and then walking him to school, except this is Jisung's first day in a different school in a different city. They moved here about a month ago before Jisung's school starts so they could enroll him in time, before slots closed down. It would be nice if his little brother would cooperate right now, because he has to be early for work as well.

"Jisung-ah, come on now. You'll be late for school if you don't get out of there." Minhyung gestures his brother out of their front door which the younger grimaces. His mouth is twitching from smiling too long, trying to persuade his little brother to go with him.

"Hyung, what if they don't like me?" Jisung pouts and looks down to his black shoes. Minhyung's smile turns into a frown and goes to comfort his brother. He kneels down to properly embrace his little brother.

"Hey now little guy, don't think like that. Remember your first day in your old school? You told me you're scared because you don't know anyone, but when you came home you told me that everyone is nice and you made lots of friends? I bet you're going to have so much fun in your new school. And you're big guy now!" Minhyung encourages the younger, which made Jisung look at him with a determined smile in his face. He sees Jisung nod in excitement, he, in turn, smiled and told him they should go now or else they will be late.

 

The ride was perfectly fine, since he can see Jisung's excited face from the side, and talking nonstop about how he will introduce himself to his new classmates. Minhyung focuses on the road and tries not to blame himself for getting Jisung into a new city, they both aren't familiar with. Ever since their mother died from giving birth to his precious little brother, and his step father died because of a car accident in the same year, Minhyung has been a mother, a father and a big brother to Jisung. He knows how hard it is to study for college while taking care of your little brother but after years, he finally graduated and found a great job in a recording company as a lyricist.

He's been working for two years now, and because of the travel time he has to make adjustments and move the two of them where it is closest to his work. His relatives are nice enough to support them on his decision.

Minhyung shut his thoughts down and stops the car when he properly parked his car from the school's parking lot. "Let's go!" He smiles brightly to his brother to energize the younger and Jisung nods happily in return. They got out of the car and walk their way inside the school.

 

Once they got inside the school, he was told to go to the principal's office to get his brother's room number. The principal talked to him quickly, explaining him things as fast but informative as possible. He can see the middle aged mad looked busy himself, so he just thanks him and goes to where Jisung's class is assigned. He holds Jisung's hand and proceed to walk again.

Minhyung looks from left to right to find room number B-08, "B-07..." He trails down as he scan the room with a female lady standing in front, talking to the students. He looks at the door across it and sees a guy, probably as old as him, talking in front of the students. Minhyung looks back at the room number and sees it's the room Jisung will be staying, he knocks lightly enough to make the guy in front to look at him and smile.

The said guy opens the door, still smiling calmly. "Hello, how may I help you?" He says with comfort in his voice, and Minhyung thinks his little brother is in good hands.

He didn't notice he was zoning out until his brother pulls the sleeves of his hoodie lightly. "Oh, uh, I am Minhyung, and this is my little brother, Jisung. The principal told me he's going to stay in this room; in your class."

"Ah, Park Jisung , right?" He crouch down to look at Jisung and smiles at him, "I'm Teacher Jaemin. You're going to be in my class for the whole year, it's nice to meet you." Jisung's taecher, now he knows as Jaemin, kept on smiling as he explain things to Jisung. Minhyung looks at his brother and to his surprise the ever so quiet five year old was smiling and nodding back to his teacher. This made Minhyung smile as well, the same time Jaemin looks at him. "We should go inside now, your classmates are waiting for you." Jaemin says referring to Jisung, but he's looking at Minhyung from the siden as well.

"Ah," Minhyung sighs, kneels and face his brother when Jaemin opens the classroom door. "I'll be going now, Jisung-ah. Don't leave this room until I get here okay? You'll be fine with Teacher Jaemin." Minhyung assures before hugging Jisung.

"Yes, hyung!" Jisung hugs back tightly which made Minhyung laugh. "You need to go now, your boss might get mad." Minhyung pull back and stands up straightening his clothes before nodding at Jaemin and waving at Jisung. He looks back once more before he walks to the front door of the school.

