I'm so glad I wrote a Halloween scene into this story ^^ Happy early Halloween everyone! 

 

Chapter 2

Kris did ask Baekhyun the name of the hotel where he worked, and called them to ask how he was an employee. He really didn’t care about what they said, he just wanted to make sure Baekhyun did work there (more so he could brag to Lu Han than anything). They did indeed have Baekhyun on file and said he was a good employee, and it was a shame he was let go.

Kris thought they were crazy to fire Baekhyun. He was an absolute savior for Kris. Jamie adored him, Kris could see the hearts in his son’s eyes whenever he looked at Baekhyun, or spoke of him. Kris could see no reason to regret hiring Baekhyun, he was perfect—he played with Jamie like he was a three year old himself, but when Kris got home Baekhyun would show him pieces of paper with Jamie’s beginner Hangul scrawled in crayon. Baekhyun let Jamie pick the games, but the toys were cleaned up by the end of the day without fail. Once the excitement of having a new playmate died down, Baekhyun usually got Jamie to take a nap, and he texted Kris an update and picture around lunch and dinner time. He would also take pictures and videos throughout the day, and send them to Kris each evening. He got a really precious video of Jamie practicing Korean, which Kris showed to everyone at the clinic, and Kris found that he was really glad he’d done this. He wouldn’t be getting these kinds of videos if Jamie was in preschool, and it made him feel a little more involved, like he was able to experience his son’s childhood a little more.

And each time Kris handed Baekhyun a check at the end of the week, he could see how grateful Baekhyun was. That was really what convinced him that Baekhyun was genuinely a good person. He met Minseok, Yixing, and their twin boys early on, and Kris’ neighbors gushed about how sweet Baekhyun was.

“And he’s really not prejudiced at all,” Minseok told Kris after the meeting. “Doesn’t care that we’re gay and raising a family, doesn’t care that Yixing is Chinese.”

“And he plays really well with them,” Yixing added. “Shinwoo put up a fuss when Sungwoo and Jamie wouldn’t let him draw on them, so Baekhyun let all three of them color his arms with magic marker. He was a good sport about it, even asked us to take a picture of the result.”

Kris got pretty much the same report from Jamie—Baekhyun was fun. He even gave Jamie some new books, some in Korean and even some in English. And Jamie started to like reading—well he always liked it, but he started to like it even more. It made Kris curious, what was Baekhyun’s secret?

“How do you do it?” Kris asked one day as Baekhyun prepared to leave.

Baekhyun paused in putting on his shoes. “Do what?”

“Everything,” Kris said, “I know you had a little experience with kids but…were you a babysitter before?”

“No, not really. I kinda looked after my cousins, but they were only two years younger than me.” Baekhyun grinned. “Mostly I just try to think about what I would want if I was Jamie’s age. I get him to practice Korean by saying things like, brave knights should know how to speak and read their princesses language, and that when he gets older, it’ll be easier to buy pretty things if he can read the tags.”

Kris’ jaw dropped. “Oh wow,” he said, “That’s actually brilliant!”

Baekhyun’s smile grew. “Thanks. I was really worried at first that Jamie wouldn’t like me but he’s a really sweet little kid. I’m glad I get to look after him.”

Kris felt a flutter in his chest that he relentlessly squashed. Baekhyun was 11 years younger than him, he was not having feelings for a boy barely out of college. He said goodnight to Baekhyun, then got himself a glass of water. Jamie was on the couch, finishing up a movie. Kris watched him from the bar in the kitchen.

It had been awhile since Kris had given a thought to dating. He was comfortable living as a single parent. He made enough money, he was saving a lot of money in little ways—he always shopped for sale items and used coupons at the food stores, he rarely took Jamie out to eat, when they did family things it was usually a trip to the zoo, or a free museum. He knew a lot of college friends who joked about getting married for economic reasons, two people were bringing in money instead of just one. Kris was beyond that worry, he had his beautiful little boy and comfortable life, but…if he had to be honest, it got a little lonely. When Jamie was sleeping Kris usually just watched TV or read, or sometimes he went to sleep too. He pretty much lived for work, and his son. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but he looked at his life and wondered what he was going to do when Jamie grew up some more and didn’t want his father hovering over him all the time.

The thought scared him more than he liked to admit, and he tried to put it out of his mind. He waited until Jamie fell asleep, then carried him to his room and tucked him into bed. He kissed Jamie’s forehead and whispered, “Please don’t grow up too fast.”

