Seungcheol’s excited nerves were kicked into overdrive as he waited for Jihyo to get home from work.

Earlier, while picking up the children, Seungcheol got grilled by Sunmi about his and Jihyo’s relationship. As Seungcheol was telling her about how his and Jihyo’s relationship was going, Seungcheol noticed how Sunmi’s face slowly shifted into one of confusion.

“Soooo,” Sunmi drew out the word. “have you two gone out on dates ? Like at all?” Sunmi rolled her head forward and swung out her arms to her side, holding out her hands in question. The question made Seungcheol freeze, because no—he and Jihyo haven’t gone out on any dates, like at all, not without the kids at the very least.

“Oh my god, dates !” Seungcheol slouched back into the chair he was sitting in with a large sigh, then he slid his hands down his face and groaned. “How have we been dating without going on any dates…”

Sunmi sighed as well, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms. “Seriously, you should get on that. Like, today get on that.” Sunmi shot up from her seat and pulled Seungcheol up out of his seat, pushing him towards the door. “Sollie, Tzutzu, c’mon now, time to go home,” Sunmi called the children over, squealing at how cute they were as they cleaned up the classroom toys that they were playing quickly and ran over to Seungcheol hand in hand. Seungcheol smiled warmly at the sight of the kids and gathered them up in his arms.

“See you later, noona.” Seungcheol nodded, giggling when the kids waved goodbye to their teacher enthusiastically. “Thanks for the tip!” Seungcheol headed out with extra determination in his step, Sunmi’s energy fueling his fire enough for him to not overthink his decisions as he tended to do.

Except, Seungcheol forgot the little waiting game that ensued once he got home, because Jihyo was a school teacher now and she was pretty popular too. He came to learn this fact on one of his off days where he decided to pop in at Jihyo’s job during lunch period to bring her something nice to eat. She was surrounded by teachers—more of them male than not—which didn’t sit right with him until he caught Jihyo’s eye and she beamed at him and introduced him as her boyfriend to everyone almost excitedly (though the excitement might’ve been due to the fact that he brought her favorite food).

Thinking about that day calmed Seungcheol’s nerves a bit, but he was still a bit jittery, so he decided to call Jihoon preemptively to distract him for a few minutes at the very least.

“You remember I exist?” Jihoon asked with faux surprise as he picked up the phone. Seungcheol snorted and whined, complaining about how Jihoon should stop saying that or Seungcheol will really start to feel bad. Jihoon snorted himself at Seungcheol’s whining. “Alright, alright, I get it. Stop whining, you’re a grown man. Now what’s up?”

“So, it has been brought to my attention—” Seungcheol didn’t get to finish before he was cut off.

“Get to the point, Cheol. You’re such a drama queen,” Seungcheol could practically hear Jihoon’s eye roll—and maybe he could actually hear someone else on the other side, but the sound was so quiet, so Seungcheol figured it was Jihoon’s television and brushed it off.

Seungcheol cleared his throat, offended. “I’m going to take Jihyo out on a date tonight, hopefully, and if she agrees, will you be able to babysit for us?” Seungcheol pouted.

“Yeah, su—” Jihoon started, but was cut off as well. There was a slight struggle for his cell phone and Seungcheol wondered if he should be worried for a moment until the person that stole Jihoon’s phone spoke up.

“ We’d love to, Cheollie!”

“Um, excuse me? Wen Junhui?” Seungcheol choked out, shooting up from his spot on the sofa in surprise.

“  off—! ” Jihoon’s voice was soft and there was a lot of muffled grunting from the other side of the phone, and if Seungcheol hadn’t heard Jihoon tell Junhui to give him his phone back, Seungcheol would have hung up right then and there. “ Finally .” Jihoon sighed heavily, and there was a door slam behind him, a turn of a lock, and Junhui’s soft, muffled whining from the other side of whatever room Jihoon locked himself in.

“Um…” Seungcheol gaped, running a hand through his hair.

“We will not speak of this. Ever.” Jihoon demanded, Seungcheol agreed (though he was tempted to tease Jihoon about how he could perfectly imagine the younger’s face glowing a bright red from embarrassment). “Hope you get to go on a nice date tonight.”

