I'm totally beat, should be sleeping for an hour at least but felt bad for not posting yet. So now I expect to get as many comments as there are subscribers or no update for a month!

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Yeah, like I would be able to resist. But seriously people, I'm working on fumes here, barely conscious. And I love all of your comments (happy to see no 'Update soon/fast' ones!). So humor me guys. And now I'll just go crash for the night...

***

There were already quite a few people when they reached the day care. The weather was amazing, it was really warm and sunny, perfect for playing and picnics. Chunghee tore out of Kyuhyun’s hold the moment they crossed the gate, he knew better than to disobey his father again. Kyuhyun sighed with relief because he could put one of the bags he was carrying in the hand released by his son. He brought sweet bread and drinks for Chunghee and his friends since he didn’t know how to cook well enough to bring it to such gathering. Thankfully, other parents always shared their dishes.

‘Oy, you’re late!’ Hyukjae jogged towards him and grabbed one bag. Of course, the lighter one. He was wearing an apron with smiling clovers all over it. All of the day care’s staff had different aprons, it was one of the requirements and a little comical-looking in that particular place where only men worked as caretakers.

‘Chunghee wanted to finish watching his cartoon.’ Kyuhyun mumbled. It was Sunday and he had agreement with his son that Chunghee could do whatever he wanted on that day. Of course, to some extent, but he was too young to think about crazy things.

Hyukjae snarled and they put the bags on one of tables that were normally there for outdoor lessons.

‘Kyuhyun!’

Kyuhyun spun around surprised by the sudden call of his name. A bulky man was coming his way. His blue checked shirt was soiled with some red substance.

‘Hey Siwon!’ He smiled widely. The guy was his friend in primary and middle school and they were living in the same neighborhood even now.

‘Jisoo flaunted her strawberry jam at me.’ Siwon explained the stain Hyuk and Kyuhyun were staring at. ‘She aimed so well that it covered the mustard one Jiyoung made with his hand before.’ He was laughing as he tabbed at the stain with a cloth.

‘Well, you look great today.’ Kyuhyun commented remembering the typical appearance of the man.

‘Sooyoung is home since two days ago and I actually had time to shave and go to the barber.’ He pointed with his thumb behind him where a beautiful, long legged woman in simple jeans and a t-shirt was running with a green plastic spoon after a very excited three year old.

‘You’re leaving two from the three of your kids here for half of the day and you still have no time, even I manage my schedule better and I WORK FULLTIME.’ Kyuhyun shook his head and laughed when Sooyoung tripped and fell onto her knees in an attempt to feed her youngest daughter.

Siwon threw a look at the scene but didn’t move to help his wife. She surely wouldn’t even want that considering she hadn’t seen them for a good few weeks.

‘Cooking, laundry, cleaning, doing homework, writing, shopping, picking them up.’ Siwon counted on his fingers. ‘Should I list more? Cause I assure you there are more.’

‘No no no, I’m good.’ Kyuhyun crossed his hands showing that he definitely didn’t want to hear the other man’s schedule. He already knew it pretty well since they were meeting every other day when picking up their kids. ‘How’s Jiyah doing at school?’ Kyuhyun asked with curiosity when they moved away from the complaining Hyukjae and stopped under one of the trees in the yard where kids weren’t sprawled on the blankets.

‘Terrified. Each day I have to pry him off my leg. That’s why I bring Jisoo and Jiyoung so early lately, because then I have to have at least half an hour to convince Jiyah to go to his class.’ Siwon was shaking his head for a moment. ‘Sooyoung didn’t believe me when I told her about it over Skype so yesterday she went with him. She said it was worse than keeping some of her starved friends away from food during season.’

Kyuhyun laughed out loud at the comparison. ‘She’s got it good with that wild metabolism of hers.’ He commented looking back at the eager mother, who was currently disentangling her middle son’s hands from her hair.

‘Yeah.’ Siwon nodded and folded his hands on his chest. The sleeve of his shirt surely got dirty from the mustard-strawberry stain but he didn’t seem to care. ‘She said that if she starts putting on weight before her retirement comes in about ten years she’ll quit.’

Kyuhyun was about to say something about that when a new person joined them under the tree.

