"Jiyeon-ah, stop," Jongin trails behind his running daughter on the sidewalk, calling her to stop. "Why are you running?"

"-ower!" Jiyeon chimes.

"Yes, yes, we're going to buy flowers," Jongin says, taking her hand and pulling it back since she won't stop running. She almost bumped into another person passing by them in the sidewalk—she may be smiling at his cute toddler with understanding, but it's still pretty dangerous to run. "But we're almost here, see? There's no need to run."

He points at the flower shop just a few steps away, and Jiyeon finally slows down her steps. They arrive in front of its colorful entrance, decorated with pots and bouquets of flowers in a myriad of bright colors. It's undoubtedly very eye-catching for his little girl; he can even see her eyes sparkling as she trots forward to touch the flowers.

"Welcome, can I help you?"

A young woman appears from inside the shop, greeting them with a bright smile. She probably works in the shop, going by the apron she's wearing over her clothes.

"Yes, we're just looking around for a bouquet," Jongin replies politely.

Taemin's show is finally opening tonight, and he thought it would be a good idea to bring him some congratulatory flowers. It's truthfully more than a little uncharacteristic of him to give flowers like this, but the idea hasn't left his mind since he thought of it last night. He can already imagine how surprised Taemin will be; his eyes will widen subtly, his lips parting into a little gape, and he will be so speechless he doesn't know what to say. He's always secretly enjoyed trying to pull this expression out of Taemin. Not a lot of people has seen that look on Taemin's face, let alone make him look at them like that—and Jongin takes pride in being the first person who has experienced both. The most difficult part of it is that Taemin doesn't get surprised very easily; he always had to put so much work into surprising him, because he can't lie and Taemin finds him very predictable, but the satisfaction of seeing pure astonishment on his best friend's face when he succeeds is a very, very addicting reward. In fact, just the image is making him so giddy inside right now. It's hopeless.

But, besides all that, the most important thing is that Taemin will be happy to get some flowers. He's always appreciated the congratulatory bouquets he received back when they were dancers, and he hasn't gotten them in quite a while. Taemin's done so much for him and Jiyeon despite his busy schedule, so this is the least he can do, even though his best friend truly deserves much more than just a mere bouquet of flowers.

He feels a little tug on his hand, and he suddenly realizes that he's been absently staring at nothing in particular. Jiyeon's done with touching the flowers, but her eyes are now fixed on the flower shop employee, who quickly noticed her curious look.

"She's really cute. Is she your daughter?" the florist asks, and he nods with a smile. "How old is she?"

Jiyeon finally notices that the woman saw her staring, so she scurries behind his legs shyly to hide.

Jongin chuckles. "Almost two, now."

"The cutest age," she says with a chuckle, giving Jiyeon a little wave that doesn't get reciprocated. "What kind of bouquet are you looking for? We have some pre-made ones inside, but I can also customize one for you."

"Just some congratulatory flowers," he answers. "We're not looking for anything specific."

"Well, please feel free to look around," she gestures inside the shop, leading them in and showing them the rows and shelves of pre-made bouquets by the inner wall. "I'll be by the register if you need assistance."

"Thank you."

Once the employee walks away, Jiyeon immediately rushes towards the colorful wall of flower bouquets, squealing. Jongin trails behind her as she walks to the closest flowers, chattering comments at him in her baby language as she touches them one by one. He doesn't understand what she's saying, so all he can do is hum and respond with 'ooh's and 'aah's from time to time.

Then, Jiyeon stops in front of a large bucket of red roses—and tries to reach for one of its thorny stems.

"Hey, be careful!" he kneels and pulls her hand away in reflex before she could touch it. "Don't touch the thorns. It will hurt. Look at daddy."

He mimics getting hurt, wincing and yelping out in an 'ow', so she understands what he's trying to say. Her formerly excited smile turns into a frown.

"Daddy, -ay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," he says. "But don't touch that part, okay? Or you will be like daddy."

