Chansung

Chansung and Jay were waiting to get a table at Pony Express, the best breakfast place in town. Jay loved the banana pancakes they served and after the great week he'd had at school, the little boy deserved a treat. 

Lee-sunsengnim had sent home a note on Friday letting him know what a joy Jay was to have in class and that he'd made fast friends with the other kids. He'd also mentioned how enthusiastic the boy was about taking care of the classroom lizards.

"Lee-sunsengnim! Lee-sunsengnim!" Jay shouted jumping up and down.

"You'll see him tomorrow, buddy." Chansung said on a weary sigh. Truth be told, Chansung was getting a little sick of hearing about the great Lee-sunsengnim and his reptile menagerie.

"No, Daddy. Behind you!  Hi, Lee-sunsengnim!" Jay was jumping up and down while waving his arms at his teacher.

"Good morning, Jay." Junho was all smiles "Good morning, Hwang-ssi."

"Please call me Chansung." knowing it was a bad idea, Chansung stuck his hand out to shake. The same tingling bolt of attraction slammed through his body, but this time he was determined to ride the wave and not pull away like the feeling scared him. It did, but no one needed to know that.

"I'm Junho." a slight blush stained his cheeks and he gripped and shook Chansung's hand. 

"Hwang! Party of two!" the tired looking hostess shouted.

"Do you wanna have pancakes with us, Lee-sunsengnim?" Jay offered a bright smile.

"Well, I don't know..." he tried to yank his hand back from Chansung who held on tighter.

"Please?" Jay begged.

"We'd love it if you joined us, Junho." Chansung smiled, realizing he was still holding Junho's hand like it was the most natural thing in the world. He gave the teacher's hand another squeeze.

"Sure." Junho agreed easily.

Chansung kept his hold on Junho's hand and took Jay's with the other, dragging them both toward the hostess stand "I hope it's not a problem to add a third person to Hwang, party of two?"

"Not at all." the hostess' fake smile betrayed the fact that it was a problem or an inconvenience at the very least. 

When they arrived at the table, Chansung reluctantly dropped Junho's hand to help Jay into the booth. He slid in beside his son, while Junho took the opposite bench. 

"Who feeds the animals on the weekend, Lee-sunsengnim? Do you think Spot and the other lizards get lonely without us?" Jay got up on his knees, leaning over the table. 

Chansung grinned, shaking his head. Jay had only asked him that question a million times since Friday. 

"That's a really smart question, Jay." Junho smiled at the little boy "I leave them all some extra food on Friday afternoon and then check in on them on Sunday morning. I definitely think Spot and the other lizards miss us." Junho dropped Chansung a wink. 

Chansung let loose a bark of laughter, quickly covering it up with a cough. He could see Junho was biting the inside of his cheek, and trying not to laugh along with him. He was sure all of those poor reptiles breathed a sigh of relief when the rowdy kids left for the day. 

"Are you okay, Daddy?" Jay got up on his knees and slapped a tiny hand against Chansung's forehead. 

"I'm fine, buddy. Just choked on my own spit." Chansung stuck his tongue out at his son.

"Eww!" Jay giggled, falling back onto his bum in the booth "Lee-sunsengnim told us that lizards use their tongue to tell the temperature."

"Hey there, little man" a waitress stepped up to the table, holding up her hand for Jay to high five.

"Hi, Sunny-noona!" Jay slapped her hand. 

"Are you having your usual?" Sunny grabbed her order pad and snapped the top button on her pen.

"Yup!" Jay crowed loudly, smiling brightly. 

Chansung bent his head low to whisper to his son "What do we say?" he knew Jay was excited to see his friend and order his favorite breakfast, but he still needed to use his best manners. 

"Yes, please!" Jay grinned at his father, who nodded in approval.

"What's the usual, Jay?" Junho leaned across the table as if to hear better.

"Banana pancakes with a whipped cream face!"

"That sounds yummy." Junho smiled at the little boy "Can I have the same thing but with a side of bacon?"

"Sure thing! Any friend of Jay's is a friend of mine!" she turned her attention to Chansung "What's your pleasure today?"