“Y—Yeah, me too...See you later maybe?”

“Yep.” Jihoon responded shortly and then he hung up. Seungcheol stared at his phone in disbelief for a while before he flopped back down on his sofa.

“What in the world…” Seungcheol’s brows knitted together and before he could think about how Jihoon and Junhui started to become a thing, Jihyo walked into the door. Seungcheol shot up from his spot once again, but he didn’t know what to do with himself, so Jihyo walked into the living room to the sight of Seungcheol awkwardly half-moving this way and that way.

Jihyo stopped humming and started laughing at the display, setting her bags down on one of the recliners before going up to Seungcheol and placing a gentle hand on his arm. “You malfunctioning isn’t anything out of the ordinary, but it seems particularly bad today. Are you okay?”

Seungcheol pursed his lips and cringed at himself. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He answered her with a chuckle, then he bent down and gave Jihyo a kiss before sitting down with her on the sofa. “So how was your day?” Seungcheol asked, pulling Jihyo into his side.

“It was fine, normal. I introduced the rainstick to the kids and I bet you can guess what they wanted to do for the rest of the class period.” Jihyo huffed with a fond grin. Seungcheol grinned as well, her hair as Jihyo continued talking about what else happened during the day. Whenever she insisted that something was boring or unimportant, Seungcheol encouraged her to talk about it anyways, and he asked her about anything he didn’t quite understand since he wasn’t a teacher. Seungcheol’s attentiveness wasn’t usually bad, he loved to cling on Jihyo’s every word about her day, but he was being especially attentive and caring today, and it made Jihyo pull away from him and give him a look.

“W-what?” Seungcheol chuckled nervously.

“What do you want?” Jihyo squinted at Seungcheol.

“Rude,” Seungcheol pouted and crossed his arms over his chest.

“But am I wrong in my assumption?” Jihyo fired back, quirking a brow at him and crossing her arms over her chest as well.

Seungcheol pouted even more and deflated a bit. “...No…” He responded in a mumble.

Jihyo huffed at Seungcheol. “As I thought. So what is it?”

“Well, it has been brought to my attention—” Seungcheol sat up properly, reading to retry his whole spiel from earlier, but Jihyo held up a hand.

“Good try, drama queen, but I’m gonna need you to speed it up,” Jihyo shifted sideways and leaned into the back of the sofa with her elbow, curling her hand up against the side of her head and resting on it. There was a teasing smile on Jihyo’s face, and if Seungcheol wasn’t so in love with the way Jihyo glowed when he was having fun, he would have protested and continued on with his spiel.

“Wanna go out on a date today?” Seungcheol mirrored Jihyo’s position, the playful pout on his face melting into a smile that was soft and warm. His smile grew wider as he watched Jihyo’s expression shift from one of subtle surprise to glowing excitement. “Sunmi noona brought it up earlier when I went to pick up the kids, and she said that we should have one today. I didn’t plan anything, but those can be the best kinds of dates, right?”

Jihyo giggled and practically launched herself at Seungcheol, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him eagerly. Seungcheol couldn’t help but chuckle against her lips as he wrapped his arms around her waist as well. “I’d love to go on a date!” Jihyo finally answered after the two pulled away from each other.

“Great,” Seungcheol said, breathless. Somehow, he ended up on his back with Jihyo hovering over him, and if their kiss left him a little breathless, the sight of Jihyo above him with the widest smile he’s seen yet had him almost gasping for air. “you should go and start getting ready while I message Jihoon back.”