‘Oh my, Kibum, you, here? Really? Or is this a dream?’ Siwon put a hand on his chest and feigned utter surprise while Kyuhyun made a shocked face.

‘Shut it morons.’ The man glowered from over his glasses. ‘You know well enough I was in delegation.’

‘For two months.’ Kyuhyun raised a brow at the man.

Rolling his eyes Kibum just joined their line and started to look at the crowd in the day care’s yard. ‘I had to stay because I swear the exhibition preparations are the thing that’ll drive me to insanity. My house looks like someone put an elephant in it and made it sneeze all over the walls. And I seriously wouldn’t put it past Hyo either.’ He groaned and pushed the glasses up his nose.

Kyuhyun searched for the partner of his grumpy friend. It wasn’t that hard to spot Hyoyeon. She had blond hair. Mostly. Because there were all colors of rainbow there, too, along with some crazy bow. Of course she was surrounded by kids and they were all painting. One of her twin girls was there too – surprisingly the one that took after Kibum, one who was spending most of the time just sitting and observing people with a sour expression. But she was admiring her mother and wanted to be like her, which she was already showing a talent for. The other twin, the one who in behavior completely resembled her mother, was totally in love with her father and it was a wonder she wasn’t currently hanging off his arm staring at him with adoration.

Kids were running and yelling loud as the three of them stood under the tree marveling in the moment of peace they had before they returned to taking care of their kids.

Kyuhyun also noted with disappointment that Sungmin wasn’t there. Sungrin was still very young, probably the youngest in the nursery and maybe his father decided such a play day wasn’t for him yet. The regret was gawking at Kyuhyun’s insides but he was sure not to show it. His friends were already trying hard to match make him with every gay man they knew and if he showed any kind of interest they surely wouldn’t leave him be.

‘Socialize guys, play with kids!’ An energetic chairman of the day care skipped their way. Jungsu was always smiling and positive, kids loved him. He was running the day care for ten years already and everyone in the neighborhood knew him. It was the only private facility of this kind around and the public one didn’t have enough space to accept all of the kids. Jungsu’s parents were the owners of the company producing baby food so the day care was a very welcome side business and their son loved taking care of kids.

‘Hyung, this day is supposed to make us rest.’ Kibum whined and groaned right after when one of his twins spotted him and started to run towards his direction. She crashed into his legs. ‘Hyeyoung! Look out!’ He exclaimed and pulled the girl up to check if she was fine after such a strong hit. But it seemed everything was okay. Explaining slowly, and in a slightly cooing voice, that she shouldn’t do such things, he made his way towards the benches.

‘He whines but he’s made for this.’ Jungsu smiled after the man before turning to Kyuhyun who already knew what it was about. ‘Sungmin will be here in a moment, he had some diaper emergency. And he was asking about you.’ The wink made Kyuhyun groan and roll his eyes when the blond man run to harass others.

‘Sungmin? Who’s Sungmin?’ Siwon inquired, his brows raised high.

‘Just another single father. I think he knows only me so it’s obvious he was asking if I’ll be here.’ Kyuhyun tried to make it sound as laid back as possible. But Siwon was quick to catch on.

‘Oh, so he’s the guy Jungsu said might be good for you? But he’s got a kid, right? How does he know he’s gay too?’ The man was annoyingly excited, his hands clasped together and eyes shining with restrained glee.

‘I don’t know and I don’t wanna know.’ Kyuhyun grumbled. ‘Drop it.’

Seeing that he won’t get anything out of the man Siwon stuck his tongue at him and marched towards where Sooyoung was trying to hold her three year old daughter while feeding her middle son.

Sighing Kyuhyun closed his eyes tightly. When he opened them again he was greeted with the sight of Sungmin hesitantly entering the yard. He was wearing simple white polo with checked design in the middle, the collar was raised, probably by the wind, and grazing his fair neck. Dark jeans were perfectly pressed and fitting his legs. On feet he had high top white sneakers and in general looked completely different from the other days. Sungrin was holding onto the bar in front of him that was preventing him from sliding down the trolley. He was excitedly doing something akin to push-ups, his mouth opened happily as he was looking with his huge, round eyes at the group of kids playing together in the distance. He had dark blue polo on and baggy pants in the same shade and some very secure looking shoes. At least he wasn’t dressed as another animal. That was until Kyuhyun looked closer and saw the hat that Sungmin pulled out of the bag attached to the handle and put it onto his son’s head. This time Sungrin was the Cookie Monster. There were wild eyes on the cap and the peak was the tongue. At the closer inspection there were furry arms on the polo and one was holding a cookie.

