Bobby was practically dancing on air by the time he made it home, tempted to try running up the side of the building and bursting into his apartment through the window. He felt certain he could make it. But they said that love made you feel crazy things, and he'd never felt crazier before in his life.

He managed to restrain the wildest of his feelings as he chose the more realistic route of the elevator and tried to maintain a calmer expression on his face. He greeted his parents with a smile when he walked in the door (a complete opposite picture of the worried frown he'd worn when he'd left) and he tried to evade his mother's questions about it. She could sense that he was overjoyed about something, but she let him go when he said he had to talk to Jinhwan about homework. He felt bad lying to her, but he needed to ramble about everything and he'd didn't feel comfortable saying certain things in front of her.

He bounced down the hall to Jinhwan's room, not bothering to knock before barging in. Jinhwan was on his bed and looked up in surprise at Bobby's entrance, but when he took in the excited expression on his face he put his phone down and braced himself. Bobby flopped down next to him, no regard for whatever he'd interrupted, but Jinhwan didn't look upset.

Bobby met his eyes, spurred on by the warmth in Jinhwan's expression. “It finally happened!”

Jinhwan wasn't sure what specifically Bobby meant by it, but he knew it had something to do with Hanbin. Jinhwan hadn't seen him this bouncy in a while, not since he and Hanbin had first started dating. It was cute.

“What finally happened? The aliens from your home planet made contact?”

Bobby didn't even bat an eyelash at the teasing, instead he laid his head down on Jinhwan's chest and flung an arm over him. “You'd be proud of me, actually.”

Definitely had to do with Hanbin, then, and Jinhwan was willing to bet his future in jiu jitsu on it being that Bobby had finally come clean to Hanbin about his feelings. Bobby had been in a terrible funk the past two days, always on edge and freaking out over nothing. His complete change in demeanour made it obvious. “Wow, high praise for yourself. Don't leave me in the dark.”

“I talked to Hanbin about everything,” Bobby started, pleased when Jinhwan pulled off his beanie to run his fingers through Bobby's hair, “I told him all of it, about how all the stupid made me jealous, and how I think he could do better than me. Just everything that's been in my head lately.” Bobby hadn't necessarily told Jinhwan about all of it, but Jinhwan knew him and had probably come to the conclusion that Bobby was having some rough thoughts.

Jinhwan smiled as he scratched lightly at Bobby's scalp. “Did you really? I'm actually surprised, I didn't think you'd have told him all of it. That's pretty heavy for you.”

“Trust me, it felt like the hardest thing ever at the time.” Bobby closed his eyes, enjoying the head rub. It was a little like he was a dog and Jinhwan was petting him for a job well done. Bobby didn't mind. He thought he deserved the praise for facing his insecurities.

“I'm proud of you,” Jinhwan replied, and he wasn't just teasing him. “It takes a lot of guts to admit all of that to someone you like.”

“Not like,” Bobby replied, his words half muffled into the blanket, “love. I love him.” It was so weird to say the words out loud and mean them romantically. It was different than just agreeing to a statement that someone else made, because there was a weight to words.

“Love?” Jinhwan teased, even though he was happy to finally hear Bobby admit it in his own voice. “I can't believe you're saying it yourself. My little Jiwon is in love, this is so weird.” Bobby groaned and Jinhwan laughed at him, but he was happy that Bobby was finally comfortable enough in his feelings to admit it. But even though he was happy for Bobby, he was also a little jealous. Here was Bobby, finally letting himself get wrapped up in love and romance, ready to yell it to the world, while Jinhwan was instead trapped with his own future plans, couldn't even figure out how to broach the topic of his potential leaving in the spring.

Bobby didn't respond to Jinhwan's teasing, just laid there with his face pressed into Jinhwan's side. Even though he hadn't slept for the past two days and had spent those days mentally frayed, he still felt like he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, his brain buzzing with a million thoughts. As weird as it was, Hanbin blowing him wasn't even in the top ten. Instead he was just consumed with the knowledge that he was finally, honestly okay with everything.

