Prompt: Single uncle Taekwoon and his neighbor Hakyeon, who keeps helping him to take care of his nephew

“Uaah. Guuoo.”

“Minyulie, are you full now?” Hakyeon coos at the babe and gets a gummy grin in response.

He cleans up the small boy and picks him up. Propping him up on his shoulder, bouncing him up and down to elicit the baby to burp.

Afterward, Hakyeon rocks Minyul back and forth humming a nameless tune. Of course the little boy doesn't want to fall asleep nor will he let Hakyeon put him down.

------

Getting home late from work Taekwoon opens the door as quietly as he can. Moving silently he notices a dinner plate saran wrapped with food awaiting him. The lights are off, but the television still on.

Taekwoon can hear the droning of a home shopping program, the kind that pops up in the dead of the night when all the regular programming ends. He walks into the living room and smiles at the adorable sight he finds.

Hakyeon sitting up on the couch, Minyul cuddled in his arms. Both asleep.

And yet, despite the warm feelings he has, there's still an ache that blooms in the depths of his chest. A deep pain that he's only just begun to recognize for what it is, though he still resolutely denies.

It's enough, he thinks, that Hakyeon is helping him with Minyul now. At least that's what he tells himself every time the feeling tries to make itself known.

Because he can't – Hakyeon is his best friend and has been there through every heartbreaking, grueling step he's gone through in the last couple months – he can't be greedy and let himself wish for more no matter what his heart wants.