Chuckling to himself Kyuhyun shook his head. He couldn’t imagine how Sungmin found these kind of clothes. Chunghee was satisfied with whatever Kyuhyun made him dress in. He looked at his son who was currently very concentrated on building a sand castle along with his friends from day care.

Directing his attention back to Sungmin, Kyuhyun saw that he got noticed. The man was coming his way with more confidence, his smile was showing relief and brightening what was already a very sunny day. His teeth were perfectly straight and white, just fitting in with the rest of the flawless image the man seemed to have. Thankfully, Kyuhyun was above such things as worrying that his short-sleeved shirt was a little crumpled his jeans were washed out and old.

‘Hey!’ Sungmin came finally close enough for a proper greeting and immediately started the process of unbuckling Sungrin who was getting more and more impatient as he started to tug at his belts and grumble. ‘Wait wait…’

Sungmin kept muttering as he was trying to work fast on the fastenings.

Kyuhyun nodded at the greeting and kept looking with amusement at the struggle between the father and the son. ‘Can he walk alone?’ He finally asked when he saw the little boy sliding under the protection in the front.

Sungmin made a strange face showing that he himself wasn’t completely sure. ‘He CAN walk. He even runs a little already. But he fall~’ Before the word left his mouth Sungrin tripped and fell forwards onto his knees and hands just in front of the trolley.

They waited for a moment for the wailing to start but Sungrin just looked surprised at the ground under his palms before pushing himself up with some difficulty. Sighing, Sungmin moved to his son to help him but Kyuhyun grabbed the man’s arm and stopped him.

‘No, wait.’ He looked around and spotted Chunghee still in the sand. ‘Chunghee!’ He called for the boy whose head immediately shot up. The five-year-old abandoned his tools and after raising himself to his feet he run to his dad. The brown curious orbs rose to look at Kyuhyun’s face. ‘Do you know Sungrin?’ Kyuhyun crouched and put his hand on the boy’s head to straighten his ruffled strands. Chunghee nodded and looked at the boy who was currently catching his proper balance. ‘Can you take his hand and walk with him slowly to the sandbox? He’s learning to walk like you did too and he needs some help.’ He explained in a voice that made it sound like an important task. Chunghee’s eyes widened and he nodded eagerly before walking slowly to the boy and grabbing his hand without asking.

Sungrin stared curiously at their connected hands but followed, waddling a little, when the elder boy started walking without rush to the sandbox. Chunghee was very careful and when they reached the wooden edge he helped the other scramble into the sandbox before they both settled in the sand. Chunghee even shared his tools and Sungrin was content with beating the red rake into the sand. Donghae was supervising the sandbox so there was no need to worry too much about them.

Sungmin chuckled beside him when Kyuhyun straightened and wiped his hands on the back of his jeans, since his son’s hair was already full of dust.

‘Thank you.’ The man said.

Kyuhyun shrugged his shoulders. He looked to the side and spotted a free bench. ‘Wanna seat? I’ll tell you about some people here.’

Nodding, Sungmin followed. After securing the trolley he plopped onto the wooden bench and leaned on the table that was right behind it, his eyes still fixated on his son who was currently looking with amazement, only such a small child could muster, when Chunghee and a girl next to him made mud pies.

‘Chunghee is a very obedient child. Aside from running through the streets.’ Sungmin said slowly.

Kyuhyun raised his brow at that. ‘Not really. He’s not worse than other kids his age but he’s pretty mischievous, too. But he mostly does what I ask him of, that has a lot to do with the star board in our house. He knows he’ll get a star today for helping Sungrin and that’ll bring him closer to chocolate fudge from the confectionary near our house.’ He knew his son well enough to understand that his actions weren’t fully selfless. But that way he was learning to help others and not expecting to get anything from them but that something good will come his way in a long run. Children were surprisingly perceptive with such concepts.