Hanbin was impressive and near perfect, but he was Bobby's, and that made all the difference to him. He didn't feel insecure about being with someone who was, technically speaking, better than he was. Not anymore. They both understood each other better and Bobby felt like their connection was ten layers deeper now. It was worth being all giddy over.

“So does this mean you're over your funk now? I was getting worried about you.”

“Yeah, I'm good. I thought I was okay after dinner on Wednesday, but then I didn't sleep at all and well, you know how I overreact about when I feel defensive. Thanks for trying to help.” Bobby tightened his arm around Jinhwan, grateful for how close their friendship was. He hated to think about what sort of mess he'd be without him; probably still pretending to be straight.

“So, did you guys just have a talk? Or did something else happen?” Jinhwan knew the talk couldn't have been it, he knew Bobby too well. When Bobby didn't reply, Jinhwan knew he was right. “Come on, out with it. You're way too excitable for this to just be about a conversation.”

“He finally gave me a BJ,” Bobby admitted, aware of how ridiculous this must seem to Jinhwan. Bobby had never taken this long to get something from a guy before, and here he was, still giddy over a simple (that hadn't even been that good either, but everything was better when the person you were with was someone you loved).

Jinhwan rolled his eyes. “Wow, look at you, getting your . Who would have thought you'd be so excited over something so simple.” Jinhwan got it, though, and he thought it was cute. Bobby had been willing to wait until Hanbin was ready. It was like Bobby was, in all honesty, dating someone for the first time.

“Shut up,” Bobby groaned, “it was right on the bank of the Han too, made it even better.”

“Wait, he blew you where?” Jinhwan hadn't been expecting that bit of information.

Bobby grinned at Jinhwan's surprised tone. “He's got this little spot he found when he was a kid, under the bridge. He showed it to me tonight, told me about how he used to go there when he was a kid, figuring out how he felt about guys. It was really special, finding out about that side of him.” The more Bobby thought about it, the more he understood how important it must have been to Hanbin to tell him about all of that after being so let down with his ex. It was trust, and Bobby had never been the trustworthy type in his other relationships.

“You guys are honestly so cute you're disgusting,” Jinhwan teased, “but it's a good look on you, keep it.” He poked Bobby's cheek, grinning when Bobby swatted at his hand.

“Thanks for the words of support,” Bobby teased back, “sorry if I interrupted whatever you were doing, by the way. I just wanted to tell you about everything.”

Jinhwan smiled at the apology, but he also felt a little guilty. He'd been looking up admission requirements for the college in California Eric had told him about, going over everything he needed to do. Should he just tell Bobby about his plans? The others could wait until he knew for sure, but Bobby deserved to know, didn't he? But it might spoil Bobby's good mood, and Jinhwan couldn't do that to him. So he kept it to himself for now. He'd wait until his mom made a decision.

“I'm happy you were so intent on telling me,” Jinhwan replied, “makes me feel special.”

“It should,” Bobby shot back, moving until he'd wriggled himself half on top of Jinhwan, “you're a special person.”

Jinhwan knew he wasn't teasing, and as nice as it felt to hear Bobby be honest, it also made him feel guilty. Bobby was always like this, rushing to share exciting news with him, eager for his opinion and praise. In return Jinhwan was keeping his own secrets from Bobby, wasn't giving him the same back. But he was doing it to protect Bobby, that's all. No sense in spoiling the mood if it wasn't set in stone.

They talked for a bit longer, about Jinhwan's brown belt test, and Bobby's birthday gift for Hanbin, and eventually Bobby fell asleep, his head on Jinhwan's chest. Jinhwan didn't bother moving, he just switched off his lamp and pulled the blanket over the both of them. If he really was going to leave in the spring, then he wanted to take every opportunity to be close with his best friend as he could. It might all go poorly after all, and then he'd only have moments like these in his memory.

