“Can we go to the park?!”

Taekwoon sighed internally as Hongbin greeted him with his new signature greeting before he’d even finished closing the door behind himself.

“It’s going to get dark soon, Hongbin…”

Hongbin shook his head.

“But it’s not dark yet! Can we?”

Taekwoon sighed out loud this time.

“Not today, Hongbin.”

Hongbin’s expression fell.

“You said it depends on the weather, but it’s not raining!”

“You’re right, it’s not, but even if we leave now, it will be almost dark by the time we reach the park, and we’ll have to turn right back around and go home again. There is no point going to the park today, Hongbin…”

Hongbin pouted. He actually pouted, and Taekwoon had half a mind to give in to his pleas even though he was tired, and cold, and the last thing he wanted was to go back outside where it was cold, and all he actually wanted was to get something warm and preferably sweet to eat and then lie down and not move again unless to go to bed sometime later. In the end, he managed to win over the urge to give in by a very small margin, the effort to ignore Hongbin’s pout leaving him even more exhausted than he had been before. It was for the best, though, he couldn’t allow a precedent that led Hongbin to thinking he could get everything he wanted with a pout; even though there was a high possibility that would actually happen eventually.

Avoiding looking at the pout Hongbin sported the best he could, Taekwoon made his way to the kitchen to start on dinner. It had been a long day, keeping him in the company much longer than he had planned, and he really just wanted to be done with everything he had to get done and finally relax.

Hongbin trudged after him into the kitchen, still pouting, but by the time Taekwoon had washed his hands and gathered the ingredients he needed for dinner, he was immune to it.

“Want to help me with dinner?” He asked Hongbin, and Hongbin shrugged in answer. Taekwoon rose an eyebrow.

“Yes or no? You don’t have to, you know.”

Hongbin sighed softly.

“Yes.” He answered eventually, pulling the sleeves of his jumper up a little as he moved to the vegetables Taekwoon had sat out.

“Hongbin… Your hands are dirty. You need to wash them before touching the food; you know this.”

Hongbin didn’t reply, going to wash his hands instead.

“With soap, Hongbin.” Taekwoon had to remind him, just as he was reaching to shut the water off again.

Without a comment, Hongbin used the soap, too, and Taekwoon nodded, satisfied, before letting him take care of the vegetables.

Taekwoon worked everywhere around the kitchen while Hongbin was chopping the vegetables, but eventually came to a halt as something kept bothering him. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, not really…

It took him a while of focus to figure out what it was.

“Hongbin… How many days have you been wearing this set of clothes for?”

Hongbin stiffened a little, but after a moment of silence he answered.

“Three?”

Taekwoon sighed softly, asking the question he was almost sure he already knew the answer to anyway.

“Have you taken them off at all since you’ve put them on?”

Hongbin hesitated again, then shook his head.

Taekwoon clucked his tongue in disapproval.

“So, you haven’t washed up in three days, either; right?”

Hongbin shook his head again, confirming his suspicion.

Taekwoon bit back the twinge of frustration he felt, not letting any of it transpire into his voice.

“Please go and do that, then. I’ll finish up the vegetables.”

Hongbin put the knife down and left the room without saying anything else, and Taekwoon took over where he had been working.

He was only just done with the vegetables when Hongbin returned to the kitchen, wearing a new set of clothes. Taekwoon glanced at the clock: no more than five minutes had passed since Hongbin had left.

“Have you washed up at all or just put on fresh clothes?”

Hongbin’s gaze fixed the floor in front of his own feet.

“I did wash up…”

“Really?” Taekwoon couldn’t say he believed it, not for a second, but Hongbin nodded.

“Everywhere? With the towel actually wet and with soap?”

Hongbin’s shoulders sagged, and he turned around wordlessly, leaving for the bathroom. This time around, Taekwoon could actually hear the faucet turning on and off, the boiler in the kitchen springing to life every time Hongbin used the warm water. It took Hongbin quite a while longer to come back, too; Taekwoon was about done with cooking when he showed up again, and it was apparent that he had actually washed himself this time around. Taekwoon nodded in approval.

“There you go. Can you get us plates? I’m as good as done here.”

Hongbin moved to get plates for both of them, and by the time he came back, Taekwoon turned off the last beaker on the stove, declaring dinner ready.

Over diner, Hongbin’s pout slowly disappeared, leaving him no longer sulking about not being able to go out (it had long since gotten dark outside, and he had to admit that it wouldn’t have made sense to go out anymore), nor about having to wash himself (being freshly washed and wearing clean clothes felt really, really good, actually).

Taekwoon felt bad about having been so short with him earlier, and decided to make up for it at least part of the way by letting Hongbin know what had kept him away from home for so long that they didn’t have time to go out anymore. He showed Hongbin the songs he had been working on, and the recordings of the young idols singing to his compositions, and Hongbin was fascinated. He asked Taekwoon to play certain songs again and again, and enjoyed watching the music videos of the songs Taekwoon had composed for their previous album. Taekwoon was just happy Hongbin was not bouncing off the walls for once, perfectly content sitting curled up on the floor in the corner of the L-couch, fixated on Taekwoon’s phone screen.