 

A week after Jisung's first day, Minhyung notices Jisung smiling more than usual. He was so sad when Minhyung announced they had to move here, but now he doesn't even hear Jisung's complains. His mouth is always full of I had so much fun today, hyung!'s and Minhyung loves to hear that.

Right now, he's on his way to fetch Jisung and also attend his first weekly teacher-parent/guardian meeting and he knows he will get good results for Jisung's performance and behavior. His confident about his brother's abilities.

Minhyung walks down the hall, spotting Jisung's room as soon as he got in and sees Jisung sitting on the front chair across Jaemin who is sitting in his chair, his hands clasp together on the teacher's table. He knocks and the two faces the door. Jisung jumps and runs to the door before Jaemin can even stand up from his seat. 

"Hi, hyung!" Jisung chirps hugging his brother's waist. Minhyung chuckles, ruffling his little brother's hair. They didn't noticed how Jaemin sighs happily at the sight he's seeing.

"Hello, little bro." He smiles once more at Jisung before looking at Jaemin, also smiling at him. "Can I come in?" He ask.

"Please do." Jaemin gestures Minhyung to sit on one of the chair. Jisung asks him if he can go to the back of the room to play with the toys after he closes the door. Jaemin nods at him and Jisung runs to the back of the room. "It's nice to meet you again."

"It's nice to meet you too again, Jaemin-ssi." Minhyung replies, unable to say something since he really doesn't know what to tell. Jisung's old school doesn't have anything like this.

"Please, just call me Jaemin. We're practically the same age." Jaemin laughs lightly which made Minhyung feel at ease. Jaemin makes everything comfortable, Minhyung thinks, and this is only the second time we've met. "But I'm here to tell you Jisung's weekly performance. As you know, our school wants our students' parents and guardians to know how their children is developing in school. And to say the least, Jisung is doing pretty well in terms of participation and academics. I hope he can continue being like that."

Minhyung sighs in relief as Jaemin finishes his sentence. He knows Jisung is doing good but it's still nice hearing his teacher telling him that. "That's good to hear." It's the only thing Minhyung has to say.

"Hyung!" Jisung calls Minhyung from behind, he turns to look at his brother holding a blue folder as he run towards them. "These are my works!" Jisung chirps, handing the folder to him.

Minhyung opens the folder as Jisung explains happily about every artworks he sees. "This one is a birthday cake! It was for you but I forgot to bring it at home. I know hyung's birthday is last week but I wanted to give you something. You have been working every day and night so we could eat meat and chicken and buy stuffs I want. I want to say thank you-" Jisung didn't get to finish his explanation as Minhyung hugs him tightly, tears trying to burst out of his eyes.

"Thank you, Jisung-ah. You know hyung is doing this because he loves you." He pulls back looking at his little brother with a blurry vision.

"I know hyung, please don't cry. You are happy right?" Jisung wipes the tears falling down his brother's cheeks. Minhyung nods and smiles, "Of course hyung is happy. Your drawing is really pretty too." He smile before looking back at Jaemin, seeing him look at them with fondness in his eyes.

"Ah, sorry about that Jaemin-ah." Minhyung says as he wipes face and Jisung grabbing the folder from the desk to put it back in the shelf. He also didn't notice what he called the other because he was too occupied wiping his tears away, Jaemin on the other hand can't help but smile. "Sorry you had to see me weeping like this."

"Don't be sorry, it's nice seeing you care for your brother this much, and the two of you having such a strong bond. He told me about your parents, and I'm sorry you had to do everything by yourself at such a young age."

"Ah, that's nothing. I'm happy that I was able to give Jisung the things he needs." Minhyung says and looks back at Jisung who is playing with the dinosaurs.

"You're a very nice and caring brother, you're both lucky to have each other." Minhyung looks back at Jaemin, who he finds smiling wide at him, he couldn't help but smile back.

During the remaining minutes, Jaemin and Minhyung began talking about more of themselves than talking about Jisung's performance in class. He found out that Jaemin has been working in this school even before he graduates, that he uses his free time to spend time with the kids. He found out he's a year older than Jaemin but Jaemin went to school early so he graduated the same time as Minhyung did. They talked about their hobbies, favorite food and color, and all that, until Jaemin's phone ring. He excuses himself and reads the message.