“Okay, you need to spill right now because I can't wait a second longer!”

Hanbin grinned at Donghyuk's request, enjoying the excitement. It was a stark contrast to Junhoe's annoyed expression, and Hanbin waited for the inevitable eye roll.

“Can we wait until after we eat? Not all of us want to hear about Hanbin's life.” Junhoe looked over the menu even though he already knew what he wanted to eat.

“Speak for yourself.” Donghyuk retorted with a snort.

“I am!” Junhoe replied. He actually didn't mind hearing about it, but if he didn't play up the disgusted card he felt like Hanbin might feel let down. It was an ingrained part of their friendship.

“Well you're outvoted, so I guess it to be you.” Hanbin replied with a grin.

“More like it to be you last night,” Junhoe replied, “I still think your standards are too low.”

“Clearly they are, since you're still my best friend.” Hanbin replied with a smile.

“So glad I dropped you as mine,” Junhoe replied, setting his menu down.

“I was never yours to begin with,” Hanbin responded, looking at Donghyuk, “I always came second to his mirror.” Donghyuk laughed, which made Hanbin and Junhoe laugh too.

“Hey, that mirror's been with me my entire life,” Junhoe answered, grinning at the pair of them, “it's hard to find that kind of loyalty.”

“If the only loyalty you can find is from inanimate objects, clearly you've got some problems in your life that you need to address.” Donghyuk teased, and it sent them all giggling again.

The waitress came to take their orders and once she left Donghyuk dug for details again. “Okay, we ordered, so can we please talk about you and Bobby now? Junhoe can just go to the bathroom if he wants to protect his delicate ears.”

Hanbin met Junhoe's eye at the comment. Donghyuk still didn't know that Junhoe and Jinhwan were messing around together. Hanbin was having a difficult time keeping it to himself, but it was Junhoe's news to share. He was dying to tell Donghyuk, though.

So Hanbin met Junhoe's gaze, grinning playfully at him. “That's right, does Junhoe even know what a is?”

Junhoe rolled his eyes, tripped up already. “Dude, I had a in my mouth weeks before you did.”

“You WHAT?” Donghyuk interrupted, scandalized look thrown Junhoe's way. “When? Who? Why didn't you tell me?”

Hanbin kept his eyes on Junhoe, an innocent expression on his face to counter Junhoe's murderous glare. It really was far too easy to bait Junhoe into giving his secrets away.

Junhoe almost couldn't believe he'd fallen for it so easily (almost, because it happened so often that he really should be more careful when Hanbin knew a secret of his). He couldn't blame Hanbin for it either. Junhoe softened his expression and looked at Donghyuk. “Okay, listen, you can't say anything about it, right now Hanbin's the only one who knows.”

Donghyuk waved the concern off. “Who would I even tell? Your secret's safe with me.”

“Don't tell Yunhyeong hyung,” Hanbin teased the both of them, “he'd never let Junhoe hear the end of it.” Donghyuk blushed a little while Junhoe kicked Hanbin under the table.

“Leave Yunhyeong out of this,” Junhoe replied, “but definitely don't tell him.” Junhoe focused on Donghyuk then, hoping he wasn't making a big mistake. He still hadn't told Jinhwan that Hanbin knew. “It's Jinhwan hyung.” As soon as he said the name he was surprised by Donghyuk's laugh. “What? Why's that funny?”

“Well, he already thinks there's something going on between the two of you,” Donghyuk replied, Junhoe's panicked expression just making the whole thing funnier to him.

“What? Why? What did he say?”

“It was at the game, at halftime when you and Jinhwan conveniently disappeared to buy drinks.” Donghyuk relayed, and now he wondered if they'd gone out to do anything other than just buy drinks. Yunhyeong had told him not to mention the questions to Junhoe, but Donghyuk thought that Junhoe's revelation changed everything. “He just asked me if I thought anything was going on between the two of you. He said that you seemed so much nicer when Jinhwan was around, and that you always seemed to follow him all the time.”

