Moonsoo kissed his boyfriend and then got up to get his jacket and keys. "I should go now, better grab some lunch for you before you eat the books.”

“Hey, I’m not ‘eating’ books,” Sungjong complained from his bed as he watched Moonsoo move to the door and open it.

“Come on, you’re only teaching me at this point, you already know everything!” Moonsoo scoffed as he turned to look at his boyfriend with a teasing look.

"As if, I’m ed in this subject," Sungjong said bitterly as he grabbed a pillow. 

“Yeah, right.” The elder used sarcasm and the pillow in Sungjong's hand flew in his direction until it hit the wall beside his head. He couldn’t help but stifle a laugh, he knew his lover didn’t aim properly - this was only a warning for him to behave - and since Moonsoo knew better than to fight for nothing, he just closed the door and effectively left the room.

He threw his jacket on and started walking down the hallway to the stairs. After climbing down a flight of stairs, he headed for the main door and left the building to get his car, but he didn’t walk far when he received a message from his father.

Dad: Moonsoo, where are you? Reply as soon as you receive this message.

Moonsoo frowned. He had been studying every chance he got to be able to see Woohyun today after lunch, and he had all the intention to do just that but that message made some sirens flare in his head.  Something must have happened that he wasn’t aware and he had to check it.

Moonsoo: I’m leaving the dorm to grab some lunch, why?

He hit send and was about to continue his way when Bumsoo called him.

“Hey, da..” Moonsoo tried to greet but was interrupted mid-way.

“Moonsoo, can you come now? I mean, earlier, earlier will do.”

“I... Yeah, but what happened?” He turned back and started to redo his way to Sungjong's room, the least he could do for his boyfriend was to tell him that he wouldn’t be able to bring lunch, he was sure the younger would understand.

Bumsoo sighed heavily and then tried his best to explain. “I met your brother yesterday - he wanted my help for something that he will tell you later - but we end up going to Incheon and he brought that plushie toy that we gave him and that he gave to Woohyun when he was a baby, do you remember that toy?”

“Of course, I remember, Woohyun loved it to bits, he couldn’t sleep without it and he was so sad once it ripped. But what does that have anything to do with...” The youngest Kim wasn’t able to finish his question because his dad continued.

“Myungsoo tried to fix it, he sewed it back together, the toy looks kinda weird but that’s not the point. The point is, Myungsoo brought it here and placed it on Woohyun's arms when he was sleeping.”

“Awn.” Moonsoo melted a little. “What Woohyun thought about it?” He managed to ask as he briefly forgot there might be a problem somewhere.

“He was happy, he thought it was me that brought it to him, but once I said it was Myungsoo, he became weird about it.”

“Weird?” The youngest Kim asked as he dodged a person on his way.

“Yeah, he still loves that toy and he has been carrying it around - even to the bathroom - but at the same time, he knows that Myungsoo gave him the toy twice so he seems to be in conflict if he should reject it or not… I don’t know how to explain.”

“Wait a second,” Moonsoo said on the phone then opened the door to Sungjong’s room and poked his head inside.

“You’re back already?” The younger Lee asked puzzled.

“Sorry, I just returned to say that I won’t be able to grab us lunch.”  Sungjong just blinked in confusion and Moosooo made an apologetic expression and then pointed to his phone. “There is a problem with Woohyun, I’ll need to go to him earlier.”

“That’s fine, is he ok?” Sungjong asked in worry.

“I’m still trying to understand things but I’ll have to meet him earlier so I’ll probably take him out to lunch and then try to distract him a little.”

The younger put his book aside and got up. “Then you should be going, I can handle myself.” He said as he tried to search for his wallet. Moonsoo smiled to himself and was about to close the door when Sungjong called him. “Hey, try to ask him if I can join you guys. Maybe I can smuggle Sunggyu out of school and we can meet you guys in the arcade later, it will be my treat.”

“I’ll try.” Moonsoo threw a thankful smile to his boyfriend and closed the door only to put the phone over his ear again and walk the same path for the third time in less than ten minutes. “Sorry about that, I had to undo my plans with Jong.”

“I know how that goes, I’m the one that should say sorry.” Bumsoo apologized and both of them decided not to dwell much on this.

“Dad, about the plushie, I don’t think he is going to reject it even if it was hyung that brought it to him, he loves that thing. What was the problem?”

“I’m still not sure about that, he might be carrying it around but he wasn’t squeezing to his chest like Sonmi and I were expecting and then… then he was about to try to do some homework, but once he opened his notebook he saw a message Myungsoo left and started crying again.”

Moonsoo halted his steps and closed his eyes to think. He believed there was no way Myungsoo could write something to hurt Woohyun, the boy probably cried because he was in a sensible state and wasn’t ready to read whatever had been written.

He started walking again. “What hyung wrote? Wait, more importantly, have you guys managed to calm him?”

“He wrote something about love, effort, and being whole? I didn’t get to check properly, Woohyun couldn’t explain in between his sobs either. We tried to calm him down and he kept quiet for a while, next time he spoke he asked me to call you.”

Woohyun asked for him? Maybe that was because the boy knew Sungyeol was busy and he would already try visiting today but Moonsoo still happily melted somehow.

“Did he eat already?” He asked then started to speed up his pace until he was jogging, he was in a hurry to find the boy.

“Just breakfast a while ago.”

“Then get him ready, I’ll pick him up in a bit so we can eat out.” 

“Alright, see you soon.” 

Moonsoo hurried to his car and tried to drive as fast as he could but his parents chose to stay in a part of town that was a short drive from Myungsoo's apartment but not that close to his dorm, which made him take a while to arrive.

It was a miracle to find somewhere to park his car and, once he was done, he made his way up as quickly as he could. He (and Myungsoo) had the code so it wasn’t needed for him to ring the bell, instead, the youngest Kim just put the code and entered the apartment without ceremonies. He found the three tenants in the small kitchen, the two adults worked on their lunch while Woohyun was ready to go but resting his head over the table, wearing a sad pout on his lips and looking at his once-beloved toy.