Minhyung sees Jaemin smile as he looks at his phone. He gulps and looks away, trying to focuse somewhere else. That smile is getting more and more attractive every time.

"I hope it's okay that we have to end it now," Jaemin says shyly. "I kind of need to go." He continues as he stands up from his seat.

"Oh, yea, sure." Minhyung says cooly, also standing up from the chair. He gestures Jisung to get his bag. "Your girlfriend must be missing you." He didn't know why he said that but it just kinda went out of his mouth. He stops speaking and looks over at Jaemin.

"W-What?" He laughs awkwardly, "What do you mean? The message? Ah, th-that was my mother." Minhyung sees him scratching the back of his neck. Shy and embarrassed Jaemin might be the cutest sight he's seen, next to his little brother of course.

"Oh, well, your mom must want you to go home already. Have I taken most of your time?" Minhyung asks worriedly.

"No, no. It was nice talking to you. Tomorrow is Saturday anyway, I can take a rest." Jaemin explains. With that, he gathers his things and goes out of the room last and locking it. He tells Minhyung it was nice to talk to him and that they could go out first, he just needs to bring his stuffs to the faculty room. Minhyung insists that they should wait for him.

 

 

"Hyung, do you know it's teacher's birthday tomorrow?" Jisung suddenly blurts out as soon as they got off the car.

"Really? Why didn't you tell me that earlier? I could have greeted him." Minhyung chuckles lightly when Jisung jumps on the welcome mat.

"I want to buy something for teacher. Do you think we can buy something for him?" Jisung pleads when they are already inside the house. He gets his and Jisung's shoes off and locks the door before going up stairs to change their clothes.

"Of course we can, he's been very nice to us." Minhyung finally says as they reach their shared bedroom. He opens the closet to find Jisung and him some comfortable clothes. He hears the bed creaks and tells Jisung to not jump on it because it will break. The creaking stops right before he turns around holding his and Jisung's clothes.

"Can we give him flowers? He told us he really loves flowers. I don't know his favorite but I heard roses are really pretty, and teacher is pretty so it will be a good gift for him, right?" Jisung says innocently, very unaware that his big brother is blushing just by imagining Jaemin with those flowers in his hands. He immediately snap out of his thoughts, internally screaming at himself to stop thinking such thing for someone he barely knows.

"That's a good idea, we could give him your gift on Monday. That sounds alright?" Minhyung ask his little brother before making the younger stand so he could change his clothes properly.

 

 

It's a good thing that Minhyung knows Jaemin's favorite color so he could buy the perfect rose for him, he thinks as he looks at Jisung enter the flower shop first before trailing after his brother. It's a good thing too that the flower shop is open early in the morning because Jisung's school starts at eight, and they have a couple of minutes to stroll around the inside of the flower shop. After picking a bouquet of white, with a few pink, roses. They hop on the car again to send Jisung to school.

 

Minhyung holds the bouquet while Jisung chatters loudly along the hallway, greeting some of the teachers he pass by. He knows that other parents are looking at him weirdly because of what he's holding but he tries to think that it's not what it looks like. Minhyung told Jisung because he couldn't reach for the doorknob. He sees Jaemin turn his attention to them and was surprised to see Minhyung holding a bouquet of white and pink roses.

"Hi," he breathes out when he opens the door enough for his form to pass through. "What i-"

"It's for you, teacher!" Jisung exclaims, tugging his brother's arm so he could give the flowers to Jaemin. "Me and hyung picked it out for you! It's our birthday present for you. Happy Birthday!" Minhyung gives the flowers to Jaemin with a sincere smile and whispers happy birthday along with it.

Jaemin looks down at the flowers in his hands, perfectly tugged in a royal pink paper and gold ribbon. "Thank you. This is really pretty, Jisung-ah. How did you know my favorite colors?" He ruffles Jisung's hair and the younger laughs fondly.