Hanbin couldn't help his laughter, bursting into giggles and refusing to meet Junhoe's eyes. The fact that Yunhyeong had picked up on everything he'd noticed just made the whole thing better. Junhoe was probably raging internally at himself for giving so much away.

Junhoe was doing exactly that. He'd been determined to hide the identity of his partner from Yunhyeong as long as possible. Had he really given himself away so easily? Hanbin's laughter wasn't making it any better, nor was Donghyuk's. But it was his own fault, really, and he knew it.

“What did you tell him?” Junhoe asked, narrowed eyes on Donghyuk.

“It doesn't matter, it was all just conjecture!” Donghyuk replied, grinning at Junhoe's look of exasperation. He'd agreed with Yunhyeong, of course, and he'd have to confirm for him now, wouldn't he?

Junhoe glowered at the pair of them. Hanbin and Donghyuk knowing was one thing, but Yunhyeong was another. “Okay it's really not that funny, would you two quit laughing? It's embarrassing.”

“I'm sorry, it's just, I have a question,” Donghyuk said, grinning at Hanbin before looking at Junhoe.

Junhoe's expression darkened as he braced himself for whatever Donghyuk was going to ask. “What?”

“Since he's from Jeju, did it taste like oranges?”

Junhoe had to close his eyes and breathe deeply to combat both the irritation and the embarrassment. Donghyuk and Hanbin were giggling again, leaning against each other, and Junhoe just felt betrayed by the both of them.

“Ah, Dong-ie, that was amazing!” Hanbin complimented. “I can't believe I didn't make that joke myself.”

“Thank you, that's what I'm here for.” Donghyuk replied, smug expression on Junhoe's still irritated one.

“You guys are s.” Junhoe grumbled.

“Speaking of s, when's Jinhwan's black pig sausage gonna make an appearance in yours?” Hanbin barely managed to get the question out before he and Donghyuk were giggling again.

Junhoe was so annoyed with them he actually threw his water on them, but he ended up doing it just as the waitress walked by, and then he had to beg her with an apology and a promise to behave to save them from getting kicked out.

“That’s karma for not telling me earlier!” Donghyuk said after the waitress left them.

“I hate both of you.” Junhoe grumbled. The worst part of it all was that now he didn’t even have a drink left, and he wasn’t sure if the waitress would be in any sort of mood to bring him another. That’s what he got for being honest.
 

After spending almost two hours meeting Hanbin’s extended family and having dinner, they’re alone in Hanbin’s bedroom for the gift giving. Bobby felt weird about giving it in front of everyone, because he didn’t know if he’d be able to accurately explain it in front of them all. Hanbin’s parents didn’t mind, though, and dismissed them for a bit after dinner.

Bobby was grateful not just to do this alone, but also for the break. Meeting Hanbin’s aunts and uncles and one set of grandparents (his mom’s parents weren’t able to make it) had been more stressful than he’d told himself it would be. He’d been confident on his way over, but the confidence broke the second he walked into the apartment and saw a bunch of strangers’ eyes on him.

Hanbin had taken him around and introduced him, though, and to Bobby’s surprise everyone knew about him, and everyone greeted him warmly. Aside from his immediate family and his grandmother, he didn’t think that anyone in his family knew about Hanbin, not his name, much less his hobbies and activities. But Hanbin’s family had been all conversational with him, had tried to make him feel welcome and included.

But Bobby wasn’t the best with adults, and even though everyone had been nice, it was tiring. So the moment Hanbin shut the door behind them in his room Bobby flopped on the bed, exhausted.

Hanbin stood at his side and laughed, looked on him with sparkling eyes. “Was it really that bad?”

Bobby grunted a noise of assent. “Sure was.”

