The following days had Taemin excited with anticipation. As Saturday approached way too slowly, he couldn’t sleep much, and he spent most of his nights staring at the ceiling, a million questions running around in his head. 

How would the date go? What was expected of him? What if he realized he wasn’t into Minho the way Minho was into him? What if he misled him? What if Minho decided that in the end, he wasn’t interested? What if they had nothing to tell each other?

“Don’t ask yourself too many questions,” Jonghyun told him on the phone on Friday afternoon while Taemin was finishing a report for his company. “You just need to go with the flow.”

“But what if it turns out to be a disaster?”

“It will only be a disaster if you decide it is, Taemin. The worst that can happen is that you don’t end up together, and that’s okay too,” Jonghyun explained casually.

“Great. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll be reminded every day. He’s my neighbor, remember?”

“Why do you think something bad will happen? Don’t you want to go on that date too?”

“Of course, I do, Jonghyun. That’s not it,” Taemin mumbled.

“What is it, then?”

“I’m not sure,” Taemin whispered. “I just feel like… something like this isn’t for me.” 

“Stop acting like this, please,” Jonghyun said with a long breath. “Okay, you know what? If there’s anything, just send me a text and I’ll call you and pretend there’s an emergency. Would that help?”

“I’m not a teenager, Jonghyun,” Taemin muttered.

“Then stop acting like one.”

Taemin took a deep breath—he knew his friend was right. He had nothing to worry about.

He was finally able to relax for a bit, until he got a message from Minho asking if they could have their date earlier in the day—he wanted to take him to brunch instead. With shaky fingers, he typed a quick response, agreeing to the change of plan. He tried to play it cool, but the stress reappeared instantly without him even realizing it at first. But when his shaking foot hit the leg of his desk, he realized he really needed to calm down.

It was just a date.

It didn’t imply anything else.

The change of time impacted Taemin more than he would have liked to admit. As he was getting ready in the morning—he had skipped his usual two coffees since they were going to brunch—he heard a knock on the door. He stared wide-eyed as he realized his pants weren’t zipped yet, and his dress shirt wasn’t buttoned the right way—of course he had made a mess.

“Coming!” he shouted at the top of his lungs as he tried to his shirt and button it back the right way. He zipped his pants as he was walking to the door and opened it with slightly shaking hands.

His breath was taken away for a second. Minho was waiting in the hallway, looking at him with a gentle smile and a sparkle in his eyes. He too had put on a dress shirt and Taemin couldn’t stop a light smirk—they definitely were in their thirties.

“I’m just—almost ready—” Taemin mumbled and went back inside, leaving the door open for Minho to come in. “Pay attention to Luna!” he added as he saw his cat approaching the open door.

Minho chuckled but Taemin trusted that he’d actually give her some attention. He quickly went into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror as his heartbeat quickened. He splashed some water on his face in the hopes to cool down a bit, and went back out. He grabbed his keys and his phone before joining Minho back at the entrance of his apartment—Minho had shut the door behind him.

“I’m ready,” Taemin said in a breath.

“Let’s go then?” Minho asked and opened the door.

Taemin followed him outside and locked the apartment behind him. They both walked down the stairs and outside the building—Taemin squinted. The sun was shining brightly and he hadn’t taken his sunglasses with him, he quickly realized. But now would be too late to go back up.

Minho continued walking and Taemin followed him, a question forming on his lips.

“Where are we going?”

“I spotted a nice place not too far away, so I figured we could walk there, if that’s okay with you?”

“It’s perfect,” Taemin whispered.

They were walking alongside some shops, and Taemin caught his reflection in the glass a few times. He couldn’t stop himself from looking, each time noticing something he didn’t like about himself, until he felt Minho’s arm on his shoulder.

He shivered as Minho ran a hand through his hair absent-mindedly.

“You look good, don’t worry,” the man said with a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth and Taemin pursed his lips.

“You look good too,” he said back before he could stop himself.

Minho slowly let go of him and Taemin felt cold. He liked to feel Minho’s presence against his skin, he realized. He looked up at him just as their hands brushed and suddenly, he was too hot.

“So… have you been able to talk to Nari yet?” Taemin asked quickly and regretted it right away. Talking about parenting couldn’t be an appropriate thing to do on a date, he thought. He was so bad at this.

“No, I haven’t…” Minho mumbled. “I’ll talk to her face to face, next time I see her,” he explained. “Does it… bother you? That I have a kid?”

Taemin looked up at Minho with a slight frown, trying to understand what he meant by that question.

“Why would it?” he finally asked when he realized he couldn’t read the man next to him.

“Because, you know…” Minho trailed off as he stared into space. Taemin noticed his cheeks getting slightly pink and he got the urge to brush their hands together again.

“I always wanted to have kids. But things got in the way,” Taemin explained slowly, his heart almost throwing itself outside of his body. “But I made my choices, and I learned to live with them.”

Minho nodded but didn’t answer anything. The air between them was electric—once again, he had shared something deeply personal. It was crazy how he was able to open up with