Upon hearing the door, the boy immediately looked at him so he tried to greet him with a smile. “Woohyun!”

In the past, when Woohyun didn’t know the truth yet, he always ran to greet his uncle with a silly smile on his face and a warm hug, but that changed a bit. It wasn’t like Woohyun was channeling all his anger and disappointment on him - which made Moonsoo kind of relieved because he couldn’t imagine being in Myungsoo's shoes right now - but it was a different experience. 

The first day they met - when the boy had just discovered and was in inquiring/tantrum mode - they didn’t speak much and Moonsoo didn’t get a smile, a hug, or a greeting. The second time they met since then, Moonsoo also didn’t get those things, but they had a pleasant conversation considering the circumstances, so he managed to receive a hesitant hug. This time though, the boy was hugging him as if his life depended on it.

He promptly hugged the boy back and tried to contort himself to whisper in the boy's ears in his gentlest tone. “Hey, buddy. What happened?”  The boy didn’t reply but hugged him even tighter, so Moonsoo raised his confused/worried eyes and tried to scoop some explanation with his parents.

The elder couple just looked at each other and sighed.
_____________________________________________
Myungsoo looked up to the building in front of him, took a deep breath to gather strength then finally walked in. He wasn't worried he could bump into people because at this point most people must be in their classroom, but he felt tense as if the few that passed him would be able to smell his intentions. Despite being non-ual, his intentions were not exactly the smartest, but there was something in him begging to test something.

He went straight to the office he knew Sungyeol usually was only to find Chanyeol and Dara coming out of it with the whole aura of frustration surrounding them.

“Let it go,” Dara said as she nudged her boyfriend.

“I just want to help…” The tall male said with a sigh.

“I know but if he says he is fine and everything is under control then you should trust him.” She pulled his arm and both turned in Myungsoo's direction.

“It doesn’t look like everything is fi-” Chanyeol was about to complain when he finally took his eyes off his girlfriend and noticed Myungsoo. “Hey Myungsoo, what's up? Are you here to see hyung?”

Myungsoo slightly bowed to them before replying. “Yeah, there are a few questions I need to ask, is he alone in the office?”

“Yes, Professor Song is in a meeting with other staff.” Dara promptly informed and expected her boyfriend to shut his mouth but Chanyeol wasn’t one to do that. 

“Forgive me for asking but what’s going on between you two?”

Myungsoo froze a bit but furrowed his brows and asked seriously. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing, he means nothing. Let’s go Chanyeol.” Dara tried to pull Chanyeol away but this time Myungsoo was the one that prevented it.

“Please, I would like to know what you mean.” He said firmly.

Chanyeol shrugged. “I don’t know how to describe it, I just guessed he was moping for you again... ” He looked briefly around to make sure no one would hear what he wanted to say. “I just hope you guys are not giving each other a hard time.”

Well, it took some time and some suffering but he and Sungyeol somehow ended up on the same page. Even so, Myungsoo couldn’t help but feel bad for everything Sungyeol was doing for Woohyun. He gulped but forced a smile that didn’t reach his eyes and decided to reply vaguely.

“No, we… the situation is weird but we are just trying not to press each other's buttons.” That was somehow true, although there was a lot more happening at the moment. But, if Sungyeol didn’t inform his friend Myungsoo wouldn’t be the one doing so.

“See?” Dara said as she slightly pulled Chanyeol.

“I’m glad to know.” He said and pulled his girlfriend to Myungsoo's side before saying his last words. “If you guys need any help to cover this…” He offered.

“I hope we don’t need it but thank you,” Myungsoo said sincerely and Chanyeol nodded so Dara decided to say her goodbyes and pull her boyfriend. Myungsoo was about to continue his way when Chanyeol called one last time.

“Beware ok? He is not in his greatest mood today.” He warned and Myungsoo looked puzzled but he couldn’t ask for details because this time Dara managed to take Chanyeol away.

Myungsoo scrunched his eyebrows in puzzlement but decided to continue his way and face Sungyeol. He knocked on the door to announce his presence but there was no answer, only Sungyeol's muffled voice came out.

“No! No! Sungjong!” Sungyeol sounded pissed but since he didn’t reply Myungsoo decided to push the door open only to watch Sungyeol practically fuming as he paced left and right with his phone to his ear. “What? I know, but nooo!!!! NO! NO! NO!”

“Hello?” Myungsoo announced his presence awkwardly.

“No, I’m not being too much, we are already helping the way we can!” Sungyeol hissed angrily then had to take a double look to notice Myungsoo but he made a hand motion for the younger to wait and then concentrated back on the phone. “Well, I’m her son ok? Besides it’s a completely different situation, Sunggyu has not a single problem himself so he has to stay in school and…YA, Lee Sungjong!” He half yelled on the phone and Myungsoo was a bit startled before he watched Sungyeol continue although Sungjong already ended the call. “You’re gonna get your allowance cut by half this month.” He threatened his poor phone before finally looking at Myungsoo that was awkwardly standing with his eyes big.

“Did I arrive at a bad moment?” The younger asked.

“Sorry about that.” Sungyeol quickly looked down and sat at his desk then motioned for Myungsoo to sit in front of him. “I can’t believe Sunggyu understands a ‘no’ better than Sungjong.” He briefly ranted but then remembered Myungsoo might be scared that he was talking about personal things in the office. “She is in a meeting.” He tried to explain as he dared to look at Myungsoo and the younger had a concerned expression.

“I know, Chanyeol shi told me.” Sungyeol raised a brow and Myungsoo hesitated a bit before continuing. “It’s just weird to see you like this after a while, I hope you aren’t falling into bad habits again.”