Hanbin was about to push him over to make room to sit down, but then thought better of it and instead laid himself over Bobby’s back. That seemed to do the trick, because a second later Bobby was rolling over to look up at Hanbin.

“Sorry for making you suffer through dinner with the extended family, but you did a good job.” Hanbin replied, kissing his chin.

“Ah, you’re worth suffering for.” Bobby teased back, cupping Hanbin’s face in his hands and pulling him closer for a deeper kiss.

“Wow, such a compliment, so romantic.”

Bobby grinned and wished they could just stay here for the rest of the night, but he knew they’d have to go back out soon. Besides, he still had to fulfill his promise to Hanbyul, which he’d gladly use as an excuse to take another break from talking to Hanbin’s family.

“Alright, get up so I can give you your present.” Bobby demanded, and Hanbin rolled off of him and eagerly sat on his bed. Bobby grabbed the bag from where he’d laid it, taking a deep breath before launching into his explanation. He’d done some research and had a whole speech planned out. Jinhwan had told him to write it out, otherwise he’d probably forget something, but Bobby hadn’t bothered. He wished he had now.

“Okay, so at first glance it doesn’t seem like much, but I picked this out for a few reasons.” He handed the bag to Hanbin, nerves prickling his gut. He remembered Jiun’s story about giving Jeeyoung the jewelry making class as a gift, and told himself that he was going to have just as much success with Hanbin. Because it wasn’t about the gift, but the meaning behind it. Hanbin would appreciate it.

“Go ahead and open it.”

Hanbin had been beyond curious about the gift ever since Bobby had asked him if he could give it to him in private. He’d promised him it wasn’t anything dirty, had said that his family wouldn’t be weirded out by it at all. So he opened the bag and removed the tissue paper, pulling the gift out.

It was a snapback, black with yellow lettering. There was a Wu-Tang logo on the back, while the front text read The Genius. Hanbin grinned, because whatever Bobby’s reasons for buying it were, GZA was his favourite member of the group, so it already suited him perfectly. He looked at Bobby expectantly. “I like it, now explain it.”

Bobby was surprised at how he felt at the moment, a little nervous about explaining it and even a little embarrassed. It was just because he wasn’t used to doing this, to explaining the meaning behind something.

“Okay, so first is the easy reason, we both like rap and Wu-Tang are legends. If you were anyone in Wu-Tang, you’d be GZA, the Genius. But I was reading more about him, and just thinking about how even though he’s a rapper, he’s done talks at big American universities, like Harvard. He’s just some guy making music and Harvard gets him to come in and give lectures. And he has that thing in New York, he uses music to promote science for kids, and I just think that’s really cool.” He paused, gauging Hanbin’s reaction.

Hanbin was clearly trying not to smile too wide, but Bobby could see the expression in his eyes, and it was excited and happy and touched. He felt a tiny bit of relief creep into his system. Hanbin got it. He understood what Bobby was saying with the gift.

“They did a study too, and out of all the American rappers, GZA’s got like, the second highest vocabulary in his lyrics. He’s wicked smart, and everyone just thinks he’s one of the best lyricists in the game because of it. It just makes me think about you, how even though you’re really smart, you still love hip hop, you’re super into it and it’s one of those weird things we have in common, that if people didn’t know us, they might not think of.”

Hanbin nodded, eyes glued on Bobby’s face as he spoke. He was honestly touched by the comparison, touched by the thought Bobby put into it. Because it was just a snapback, nothing special. But the thought it represented was monumental, especially after their talk on Friday night.

“I told you a few days ago about how I used to be really intimidated by how smart you are, how it made me feel like I wasn’t good enough for you. But I don’t feel that way anymore, now I’m just really proud that my boyfriend’s this super smart guy, who’s got this wicked bright future ahead of him. Like, whatever you decide to do, business or history or science, you’re gonna be amazing at it, you’re gonna be the best, and I want you to know that no matter what it is, I’m gonna be there with you. And I want you to tell me about it, even if it’s some crazy thing that I don’t understand, which it probably will be because you’re kind of a nerd and you like some nerdy stuff.” Bobby paused again, his heart beating fast, because this was it. The big stupid moment that he hoped he wasn’t going to up.

