Seungcheol wakes up the next morning to a phone call.

He groaned as soon as he got off of the phone and buried his face into his pillow. He was called into work on the weekend— again . Seungcheol got ready reluctantly, groaning as he did so; however, whenever he left his room with starting breakfast on his mind, he was surprised by the smell of food already being made. When he walked into the kitchen, he was met with the sight of Jihyo with the children, the three of them making breakfast happily. Seungcheol’s mood brightened exceptionally as he watched Hansol and Tzuyu eagerly helping out with mixing pancake batter and adding fruit or chocolate chips (that Seungcheol didn’t even know he had) to it. It smelled heavenly, honestly, and Seungcheol wondered if waking up could always be this great.

Seungcheol sat at the dining table with the dopiest smile on his face, trying to be as quiet as possible as he continued to watch Jihyo interact with the children; it was the most endearing sight, and Seungcheol couldn’t just let the opportunity go by, so he took his phone out and began to record a video. Eventually, Seungcheol was spotted by Tzuyu, and it may have been his excessive giggling, but he didn’t mind.

Tzuyu gasped. “Mr. Cheollie is awake!” Tzuyu chuckled and pointed at Seungcheol, running up to him and scolding him for waking up early. Seungcheol simply nodded and allowed himself to be scolded, still reeling over the fact that Tzuyu called him “Mr. Cheollie” instead of “Mr. Hansollie’s dad” as she usually did. Seungcheol stopped the video, putting his phone down, and picked Tzuyu up to sit her in his lap.

“Sorry, sorry, but I have to go to work today,” Seungcheol explained, pulling up a game on his phone for Tzuyu to play because she had picked up his phone curiously.

“Gross,” Tzuyu looked up at Seungcheol with a straight-face. Seungcheol nodded, returning the face, and the two of them returned back to the game. As they played, Tzuyu told Seungcheol all about the breakfast making process, which Seungcheol listened to earnestly while helping Tzuyu cut the fruits and avoid the bombs.

Eventually, breakfast was finished and Seungcheol got up to help the children into their seats before going to help Jihyo with setting up the table and bringing the food to it. Once settled, the four of them ate breakfast happily: the children excited about their chocolate chip pancakes with whip cream while Seungcheol and Jihyo enjoyed mixed berry pancakes. Although the two little families enjoyed their breakfast, Seungcheol noticed that Hansol kept glancing between him and Jihyo.

“Hey, sweetie, if something wrong?” Seungcheol scooted closer to his son, Hansol’s face softly.

Hansol shook his head, lips pursed, but then he took a pause. He glanced between Seungcheol and Jihyo once more before speaking. “Are you and Ms. Jihyo going to get married?” Hansol looked up to Seungcheol with big eyes, and this time, it was Seungcheol who spared glances between Jihyo and someone.

“W-Well…” Seungcheol started, unsure, but he was lucky when Jihyo swooped in confidently.

“Marriage might be a possibility someday, but right now, your daddy and I are taking it slow, Sollie. We both have to heal a bit first, but we’ve decided to do it together, for now,” Jihyo leaned towards Hansol and ruffled his hair, also his face gentle on the other side. Jihyo looked at Seungcheol and he smiled at her warmly, reaching across the table and taking Jihyo’s hand reassuringly.

Breakfast continued on normally afterwards, with the exception of Hansol and Tzuyu buzzing excitedly about their parents’ new relationship. Seungcheol and Jihyo blushed deeply and ate awkwardly as their children discussed their relationship in terms that they could understand, which unfortunately happened to be in relation to the dramas they knew their parents watched.

After Seungcheol finished eating, he checked the time and excused himself, hurriedly putting his dishes away then passing out a round of kisses. He hesitated kissing Jihyo on her lips, still too embarrassed to show a display of affection in front of their children, so he settled for kissing her on her forehead. However, while he was finishing getting his things together at the door, Jihyo met up with him and pulled him down for a kiss. A bit more confident, the two of them kissed a few beats longer than they did the previous night, both of their hands itching to wrap around the other, but they restrained themselves. They broke apart after tiny giggles were heard behind them, but when they looked back, the children were nowhere to be seen; the two of them sighed in relief coupled with chuckles at their apprehension, before they said their goodbyes and Seungcheol finally headed off to work.

