“Are you sure that you are going to be okay alone with him all day? Zhou Mi asked Kyuhyun as he gathered his things and prepared to head into his store.

“Mi, he’s a baby, not a monster. I’ve been alone with him this week while you went to work. We’ll be fine,” Kyuhyun answered and Seojoon squealed in agreement from where he was playing on their living room floor.

“I know, but that was only for short periods of time. I won’t be home until this evening because it’s Ryewook’s Saturday off,” Zhou Mi said as he finished wrapping his scarf around his neck.

Kyuhyun sighed and went to grab Seojoon before he could stick the remote control that had somehow ended up on the floor in his mouth. Seojoon, not happy to have his escapades interrupted, began to fuss and Kyuhyun soothed him as he walked back to Zhou Mi.

“Stop worrying, we’ll be fine.”

“Alright. But promise me that you will call me if you need anything,” Zhou Mi said and quickly kissed first Kyuhyun and then pressed a kiss to the top of Seojoon’s head.

“I will,” Kyuhyun said as Zhou Mi finally started to head out. “Oh, and Mi?”

Zhou Mi paused in the doorway and turned back to Kyuhyun.

“I love you.”

Zhou Mi smiled and opened the door to their apartment.

“I love you too, Kui Xian,” Zhou Mi said and then pulled the door shut behind him. He was already going to be later than he wanted to be, and he didn’t want Henry or Donghae, two of his part-time employees, to be waiting outside for him very long in the cool fall morning.

Zhou Mi had opened Infinitea after they had graduated from university. And while it was difficult at first, after a lot of hard work (and admittedly quite a bit of luck), Zhou Mi had met Ryewook: a young baker who was incredibly tired of his tyrant boss at one of the most popular bakeries in Seoul. Ryewook had been happy to leave his old job behind, and while Zhou Mi couldn’t afford to pay Ryewook nearly as well as he had been getting paid at his previous job, Ryewook claimed that the freedom and more relaxed atmosphere made up the difference and then some. With the addition of Ryewook’s delicious treats to Infinitea’s menu, the business took off. Five years later and he had pretty much become co-owner. Which was saving Zhou Mi currently, as it gave him a lot more flexibility with his schedule. They took turns working Saturdays, and this was Zhou Mi’s weekend. After how much Ryewook had covered for him that week, he couldn’t ask him to come in for him again.

When Zhou Mi finally arrived to his store he saw Henry and Donghae waiting outside for him.

“I’m sorry guys, things were a little crazy this morning,” Zhou Mi explained as he unlocked the front door and let them in out of the cold.

“Ryewook told us what was going on yesterday,” Donghae said as he took off his coat and hung it on the coatrack by the front door. “He said you have picked up a long-term babysitting gig?”

“Something like that,” Zhou Mi said with a chuckle. “Since we are already behind, let’s get going then, eh?”

As Zhou Mi began his familiar routine of opening the store, his mind began to wander to Kyuhyun and Seojoon. They finished their pre-opening work right before 8 a.m., and he flipped the closed sign to open with a sigh of relief. While Henry and Donghae worked the front of the store, he retreated to his small office in the back to go over the week’s financial report. Right as he was finishing up and getting ready to check on how things were going out front, he felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out to see that he had gotten a text from Kyuhyun.

Look who is starting to try and crawl.

Zhou Mi smiled and opened the video and watched as Seojoon tried to balance himself on all fours. He felt proud as he watched Seojoon balance himself, and then hesitantly try to move forward. They had only been watching Seojoon for a few days, but already Zhou Mi was attached to him. It made him sad to think that on Monday Seojoon would be gone and they would likely never see him again. He couldn’t understand how Siwon was just going to give Seojoon up. There was no way that he could do it if he was in Siwon’s position. But then again, Siwon was an entirely different kind of man than he was, so it wasn’t really fair of him to judge.

***

Seojoon had just woken up from his after lunch nap and no matter what Kyuhyun did, he wouldn’t stop fussing. Kyuhyun had checked his diaper, tried a bottle (which Seojoon had blatantly refused), and even left him to his own devices with some toys he had stolen from his sister. And while he wasn’t full on crying yet, he kept looking up at Kyuhyun and doing this stutter stop thing that let him know the explosion was imminent.

“Alright, let’s get you out of this apartment,” Kyuhyun said. He picked up Seojoon and took him into the second bedroom they were using as a nursery.

Kyuhyun searched for the jacket, hat, and little gloves his sister had given him. He bundled Seojoon up and then put on his own jacket and scarf. They didn’t have a stroller, as Ara didn’t have a spare one, and he really didn’t want to carry the baby carrier that they did have. Instead he shoved his keys, phone, and wallet into his pocket and then picked up Seojoon and headed out. He figured he would just walk to the park a few blocks from their building and see if Seojoon liked the swing they had there.

Halfway there and Kyuhyun realized that he had grossly underestimated how heavy a six and a half month old baby could get when walking any sort distance. He shifted Seojoon from one arm to the other. At least he seemed content to look around at everything that was going on and wasn’t fussing anymore.

When they got to the park, all of the baby swings were full. It was a relatively nice fall day, and there were a lot of families using the park that afternoon. Kyuhyun took a seat on one of the benches and sat Seojoon on his lap. Seojoon was content to watch the other kids playing and Kyuhyun relaxed, glad for a rest after carrying Seojoon for a while.

Kyuhyun watched the other parents push their kids on the swings or catch them at the bottom of the slide. He felt a pang of envy as he watched a father comfort his young daughter who had fallen off of the monkey bars and scrapped her hand. Kyuhyun had always wanted to be a father and have a family, but when he was a teenager struggling to accept his own homouality, he had let go of that dream. He knew that he could never be with a woman, and adoption was not really an option in Korea for a gay couple. He had always considered himself blessed to have an accepting family that loved Zhou Mi like a second son. When he came out he had lost some friends and definitely a lot of popularity at school, but his closest friends, after some time and questions, had come to accept him. Getting a job at Siwon’s company had been a fantastic opportunity for him, as Siwon’s American education meant that he was much more accepting of differences than other Korea companies. He knew he wouldn’t be able to be open about his relationship with Zhou Mi anywhere else, and he hated having to hide that part of his life.

All in all, he was satisfied with his life. He had a great job, a loving family, fantastic friends, and most importantly he had Zhou Mi. Still, that dream of being a father nagged at him. He wanted it now more than ever as Seojoon held onto his little finger and smiled up at him.

“Do you want to try the swing?” Kyuhyun asked him, a little too enthusiastically considering there was no way Seojoon understood him.

Kyuhyun slid Seojoon’s legs into the holes of the baby swing and stood in front of him, pushing him ever so slightly and never letting go of the swing. He half expected Seojoon to start crying, but he just looked at Kyuhyun, content with where he was.

A/N: YES I NAMED ZHOU MI'S TEA SHOP INFINITEA PLEASE JUDGE ME IT'S SO LAME I CAN'T STAND IT!

Please hang in there guys, I know I've been slow to update. I've been writing like a madwoman...just not this story. I've finished a story I started two and a half years ago tonight (I wrote a solid third of that in the past 4 days). So now I'll be working on getting that editted and posted (*goes to cry in the corner...I hate that part*) and writing this bad boy.

Also a Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers! I'm a week early, but as I work 8 of the next 11 days, including 3 double shifts, I'm probably going to disappear.