“Hum.” Sungyeol looked at his lap before elaborating. “Not really, though this time there is no prejudice involved and I’m 100% right.” Myungsoo didn’t say anything, maybe he hadn’t the courage to ask, but Sungyeol knew him and knew he was curious. “Sungjong wanted to pick Sunggyu up in school to meet with Woohyun and Moonsoo somewhere, but he will probably go against my word.” He said with a sigh. “We’re trying to be there for Woohyun because we like him, but I said no because we already agreed to visit Woohyun at night, therefore it is not right to make Sunggyu skip school.”

Myungsoo shifted uncomfortably. “I understand and I’m sorry about that, I’ll talk to Moonsoo so he can talk to Sungjong and…”

“Don’t apologize about that,  I know it was Sungjong's idea.” Sungyeol waved off although he didn’t dare to look Myungsoo in the eyes. “He has good intentions but sometimes he does not think everything through,” He sighed again. “At least this time he told me the truth and where he would be, so I guess this can be considered an improvement.”

Myungsoo didn’t know how to respond to that so he forced an apologetic/helpless side smile that Sungyeol didn’t see. They fell in silence for some time. Myungsoo was waiting for Sungyeol to look at him and continue his rant about Sungjong or ask him why he came while Sungyeol was waiting for Myungsoo to say anything but not daring to look at him. Since no one talked the silence became awkward until Sungyeol shifted in his seat.

“But you came here for something else, right?” The taller asked to dare and Myungsoo stopped wondering why Sungyeol wasn’t looking at him to reply.

“Yeah, I mean, you sent me your feedback and I already made some changes but I was wondering if you could also take a look at the pictures I’m choosing because I’m not sure they are aligned with the parameters we set.”

“You set, it’s your work, it was you that decided everything, I’m just guiding.” Sungyeol corrected but smiled softly before he sat up straight and pulled the laptop to himself. “But let’s check it out, is this update on my email?” He asked already trying to check.

“No, the file was kinda big so I brought it on a pen drive,” Myungsoo said as he tried to pat his pockets for it.

“Oh, then...” Sungyeol showed the palms of his hand and waited for Myungsoo to pass him the device but this simple action didn’t happen.

Myungsoo got up then made a point to circle the desk and then lean his body to connect the device while Sungyeol watched him move and lean his body over the table. He pushed the chair back to make space but couldn’t help to still have half of Myungsoo’s body trapping him. Sungyeol didn’t know what to think of the situation but with the way the younger’s body was so close to him, could easily be touched with the slightest movement and he couldn’t help but to want to wrap his arms around Myungsoo’s waist and lean his head on the younger sides.

For a brief second Sungyeol imagined that but the next one he reminded himself of the situation they were in. With or without Professor Song around, Sungyeol didn’t want to do anything that would make him force himself on Myungsoo when he was clearly in a position of power. To better tone down his urge, he gripped the chair arm and gulped hard as Myungsoo started to talk but his voice faded into the background. 

While opening the file, Myungsoo spoke about the corrections he made and how he wasn’t sure if the parameters he chose were the best for his project, though he explained he managed to reduce the number of pictures.

“.... therefore I’m not sure about this part here, I tried to rewrite it like three times but it always becomes weird, what do you think I can do to make the text smoother?” He asked but since he couldn’t even hear Sungyeol's breath, he turned to look at him only to find the elder with closed eyes, furrowed brows, held breath, and knuckles already white from his tight grip. “Are you ok?” He asked softly.

Sungyeol's brain took a few seconds to notice that Myungsoo was waiting for him to say something, or maybe move, so he opened his eyes but when he saw Myungsoo still leaning over the table but looking back, he looked away to not be tempted.

“What’s wrong?" Myungsoo asked in confusion.

"Let’s not do this, please." Sungyeol mumbled and it took some blinks for Myungsoo to understand what the taller was referring to.

“Sorry.” He mumbled and promptly moved back to his chair. Sungyeol let out the breath he was holding and waved at Myungsoo to dismiss his apology, then shifted to a more comfortable position before he looked directly at the laptop. Myungsoo frowned, maybe getting close to Sungyeol was too much but wouldn’t the taller even look at him?

“Hyung...” He called and Sungyeol froze. “Why can’t you look me in the eyes?”

“Because it is easier to lose my focus,” Sungyeol confessed straightforwardly.

“You really can’t?” Myungsoo asked, his heart beating a bit fast after the taller explanation, but he wasn’t sure at the moment if it was a good or bad thing.

“I can but I’ll have to look in your eyes on the day of your presentation and we’ll not be alone, so it would be better if I could work on my focus until then.” Myungsoo sighed heavily (and slightly sad) but nodded to show he understood.

Sungyeol proceeded to look at the file Myungsoo opened on his laptop, sometimes he read some sentences aloud, furrowed his brows, and dropped praise for Myungsoo as the said man heard everything but kept his head down.

At some point, Sungyeol let out a gasp that was a mix of happiness and surprise. “You brought a lot of pictures already!”

“Yeah,” Myungsoo said as he snapped out of his reverie and pulled the chair closer to the table and tried to look at the screen that Sungyeol adjusted so he could see it too. “Don’t laugh too much about it ok? I had a weird phase.” Sungyeol lifted both of his brows at the picture in the file. Weird phase? Where? He ended up choosing not to comment. “Is this your wedding day? You look so young!”
“Yeah.” Myungsoo smiled sadly then let out a breath and kept talking. “Since our love for each other was really like those of siblings, that had to be the weirdest day of our lives. We managed a fake kiss but I decided to use a less weird pic where anyone would guess Woohyun and Soohyun are already there.”

Sungyeol looked at the picture where Jihyun’s head was on Myungsoo's shoulder while he hugged her and both looked at her belly and placed their hands there. Both of them were not showing the utmost happiness in the world but they were looking tenderly at her belly and something in this pic just radiated love somehow. Sungyeol's heart sunk a bit, he knew the truth and there was no need to feel jealous, but that proximity was everything he couldn’t have with Myungsoo at the moment, and that was something he could be envious of.