"You...told me." Minhyung shyly chirps in, making Jaemin look at him immediately. Jaemin mouths an oh before smiling at him.

"Thank you to you too, Minhyung. I'm really grateful that you're doing this for you brother."

"It's for you." Minhyung stares fondly at Jaemin for a while before Jisung interrupts saying he'll go inside, his friends are waiting for him. "Actually, I wanted to give you something else instead of the flowers so I thought of giving a separate gift, how's dinner sound?"

Jaemin was taken aback with Minhyung's words and he's suddenly a struttering mess, "D-Dinner? Me? And...yo-you?"

"And Jisung." Minhyung adds, chuckling when he sees Jaemin fiddling with the petals. "I'll pick you two up later, yeah? We should head to the mall first and stroll before we eat, is that okay?"

"More than okay, oh, thank you Minhyung-ah. That is so nice of you!" Jaemin exclaims almost hugging Minhyung, but he pulls away quickly before getting closer to the other guy.

"Don't mention it. Jisung has been really happy lately, and I think it's time for me to thank the person behind it. Oh, well I have to go, see you later?"

"Yeah, see you..."

 

 

It's only pass lunch time and Minhyung is already on his way back to Jisung's school. He knows it might creep Jaemin the hell out, but he can't help but to feel excited about their dinner tonight. Minhyung still cannot admit this little feeling inside his chest whenever he sees Jaemin, and his smile that can cure hunger and diseases, and the way he talks to his students with ease and comfort like they're his own children. It's unbelievable , Minhyung thinks, how Jaemin makes him crazy just by being himself. By the time he gets ready to knock on the door, he sees that the room is empty. He looks around and saw a guy, as young as him, walking down the hall.

"Uh, excuse me?" Minhyung waves his hand to get the attention of the other, "Where are the kids?" He points to the window of the door and the guy follows his movement.

"Ah, they're in the playground. I'll show you the way." He smiles and lets Minhyung follow him to the back of the school. The guy opens the door and they see Jaemin and his students playing in the playground. He looks back at the guy when he speaks, "There they are. Well, I should go."

"Thank you.."

"Jeno. You're welcome, and you are?"

"Minhyung."

"Ah, the one who gave Jaemin the flowers, right? You must be his boyfriend then?"

Minhyung's eyes widen in shock as he hears the word come out of Jeno's mouth, he laughs embarrassingly while scratching back of his neck, "No, uh, I'm a brother of one of his strudents. That was a gift from my brother, he just happens to put my name as well."

"Hm, well, that's cool. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. Anyway, I have my next class in about three minutes. See you again!" Jeno waves before going back inside the school.

He looks back to the kids only to see Jaemin already staring at him. Minhyung coughs and looks down on his shoes, while Jaemin looks back to the kids next to him. Minhyung sighs and makes his way to where Jaemin is.

"Hey," Minhyung starts but unable to finish his sentence when he sees Jaemin laugh at one of the kid's funny face before looking at him. "Hi, Minhyung-ah. Nice to see you again." Jaemin responds, standing up from his postion on the ground and brushing off the dirt from his hands.

"Was I too early? I think I got too excited." Minhyung admits, dumbly.

"No, it's okay. I'm just waiting for the kid's chaperones to fetch them and I'll be ready to go."

"Oh, okay. I can help you take care of them if you want?"

"That would be nice, thank you."

So the two of them watch the children as they chatter and play until one by one their parents and guardians come to fetch them. After a couple of minutes, everyone was gone except for him, Jaemin and Jisung. "Let's go?" Minhyung ask walking towards Jaemin and Jisung who are sitting on the swings.

"I'll just get my things." Jaemins stands up and excuse himself. Minhyung tells him that they'll be waiting in his car, Jaemin nods before entering the school.

 

In the afternoon, as the mall was not yet packed with people, the three of them happily strolled inside. Jisung pointing out stuffs once in a while, but he chatter nonstop. Talking about how him and his friends made a castle in the sand awhile ago, and how his art skills are getting better and better. Jaemin agrees and Minhyung compliments his brother every time.