She nods obediently, understanding him, but it doesn't stop her from pouting and glancing at the roses longingly.

"Are they pretty, Jiyeon-ah?"

"Yea," she responds, eyes still fixed on the roses.

"You really wanna touch it, huh?" Jongin chuckles.

Jiyeon hums and nods, looking really sad because she wasn't allowed to touch the bright red flowers. Feeling incredibly sorry, Jongin takes her hand and carefully guides it to the petals.

"Here. You can only touch this part, okay? Be careful."

Her face brightens up as her finger touches the soft, velvety petals, and she starts giggling while she gently caresses them. When she's done, she bashfully takes her hand back, giving him a quick glance before she moves on to the other flowers.

"Do you see anything you like yet?" he asks.

Jiyeon keeps reaching for more flowers—yellow, orange, pink, he doesn't even know what type of flowers they are—but her head immediately turns towards the red roses when she hears his question.

"Besides that one."

Jiyeon stops, then tilts her head up to give him a confused, protesting look.

"Jiyeon-ah. Those are roses. Red roses," he emphasizes. His face is heating up because he knows what that particular flower means, but of course Jiyeon won't understand even if he tries to explain. "Who are we giving the flowers to?"

Jiyeon looks confused, but she still answers anyway. "Daddy."

"Right. Exactly. I can't just randomly give Taemin roses, that's—"

The rest of his sentence is cut off with a single expression from his daughter. She's shrugging, looking up at him with a face that clearly says 'so what'—and he sighs.

"Fine. You know what? I'll get you one. Not that huge thing you were looking at. Just one, okay?" he holds up his index finger to make sure she understands his point. "And you're giving it to him. Not me."

Jiyeon smiles brightly at him, clearly satisfied.

"Okay, now pick something else. Look, isn't that colorful one pretty?"

He points at a vibrant bouquet displayed right in front of them, filled with a mixture of red, purple, and yellow. It's beautiful, in his opinion—very bright and spring-like—but Jiyeon frowns and makes a disgusted face.

"Are you seriously judging my taste, now?" he mocks an offended expression. "Who taught you to be like this, hmm?"

The disgusted expression she's making looks incredibly familiar, and he's starting to wonder if he's seeing things.

"Daddy," she answers nonchalantly.

"A-ha. You've been learning weird stuff from Taeminnie, haven't you?"

Really. The longer he looks at her disgusted-slash-confused expression, the more it looks like Taemin's. It's not because their faces look alike, though. In fact, they don't look like each other at all, but their expressions are almost exactly the same. The angle their eyebrows are tilted, the way they part their lips, and the look in their eyes—it's so similar that he can't help but see Taemin in her. It's uncanny.

After a while, she turns to walk ahead of him towards other bouquets. She mumbles a bunch of words he doesn't understand as she looks at the flowers; he can't tell from her tone if she's grumbling about his accusations, or if she's just commenting about the flowers again. It's cute, though, so he doesn't pay much attention to it and just follows behind her until she stops again.

"Daddy, look!"

Jiyeon points at a bouquet with small, purplish-blue flowers and a couple big pink ones. She tries to reach for it, but fails, as it's placed on a wall shelf behind and slightly above the other flowers. After seeing her pout, he can't resist helping her; he takes out the flowers and holds it for her to see.

"Do you like this one?"

"Uh-huh," she murmurs. With a little chuckle, she touches one of the big, pink flowers, saying something resembling the word 'pretty'.

"It is pretty," Jongin looks down at the bouquet. He can picture Taemin holding it, with a big stunned smile on his face—it makes his heart warm up a little bit. "And it kind of suits him, too. Should we get this one?"

"Yea!!" Jiyeon claps excitedly, wiggling in celebration.

"Good, then. Let's get this one," he says.

He holds his hand out to the toddler, who takes his hand and follows him to the cash register with a slight bounce on her steps. On their way there, they pass by a bucket of single roses—he stops to carefully grab one and brings it with him to the register, where the young lady from before is waiting with a kind smile.

