Daeyeol sighs for the umpteenth time that day, which earns him a comforting pat on the shoulder from his boyfriend slash assistant teacher. They both watch on as three preschoolers squabble in the playground.

"I want to play with Joochannie," the five-year old boy declares with a pout, stubbornly holding onto the boy's wrist with a rather strong grip.

"Hey, boys, stop that!" Daeyeol calls out, and then, quickly turns around and nods at Sungyoon to follow him in calming the situation down. 

"Ow, it hurts!" 

Joochan winces and tries to pull his arm from Donghyun's grip, scrunching his face in a frown. From the downcast eyes and trembling hands, Sungyoon can tell that Donghyun has been unintentionally hurt by those words. He holds his hand out and signals his boyfriend to just watch, before he steps in. 

"Mr Choi, tell Donghyun to stop! Joochan said he wants to play hide and seek with us!" Jibeom says angrily, trying to free Joochan from a now silent Donghyun. 

Sungyoon kneels down beside the children, and he gently places a hand on Donghyun's shoulder. 

Donghyun peeks up at the assistant teacher with unshed tears and a wobbly bottom lip, and resembling a kicked puppy. Both teachers internally coo at the cuteness of their student, whilst Joochan looks shocked and then, troubled. 

Sungyoon offers a kind smile, and reaches out to wipe his tears away with a clean handkerchief that he leaves in his pocket for his students. 

"Donghyun-ah, you like Joochan right?" 

The said student nods, and sniffs again. Sungyoon notes that he's avoiding looking at anyone other than the teachers. 

"That means you care for him?"

Another nod. 

"You see, Donghyun, this is hurting him right now. You can't do that, okay? You can only hold his hand gently, like this," the assistant teacher boldly locks his fingers with an unsuspecting Daeyeol, who splutters in shock whilst turning beet red. Sungyoon simply chuckles and adds: "but only if he wants to," At this, Donghyun's eyes widen and he quickly lets go of Joochan's wrist, as if he had just got burnt.

"Okay, all settled. You all can go play now," Daeyeol clears his throat and promptly takes his hand back. All three students stare, looking rather curious. Sungyoon snorts, and bends down to pat Donghyun's head, smiling fondly.

"Don't be upset, okay? You're a good boy." 

The preschooler smiles cutely, naturally showing off his eye smile.

Joochan feels uneasy as he watches the scene unfold with a tiny frown. He is so emotionally distraught by the sight that he doesn't even notice that Jibeom is talking until he feels a nudge from his friend.

"Come on, Jaehyunnie and Youngtaekie is waiting." 

"O-Oh..."

Joochan sneaks a glance at Donghyun, looking crestfallen when the said boy turns away instead of facing him, as he would usually do. "Donghyunnie..."

Feeling hesitant, Joochan takes a step forward and tries to reach for the latter, but he's left with an unsettling feeling in his chest when Donghyun avoids his touch. 

Instead, the smaller boy runs to Sungyoon and hugs one of his legs, shielding his face away from view. 

Sungyoon spots the sad expression on the child's face, feeling a sense of guilt for intervening earlier. He softly urges the boy to let go of his leg and sits him down on a nearby bench. 

"Donghyun-ah, don't you want to talk it out with Joochan?" 

A shake of the head. "I... don't want to talk to him today." 

"Are you angry?" 

Donghyun looks down, and mumbles, "No, I don't want Joochan to hate me." 

"I think it's the opposite, Joochan looks like he misses you a lot right now." 

The student tilts his head to the side, looking doubtful. 

"I always choose Joochan for everything, but now he wants Jibeom instead," Donghyun confesses, adding in a smaller voice, "And that makes me sad."

Sungyoon shakes his head, and brushes the small boy's hair out of his eyes. 

"Listen, Donghyun, you can't have Joochan to yourself. You see, Joochan is precious to everyone, and it's okay to have a lot of friends. It doesn't change the fact that you and Joochan are best friends," Sungyoon explains carefully, "You can have other important friends too! Like Bomin, for example." 

