Taecyeon

Taecyeon was so nervous about his upcoming meeting with Gain that he felt like he could a solid gold brick. 

Lisa, his current student, was waxing poetic, again, about Hwang Jay "Did you know Jay's Daddy is gonna marry Lee-sunsengnim? If I married Jay that would mean Lee-sunsengnim could be my Daddy too!"

Taec smiled at the little girl. He'd heard from Nichkhun Buck Horvejkul that Lee Junho was off the market. He'd always liked Junho. He was a great friend to Jun and thanks to his unassailable loyalty to his friend, probably hated Taec's guts now. 

Not that he blamed the kindergarten teacher one bit. Losing Jun's friends had been the second worst part of Jun breaking up with him. He knew it was silly to think, but Jun, Junho, and Jung Ewon were like brothers. It had been nice to have been part of their family, at least for a little while. 

Taecyeon was originally from Massachusetts. His father was an accountant and his mother was an elementary school teacher. His father had been disappointed Taecyeon hadn't wanted to join his accounting firm, but he'd been even more disappointed when Taecyeon had revealed he was gay. 

He'd always seen his parents as open-minded people, but apparently that had only extended to strangers. It didn't hold true for him. He'd gone to UMass Dartmouth for his undergraduate degree, going so far as enrolling in the summer program to get out of his house sooner. Following that, he’d gotten his Master's at UMass Lowell.

After spending five years in Seoul, he'd had no desire to go back to Massachusetts and the family who was happier without him.

Unfortunately, when he'd lost Minjun, he'd felt that he'd lost any chance he had at having a family of his own.

After they’d broken up, Taecyeon had tomcatted around, sleeping with any man who'd have him. And there were a lot in the beginning. It took him a while to realize that sleeping with men who weren't Jun, hurt more than being without him. 

Over the last year, Taecyeon had barely been out at all. He'd stayed in his tiny apartment listening to the crashing waves of the ocean and marathoning The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad on Netflix. 

Of course, the one night a few months back that he'd gone out to the Blue Chicken happened to be the night Jun and his friends had been there having dinner. The guy he was with was one of his old hook-ups who'd texted to see if Taec wanted to get together for old times sake.

Of course the was drunk and handsy. The last thing he'd seen before he'd managed to tear the guy's hands off his , was the hurt look on Jun's face. Junho and Ewon had looked like they wanted to punch his throat out. 

"Taecyeon-sunsengnim?" Lisa sang in her quiet voice.

Taec shook his head to see the small girl staring at him curiously "Sorry Lisa. I was thinking about Lee-sunsengnim being your Daddy if you married Jay."

"That's okay. I like to daydream too."

"Let's get you back to class, okay?"

Lisa hopped out of her chair and walked beside him all the way back to her classroom. 

Taec's stomach did flips when he walked back into the classroom with Lisa. He waved to Junho who was sitting on the floor reading a book to the kids. 

Lisa ran to the empty spot on the rainbow reading rug next to Jay who leaned over to whisper something into her ear.

He loved seeing that Lisa had such loyal friends. That little girl needed all the love and support she could get. Her father had abandoned the family and her mother was barely getting by. 

"Hello,Taecyeon-ssi." Junho greeted, setting the book he was reading down on his lap.

"Hi, Lee-sunsengnim." that wasn't so hard, was it? He knew Junho well enough to know he wasn't going to be a in front of a room full of five-year-olds "Gain, are you ready for your meeting with Taecyeon-sunsengnim?"

Gain's eyes went wide with fear. She shook her head no, sending her dark curls whipping around her face. 

Jay shot Taecyeon a grumpy look and crossed his arms over his T-Rex shirt "Why do you need to have a meeting with Gainoo?"

Biting his lip to keep from laughing, Taecyeon tried to think of something appropriate to say to Jay. 

"He's really nice, Gain." Lisa offered.

"Jay, why don't you walk Gain toTaecyeon-sunsengnim's room? Then you can come back for the rest of the book." Junho smiled.

Jay hopped up and held his hand out to Gain, who didn't hesitate to take it "I'm staying with Gain until she's not scared anymore." as if his word decided things, Jay tugged the little girl toward Taecyeon. 

Before he turned to head out the door, Taec couldn't help but notice Junho struggling not to laugh.

Taecyeon's room was set up for other outside educators. Occupational therapists and social workers also used this room for their students. He led the kids to a small table with kid-sized chairs. 

"Gain, can you say the word school for me?" Taecyeon smiled at the kids as they settled in to the chairs.

She looked at Jay, who nodded his head in encouragement "Th-chool."

Taecyeon nodded. He had a feeling Gain had a frontal lisp. Her pronunciation of the word along with the way her tongue stuck out between her teeth confirmed his diagnosis "Jay, did you hear the way Gain said school?"