 

It had been three months since Baekhyun started babysitting Jamie when a rare opportunity came up. Thursday was miraculously free of evening appointments. Nobody could figure out why, because it wasn’t a holiday and the weather was good, but hardly any doctors had appointments in the evening. A few of the newer doctors stayed the full evening hours, but the senior doctors were free to go. Kris neglected to tell Baekhyun this, and surprised both him and Jamie when he came home a full three hours early.

“DADDY!” Jamie screamed, running at him. Kris knelt and caught Jamie in his arms, laughing at how excited his boy was.

“Hi, baby! Did you miss me?”

“I did, I did!” Jamie shouted, he was so happy that he was jumping up and down, “Baekhyun’s making noodles, daddy! Are you going to eat with us?”

Kris looked up and saw Baekhyun watching from the kitchen. “Is there enough for three people?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Baekhyun said, “But I can go, if you—”

Jamie’s mood flipped. “No!” He wailed, running at Baekhyun and clinging to his legs, “Nooo, Baekhyun-hyung you have to stay, you have to! Daddy tell Baekhyun he has to stay!”

“It’s really fine with me,” Kris said, coming over and patting Jamie’s head, “But sweetheart, you and I can’t make Baekhyun stay, he might want to go home.” He picked Jamie up so he’d stop tugging on Baekhyun’s jeans. “Really,” he said to Baekhyun, “I’d like it if you stayed for a while.”

Baekhyun always looked shy whenever Kris saw him. “Okay, I’ll stay for dinner.”

Jamie cheered so loudly that Kris almost dropped him, and he had to give his little boy a stern reminder about using the Indoor Voice, which Jamie promptly ignored. He squirmed his way to the floor and went running into his room, shouting that he was going to get dressed in a special outfit.

As soon as Jamie was out of earshot, Baekhyun said, “It’s okay if you’d rather, you know, be alone with him—”

“And it’s fine with me if you want to go home,” Kris said, “But I know Jamie would be thrilled if you could stay. And I would like it as well.”

Was Baekhyun blushing? He might have been. “I should, um, go check the spaghetti.”

Kris trailed after him. He could smell something else, and Baekhyun said he’d found a bottle of unopened meat sauce in the fridge and added a little extra ground beef to it.

“It’s the lazy spaghetti and meatballs, my roommate taught me how to do it. I’m not a very good cook, none of us are, but Kyungsoo’s the best out of the three of us.” He said this very quickly, and he was still blushing a little bit.

“Sounds good,” Kris said. “Jamie loves spaghetti.” He paused for a few seconds. “Actually, Baekhyun, I’d really like it if you could stay for your normal hours. Jamie always talks about you, and it’s made me curious. In a good way,” He said when Baekhyun looked nervous, “I’d just like to see how he is around you. If it’s okay with you.”

“It’s fine with me,” Baekhyun said. “Jamie talks about you a lot, too. All good things, I don’t know if I’ve ever met a little kid who loved their dad as much as Jamie loves you.”

Kris swore he was about to start crying, but then Jamie came back. “Dad, look!” He commanded.

Kris turned around and breathed a sigh of relief—Jamie was wearing his black and pink leopard print jeans and a pink hello kitty t-shirt. Maybe not the best thing to wear when eating, but it was better than the white outfit that Kris had been fearing.

“You look so cute!” Baekhyun exclaimed. “I’ve never seen that shirt before.”

Jamie was ecstatic. “It’s new, dad got it for me last week!”

“You look good, Jamie,” Kris said. He was shocked—Baekhyun paid enough attention to know when Jamie wore something new? But maybe Jamie frequently showed off his clothes, plus he had a habit of wearing the same five things when he stayed at home. But thinking that Baekhyun cared that much—Jamie loved getting compliments on his clothes—it was wonderful, really.

Dinner was fun—Jamie kept them both entertained by talking about his day, and he was surprisingly neat when he ate. He even offered to help with the after dinner clean up. When everything was put away, Jamie lead the way to the playroom.

There were a few toys still out, namely the dollhouse. Much like with his clothes, Kris let Jamie pick whatever toys he wanted. The dollhouse had actually been a hand-me-down from another doctor at the office, and it was perfect for Jamie’s small collection of Barbie and Ken dolls. Though today Barbie was not living in the house, instead it was occupied by Jamie’s collection of model sea animals. Kris was tasked with playing the daddy orca, and Jamie and Baekhyun played the babies. Kris didn’t have much to do, and he mostly watched Jamie and Baekhyun play. He could see why Jamie liked playing with Baekhyun so much—he was great at taking on different voices for the toys, and he followed the flow of Jamie’s games very well.

