Junho

"Good morning, everyone."

"Good morning, Lee-sunsengnim!" Eleven small voices chorused.

"Can anyone tell me what day of the week today is?" Junho loved morning rug time with all of his students. Looking around, Junho saw most hands were up, including Hwang Jay's. The little boy was waving his hand crazily like he'd die if he didn't get to give the answer.

Instead of calling on one of the kids with their hand in the air, Junho was going to pick one of the kids with their hands down  "Jisoo."

The dark haired girl looked up at Junho before ducking her head down again "Monday." she whispered. 

"Good job, Jisoo!" Jay clapped his hands and grinned wildly at the shy girl.

Junho grinned at Jay. He was proud of Jisoo for coming out of her shell enough to answer his question. It struck him that Jay had seen the little girl's struggle and had been quick to praise her. Empathy wasn't a trait a lot of adults he knew possessed, but seeing it in such a young child was pretty amazing.

"Who wants to share what they did over the weekend?" Junho held his breath, hoping Jay would stick to the plan and leave out any mention of him joining the Hwangs on their apple-picking trip.

To Junho's delight, Youngjae raised his hand. The little boy was an all-Korean kid with his dark eyes and nearly pich black hair.  He was wearing his Jeollanam-do state tee that Junho had a feeling the boy all but slept in "Good morning, Youngjae."

"Good morning, Lee-sunsengnim." Youngjae smiled with a large gap in his front teeth.

"Looks like something exciting happened to you this weekend." Junho was all smiles. 

"I lost a tooth!" Youngjae opened his mouth wide to show the empty space off to the class. His little face beamed with pride.

Oohs and Ahhs sounded all around with the kids leaning in closer to get a better look.

"Did it hurt?" Taeyeon asked. She was wearing her ever-present ballet tutu. Today's was purple and glittered under the fluorescent light of the classroom.

Junho loved it when Taeyeon showed the other kids in the class what she learned in ballet class. Last week, even the boys had joined in Taeyeon's demonstration. If only these kids could be as accepting as adults as they were as five year olds.

"Nope!" Youngjae crowed "But it bleed. Daddy said I bled like a stuck pig!"

"Ewww!" Yugyeom wrinkled his nose, his entire body shivered.

Junho grinned at the boy. He wasn't a fan of blood either. Through the years a few of his students had lost teeth during the school day, but thankfully, none of them had bled like stuck pigs.

"Did the Tooth Fairy come?" Jenny leaned forward on her elbows.

"She brung me twenty thousand won and the old fashioned Funko Batman figure." 

Jenny's brown eyes widened "The one in the light blue Batsuit from the TV show?"

Junho grinned at their exchange. Jenny loved Batman. She wore Batman tees almost every day and they weren't the pink girly shirts, they were the real deal. Junho couldn't help but wonder how a five year old girl was so interested in a comic book superhero. He'd have to ask her parents when they came to parent/teacher night.

"Yup!" Youngjae laughed "I brung him to show you."

"Thanks, Youngjae!" Jenny looked excited enough to jump out of her skin.

"Who else is ready to share?" Junho looked around the circle of his students.

Jay's hand shot up, his fingers waving.

Junho's stomach clenched as he offered a silent prayer "Yes, Jay?" it wasn't against the rules of Little Wonder Clovers Montessori for a teacher to spend time outside the classroom with a student, but at the same time, he didn't want his budding relationship with Chansung to be fodder for gossip either.

"I went apple pickin' at Herbnara Farm with my dad." Jay looked around the circle at his classmates.

Phew... "What kind of apples did you pick?" 

Jay grinned "The red kind."

Junho laughed. He thought the apples were the Gala variety.

"I love green ones." Lisa smiled, her adoration for Jay obvious on her face.

Junho had enjoyed the day with the Hwangs, Chansung especially. The man was warm and funny. More importantly, he was a great father. It was obvious Chansung lived, ate and breathed fatherhood.

Chansung was the kind of father Junho wanted to be someday. In the five years he'd been teaching, Junho had seen a lot of parents, some good, some bad, some really bad. It had been hell holding his tongue over the way some parents treated their kids in front of him. He'd shuddered to think how the child was treated at home if that was the way he or she was treated in front of an educator trained to spot the signs of child abuse.

One of the parents on his list this year was Hwang Jea. She was the polar opposite of her ex-husband.  Where Chansung was kind and patient, Jea was demanding and bordering on cruel. She wanted what she wanted, when she wanted it. So far, Junho hadn't seen her show one ounce of warmth toward her son.

It wasn't something Junho was proud to admit, but Hwang Jaebeom was his favorite student in this year's class. The little boy was sweet to his fellow students and funny. More importantly, from a professional standpoint, Jay paid attention in class and was always excited to learn something new.

"Who else has something to share?" Junho looked around the circle again. Jaebum, the quietest boy in the class was staring down at the rug in front of him, running his fingers over the weave of the rug "Jaebum?"

The little boy's head popped up. He looked surprised to be called on.

"What did you do this weekend?" Junho's radar perked up. He didn't like the sad look on the boy's face.

Jaebum looked back down at his sneakered feet "I was suposed to go to my Daddy's house, but..." the boy shrugged his shoulders, his eyes flicked to the rug.

