to make his middle brother to say something, at least a ' you', but Sungjong ended up talking in a really small tone.

“I'm sorry hyung, I hadn't thought that way.”

“Then start thinking about all the consequences, not only those that involve my mood.” Sungyeol said with a bit of exasperation. “Besides things are different now, you won't have to worry about Sunggyu and Woohyun not playing together anymore.” He then used a more joyful and kind of proud tone.

“About that... is that really true? When I heard from Hoya hyung I couldn't believe it, but now that Sunggyu told me....”

“Yes, it is, but don't tease me ok? It was hard as... to gather some courage for it and I'm still awkward with Woohyun’s dad.”

“What made you change your mind?” The younger asked curiously.

“Because of Sunggyu, or not, he took care of me when I was sick even though I was being a , how can a person like that be bad? I kind of lost all my arguments.” Sungyeol admitted and then heard Sungjong laughing aloud on the other side. “Hey, I said no teasing!” He complained.

“Fine, fine, but I want to know details.” Sungjong demanded between giggles.

“Aren't you his friend? Go ask him.” Sungyeol retorted annoyed.

“No, I want to hear your side of the story.”

“Then come to Sunggyu’s birthday and maybe you'll know.” Sungyeol ordered.

“I wouldn't miss for anything, now I'm more motivated to attend this birthday celebration.” Sungjong tone was devious, he was up to no good and Sungyeol could sense all the way from here.

“I am not escaping some bullying right?" He finally asked rhetorically. "Just promise you won't embarrass me in front of the guy please, I'm so awkward beside him.”

“Ok hyung, since you did something good I'll spare you some social embarrassment, but... I can't guarantee that Hoya and Dongwoo will too. See you Saturday hyung.” Sungjong said deviously then hang up the phone.

“Yah! That brat! I'll find a way to embarrass you too, you just wait till you find someone to date.” Sungyeol grumbled before he went to see the progress of Hoya's invitation he might as well threaten Hoya into something right away as well.

______________________________________________________________________

Next day Sungyeol knocked on his neighbor's door for the second day in a row and this time Myungsoo was the one answering his door instead of his son. What he hadn't expected, nor Sungyeol, was Sunggyu hugging his legs one more time and doing his best puppy eyes because he knew he was adorable like that.

“Hyung, can Woohyunnie go to my birthday?” He asked.

“Birthday? Is it Hyung's birthday?” Woohyun perked up and came from the table to greet his friend.

“Saturday.” Sungyeol explained to Woohyun then looked at his neighbor. “I took your advice and we ended up deciding to celebrate because Sunggyu wanted.”

“Oh.” Myungsoo tried to hold but he ended up letting a dimpled and proud smile out, that made Sungyeol feel something strange in his stomach. “Then we absolutely have to attend, what time is it going to be? Where are you guys celebrating?” Myungsoo asked as he pinched Sunggyu cheeks softly and then ruffled the young boy hair.

“Mc Donald's.” Sunggyu said.

“Probably at seven.” Sungyeol added.

“Yaaaaaay!” Woohyun gave some jumps out of happiness beside his dad. “Hamburger!!!!!”

“Really hyung? Mc Donald's?” Myungsoo asked giving the elder a scrutinizing look.

“I know that they don't even use real meat on their hamburger but everybody says I have to indulge Sunggyu sometimes and since he's behaving lately...” Sungyeol suddenly felt the need to explain, maybe he did something wrong?

“Well, at least they have some salads or wraps.” Myungsoo shrugged.

“But daddy, I want hamburger too!” The boy complained pulling his dad black T-shirt to gather his attention, and now that Sungyeol thought it would be weird if Myungsoo didn't let his son eat it, so he tried to advocate in Woohyun favor.

“Hey, come on, it's Sunggyu’s birthday, let Woohyun eat a Hamburger too. If it's once upon a time it shouldn't be a problem.”

“Please!” Sunggyu added, a cue for puppy eyes.

Myungsoo chuckled at the boys before looking at Sungyeol in amusement. “The salad is for me.” He announced much for the boy's cheers and Sungyeol’s embarrassment. “Now let's go, otherwise we will get late.” Myungsoo gave one last amused chuckle before he left to pick his and Woohyun’s bags.