“Okay,” Jihyo giggled once again, removing herself from on top of Seungcheol and hurrying off to their bedroom to get ready. Seungcheol laid on the couch after Jihyo left, taking a few deep breaths to center himself before getting up and searching for his phone so he could message Jihoon.

cheol: you’re on babysitting duty tonight!

jihoon: I AM SO EXCITED!!!

jihoon: I LOVE YOU

jihoon: R CHILDREN

cheol: junhui, you sound like a creep

cheol: i’m screenshotting that btw

jihoon: do you think the boss would notice if junhui went missing?

cheol: yes. yes he would.

cheol: so would everyone else that loves and cares for him.

jihoon: sounds like fake news

jihoon: we’ll start heading over in a bit, though

cheol: thanks hoonie!

jihoon: you can also go missing

cheol: not if hansol AND tzuyu have anything to say about it!!

jihoon: and jihyo?

cheol: you’ll probably end up missing if you mess with our first date night, honestly

jihoon: points have been made

jihoon: STOP TEXTING AND START DATING

cheol: alright, see you two later, i guess

Seungcheol stared at his phone once again in shock before getting up and going to get ready with Jihyo.

Jihoon and Junhui arrived a little bit after Seungcheol and Jihyo had gotten ready (dressed in a happy medium of formal and casual so that they’re ready for anything) and instructed the kids on how to behave when they’re gone. Junhui gave Jihyo the tightest of squeezes before he made a beeline for the kids, greeting them enthusiastically. Jihoon sighed and apologized for him to Jihyo, but she laughed and waved it off, mentioning how she’s glad to have people who care so much looking after the kids. There was a short conversation between Seungcheol and Jihoon about the usual babysitting procedure with Hansol, and then Jihyo also explained the specifics for how to properly take care of  Tzuyu (which Jihoon found was not much different from Hansol), then the two parents were off.

“You know, since it’s evening, how about we go see if we can catch a good movie?” Seungcheol suggested, opening Jihyo’s door for her (earning himself an embarrassed shove) before sliding into the driver’s seat.

“Ah, that sounds good. I’ve been wanting to see the new Avengers movie!” Jihyo clapped, excitedly. Seungcheol perked up at this, turning towards Jihyo with growing excitement as well. “Everyone at work keeps talking about it, and it’s been so hard not to get any spoilers,”

“Tell me about it! I’m kinda glad I moved departments, because I’ve heard from everyone else during lunch breaks that Soonyoung was on the verge of getting fired from how many times he’s caused office disruptions with his chronic spoiling disease.” Seungcheol and Jihyo shared a laugh as Seungcheol started up the car and headed out to the nearest movie theater.

The two of them left the movie theater as changed people. And after sitting in the car in silence for a few moments, the couple decided to go to a nearby family restaurant for dinner.

The family restaurant the two ate at was nice and cozy, and it allowed for the two of them to tuck themselves in a corner where they discussed the movie in hushed tones over Dakbal and Cola (they wanted to drink alcohol, but figured it’d be unwise to do so since Seungcheol was driving; however, they did decide to drink at least one when they got home later). Aside from heartbroken discussions about the newest Avengers movie, Seungcheol and Jihyo managed to switch the conversation to much lighter topics and they ended up having a much better time.

Seungcheol was adamant about discussing Junhui and Jihoon’s relationship—he pointed out that when Jihoon had gotten transferred, he ended up having to move as well. Seungcheol told Jihyo how he offered his apartment complex as a suggestion, since the location was decent enough, but Jihoon brushed him off with a swift “I’ll find a place”.

“Guess his place was with Junhui?” Jihyo snorted.

Seungcheol pouted and leaned back into his seat. “I guess....Even though I’m his best friend, and he’s the one always complaining about how I always forget that he exists!” Seungcheol grumbled, getting increasingly more annoyed with Jihoon’s rejection.

“You’re such a baby, oh my god.” Jihyo’s food nearly fell out of because he had started laughing too much at Seungcheol. “If this is you sober, I don’t want to imagine you drunk,” Seungcheol refused to say anything more as Jihyo continued to . Eventually, though, the two got into a debate about who was the better drinker between the two of them.

“I’ve lived longer, so it’s obviously me!” Seungcheol pointed at himself with a cocky smirk on his face.

“That’s rich coming from a man that spilled his guts out to the teacher of his kid,” Jihyo smirked back, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms.

“That—That was a rare moment of weakness!” Seungcheol stuttered, and he pursed his lips in order to hide an embarrassed smile.

