“Are you ready?” Taemin asked excitedly after Minho opened the door of his apartment. He couldn’t contain his enthusiasm. He was eager to put his hands in the clay. The pottery workshop they had booked was about to start soon.

Minho didn’t answer anything but got out of his place and started walking down the hallway. Taemin followed him eagerly, and once he had caught up to him, he brushed their hands together.

His cheeks got warm when Minho intertwined their fingers together and smiled while staring into space. 

They got outside their building and walked the short distance to reach the pottery shop. As they were almost halfway through their journey, Taemin’s excitement was slowly replaced by anxiousness—there was something he needed to tell Minho before they’d get there. 

He glanced at the man walking next to him, and when Minho looked back at him, he frowned lightly—he could read Taemin like a book, it seemed. Minho brushed his thumb against Taemin’s hand, but it didn’t help.

“It’s okay to be nervous, Taemin,” Minho finally said. “We can do something else if you changed your mind.”

“I’m nervous, but it’s not about the pottery workshop,” Taemin said back quickly. He knew he had to get it out.

“About what then?”

“I… I might have invited your daughter to join us?” Taemin said tentatively.

“You did what now?” Minho asked, his breath short, and he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.

“I thought it would be fun,” Taemin answered with a shrug—he was trying to play it cool. “And I want you and Nari to be okay with each other,” he confessed. He knew he was probably stepping over some boundaries.

“I haven’t told her yet,” Minho whispered and looked at the ground. “You know—” he added and squeezed Taemin’s hand.

“Do you want to?”

“Well, yes, I do—I just don’t know how—”

“Then maybe today is the great opportunity you were waiting for?” Taemin interrupted him. He pursed his lips and looked hopefully at Minho. “Please don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad!” Minho said quickly with wide eyes. “I’m just… not prepared? I don’t know why I’m stressing out so much about this.”

“It’s going to be fine,” Taemin reassured him and tugged at his hand. He gave him a warm smile and started walking again. He loved how Minho seemed to stand closer to him.

When they arrived at the shop, they decided to wait outside for Nari to arrive. Taemin had agreed to meet her in front of the shop, and he didn’t want her to believe they had changed their minds.

Taemin didn’t resist when Minho slid his hands on his waist to hold him closer, and the feeling of his lips gently kissing him almost made him forget why they were there. But still, there was this nagging thought at the back of his mind that he couldn’t get rid of. 

“Minho,” he said in a breath when Minho pulled away for a second. Taemin put his hands on Minho’s chest to create some distance between them—as much as he liked how their relationship was evolving, he was feeling slightly uncomfortable at this instant.

“Yes?”

“There’s another reason I invited Nari.”

“What is it?”

“So it… would feel less like a date?” Taemin confessed. “Don’t get me wrong, I like what we have, I’m just… new to all this.”

Taemin had prepared himself for Minho to be disappoi