Firstly, I would like to apologize for taking such a long time update. I had a writer's block for a really long time and I didn't know how to continue this story. I felt really bad for not updating. I had different ideas on how this story would play out, but I had to remove and add a lot of things I didn't necessairly want to add at first. I think next time I will write with a much more clearer plot in mind, so I won't struggle as much as I did writing this. Howver, I think I'm heading towards a much more clearer ending. Thank you to those who were patient, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! 

Minho and Jinki have been eating regularly at the daycare center. Jinki just often happens to buy way too much food after work and Minho just happens to not have eaten yet. It’s a system that works out quite well for both of them. They often talk about work. Minho tells Jinki about how smart the kids are and Jinki tells him about how easily he manages to misplace books in the library.

It was almost 6:00 PM when Jinki was finally done for the day at the library. He realized that he was going to be later than usual today, so he quickly made his way to the daycare center. However, he immediately regrets his decision of running the minute he finds himself on the ground. He tripped on the sidewalk, managing to scrape his knee and tear a hole through his pants in the process. His face stings a bit and realizes that he’s bleeding there as well. Fortunately, the daycare center was nearby, so it wouldn’t be long before he can go home and wash up.

Once Jinki finally arrives at the daycare center, he is greeted by the sound of his three-year-old son yelling in his direction.

“Daddy!” Taemin’s eyes start to water as he runs to hug his dad.

Minho suddenly looks up from his desk and stops concentrating on the paperwork before him.

“Jinki what happened?!” Minho asks in a panic, quickly getting up to approach Jinki.

Jinki laughs. “It’s nothing, I just fell a little.”

“Sit down,” Minho commands.

“Huh?” Jinki says, surprised at the sudden change of Minho’s tone.

“Just sit down,” Minho says as he forcefully sets Jinki down on a small chair meant for the daycare children.

Jinki sees his son sniffling, trying to wipe the tears from his eyes with his t-shirt. Jinki grabs Taemin and sets him on his lap, trying to calm down his son. “It’s okay Taeminnie, I’m going to be okay. Daddy just got himself a few small cuts. Now go back and play, I’ll be okay. I promise.” Taemin nods a little and gets down his father’s lap to go play with the toy blocks on the floor.

Minho kneels down in front of Jinki, setting the first aid kit he grabbed on the table, beside them. He carefully cleans Jinki’s wounds. As he’s cleaning Jinki’s cheek, he realizes how close he is and suddenly feels his face get hot, but quickly ignores it.

Jinki notices how focused Minho looks when cleaning his cheek and smiles down at Minho.

“Thank you Minho,” he says as Minho looks up at him and no longer at his cheek. They’re closer and Minho’s heart is now racing, but he continues to ignore the unsettling feeling in his stomach and takes out a small spray from the kit instead.

“This will sting a bit, but hold still,” Minho says as he sprays an antibiotic on Jinki’s cheek and on his left knee. Jinki hisses. Minho then takes out some band aids and applies them onto Jinki’s wounds.

"Be careful next time or you'll break your leg."

Jinki laughs. “I'll try to pay more attention to my surroundings."

"There, you're all set now!" Minho says, trying to avoid Jinki's eyes as he quickly gets up to put the first aid kit back inside his desk.

"Your dad will be okay," Minho says as he pats Taemin's head. 

"Did you hear Jonghyun asked Kibum out on a date?" Minho asks, looking in Jinki’s direction as he puts up the kit.

 Minho closes the desk drawer and makes his way towards Jinki.

"Finally, I knew he was lying when he said Kibum was just a friend,” Jinki says with an amused look on his face.

"Key said he'll visit me with uncle Jjong!" Taemin says in excitement.

Jinki's phone suddenly vibrates in his pocket. He looks at the screen only to see that it's Jonghyun.

"Speak of the devil, apparently Jonghyun needs to see me." Jinki laughs. "He wants advice on first dates. I think he's forgetting that I've never even gone on a date." 

‘Never gone on a date? How odd for a man with a child to say that.’ Minho thinks to himself.

"Bye Minho, thanks again! I’ll make sure to repay you!” Jinki says as he makes his way out with Taemin.