"Are you ready?"

Jongin puts the flowers on the counter. "Yeah, we'll just get these, please."

"Oh, good choice," she eyes the flowers and nods. "I will rewrap it for you. Do you want me to include the rose in the bouquet as well?"

"No, you can keep it separate," he says. "My daughter's giving that one on her own.

The flower shop employee chuckles. "Understood. I'll turn it into a mini bouquet just for her, then."

After getting her marching orders, she re-cuts the blue and pink flowers, rearranges them, and replaces their former wrapping. The flowers are wrapped in a clear plastic sleeve and a paper in a complementary color, tied off nicely with a large silver ribbon.

"It looks beautiful," he comments as she puts the finished bouquet on the counter.

"Thank you," she smiles.

Done with the larger bouquet, she takes the red rose to create Jiyeon's. She cuts the stem to about half its former size, and also cuts the plastic sleeve she'll use to wrap it in half before arranging the flower on top of it, along with half-sized greens and fillers to make it look fuller. Very soon, the small bouquet is finished off with a red ribbon tying everything together, and she waves it proudly in Jiyeon's direction before circling around the counter to personally hand it over.

"Here you go, little girl," she says, letting Jiyeon take the flowers from her with a shy smile. "Aww, you're so cute. Are you giving this to your mommy?"

Jiyeon tilts her head innocently. "No. Daddy."

The corners of her lips rise up into a wider smile as she almost buries her cheeks in the flower bouquet. She looks very cute, but that's not why Jongin is standing there, frozen—it's because the florist's surprised gaze is drifting in his direction, and he knows that she's definitely going to misunderstand.

"...Daddy?" the woman repeats, blinking for a few seconds. The moment she 'realized' what's going on is very clear; he can see when she snapped out of her thoughts and came into her conclusions, though it's not like her stammering doesn't make it obvious. "Oh. Oh. Um. I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to assume—"

"No, it's not for…" Jongin scratches the back of his head. This is so awkward—should he even bother explaining? "I mean, it's actually for her uncle, who is doing some stuff today. He really looks like me, and she can't really tell the difference between us yet, so—"

"No, it's okay. There's no need to explain— I completely understand," the florist cuts off, waving her hand in front of her to dismiss the awkward explanation.

She gives him an understanding smile as she walks back behind the counter, but for some reason, he has the feeling that she is still misunderstanding things. It's very obvious that she doesn't buy his explanation. Because of that, he ends up feeling awkward the entire time they finish the transaction. He can't stop thinking about the entire exchange, even as he and Jiyeon walk out of the flower shop with a flower bouquet each.

"Daddy, look!"

Jiyeon waves her red bouquet at him, showing it off as they walk side by side outside the store. Her excited bounce is a good enough distraction, it seems; it works to banish his awkwardness, at least for the time being.

"Yeah. It's so pretty, Jiyeonnie," he compliments, and she gives him a proud, smug look. "Oh, you think it's prettier than mine?"

"Uh-huh," she says in a sing-song voice, and he laughs.

"Oho, you're so sure about that, aren't you?" Her hold on his hand tightens as she cutely grins up at him, and he takes that as an agreement. "Wow. So confident. Well then, we'll see which one Taeminnie likes better."

-

"You look dashing today." Kibum's compliment is the first thing Taemin hears when he walks back into the staff room backstage after changing his clothes.

The show starts in about an hour, and the backstage area is bustling with activity. Between the multiple dressing rooms full of dancers noisily getting dressed and a hallway filled with run crew going back and forth with props and equipment, this small dressing room specifically reserved for the administrative staff to work in feels like a safe haven.

"That turtleneck looks fluffy," the development director chimes in with her opinion, smiling. "Are you wearing a suit jacket with that?"