The ride towards school was less awkward than the previous day, the kids were happily talking about Sunggyu’s birthday and Myungsoo was trying to get Sungyeol to give him some hint of what the birthday boy would like to receive as a gift.

“Come on, throw me some bone, I don't know him that well.” Myungsoo pleaded.

“Well, he liked to play with Woohyun’s Lego.” Sungyeol suggested.

“Do you know how much it costs something like that?” Myungsoo whined, Lego was an expensive toy. “Woohyun got his from my parents last Christmas, I don't have money to buy those kinds of things.”

“I'll give you another hint then, he likes to do jigsaw puzzles and read, satisfied?”

“Well that's better, but doesn't he have a lot of jigsaw puzzles already?”

“Yeah, but he really likes it and he is quite fast at it, so if you want for it to last buy him something above a thousand pieces.” Sungyeol suggested.

“But you'll probably invite other people that know Sunggyu for longer, and they probably already know that, our gift will have no meaning for him.” Myungsoo complained again. “If he gets more puzzles he can even forget which one we gave him.”

“Then go for a book from the Harry Potter series, he is finishing the second book right now.” Sungyeol then elaborated on hint number two.

“I bet someone else will think about this too.” And Myungsoo didn't accept that either.

“Then figure it out on your own.” Sungyeol said slightly annoyed.

“No, I'll ask Sungjong, you're no help after all.” Myungsoo replied, uninterested on Sungyeol’s annoyed tone, as he pulled his phone and started to messaging the middle Sung brother.

“You have his number?” Sungyeol asked surprised.

“How do you think we schemed behind your back?” Myungsoo said as if saying 'isn't obvious?' but soon enough he realized that Sungyeol might get angry at this, after all, the taller was right, he and Sungjong shouldn't have done things behind his back. “I'm sorry....”

Myungsoo was about to apologize when he was interrupted by Sungyeol snort. “Living and learning right?” Sungyeol asked in playfully sarcastic manner. “So that kid goes all in right? Sungjong, when I get my hands on you....”

“Please don't fight because of this anymore.” The young dad pleaded. “I know it was wrong of us but he had the best intentions and you already scolded him, he is a good kid deep down, I know it, and..”

“Don't worry, the best way to get revenge on Sungjong on something is to embarrass him socially since he is so popular. Don't worry, it's funny and my hyungs also enjoy it, you can gang up on him too if you want it, you'll like it.” Sungyeol dismissed as if this was a really normal thing that occurred every day in their lives and Myungsoo didn't know what to feel or say about it so he decided to change the subject.

“So, are you inviting a lot of people for Sunggyu birthday?”

“Oh, no, it's only going to be me, Sungjong, our cousin Hoya, Dongwoo hyung and you, if you come, aside from the kids of course.” The taller explained. “Dongwoo hyung, as in the kids’ teacher, he is one of the few I can call a friend. I met him last year and we got close because of Sunggyu, but then he got acquainted with my cousin in the gym so we all became friends. And about my cousin, please ignore whatever joke he makes, he thinks he is funny but he isn't really, though Sunggyu seems to like it and...”

Sungyeol ranted instructions on how to behave on Sunggyu’s birthday, thinking that that could save his from some teasing, although he also thought Myungsoo would probably be rolling his eyes internally and would soon forget about everything he said even though the neighbor was doing an amazing job of pretending to listen to his rant.

What Sungyeol didn't know was that everything he was talking was dutifully noted in Myungsoo’s brain and he was doing his best to gather all the information he was receiving. It didn't cost anything to put some effort into socializing, Jihyun always told him he needed to do that, and, since it seemed that everybody already knew he was a parent, why not make himself be accepted in that group of friends? After all, he was already sort of friends with the brothers, and he thought Dongwoo could warm up to him fast, he only hoped that Hoya, the guy who measured him up and down once, was like that too.

_________________________________________

When Saturday came both Sungyeol and Sunggyu overslept - maybe because Sunggyu was anxious to visit his mother and celebrate his birthday and took some time to sleep in which Sungyeol accompanied him – and because of that they ended up leaving to visit their mother in the afternoon.

They brought a huge bouquet of flowers to her grave and while Sunggyu tried to timidly say some words to his mom - like Woohyun had instructed him to do because mothers could hear things from heaven – Sungyeol stood there fumbling with his hands not knowing how to really behave since he didn't share the same beliefs, while Sungjong met them there shortly after they arrived and silently sent his prayers for her.