Taken out of his thoughts, Minho smiles and waves them goodbye.

Minho finally gets home from work. He’s exhausted and would really just like to shower and head to bed already. Minho suddenly snaps out of his thoughts once he enters his shared apartment and looks up to see Kibum standing in front of the mirror in their living room. Minho opts to not question his best friend and decides to walk past him instaed. However, Kibum has different plans in mind as he quickly grabs Minho’s wrist before he can escape.

“What are you doing?” Minho asks as he eyes Kibum’s hand on his wrist.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m getting ready for my date and I need your help getting ready.”

Minho refrains from rolling his eyes. “Why? We don’t even have the same tastes. You only like the clothes I wear when it’s something you pick out for me.”

“Well, I guess you’re right. Just keep me company then.”

Minho sighs and makes his wat to the couch. “Fine.”

“When are you going to ask Jinki out, so we can go on a double date. You know, I've never actually seen the guy. It would be nice to actually meet him. After all, he's Jonghyun's best friend and Taemin's father,” Kibum says while applying bb cream to his face in the process.

“We are just friends Kibum,” Minho says.

Kibum rolls his eyes.

“Come on Minho, we aren’t kids to be playing this game anymore. We both know damn well you like Jinki.”

“I don’t.”

“You do.”

“I don’t.”

“You do.”

“I don’t!” Minho yells. He sighs and rubs his hands on his face. He knows that he won’t win this battle, so he gives in.

“I mean… I don't know. I don't even think he feels the same way.”

Kibum gives Minho a look. “You’re kidding right? From what I heard from Jonghyun, it really doesn’t seem that way at all.”

Minho groans. “I don’t want to think about it right now, I’m heading to bed. Have fun on your date Kibum.”

“Minho wait you haven’t even helped me choose my out-” Kibum sighs as Minho closes the door to his room. He decides to leave Minho alone for now. He knows it’ll take some time before Minho is ready to confront his feelings and decides to trust his best friend and not dwell on it and finishes getting ready for his date instead.

As Kibum enters Jonghyun’s car, he can’t help but feel nervous. He’s worried that he doesn’t look good enough or that Jonghyun will change his mind about him and leave.

“You look amazing.” Jonghyun says as he flashes a smile at Kibum.

“Thank you,” Kibum says shyly. He feels a bit more at ease after Jonghyun’s compliment.

“So… I was thinking we can go to a coffee shop and eat some sandwiches. I know it’s probably not the best idea to go to a coffee shop at 9:00 PM and we can always go somewhere else if you want to, but I think you would really like it there.”

Kibum smiles and can’t help but think Jonghyun’s rambling is cute. “It’s fine, I’m sure I’ll enjoy whatever place you decide to take me to.”

Once they arrive at the coffee shop, Jonghyun and Kibum are greeted by the lovely couple Jonghyun met a few days ago.

“Hi- Oh, it’s you again!” Jongdae shouts as he makes his way to the counter to take their orders. “Is this the lucky guy?! Wow, you two look great together!” Jongdae says with excitement on his face.

Right before Jonghyun can introduce Kibum to the barista, Minseok makes his way to the counter as well.

“Jongdae, why are you yelling in the shop?!”

“Look who finally came to visit again.”

“Oh, it’s you again!”

Jonghyun shyly smiles. “My name is Jonghyun. I’m sorry I didn’t properly get to introduce myself last time, I was really nervous. Oh, this is Kibum, my date,”

“Hello Kibum, nice to meet you. I’m Minseok and this is my loud boyfriend, Jongdae,” Minseok says, extending a hand for Kibum to take, who gladly shakes it in return.

“Hello, nice to meet you both.” Kibum says, bowing as politely as he can.

“He’s cute, I like him.” Jongdae says right before Minseok lightly smacks his arm.

“I’m glad you asked him out,” Minseok tells Jonghyun.

“If it wasn’t for you guys, I probably wouldn’t have,” Jonghyun says shyly, feeling Kibum’s eyes on him. Kibum can’t help but smile at their conversation.

“He was really nervous the first day we met him,” Jongdae whispers to Kibum.