After a while, Taekwoon decided to leave him to it for a moment, trusting him alone with his phone while he had to use the bathroom. Hongbin barely seemed to register Taekwoon leaving, nor him stopping in the doorway to look back at him; for the millionth time, Taekwoon couldn’t help but coo internally at how cute Hongbin looked, in his still very loose clothes (he tended to choose the ones that were the loosest on him, at least as far as sweaters went), cuddled into the corner of the couch with his chin propped up on the cushions as he held the phone where Taekwoon had been sitting a moment ago.

Eventually, the pressure in his bladder prompted Taekwoon to keep moving rather than smiling fondly at Hongbin for the rest of the evening.

His smile died abruptly when he stepped into the bathroom.

Hongbin had washed up, indeed. There was definitely proof of that, in there. In fact, ‘proof’ soaked the whole countertop, ran down the mirror and tiles behind the sink and down to the floor, where it formed several soapy, murky puddles between scattered towels and a soaked bathroom mat.

Taekwoon took a slow, deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment before continuing on his way to the toilet to do his business. He pointedly tried to avoid looking at the mess as he went to wash his hands afterwards and left the bathroom once again.

When he returned to the living room, Hongbin was still engrossed watching whatever video had started playing after the previous one had ended and ignored Taekwoon coming back.

Taekwoon waited until the video came to an end, before holding his hand out to take his phone back.

“I’d like to have my phone back now, please.”

Hongbin’s eyes flitted up nervously for the fraction of a second upon hearing the slight strain that Taekwoon wasn’t quite managing to keep out of his voice, and he placed the device in Taekwoon’s hands.

“Thank you. And now, if you don’t mind, please go to the bathroom and clean up the mess you left in there.”

Hongbin tensed, backing away from the couch slightly. He knew what Taekwoon was talking about, of course he did.

“I… I forgot. I tried to be quick, so I could come and help you finish dinner… I meant to go back and clean after eating. I’m sorry.”

Taekwoon couldn’t tell if it was an excuse or if he was being genuine.

“Ok. It’s nice that you wanted to help with dinner, but I’d rather you clean up the bathroom after yourself first when you’re done washing up; especially when you leave a mess like that one.”

Hongbin’s pout returned, but this time Taekwoon wasn’t as endeared by it, finding it not that hard to resist it.

“But… It always takes so long…” Hongbin complained quietly.

“What takes long?”

Hongbin shrugged.

“Cleaning… and washing up. It always takes a lot of time, every day.”

Taekwoon sighed.

“We all have to wash up, though, Hongbin. Even if it takes long. Not washing is not an option.”

Hongbin’s pout intensified, but it still didn’t work on Taekwoon.

“You don’t take that long, though. And you even wash your hair!”

“That is because I shower, which is easier, quicker, and less messy than washing over the sink.” Taekwoon replied, watching Hongbin tense up again, pout dropping, and eventually leave the room without further comment. It wasn’t until a good five minutes later that Taekwoon figured what he’d said that could have made Hongbin tense again: showers.

Of course.

Taekwoon sighed deeply, leaning back against the couch. Damn it!

*#*#*#*

By the time Taekwoon followed Hongbin down the stairs to his car the next morning, all thoughts about showers and messy bathrooms were long forgotten. Actually, they had already been long forgotten by the time Hongbin woke up that morning, excited to finally go to one of the bigger parks Taekwoon had promised to take him to.

Despite Hongbin’s claims about having no problems riding in cars and using the seat belt despite not liking it, Taekwoon found himself still surprised that it was, in fact, true. Hongbin didn’t even show a sign of discomfort upon clambering into the car and strapping himself in, even if he remained quiet for most of the car ride, eyes intently fixed on the world flying by outside the windows.

The ride took a while, but there was surprisingly little traffic, so they made it in far less time than Taekwoon had anticipated. When Taekwoon turned off the car eventually, sitting in a half empty parking lot, it was the first time that Hongbin showed something other than excitement, a hint of nervousness mixing in with it.

“You good?” Taekwoon asked softly, and Hongbin turned his eyes away from the sight outside the window next to him, nodding while fixing his gaze somewhere on Taekwoon’s chest.

“Ok. Want to get out?”

Hongbin took a deep breath.

“You first.”

Taekwoon nodded, unclipping his seat belt and getting out of the car. He rounded the car to Hongbin’s side, and only when he moved to open Hongbin’s door for him, Hongbin opened it himself and clambered out, too.

“You should probably zip up your jacket. It’s going to be quite windy by the water.” Taekwoon observed, and Hongbin followed his suggestion quickly.

“Can we go?”

Taekwoon nodded, locking the car before starting out of the parking lot and onto the vast expanse of grass covering the banks of the river. Hongbin followed him closely, holding on to the back of Taekwoon’s coat once again.

Despite the chilly, windy and overcast weather, there were quite a few people out here with them. Some were walking their dogs, others were walking in pairs or small groups, and quite a few were running alone, ignoring the world around them for the most part as they focused on their exercising. Still, the park was so big all of them were far away from Taekwoon and Hongbin, and after a while, Hongbin seemed to realize that, too. Quietly, he let go of Taekwoon’s coat eventually, a small skip slipping into his step as he walked next to Taekwoon towards the single row of trees accompanying the gravel path close to the water.

By the time they reached the trees, Hongbin had deemed all the other park-goers far enough away to dare walk ahead of Taekwoon a few steps, and as soon as he saw there was ice on the water, he threw caution to the wind and approached the frozen surface.

Taekwoon followed after him at a more moderate pace, keeping an eye on their surroundings as well. He almost missed Hongbin putting a foot on the ice, catching it just in time to shout a warning.

