Minseo was excited, she nagged her father almost every single hour since she came back from school and until he finally came to pick her up. It wasn’t even Monday but today was her first day to swim with Taemin on a privet lesson.

Unlike her regular swimming classes, Taemin did his privet lessons at the sport center on the other side of town, where they had a professional swimming pool, adjusted for Olympic swimmers.

"Are we there yet?" Minseo asked her father.  

Minho shook his head, he missed the place and now was trying to get his way back, if only he had listened to the GPS when it told him to turn left (!).

The girl noticed the bulged vein on her father's forehead that usually meant he was anxious, so she decided to stay quiet for the rest of the ride, when they arrived and Minho parked his car she went out and admired the building.

"Wow! Daebak!"

Minho locked his car and took her hand as they walked in, he had to admit, it was impressive.

Inside, there was a huge pool and for a minute he was a little worried that Minseo was too young for it, however when he saw Taemin in the shallow water with a girl not much older than his own daughter he felt a little calmer, the boy balanced her close to his body while she tried to float and flip, when she succeed he helped her to stand and cheered.

"Appa! Look, here is Taemin Oppa…" Minseo said and shook his hand to notice.

Minho looked down at her smiling while he nodded.

Moments later the girl walked out of the pool and made her way toward a nice woman who sat at one of the corners, Taemin smiled and waved at the woman, she was probably the mother. When he noticed Minseo and Minho he waved at them as well and got out of the pool, he wrapped a towel around himself and got closer to them.

"Taemin Oppa!" Minseo called and left her father's hand to run toward him, she hadn’t hugged him or anything but Minho felt weird to see her running toward other man that wasn’t him, or Changmin.

"Hi! You made it!"

The girl nodded her head excitedly "yeah, I thought we'll be late because Appa lost his way but we made it"

Taemin laughed "you should have called me for directions" he told Minho with a teasing tone.

"I have GPS" Minho said pretty seriously and Taemin shrugged.

"Well go put your bag over there" he said pointing "the showers are right here. Get ready, we'll be right start"

While Minseo did as been told, Taemin turned to her father, his tone became soft and flirting without even noticing when he offered him the bench that viewing the pool "you can stay here if you'll like, I bet she'd like you to, there is also a nice cafeteria at the entrance"

Minho nodded and went to get himself a cup of coffee and a sandwich.

Minseo was like a mermaid in the water, Minho felt proud, he watched every single move she made and even if he felt a little uncomfortable with her closeness to Taemin he knew it was necessary.

Two hours ran pretty fast and when his daughter came out of the water he got up from his chair and got closer to the pool.

"You can go to the showers" Taemin told Minseo as he got out of the water as well.

The girl nodded and almost bumped into her father as she made her way.

"Appa, have you seen everything?!"

Minho chuckled and knelt till he faced her, he held her shoulders and squeezed "you were great!"

The girl smiled and kissed his cheeks "well, I'm going to the showers"

Nodding he let go of her and stood, Taemin was already drying himself with a towel as he reached him "she's great!" he told him.

Minho couldn’t hide his proud smile, he stuck his hands into his trousers pockets and hummed in approval.

"She knows a lot of technics, guess Amber taught her well"

"Amber worked with her for almost three years now"

"How come you never thought she could be more?"

"Like an Olympic swimmer?"

Taemin smiled softly and nodded.

"I don’t know, guess to me it's just her hobby and she never asked for more, besides, I know practically nothing about swimming, only the things she explain to me"

Taemin gave him a look and bitten his lip sheepishly, not only Minho was good looking, he was sweet as well and very fatherly that it kind of turned him on, squeezed in his stomach, for a moment he felt uncomfortable in his own skin, the way he held his towel close to his body like a shield made Minho take a small step away from him, like it was too intimate.

"Minho…I… ah, I wanted to ask you…" Taemin mumbled "I know you're ah… Amber told me and I thought maybe…you, you know… would you like to go out with me?" what the hell was wrong with him that he couldn’t even ask Minho out with him properly?

"Out?" Minho asked quietly "like…a date?"

The boy nodded but before Minho could give him an answer Minseo came back from the showers and ran at them "Appa, I'm ready"

Minho's body stiffened and he looked a little confused, he crooked up a smile at his daughter and held her hand like she was his savior.

"Are we going?" she asked and shook his hand for attention.