"Probably, if it doesn't get too hot," Taemin touches the collar of his white turtleneck, slightly pulling it down as he walks towards one of the mirrors to fix his hair. He was going to leave it down, but after another look, it would probably look better if he pushed it back. "Anyone from the board coming tonight?"

"Just the usual," Kibum shrugs, watching him from where he's sitting with the development director, discussing the VIP guest list. "It looks like they're bringing their own cliques, though. Hopefully they won't hound you down until the reception."

Taemin chuckles wryly. He was hoping the ones who are coming would be the better ones, but it looks like he has to deal with the usual stuck-up people tonight. "Just my luck. How about company alumni? Is anyone coming?"

Done with slicking his hair back, he turns to Kibum's direction, only to see him smirk.

"Our former lead dancer Kim Jongin is on the list," his friend quirks one of his eyebrows.

Taemin sighs. Of course he would start with that. The teasing has only gotten worse ever since he admitted that he's still in love with Jongin. It's almost impossible to make Kibum stop now.

"Hyung, please."

"What? There's literally no one else you know on this list anyway, besides him and Sehun," Kibum shakes his head with a smile that can't be trusted. "If you must know, a couple of others are coming tomorrow instead."

"Well, thanks for the tip."

Just as he says that, they hear a knock on the door, which promptly swings open to reveal their production manager—an amazing woman with a powerful mind who is so good at her job that the company hasn't used anyone else in years.

"Taeminnie, someone's here to see you," she says. These words are accompanied by a fond grin—it's a little uncharacteristic of her—and it makes him curious.

"Who?"

A barely audible sound of a short pitter-patter of feet comes from behind her, and he surmises a guess. He can't help but smile as the little girl's face crosses his mind, and the corners of his lips only stretch wider when Jiyeon's small head peeks out from behind the older woman's legs. She searches the room for a little bit, but she quickly finds him—her eyes immediately brightens up as their eyes meet, and her lips part into a wide, wide grin.

"Daddy!!!" Jiyeon exclaims loudly, her voice echoing through the room and back out the hallway.

Excitement is overflowing from her tiny figure, her energy too large to be contained. She almost shoves the production manager aside as she runs in his direction, but thankfully the woman had a quick enough judgment to take a side-step before Jiyeon could bump into her. Mostly out of habit, Taemin bends down to his knees and holds his arms open, waiting for Jiyeon to make her journey to him. As soon as she's close enough he hugs her, lifting her in the air and spinning her around to the sound of her giggles.

His lips are stretched in a grin so wide that his cheeks are starting to hurt; he is so happy to see her he fails to notice that the formerly loud and bustling backstage area has suddenly quietened down.

"Hi, Jiyeonnie. Did you miss me?" he asks, getting his answer in the form of a slobbery baby kiss to the cheek. "Oh, of course you did. I missed you too."

He squeezes her cheek—and she never fails to scrunch her nose when he does so, how adorable—before he puts her down on the floor. He would ruffle her hair, too, but the two little pigtails at the top of her head are so nicely done that he doesn't want to ruin it. It's even decorated with small white ribbons that match her white dress.

Jiyeon is still grinning excitedly, babbling at him about something as she wiggles and bounces on her heels. That's when he finally notices that she's holding something in her hand.

"What are you holding?"

Jiyeon brightens and her lips split into a large smile.

"-ower!!!" she holds up a small bouquet with a single red rose in the middle above her head, presenting it to him with flourish, and he can't help but get a little stunned.

"...For me?"

"Yea!"

To emphasize her point, she wiggles the flowers in front of him and nudges his hand with it until he reaches to take it from her. Her satisfied smile when he lifts the bouquet up is so blinding that he feels like he's going to melt.

He's still stunned; he's more than a little surprised that she brought a cute little bouquet with her. He hasn't received flowers from anyone since he retired, and he feels so happy—so touched—that he thinks he could hug Jiyeon forever for giving him one.