“Careful, it won’t hold!”

Hongbin’s foot had already shattered the thing layer of ice, though, and Hongbin must have anticipated it even without Taekwoon’s warning, since he never lost his balance or even so much as a got his foot wet. Instead, he looked radiant, even without smiling. There was just an aura of contentment and excitement surrounding him as he walked back up the incline to the line of trees, clearly looking for something.

A stick, Taekwoon found out soon, when he picked it up and returned to the edge of the water. Taekwoon didn’t understand what exactly the fun in poking holes into the layer of ice as he walked along the edge of the water was, but as long as Hongbin was entertained and seemingly enjoying himself, he felt he didn’t need to understand. He was perfectly happy just trailing after Hongbin and watching his antics.

Eventually, Hongbin seemingly got bored of his game, though, deciding he’d rather go back up onto the wide expanse of grass. There wasn’t much to do there, though, other than run around, and eventually Hongbin stopped to observe something in the distance. It took Taekwoon a moment to realize what it was, but it all became clear when the first colourful kite flew up a few meters before crashing back down. A second followed it up, without falling back down, as well as a third, and a fourth, along with the first, which also began it’s ascend without coming back down immediately.

“You want to play with a kite, too?” Taekwoon wondered after a moment of watching the children, and Hongbin nodded softly.

“We should buy one, then, when we get back home. For next time.”

Hongbin’s face lit up again, and Taekwoon smiled happily to himself. One day, he was sure of it, he would see a real smile from Hongbin, but until then the way his expressive face lit up in that way that was most likely unique to Hongbin would more than suffice.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Hongbin deemed he had watched the children and their kites long enough, and decided to make a game for himself of what he could find. Taekwoon couldn’t really discern what it was Hongbin was chasing, or what other logic his short runs and sharp turns followed, but that was ok with him, too.

The wind picked up eventually, the temperature dropping, and the children packed up their kites again. Hongbin, having found that more and more people were leaving the park, and consequently leaving behind more room without people, expanded his runs, seemingly chasing the wind.

Taekwoon simply watched with a fond smile. Hongbin seemed to have fun, and he certainly got to burn a lot of pent up energy. It didn’t even get boring watching him run around and making sharp turns, coming back to Taekwoon’s side just to dart off in another direction, and so on. It was only when Hongbin made the way over the gravel path and down the short incline to the water line again that Taekwoon decided to actually follow him.

Hongbin had almost completely caught his breath again by the time Taekwoon reached his side.

“Tired yet?” Taekwoon asked, but Hongbin shook his head.

“No. I haven’t seen any fish yet.”

Taekwoon had no idea where that statement came from, given Hongbin had been running around with seemingly not a single care in the world just minutes ago. Now, however, he was crouched by the waterline, trying to peer through the ice in search of fish. After a moment, though, he got up, walked a few steps, and crouched down again.

Taekwoon could see how Hongbin’s beanie moved a little as he turned his ears forward, focusing his hearing on the spot he was observing, too.

He got up again, walked a few steps, and crouched once more. It was then Taekwoon noticed the way his tail was flicking under the edge of his jacket.

“Hongbin… what are you doing?” He asked eventually. Hongbin’s gaze barely flickered away from the ice as he answered.

“Maybe the fish don’t like the other spots, and that’s why they don’t go there. But maybe I’ll find a spot they like and where they all come together.”

Well, that at least explained him changing spots.

“And why do you want to see the fish so badly?”

Hongbin shrugged lightly, looking up for a moment longer and even in Taekwoon’s direction this time.

“They are funny.” He answered, and Taekwoon had nothing to reply. He might not find fish particularly funny, but if Hongbin did, then that was a legitimate reason.

Hongbin didn’t get bored of staring at the ice for a long while, but eventually even he lost his patience. He got up with a sigh, walking back to Taekwoon’s side.

“Maybe there are no fish…” He sounded a little dejected.

“Maybe they are all in the middle of the river, where there is no one watching them.” Taekwoon suggested, and Hongbin shrugged.

“Maybe... It’s cold.” He changed subjects abruptly again, and had Taekwoon not slowly been getting used to it by now, he would surely have gotten whiplash.

“It is. Want to go back?” he agreed instead, but Hongbin didn’t seem entirely happy about his question.

“Hmm… maybe slowly?”

Taekwoon was fine with that, stepping out of the way to give Hongbin room to start leading the way.

Hongbin started past Taekwoon, staying near the waterline. He barely made it a single step, though, before he lost his footing on the frozen, muddy edge, starting to slip.

Instinctively, Taekwoon reached out at the same time as Hongbin. He managed to catch him, too, while Hongbin’s hands bunched in the front of his coat, yet the cracking noise accompanied by a wet squelching sound told Taekwoon that at least part of Hongbin had broken through the ice.

Hastily, Hongbin scrambled to regain his footing, but he didn’t let go of Taekwoon immediately once he was securely on his own two feet again.

“My foot is wet…!” His voice came out in almost a whine, and Taekwoon couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

“At least it’s just your foot…”

Hongbin pouted, looking down at his foot sadly.

“Are you ok, though?” Taekwoon asked, mildly concerned when Hongbin still didn’t let go of where he was holding onto him tightly. It was then Hongbin realized what he was doing, and slowly let go of Taekwoon again.

