Taecyeon

Taecyeon laughed along with The Little Mermaid. He'd never seen the movie before and the little crab was hilarious. Sitting here with Gain, laughing like this, it was hard to believe there was anything wrong with the little girl.

Minjun had disappeared into what used to be their bedroom the minute they'd gotten back to his house. Taec knew from his body language that Jun was battling a migraine. He'd get up in a few minutes and bring him a bag of frozen vegetables and a cup of tea, Jun's favorite things when his head felt like it was going to burst open.

He'd taken careful mental notes of the way Gain acted during dinner at Narsha and Kwanghee's house. She'd been sweet as pie to everyone there with the exception of Jun. He couldn't decide if her behavior pissed him off or made him want to hug her.

It was obvious Gain was taking her mother's death out on Jun. The problem with that was that she was making both of their lives hell in the process "Gainoo, why are you so mad at Uncle Junnie?"

Gain acted like she hadn't heard Taecyeon and kept her attention on the movie.

That act might work with Jun, but it wasn't going to work with him. Grabbing the remote, he paused the movie and shut off the television. 

"Hey! I was watching Ariel!" she turned her angry face to Taecyeon, her little nostrils flared like a bull about to charge. 

"I asked you a question, young lady. Why are you so mad at Uncle Junnie?"

"I hate him!" Gain folded her arms over her chest. 

"Why do you hate him?" Taecyeon knew full well that answer was a cop-out, full of Gain's anger, but not helping get to the bottom of why she was so angry at Jun. 

"'Cause I can't live with Mommy anymore." her voice was shrill.

Right before Taecyeon's eyes a change came over the girl. Her face softened and her dark eyes turned glassy.

"I miss her." Gain's bottom lip started to tremble while tears built in her dark eyes.

Taecyeon's heart broke for Gain, but he had a feeling that everyone else having a broken heart for the five-year-old wasn't doing anything to help Gain heal her own heart "Do you know why your Mommy wanted you to live with Uncle Junnie?"

Gain shook her head sending tears cascading down her cheeks. 

Trying to decide how much to tell the little girl, Taecyeon dove in with both feet "I used to be Uncle Junnie's boyfriend."

"You did?" 

At least his confession had managed to capture Gain's attention. She swiped at her tears and looked up at him as if she were waiting for him to continue "I sure did. I was at the hospital the day you were born." Taec pulled out his phone and flipped to the pictures of the day Gain came into the world.

No matter how many times his finger had hovered over the "delete" button, Taecyeon could never manage to hit the button. These pictures had meant the world to him and as much as he wanted to move on with his life, he was still holding out minuscule hope that he and Jun would get back together. 

"Wow! That's me and Mommy when I was just borned." she took the phone from Taecyeon and started flipping through the pictures herself.

Taec wrapped an arm around Gain's shoulders "I used to live in this house with your uncle and our favorite thing to do was to go on adventures with you. We'd take you to the park or to the beach to look for treasures."

"Like this day?" Gain turned the phone to show pictures of herself standing on the beach dressed in a pink bathing suit and holding a matching pink bucket. 

"Yup! That was one of my favorite days with you. We spent the day looking for shells and building a sandcastle." 

"I don't remember these pictures." Gain climbed into Taecyeon's lap. 

Taecyeon's heart pinched in his chest, knowing how much Jun would love this kind of moment between  him and Gain "You were only two years old on this day."

"Did you love me?" Gain's dark brown eyes swam in unshed tears. 

"I still do, honey. That never changed. Uncle Junnie loves you too." Taec gave Gain a quick hug "The reason your Mommy wanted you to live here with Uncle Junnie was because he loved you to the moon and back."

"He used to tell me that all the time." Gain twisted her hands together. 

"I remember." what Taec wasn't going to tell her was that Jun used to say the same thing to him "He loves you so much, Gainoo and he's trying his hardest to keep your little family together. He misses your Mommy as much as you do."

Gain nodded as if she were thinking about what Taec had told her. 