The three of them eventually ended up abandoning the dollhouse and playing with the mini basketball set, which mostly consisted of Kris and Baekhyun sitting by the twin hoops and lifting Jamie into the air for exaggerated slam dunks. Around seven thirty, Baekhyun told Jamie that the toys were getting tired, and it was time for them to go to sleep. Jamie patiently picked up all his toys, telling each one of them goodnight. It was such a simple way to get Jamie to clean up, Kris couldn’t believe he’d never thought of it himself. And once the toys were put away, Baekhyun said that it was time for him to go home.

Jamie was sad to see Baekhyun leave. He wasn’t exactly showing it, but Kris could read it in his body language. After Baekhyun left, Jamie looked around dejectedly and sighed.

“My friend went home,” he pouted.

Kris picked Jamie up and carried him to the couch. “You really like Baekhyun, don’t you?”

Jamie nodded.

“More than Uncle Minseok and Uncle Yixing?” Kris asked.

Jamie tapped a finger against his chin. “No,” he said finally, “But Baekhyun is more fun, because he’s all mine. I don’t have to share him with Shinwoo and Sungwoo. And Baekhyun’s more fun than them too, because Baekhyun can cook and pick me up.”

Kris smiled. “Oh, I see.” It was like he suspected, Baekhyun was a giant three year old.

Jamie smiled brightly. “But I love you best,” he said, kissing Kris’ cheek.

“I love you best, too,” Kris said, returning the kiss. He gave Jamie a serious look. “But don’t tell nai nai I said that.”

Jamie zipped his lips shut, then quickly ped them again.

“Can Baekhyun come to the zoo with us?” He asked, “Please!”

“I’ll ask him about it,” Kris said, “But he might be busy, so don’t be mad if he says no.”

“I won’t!” Jamie vowed.

 

The next evening Kris got home later than he expected—punishment for having no appointments the previous day—and by that time Jamie was already in bed.

“He tried to wait up for you,” Baekhyun said, “But he didn’t nap today so he was really tired.”

“It’s okay,” Kris said. “I’ll go check on him in a minute. Actually I don’t know if he told you, but we’re going to the zoo this Sunday. The weekend before Halloween they do trick-or-treat for the kids, and they get to dress up and do special hands on with the animals. Jamie wants me to ask you to come along with us.”

Baekhyun looked surprised. “He does? Oh wow, I don’t know,” he was blushing again. “I mean, is it really okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Kris asked.

“Well, I’m sure you want some time alone with him,” Baekhyun said, “I don’t want to intrude.”

“You wouldn’t be,” Kris said, “Really, Jamie loves having you around and seeing you with him, I can understand why.”

“But do you want me there?” Baekhyun asked. “He’s your son.”

Kris felt like a teenager again, trying to ask his crush out. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah I…I’d like it if you joined us.” When did he start getting nervous when it was just him and Baekhyun, when they didn’t have Jamie to act as a buffer?

Baekhyun’s smile was like the one he’d had in the bar when Kris first asked him to babysit—that kind of elated and excited. “Then I’d love to join you. Should I dress up too?”

“You can if you want to,” Kris said, “I’m probably just going to throw on a cape and sunglasses and hiss at garlic.”

Baekhyun laughed—actually laughed. “I was going to do that!” He said.

Kris smiled and hoped he didn’t look too dazed. He didn’t think he’d heard Baekhyun laugh yet, and he had a really great laugh.

“Well I promise I won’t stake you if you wear the same thing as me,” Kris joked, and Baekhyun laughed again.

“I’ll see what I can come up with,” he said brightly. “So, should I meet you at the zoo?”

“Meet us here, at nine,” Kris said, “That way we can get tickets together.”

“Great! I’ll be looking forward to it.”

Actually, Kris realized once Baekhyun had left, they could have gotten tickets together even if Baekhyun had met them at the zoo. Oh well, he hadn’t said anything about it. Maybe he hadn’t noticed Kris’ little slip.

 

Sunday morning was a little chilly, Kris told Jamie that he would have to wear a jacket over his costume. Jamie was dressed up as Captain America, Kris was going as Steve Rodgers—AKA he was too lazy to do something for a real costume. But he didn’t want to take attention away from Jamie anyway, so he figured it was for the best.

Baekhyun arrived promptly at 8:56, dressed in plain jeans and a college sweatshirt, carrying a small backpack.