Jay nodded and reached out for Gain's hand.

"That's the reason Gain needs to meet with me, so that we can correct her tiny speech problem. There's nothing wrong with Gain's mouth or tongue, it's just how she pronounces words with an 'S' sound. I need to help her practice making the 'S' sound a habit."

The little boy seemed to be studying Taec before he turned back to Gain "That doesn't seem so scary, does it Gain?"

Gain shook her head, but refused to look up at Jay. 

"We'll meet two days a week just like I do with Lisa. What do you think of that?" Taec studied the child. She was clutching Jay's hand like a lifeline. This version of Gain was the complete opposite of the girl he'd known three years ago.

With Jun being so close to his family, Taecyeon had spent a lot of time with them as well. Gain had always been the life of the party. Her laugh was infectious. Taecyeon found that aside from missing Jun's famous long hugs, he'd missed Gain the most when they'd broken up. Seeing the little girl as a shadow of her former self broke Taecyeon's heart. 

Minjun

Minjun was half-listening to the conversation between Hwang Narsha and Junho. He thought she was inviting him and Gain to Sunday dinner at their house "I'm sorry, Narsha. What were you saying?"

"He's just a bit distracted now that Taecyeon's in the building." Junho elbowed his friend and waggled his eyebrows. 

Sighing, Jun sunk his hand into the pockets of his black pin-striped dress pants. He knew if he zinged Junho with the snappy comeback sitting on his tongue his friend would only more. Junho had been very vocal about kicking Taecyeon's cheating to the curb two years ago, so why the hell was he acting like Taecyeon being back in his life was a good thing?

Narsha reached up to pat Jun's shoulder "Sunday dinner, 2pm. Bring dessert, something lemony. Gain loves lemon."

"She does?" why didn't he know that Gain liked lemon?

"Hey, Jun, the office said I'd find you here." Taecyeon walked into the classroom looking a bit sheepish.

The humble look on Taec's handsome, face was certainly a change from the man he kicked out of his house two years ago. His Taecyeon had been all swagger, getting anything he wanted just by batting his eyes "Hi, Taecyeon. I don't think you've met Hwang Narsha-ssi. She's Junho's future mother-in-law."

"Mother-in-law my foot." Narsha grinned, holding her hand out to shake with Taecyeon "It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."

Taecyeon nodded his head, looking uncomfortable "Gain and Jay are crazy about you. They said something about how today is baking day." 

Narsha laughed "I've started teaching the kids how to bake. Gain said her mother used to bake cookies before she got sick."

Taecyeon burst out laughing, which startled Jun "Do you remember the time she made those enormous M&M cookies and made ours with only the green ones since they were supposed to be an aphrodisiac?"

Jun smiled and started to laugh along with Taec. It felt so good to laugh with him again. Even though he'd been the one to end their relationship when he'd caught Taec cheating with the plumber, he still missed him "Then she sent us home with a Ziplock bag full of them for when we needed a little boost in the romance department."

Setting a hand on Jun's shoulder, Taecyeon laughed even harder "Like we ever needed any help in the..." Taecyeon's mouth snapped shut with an audible click of his teeth.

Jun saw the color drain out of Taecyeon's face and with it, the glimpse of the old Taecyeon he'd missed so much.

"I'll just wait for you in your office."

"Hold on a minute there, cowboy!" Narsha called after him "Sunday dinner, 2pm. Make sure Jun doesn't forget to bring a lemony dessert."

Looking stunned, Taecyeon nodded "Yes, ma'am." he muttered and headed out into the hallway. 

"I don't know what you're game is, Narsha, but" Jun stopped, not liking the tone in his own voice. Narsha had been nothing but a godsend to him and Gain over the last three months.

"You've been a gloomy Gus since the moment we met, Kim Minjun. The only spark of life I've seen in you was just now when that handsome man walked into the room. If nothing else, Sunday dinner sure as hell won't be boring."

Narsha's words echoed in Jun's ears as he walked toward his office where he knew Taecyeon would be waiting for him. Had his loneliness really been that noticeable? He thought he'd done a good job of keeping it under wraps.

In the two years he and Taecyeon had been broken up, Jun had his share of one-night stands. He'd never been the type to do that before he'd met his ex, but extreme measures were necessary to keep his battered heart from getting hurt again.

Jun walked into the main office, heading toward his own door. Thankfully, none of the office staff was staying late. He had a feeling this conversation with Taecyeon could be explosive and he didn't want his staff to witness anything that might happen "Hey." Jun said casually as he strode to his desk after shutting and locking the door behind him. 

Taecyeon nodded and clicked open his briefcase. He pulled out two manila folders and set one in front of Minjun "So, this is my report on Gain. I think-"

Minjun held up a hand to stop Taecyeon. This was the first time in two years that he and Taec had been alone in the same room together and he was a mess.