“I see why you want to use this pic, but was it really you that took it?”

“Of course, with the help of a tripod and a timer, I’m actually hiding the remote behind her.” Myungsoo chuckled.

They proceeded to look at the few pictures Myungsoo brought as he explained how he took which one of them. Some were taken with the tripod, and some Myungsoo used some furniture and the camera's timer, but every one of them gave Sungyeol an insight into how his life as a teen parent was. Sungyeol instantly regretted his initial prejudice, even more, it had been hard on Myungsoo, and by the pictures shown, there was not one that showed anything other than a responsible father trying his best.

There was a pic of Myungsoo looking tired and having bags in his eyes but was dressed in his uniform and trying to feed baby Woohyun with a bottle of formula. There was one of him putting Woohyun to sleep while reading a book for school then one of him teaching Woohyun to walk. There was one where Myungsoo was trying to feed solid food to Woohyun but the boy was trying to also feed him back. There was one Woohyun who was sleeping attached to a Kero-chan plushie while Myungsoo held him against his arms on the bed. There is one or two of Woohyun dressed in a basketball uniform with Myungsoo's name on it, and one of Myungsoo trying to teach Woohyun a bit of soccer but with a basketball instead. There was one pic of Myungsoo laying on a hospital bed embracing a sick Woohyun. There was one of their first days in college/kindergarten. Woohyun and Myungsoo posing with a trophy together. One of them packing their bags. One of them unpacked their bags in the new apartment (which till this day Sungyeol wondered how they moved and he didn’t hear a thing). 

At some point, there was one pic Sungyeol could recognize, the one of Woohyun's first day in school -  which was also the day they first met. Sungyeol had to stop scrolling through the rest of the pictures and that made Myungsoo slightly flustered.

“If you don’t want me to use this one….” He said and Sungyeol completely ignored Sunggyu and instantly moved his eyes to the cut knee that he knew belonged to him. 

“Myungsoo…” He hesitated because he didn’t want to make Myungsoo upset but at the same time he deemed it necessary to say it. “Professor Song saw a picture of Sunggyu and Sungjong once… I’m not sure she will remember and connect the dots, and… I don’t want to upset you but we came so far with this already, can you use one of the other pics you took that day?”

“Yeah, of course, I mean, I will change.” Myungsoo readily agreed although he felt he wouldn’t be able to show Woohyun with his best friend like he showed Kibum. “I’m sorry about that, I didn’t think there was a problem because I made sure to edit you out and Sunggyu is a bit different than you, but sure, yeah, I will change it, It’s just… Woohyun looks happy in this one.”

“I know… because it was his first day in school.” Sungyeol smiled softly and managed some courage to sneak a peek at the one in front of him.

“Yeah, something like that.” Myungsoo agreed with an awkward smile on his face though he had conflicted feelings about that day.  

Sungyeol stretched his lip to the side, wondering if he should bring to light the thing that was on his mind. He knew it wasn’t his business and he shouldn’t in but at the same time, he felt that he had to warn Myungsoo about it. In the end, he decided to just say it because he was bothered but decided to do it in a really subtle way not to force Myungsoo to think about anything too deeply.

“To think he was so happy to go to school but now...” Sungyeol left his words hanging and sighed.

“I know.” Myungsoo agreed with a frustrated tone. “I predicted a lot of things but I confess I didn’t predict he wouldn’t want to go to school.” He rubbed his hands on his face before continuing. “I can’t exactly lecture him right now because he doesn’t even want to meet me, and I guess he is already putting up enough with my parents trying to coddle him, so I asked Moonsoo to try talking to him.”

“Really?” Sungyeol was happily surprised that the younger was also concerned about that.

“Yeah, I mean, Woohyun adores him and their conversation was the only one that was mostly good so I asked Moonsoo to try because, as you know, they’ll meet today. I’m not sure how that’ll go, Mom said Woohyun had agreed to go to school last Monday but cried rivers once he stepped foot there so he might refuse.”

“Oh yeah, Dongwoo hyung told me about that.” Sungyeol nodded to himself and both stayed quiet for a few seconds until Sungyeol spoke again. “Have you ever considered that not wanting to go to school might not be because he discovered the truth? Well, maybe only indirectly.”

“More than thinking about it, I’m sure about it,” Myungsoo said confidently although knowing this made him sad. “This is definitely because of that fight he had with… what’s the name of the boy again? Mingyu? I think he is afraid to hear hurtful things again, and by the things Hoya hyung told me, I guess it makes some sense.”

“Yeah, I know, sometimes children can be cruel.” Sungyeol sighed as he thought about his cousin's experiences and that made them fall in silence for a while.

Not knowing what else to say to break the silence, Myungsoo scratched his forehead as he revealed his thoughts. “Dealing with other people, their triggering words and assumptions will be something that he’ll have to work on but right now… right now I think it would only make things hard for him.”

“ I also agree with you but we can’t protect people we love 100% of the time, it is impossible.” Sungyeol said in a frustrated tone and Myungsoo sighed as he looked down at his laps. “Do you want me to ask Sunggyu about what’s happening in school? He probably knows how Woohyun and Mingyu’s relationship is now, or... I don’t know.”

Myungsoo instantly looked up and tried to look at Sungyeol's eyes to show his sincerity but the elder was looking at an imaginary dot above his head. Well, that broke Myungsoo's heart a tiny bit but it didn’t change his overall emotions. “Can you?”

“Yes, of course, and then I can tell your mom to inform you about it.” Sungyeol assured.

Myungsoo bit his lips for about three seconds, while Sungyeol tried to pretend he wasn’t awkward until and decided to ask something more. “I know we already crossed many lines we agreed we wouldn’t cross but can I ask you something more?”

 “I-I…” Sungyeol tensed and stuttered but Myungsoo interrupted him.

“Do you think you can ask Sunggyu to convince him to go back to school on Monday?” He asked before his courage for this question left him.