Junho watched in awe as Jay slung an arm around Jaebum's shoulder and whispered something into the boy's ear. Jaebum instantly perked up. Junho would love to know what Jay had said that made Jaebum's day instantly better.

Try as he might, Junho was never able to comfort others with the ease Jay had just shown. He'd always been afraid of making a situation worse, rather than better with his words. Junho had a feeling that was a gift passed down to Jay by his father.

Thinking about Chansung made him warm all over. The day at the Farm was the best day he'd spent with another man in years. None of his best days with Junyoung held a candle to spending the day with Chansung and Jay and all they'd done was pick apples.

At the end of the day when Chansung dropped him back off at his car parked at Pony Express, Chansung had offered Junho his phone open to a blank contact page with his name typed into it.  Junho had held his breath while he typed in his phone number and personal email address, hoping Chansung was asking for personal reasons rather than wanting to stay in touch with his son's teacher.

If Junho had a nickel for every time he'd wanted to pick up his phone and text Chansung since yesterday afternoon, he'd be able to hire his own five hundred thousand won per hour personal trainer ten times over. Junho sighed to himself. What he needed to do was think of a legitimate reason to text the gorgeous man he'd been unable to stop mooning over for the last week so he wouldn't sound desperate or worse, like a lovesick teenager.

Chansung

Chansung set his phone down. Again. If he had to guess, he'd say that was the tenth time this hour alone that he'd picked it up to text Junho.

"For the love of Zeus, Chansung." Kim Hyoyeon, the head circulation desk librarian rolled her dark eyes "Text him already."

Shaking his head with a smile, Chansung turned toward the petit librarian "What are you talking about, Hyoraengi?" 

"I may be happily divorced, but I know what it looks like when someone is pining over a crush." she waggled her eyebrows at Chansung "And you, my friend, are pining so hard you're practically breaking out in pine cones."

Chansung snorted, which echoed loudly in the quiet library.

"So I am right!" Hyoyeon grinned devilishly "Spill it!"

Chansung had known Hyoyeon for as long as he'd worked at the Seoul Public Library.  She'd worked nights and weekends alongside Chansung and had been kind enough to show him the ropes that the daytime staff had been too busy, stuck up more like, to show him. After that, they'd become fast friends. Hyoyeon had been there for him through the rough road of his divorce and custody battle.

Chansung sighed, there was no use trying to hide the truth from his best friend "He's Lee Junho."

"Jay's teacher?" Hyoyeon yelled, obviously forgetting to use her library voice.

"Tell the world, Fiona!" Chansung rolled his eyes, unable to help smiling at his friend.

"Oh, please! It's Monday morning, there's no one here but us and old lady Shim. She's so deep into the Seoul Magazine crossword puzzle that she wouldn't notice World War III breaking out around her." 

Chansung blew out an exasperated breath "Yes, Jay's teacher. Happy?"

Hyuyeon shook her head "Not until I get all of the dirty deets!"

"Deets?" Chansung laughed "What are we? Thirteen?" his stomach dipped and twirled at the thought of sharing the details of his day with Junho.

"When in Rome. Now stop stalling and start spilling!"

Chansung shook his head. He knew Hyoyeon wouldn't give up until she got the full story out of him "I met him last week on the first day of school. When he shook my hand it was like the Fourth of July. Fireworks exploded in my head."

"And in your pants?" Hyoyeon grinned mischievously.

"Jesus, Hyo!" Chansung couldn't help laughing “Anyway, I took Jay to Pony Express yesterday and who do we run into?"

"Junho..." Hyoyeon batted her eyelashes and sighed dreamily.

"Before I knew what was happening, Jay had invited him to eat with us and go apple picking too." he'd been stunned at first when Jay asked Junho to join them for breakfast, but he'd always taught his son to be inclusive of others, so it shouldn't have come as a shock when Jay invited Junho, who had come into the restaurant alone, to join them. 

Hyoyeon looked shocked "You spent all day together?"

Chansung nodded, a smile curving his lips "Best damn first date I've ever had in my life." Chansung couldn't help remembering the sunshine in Junho's smile and the happy look in his eyes every time their eyes met.

"Only it wasn't a first date." Hyoyeon cocked an eyebrow in challenge, folding her arms over her ugly fall-themed sweater.

Hyoyeon's comment was like a bucket of ice water thrown at his good vibe "Right..."

"So do something about it!" Hyoyeon leaned over the counter, getting closer to her friend "Text him. Invite him to coffee or out to dinner. Don't let this golden opportunity pass you by."

"What if he says no?" it was Chansung's biggest fear. If Junho said no to his date, it was going to be a long school year with him having to see Jay's teacher nearly every day.

"If that man says no, he's a fool and has no place educating the minds of South Korea's youth." Hyoyeon's tone brooked no argument.

Chansung snorted, finding his happy place again "I wouldn't go that far."

"Just do it, Chansung. You've got everything to gain and nothing to lose." 

"Fine, you win." Chansung reached into his back pocket for his phone. He was slipping it out when it buzzed in his hand.

"Great minds think alike!" Hyoyeon was grinning from ear to ear.

Turning the phone over, Chansung's heart sank. The text message wasn't from Junho. It was from Jea 'We need to talk. My house, 6pm.'

Chansung shivered, his excitement over asking Junho out buried under an avalanche of anxiety and raw fear. When Jea said they needed to talk, Chansung knew only pain would follow.