 

They eat dinner at a restaurant Minhyung reserved last Saturday just for this night. The waiter guides them to their table and Jaemin can't stop thanking Minhyung. Minhyung tells him for the nth today, that really, it's okay you don't need to thank me. So Jaemin thanks him one more time before keeping quiet. He sits across Minhyung and Jisung. They order once the waiter went back to them and proceeds to eating when the food was served.

 

After eating, Minhyung tells Jaemin that he will take him home. Again, the other insist that he did enough for the day and that he should ride the bus. "Don't say it like that, this is our birthday gift to you."

"You know you didn't have to do this, Minhyung. The flowers were wonderful and-"

"Jaemin," Minhyung stands in front of the other when Jisung enters the car. He stares at Jaemin's eyes, full of sincerity, "please, even if we met just two weeks ago I can see how much effort you're putting to take care of your students. This is the only time I could thank you for being there for Jisung when I'm at work. It's best that you enjoy every bit of this day." He opens the car door so Jaemin could come in. The other thanks him one more time before entering the car.

 

 

Events like that came more often than not, Minhyung going to Jisung's school ten minutes before dismissal and just watching Jaemin teach the children, and then asking him to join them for lunch or snacks after. Sometimes, Jisung asks if he could go to their neighbor's house because he found out that one of his classmate lives there and Minhyung would agree, which ends up to him and Jaemin together eating inside a diner or an ice cream parlor. Jaemin's colleagues always notice how Jaemin smiles brighter than they're used to ever since Minhyung came into his life. They never ask him what Minhyung is to him, they just want what's best for their youngest.

 

 

They're in the usual diner near the school, Jisung told them he is going to his classmate's hous again to play and Minhyung couldn't say no to that. So now, he and Jaemin are alone together yer again. It's been three consecutive days and the two is okay even without Jisung's happy voice.

"You've been coming to school earlier than before. How's your work doing?" Jaemin pointed out making the other looks at him.

"I just want to spend time with Jisung more. I've never done this back at our old home. I always get hom late, but now I can go home anytime I want since the studio is only thirty minutes away."

"Hm, maybe you should come with him sometimes when he ask to go to Chenle's house. You'll get to spend time with him more than you did before." Jaemin didn't mean to say it in a rude way but then he looks at Minhyung and suddenly wants to apologize.

Little did Jaemin know, Minhyung is not offended but rather having an internal dialogue with himself. Should I tell him the real reason? Or is it too soon?

"Minhyung-ah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way."

Say something, he thinks you're mad.

'Minhyung? Are you okay?"

"I like you." Minhyung, before he knows it, lets the words come off his mouth. He looks at Jaemin expecting him to shout or something, but he just saw Jaemin gaping his mouth. "I-I, Jaemin-"

"I like you too, Minhyung-ah." Jaemin responds, his head still blank from the sudden confession Minhyung.

They stare at each other for as long as they remember before Jaemin looks down and smiles shyly. Minhyung blinks and suddenly he smiling as well, "Wow,"
"Yeah," Jaemin looks back at him, still with a bright smile. "I think we finally said what's in our mind for once."

"I think we did. That felt nice."

"It did."

 

 

After having lunch, they walk along the park taking advantage of the cool autumn breeze while theu still can. Minhyung held out his hand so Jaemin could hold it, he intertwines their hands together before walking. They talk and laugh and look at each other like it's last time. Minhyung sense that Jaemin's cold so he put the other's hand inside the pocket of his jacket still intertwine with his hand.

 

"Thank you, for everything." Jaemin says when they stop on the front of his house. Minhyung absentmindedly brushed Jaemin's bangs to the side, his hand lingers a bit longer on the other's cheek.

"Thank you also," Minhyung smiles when he sees Jaemin's confusion, " for letting me enter into you life." He moves closer and kisses Jaemin's forehead. The other's eyes widen and he looks at Minhyung in surprised. "See you tomorrow, Jaemin-ah." Minhyung coos before bidding goodbye to Jaemin which Jaemin did in return.