“Hey, what are you telling my date!” Jonghyun shouts, worried that Kibum might not want to see him again after what Jongdae might have to say about him. Kibum laughs.

“Relax, just go have a seat. I’ll bring you both the best thing in the world,” Jongdae says as he winks at Jonghyun.

Minseok sighs. “I promise he won’t poison anything, I’ll kill him before he even gets to contaminate the food.”

Kibum laughs, thinking how cute the couple in front of him is. He then heads to one of the tables nearby with Jonghyun as they wait for whatever it is that Jondgae will prepare for them.

A few minutes later, Jongdae makes his way to their table and sets down two lattes and two sandwiches before them. “It’s on the house! After all, we did recommend you come here for your first date and we aren’t a coffee shop that disappoints.” He winks once again at Jonghyun before leaving.

He wasn’t kidding when he said their shop doesn’t disappoint Jonghyun thinks.

“The sandwiches and lattes look really good.” Kibum says.

“Well, let’s hope they taste as good as they look,” Jonghyun says, loud enough for Jongdae to hear.

“Watch it, I made all of that with my beautiful hands!” Jongdae says from the counter.

Jonghyun and Kibum both laugh.

“They must really like you.” Kibum says.

Jonghyun looks up to meet Kibum’s eyes. “I hope so, I like them too.” With the way Jonghyun said it, it seems like he’s talking about Kibum. They quickly look away from each other, trying to hide their blushes and take a bite out of their sandwiches.

A few seconds later, Jonghyun clears his throat and decides to say something. “I’m sorry, I was really nervous. I wanted to ask you out a lot sooner, but I was scared you would reject me.”

Kibum laughs and Jonghyun looks up at him with a confused look on his face.

“I wanted you to ask me out too, but I thought you thought I was ugly or something. I wanted to ask you out at one point instead, but I was really shy.” He admits.

“Are you kidding? You’re so gorgeous. My best friend kept laughing at me every time I talked about you and couldn’t form proper sentences to describe you. He said that I should attend classes with Taemin.”

Kibum laughs and asks, “Do you mean Mr. Lee?”

Jonghyun smiles fondly as he thinks about his friend. “Yeah, Jinki likes to joke around a lot. It’s almost like seeing a child raise a child.”

“You and Minho must really like him. Maybe someday you can introduce me to him.”

“I’ll make sure to do that. Who knows, maybe Minho will beat me to it,” Jonghyun says with a joking tone in his voice.

Kibums laughs. “Probably, he really likes Jinki after all. Too bad he won’t admit it, it’s spelled out all over his face.”

“Really? Jinki likes him too, but he’s too scared to ask him out. He’ll never ask Minho out, no matter how much he may like him.”

“Minho is just really stubborn. He refuses to date his clients. Truthfully, this is the first time I’ve seen him take an interest in someone since high school.”

Jonghyun and Kibum both sigh at the thought of their friends. Suddenly, a thought occurs to Kibum.

“We should set them up!” Kibum says as he takes out his phone and starts dialing what appears to be Minho in his contact list.

“What?”

“Think about it. If we get Minho to ask Jinki out, Jinki will defiantly say yes. Jinki is just scared, but he definitely likes Minho. If Minho asks him out, Jinki’s feelings of worry will vanish because by then he’ll know that Minho lik- Oh hi Minho, what are you doing right now?”

“I was about to watch a movie on my laptop.”

“Alright, so nothing important. You need to ask Jinki out.”

“What? Why?!” Minho says, loud enough for even Jonghyun to hear.

“Because you both clearly like each other,” Kibum says as if it’s the most obvious answer in the universe.

“Kibum it’s 10:00 PM, we can talk about this some other time.”

“Exactly Minho, it’s only 10:00 PM.”

Jonghyun laughs and Kibum’s eyes are now on his date. Suddenly, Kibum can’t help but feel a sense of guilt. “Sorry, I can’t believe this is our first date and I’m over here trying to set our friends up.”

“It’s okay.” Jonghyun says as he rests his hand on top of Kibum’s. “Spending time with you is enough.” Kibum smiles at Jonghyun.

Minho fake gags on the other line, making sure it’s loud enough for both Kibum and Jonghyun to hear.