They took their time with their visit but around five they were home again to properly dress up and go for the nearest Mc Donald's, thing that took some time since their small apartment only had one bathroom and three people to bathe in it, not to mention that Sungjong insisted to style his other two brothers up.

“YAH, Lee Sungjong this is Sunggyu’s birthday and not some Beauty Pageant!” Sungyeol roared, trying his best to keep the younger’s hands out of himself while the younger giggled at Sungyeol’s misfortune. “And his birthday will be in Mc Donald's.”

“It doesn't hurt to dress up once in awhile, you're good looking hyung, and single, you'll never know when someone interesting might pop up!” The younger retorted giggling with Sungyeol reactions.

“Yah, I'm not ready for flirting with anyone that soon, besides Woohyun and his dad will come and I won't flirt with anyone in front of them.” Sungyeol retorted and Sungjong stopped for a moment before getting serious.

“You should do this for you hyung, to boost your self-esteem a bit after everything that happened, I think you could use that for the healing process. Besides Myungsoo hyung is a photographer, he might take some good pictures of us.”

Sungyeol looked at his brother’s eyes and only saw sincere concern there, and he hated to admit but Sungjong was right, the things between him and both Sunggyu and Myungsoo served to distract himself and put his life on some particular tracks, but things still hurt like hell when he remembered what he had witnessed.

After some good seconds looking at his brother, Sungyeol finally went to his bed and sat down. “Don't over do it ok? It might look like I'm expecting something from the only new people of the group.” Sungjong squealed, only registering the part where Sungyeol allowed himself to be styled and busied himself with his Hyung's hair because if it depended on him his brother would look simple but good tonight.

They arrived around 6:30 PM at the nearest Mc Donald's to find Dongwoo and Hoya already there, sitting at a long table waiting for them, and after the initial greetings and congratulations the couple started their teasing right away.

“Wow look at the effort Sungyeol put for this. Are you trying to impress someone?” Hoya smiled showing his fangs and wriggled his thick brows.

“Jongie hyung helped, it was funny.” Sunggyu giggled as he remembered his brother's early nickering then he became serious. “Who is hyung trying to impress?” The boy asked innocently which made Sungyeol glare at his hyung.

“No one, hyung is trying to impress himself.” Sungjong quickly came to his brother’s aid.

“Why?” The boy asked puzzled but he was ignored by the adults.

“Actually I can't wait for him to arrive, I'm so curious about how they made up and Sungyeol hasn't been giving me any details.” Dongwoo said almost bouncing up in his chair. “Do you guys know something?” He asked as he looked from Sungjong to Hoya multiple times.

“I wish I knew because.... teasing material.” Sungjong burst out laughing.

“Guys, it was nothing out of ordinary, I invited him for dinner then asked him to forgive me, he did and here we are. We are a bit awkward at the moment, please don't make me retreat to my shell by embarrassing me in front of him.” Sungyeol explained and pleaded once he noticed the boys wouldn't stop.

“Since we all know each other better I invited someone else to help Myungsoo hyung fit in.” Sungjong suddenly announced which made the others frown at him, he looked briefly at his phone to check the time then added. “I think he'll come with Myungsoo hyung.”

“Who?” Hoya asked dumbfounded but was completely disregarded by his younger cousin that addressed his older brother.

“Let's make a truce, I won't embarrass you in front of Myungsoo hyung, and you will treat my friend well ok?” He suggested and offered a hand for a handshake and Sungyeol looked at him skeptically but shook it anyway.

“I hope you two behave as well.” He said with a pointed look at his hyungs.

Shortly after that, they changed the subject, mainly because Sunggyu asked for his gifts and the boy started to unwrap them as soon as the adults handed to him. He got two more books from the Harry Potter series from Dongwoo and Sungyeol respectively, a jigsaw puzzle from Sungjong, and then a manhwa from Hoya, apparently, his first webtoon (not the one he was currently working) was published. Sunggyu was in the middle of happily thanking everyone for his gifts when somebody approached the table.

“Sungjong!”

“Oh, Moonsoo hyung!” Sungjong smiled at him and the guy almost melted right there, Dongwoo, Hoya, and Sungyeol noticed that. “I thought you'd come with Myungsoo hyung.”