“But you’re my nerd, and I love you.”

Hanbin was pretty sure his heart probably stopped beating while he was listening to Bobby, he stopped breathing altogether. They were just words, but hearing them for the first time was every bit as magical as people said it was. It wasn’t really so much shock, because he knew that Bobby loved him, but there was a real difference in knowing something and hearing it said to you out loud.

He wrapped his arms around Bobby, snapback still clutched in one hand, and buried his face into Bobby’s neck, so dazed that he couldn’t even close his eyes or move his mouth. He just needed a moment to process it all.

Bobby felt like slumping into the bed in relief. He’d gotten through it all without ing it up, had looked Hanbin right in the eyes and told him exactly how he felt. He didn’t mind that Hanbin hadn’t said it back to him right away, because he was confident that Hanbin loved him too. He probably just needed a moment. Bobby had meant every word of it too, and he hoped Hanbin had picked up on all of it. Maybe it was a bit early to be talking about forever, but Bobby knew he wasn’t going to find anyone he’d ever love as much as he loved Hanbin.

Hanbin didn’t pull back for a few minutes, but as soon as he did he met Bobby’s eyes with a smile, leaning forward to kiss him.

“I love you too.” Saying the words himself felt just as great as it had felt to hear them, and he hoped they touched Bobby just as much.

Of course they did. As soon as he heard it from Hanbin, Bobby grinned and felt that same wild elation he’d felt on Friday night after their date. They were in love, and Bobby thought it was the best feeling in the entire history of the universe.

They sat together for a few minutes, cuddled tightly, neither of them speaking but just processing. Hanbin finally broke the silence.

“Do you really mean what you said?” He waited until their eyes met before clarifying. “About being there, in the future?”

Bobby had been waiting for him to ask, had been hoping the comment wouldn’t go unnoticed. He nodded, sure of his answer. “I meant it. I know it’s early, but I’m sure that’s what I want. You know what you want to do for your future, you have all of these ideas and plans, but the only thing I know about mine is that I want you to be in it.” He knew it was a weighty comment to make, the kind of comment that scared people.

It didn’t scare Hanbin, though, didn’t do anything except make him smile and get that excited gleam in his eyes. “Good.” Hanbin grinned and kissed him, couldn’t think of any other way to properly express how he felt about Bobby’s words. They meant the world to him, knowing that Bobby was actually invested in them, wanted them to be together for life.

It was the best birthday gift he’d ever received.

They didn’t spend long together after that because Bobby didn’t want to take advantage of the generosity of Hanbin’s family. This was a celebration for him, after all, and he shouldn’t be spending half of it tucked away in his bedroom. They returned to the living room and that was when Hanbyul made a beeline for Bobby.

“Oppa, can you draw me princesses now?” Bobby grinned at her question, but looked at Hanbin.

“Is it okay if we go do that?”

Hanbin nodded. “Okay, why don’t you go in the kitchen and sit at the table? It’ll be easier there.” Hanbin patted his sister’s head before she ran off to her room to get her supplies.

“You sure you wanna do this?” Hanbin teasingly asked him. He knew Bobby was probably glad for the opportunity.

“Absolutely, besides I promised her I would, and I can’t break the promise.”

“Alright, well, you go have fun. Good luck with her.” Hanbin gave him a quick kiss, right there in front of his whole family, before sending him off into the kitchen.

Bobby heard the laughs from the rest of them, but he felt good about it. Hanbin was willing to kiss him in front of them all. It was nice to feel so comfortable around all of them, it made Bobby that much more certain that they had a future together. Hanbin’s whole family was accepting him. He couldn’t possibly find anything better.