“Minho it’s okay, you’re just jealous.”

“Can you stop calling me? I’m seriously about to block you. Stop whatever plan you have in mind and pay attention to your date.”

 “That’s cute. Alright Minho, I’ll leave you alone for now.” Kibum hangs up and tunrs to look Jonghyun in the eyes.

“Jonghyun, I promise our next date will be better, but I need you to help me with Minho.”

Jonghyun laughs.

Jonghyun and Kibum eventually change the course of their conversation and end up staying at the shop until closing time. They thank Minseok and Jongdae once again for the food and head out.

It’s around 11:20 PM when Minho wakes up from the couch and hears voices near the doorway. He must have fallen asleep during the movie he thinks.

“Good, you’re awake!” Kibum says as he enters the living room to see Minho on the couch.

“Hi.” Jonghyun says as he politely bows and greets Minho.

“Hello.” Minho says before yawning. “Sorry, I just woke up.”

“It’s okay, Jonghyun and I are just here to knock some sense into you.”

Minho groans. “Kibum not again.”

Before Minho can say anything else, Kibum is handing Jonghyun Minho’s phone. Minho realizes this too late once he sees that his phone is no longer on the coffee table.

Before Minho can stop him, Jonghyun is already typing out numbers on his phone.

“Minho?” Jinki asks, sounding like he had just woken up from the other line.

“No, this is Jonghyun, I’m calling you from Minho’s phone. Wait, how do you know Minho’s phone number?”

“He gave me his number when we first met. Anyways, why are you calling from Min-”

Jonghyun interrupts Jinki. “That’s not important right now, I’m calling because Minho needs to ask you something.”

Minho is about to yank his phone away from Jonghyun, but Kibum quickly tackles him to the ground while Jonghyun runs to one of the rooms and locks the door.

“Get off! Why are you being like this?!”

“No, not until you hear me out Minho.”

“No, I have no reason to hear you out!”

“Yes, you do. I’m your friend and I’m doing this because I care about you.”

“If you care so much then back off from my relationships and worry about your own!”

Minho tries to brake from Kibum’s grasp on the ground, but Kibum quickly puts Minho’s hands beside his head and straddles him, not allowing for Minho to break free. Minho wonders when Kibum got so strong.

“Shut up and listen to me!”

“No!”

“Please, you’re my best friend, I just want you to be happy,” Kibum pleads.

“Kibum I’m seriously going to punch you!” Minho says through gritted teeth. “It’s none of your business, this has nothing to do with you!”

“But you clearly like him!”

“So what?” Minho says, getting angrier by the second.

“So ask him out!”

“No!”

“Why not?!”

“Leave me alone!”

“Dammit, why not Minho!”

“Because I’m scared!”

Suddenly, the room goes quiet and Kibum finally let’s go of Minho’s wrists. Minho turns his head to the side, refusing to look at Kibum.

“Min-”

“It’s fine.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not. I didn’t know you felt that way.”

“Yeah well, now you know.”

Kibum sighs. He gets off of Minho and sits on the couch.

Minho is still on the ground with an arm over his face. He decides to get what he needs to say out of his chest.

“God Kibum, I really like him. He’s so perfect in every single way and he’s such a great friend as well. I don’t want to ruin it. I just want to continue having him by my side.”

Kibum’s heart aches at the sight of his friend.

“Minho, I’m sorry. I should have handled this better and shouldn’t have tried to interfere as much as I did. I just wanted to see you happy. I promise I won’t do it again.”

Jonghyun comes back in time to hear what Minho and Kibum both had to say and tells Jinki he’ll call him later.

“Here, take my car.” Jonghyun says, handing Minho his keys.

“Huh?” Minho says.

Jonghyun quickly types something on Minho’s phone and hands it to him. “This is Jinki’s address. You can’t afford to get lost right now. Jinki is probably still awake, he’s worried something happened to you. Go to him.”

Minho is stunned for a second, but takes the keys from Jonghyun.

“Thank you,” Minho says as he makes his way out the door.

The coffee shop closes at 11:00 PM. I know it's not a common time for a coffee shop, but just let me live for once.