Sungyeol blinked then released breath he didn’t know he was holding only to blabber flustered. “Yes, of course, Sunggyu totally wants Woohyun back too, and he wants to help more.” Myungsoo opened up his mouth but Sungyeol raised a finger in the air. “Don’t say ‘thank you’, Sunggyu will be delighted, he was waiting for a chance to do more.”

Myungsoo wanted to smile when he imagined Sunggyu begging Sungyeol to tell him how he could help, Sunggyu was the kind of (mini) person that would be an amazing friend for life.  Instead, he decided to end the meeting, he already tested Sungyeol words and reactions enough and things were already awkward. “Then about my project....”

“I’ll need more time to read with my full attention but I can tell you in advance I can’t complain about your pictures.” He lightly chuckled and started to close the file to eject the device. “I don’t know much about photography but aside from that one… oh and there is a particularly dark one if you can edit it to be just a little brighter…” He pushed the pen drive in Myungsoo's direction though this time the young dad was sure he was looking at his chin. “I’ll be specific about it but I’ll probably send you tomorrow if you don’t mind.”

He showed his dimples in a smile which made Sungyeol gulp hard. “Not at all, I think I need to try to sleep a complete night so… yeah.” He grabbed the device and placed it in his pocket then stood up. “Thank you.”

Sungyeol's brain was kinda confused when he saw Myungsoo extending his hand for a handshake, but he couldn’t even think about what exactly that meant because the younger pulled out his hand the next second, apologized, and left the room in the quickest way possible.

While Sungyeol was left puzzled, Myungsoo closed the door and started scolding himself. “Ugh, why did you do that? Are you crazy Kim Myungsoo? You just wanted to test how your new dynamic would be but did you have to do that? And what was that hand? You do nothing right.” He was in the middle of scolding himself and slightly slapping his forehead as punishment when he realized something. 
“Gosh, this is just as hard for me too, and no, I can’t help myself when we are alone, dammit.”

____________________________________________

Moonsoo was helping Woohyun with his jacket because the restaurant was kind of cold when the food they ordered arrived. Woohyun had said he had no appetite but Moonsoo knew him and knew his appetite had been improving with Sungyeol help so he didn’t accept that , luckily he didn't have to insist and that meant Woohyun would be more prone to open up.

He thanked the waitress as he sat down and then tried to divide the dish proportionally - and Woohyun might have been royally cheated on that - but the boy was looking too intensely at the toy over the table to notice and complain about anything.

“Here’s your lasagna,” Moonsoo announced as he placed a plate in front of the boy and that made Woohyun snap out of his trance.

The boy reached for his cutlery but before he started to use it Moonsoo couldn’t help but ask something that was on his mind. “Namu, what’s going on? You’re staring at your toy so hard that another hole might be open soon.”

The boy’s eyes moved from the adult to the faded yellow-ish toy then he looked down. “Sorry.” He said.

“You don’t need to say sorry about that,” Moonsoo said as he tried to cut a piece of his lasagna then looked at the boy again. “I thought that having this around would make you feel better but it seems to me that it’s not helping. So what’s with the toy?”

“Your brother gave it to me.”

“I know, it was his before,” Moonsoo said matter of factually then ate. While he chewed, Woohyun looked at him as if asking why that alone wasn’t making sense but Moonsoo just had a blank face.

Woohyun sighed heavily and put some food in his mouth, it was tasty but eating wasn’t making him that happy and noticing that Moonsoo insisted. “What?” Woohyun sighed and he tapped the boy's arm to get his attention. “Tell me, I don’t have any means to guess.”

“It’s silly.” The boy said as he rested one elbow on the table and leaned his head on a hand while he looked at the toy on the table.

Moonsoo put his cutlery down and placed one hand over the toy. “It isn’t if it’s hurting you or making you cry somehow.” He said seriously.

“I didn’t…” He was about to deny but the elder gave him a look and he just knew that Moonsoo was informed about it. He sighed. “Ok, I did.” The boy admitted as he made a face.

“Then why did you cry earlier?” Woohyun stayed in silence so Moonsoo decided to push him a little more. “Come on, we agreed to be friends and friends tell each other everything, unless you like Sungyeol hyung more than me now.”

Woohyun eyes grew big and he tensed but upon noticing that he threw the boy into another dilemma, and he was actually measuring his love for Sungyeol and him, Moonsoo decided to backtrack. “It’s not a competition Woohyun, you don’t need to love one of us more.”

Woohyun sighed in relief this time and they resumed eating even though they had different speeds. Despite eating a bit the boy kept looking intently at the toy on the table.

“It is the toy, isn't it?” Moonsoo asked after a while.

“Yeah.” Woohyun replied in a whisper.

“How do you feel about it?”

“That’s the problem, I don’t know what to feel!” Woohyun mildly snapped and crossed his arms over his chest, a sign he was defensive now.

“Ok, ok calm down.” Moonsoo pleaded despite being a little startled. “Hum.. uh… there is no right emotion.”

Woohyun turned his head to the elder and tried to look angry but there were tears in his already. “Can you stop telling me that?” He rubbed his eyes and his voice softened a bit. “Can everyone stop telling me that?”

“We’re probably telling you this because it’s ok to feel whatever you are feeling, we don’t want you guilty because of your own emotions, or worse, our expectations.” Woohyun pouted and begrudgingly nodded. “But if you don’t want to talk about it, let’s just eat and stroll around a bit so you can breathe some fresh air and take a break from my parents. Also, Jongie said he would try to bring Sunggyu to meet us later in the arcade, isn’t that awesome?.” Moonsoo offered because in his mind information about Sunggyu would probably make Woohyun distracted.

What the young adult wasn’t expecting was that Sunggyu's name entered through an ear and came out by the other because Woohyun didn’t store the information in his brain. Moonsoo was about to give the boy some time in his own world - while he finished his food - when Woohyun mumbled something.