"Yes, let's go" Minho said straightening his eyes at Taemin who looked so embarrassed but didn’t move.

"Appa...!" Minseo became impatient.

"I'll call you" Minho said seriously and waited for the boy to nod, when he did he let Minseo drag him out of the sport center.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"We went to a nice restaurant, to be honest he was a real gentleman, especially with my leg" Amber said quietly so she won't wake Minseo who fell asleep on the couch right after dinner.

"You see, he's really nice, you miss judged him"

"Guess so…" the girl shrugged and sipped from her juice.

"So, will you go out with him again?"

"I think, it would be embarrassing if I'll reject him again, and he's my doctor, and… we kissed and-"

"You kissed?" Minho cut her off.

"Yeah" she mumbled sheepishly and for a moment Minho thought he saw his friend's cheeks flushing a little "besides…he's nice and I think I like him"

"Then go out with him again, don’t play childish games"

"Yeah…"

"Speaking of dates" Minho said seriously, he glanced at his daughter to make sure she was still asleep and wasn’t going to hear him talking "Taemin asked me out, he said you told him I'm…"

Amber smiled apologetically "it came out accidently when we talked"

"You talked about me?"

"About Minseo, he told me about the privet lessons and it came out accidently"

Minho nodded understandingly, not that he mind, it just took him by surprise when the boy asked him out like it was obvious he was gay.

"What you said?"

"About dating with him?"

She nodded.

"Before I could answer Minseo came out of the showers and asked if we are going"

"Ah, poor Taemin-ah" Amber said and glanced at Minseo.

Minho chuckled to her remark and sighed.

"Would you say yes?"

"Don’t know" he said shrugging "I said I'll call him but hadn’t yet, I felt awkward a little bit, Minseo was there and I froze"

Though she told Taemin she don’t want to be involved Amber asked "are you gonna call him?"

Sighing, Minho closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose "I'm not sure, it's been a while since I've been in a real date that wasn’t with my husband, I know nothing about dates"

"What there is to know?"

Amber's question made him smile, he lowered his hand and opened his eyes to look at her as he shrugged "everything…"

The girl shook her head "there are no rules for dates"

"I know but…what if we won't have anything to talk about? Anything in common? He looks younger than me and we're in a different time in our lives…I have a child and, I just don’t know"

"But how would you know if you won't try?" Amber asked, realizing that Minho wasn’t sure not because of Taemin but because he was afraid of dating at general, dating meant- MOVING ON, was he ready for that? "It's been a year Minho, you're not a monk"

Frowning Minho looked at her, he wanted to say it wasn’t about Changmin but knew it would be a lie.

"I think you should give it a chance…it's just a date"

~ ~ ~ ~

To be honest Taemin truly thought Minho won’t call him so he was surprised to get a call from him- even if it was two days after he asked him out.

They met at the local pub close to his apartment, by the way Minho silenced when he offered the place he had doubts but when he saw him sitting at the bar with a glass of beer in his hand, he knew it would feel much comfortable than a fancy restaurant and garment- he wasn’t the type anyway.

It was nice to see the man with a tee and jeans for a change, when he brought Minseo to swimming classes he usually wore buttoned shirts and custom-made trousers, probably his work clothes, either way he looked ier like that.

"Hi" Taemin said as he took the seat by his side on the bar.

Minho turned to look at him and lowered his beer, he gave him a soft smile which suited him much better than the professional one he usually had "hi…"   

"Have you waited for long?"

Minho shook his head "do you want to sit at one of the tables?"

"No, I like sitting on the bar"

"What would you like to drink?"

"Beer"

Minho waved the barman "another beer-"

"And some fries and nuggets… oh and bring me a bottle of ketchup with it!" Taemin gushed into his words, when he saw the amused look Minho gave him he smiled sheepishly "I'm starving, I had a very busy day, couldn’t find the time to eat"

Soft chuckle rumbled through Minho's throat and he nodded understandingly as he told the barman to make it double.

Silence lingered between them for few moments before Taemin mumbled "you look good with tee and jeans, usually I see you wearing all formal"

Minho glanced down at his clothes, he spent an hour choosing the most casual outfit for a night at the pub, of course he won't tell Taemin that, instead he shrugged "well, usually you see me in my work clothing"  

Oh, a topic, Taemin smiled "what do you do for living?"

