Requested by: Appreci8the8

Pairing: Junhao

Author: Castor

Started: 07/05/17

Finished: 07/05/17

Request:

Pairing: Junhao

Author: Castor

Genre: fluff, romance, slice of life?

Plot: Jun, a single father, decides to play hide-and-seek with his son in the park. It's a good idea until he realizes he can't find his son. Luckily for him, Minghao is a responsible -and single- adult who is more than willing to help. Did I mention single?

A Day in the Park

“3, 2, 1. Ready or not, here I come!” In hindsight, Jun should have known better than to play hide and seek with his son in the park. But that was in hindsight. “Ethan? Ethann, where are youuu?”

Stealthily creeping around the playground, he made sure to check behind each plastic climbing wall and poke his head into each slide. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a familiar tuft of raven hair hiding behind a bush. Grinning, Jun tiptoed over. “Peek-a-boo, I see-”

Shocked brown eyes stared back at him, tears threatening to form. That was not his kid. Quickly backpedaling, Jun gave a string of apologies before plopping down at one of the benches. Scanning the park, Jun still didn’t see his son. There was no familiar giggle from behind any of the trees and he didn’t see the “My dad is Superman!” shirt on the grass field.

“Ethan? You won, come out now please. Ethann.” Mouth set in a worried frown, Jun decided to look around one last time before calling the police. Quickly striding past the playground to the picnic area and on, Jun called out, “Ethan? You win, okay? Come out so we can play a different game. You like tag, right? Let’s play tag instead. Ethann-” He noticed that some other adults were staring at him but he kept walking. “Ethann-”

“Um, sir? Excuse me.”

Jun turned around. Curls of light brown hair above flushed cheeks offset by pale skin. The poor man was still trying to catch his breath as if he had run after Jun. “Uh, yes? Sorry, I don’t think I-”

“Ethan, right? That’s your son’s name? Wearing a ‘My dad is Superman!’ t-shirt?”

Jun’s eyes widened and he grabbed the man’s hands on instinct. “Yes! Did you see him?”

The man nodded and Jun breathed a sigh of relief, “Where-”

“He’s at the pool playing with my nephew.” He disentangled his hands from Jun’s. “Walked up to me about ten minutes ago saying he needed to go to the bathroom but couldn’t find you.”

Mentally berating himself for walking around while Ethan was supposed to be hiding, Jun let his heartbeat calm down back to normal as he let the other man lead him toward the pool. “I’m really sorry about that. We were playing hide-and-seek and I must have wandered too far while I was counting. Name’s Jun by the way, Wen Junhui. Thank you so much for helping him.”

“Xu Minghao.” Minghao awkwardly shook Jun’s hand as they walked. “It’s not a problem. They seem to get along well.”

As they got to the pool area, Jun could see what he meant. Ethan was laughing as he splashed around in the shallow end with a boy around his age, hide-and-seek with his father long forgotten.

“Ethan!”

He looked up and seeing his dad, waved happily. “Hi, dad.”

Jun grinned and walked over, crouching down at the edge so that small droplets of water landed on his shoes. “Hey, kid. What happened to hide-and-seek? You got me so worried.”

“But this is so much funner! Uncle Minghao even got us water guns, dad, look at this! Pew pew!” Ethan tossed his mini water gun into the air in delight before rushing off to engage in another water gun fight.

Jun laughed and imitated his son, “Pew pew! Go get ‘em, Ethan!” After watching another round of play fighting, he got up, walking to lean against the fence next to Minghao. The man had his arms crossed, expression slightly guarded, but Jun could see a fondness in his eyes as he watched the two boys splash around. “So Uncle Minghao, huh? Do you know how long it took me to just convince him to come play at the park. He likes you better than me.”

The man cracked a smile, “I’m more likeable.”

Jun gave him a gasp of mock hurt. “I’m a reporter, I have to be more likeable. Plus I’m on TV like all the time, so that’s like twenty points. And I can imitate Superman, so that’s ten points. Ethan likes it when I sing to him, thirty points. I leave him origami notes, add another thirty. I make great dad jokes, that’s got to be at least ten points.”

“I think dad jokes should be negative ten.”

“But they’re good dad jokes. And I’m handsome, which is a full hundred points.” Jun smirked and stared straight into Minghao’s eyes, as if daring him to say otherwise. Minghao simply returned his gaze. Gelled black hair above strikingly dark eyes, his facial features really were gorgeous. Not to mention the chiseled cheekbones, sharp jawline, and stunning smile that flashed his pearly whites. His easy-going confidence only made him more attractive. Minghao agreed, the man was definitely handsome, debonair even. But he wasn’t about to lose.