“Can we go home?” He asked, sounding defeated, and Taekwoon nodded.

“Of course. You don’t want to stroll back slowly along the water anymore?”

Hongbin shook his head, and Taekwoon shifted to stand in front of him that way, instead freeing the way up the incline again. Hongbin started in that direction without any protest, leading the way back to the parking lot with a look of utter betrayal and some disgust on his face.

As soon as they reached the car, Taekwoon unlocked the doors for Hongbin to clamber in.

“You can take your shoe and sock off, if you want. So your foot doesn’t get any colder.” Taekwoon suggested, but Hongbin shook his head, clipping his seatbelt into place and taking up position to look outside the window for the duration of the drive home before Taekwoon even started the car.

Hongbin remained silent again on the way back home, and once again waited for Taekwoon to get out first before he followed him. Once inside the house, though, he was quick to climb the stairs ahead of Taekwoon, and when Taekwoon caught up to him at their front door, Hongbin had already taken off his wet shoe and sock as he waited on the doormat.

“You should go and wash up.” Taekwoon commented once he let them in, and he could practically feel Hongbin’s mood dropping.

“Come on… You ran around a lot and sweated, and your foot got all muddy with the gross river water. You’ll feel better after washing up, I promise.”

Hongbin pouted visibly again, and Taekwoon rolled his eyes fondly.

“Now you’re just being dramatic. I know you know I’m right…!” He teased, and Hongbin turned away with a huff, almost stomping down the hallway to the bathroom. That was all Taekwoon needed as confirmation that he was right, and he shook his head with even more fondness as he made his way to the kitchen to prepare some snacks and tea for them.

It took a while before Hongbin reappeared, still sulking mightily and thus confirming to Taekwoon that he had most likely really taken the time to wash up properly this time.

“Did you wipe down the counter and floor after you were done?” Taekwoon asked when Hongbin came trudging into the kitchen again. Hongbin merely nodded, and Taekwoon gave him a grateful smile.

“Thank you. What do you say to snacks and tea?”

Hongbin’s eyes lit up, and Taekwoon handed Hongbin a platter with cut up fruit.

“You take this, I take the tea.”

Hongbin sauntered to the living room as if the inconvenience of getting a wet foot and having to wash up had never happened, his mood already soaring again at the mere sight of the grapes, tangerines and cut open apples in front of him.

Taekwoon followed him at a more moderate pace, balancing the full mugs of tea.

“Did you like it at the park? Minus getting the wet foot?” Taekwoon eventually asked, after Hongbin had cleared the plate of all the grapes; which took less than five minutes.

Hongbin looked up from the fruit, fixing a spot on the couch just next to Taekwoon as he nodded.

“Getting my foot wet wasn’t even that bad…” He admitted.

“Oh?”

Hongbin shook his head.

“It was cold, but not bad. And everything else was… So good that I didn’t mind getting a wet foot.”

Taekwoon laughed softly at that.

“Well, I am glad you had fun. I was worried there for a while that slipping and getting your foot wet would have ruined the day for you.”

Hongbin shook his head vehemently.

“It didn’t. Can we go again soon?”

Taekwoon hummed, nodding slowly.

“Only on weekends, though. And if the weather is good.”

Hongbin could accept that.

“And what about the other park?”

Taekwoon should have expected that; Hongbin wouldn’t easily forget about the park that promised a lot of trees and winding paths through vast expanses of terrain.

“We can go check it out shortly on Wednesday, maybe? If I can take the afternoon off. If we want to stay for longer, we’re going to have to fit it into weekends, too.”

“I don’t mind going for not long if we can go during the week and don’t have to wait for the weekend!” Hongbin was quick to assure, unsurprisingly. A twinge of guilt twisted in Taekwoon’s stomach at that, being once again reminded of how bored Hongbin must be on his own all week long.

Hongbin seemed completely oblivious to Taekwoon’s inner agitation, contently continuing to much on the fruit while Taekwoon stuck mostly to sipping his tea.

“When can we invite Jaehwan for dinner?” Hongbin asked suddenly, and Taekwoon was glad his tea wasn’t hot anymore, since his sudden question made him jump and spill some of the over his hand.

“I, uh… I’m not sure. You see, Jaehwan is always pretty busy. There’s always castings, rehearsals, meetings, stuff like that, long before he actually has to go on stage with his musicals. So… We’d have to invite him pretty soon if we want to catch him while he still has the time and isn’t busy every single evening or gone touring again.”

Hongbin thought about it for a while, precisely for exactly the time it took him to nibble his way through a slice of apple.

“I don’t mind if we invite him soon… The sooner the better, actually…” he concluded, then sat up straight as he remembered something else.

“Can we invite Hakyeon to come, too?”

“At the same time?”

“Yes?”

“No.”

Hongbin’s mouth fell open in surprise.

“Why not?!” Hongbin frowned, indignant.

Taekwoon sighed, shaking his head.

“Jaehwan is a lot to handle on any day, and Hakyeon can be, too. Still, alone, they’re manageable. Together, though… You never know what you are in for, and even I get overwhelmed half the times when those two are together. I really don’t think it’s a good idea to have them both over while you still don’t know them that well; or at all, in Jaehwan’s case.”