“This was my favorite toy.”

“Hm?” Moonsoo asked awkwardly.

“This was my favorite toy.” The boy repeated more clearly now and pushed the dish to the side to grab the toy and pointed to its body. “He had a hole here… and one of his eyes fell, remember?”

Moonsoo looked at the mended plushie and blinked. He wasn’t sure what would happen now but he decided not to force too much and just go with the flow.

“Yeah, I remember. But Kero-chan survived hyung first so he was bound to have one-eye-less at some point.” He said as he pointed to the yellowish plushie. “This toy is really a hero of all the toys in the universe, look, it even endured a pen a couple of times.” He said as he pointed to one of the toy legs.

“I thought it was me that did this.” Woohyun blinked.

“No, it was definitely hyung. These marks already existed before he gave it to you and you always treated this plushie carefully.” Moonsoo explained and unexpectedly Woohyun had a question for him.

“Is Kero-chan that old? When D-Myungsoo got it?”

“It’s probably older than me,” Moonsoo said and poked the toy belly. “I’m not sure you know this but Myungsoo hyung lived with our grandmother for a while and when she went to heaven, our parents gave it to him so whenever he missed her he would hug it tightly. He missed her a lot. Then mom started traveling and he would do the same thing whenever he missed her. He brought this everywhere.” Moonsoo smiled fondly as he looked at the toy intently. “When your mother went to heaven, he gave it to you expecting you’d do the same whenever you missed her. You got used to it so quickly... it was almost as if you understood what he meant and was doing the same.”

“I liked to hug it when I missed her too, but Kibummie doggie ripped it here and then everyone was too busy to fix it.” The boy said as he pointed to the place Myungsoo had worked on.

“Well, it’s fixed now, why aren’t you hugging it? Is it because of its appearance?” He asked then decided to be humorous about it. “It must be, hyung probably ruined it for you. He is not that good with a needle and a thread, but if you ask my dad he can try to make it better.”

“It isn’t the same,” Woohyun said in frustration. “And I don’t miss anyone right now, not even mom.” Woohyun blurted which made the elder blink hard. 

“And you can only hug it when you miss someone? Not when you feel things are hard?” Moonsoo asked but Woohyun's answer wasn’t like he was expecting.

“I could, but I don’t want to do what Myungsoo wants me to do.”

Moonsoo was impressed, did Myungsoo sew the plushie to make Woohyun seek comfort in something that was filled with memories and emotional connection to push the boy into opening up to him? And little Woohyun could see through his intentions?

“You’re growing up as a smart boy.” 

“Thank you?” Woohyun said a bit confused so Moonsoo quickly discarded his idea and asked and decided to ask directly.

“You didn’t like that Myungsoo hyung fixed for you? Is that it?”

The boy became really quiet and replied faintly. “No.”

“Then?”

Woohyun brought the plushie on his lap and continued. “I was going to do my homework but I saw a message from him in my notebook.” He mumbled but loud enough for Moonsoo to hear and think it was his opportunity to discover what the hell happened.

“A message?”

“Yeah, telling me that he wants to fix things with me even if our relationship changes.” Moonsoo frowned, as much as happy he was to hear what Woohyun thought Myungsoo wrote, which didn’t seem like the things he heard from his father. “With a metaphor.”

“Ahhh.” Moonsoo finally gasped. he knew that this was a tactic Myungsoo often used to make the boy reflect and empathize, and he remembered his brother explaining the meaning of the word to Woohyun but didn’t know Woohyun understood the word and concept so well. “How do you feel about that?” His question came out soft but concerned.

“I don’t know!” The boy snapped only to try again with a more contained but frustrated tone. “I don’t know.” He made a pause and moved the toy ears as he hesitated. “I cried because I don’t know what else to do.”

“You’re still not ready to talk to him right?” the young adult asked softly.

“No!” Woohyun said with overloading confidence.

“I see,” Moonsoo said and looked to the ceiling to think a bit, but a whole minute passed and he didn’t know how to comfort the boy. “I don’t think I know what to say about that either.” The boy sighed deeply. "But you know what?" Moonsoo interrupted as he turned his whole body in the boy's direction and Woohyun tilted his head in curiosity. "I think you’re thinking too hard about this."

That surprised Woohyun so he lifted a brow upward and inquired. “Wasn’t I supposed to? Shouldn’t I try to discover what I’m feeling so I can discover what to do?”

“Well...” Moonsoo scratched his head because, in the end, the boy was a bit right. “Yes, but you don’t have to figure your heart out in a hurry.” The boy made a confused expression so the elder tried to explain himself better. “I'm not saying that you shouldn't think about everything you discovered this week or that you should pretend that nothing happened. I just think your head is overloaded with all the information you got. You’re practically locked in your bedroom thinking about this every second of your day and even when you meet people, you’re still trying to figure your feelings out…”  

Now it was Woohyun's turn to scratch his nape, unknowingly copying what Myungsoo often did. “Then what should I do~?” He slightly whined.

“At this point, your brain is kind of tired so it will be harder to sort anything out, this is why I suggest a break.”

“Hm?” The boy asked in confusion and Moonsoo shrugged.

“Maybe you just need to try to focus on something else for a little bit and then, when your brain gets a break, your emotions will sort and show themselves to you.”

The boy looked at the toy for a few seconds and moved its ears as he thought about it.

"How do I do that?" Woohyun asked quietly but showed interest.

"Well, you're already doing a few things that can help, like having your friends over or going out to eat with me,” Moonsoo said as he tapped his chin as the boy stretched the corner of his lips. “When it comes to your friends, I know you’re not in the mood to do anything other than being in their company, but maybe you should try to let them distract you for a bit instead of just talking about this every second. I mean, people that love you will be there whenever you need to share and take things off your chest but let people do other things for you so your brain can take a break. Can you try to do that? At your own pace?” The elder ended up asking with expectations.

“I can try but….” The boy left his sentence unfinished and sighed. 