“What is that total? Like a two hundred points?” There was a glint in Minghao’s eyes. “Well...I can rap, which is more popular now, so forty points. I got him a water gun, that should be like twenty. He calls me Uncle Minghao, ten points. That’s seventy so far.” He paused before continuing. “Does Ethan like video games?”

Jun nodded, “All types.”

“I code and do game design for a start-up, so that’s thirty points. And we’re working on virtual reality games, so another thirty. Gets me to a hundred thirty. And-” He grinned and Jun knew what was coming next, “I’m handsome, which is a full hundred points. Two hundred thirty, do I win?” Piercing eyes and a quirky smile, Jun had to agree, the man was very likeable. And very interesting.

“I make the best blueberry pancakes. That’s got to be at least another thirty points.” Minghao laughed, uncrossing his arms, and Jun held out his hand for a handshake. “Truce?”

“Truce.”

This time, as they stood against the fence, watching the two boys fake attacks on imaginary underwater castles, Minghao’s stance was open and relaxed. Jun took note and leaned in slightly. “So what’s your nephew’s name? Is he also in first grade?”

“His English name is Jerry. Typical, I know. And no, he’s in second but he really acts like he’s in first. My sister is out of town today so she asked me to watch him.”

Minghao’s eyes crinkled slightly as he followed Jerry’s sudden dive, and Jun smiled. “Do you have any kids of your own?”

He shook his head. “Oldest sister is the only one out of me and my siblings who’s married. I imagine it’d be lovely though.”

“It’s...interesting.” Jun laughed, “There’s some days where he’s wonderful and the other days are just trips to the doctor, trips to the grocery store, trips to the zoo, trips to the bathroom, you get my drift. But come on, handsome guy like you, good with children, works in the tech industry so flexible time schedule? There’s no way you don’t have a girlfriend.” He paused at the uncomfortable expression on Minghao’s face. “Or boyfriend. I respect that, too.”

Minghao looked away, “Um, no. I work from home but no, not at the moment.”

Jun grinned and pushed a bit, “So you're not taken? Lucky me.”

He got an incredulous half glare in response. “As charming as you are, I really don’t think Ethan’s mother would approve-”

“Ah,” Jun’s grin faltered slightly. This happened quite a bit. “She’s not exactly in his life. The thing is, we were never going to get married or anything, but she broke up with me when I came out as biual, and then dropped by out of the blue and left Ethan with me a month of so after she gave birth to him. Said she couldn’t keep him.”

“Oh,” Minghao bit his lip, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” The grin reappeared so easily on Jun’s face, Minghao wasn’t surprised that he worked in an entertainment related industry. He really was charming. “I don’t regret it. Ethan’s wonderful. And besides, if you want children, we could always share. I'm sure Ethan would love a second dad.”

Jun burst out laughing and Minghao soon joined him. “Are you always like this? Hitting on random guys you meet at the park?”

“Hardly.” Jun winked at him, “You’re special.” Minghao hid a blush and Jun continued, “In all seriousness, my boss wants me to take on some more stuff at work, so I’ll be home less often. I don’t want to leave Ethan home alone in the afternoons, so I'm looking for a babysitter and it looks like he really likes you. Two hundred and thirty points, right?”

Jun grinned wide, his expression hopeful. It was a great plan. “You said you work from home, so you could probably work from my home as well. Ethan doesn’t really need much, just make sure he doesn’t stick a fork into the outlets, etc.” And it would give Jun more time to hit on Minghao, i.e., the core of the plan. Of course, he did really need someone to babysit Ethan, but- “I think I can afford to pay you a reasonable wage.” Part of that could include eating dinner together. “What do you say?”

Minghao looked at Jun. He looked at Ethan and Jerry playing together in the pool. He opened his phone and scrolled through his calendar. He looked back at Jun, eyes crinkling. “You’re quite persistent.”

Jun’s grin grew. “I am. How about coffee Saturday morning?”

“I don't really do coffee dates.” Minghao smirked, seemingly issuing a challenge.

Two could play the game. Jun pulled out his phone and opened a new contact. “To talk logistics, of course. Medical stuff, hours, very boring stuff. Nothing date-like at all.”

Minghao grinned and did the same. “You said Saturday?”

“Saturday.”

Jun gave Minghao his phone and the two exchanged numbers. Minghao pocketed his phone after, staring at Jun pointedly, “I’ll call you.”

In hindsight, Jun wondered if playing hide-and-seek was the best decision he had made in a while. They shook hands. “Deal.”