Donghyun's eyes widen, making an 'o' shape with his mouth. 

"Do you understand now?"

He gets a nod in reply, and Sungyoon sighs in relief, smiling gently. "Good, now hurry along now." 

Donghyun runs up to Joochan, who hasn't moved an inch since he left, yet watches him wistfully as he approaches. When the chubby cheeked boy gazes at him in hope, Donghyun takes a deep breath. 

"Joochannie... we don't have to hang out anymore. I have Bomin now, so you don't have to worry anymore and play with Jibeom," Donghyun mumbles out, and then looks down since he's feeling hurt at his own words.

Joochan freezes, and it's silent between them for a moment.

"W-What?" Joochan says in a tiny voice that Donghyun has never heard before. 

Donghyun glances up, alarmed. With a shaky breath, Joochan begins to break down, sobbing heavily in his hands. His legs wobble once before giving out and the small boy is on his knees, crying his heart out. 

"Joochannie?!" Donghyun kneels down and feels his own eyes sting with tears. 

He wants to comfort Joochan, but sees that other students are beginning to notice, and so he takes Joochan's hand in his and gently pulls him into the empty classroom. 

Donghyun leads him to their favourite corner with the beanbags and the bookshelf shielding them from view, and gently sits the still sobbing Joochan down on the beanbag. 

"Don't cry," Donghyun whispers, tilting Joochan's head up so that he can wipe the tears away with his thumbs. He spots a doraemon plushy nearby and hands it to Joochan, who hugs it immediately. 

"D-Do you hate me now?" Joochan hiccups, and he holds onto the hem of Donghyun's shirt as though the boy would disappear any second now. 

"Mr Choi said we should have other friends too..." Donghyun says slowly, sounding unsure of his own words.

"No! I don't like it. It's not fair, Donghyunnie is mine alone! I like you the most..." 

Joochan starts tearing up again and this time, Donghyun pulls him in for a hug, running his hand along the length of his back repeatedly to comfort the boy. 

They're interrupted by a gasp and Mr Choi's frantic voice. 

"What's the matter, Joochan?" Sungyoon checks the said boy for any injuries, "Are you hurt anywhere?" 

"It's because you told Donghyunnie to leave me," Joochan sniffs, almost as if he's about to cry for a second time. Donghyun sits there silently, still consoling the boy by simply having his arms wrapped around him. 

"I did?" Sungyoon exclaims, sounding absolutely bewildered. 

A tearful nod from Joochan.

Behind him, Daeyeol stifles a laugh. He shakes his head, "That's what you get for butting into a lover's quarrel." 

He gets a plastic ball to the head and hears Sungyoon mutter something about good-for-nothing boyfriends. 

--

"Hey," Donghyun calls out while wiping down the windows. He receives a hum in reply. "Remember when you cried your eyes out because you were jealous of Bomin?" 

An affronted gasp, and sharp glare came his way.

"I was not jealous of him!" Joochan hisses.

Donghyun makes an exaggerated gesture towards himself, grinning widely. "You really wanted me for yourself." 

Joochan looks almost offended. "I was five at the time. Five!" 

"But I don't see you denying it."

Joochan promptly ignores him, returning back to dusting the shelves of their shared apartment. 

"If you're not gonna say anything, I'm going to assume it's the truth," Donghyun teases, and narrowly dodges the dirty cloth thrown his way. 

Joochan looks thoroughly done with Donghyun's silly methods of riling him up. 

"You cheeky buffoon, don't act as if we haven't been together for seven years now." 

"Oh, that long already?"

That very night, Donghyun spent the night on the couch, regretting his life decisions.

note: thank you for reading! if you liked it, please leave a comment and tell me what you think! sorry for not replying to the comments yet, i've been quite busy myself, but i enjoy reading what you guys think nonetheless. i'll be back shortly with more drabbles. :)