‘Star board?’ Sungmin seemed very surprised. ‘You came up with it yourself? Cause it’s pretty brilliant.’ He blinked and furrowed his brows, probably thinking when he could introduce the idea at his house. But considering that his son barely could hold himself on his own two feet there was still a long way to go.

Laughing Kyuhyun shook his head. ‘Nope, I saw it in some TV show. I had to learn all this stuff from books and TV and sometimes Jungsu hyung.’ He admitted not wanting to give out too much about his family situation to the man yet. He didn’t know how well they’ll get acquainted and there was no point sharing too much with someone who might become almost a complete stranger in some time.

Sighing Sungmin raked hand through his hair ruffling it. A few strands didn’t fall down and they were sticking up. ‘Thankfully, I have some help from my mother, but she lives away and comes to help only once in a while.’

Kyuhyun nodded only because he didn’t have an answer to that. They were sitting in silence for a moment before Sungmin pointed at someone. ‘Who’s that? Part of the staff?’

Kyuhyun followed the direction with his eyes and chuckled when he saw who Sungmin was asking about. ‘That’s Hyoyeon. She’s not working here, she’s just helping today to entertain the kids.’ He looked at Kibum’s partner. The woman was smiling as she was looking at the group of children that surrounded her to paint. Some were using brushes, some stamps and others were sinking their hands in the paint and smearing the white papers. There was a big canvas, probably brought by Hyo too, on the side and older kids were drawing all over it. Kyuhyun knew that it was only for those who were going to school the next year and the canvas was supposed to be hanged in the main hall of the day care. Each year Jungsu was doing it to make the kids feel proud that their common work was displayed for everyone. He looked again at Hyoyeon who was the hair of her twin daughter. ‘Hyo is a mom, she’s patting her own daughter’s head there. And the guy there.’ He pointed at Kibum, who was standing again with Siwon and discussing something while their children were running circles around them chasing each other. ‘The one in glasses. He’s Kibum. He’s Hyoyeon’s partner. They aren’t married – Hyo’s an artist, a free spirit as she says, she doesn’t want marriage for now. Their daughters are four this year. Kibum is working for company which is stealing good employees for other companies.’ Sungmin was nodding with understanding trying to remember the bit of information.

‘The guy next to him is Choi Siwon, I saw him before, but never got introduced.’ The man explained.

‘Ah.’ Kyuhyun made the sound of acknowledgement. ‘Well, Siwon is what you call an at-home-dad. He and his wife have three kids, seven, five and three years old and he takes care of them. He’s also freelance writer, he writes satiric bits about entertainment business whenever he’s not wiping butts.’ They laughed both. ‘He was a model in high school and university, but got bored. Also his wife, Sooyoung…’

‘Sooyoung? Choi Sooyoung?’ Sungmin snapped his head to the side to look at him with surprise. ‘That famous model?’

‘That’s what I wanted to say. She’s a model. She’s there.’ He pointed at where Sooyoung was pushing the swing for her middle child. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun on the top of her head and her face was make-up free.

‘Wow.’ Sungmin breathed out astounded. ‘I thought such celebrity would live in Gangnam at least.’

‘Then you’re in for surprise because these two are the dorkiest people I know.’ Kyuhyun snorted.

‘Okay, the rest!’ Sungmin clapped his hands and focused. Then he pointed at the short male talking with Jungsu currently. He was holding a very small child, probably a newborn, it couldn’t be more than a month old.

‘Kim Ryeowook. A chef in the French restaurant somewhere in the center.’ Kyuhyun immediately introduced. ‘His wife, Hyelim, is the one in the rocking chair. She had the baby just about a month ago and last week she had some procedure to correct the caesarian she had so she’s not in the best of shapes, but she never misses these things.’ Kyuhyun looked confused at the terrified expression on his companion’s face. ‘What? Living here and meeting these people you’ll learn things you wish you’d never known about. Also, Hyelim owns that small dance school at the end of this road. They have a four year old boy here.’ He looked around but couldn’t spot the child. ‘Kyuyoung is so shy that if you get a chance to spot him, and it won’t be while Hyukjae or Ryeowook are trying to drag him out of whatever hideout he found, it’ll be like spotting Yeti.’