At work, Seungcheol happened to run into Joshua and Jeonghan again as he was catching the elevator.

“Here we are again. Where’s Chan?” Seungcheol wrapped his arms around the two of them with a huge grin.

“He’s with my sister,” Jeonghan answered, and both he and Joshua looked at Seungcheol curiously, but they didn’t get a chance to question him about his mood because someone else stepped into the elevator with them.

“Oh, Jihoonie?” Seungcheol said.

“Cheol? Wow, it’s been so long since you’ve bothered to talk to me, I didn’t think you knew who I was anymore,” Jihoon smirked teasingly, but his cockiness fell when Seungcheol slipped off of Joshua and Jeonghan’s shoulders and wrapped him up in a big, too-tight hug. The sentiment was an exaggeration since Jihoon was Seungcheol’s favorite person to vent to, but after the last meeting with Jeonghan, Seungcheol hadn’t talked to anyone about anything until Jihyo’s much needed therapy session.

“Hoonie, oh my god, it’s been forever!” Jeonghan exclaimed, going in for a hug as well after Seungcheol finally let go. Jihoon hugged Jeonghan a lot more willingly, but a bit awkwardly considering the last time he heard about Jeonghan, he had left Seungcheol with a child and a severely broken heart.

“This is starting to feel less like a reunion and more like a fever dream…” Jihoon groaned, running a hand through his black hair. “Is this going to be awkward? Because I will leave this elevator on the next floor and take the stairs,”

Jeonghan looked towards Seungcheol with curious eyes once more, but Seungcheol waved him off. “Everything’s fine, Jihoon.” Seungcheol chuckled, pulling Joshua who awkwardly edged towards the back of the elevator up to the group. “ Anyways , this is Joshua Hong, my coworker and Jeonghan’s new boyfriend. And Joshua, this is Lee Jihoon, my best friend since forever and Jeonghan and I’s favorite third wheel during high school,”

“Gee thanks,” Jihoon grumbled with a roll of his eyes, but he held his hand out for Joshua to shake regardless. “Nice to meet you, Joshua. You must be a strong man for dating the mess that is Yoon Jeonghan,”

“Hey!” Jeonghan shoved at Jihoon, affronted.

“He’s not wrong.” Seungcheol and Joshua said in perfect unison, looking at Jeonghan with the same expression as well. “Did I mention he has another kid?” Seungcheol turned back towards Jihoon.

“No .” Jihoon quirked a brow in disbelief, running his hand through his hair again. “Well...at least you both look better,”

“Speaking about looking better…” Seungcheol knew where this was going, and he avoided Jeonghan’s gaze. “Cheol, what’s got you so bright and happy today? I nearly questioned if our last meeting was a really bad dream for a second,”

Seungcheol tried to hide his grin, but it was as futile as it ever was. “Nothing much, just taking the first steps to moving forward,” Jeonghan and Joshua’s curious looks from before returned with a hint of confusion. Even Jihoon, who was more kept in the loop, wasn’t sure of what could have possibly had Seungcheol this elated; he knew of Jihyo vaguely, but Seungcheol never really vented about his particular feelings for Jihyo, so all Jihoon knew was that he and Jihyo were simply friends—he would never come to the conclusion that Jihyo would be the reason for Seungcheol’s mood.

Jeonghan and Joshua continued to try to bug details out of Seungcheol all morning; Jeonghan who truly didn’t have any reason to be at the office sat in with Seungcheol ever half-hour or so and tried to get something to report back to Joshua, and normally Seungcheol would have caved, but he got much amusement from finally being able to hide something from Yoon Jeonghan that he refused to give even the slightest hint. The bugging continued all the way to lunch even, and Jeonghan and Joshua managed to get the equally nosy Junhui and Soonyoung in on it.

However, while they group was out at lunch, Seungcheol got a text from Jihyo with a picture attached just as he did last time. The picture was of Jihyo and the kids cuddled together eating lunch as well, and Seungcheol’s grin ended up urging the other’s to get his phone by all means possible (at this point, even Jihoon and Wonwoo were curious). In the end, the group of six ended up succeeding in grabbing Seungcheol’s phone, and they all made various sounds of surprise and awe, much alike the kind you would hear from students in school after they’ve heard about something scandalous—Seungcheol thought that if all of the weren’t dressed up in suits with perfectly gelled hair, even he might’ve gotten confused about their actual ages.