“But?” Moonsoo prompted and Woohyun bit his lips, hesitating. “What’s holding you back from telling me?”

“You’ll be hurt if I say it.” The boy said. “I don’t want to hurt you, you’re the one that hurt me less.”

Moonsoo quickly connected the dots. If whatever the boy had to say could hurt him, then it was probably something related to his family members but he had to know some of the boy's struggles so he could at least come up with a new way of handling the boy. “I appreciate your concern, Woohyun, I also feel concerned about you because I love you. But, I’d appreciate it if you could tell me the truth even if it will hurt me somehow, that way I can reflect and apologize if I’m wrong or try to help you somehow.”

The boy stayed quiet and looked at his plushie for a few seconds before he dared to look at Moonsoo again. “Do you promise you won’t get mad?”

The elder held back a smile, even hurt Woohyun still could show his caring side, if only he could show that side to Myungsoo…

“I promise I’ll try my best not to be.” He assured.

Woohyun hesitated a little more, probably trying to find the right words in his head before speaking. “I don’t feel like this with you, or my friends when they come to visit me… or even Myungsoo-shi the last time we met…” Moonsoo's eyes grew big. Woohyun didn’t include Myungsoo in whatever he had to say and that made the young adult really surprised but he made hand motions for the boy to continue.  “Your parents, auntie, and uncle… They treat me well but they’re weird these days and... I can barely be alone...”

“First of all, this doesn’t offend me or hurt me.” He announced only for Woohyun to release a relieved sigh so he continued. “Although the last part of what you said probably has to do with the fact you tried to run away from home.” 

The boy looked down at his toy again, feeling bad. “I’m sorry about that, I won’t do it again.”

“I know, but you probably need to gain their trust again.” The boy made an insufferable expression like that would take a lifetime to accomplish so Moonsoo decided to give him a hand. “Do you want me to talk to them so they can give you some alone time?”

“Yes, please!” The boy jumped at the opportunity before continuing. “It’s... it’s really weird when they are with me all the time and I feel like they are expecting something from me…”

“Oh” Moonsoo wanted to be surprised by the revelation but at the same time, he wasn’t so he took a deep breath. “I know what you’re talking about.” Woohyun seemed surprised so Moonsoo organized his thoughts and took a big intake of air before speaking. “We love you and I’d be lying if I told you we aren’t anxiously waiting for you to figure out your feelings. But while hyung and I are trying not to pressure you, my parents… they can’t really hide what they want or expect so I guess you’re really feeling pressured by them, and this is one of the reasons why I invited you to have lunch with me today.”

“Sorry, I don’t feel hungry.” The boy promptly apologized as he inspected the forgotten plate in front of him.

Moonsoo shook his head as he grabbed his fork just to play with the lasagna getting cold in front of him. “Don’t feel sorry about it, I knew you might not want to eat. And I’m the one sorry about my parents, you probably never noticed they are like that before because you didn’t have any reason to. But, just so you know, hyung and I have felt like that before too so I can relate.”

“Hyung, what can I do about that? I’m feeling awkward.” The boy begged for some help.

Moonsoo couldn’t help but thank the gods Woohyun helped him by asking that question, his mission just got a little bit easier. He had some things to say but he didn’t want to make it obvious he had an entire speech in his head already so he pretended to be thinking for a while.

“Humm, in this case, I’m not sure that getting alone time with your friends will be enough.” After hearing this Woohyun practically slumped his body on his chair. “But maybe if you would spend some time away it would be good.”

“But they don’t let me go anywhere.”

“There is a place you can go and they won’t bother you though.” The boy raised a questioning brow so Moonsoo decided to summarize a bit. “School.”

As soon as he said that word, Woohyun's body tensed and he became uncomfortable. "I don't want to go to school."

"Why? I thought you loved school." Moonsoo pretended to be surprised even though he was 100% sure of what was Woohyun’s problem there.

"I did but…" The boy hesitated then tried to change the focus. "Sungyeol hyung is teaching me and Sunggyu hyung helps me a lot, I don't need to go to school.”

Moonsoo sighed internally but decided to try again. “I know sometimes you get help from Sungyeol hyung, but there is no right to burden your friend. Also, there are only a number of days you can skip school before they ask questions.”

“No! No, please!” Woohyun interrupted with big scared eyes.

“I can’t do anything about that Woohyun, it’s the school policy.” He said and Woohyun shoulders slumped defeatedly again. “But they won’t ask too much if you return to school soon.”

“But I don’t want to go there...” He mumbled sadly.

“And why is that? Is there anything you’re afraid of?”

The boy grabbed the plushie ears with some force and hesitated before confessing in a small voice. “I don’t want to be bullied.”

“Why do you think you’re going to be bullied? Hyung told me you’re one of the most loved kids there.”

“Because Hoya hyung said it can happen.” The boy mumbled.

“He said it can happen, but that doesn’t mean it will happen for sure, everyone has different experiences.” Moonsoo retorted. “Besides, you don’t need to tell them what is happening. If you do, you can always explain what hurts you so they won’t do it again.”

“You don’t know Minggyu.” The boy argued and then pouted.

“Is that the boy that you fought with?” Moonsoo asked softly and Woohyun nodded so he pulled his chair closer to the boy and tried to hug him. “Woohyun, sometimes there will be people who will try to put someone down just to feel good with themselves. I know it will be hard but you shouldn’t mind these people or their words… This Minggyu is probably just really jealous of you because you can make friends easily, you get anyone to love you when he can’t and you’re very smart too.”

“I don’t know.” 

“You don’t need to bother about this boy's opinion when you have Sunggyu and many other friends that will love you and support you,” Moonsoo said as he encouragingly rubbed the boy's sides. “ If he says something you don’t like, it’s not like you can’t say anything back because he is much older than you, you can always fight back with your words. And, if you need help, your friends and everyone in our family will be eager to help you with him.”