He pulled out two chairs at the table, bringing them close together. Hanbyul showed up then and climbed up into the chair next to him, depositing pencil crayons and paper in front of him.

“What kind of princess do you want? I’ve been practicing all week, just for you.” Bobby pulled some paper in front of him, reaching for the box of pencil crayons.

“I don’t know.” Hanbyul answered, apparently not picky.

“How about a princess that’s from the sun?” Bobby asked, because he’d toyed with some ideas with his dad. A sun princess could have some fantastic fiery hair.

Hanbyul nodded excitedly at the offer, kneeling on the chair to watch Bobby as he started drawing. He reached for a red pencil, sketching a quick outline of the body. “I’m going to make her red and orange, okay?” He asked, surprised when she opposed it.

“Why not purple?” She asked, pushing the colour towards him.

“The sun’s not purple.” Bobby replied.

“How do you know? Has oppa been to the sun?” Hanbyul asked him.

Bobby shook his head. “Well, no, but all the pictures we see look mostly orange. When you see it in the sky, is it purple?”

“Maybe it’s purple when you’re in space.” Hanbyul said, adamant on the colour.

Bobby didn’t think the picture would look the same with purple. “How about we make her body purple, and her hair red and orange? Because maybe the sun is purple, but what we see is only the sun’s hair.” He hoped the simple logic would appeal to her.

“Okay!” Hanbyul agreed, and Bobby used the purple crayon to shade in some bits of skin. He was going to make her dress yellow, but first he started on the hair, trying to evoke a sense of fire.

“Oppa are you and Hanbinnie oppa going to get married one day?” Hanbyul asked nonchalantly, like it wasn’t a big deal at all.

Bobby paused, pencil held in mid- as he stared at her. Why was she asking about marriage? What did she even know about it? Where had she heard about it? Did kids her age know what marriage was?

“Because in my stories when people love each other they get married. Like the princess always marries the prince who rescues her. Why aren’t there any books where the princess marries the other princess? Or maybe the prince can marry the prince. Do you know if there are books like that, oppa?”

Should he yell for Hanbin? Was this a conversation that he should be having with her? He remembered Hanbin’s explanation, though, that they wanted to raise Hanbyul with the expectation that being gay was normal. So Bobby should just treat it like it was normal, right?

“You know what, I haven’t seen any books like that, but there must be some, right?” He was still reeling over her question about he and Hanbin, though. Maybe she’d just forget she asked if he kept her talking about books. “Why don’t I try and find one for you, okay?”

Hanbyul smiled at his answer. “Okay! Please find one for me, oppa.”

Bobby nodded and resumed drawing. “Okay, I’ll look everywhere, and I’ll find you all the books like that. I’m sure there’s lots of them.” There probably weren’t, but he’d find whatever did exist.

“I’m excited, I want to read about the princesses getting married. It would be so pretty! Two big dresses. Dresses are so pretty. Oppa why don’t boys wear dresses? Don’t you think they’re pretty?”

Bobby almost choked on air, he was so surprised at her question. Oh god, why now? Why when no one else was here? “Um, yeah, dresses are very pretty.”

“So, why don’t boys wear them too? Instead boys look very boring. They just wear black pants and white shirts. Everyone should wear dresses when they get married.” Hanbyul’s voice was very serious as she spoke, and Bobby wasn’t entirely sure what he should say in response.

“Oppa? When you marry my oppa, will you wear a dress? I think it would be very pretty.”

Oh god, what was he supposed to say? Could he turn her down without her feelings being hurt? Should he turn her down? Was this part of that normalizing behaviour her parents were doing? Was everything supposed to be normal? He didn’t want to say the wrong thing and confuse her.

“If you don’t want to, that’s okay. You can wear anything you want to wear. I’m going to wear a dress, not because I’m supposed to, but because I like them!” Hanbyul’s impassioned speech about clothing was making Bobby feel like he was in some alternate reality. It was just such a weird discussion, not at all the sort of things his younger cousins ever talked about. “I just don’t know why somebody would want to wear boring pants, when you can wear a pretty dress.”