Before he could move to hug Jiyeon or even lift his head to thank her, though, the flowers suddenly multiply in number. His line of sight is invaded by a large bunch of blue irises in bloom and pink stargazer lilies—it's so beautiful that he can't help but gape.

In his astonishment, his eyes can only trail up very slowly, following the arm holding the bouquet to see a familiar smile, and his heart squeezes. Of course it's Jongin. He hoped it would be Jongin—although he doesn't know who else it could be—but now that he knows that it actually is him, the restraints he's put on his feelings are easily crumbling into pieces, letting them run free once more. Simply recognizing that his feelings are back is much, much easier than actually feeling it surge through his core—and it doesn't help that he hasn't seen Jongin in almost two weeks, because he really misses him. A lot. After suppressing his feelings for so long, everything is much more intense. It never used to be like this, he used to know how to control himself—but with the combination of all the stress, the worrying, and Jongin treating him much nicer than usual, it is all just too overwhelming.

Damn it, he's so happy right now. He probably could die just like this.

"You've worked hard, Taemin-ah. Congrats."

Jongin's smile looks oddly satisfied, like he just accomplished something really big. Absently, Taemin takes the flowers from his best friend's hands, and can't help but keep staring at it in shock.

It's such a large bouquet, and it's beautifully wrapped in his favorite shade of blue, but that's really not why he's surprised. Partly, maybe, but the main reason is because Jongin never brings him flowers, ever. Jongin's been to the opening of every single show he's held since he became the company's artistic director, yet he never once brought him congratulatory flowers, let alone a bouquet this big. It's another thing he has to add to his list of weird things Jongin's been doing to him lately, another thing that makes him hope that his feelings aren't so unrequited this time.

Jongin's laugh interrupts him from his inner panic.

"Are you surprised?" Jongin steps closer, casually slinging his arm over his shoulder. He has to tell himself—use his brain to convince himself, once again—not to overthink Jongin's actions, his casual touches, because skinship is normal. It's nothing weird, not as weird as giving him flowers. "I thought you would be. You love flowers and you haven't gotten them in a while."

Taemin looks up—which is a bad decision, because it's really hard to breathe now. Their faces are inches away—hell, he probably could kiss Jongin if he leans in just a little bit—and he doesn't know what to do, or what to say.

Three beats late, he finally collects his thoughts enough and figures he should at least thank Jongin for his kind gesture.

"Thanks, Jongin-ah," he says. He may sound calm and normal, but in his head, he's actually congratulating himself for not stammering. "It's… The flowers are really beautiful."

Jongin's bright, contented grin is more beautiful, but he doesn't say that.

"You're welcome," his best friend says, his hand reaching up to ruffle the hair at the back of his head. If he wasn't still in shock, he'd be complaining because he just finished styling it, but well, his mind is sort of disoriented at the moment. "Jiyeonnie helped me pick it, but she thinks her bouquet is prettier. I disagree, though."

The image of Jongin and Jiyeon arguing over whose bouquet is prettier suddenly flashes in his mind, and he can't help but chuckle. Fondness is spreading inside his heart, and he doesn't resist it. He is tired of trying to tamp it down. It may be a little selfish, and also a little dumb, but he's really happy right now, and he wants to stay like this—letting everything loose without thinking of the consequences—for just a little while longer.

"Thanks Jiyeonnie. Your flowers are very beautiful, too."

He rearranges the bouquet into his arms so he can free one of his hands, and reaches to pet Jiyeon's head. She beams up at him when he does; her eyes and lips scrunch together, making her look like a satisfied little puppy. It's adorable.

"Hello there, lovebirds." Kibum's teasing voice bursts the little bubble of happiness he has entered, forcing him back to reality. "I hate to interrupt, but are you going to introduce your baby girl to her Uncle Kibum or not?"

Suddenly Taemin realizes exactly how many pairs of eyes are staring at them. He normally wouldn't mind, but in his overly self-conscious state he pulls away from Jongin's hold.

Jongin gives him a confused look. He chooses to just smile and ignore it. Shrug it off.