"Now you fight all the time, right?" Taecyeon's voice softened, in an attempt to keep the little girl talking.

"Yeah, we do. I yell at him."

Taec barked out a rough laugh "I know you do. What would you think about not yelling so much? I know that would make Uncle Junnie happy. It might make you happier too."

"I'll think about it. Can we go back to watching Little Mermaid now?"

Sighing, Taec did as she asked. He was going to have a sit-down with Jun later on to fill him in on his observations of Gain and the conversation they'd just had.

Minjun

Jun heard the water running in the bathroom sink and knew Taecyeon was brushing his teeth. It was the last thing he always did before coming to bed. 

Being the coward that he was, Jun had stayed in his room the entire night. He'd heard Gain singing along with The Little Mermaid and then heard Taec getting her ready for bed. 

Taec had come in to his room about an hour ago with a bag of frozen peas for his aching head and a cup of Earl Grey tea. Jun had thanked him, but Taec had walked out of the room without saying a word in return. 

Lying alone in the dark he'd been able to see things so clearly. He'd been just as lost over the last two years as Taecyeon had been. He'd always blamed his ex for the way things had gone down between them, but in truth, most of the fault was his own.

There was no denying Taecyeon had been right earlier when he'd said Jun thought he was sleeping with every man they met. Thinking back over their three years, they'd almost always been together physically.

There were a couple of seminars Taecyeon had to attend outside of Korea, but those had always been during the summer months when Jun had been free to go along with him. His ex had been home every night after work, right on-time and rarely went out with friends without Jun. 

He'd been a perfect boyfriend in almost all respects. It was Jun who couldn't seem to trust that his gorgeous lover wasn't going to stray like his last one had done. It has taken Jun years to get over that betrayal.

He guessed it was safe to say that he really hadn't gotten over it at all what with the way he'd always been waiting for the other shoe to drop while he'd been with Taecyeon. 

A knock on the door brought Jun back to the present "Come in."

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Taec was hovering inside the door.

"Better. Thanks for the tea and peas."

Taec snorted "That's a good name for a migraine clinic. Tea and Peas." Jun laughed along with him. It felt so damn good to see Taecyeon smile like that. 

"Mind if I come in for a sec?"

Minjun patted the empty side of the bed that used to belong to Taecyeon.

Taec looked tempted, but grabbed the high back chair next to the bed and dragged it closer to Jun. 

It's not like Jun could blame him for being unwilling to get into bed with him. It must be so hard on Taec to be here in the house he used to live in and the room that used to be his.

"I had a little talk with Gain." Taec sat down, balancing his elbows on his knees. 

"I thought I heard her yelling."

Taec nodded "Poor Blackie ran away and hid under the dining room table."

"Son of a ." Jun sighed, running a hand through his hair "That poor animal." "She came back to sit with us a few minutes later, so it all worked out. Anyway, I spoke to Gain about why she's so angry at you."

"She thinks I took her mother away."

"She said that again. I may have stepped over the line, but I told her about us and showed her pictures of some of the time we all spent together."

Jun nodded "How did she react to that?"

"She was interested in seeing the pictures so that's a start." Taec offered him a hopeful look "If you got rid of yours, I can send you mine. I'm sure she's going to want to see them again. Especially the ones from the day she was born."

"I still have all of our pics." he sure as hell wasn't about to tell Taec that he looked at them from time to time. 

"I asked her if she'd consider not yelling at you so much and she said she'd think about it. Talk about an old soul. What five-year-old says that?" Taec shook his head with a chuckle.

"She's just like Miryo. That's exactly what she would have said too."

"The little crabapple didn't fall far, did she?" Taec winked at Jun. 

Jun snorted, swinging his legs out of bed "No she didn't. Miryo yelled all the time too, especially when me and Jongup messed around her dolls." he looked up at Taec to see his black eyes staring at him. His stomach churned with lust and need. Throwing caution to the wind, Jun surged forward and kissed Taecyeon.