“Maybe not everyone wants to be pretty?” There. That was safe, right?

Hanbyul paused then, staring in concentration at the paper, thinking hard. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t understand why, but maybe you’re right.”

Bobby swallowed around the lump in his throat, desperate for someone to come in and check on them and rescue him from Hanbyul’s non-stop questioning. He was worried about screwing up and saying the wrong thing that would contradict her parents’ teachings.

“Are you going to have a baby with my oppa?”

Oh GOD why wouldn’t her questions just stop?!

“I know where babies come from, you need a mom, but maybe a mom can have a baby for you? Did you know that some people think that these big birds bring babies? I don’t know why people would say that. They say the birds bring the babies, but babies come from inside their mom. What do they think happens? Does the bird put the baby inside the mom?”

Bobby couldn’t do anything except stare at her, his face blank with shock. What was happening? Why was she talking about all of this? All he wanted to do was draw her a few princesses. What was he supposed to say about any of this? He looked down at her, and she had such a look of confusion on her face.

“You don’t think birds bring babies, do you, oppa?”

Bobby shook his head. “Oh no, of course not.”

“Are people just dumb?” Hanbyul asked, and Bobby nodded.

“Maybe they are.” Hanbyul seemed to think about his answer. “Not everyone is smart, Hanbyul.”

“My mom told me that when I go to school, I shouldn’t talk about babies. My teacher might get mad. But if it’s right I should be able to talk about it. Maybe there will be kids who don’t know. I could help them.”

Bobby nodded again, his expression distraught. “You could help them.”

“I could. I’m smart, I know things.”

“Yes, you’re very smart. Just like your brother.” Hanbyul nodded in agreement before picking up a pencil and starting to draw her own princess. Bobby was still in shock about the question period, wondering if he was safe yet. Did Hanbin deal with this on a daily basis? Was she always like this, or was it just him?

They were interrupted then by Hanbin’s mother. Bobby turned to her, hoping she understood the distraught look on his face. He wasn’t sure if she’d heard any of their conversation, but judging by the look on her face he thought she probably had.

“How are two doing?” She asked, stopping by the table to look at Bobby’s drawing.

“I’m talking to Bobby oppa,” Hanbyul whined, “it’s our time together!”

Mrs. Kim just grinned though, catching Bobby’s eye and smiling. “I’m just coming in to get some more wine, sweetheart,” she leaned down to give her daughter a quick kiss before heading to the fridge. “I won’t be long.”

“Okay.” Hanbyul replied, sighing out loud.

After topping up her glass Mrs. Kim joined them at the table again. “Do you need anything? Bobby?”

Bobby met her eyes, his own slightly panicked. He mouthed the word help at her, but she just grinned back at him. “Your drawing is turning out very pretty, I’m very impressed.” She leaned down again to give Hanbyul another kiss before leaning in close to Bobby, patting him on the head and whispering in his ear. “You’re doing fine.”

She winked at him, and Bobby knew then that she’d been listening and that she approved of everything he’d said so far. Apparently she even trusted him to keep dealing with Hanbyul’s invasive questions. That made Bobby feel better, and he suddenly wasn’t so nervous about it anymore.

It was just he and Hanbyul again, but from then on her questions were only about princesses, and not about he and Hanbin.

Had Mrs. Kim heard the questions about marriage, too? Bobby knew that Hanbin had a much more open relationship with his parents than Bobby had with his own. Would she approve of them, long-term? They couldn’t legally get married in Korea, not yet, but maybe one day.

Maybe, if Bobby couldn’t find a book for Hanbyul with princes that got married to each other, maybe he’d get his dad to help him make one for her. And maybe he’d model the princes after he and Hanbin.

He’d make Hanbin’s prince wear the dress, though.