“What’s your costume?” Jamie asked.

“I’m a secret agent,” Baekhyun said in a conspiratorial whisper. “I’m undercover, which means I look like a regular person.”

Jamie looked delighted. “What’s your mission?”

“To get you to say trick-or-treat,” Baekhyun said.

Jamie grabbed his candy sack—a cloth bag with a jack ‘o’ lantern on it—and held it out.

“TRICK OR TREAT!” He screamed.

“Indoor voice, Jamie.” Kris said.

“Trick or treat,” Jamie said again in a lower tone.

Baekhyun reached into his backpack and pulled out a Captain America water bottle. That alone was probably enough to make Jamie’s day, but then he unscrewed the lid of the bottle and dumped a bunch of bite size candies into Jamie’s bag. The last thing to pour out of the water bottle was a Spider Man tooth brush.

Baekhyun held up the tooth brush. “This is for after all the candy, so you don’t get cavities.”

“Spider Man saves the day!” Jamie cried, and he threw his arms around Baekhyun’s neck. “Thank you Baekhyun hyung, I love them!” He grabbed the water bottle and held it up to Kris. “Can I use it now?”

“Sure,” Kris said, “Let me go fill it up.”

He was really surprised, he hadn’t expected Baekhyun to give Jamie anything for Halloween, and they were such thoughtful gifts, proving once again that Baekhyun really paid attention to what Jamie liked. When Kris came back from filling the water bottle, Baekhyun shyly handed him a large candy bar.

“Jamie said you liked this kind,” he said.

“I do,” Kris said, “Thank you, you didn’t have to—”

“I wanted to,” Baekhyun said, “Really, it was no big deal. Candy is all over the place in the stores these days.”

Kris didn’t know what else to say, but of course Jamie did.

“Daddy, look at the candy Baekhyun gave me! Can I have one now? Please! Just one!”

“Okay,” Kris sighed, “Just one.” And he held on to the candy sack to make sure that Jamie wouldn’t sneak any more.

The ride to the zoo was fun, Baekhyun sang along to the radio and kept Jamie entertained, and Kris nearly missed the exit for the zoo because he was so busy listening to Baekhyun. He was a really good singer. The zoo didn’t seem to be crowded yet, and Jamie was eager to go in. Kris had a small stroller in case Jamie got tired, which Baekhyun insisted on pushing himself. At the ticket window Kris paid for Baekhyun’s ticket, firmly rejecting Baekhyun’s insistence that he didn’t mind buying his own ticket. They were still discussing it while Jamie went around to the welcome staff and held out his bag for candy.

“You’re not Jamie’s babysitter today,” Kris said, “You’re a guest and a friend. Plus this is my way of saying thank you for buying Jamie the Halloween treats.”

There was no denying that Baekhyun was blushing. “I…I really…”

“Thank you is fine,” Kris said, handing Baekhyun his ticket.

“Thank you.”

Jamie ran back, candy bag now lined all across the bottom with sweet treats, and grabbed both their hands. “LET’S GO SEE THE TIGERS!” He yelled.

Kris sighed. “Jamie, if you scream you’ll scare the animals.”

“Tigers, tigers, tigers!” Jamie chanted, pulling the two of them along. “Big, pretty, tigers!”

The good part about going to the zoo while it was so cool outside was that the animals seemed to be more awake. Jamie almost started crying from excitement when a tiger approached the window and sat down about a foot away from him, and it was nearly twenty minutes before he said goodbye to the tiger and moved on. They spent the morning going around to the gorillas, giraffes, zebras and hippos, and just before lunch they found one of the hands-on stations. There was a large python that the kids could pet, and Kris even got to put it around his shoulders, which scared the heck out of Baekhyun and made Jamie want a pet snake of his own. After that they found a restaurant overlooking the antelope enclosure and had lunch. For a while Kris insisted on paying himself, but Baekhyun said he wouldn’t eat if Kris didn’t let him pay for his own food.

At first it was a little awkward. Since Jamie was busy eating, once again Kris and Baekhyun were left without a buffer. They were sitting right across from each other too, so it was hard not to make eye contact. Neither of them knew quite what to say, or if they should say anything at all.

“Have you been here before?” Kris finally asked.

“Not in a while,” Baekhyun said. “Last time was I guess…four years ago? But it’s not that much different.”

“What’s your favorite animal?” Jamie asked, half chewed French fry spewing from his mouth.

“Don’t chew and talk at the same time,” Kris and Baekhyun said together. They exchanged shocked looks and laughed.