“Choi Seungcheol, you bastard!” Soonyoung cheered, holding his glass of cola up. The rest of the group did the same, and Seungcheol was glad that they had gotten a private room.

“Congratulations, Choi, you’ve picked yourself up well from last time’s show,” Wonwoo grinned, avoiding several people’s whacks at his arms.

“She’s so pretty, and so is her daughter! Hansollie’s just as cute as when we last saw him, too. Ugh, Cheol, when can I visit again? Also, can I have this picture?” Junhui held the phone to his chest, pouting when Seungcheol refused to send him the picture, but his mood brightened when he said that Junhui could come over at literally any time.

“So this is Jihyo? I didn’t know you guys were like that...I know I said I didn’t care about your vents, but now I feel betrayed…” Jihoon sipped at his cola with a frown.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t met your son yet, Cheol. We should set up a playdate one day,” Joshua smiled warmly at the picture then at Seungcheol.

“Wow,” Jeonghan spoke up quietly, eyeing the picture on Seungcheol’s phone with an unreadable expression. He didn’t seem displeased, but it wasn’t the brightest expression either. Seungcheol figured he must have been taking in the sight of Hansol all grown up—Hansol was, in a way, still his son, after all. Jeonghan swallowed, took a deep breath, then finally tore his eyes off of the picture. He turned towards Seungcheol and smiled; it was small, probably a bit regretful, but it was warm nonetheless. “I can see why you’re so happy now,”

“Yeah,” Seungcheol returned the smile, taking his phone back and looking at the picture once again. “but we’re not officially dating yet, just—healing, together.” He clarified with a light blush; he should have known that this would be even more embarrassing than talking about his and Jihyo’s relationship in front of the kids.

“You’re not officially dating, and yet,” Jihoon started, leaning over into Seungcheol’s side and bringing up the picture again. “she’s wearing yourclothes, and her little girl—Tzu...yu, was it?—is wearing Hansol’s pajamas...in your apartment,” Jihoon (un)helpfully pointed out before he moved back into his own space and continued sipping at his cola and stuffing his face as the group went back into a flurry. Seungcheol was terrorized by his friends some more, but even then, he gathered the group together to take a picture to send back to Jihyo.

After all of the eating, catching up, and getting to know each other, the group of seven headed back to work.

On the way back, Jeonghan and Joshua (who carpooled with Seungcheol; Jihoon had rode with them at first as well, but he and Junhui entered into a deep conversation upon leaving the restaurant so he rode back with the other group) took the time to genuinely congratulate Seungcheol on taking a step forward in his life.

Seungcheol glanced at the two of them—Joshua in the passenger seat and Jeonghan sitting in the back—and thanked them. “If I’m being honest, this is the first time that I’ve truly felt like myself in a very long time,”

“Good, because you deserve that, Cheol. You’ve always been like Superman, not just to me, but to all of our friends since forever...it’s good that you have someone who can help you save yourself,” Jeonghan leaned forward in his seat a bit and placed a gentle hand on Seungcheol’s shoulder.

“Jihyo said the same thing, about me being superman,” Seungcheol chuckled.

“And you told her you were more of a Thor kind of guy, didn’t you?” Joshua turned towards Seungcheol with a smirk.

“I sure did,” Seungcheol replied readily, and the three of them laughed heartily together, plunging into even sillier conversations (ones mostly about their school years together, the ones that didn’t get told at the restaurant).

Not much later that day, when they were all getting ready to go home (much earlier than expected, all thanks to Jihoon), Seungcheol stopped Jeonghan and Joshua as they were heading to their car.

“Hey, Han,” Seungcheol dug his phone out of his back pocket. “since things are getting better now for the both of us, let’s finally exchange numbers.” Jeonghan was caught off guard by the offer, but he happily accepted it, and pulled out his phone as well. The two of them exchanged numbers, and then Seungcheol sent them off with a cheerful goodbye and a promise about setting up that playdate before he headed off to his own car and made his way back home with an unbreakable smile on his face as he thought about what awaited him (or, more like, who awaited him).