Minho leaned his elbow on the bar as he resettled on the high chair, he looked more eased like that "I'm a pediatrician"

The boy raised surprised brow "really?"

"Hmmm…"

"That's why you're such a good father…" Taemin said, mostly to himself but it made Minho smile "I mean…I saw the way you're protecting Minseo, it's admirable. I'm not so good with kids"

"But, you work with kids, the girls at Amber's class seems to love you"

"I'm teaching Amber's class as a favor, my specialization is teenagers – mostly at age of 14 to 17, they already have discipline, it's their dream to become Olympic swimmers"

"So, why you insisted on teaching Minseo?" Minho asked, suddenly confused.

"I saw a lot of potential in her" the boy said simply "your daughter have a lot of passion for swimming but I don't think you noticed" Minho made a face that made the boy smile "…it's ok, a lot of parents can't see it until their child is a teenager, then their child is trying to re-find himself and swimming is not so cool anymore, that's why when I see someone with a lot of potential I'm chasing him, it's rare"

"And what if she won't love it when she'll grow?"

"Then you'll know that you did your best and gave her all the opportunities to decide what she wants to do in her life"

Minho frowned with a soft smile "you're too young for this kind of wisdom, how old are you anyway?"

Before Taemin could answer the barman placed in front of them two plates of fries and nuggets, one beer and he haven't forgot the ketchup. The boy smiled and thanked him as he lifted the ketchup and spread it all over the plate like a little child "I'm 28"

Well, he looks younger. Minho took the bottle of ketchup and made a small puddle at the corner of his plate before he dipped the fries in it and shoved it to his mouth, his eyes linked with the boy who gave him a look that says 'aren't you gonna tell me your age?!', cleaning his hands by rubbing them together he swallowed the fries before he cleared his throat "why would you date a 35 years old man?"

Soft smile decorated the boy's lips "because he looks really good and to be honest I do think that something could come out of us"

Dreamy. Even though they did nothing but sitting at the pub and just talk Taemin had a great time, it's been awhile since he had fun in a date, usually he waited for it to be over and if the guy was pretty enough (and he was ) he found his way into his pants quickly. With Minho however it felt different, he was polite and kind, there were no mixed signals, when Taemin talked he actually listened, something about him made him so peaceful and calm and… it, he even felt butterflies dancing stupidly in his stomach. If he knew, he would have date older men earlier in his life.

"I'll walk you home" Minho said now as they went out of the pub.

"You don’t have to, I live down the street"

Minho eyed him for a minute, the boy's eyes sparkled and a soft smile crossed his lips, he was a little tipsy after two beers, it was adorable "I know I don’t have to, I want to"

Taemin gave him a flushed look and let the man follow him "I had a good time tonight" he remarked as they paced slowly down the street.

"Me too" Minho said quietly matching his own pace to the boy, when Taemin fumbled for his hand and held it he looked down at their entwined fingers, it felt so intimate, it's been awhile since he held hands with someone. It was a short walk, Taemin mumbled something but it was the first time through the whole date that Minho hadn’t listened to him, he was too busy experience the old new feeling he had when the boy held his hand so naturally.

"Minho…?"

Raising his eyes at the boy he hummed.

"I said I live here" Taemin said with a smile and pointed at the building in front of them.

"Oh…" Minho felt awkward for his wandering mind, he let go of Taemin's hand and crossed his hands around his back.

Taemin eyed him, he thought about asking him to come up for a 'coffee' but had the feeling Minho won't join him, he wasn’t a cheap date that needed to be ended in his bed "well…" he said letting the word linger between them, maybe he would get a good night kiss if he'll wait for a moment but the man in front of him wasn’t getting it "well, thank you for tonight"

Minho nodded.

Biting his lips Taemin took a small step closer to him and yet- nothing "so… good night" he said disappointedly and slowly walked away from there.

Minho watched the boy disappearing inside the building and felt bad with himself as he slowly made his way back to the pub where he left his car, Taemin probably expected to be kissed, the way he looked at him and got closer to him made it obvious, not that he was an old fashion guy but for now it felt too…early, or wasn’t it? He wasn’t sure.

When he was in his car he pulled his phone from his pocket ready to send Taemin a text, he wanted to write something that would make it forgivable for not kissing him, however Changmin's picture on his screen made him put his phone back in his pocket.