“Aw, no fair!” Jamie said with a pout. “Now I get scolded twice!”

“Well then don’t give us reason to scold you,” Kris said, ruffling his hair.

Baekhyun reached across the table and wiped a bit of ketchup from Jamie’s lip. “My favorite animal is an owl,” he said.

Jamie leapt to his feet. “Let’s go see the owls!”

“Slow down there, kid,” Kris said, hauling Jamie onto his lap, “You haven’t finished eating yet.”

“So Jamie’s favorite animal is a tiger,” Baekhyun said, looking at Kris curiously, “What’s yours?”

“A fox,” Kris answered.

“We’ll go see the foxes too, right dad?” Jamie asked.

“If we have time,” Kris said.

“We’ll make time,” Baekhyun said. “It looks like we’re done eating, let’s look at the map and see what’s closer.”

It turned out that they were right by the bird house, so that was where they went. Kris didn’t care much for birds, and he spent a lot of time looking at Baekhyun instead of the animals. It was really nice to see him outside of Kris’ apartment, when he wasn’t quite so stiff and formal. He was almost as excited as Jamie, animatedly explaining the difference between different kinds of owls, and pointing out colorful birds like parrots and toucans.

Even though they had the stroller, somewhere along the way the candy bag had landed in the seat and Baekhyun ended up carrying Jamie out of the bird house. Whenever he tried putting Jamie down, Jamie would latch onto his shoulders and start crying.

“He’s just a little tired,” Kris said, rubbing Jamie’s back. “I think he had a hard time falling asleep last night, he was so excited.” He brushed Jamie’s hair back, and wiped at his cheeks. “Do you want to go home and take a nap?”

“No!” Jamie said, “I wanna stay here!”

“I don’t mind carrying him,” Baekhyun said. “If he gets too heavy, I’ll hand him off to you.”

If Kris had been alone, he probably would have just taken Jamie home, but since Baekhyun really didn’t seem to mind, he figured it would be alright to stay and see if a little break would give Jamie his energy back. They went on the safari train, which took them around to see some of the larger animals like elephants and ostriches. The train was pretty packed, but they were lucky enough to sit in the front where there were fewer seats, and so fewer people.

Halfway through the ride, Baekhyun nudged Kris’ arm and whispered, “Is he sleeping?”

Sure enough, Jamie was out cold.

“Yeah, he is.”

Jamie slept through the rest of the ride and didn’t even wake up when they got off the train.

“I didn’t expect this,” Kris said. “I wonder if we should just go.”

Baekhyun sat down on one of the benches along the path. “Let’s give him a few minutes,” he said, “Maybe a power nap is just what he needs.”

Kris sat down too and took the opportunity to retie Jamie’s shoelaces. He didn’t have Captain America shoes, so instead he was wearing his pink and white sneakers.

“I haven’t had a chance to say this yet,” Baekhyun said suddenly, “But it’s really great that you give him so much freedom to decide what he wears and plays with. I wish more parents were that open minded.”

Kris had to admit, he was a little flustered. “Thanks,” he said. “I wish for that too.”

“I can’t believe the preschool had a problem with it,” Baekhyun sighed. “Jamie’s so innocent about it. He said the other kids liked his pretty outfit.”

Once again, Kris felt so upset about the whole situation. “I don’t want to make him change,” he said, “But I’m really worried about when he starts school for real. If they don’t accept the way he dresses, I mean I can’t try every school in the city, I can’t make him do that. But I also don’t want to force him to change.”

Baekhyun nodded. “But that’s still two years away. A lot can change in two years.”

That was very true, Kris had to agree.

Baekhyun whispered, “Don’t look around, but I believe we’re attracting a lot of attention.”

Kris kind of figured that was going to be the case. “Let me guess, we’re getting a mix of smiles and glares?”

“Yep.”

Kris rolled his eyes. “I get this all the time. If I go anywhere with Jamie and one of my single guy friends, suddenly we’re the gay plague.”

“I know,” Baekhyun said, a little sad. “If I make plans with my friends, we have to go in a group of three or more if we don’t want to get scolded.”

Kris finally took his eyes off his son. “Are you—I mean not that it’s any of my business but—”

“I’m actually bi,” Baekhyun said. “I’ve had one girlfriend and one boyfriend, in fact my ex is one of my roommates. But right now I’m not seeing anyone.”

“Okay,” Kris said. Then, “I’m gay. Just throwing that out there.”

