¨

Minho woke up with a hurting back the next morning. He had barely been able to sleep  three hours, constantly trying to find a comfortable position on Taemin’s couch. It turned out to be impossible and he ended up sleeping on the rug on the floor instead where Taemin found him the next morning.

“You slept on the floor?” The young father asked, still wearing his pyjamas, looking absolutely adorable.

“Yes. I love to sleep on the floor. Very cosy.” Minho said with an ironic undertone in his voice and Taemin raised an eyebrow.

“Whatever you say Choi Minho. You want breakfast?”

“Absolutely.” Minho said, getting up from the floor, immediately stretching all his limbs, groaning in discomfort. Taemin respectfully looked away – more for his own good than for anyone else’s. He only caught a glimpse of the older’s muscles stretch beneath his golden skin and it was more than enough for 6:30 in the morning.

“You can fold the blanket and put it on the couch. Chanho is changing in the bedroom, so I’ll put it back later.” The young father said as he busied himself in the kitchen.

There was still leftover Kimchi-Jjigae from two days ago, so he only needed to cut a little radish and make new rice. There wasn’t much to do but after a few seconds, Minho was already standing in the kitchen, wanting to help.

“Can you please put something on before you come into my kitchen?” Taemin said and Minho smirked.

“Why, does it bother you?”

Taemin rolled his eyes and Minho disappeared with a knowing smirk on his face.

“Uncle Minho?!” Chanho’s voice filled the room and Taemin bent forwards to take a peek towards their living room where the boy was standing with wide eyes. “You stayed overnight?”

“Yes, I did. Is that alright?” Minho asked and Chanho nodded.

“You can always stay here. But why didn’t you sleep with us in the bed?”

“Breakfast is ready!” Taemin shouted to interrupt that conversation and judging from Minho’s face it was quite obvious why he had called for breakfast even though the table wasn’t set.

Minho left the apartment after breakfast, having an arrangement with his family in the afternoon. 

“Are you in your right mind?”

Minho nodded while both his parents were sitting across from him with wide eyes. “I am.”

“This is not how we raised you.” His father said with a grim face, his opinion on the matter already made and fixed from the very moment his son had brought up a male lover.

“I will not ask you to support us, but I hope you will at least try to come to terms with the fact that I won’t be looking into marriage any time soon.”

At this point, Minho’s chest was tight, unsure if he just completely ruined the relationship between him and his parents for good. It was the second time within twenty minutes that his mother got teary-eyed, and it was harder to process than the death glares he received from his father’s eyes.

“Have you not enjoyed the companies of the fine women I have set you up with?” She said and Minho replied easily:

“They were fine… but not one of them has touched my heart.”

“It’s not about your heart. Marriage in your position has nothing to do with whom you like or not. We have been so generous to leave you to choose your own wife because we believed you are smart and trustworthy enough to make a good decision that will benefit all, your own life, our family reputation and the company. It turns out, we have given you too much credit.” Minho’s father said, each end every word making Minho lose hope to make them understand his situation.

“There is no use in talking to you I see.” Minho answers and before he can leave his mother spoke up again in one last desperate try to convince her son of their beliefs.

“What about children? You have always wanted to be a father. That man cannot give you what you are wishing for in life.” She said getting up from her seat as Minho was doing so the moment she had started talking.

“He has already given me a son. He is everything I could have ever wished for even if he isn’t my own flesh and blood. If I’ll ever allow you to meet him don’t even think of talking about him taking over the company. He has much greater things to achieve in his life than turning into a younger version of me.” Minho was speaking as he collected his things, leaving the table with a respectful bow towards his parents who watched in horror as their perfect son left the room without looking back.

Minho had always been worried about his parent’s reaction and he wasn’t surprised at the outcome of their conversation. Not at all – if anything it was pretty much the way he had imagined it to be. In the end he was glad that he finally dropped the bomb. It got rid of all the what ifs he had carried around with him ever since he had accepted his uality.

And he didn’t hear from them the coming days, making him wonder if the revelation had any consequences.

“You told your parents?” Taemin asked with wide eyes a few days later when Minho called him to his office.

“I did. Does that bother you?” Minho asked, always glancing outside to make sure no one was listening.

“Not at all. Those are your affairs.” Taemin answered and the older smiled at the young father.

“Good, because I was wondering if I can take you on a trip. Both of you.”

“Well, that was a very abrupt change of topic, you don’t want to talk about it I recon? Fine, what trip?”

“Yes. I would like to keep my promise and take Chanho to Pohang for his birthday. And I somehow told myself I can ask you out on that trip when I finally tell my parents – needed something to motivate myself to come out of the closet…” Minho knew that the other wouldn’t be able to say no, fully aware that he would do anything for his son.

“His birthday is in two weeks Minho. In the middle of the week.”

“But it is summer break, isn’t it?” The older said, unsure why it was an issue.

“First of all, I already paid for Chanho’s day-care and secondly, we are working?”

Taemin didn’t like the smile that formed on his boyfriend’s face.

“You can call them and cancel and don’t worry about work, you still have a week left – why not use it for that?”

The young father weighed the options, and he knew that going to Pohang would be amazing, both for Chanho but also for himself. He couldn’t even remember the last time he physically left Seoul. Not thinking twice, he reciprocated Minho’s smile, suddenly excited.

“I guess we could do that.”

“Nice. Should I look for a place to stay or do we want to do it together?”

“I wanna help choosing but let’s keep it a secret from Chanho.” Taemin said with a smirk and Minho winked, smiling from ear to ear.

“Not a word.”

Only two weeks later, everything was taken care off and Minho drove up to Taemin’s apartment building, nervous about how the trip would turn out. He had spent so much time with the two, slept over at Taemin’s once even. But nothing would compare to the commitment of spending five days together. If anything, he was the cool uncle that would do some fun activities with him but that would never come close to the bond he had with his father. Minho didn’t expect anything else, but it made him fear the coming trip. As much as he was looking forward to it, he didn’t know how Chanho would take it. Was it alright for him and Taemin to sleep together in the bed, Chanho in his own room or would he be the one who once more was taking the extra bed?

Minho shook his head, almost angry at himself for expecting anything of the young father and his son. He was the one who came late, so he shouldn’t have thoughts like that. Why was he jealous of a little boy?

With a sigh, Minho pulled out his phone, letting Taemin know that he was waiting downstairs. It wasn’t long until the two appeared in the entrance of the apartment building, Taemin looking utterly exhau