Junho down on his knees... Chansung shook his head. Junho was the worst possible man to start crushing on. If things went up between them, it would be an awkward school year to say the least, especially considering there were 175 school days left in the year. 

Chansung shook his head again. He could see Sunny staring at him expectantly. What the hell did he want to order? "I'll have a three egg omelet with cheddar and extra bacon."

"Coffee for the big boys?" Sunny grinned at Jay. 

"Please." Junho and Chansung said together.

"In stereo." Sunny sounded like a Valley girl "And one OJ for my best guy, right?"

"Yes please and thank you." Jay smiled proudly up at his father. 

"Great manners, buddy." Chansung wrapped an arm around Jay and gave him a quick squeeze.

Sunny nodded and headed off.

Chansung had every intention of trying to get to know Junho better, but now that they were sitting here together, he had no idea what to say to him.

"I know it's cheating, but what did you do this weekend, Jay?" Junho asked.

"Daddy and me went grocery shopping yesterday and then we went to the li-berry and got lots of books about lizards. Then we made dinosaur chicken nuggets and smiley fries for supper and read books together." Jay looked up at his father with a pride beaming in his identical brown eyes.

"Wow! That sounds like a great Saturday, Jay." Junho sounded enthusiastic, but not in a fake way. 

"Why is Jay telling you about his weekend cheating?" Chansung breathed a sigh of relief, thrilled to have a question to ask at last.

"We start our Monday morning on the reading rug and we go around the circle telling what we did over the weekend." Junho smiled at Chansung, his eyes traveling down from his face to gaze over his chest.

Chansung shook his head. Was Junho checking him out?

"But don't worry, Jay." Junho continued "I'll pretend to be surprised when it's your turn to share."

"Deal! What are you doing today, Lee-sunsengnim?" Jay leaned across the table on his elbows.

Chansung rolled his eyes "On your bum, please."

Jay turned to his father "We don't say 'bum' at the table, young man." his serious tone matched the look on his face.

Junho burst out laughing, quickly slapping a hand over his mouth.

Chansung was able to see the humor in Jay's words and laughed along with Junho. He couldn't help thinking what a nice laugh the teacher had. It was rich and full of happiness "You're right, Jay. Daddy's sorry, but you need to sit on your bottom."

Jay nodded, flopping back into his seat before turning his adoring eyes toward Lee-sunsengnim. 

"I spent time with my parents yesterday doing yard work at my house."

"Your parents are still alive?" Jay's jaw dropped open.

Now it was Chansung's turn to laugh "Jay, I think Lee-sunsengnim is about my age and you spent Friday with Grams and Pop-Pop."

Jay nodded absently, his attention caught by Suuny coming back with their drinks "Thank you, Sunny-noona." he was all smiles when she set his orange juice in front of him in a plastic cup decorated with dinosaurs.

"Food will be up in a sec." Sunny left a carafe of coffee in the middle of the table. 

"I love yard work." Chansung said, hoping to bring the conversation back to where they'd left off.

"Me too. I bought my house a few years ago and I've been slowly building perennial beds. They were all bloomed out for the year and I wanted to get a jump on the fall flowers and mulch pile. My mom watched the birds while my dad and I worked."

Chansung nodded. He loved working at his parents' house and dreamed of the day when he'd have a yard of his own to work on "I'll be doing the same thing for my parents in a few weeks."

"Do you live with them?" Junho asked with a careful tone in his voice.

Chansung shook his head "Jay and I have a two-bedroom apartment on Gangnam Street. No yard to tend to, just a lot of brick and traffic sounds."

Junho nodded thoughtfully "I was going to head to Herbnara Farm over in Hongjeong Valley after breakfast to look at the potting herbs."

"I LOVE Herbnara Farm!" Jay was back up on his knees again leaning over the table "They have the greatest Comic Gallery and Daddy promised to take me apple picking , right Daddy?" Jay turned back to his father, his little brown eyes silently pleading with his father.

"You're right, I did." Chansung knew where Jay was going with his line of thought. He was intrigued at the idea of spending the day with Jay's handsome teacher. It might be good for Jay to see him out socializing, at least that's the line he sold himself. 