Part of him wanted to yell at his ex-lover until all the anger and hurt that he'd been carrying inside him was gone. The other, more traitorous, side of him wanted to pull Taec into his arms and hold him until his arms ached "You just want to get down to business, huh?" Jun's eyes narrowed as he studied the other man.

Taec sighed, running a hand through his black hair "Jun, I spent eighteen months trying to get you to talk to me. All I got back in return was your silence, so I figured that was your way of talking."

Jun's frown deepened. He hated to admit it, but Taecyeon had a point. Over the first year and a half they'd been apart, Taecyeon had sent numerous emails, left voice messages and had even gone as far as sending hand-written letters to his house.

Minjun had kept all of the messages, but hadn't responded to any of them. Over the last six months, he hadn't gotten so much as a post card from Taec "So, this is my fault?" 

"You asked me to come here to talk about Gain's lisp and how I think it should be treated." Taec took a deep breath and sat up straighter in his chair "But, if you want to talk about this instead, fine. I begged and pleaded with you to let me tell you what happened that night, Jun. What you saw or what you thought you saw wasn't what really happened."

Minjun's hands balled into fists on the top of his desk "What I thought I saw? Jesus ing Christ, Taec! I walked into our home and saw you kissing the ing plumber!"

Taec shook his head sadly "No, you didn't."

Jun would never forget that night. Instead of coming right home after school let out, he'd gone shopping for the ingredients to make Taecyeon's favorite dinner. He knew Taec was home waiting for the plumber who was coming to work on a clogged pipe in the kitchen. Minjun slammed his fists on his desk "Don't you tell me what I ing saw! You were kissing that muscle-bound grease-monkey!"

When he'd walked into the kitchen with his arms loaded with grocery bags, Taecyeon was kissing the bulked-up plumber. He'd even had a streak of grease running across his left cheek.

"He was kissing me." Taec said sadly.

"Don't play semantics with me!" Jun rifled a hand through his dark hair and pinned Taecyeon with furious eyes. 

Taecyeon sighed like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders "He'd been flirting with me the whole time he was in our kitchen and I got the idea he had already fixed the pipe and was just stalling so he could spend more time with me."

"God, you're a ing narcissist." Jun rolled his eyes.

Taec shrugged his broad shoulders "Obviously the sink was fixed because it worked after you threw the plumber out of the house." Taecyeon cocked an eyebrow at his former lover "Anyway, just before you walked in, this asshat tells me he's not going to take 'no' for an answer. He slid his index finger down the side of my cheek before he grabbed me and kissed me. That's when you walked in."

"You expect me to believe that bull?"

"I was struggling to get away from him and that's when he dug his fingers into my arms. I had bruises for days after that. I sent you pictures of my arms but I'm guessing you didn't look at them."

"You're telling me the plumber ually assaulted you?" Minjun couldn't believe what Taecyeon was telling him. He vaguely remembered a few of Taecyeon's earlier emails having picture attachments, but he hadn't bothered to open then up.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you. I didn't want him to kiss me. The only man I wanted to kiss for the rest of my life was you. Hell, Jun, I even bought a ring..." 

That was the last thing Jun expected to hear. Taecyeon had been ready to propose?

"I know it was hell on you when you found out your college boyfriend had been cheating on you left, right and sideways, but just because he cheated on you didn't automatically mean that I would."

Knowing Taecyeon had a good point, Jun cleared his throat. He didn't have the time or the energy to deal with the fact that he'd been so quick to pull the trigger to end their relationship or why he'd been unwilling, until today, to hear Taecyeon's side of the story "So, about Gain?"

Taec sighed again, not sounding as world-weary as he had before, and slipped Gain's file back into his briefcase before standing up "Gainoo has a simple frontal lisp. It can be corrected in a few months of speech therapy. I read Nichkhun Buck Horvejkul's report on Gain. It's apparent from watching her interact with Jay how close they've gotten. I'd build on that relationship in order to rebuild your relationship with her."

Taecyeon walked to the door and twisted the knob, but didn't bother to turn around "Oh, and one last thing, Nichkhun's right about getting her a pet. I volunteer at the Paws and Claws animal shelter on Gangnam Street. We've got a litter of kittens that are ready to be placed in their forever homes." Taecyeon slipped out the door, closing it softly behind him.

"How do you know about Nichkhun's suggestion that I should get Gain a pet?" Jun in a deep breath "Are you sleeping with him?" 

His shoulders sagging, Taec turned around to face his former lover "When you kicked me out, I didn't just lose my boyfriend, I lost my bestfriend. Nichkhun was there for me, becoming the best friend I needed. He listened to me. He believed me.  He trusts me."

Shaking his head sadly, Taec walked out of the office.

His head spinning over everything Taec had just revealed, Jun could only watch him go.