“Moonsoo hyung, you came too?” Sunggyu echoed surprised.

“Your brother invited me so of course I came. Here, this is for you.” Moonsoo handed a small bag for Sunggyu and the boy busied himself unwrapping the gift inside. “No, I took him and Woohyun home for a bath then I went to find something to buy for Sunggyu, they should be arriving any moment.”

“Hyung, this is my cousin Hoya and his... Dongwoo hyung.” Sungjong pointed to the two men in front of himself and Moonsoo went ahead and greeted both and shook their hands. “And this is my older brother, Sungyeol.” The boy motioned to his side.

Sungyeol eyed the guy from head to toe and the teenager felt uncomfortable with such scrutinizing eyes on him, he then forced an awkward smile and offered a hand for Sungjong’s older brother to shake. Sungyeol looked at the boy, that he guessed it was related to his neighbor, hand in amusement because it was shaking.

“Why are is your hand shaking? I don't bite.” Sungyeol chuckled in amusement and shook the teenager’s hand firmly.

“Cof Cof, there are controversies.” Hoya teased and Sungyeol immediately glared at him.

Moonsoo sat near Sungjong as Sunggyu tried clumsily the jacket he got from the said teenager and pretty soon they were all getting acquainted with him. Sungjong furthered the introductions as he explained that Moonsoo was Myungsoo’s brother and Dongwoo gasped surprised, so this is why he was thinking he had seen the boy somewhere, while Sungyeol shyly apologized for the argument he might have heard.

In between the questions thrown at Moonsoo for the next ten minutes, Hoya’s eagle eyes saw two couples arriving and one of the guys did a major double take on Sungyeol, even hanging his jaw low, before continuing towards the line to order their food. Hoya squinted his eyes at the said man, he knew Sungyeol was good looking, even more now that Sungjong had styled him up a bit, but he didn't like the way that older dude had looked at his cousin. Even so, he decided to let it go, he wouldn't make a fuss on Sunggyu’s birthday just because that guy looked at Sungyeol.

“I thought Myungsoo-shi would come.” Dongwoo suddenly said and that made Hoya stop glaring unconsciously at the guy in line to pay attention to his lover.

“He said he would.” Moonsoo said a bit confused.

“I'm starting to think Myungsoo and Woohyun won't make it, maybe it's best if we start ordering.”

“No, hyung, let's wait for them more.” Sunggyu pleaded.

“Have you seen the line size Sunggyu? It can take the longest time so we can order and receive the food so it's best if we go order now.”

“Then I'll go ahead, we arrived here before you guys and I'm hungry.” Hoya promptly volunteered, maybe he wanted to get up close that dude in the line and see what the hell was wrong with him up close.

“Then I'll go too so you won't wait in line alone.” Dongwoo also got up.

“Then I'll call hyung to see if he is really coming and to know if he wants me to order something for him and Woohyun.” Moonsoo properly got up as well.

Sungyeol gave his credit card to Hoya and he and Sunggyu bickered a bit about the order while Moonsoo was assuring Sungjong that he wanted to pay for his meal, and then three moved towards the line with Moonsoo already dialing his hyung number. As he spoke with his hyung, Hoya was whispering to Dongwoo about the guy that almost drooled on Sungyeol and tried to point to him discreetly.

“You're trying to find hair on an eggshell Hoya, the guy probably wasn't even looking at him, he is like fifteen years older than Sungyeol.” Dongwoo defended.

“What's our again?” Hoya asked with his eyes squinted.

“7 years.” Dongwoo promptly answered.

“It happened between me and you so it can happen.” Hoya hissed but then sighed and tried to convince his lover he was right. “But, hyung, it didn't seem as if the guy was just mesmerized by Sungyeol’s beauty or something, it seemed like he knew Sungyeol and he couldn't believe his eyes that he was seeing him here. Honestly, it was like he was caught red handed or something, though Sungyeol didn't even notice him.”

“Hoya, what are you even saying?” Dongwoo laughed.

“I don't know, but I feel that this guy is trouble.” Hoya said as he crossed his arms feeling wronged, if his guts were telling him this he would believe it, they had never betrayed him and they wouldn't probably start now. “Just wait and see hyung, this old dude is a bad omen.” He repeated.