Hongbin didn’t like that answer, and he wanted to argue against it. The fact that Taekwoon admitted that his friends managed to overwhelm even him gave him pause, though. If Taekwoon was overwhelmed, then he couldn’t protect him in case something happened. And he couldn’t risk that. Not to mention that he didn’t want Taekwoon to be overwhelmed, because he knew that feeling intimately, and he didn’t like it one bit.

“So, just Jaehwan, then… But can we invite Hakyeon on another day?”

Taekwoon felt like he must be dreaming, for Hongbin to be so forward about meeting his friends again, when not too long ago he had been so opposed to the idea.

“Of course. Let’s just say not during this week, ok?”

*#*#*#*

To say Taekwoon was busy was putting it mildly. He’d already invested most of his Sunday in catching up on work for the week so he could take the Wednesday afternoon off with a clear conscience, but he was still swamped with work. Truthfully, it was his own fault for insisting he directed all the recordings of the group’s vocals for the songs he’d composed, and for going back a thousand times to tweak and twist little bits to make them perfect, but there was also other work he hadn’t loaded onto his own plate and that he had to get done, too.

“You could just come in Wednesday afternoon and take Friday morning off instead. That way you’d have two more days to work on those compositions for the musical team…” Hakyeon suggested as he watched Taekwoon get his lunch to go from the cafeteria, most likely to forget it on the edge of his desk once he took it back to his office.

“Absolutely not. I need that afternoon. The weather forecast is great, and I have to take the chance to take Hongbin to the hillside park. He’s going to completely take my apartment apart if I don’t find a way to tire him out. Taking him hiking is the best I can come up with right now.”

Jaehwan scoffed on his other side.

“You’ll be tiring yourself out first and foremost, the way I see it.”

Taekwoon shrugged.

“I could use the exercise, too, to be honest. And as long as Hongbin is happy…”

Neither Hakyeon nor Jaehwan looked happy with that, though.

“You work too much… Eunkwang should give you a raise, at the very least.” Jaehwan muttered, choosing some food for himself, too.

“It’s already in the works. And as soon as this week is over, I’m sending Taekwoon on vacation. One week, minimum.”

The three of them whipped around to see Eunkwang, Minhyuk and Sungjae standing behind them.

“You what now?” Taekwoon stammered, and Eunkwang gave him an apologetic smile.

“It’s partially my fault you got left alone with the whole composition for the musical team, and fully my fault I roped you into doing the whole album for Seesun. You’re getting a raise aside from the royalties, and next week off. I owe it to you, and Hongbin.”

Taekwoon thought he couldn’t trust his hearing.

“I, uh… That’s… That’s not even your job to decide that? And… Won’t you get into trouble for playing favourites with me since we are friends?”

Eunkwang huffed, shaking his head.

“Everyone under this roof can see how much you work, and everyone outside this company can hear the results! I have every right in the world to reward my employees for the work they put in. Hakyeon, pass me that chicken sandwich, please? The one with the extra lettuce.”

Taekwoon sighed, shaking his head, and went to step out of the queue to go back up to his office.

“As his boss, can’t you order Taekwoon to sit his down here at the cafeteria with us to eat rather than go straight back to work, where he will no doubt forget to eat?” Jaehwan grabbed Taekwoon’s arm, holding him back as he tried to walk past him, but Eunkwang shook his head.

“Like you said, I’m his boss, Jaehwanie. Not his mother.”

“Damn shame, that.” Jaehwan muttered as Taekwoon pried his arm out of his grip.

“Thanks, boss-” Taekwoon started, but was promptly interrupted by Eunkwang.

“As a friend, however, I feel inclined to tell you to sit your down here with us and at least only go back to work when you’re don eating, if you can’t wait until the end of the lunch break.”

Reinvigorated by Eunkwang’s words, Jaehwan latched on to Taekwoon’s arm again, dragging him with him to an empty table that would seat the six of them. Taekwoon made one more attempt at fleeing, but realized it was futile as he found Sungjae and Hakyeon blocking the way on his other side, too.

“I’m pretty sure it’s against some law to kidnap your employees and force them to take breaks when they have deadlines looming over their head.”

“It’s also against the law to work your employees to death, and I’m more concerned about that law than the other. Relax, for once, Taekwoon. I listened to your last five submission of the album: each and every single one of them was perfect! I’m so close to forbid you to tweak around any more on it. Actually, you know what: I’m forbidding it right now! It’s perfect, it’s done! I’m going to submit it for production right this instant!” He whipped his phone out, just to have Minhyuk cover his hand, lowering it again.

“We’re on break. Break goes for you, too. There is no reason why it can’t wait until after lunch!” He caught Eunkwang’s gaze in an intense stare-off, but Eunkwang relented quickly.

“Fine…”

Minhyuk sighed, finding a spot to sit next to Hakyeon.

“So, tell me, what’s it like to be a babysitter of two thousand six-hundred people?” Hakyeon asked with a smirk, and Minhyuk looked a mix between wanting to laugh, cry, and smack Hakyeon in the head. In the end, he decided against all three of those and went for a long-suffering eye-roll.

“I need a vacation, too…”

Taekwoon didn’t like that he couldn’t go over his tracks for the album again, he was sure there was at least one transition on that bonus track that he could even out, and he finally knew how, but on the other hand… If the album was out of his hands now, there was no use for him to keep worrying about it. He certainly didn’t feel like arguing with Eunkwang about it now, when Eunkwang was already busy arguing with Sungjae over something else.