"I've never been apple picking..." Junho trailed off, smiling at Chansung.

Chansung knew when he was outnumbered. He'd only planned to go home and watch the Patriots game this afternoon "Junho, would you like to come apple picking with us?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" Junho flipped Chansung's coffee cup over and started pouring.

Junho

An hour later found them looking for a place to park at Hernara Farm. Junho had agreed to drive over with the Hwangs since it was so hard to find a place to park on fall weekends and it would be doubly hard to find two open spots.

The "mountain" at Herbnara Farm was really just a high hill studded with many facilities, parks, greenery and of cource apple trees. Some of the trees were so heavy with fruit that they bent toward the ground, which was littered with fallen apples. Those apples were either eaten by deer or were picked up and used to make their cider. 

Junho had spent the fifteen minute ride to the farm surreptitiously studying Chansung as he drove the Chevy SUV. Jay had been surprisingly quiet in the backseat after his father a movie for him. 

He couldn't help but admire Chansung's broad right shoulder and bicep. It was all Junho could do not to his lips. 

"We're here!" Chansung announced when he'd parked the car. 

"Apple pickin', here we come!" Jay shouted. 

Junho turned his head to see the little boy, in his enthusiasm, struggling to escape from his car seat. 

Chansung turned to grin at Junho before hopping out of the SUV to open Jay's door. 

Releasing his own seatbelt, Junho couldn't help but think this was the first time in his five year teaching career that he'd spent time outside the classroom with a student and parent. He hoped he wasn't making a mistake by listening to the lusty ravings of his . 

"Hold my hand, Jau." Chansung urged. 

"You too, Lee-sunsengnim!" Jay waved his free hand at his teacher.

Junho couldn't resist Jay's enthusiasm and took the little boy's hand. He smiled inwardly at the happy look on Chansung's face as they walked together. From the outside looking in, they must have looked like a family. 

"Lee-sunsengnim? Do lizards eat apples?" Jay looked up at his teacher with an expectant look on his face.

Junho shook his head "Some lizards are omnivores, which means..."

"They eat meat and veggies!" Jay finished "T-Rex doesn't eat apples. He eats meat."

"Yup." Junho agreed "Plus, how would a T-Rex eat an apple with his tiny T-Rex arms?"

Jay burst out laughing "He'd have to bend down and eat them off the ground. Then his big would be up in the air." Jay laughed harder at his own joke.

Junho rolled his eyes at Chansung. Butts and the sounds that they make always brought in big laughs from the Kindergarten set. 

"Let's not talk about butts, buddy, huh?" Chansung winked at Junho.

Junho swore he felt his heart stop beating when Chansung winked at him. He was so absorbed in the warm tingly feeling that shot through his body and straight to his that he missed Jay's response to his father's request.

"I think we have to go over there to get a bucket for our apples." Chansung pointed with his free hand to the 'Pick Apples Here' booth about fifty feet ahead of them. 

Junho nodded "With the steepness of the mountain, it might be a good idea to get a wheeled cart in case you-know-who's B-U-M starts to drag." 

Chansung snorted, nodding his head.

"Hey! No spelling!" Jay turned an angry look at Lee-sunsengnim. 

"Hwang Jaebeom!" Chansung knelt down to Jay's level.

Junho knew from experience that a parent using a child's full name meant big trouble. His heart pinched in his chest since Jay getting in trouble was his fault. He'd just wanted Chansung to laugh, not leave Jay out of the conversation.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you, Lee-sunsengnim." Jay turned a sad look up at him.

Junho bent down, smiling at Jay "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have spelled a word in front of you."

"So we're even-Steven?" Jay asked, sounding hopeful.

"You bet, buddy." Junho rifled a hand through the boy's soft hair and couldn't help wondering if Chansung's would feel just as soft. 

"Why don't you go get a cart while I go get the apple basket?" Chansung was back to smiling again.

"Sure thing." Junho kept Jay's hand as they headed off to find a spare cart. They were battleship grey and were more like a wagon with a long handle. He found an empty one easily and took a moment to watch the people milling around the farm. 

