"(Y/n), do you see your parents anywhere?" The first grade teacher was making sure everyone had a parent or guardian picking them up before he released them, and (Y/n) happened to be the last one out. It was his first year teaching, so there was no way he was going to lose a kid already. He also happened to be oddly excited seeing her dad again, his eyes scanning around every few seconds.

"Hm...," the little girl hummed as she looked around the area for any familiar faces. At last, she spotted her younger dad with his signature over-sized sweatshirt with the sleeves pulled up and jeans waving at her from the swings.

"Mr. Park, my daddy is over there; he's the one who's coming off the swings and is walking here now."

Jinyoung stared at the man in confusion. That wasn't the same man who had dropped her off this morning. But then again, that could've been her other dad.

'They're probably married, duh,' Jinyoung thought.

"Good afternoon, Mr..." Youngjae's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Park Jinyoung, but Jinyoung is fine with me."

"Well, Jinyoung hyung, since maybe you're older than me, it's nice to meet you. I'm Choi Youngjae, (Y/n)'s dad." Jinyoung's assumptions were correct; the man from earlier was definitely married to the one in front of him. They made a great couple.

"Ah, yes. It's a pleasure to meet you as well. I met your husband this morning, and I think you two look good together." He felt a little disappointed when the words escaped his lips. But really, what was there to be disappointed about in the first place? Jinyoung didn't know, or if he did, he pretended not to know.

He was taken aback when loud and charming laughter burst out of the assumed younger male. He could even see his student giggling next to him. Was he wrong about what he said?

"I'm sorry if I made any assumptions. I just thought that you two were married...?" The brunette continued to laugh a bit, until they finally died down.

"I mean, I guess you're not entirely wrong. Jaebum hyung and I used to be married, but we got divorced a couple years ago."

Jinyoung stayed silent. He didn't exactly know how to respond to that. Luckily for him, Youngjae took a look at his watch and decided that it was time for them to go home. So with one final wave of goodbye, they parted.

• • •

"So, how was your first day of school?" Youngjae asked while they drove to their apartment.

Instantly, the little girl turned into a chatterbox. She talked about how the other kids were "super duper nice", how Mr. Park was a kind and funny teacher, and how for some odd reason, many of the kids there liked to sing and dance. Oh, and she definitely didn't forget about the cute boy with chubby cheeks and glasses. He was a shy one, she said, and his name was Park Jimin.

Somewhere along the way home, (Y/n) had talked herself to sleep, something her two parents found that she did often. Youngjae, seeing as his talkative child wasn't so talkative anymore, decided to not take a detour and buy her some sweets from the cafe he owned. He would probably take her some time tomorrow.

The cafe that he owned, The Choi's, was a homey little space that served all kinds of drinks, the main kind being coffee, and desserts that ranged from cakes to pies to pudding and so much more. He had opened up the joint right after finishing school, and the place was an instant boom in popularity. Now, he's able to only have to juggle the job of being the boss of his own place, and that comes to be pretty useful when raising a child.

Anyways, by the time Youngjae arrived at the apartment complex, it was already 3 in the afternoon. He took the liberty of carrying the sleeping child up to their apartment, which was on the third floor.

When they arrived, Youngjae had to wake her up and get her to complete whatever homework she might've had for the day. To his relief, she didn't have anything assigned, so the duo decided to bake cookies instead.

"And now just roll then into balls and bake for 12 minutes?" Youngjae stared questioningly at the long list of instructions he had gotten from a close friend of his on how to bake cookies.

"Isn't 12 minutes too short?" Even though (Y/n) knew he wasn't talking to her, she still shrugged her shoulders.

"Daddy," she said. "How come you don't know how to bake cookies? You sell them all the time at your shop."

At this, he flushed. "Your Uncle Yugyeom is the one who bakes all your favorite sweets. I'm best at making delicious coffee for the grown ups."

The little girl nodded and stared at the oven in anticipation. "I bet they'll taste amazing, because we worked on them together."

• • •

That day, the father-daughter team baked at least three dozen cookies, all of which were a variety of flavors. Some were the classic chocolate chip, others were white chocolate and macadamia nuts, and they even decided to make red velvet and brownie cookies.

After having dinner, Youngjae allowed her to eat only two cookies, because he knew that she shouldn't have too much sugar before bed.

"Promise you won't eat any cookies without me, okay?" The little girl yawned, sleep slowing taking over her. Youngjae kissed her forehead and pulled the covers up to ensure that she stayed warm.

"I won't. Goodnight."

• • •

As Youngjae lie asleep in bed, a faint sound stirred him awake. Now, this boy could probably sleep through a major earthquake and a raging storm combined, but the sound of his apartment door opening in the middle of the night was enough for him to wake up in record time.

With shaky hands, he grabbed the metal baseball bat that he kept under the bed for self defense and slowly crept out of the bedroom. From where he stood in the unlit hallway, he could see that his kitchen and living room lights were on. He could also hear the sound of hushed voices. So, after contemplating what to do, he finally decided that it was now or never.