Jihyo leaned back forward on the table to prop her elbows up on the surface, and she linked her fingers together so that she could rest her chin on top of them. “And yet, it was still a display of weakness all the same.” Jihyo teasingly whispered, eyes disappearing as her smile grew wider. “Just admit that I’m better than you, babe,” Jihyo’s voice was velvety smooth, and to make it worse, she tilted her head to the side a bit.

Seungcheol gulped. “That’s a low blow…” He huffed, covering his quickly spreading smile with his hand. Jihyo laughed, light and child-like as she always did, and the two of them finished their dinner while making sure to check on the kids and Jihoon and Junhui (they received a selfie back from the two with the kids saying that they were watching Tzuyu’s favorite movies; Seungcheol and Jihyo also sent a selfie back with their finished food while also wishing the two men good luck).

After a nice, filling dinner, Seungcheol and Jihyo decided to go for a simple ride around town.

“Actually, didn’t you say that your hometown was Guri? It’s not that far from here, we should go there,” Seungcheol offered, pulling out of the parking lot of the restaurant with ease considering how late it was getting.

Jihyo raised a brow and turned towards Seungcheol. “That was like forever ago that I mentioned that, and it was only in passing, how in the world did you remember?”

“It was just one of the little things I filed away. I feel like there’s a lot of people in Seoul that aren’t originally from Seoul, so it’s always interesting to catch where people are from,” Seungcheol shrugged with an easy smile and he held out his hand for Jihyo to hold as they made their way around town before heading off to Guri.

Most of the drive was in a comfortable silence—Jihyo put on some of her favorite music and Seungcheol listened as she hummed along to it; sometimes jihyo would sing randomly, sometimes Seungcheol would break the silence and request her to sing him something. Of course, that also meant that Seungcheol had to sing back to her, and Jihyo was surprised by how nice of a voice Seungcheol actually had. This discovery spurred the two of them to break the silence between them completely and sing their hearts out together to songs they both grew up listening to.

As expected, it wasn’t long before they reached Guri, and Jihyo’s mouth moved a mile a minute as they moved further into the city. She pointed out various shops she used to go to with her parents and especially the playground she would stay at for hours on end (or try to, at least). Seungcheol grinned while listening to Jihyo recall certain instances from her childhood whenever the opportunity had struck; he loved the way she glowed when talking about the past despite everything that’s happened to her, and it was times like these when Seungcheol was certain that Park Jihyo was truly the Sun personified.

“You know, we should go to Daegu one day. All four of us.” Jihyo shifted in her seat, turning more towards Seungcheol. She grabbed Seungcheol’s hand that was still holding hers with her other hand as well, and gently at it as Seungcheol began driving them back home (all of the soothing riding around right after dinner was making them sleepy). “You deserve to show us around your hometown excitedly too,” Jihyo chuckled.

The thought sombered Seungcheol as much as it excited him; he loved the idea of taking his little family out and about his hometown, but the reminder that that is where his actual relatives live—the ones that made his already stormy youth even worse for wear—made him feel a bit tense. Jihyo sensed it, though, and she gave his hand a squeeze with both of hers, reassuring him silently. “Yeah...we should. Sounds like it’d be a lot of fun,” Seungcheol took several small glances at Jihyo with a relaxed smile on his face.

The drive back home was much like the drive to Guri: it was spent in a comfortable silence decorated by soft instrumental music and melodic humming from the couple.

When they arrived home, Seungcheol and Jihyo found Jihoon and Junhui resting against each other on the couch, the children also resting in their arms. The couple grinned at each other before taking the kids to bed, then Seungcheol guided a sleepy Jihoon and Junhui to the guest bedroom (Jihyo had long since moved herself into Seungcheol’s room once the two of them became official).

As the two of them crawled into bed, Jihyo thanked Seungcheol for taking her out today. “Today’s date just might’ve been the best date I’ve ever had, like, ever,” Jihyo chuckled.

“Honestly, we should be thanking Sunmi noona. She’s the one who reminded me that’s how dating worked.” The two of them shared a soft laugh in agreement, and before they went to sleep, they made a quick agreement to have their official date days scheduled for Saturdays.