"Jiyeon-ah, meet Uncle Kibum," Taemin says, pointing Kibum out to Jiyeon. She looks up at his older friend for a moment, but instead of greeting him, she runs to hide behind his legs.

With a chuckle, Kibum kneels down and follows her. "Hello."

Jiyeon peeks her little head out from behind his legs when Kibum offers her a hand to shake. Shyly, she reaches to touch him with her own hand, wrapping it around a couple of his fingers.

"Aww, you're so cute," Kibum comments. "So much cuter than Taeminnie."

"That last bit is completely unnecessary," Taemin retorts. Jongin dares to laugh, and he glares at him. "Don't laugh."

"What? It's true," Jongin says. Taemin intensifies his glare, and Jongin retracts his statement, hesitantly adding, "...Sometimes."

After touching Kibum, it seems Jiyeon finally realizes that he's harmless and won't hurt her. She comes out from her hiding spot and approaches his friend, although she's still acting a little shy.

"What's your name?" Kibum asks, although he already knows her name. Jiyeon mumbles something that sounds like her name, although not quite. "Oooh, Jiyeonnie. That's a cute name. I'm your uncle. Can you say that? Uncle?"

"Uncle," Jiyeon repeats.

"Oh! You're so smart!"

"Uncle!" she says the word again, imitating Kibum when he does little claps in front of her.

Meanwhile, Taemin is staring down at the two of them, a little unsure if he should be confused or offended.

"You know, I knew she could say that word, but I've never actually heard her say it," he mumbles.

Apparently, the only one who is listening is Jongin.

"I don't think she even considers you an uncle," Jongin says with a little chuckle.

"Then what am I? Cooked shrimp?" he huffs. "I can't be her daddy's twin forever."

"Can't you just accept it already?" Jongin laughs. "She's so attached to you she thinks you're another parent. It's kind of a side effect from us spending so much time together."

Yeah, but he isn't her parent—and will never be. He's supposed to be an 'uncle'. Her dad's friend. That's something that Taemin already accepted, but it's hard to keep that in mind when Jongin himself accepts the fact that his daughter considers him as much of a parent as he is, without question. It seems so easy for him. Jongin acts like it's something expected, like this is how it should be, and Taemin still doesn't know how he should feel about that.

"I'm just a little bitter," he says as an excuse.

In the middle of all this, the stage manager knocks on the door and enters the room. "It's thirty minutes to curtain. Can we open the doors?"

The man is looking at him, expecting an answer.

"Yeah, go ahead," he says to the man, who immediately disappears into the hallway again. Then he turns to Jongin, after putting down the bouquets he's been holding the entire time on a nearby dressing table. "You guys should go find your seats now, before it gets too crowded."

"Yep," Jongin collects his daughter from where she was playing with Kibum, lifting her up. "You still have to work, right?"

"Yeah. I'll be watching the show from somewhere, though," Taemin says, poking Jiyeon's puffed cheeks. She scrunches her face again. "And by somewhere, I mean probably the tech booth."

"Great. Hope everything goes well," Jongin says, reaching to pat him on his shoulder. "I'll be off. You know where to find me."

He nods. "I'll see you later."

Taemin lifts his hand to squeeze the one Jongin's placed on his shoulder with a smile, and uses his other hand to pinch Jiyeon's cheeks one last time. After a couple more goodbyes to the other people in the room, Jongin leaves to find his seat in the audience. Thankfully, Jiyeon doesn't complain too much about leaving him behind.

"Are you sure Jongin's not in love with you?" Kibum whispers to his ear once the door closes behind Jongin. "He sure looks at you like he is."

Taemin pinches his friend's side, making him yelp in pain. "Can we not talk about this right now?"

"Just an observation," Kibum swats his hand in revenge. It actually kind of hurts. "I think anyone with eyes will agree with me."

Taemin looks at Kibum's knowing grin, and all he can do is sigh.

-<