'God, if I die, please protect (Y/n),' Youngjae prayed in his head.

As quietly as he could, he tiptoed his way to the start of the hallway and rested his back against the wall. The voices were a little louder now, and he could just barely make out what they were saying.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" One of the voices asked.

"Don't even worry about it. We'll be fine." The second, slightly higher voice spoke.

'Where have I heard that voice before?' Youngjae was puzzled. He's definitely heard that voice somewhere.

'Wait... It couldn't be...'

"Wang Jackson!" Youngjae's tired eyes hardened into a glare when he spotted his best friend scarfing down some of the cookies that were made earlier, and he was definitely glad when the said male started to choke on one of them.

"What the actual fudge are you doing in my apartment in the middle of the night?!" Yes, "fudge" because Youngjae hasn't forgotten that his daughter is still in the same area as him, so he obviously couldn't curse. The Chinese man, however, didn't seem fazed at all upon seeing his angered friend.

"Youngjae! Great to see you!" He put down his half eaten cookie and pulled the younger male into a tight hug.

"Let go of me, you jerk. I thought there were robbers!" Youngjae struggled against his grip, but it only loosened slightly. He glared harder at him.

"Youngjae, you look like a puppy who had his favorite toy taken away." At that, he received a punch to the arm, one that probably had little to no affect on Jackson.

"Besides, I told you I was coming over." Youngjae looked at the kitchen clock and saw that it was 1:31 a.m., which is around the time that the latter's flight landed.

"You could've called or something," the brunette scoffed, his body already released from the other's hug.

"Actually, I called 12 times and sent you around 40 texts telling you that I was coming over." To prove his point, he showed him his phone. When he saw that he Jackson was telling the truth, the younger slumped his shoulders in defeat and started to pout.

"Sorry..."

"Dude, it's all good." Jackson glanced behind him and slapped his forehead.

"Oh ! I forgot to introduce you to Mark." Youngjae watched, the pout still evident on his face, as his friend walked on over to a very attractive male with dark brown hair, who was watching the duo with amused eyes while munching on a chocolate chip cookie.

"Choi Youngjae, Mark Tuan. Mark Tuan, Choi Youngjae. I put Mark's first name first cause 'Tuan Mark' sounds so weird." He gestured to each male as he said their names, and each one waved to each other, Youngjae's wave being a little more shy than Mark's.

"Nice to meet you," Mark was the first one to speak up and reach his hand out, a gesture that made Youngjae fumble before he hesitantly took the other's hand in his.

'His hand is so warm and soft.' Unbeknownst to them, that was the exact thought that filled both of their minds. Not only that, but they both just so happened to feel a jolt of electricity as soon as their skin touched.

"Ahem." They didn't realize that they were holding on to each other's hand for longer than needed until Jackson cut in with a cough. They immediately let go.

"U-Um... The cookies you made were delicious."

"Thank you."

"..."

"Geez, how awkward can you two get?" Luckily for the two who were dying inside because of how awkward it got, Jackson cut in and broke the deafening silence.

"Anyways, Youngjae, is it alright if Mark and I crash here tonight? Mark's apartment isn't set up yet, and I figured I could stay as well." The younger sighed and ran a hand through his disheveled locks.

"Sure." He looked at Mark. "Is it 'hyung'?"

"I was born in 1993." The American boy still wasn't sure what age to say he was, because the Korean system for age was downright confusing, so he just told him the year.

"Ah, so we're only 3 years apart," Youngjae smiled. He then gestured towards the hallway. "You can take the guest room, which is the first door on the right. The bathroom is right across from there."

Youngjae started to walk away. "The sheets are already fresh and clean, so you don't have to worry about them being dirty." He stopped to briefly face the two men, mostly Mark. "You're also free to use anything in the house like toothpaste or food or whatever, so long as you're comfortable. It's 2 in the morning, so I'm gonna go to sleep now. Goodnight." Everything was said simply and quickly, since the younger of the three was just about ready to crawl under his warm sheets and fall into a deep slumber.

"Wait," Jackson's voice stopped him in his tracks. "Where am I sleeping?"

Youngjae turned around and stared at him blankly. "The couch, obviously. You know where the spare pillows and sheets are, get them yourself. Night."

"Can't I sleep with you?"

"Nope." And with that, Youngjae disappeared into the corridor and behind his bedroom door.

"He's definitely using favoritism. Did you hear how much more caring he sounded when he talked to you and how much more curt he sounded with me?" Jackson began to ramble as he went to grab a spare pillow and blanket from some random closet.

"Aish, he probably gave a terrible first impression."

"I think he's pretty cute," Mark said out of nowhere, his gaze fixated on the door that the younger had gone through.

"What was that?" Jackson asked with his head stuck in the closet.

"Nothing."

After exchanging "goodnight"'s, the duo parted and both went to their respective beds for the night. While one of them fell asleep with the question of why Youngjae "hated" him so much, the other fell asleep with thoughts of how cute Youngjae looked with messy hair.