“And Jamie…is yours?” Baekhyun asked.

“Yes, his mother was an anonymous donor.” He wasn’t sure why he was going into the story, but he continued, “I have an old friend who I helped out a lot when I was in college. She was in a really bad place for a while, so I let her stay with me and loaned her some money. When I decided that I wanted to have a family, she said she’d be happy to help me. She ended up carrying Jamie for me, but she wasn't the donor.”

“That’s amazing,” Baekhyun said.

“She knew how badly I wanted to be a parent, and adopting wouldn’t have been easy, since…you know, I’m single and a foreigner. Minseok and Yixing had such a hard time when they got married, and an even harder time when they adopted the twins. But that was a while ago, I know things have improved.”

“Are you thinking of adopting?” Baekhyun asked.

“Yeah,” Kris said wistfully, “Not right now, but maybe in a couple of years.”

Baekhyun grinned at him. “Jamie would be a good big brother.”

“He would,” Kris agreed. He’d thought about it often.

After a few more minutes Jamie suddenly sat up, eyes wide. “I’m awake!” he cried.

“We see that,” Baekhyun said, “How are you feeling?”

Jamie rubbed his eyes. “I gotta pee,” he mumbled in English.

Kris stood up and grabbed the stroller. “Okay, bathroom!”

Jamie had gotten his energy back. They spent another two hours at the zoo, going around to more animals and more trick-or-treat stations. When they left, Jamie’s candy bag was half full.

“You can’t eat all that at once,” Kris said as they made their way out of the zoo.

“Can I eat some today and the rest tomorrow?” Jamie asked hopefully.

“Not a chance, mister,” Kris said, “You’re going to make that candy last until Christmas.”

Jamie was walking between Kris and Baekhyun, holding each of their hands. Kris was hyper aware of how much like a family they looked. He wasn’t bothered by it, but he was a little flustered. After all, Baekhyun was a little young to be considered Jamie’s father.

“Can we go to the gift shop?” Jamie asked.

Kris hesitated, but Jamie had been very well behaved, so maybe he deserved a little present.

“Okay,” Kris said, and they diverted their path to the large store by the exit.

They were stopped by an employee at the door. “Would you like a picture?” She asked, “We’re giving ten percent off to families with costumed kids.”

Kris shrugged. “Alright.”

The woman led them to a jungle backdrop and handed Jamie a stuffed monkey. Baekhyun hovered by the door, looking unsure.

“Baekhyun!” Jamie cried, holding out his arms, “Come here!”

Baekhyun glanced at Kris, who nodded, and he hurried over. Kris lifted Jamie up and instructed Baekhyun to hold one of his legs, that way they were both supporting him.

After the picture was taken, the woman handed Kris a ticket and told him to take it to the cashier so he could see it. He wasn’t planning on buying one, but figured if Jamie got something then he’d take a look. And of course, Jamie got something. Kris directed him towards the small plastic toys, and he picked up a little python.

Baekhyun played with Jamie while Kris paid for the toy.  He’d almost forgotten about the photo until the cashier plucked the ticket from his hand.

“How cute,” she said, showing Kris the photo. “Shall I print one?”

Kris stared at the picture. He, Jamie and Baekhyun all had wide smiles on their faces. Kris and Baekhyun were both leaning slightly towards Jamie, and Jamie had his arms around both of their shoulders. It was a beautiful picture.

“I’ll take two, actually,” Kris heard himself saying.

He didn’t even look at the price, he didn’t really care. The photos were given to him in a little folder, which he put in the bag with the toy. It wasn’t until they got to the car that he took out the folder and showed the picture to Jamie and Baekhyun.

“It’s pretty!” Jamie cried, clapping his hands.

Kris took out one picture and handed it to Baekhyun. “This one’s yours.”

Baekhyun looked shocked. “I—thanks,” he said. He couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away. “How much was it?”

“It’s a gift,” Kris said. “I want you to have it.”

Baekhyun looked like he was about to cry. “Thanks,” he said again. “It’s beautiful.”

Kris drove Baekhyun to his apartment. He and Jamie waved goodbye, then went home themselves. Jamie kept up a steady stream of chatter, which Kris was ashamed to admit he only half listened to. When they got home Jamie went to his room to get changed, and Kris put the picture on the fridge. Like Baekhyun, he couldn’t stop staring at it. It was truly unbelievable, how much they looked like a family.

 

 

 

I have a really bad cold right now, I'm totally miserable ;; please leave comments, they'll make me feel better <3