“So, you said Hongbin wanted to invite me for dinner yesterday?” Jaehwan caught Taekwoon’s attention soon after they’d all found their seats and started eating. Taekwoon mumbled his confirmation around a mouthful of sandwich.

“I checked my schedule and I do have one free evening this week. It’s Wednesday, though. But that’s probably the last free evening I’ll have in the next two months.”

Taekwoon cursed internally; he would have cursed out loud, but alas, his mouth was still occupied by the slightly too large bite of his sandwich.

Hongbin would be so disappointed if he told him he would only be able to meet Jaehwan properly in two months’ time; he would also be disappointed if he told him they had to cut their hike in the hillside park short, though.

“So, I’m assuming you are planning on staying out with Hongbin until as late as possible to give him the time to properly tire himself out on Wednesday; am I right?” Jaehwan continued, taking advantage of Taekwoon’s mouth being too busy to answer yet. True to that, Taekwoon could only nod in answer.

“How about you just do that, and instead of you cooking for us, I come over when you are back and bring take-out with me? If Hongbin is up for visits by then, of course.”

That suggestion was so good, actually, Taekwoon found, that he momentarily forgot to chew. Once he remembered again, though, he hurried to free his mouth.

“That would… actually be amazing, Jyani. I’ll probably be dead on my feet when we come back, so not having to cook… You could very well be saving my life there!”

Jaehwan chuckled, shaking his head.

“And you all say I’m the dramatic one… So, it’s settled, then?”

Taekwoon nodded, mid taking another bite of his sandwich. He had to finish eating soon; even without the album to work on, he still had a lot to get done before Wednesday afternoon.

*#*#*#*

There were definitely more people around this park than there had been by the river the other day. Hongbin looked outside nervously, watching some people pass by where Taekwoon had parked the car.

“Take your time, we don’t have to get out just yet.” Taekwoon reassured Hongbin when he gripped the latch of the door a little too tightly without opening it.

“I want to get out. Just… Can you go first?” Hongbin near whispered, eyes not leaving the people walking past outside.

“Of course.”

As soon as Taekwoon stood outside, in front of the car, Hongbin found the courage to exit the car, too, hurrying to Taekwoon’s side.

“There will be less people on the paths in the hills.” Once again, Taekwoon reassured Hongbin, and Hongbin nodded gratefully.

“Can we go there?”

“That’s why we’re here.” Taekwoon smiled, starting to lead the way. He wasn’t surprised in the least to feel Hongbin hold on to the back of his coat tightly again, at least until they got out of the more populated area and started their way up one of the smaller paths into the hills. And still, even there, Hongbin stuck to Taekwoon’s side like glue, even if he let go of his coat eventually. It didn’t help that the path was narrow but there were still other people using it.

The first time they encountered someone else coming down towards them, Taekwoon half expected Hongbin to bolt. He’d already let go of his coat by then, but upon seeing the jogger approaching, he jumped to cling on to Taekwoon’s coat again so fast he almost shoved Taekwoon. He stood so close behind Taekwoon, Taekwoon thought he could feel his breath against his neck.

“It’s ok, Hongbin. He won’t do anything to you. He probably barely registers we are here.”

Hongbin didn’t seem to believe him; not until the guy had run past them without sparing them another glance where they squeezed to the edge of the path to let him through. Still, it took a while for Hongbin to let go of Taekwoon’s coat again as they continued climbing.

They encountered quite a few more people, and while Hongbin didn’t cower in fear anymore every time they met someone after a while, he still clung to Taekwoon until they were gone.

Eventually, they were far enough up in the hills, and in a more secluded area where the trees grew closer together and the view wasn’t as good, for there to be barely any people whatsoever, and none close to them. Only there did Hongbin finally relax and dared to walk a few steps ahead or behind Taekwoon, exploring the area little by little.

They found a small stream coming down the mountainside which Hongbin had a blast doing some daring jumps over, always risking getting his feet wet or slipping on the edges and leaving Taekwoon nervous every time he almost fell, and some fallen trees Hongbin decided he had to balance on until the very top-most branches that looked like they would crumble with the next gust of wind, never mind hold under the weight of a whole grown hybrid boy.

Miraculously, no accidents happened, and Taekwoon wasn’t sure if it was due to dumb luck or Hongbin’s skills. What he was sure of, by the time it started to get dark and they found their way back to his car, was that most of his exhaustion was due to worrying about Hongbin getting himself hurt rather than the hike in itself.

Hongbin seemed blissfully tired, too, if the way he almost snuggled into the passenger seat instead of sitting up to watch the world outside was any indication.

“You remember we invited Jaehwan over for dinner tonight, right?” Taekwoon asked as he started the car. Hongbin nodded.

“Are you still ok with that? Can I tell him to come over?”

Again, Hongbin nodded, and Taekwoon took the time to send Jaehwan a short message giving him the go ahead.

“Can we come here again? It’s more fun than by the river.” Hongbin asked when Taekwoon set his phone aside, getting ready to pull out of the parking lot.

“Of course. We can even bring some food from home and make a picnic out of it sometime, so we can stay longer; on a weekend day, that is.”

Hongbin’s expression lit up at that.

“With grapes?”

That was a random thing to ask about the prospect of a picnic in the hillside park, but Taekwoon was quickly learning not to question Hongbin’s seemingly random questions. And if it was the thought of eating grapes in the hills that got Hongbin excited, who was Taekwoon to judge.