There were a lot of fathers with kids. Weekend warriors... He turned around to look for Chansung and saw them at the front of the line. He held up a hand to wave. His stomach tumbled when Chansung winked at him again. 

Jesus Christ. If his body responded this way from Chansung winking at him, what would happen if Chansung touched or kissed him? Junho shivered in the warm fall sunshine. 

"Ready to go?" Chansung grinned at Junho before turning his attention back to Jay who was struggling to lift the bushel basket into the wagon.

With shaking arms, Jay hoisted the basket into the wagon "Phew! That was man's work for sure!" Jay wiped the back of his hand against his forehead. It came away dry.

Chansung started to laugh "Girls can work just as hard as boys, Jay."

"Yeah, but hauling that basket's gonna give me big muscles." Jay flexed.

"I don't know..." Chansung squeezed his little muscles "Feels more like meatballs to me."

Junho burst out laughing. 

"No way, Jose! Grams' meatballs are way smaller than my muscles." Jay turned his angry little face up at Chansung.

"The best way to build big muscles is to eat a lot of apples." Junho winked at Chansung, deciding it was time to turn the tables and flirt back.

"Daddy, I wanna run. Can I run ahead and run back? Can I, please?" Jay was jumping up and down.

Chansung snorted "Okay, but you come back when I yell your name, deal?"

Jay nodded, sending his blond hair flying around his head "Deal." not wasting another second, he took off running up the hill toward the apple trees.

"What's that all about?" Junho asked with a smile.

"That kid has more energy in his baby toe that I have in my entire body. He'll run a little way ahead of us and then turn around and run back and then-"

"Run away again?" spending the bulk of his days with very active five year olds, Junho knew well what a challenge all of that energy could be for a tired adult to handle.

"Back!" Jay shouted, running around both men before running toward the apple trees again.

"Wow! Imagine what I could accomplish with that kind of energy for just an hour?"

Chansung laughed "You could bake a cake, run for president and still have enough energy to plan lessons through 2035!"

Junho laughed. He loved the easy way he and Chansung were chatting. It was never this easy, at least not in his experience "You seeing anyone?" ! What the was wrong with him? He was just thinking what a great time he was having with Chansung and there he was, sticking his entire foot in his stupid mouth.

Shaking his head, Chansung kicked out at a stray rock on the dirt path leading up the side of the hill.

"Back!" Jay shouted again, looping behind them before starting another lap up the hill.

Junho half-hoped the tiny ball of energy would be enough to distract Chansung from answering his dumb- question.

"I've been out on a couple of dates lately, but none of them were keepers." Chansung said matter-of-factly.

As far as answers went, this one was a complete non-starter. It didn't give Junho the information he was mining for and it served to confuse him even more. Since Chansung seemed willing to talk, Junho figured it wouldn't hurt to press forward "What made them catch and release?"

"Ha!" Chansung barked, sounding shocked "None of them were men I could see being a parent to TJay."

The only word in Chansung's entire statement that Junho heard was "men".

"Is that a problem, Junho?" ice dripped from Chansung's voice.

Chansung's suddenly cold voice broke Junho out of his head and the fantasy he was having of Chansung riding his like a jockey on Derby day. "No! , no!" Junho took a deep breath "I-I'm gay too."

Chansung shook his head, a blush blooming up his neck "Man, I'm sorry. I just..."

"No, I get it. It's never easy coming out to a relative stranger. I'm sorry I froze like that, I was just shocked. I mean you were married and have a son and I didn't think..." Junho knew the best thing he could do was just stop talking. His motor-mouth was usually his worst enemy. 

"I'm not proud of this, but I dated Jay's mother for years just so no one would know I was gay. We went to a frat party one night and she got me drunk and we had . But for having Jay, it was literally the worst night of my life."

Junho nodded, thinking over what Chansung had just said. Korea isn't as liberal as America, being gay here wasn't easy. His heart went out to his new friend for having to hide his true self for so many years while his twitched at the thought that Hwang Chansung was in play.