The whole bench was shaking as Sungmin was laughing silently, his whole body in giggles. Kyuhyun’s mood improved despite the fact that it wasn’t bad in the first place. He was looking with amusement at the man.

‘Okay, okay.’ Sungmin was catching breath before looking around. ‘There.’ He pointed at the group of people chatting animatedly around the table with drinks.

Kyuhyun squinted to see well. He left his glasses at home.

‘The one with chestnut hair is Jessica and the big boned guy next to her is her husband Shindong. Never say he’s fat, he won’t speak to you for a month and you don’t want that, they run the closest bakery. Their daughter, Maya, is the one making mud pies with Chunghee. She’s three.’ The woman he was speaking about was wearing one-piece shorts with short sleeved top while the guy had the look as if he jumped right out of some hip-hop music video. ‘Jess’s a little cold when you meet her, she needs time to warm up to people, but she’s very good sitter partner.’

He moved to the man wearing all black and looking darkly at the woman who was currently speaking on the other side of the circle. ‘Guy wearing all black is Kim Jongwoon. He owns a recording studio and the one he’s glaring at is his ex-wife Luna. They divorced last year and try to share custody of the five year old Jinnie. Truthfully speaking it’s not working out that well.’ He pursed his lips remembering the argument he was a witness of a couple of weeks back. He was on Jongwoon’s side, they guy was always picking his son on time while his ex-wife was often coming after the closing time without giving notice. But Luna was a good mother, just a little busy. ‘Next to Jongwoon is Youngwoon, they’re best friends since they both divorced recently so they bond in their resentment. Youngwoon’s wife Taeyeon is not so cool with being with him in the same breathing space so you won’t see her here. They have two kids, one already in school and the other is Chunghee’s best friend.’ He pointed at the boy sitting behind Chunghee on the bordering of the sandbox and throwing glances towards his father. ‘I don’t even want to dwell too much on their arrangement, but Youngjin is not a happy child as you can see. And I have no idea what’s going on with their daughter.’ He shrugged.

Sungmin scrunched his nose. ‘Sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them to.’ He sighed and looked at his son who was crawling around the sandbox and looking at other kids’ works. A soft smile appeared in his face and tilted his head with adoration.

Kyuhyun swallowed thickly and rubbed his nose to distract himself from looking at the man standing next to him. He wasn’t even sure if this relationship would progress in any other direction than simple friendship and he was already working himself up to heartbreak. That was why he was never allowing his friends to set him with anyone. They were straight, how could they know anything at all. Okay, so maybe Jungsu was biual and currently very much in love with the very male inspector that was visiting his nursery for monthly assessments, but he also shouldn’t pry into Kyuhyun's love life. Or the lack of it. Sungmin wasn’t giving off any homoual vibes, he was married before, had a child. He was another straight man that would break Kyuhyun's heart without even knowing about it.

Sighing Kyuhyun pushed himself into standing and flinched when something popped in his spine.

He just needed to play it all safe. Sungmin seemed to be a really great guy, he wanted them to become friends. There were no other single dads around here and this one seemed like a stand-up guy. No point loosing someone he could share his difficulties with for a stupid idea that the guy might want to experiment.

‘C’mon, let’s get you eaten by those sharks.’ He said with a smile at the questioning look that appeared on Sungmin’s face when he got up from the bench.

A wide and bright smile appeared on the man’s face at the idea and he nodded.

When they were approaching Siwon Kyuhyun sighed and hoped that his friends will refrain from being total s at least for that one day.

***

‘That went better than I expected.’ Sungmin was securing the belts around Sungrin who was so out of it that not even being tossed and turned by his father, who was searching for a missing belt, brought the boy to consciousness.

Chunghee was barely any better. He was swaying on his legs as Kyuhyun was checking if he got everything with himself before kneeling down and taking his son into his arms, because it would be pretty impossible for them to reach their home if the boy were to walk by himself.

‘They are all great people and you’ll see that you’re already in the family.’ Kyuhyun said the word with exaggeration.