“Sure.” He shrugged, and the look of contentment that relaxed Hongbin’s features was more than worth it.

For once, when they got home, Hongbin didn’t dart ahead on the stairs, making it to their front door by the time Taekwoon finished climbing the first set, but stayed a mere single set in front of Taekwoon instead. And it was for the best, since apparently Jaehwan had beat them there, and Hongbin nearly had a hear attack when he stumbled off the staircase into the hallway, just to see someone standing at their front door.

With an undignified squeak, Hongbin his heels and almost barreled into Taekwoon, who was still on the stairs.

“There’s someone at the door!” Hongbin rushed out, jumbled together, as he positioned himself behind Taekwoon, once again clinging to his coat.

Taekwoon had a suspicion it was Jaehwan, but he made sure to confirm it before telling Hongbin as much. Hongbin relaxed a little, but didn’t let go of Taekwoon’s coat just yet.

“Hey. Have you been waiting for long?” Taekwoon greeted with a smile, and Jaehwan returned a beaming smile of his own.

“No, I got here not five minutes ago. Did you guys have fun?”

Taekwoon hummed in answer, nodding.

“Yeah, I did.” He purposefully answered only for himself, giving Hongbin room to answer for himself if he chose to. Hongbin did, actually, though only with a nod.

“Well, that’s nice. I hope you’re hungry after your adventures, because I swear they made the portions extra big this time around at the restaurant. This is actually getting heavy!” Jaehwan lifted the bag he was carrying to demonstrate it.

“You’re just getting weak…!” Taekwoon teased, motioning for Jaehwan to step aside so he could open the door and let them in.

Hongbin was the first to slip in, barely a blur in Taekwoon’s eyes as he moved. He was quick to take off his outerwear and shoes, too, but instead of darting to his room, like Taekwoon half expected him to, he moved to go to the living room instead.

Jaehwan gave Taekwoon a questioning look, one which Taekwoon could only answer with a silent shrug. They followed Hongbin at a more moderate pace, and when Taekwoon eventually stepped into the living room, too, he saw why Hongbin had gone ahead as he was finishing gathering some sheets of paper they had used the evening before to practice Hongbin’s writing and that were still littering the coffee table and floor next to it.

“Ah, I completely forgot about that. Thanks, Hongbin. Want to help me get some cutlery and cups from the kitchen?”

Hongbin nodded, quickly stowing the pages he was holding in the folder they kept in the shelf under the coffee table before hurrying over to Taekwoon’s side.

“Are we not… plating the food in here?” Hongbin asked quietly while Taekwoon was taking the cups and utensils out to have Hongbin bring them over to the living room.

“No. We’re eating take-out, it’s basically already plated.”

Hongbin hesitated, frowning.

“So… no plates?”

Taekwoon shook his head, wondering for a moment what it could be that was bothering Hongbin, before it dawned on him.

“Of course, you can put what you want on a plate for yourself, and take it to eat wherever you want. You don’t have to sit with us if it makes you uncomfortable.”

Hongbin shrunk a little on himself, releasing a shaky breath.

“I just… I’m not good with…” He stared down at the assortment of chopsticks and forks Taekwoon had put in one of the cups to make carrying them easier.

Taekwoon hummed understandingly.

“You’ll be fine, I promise. I know you’re not confident about using these yet, but you are doing great. And Jaehwan won’t judge you. For one, he’ll be too busy focusing on his own food, and then… He makes a much bigger mess every time than you ever have, and he’s been using chopsticks all his life.”

Hongbin almost met Taekwoon’s gaze, looking incredulous and surprised.

“It’s the truth! You’ll see.”

Hongbin wasn’t sure if he could really believe that, but would Taekwoon lie to him to make him feel better if he could so easily check if he was really telling him the truth? That didn’t make sense, so that left him with the only possible conclusion that he was telling the truth, and that Jaehwan wouldn’t judge him if he ate with him and Taekwoon in the same room, where they could see him.

“Will you still sit between us?” He didn’t think Jaehwan looked particularly menacing or like a threat in any specific way, but he really wanted the reassurance of having Taekwoon sitting between them.

“Of course.”

Hongbin waited while Taekwoon gathered some juice and water bottles to bring over, not daring to go ahead into the living room alone. He still led the way when Taekwoon was ready to follow him. As soon as he stepped past the doorframe he stopped abruptly, though, causing Taekwoon to almost walk into him. He felt his blood freezing in his veins as he watched Jaehwan study a sheet of paper that he must have forgotten to put away.

Jaehwan seemed oblivious to his sudden inner turmoil as he looked up from the page with a kind smile that went over Hongbin’s head.

“Did you write this? It’s not Taekwoon’s handwriting…”

Hongbin found himself nodding automatically, and Jaehwan gasped softly.

“Wow…! Your handwriting is so neat! Didn’t you start to practice writing only recently? It already looks way better than Taekwoon-hyung’s ever could!”

“Hey! Yours doesn’t look much better than mine when you’re not trying!” Taekwoon half whined from behind Hongbin before stepping out to walk around him.

“Yeah, but yours looks like chicken scratch even when you try!” Jaehwan needled on, and Taekwoon shot him a dirty glare that only made Jaehwan giggle.

“Anyway, Hongbin’s handwriting looks amazing. I bet you could draw really well, too. Have you ever tried?”