“I guess.” The boy still didn’t seem convinced enough but Moonsoo knew better than to insist.

“You don’t need to decide anything about school now, but give it a thought hm? Maybe it’s better to endure Minggyu until the school year ends than to stay home being pressured by those two and not be able to say anything.” Moonsoo pulled apart and put his hand in the air to get the waiter's attention, he was done with the conversation and he wanted his plate reheated.

As Moonsoo talked to the waiter Woohyun put the toy over the table and started looking at it intently again.  Everything around him seemed like a huge problem with no solution but Moonsoo was right, he had a lot of friends whom he could get help from so this school thing with Minggyu suddenly seemed like a smaller problem he could solve. If he started to think about how to deal with Minggyu he could give his brain a break from his problems with his family and that alone would be great. Acknowledging this made his spirits rise a bit and his appetite returned loud enough for Moonsoo to hear.

They didn’t talk about that anymore. When the reheated lasagna was back they ate well while Moonsoo engaged Woohyun in a conversation about how he studied so much this week that he needed to drop by the arcade to play with him. Woohyun didn’t think this was an absolute truth, but Moonsoo was talking funnily and there was a specific game he knew the other was not skillful enough so he believed that beating Moonsoo up would make him cheat a bit more and take his mind off his problems.

They headed to their favorite arcade after lunch and while playing Woohyun competitive spirits rose enough for him to not notice the time was passing. At some point Woohyun had just beaten Moonsoo in the dancing game when he heard his name and a body collided with his side.

“Kyaaaah.” He shrieked only to feel relieved when he noticed it was Sunggyu. “Hyung? What are you doing here? Weren’t you at school?”

“You didn’t tell him we would come?” Sungjong asked as he appeared beside Moonsoo.

“I did, but apparently he wasn’t paying attention,” Moonsoo said amusedly as he watched the boys in their own world.

“Hyung picked me up early so we can play a bit here,” Sunggyu announced happily as he let his friend go, and Woohyun made a surprised expression

“Yaaaaay” The younger cheered then pushed Moonsoo out of the game and started to pat on the screen to start another game. “Let’s dance this song hyung.”

“Wait, I have something for you,” Sunggyu said which surprised the two young adults then started to open his backpack and search for something inside.

Woohyun turned his head to look at Sunggyu with an insufferable expression. “It isn’t homework, is it?”

“I brought that too, but it’s something else,” Sunggyu announced and that made Woohyun not only relax but anticipate it.

Moonsoo and Sungjong shared a look of surprise but looked at the boys again once Sunggyu found what he was looking for.

“Aha!” The boy said as he managed to pull a paper roll out of his backpack and gave it to his friend t before he moved to put his backpack on the ground.

Woohyun looked at the paper roll in his hands. It was clear that it was made from notebooks pages glued together to look like parchment, he had no clue of what that was or why he was receiving such a thing from Sunggyu. 

“What’s this?” He asked curiously as he tried to find a way to open it.

“Bomi was asking me about you and when you’ll return to school again and I didn’t know what to say, so I told her I could deliver a letter so she could ask herself and you could reply to her yourself,” Sunggyu explained while Woohyun managed to open the made-up-parchment only for the heaviest part fall at his feet and revealed an amount of glued paper that was surely bigger than him filled with messages, drawings, and hearts. “Then everyone wanted to join her.”

Moonsoo moved behind Woohyun and supported his hands on his knees so he could be more or less Woohyun size and be able to peek at what was written.

“Woooow Woohyun, your friends wrote a lot for you,” Moonsoo said, and Woohyun started to read their messages aloud

“‘Woohyunnie, when are you going to come back? Are you sick? Get well soon! Bomi-e.’ ‘Classes are boring without you, come back! Chorong’ ‘When are you going to come back? We want to play soccer together. Shinhye drew hearts for me. ‘Namuuuuuu, we love you, come back! Hayoungie’

‘Where are you? You are worrying us. Haneul’ ‘Receive my pretty hearts. Come back soon! Dasom’ ‘Woohyuniieeeeeeeeeeeeeee, aren’t you bored without us? Wooyoung’” Woohyun paused to gasp. “Wooyoung hyung is from the second grade.”

“Our friends from the second grade wanted to join too. We wrote during recess, Dongwoo hyung even complained no one is so eager to write like this on our tests.” Sunggyu explained proudly, his eyes disappearing as he smiled.

Woohyun pressed his lips together and tried to contain tears as his eyes moved from message to message and from drawing to drawing. Everything was written by friends of his class, the other classes of his grade, and even from friends of the grade above, but what made him shocked out of his mind was to spot something from someone he wasn’t expecting. 

There were eight boys drawn, seven in a group and one to the side. The two slits in the place of his eyes, his crossed arms, and grumpy body expression made it clear that it was Sunggyu on the side. Then he moved his eyes to the group and recognized Wonwoo, Jihoon, Seokmin, and Hansol. The shocking part was that Woohyun recognized himself drawn hugging Minggyu and the words on the side read: Woohyunnie, Sunggyu hyung doesn’t want to give me your address so I can visit you too, what to do? I miss you so much, nothing is the same without you. Please come back soon, I miss you.

Woohyun eyes grew big and he opened his mouth dumbly as he held his breath and tried to ask everyone with his eyes if he wasn’t dreaming. Was Minggyu missing him? HIM? He didn’t even think they were that close after their fight.

“Wooow, Minggyu wrote for you too.” Moonsoo gasped.

“Isn’t this the kid he fought with?” Sungjong asked and Woohyun nodded, still flabbergasted by what he had just read.

Meanwhile, Sunggyu fidgeted in his place and forced a smile that seemed too worried. Once he locked eyes with his friend he couldn’t help himself but ask. “You’re my best friend, I miss you even when you’re with me, there is no friend that can make me happy as you do, and every day you’re not in school with me I can only think about coming to see you. Woohyunnie, out of all people, you won’t exchange me for him, will you?”