Sungmin made some sound that suggested he won against the hellish belts and got up from his crouching position. He straightened his jeans where they creased and checked under the seat of the trolley to see if all the bags he brought were still there. They waved their goodbyes to exhausted looking nursery staff and rolled slowly out of the yard. Only Youngwoon was still there, coaxing his son to tell him why he was weeping through half of the play day. Chunghee already informed Kyuhyun that the boy was supposed to spend the next few weeks only with his mother, as Youngwoon was leaving the country for business, and he really didn’t want that. It seemed that Taeyeon was as much of a neglectful mother as she was as a wife.

‘Sorry you got stuck with me for a sitting partner.’ Sungmin said while looking ahead of himself. They were walking slowly on the side of the road, scarce cars passing by them. ‘Sungrin is so small, I bet you were really glad when you got out of this all diaper period and now you’ll have to jump in again if there comes a time I can’t pick him up on time.’ He sounded really apologetic.

Kyuhyun stopped himself from heaving a deep sigh. It wasn’t as if there was any other choice, everyone already knew about Jungsu's plan to set him up with the new dad in town and, even though they behaved and didn’t make any comments in Sungmin’s presence, they already somehow managed to pair themselves up for the summer. Despite the fact that sometimes it took a week of heated discussions in the nursery’s yard or over the phone conferences for everyone to reach some kind of consensus.

‘It’s okay, really.’ He said for the umpteenth time that afternoon. ‘I never had any help with Chunghee so I kind of mastered diaper changing, washing, feeding. Name it, I can do it.’

Sungmin released a sigh but it was one full of relief. ‘To tell you the truth I’m glad it’s you.’

Kyuhyun quickly looked at the man but turned his head when he saw that Sungmin had locked his gaze on him. The elder male continued.

‘All of them, those parents…’ He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the nursery. ‘They are nice. But I don’t know them yet and I have to say… I might be a little paranoid about leaving Sungrin with strangers. I had massive issues with leaving him here, even though Hyukjae is my childhood friend and I trust him. But somehow Sungrin really likes you, he is always getting fidgety around you and reaching for you to take him. So I trust his judgment.’

Kyuhyun bit his lower lip and shifted Chunghee’s weight in his arms. The boy only tightened his hold on his father’s neck.

What was he supposed to say to that? That he was jumping inside with glee because being sitting partners meant often sharing dinners and spending more time together? He was almost ready to punch Siwon for this stupid set up. Because he was sure it was Siwon who came up with that.

He didn’t even notice that Sungmin was still walking with him when they reached his house. He stopped in front of the gate and Sungmin halted next to him.

‘This is me.’ Kyuhyun finally said.

Sungmin’s eyes grew wide as he took in the house that could be seen from over the concrete fence. It wasn’t as tall as in most houses of that kind.

‘You live in a hanok?’ The brunette asked while his eyes were roaming over the structure growing behind Kyuhyun.

Kyuhyun barely stopped himself from groaning. This was a common reaction he got whenever someone learned that he was living in a traditional Korean house.

‘My grandmother left it to me when she moved to Jeju two years ago. I grew up here until I was seven, then moved with parents to the center and after I finished university she told me I needed a proper place for me and Chunghee and that after grandfather’s death she didn’t want to stay here anymore. It’s better than nothing…’ He felt a little embarrassed because he knew that the house didn’t really suit him.

‘No, it’s really great! My wi~’ Sungmin stopped suddenly and swallowed thickly before continuing. ‘I was thinking about buying one but there was never time to look into it…’ He was still looking at the house but his mind was somewhere else obviously.

Silence fell over the two of them and Kyuhyun shifted uncomfortably.

‘Oh, you’re still carrying Chunghee, sorry for keeping you out. Thank you for a really fantastic day and… um… see you soon?’ The elder said quickly and looked with something akin to hope in his eyes.

‘Yes, of course. Tomorrow in the nursery probably, I’ll be picking Chunghee around the time you shot into the place like a professional sprinter.’ He attempted to make a joke, no matter how lame it really was. Thankfully, Sungmin was a very tactful person and laughed.

‘See you Kyu.’ Sungmin said and waved before he started to walk down the street, towards the more modern district build at the foot of the hanok village Kyuhyun was living in.

Kyuhyun froze on the spot, his insides turning to stones, heavy and uncomfortable. That nickname… he hated it. He hoped to never hear it again from anyone’s lips aside from… hers. Because she was just cruel like that.