Hongbin realized a little too late that Jaehwan was talking to him again, jumping slightly when he realized and hastily shook his head.

“Hmm, ok. Try it sometime, you might like it. If you ever want to learn any tricks and hacks, I’ll gladly teach you.”

It was then Hongbin realized…

“You drew the alphabet and numbers for me…” He whispered, only realizing he had said that out loud when Jaehwan answered.

“I did. Taekwoon told me you really liked them?”

Hongbin nodded hastily.

“Taekwoon got me frames for them, so they don’t bend or tear…”

Taekwoon hummed, nodding to himself as he put the cups and utensils he had since retrieved from Hongbin -almost without him noticing it- out in front of each of their seats.

“Hongbin didn’t want to use them for learning at first because he didn’t want to ruin them.” He added to Hongbin’s statement.

Jaehwan cooed.

“Aww, that’s so sweet! I’m glad you like them that much. Have they helped you any?”

Hongbin nodded again, and finally came out of his frozen stance, making his way over to his spot on the pillows on the floor while answering.

“Yes. They helped a lot. I… I think I could only learn numbers because of the drawings…” He admitted shyly.

“Oh, I’m sure you would have learned them without the drawings, too! Anyone who has learned to write so nicely after such a short time must be quite clever. But I’m glad I could help. Do you like fried chicken, Hongbin?” Jaehwan switched topics suddenly, and while Taekwoon felt a little dizzy from the sudden change of topic coming from the opposite direction of the one he had been getting used to them coming from, Hongbin didn’t seem to mind at all, nodding in answer.

“Good! I brought a bunch of different stuff because I wasn’t sure what you liked, but now I can stop stressing, knowing you like at least one thing I got!” With that, Jaehwan completely forewent any utensils and picked up a piece of chicken, promptly dropping a few breading crumbs on his lap as he bit into it.

Hongbin watched wide-eyed and fascinated while Taekwoon only groaned softly and chucked a wad of napkins at Jaehwan.

“Ooops, sorry! I promise I won’t get any on your couch, hyung!”

“Too late…” Taekwoon sighed, but he couldn’t say he was in any way surprised, nor upset; merely resigned, and maybe even a bit grateful, since Jaehwan’s messy eating seemed to help Hongbin feel instantly more at ease.

“Just take what you want, Hongbin. You can try everything, and don’t worry about eating too much of anything. The way I see it, there will be leftovers even if all three of us decided to eat from only one thing…”

If Hongbin was being honest, he thought the same, but he still tried to be as subtle as possible about taking food for himself, and only from the containers closest to him. Miraculously, the containers seemed to change place quite often, so he managed to try a bit of everything, and soon enough he felt full and content, while Taekwoon and Jaehwan were still eating and conversing. He’d been trying to follow their conversation most of the time, but he was sure he barely understood half of what they were talking about. More and more often, he found himself tuning them out in favour of focusing on his food, but now that he was done, he simply tuned them out and focused on nothing in particular. Focusing was hard, anyway, especially with how tired he felt from their long hike in the hillside park, and now he was full and warm and content, and focusing didn’t really sound appealing at all.

Before any of them realized, Hongbin’s head sunk onto the couch cushions half behind, half next to him, and he dozed off.

It must have been much, much later when Hongbin eventually woke up again.

He was no longer leaning against the couch but lying comfortably on his assortment of pillows that had been arranged to form a pallet on the floor. His own favourite blanket covered him, and the lights were dimmed. All traces of their take-out feast were gone from the coffee table, and the apartment was completely silent.

Hongbin held his breath to listen extra carefully once he’d taken a superficial inventory of his surroundings; if he really focused, he could hear Taekwoon’s deep breaths from his bedroom, but those were the only other noises aside from the beating of his own heart he could make out. Where was Jaehwan?

He got up quietly, checking the kitchen first, then inched through there to the hallway to check the shoe rack by the font door. Jaehwan’s shoes, along with his jacket, were gone. He must have gone home.

Still, Hongbin was careful as he checked the rest of the apartment for traces of Jaehwan, but found none.

He felt weird when he went back to get his blanket to bring it back to his room with him. Had he really fallen asleep with Taekwoon and Jaehwan in the same room earlier? With a complete stranger so close to him? Granted, he was one of Taekwoon’s closest friends, but… Still! How careless of him!

Thankfully, nothing bad had come out of that. At least, not yet. But, would Taekwoon have gone through the trouble of making him a pallet on the floor, getting his blanket and making sure he lay comfortably if he wanted to reprimand him for his carelessness? He doubted it.

Still, he wasn’t really happy with having been so careless. He must really have been tired, to do that… In fact, he was still incredibly tired, and he couldn’t wait to snuggle into his bed and get some more sleep. All that climbing and jumping and balancing earlier had really tired him out. He had really gotten out of shape, it was almost ridiculous. He definitely needed to work on that, but Taekwoon had agreed to take him to the parks as often as possible, so he at least had a chance to do that. He simply needed to make the most out of each visit. For now, though, he was more than happy to let all the tension he had seep out of every single muscle he had, melting into his mattress and blankets and sinking back into slumber.

----

A/N: Oof, it's been a while again, huh? 

So, here is the second boring (in my opinion) chapter. With the next one, the story should be picking up quite a bit, and I'm hoping I'll be once again much more excited to write this, and updates won't take quite as long.

Thank you everyone for being so patient with me :) You're the best!