Taecyeon

"God, damn it!" Taecyeon's shoulders slumped when the ball hit the rim and bounced off. Again.

"Jesus Christ, Taecyeon! That's the tenth shot you've missed." Nichkhun Buck Horvejkul grabbed the rebound, dribbling the ball slowly with his left hand.

Taecyeon knew it was his night with Jun and the feelings it conjured up that was throwing off his rhythm.

"You were awfully quiet after your chat with Minjun yesterday. Is that what's bugging you?" 

Taecyeon shook his head, not meeting Nichkhun's dark blown eyes. Part of the reason he'd asked Nichkhun to meet him at the park to shoot some hoops after work was so he could talk to him about what had happened with Jun. Now that the time had come to spill his guts, he was hesitant "It's not that. I-I, um..."

"You slept with him, didn't you?" Nichkhun looked more concerned than shocked.

Life would be so much easier if he could just put his feelings for Jun behind him and find a man like his best friend to date "Not quite. Jesus, I'm so ing stupid."

Nichkhun stopped dribbling the ball and grabbed Taec's elbow, tugging him toward a nearby park bench "What happened?"

Christ, Taecyeon hardly knew where to begin "When Gain found out Jun was dropping me back off at my apartment, she threw a tantrum. A bad one. I don't know how Jun is managing to hold on to his patience so well. If it was me, I might have yelled back at her by this point."

Jun smiled at his friend "So what did you do? Swoop in and save the day?"

Taecyeon snorted. He'd never fancied himself a hero, that was Nichkhun's job "Gain wanted me to come home with them, so I did. It killed me seeing her in so much pain and I knew I could help." 

"And having you there calmed her down?"

Taec nodded "Jun went to bed with a migraine and I hung out with Gain. We watched a movie and I had a talk with her about her behavior, figuring she'd open up to me more easily than to her uncle."

"Did she?"

"Yeah, she's angry that she can't live with her mother anymore and thinks its Jun's fault."

Nichkhun shook his head sadly "Kids have such a hard time dealing with death because they don't understand the hows and whys of it."

"I at least got her to think about being nicer to Jun. God knows he could use a little peace."

"Is that what you were for him last night? A little peace?"

The sympathetic look in Nichkhun's brown eyes was nearly Taec's undoing. He was angry at himself for giving in to his need for Minjun. What he needed was for Nichkhun to ask him what the he'd been thinking, rather than being there to listen without judgment.

"After she was asleep, I went in to see Jun. He was tucked into his side of the bed reading a book. Just like the old days." Taec sighed, a chill running through him despite the warm evening "Anyway, I told him about my talk with Gain and he kissed me. The next thing I knew Jun was down on his knees..." Taec trailed off, not wanting to give his friend a literal blow-by-blow of what happened next.

Rubbing his hands together, Nichkhun seemed to be weighing his words carefully "Wasn't it hard being in your old house like that?"

Taec shot him a confused look "I just told you I had with my ex and you're asking about what it was like to be back in my old house?"

Nichkhun's lips quirked into a smile "I can see how upset you are. Your feelings are at the root of all of this. Anger, fear, disappointment, love.  You've been living on those things for the last two years. is and I'm sure it was good, but I'm more worried with where your head is in all of this."

"Jesus." Taec muttered under his breath "It was bizarre being there. Just about everything looked the same as it did the last time I was there. Being in my old house with Jun and Gain was like stepping back into my past." Taec rifled a hand through his sweat-soaked hair "Part of me remembered all of the good times we had in that house together, while the other part remembered how it ended."

"So it was like being pulled in two?"

Taec nodded "It felt so right kissing Jun again, but when it was over, all I could feel was the pain of what it was like for him to turn his back on me. I thought that was all in the past, but the minute I could think straight again, the pain was back. Fresh, you know, like he'd just dumped me all over again."

Nichkhun nodded "Knowing you as well as I do, I'm going to guess neither of you talked about what happened when you woke up this morning?"

"No. We just got ready for work like we were total strangers. Gain was thrilled to see me at the breakfast table, but..." Taec trailed off again "What the hell do I do, Nichkhun? I keep telling myself I need to put Minjun in my past. I spent the last two years being angry and bitter, about how things ended, but last night when he kissed me, all of that melted away."

"I saw first-hand how rough the last two years were on you. The last thing I want to see is you getting hurt again, but at the same time you don't need me telling you how I think you should feel." Nichkhun set a hand on Taec's shoulder "You need to talk to Jun and see where he is in all of this. Was last night for old time's sake or a new beginning?"

"Damn it, Nichkhun." Taecyeon sighed "Just tell me what to do." the frustration was making Taec feel edgy and out of place.

"You don't need me to tell you what to do. All you needed was for me to listen while you made up your own mind."

Taec didn't want to admit it, but Nichkhun was right. He'd wanted to hear his friend be angry right along with him, but Taec knew Nichkhun wasn't that kind of man. 

For the tenth time in as many minutes, he wondered why he couldn't let Kim Minjun go and find a man like Nichkhun who'd always be there for him, no matter what.

Minjun

Monday's were always long for Minjun, but what made this Monday seem never-ending was the way his traitorous mind kept flipping back to scenes of being down on his knees in front of Taecyeon last night.

There were Taec's lust blown eyes in his 8:00am staff meeting. He swore he could taste Taec's release while he'd been in the middle of a noontime conference call and then driving Gain home from Narsha and Kwanghee's, all he could think about was wanting Taec in the passenger seat of his Ford SUV.

"Uncle Junnie? Can you give Blackie more water?" Gain was holding up the cat's empty bowl while Jun stood daydreaming at the kitchen sink washing their breakfast dishes.

Trying his best to hide his shock at Gain's behavior, he quickly filled the bowl and watched as Gain carefully set it back down next to the cat's food dish.

As he watched the little girl dutifully fill Blackie's food bowl, he thought back to her behavior this morning. Usually it was an all-out war to get Gain dressed in the morning, but today, she'd eagerly put on her favorite dress and ate breakfast without argument. 

When Jun wasn't spending the day reliving his night with Taecyeon, he'd been frustrated to think the reason Gain had been so cooperative was because of his ex. She'd smiled sweetly at Taecyeon over her bowl of Cheerios, instead of offering Jun her usual scowl.

Jun sighed. He'd wanted to see progress with Gain and now that he'd gotten some, he still wasn't satisfied because it had come thanks to Taecyeon.

Once Blackie was enjoying her chow, Gain rifled through her backpack, pulling out a sheet of paper "I drew you a pitcher." Gain twisted her hands together behind her back while Jun picked up the drawing.

His heart caught in his throat when he saw Gain had drawn their house. He was standing in front of it, holding Gain's hand. The stick figure Gain was all smiles while her free hand held Taecyeon's.

"Do you like it?" Gain's voice was barely above a whisper.

In the months that his niece had lived with him, her artwork had always been angry. Slashes of red and black usually filled the page. What Jun was looking at now was a miracle, but why did it have to include Taecyeon?

"Yes, sweetheart. I love it! You're so talented." Jun pasted on fake smile, still not sure how to react to the fact that Gain had included Taecyeon. 

"Jay drawed a pitcher like that for his daddies and..." Gain shrugged, looking like she wasn't quite sure how to end her thought.

Jun realized he was being a total . This was a genuine breakthrough with Gain and here he was acting like a spoiled brat. He knew deep down part of the reason for feeling this way had to do with his night with Taecyeon, but he wasn't ready to face what that meant just yet.

"I think it's amazing! Do you want to hang it on the fridge?"

Gain nodded and hung her artwork above the picture of Miryo that Jun had taped up at her eye level "Can Taecyeon come over again?" Gain asked quietly, not turning around to face Jun.

Feeling his gut clench at Gain's question, Jun was determined to do what was best for the girl "You liked having him come over?"

Gain nodded, finally turning around "He watched Ariel with me and Blackie and th-owed pitchers of uth before Mommy went to heaven to be an angel."

Wait a minute, he watched Ariel with her all the time. What made doing it with Taecyeon so damn special?

Jun sighed, knowing he was being a first-class again, putting his own needs over Gain's.

"What else do you like doing with Taecyeon?" 

Gain's lips quirked into a quick smile "He made funny faces at me while I was eating my Cheerios this morning."

Jun had noticed the two of them going back and forth with funny faces. While they giggled, Jun had been upset that the fooling around was going to make them late for work and school. He shook his head, knowing he'd lost out on an opportunity to get closer to Gain.

Like it or not, Taecyeon was the fun uncle. When Gain was little, he'd been the fun uncle. Now he was the one making sure Gain brushed her teeth and got to school on time.

"Can Taecyeon come for another th-eepover?" Gain climbed up into her usual spot at the dining room table and fixed her dark-eyed gaze on Jun.

As much as his heart ached over Gain wanting Taecyeon over him, he understood why she wanted him here. Taecyeon wasn't the one she was accusing of taking her mother away from her. He was. Taecyeon wasn't an authority figure. He was the fun uncle.

If he were honest with himself, part of the reason he didn't want to see Taecyeon so soon after what happened last night was because he wasn't in the mood to talk about it or what it meant for them going forward.

As confused as Jun was over his night with Taecyeon, the one thing he could see crystal-clear was Gain's connection to Taecyeon, even though she didn't remember the time they'd spent together two years ago. 

"Why don't we call him and ask?" knowing he'd been beaten, Jun picked up his phone and pressed Taecyeon's contact hard enough for his fingernail to clack against the screen. When he heard the phone ringing, he put it on speaker and handed the phone to Gain.

"Hey, Jun." Taecyeon's voice sounded wary.

"Hi, Taec! It's Gainoo!" the little girl was all smiles "Wanna come have a th-leepover? We can make popcorn and watch Frozen!"

"I'd love that, Gainoo, but does Uncle Junnie know you're calling me?"

"He's the one who dialed the phone!" Gain looked up at Jun and smiled brightly at him "Right, Uncle Junnie?"

"I sure did, sweet pea!" with Gain smiling at him like that, his heart felt full to bursting. He knew that smile, as welcome as it was, meant big trouble. Jun couldn't refuse her anything when she smiled at him like that.