Daehyun spots the boy even before Youngjae notices him.
He sees him hiding behind his mother's legs, wobbling on unsteady feet and shyly peeking pass his mother's skirt, awkwardly turning his head away when someone speaks to or looks at him.
Youngjae is just as cute as he was the year before, he's got his big, dark doe eyes blinking nervously and his cheeks are chubby, tinted in a soft red and it makes Daehyun want to pinch them, softly.
He walks over to the two of them, says a quick greeting to Youngjae's mom before he crouches down to greet the little boy.
Youngjae blinks at him, not recognizing who Daehyun is but the elder doesn't blame him, he smiles instead and waves his hand a little.
“Hey there little man.” he says in a soft voice full of affection and Youngjae blinks at him again before he raises his hand for just a moment and waves it so quickly that if Daehyun had blinked he would have missed the action.
“Do you remember me?” Daehyun asks though he knows the answer and it comes in the form of a slow head shake.
Daehyun smiles again, to the point his eyes disappear and little creases form around them.
“It's ok, I'm Daehyun.” He says and points to his chest, Youngjae nods.

At first Daehyun had planned to spent the gathering hiding in some corner playing video games or texting forth and back with his friend but instead the 11 year old feels drawn to the little boy whose eyes follow him attentively.

Youngjae is a very shy boy and it takes a while for Daehyun to regain his trust, he does eventually, with lots of smiles and a couple imaginary phone calls.
He's glad Yongguk is around though, the elder has a way with small kids that goes beyond Daehyun's horizon and it's easier to figure what to say or do when he can watch the elder interact with the little ones.

Daehyun basically spends the morning playing with the kids, paying extra attention to Youngjae and the boy gradually warms up to him, even gets a little jealous when he turns to one of the little girls for a while to assure her how pretty her ponytail is.
Youngjae pouts the second Daehyun turns his back to him and he snatches the girl's doll away while she's not looking, burying the poor thing in a pile of grass that he rips off blade after blade.
It doesn't take long until Daehyun finds himself sandwiched between two crying kids, both of them with quivering lips and droplets of tears running down their red cheeks.
Luckily Yongguk isn't far and quickly comes to save the day, he plays knight in shining armor for the girl's doll and then takes her aside to assure her Youngjae never meant to hurt 'the princess'.
Youngjae's lip is quivering and he pouts when Daehyun sits him down and tells him it's not nice to take other peoples toys without asking, he's been told so by his mother and teaching Youngjae that simple bit of social behavior makes him feel so mature all of a sudden, he feels like he's a role model now, a big brother and he likes it.
Daehyun is not sure whether Youngjae understands him or not though but it doesn't really matter because Youngjae keeps his eyes set on him as he speaks and that is enough for Daehyun to feel accomplished.
The little boy sulks for a while and Daehyun keeps him company but it only lasts until a shiny toy car catches Youngjae's attention and he crawls over to it, happily sending the car through the good amount of 20 accidents in his attempt to make it drive.

At dinner Youngjae immediately crawls onto Yongguk's lap, happily clapping his hands as the elder lets the boy bounce on his knees.
Daehyun just sits there and watches the two, watches Youngjae as he giggles and presses his tiny hands to Yongguk's cheeks, making him look like a blow fish.
He barely averts his eyes because Youngjae is too cute and he does funny things that Daehyun doesn't want to miss out on.
It comes close to watching his favorite cartoon, very close.
The small boy holds his spoon in a fist as he shovels the food into his mouth, missing a couple of times and only being saved from tossing the food all over himself by Yongguk's guiding hand.

Daehyun likes how Youngjae is all ears when he tells him stories after dinner.
He doesn't even know what he's talking about, he just makes up random things, fairytales about little, invisible creatures which he describes as detailed as possible.
Youngjae's eyes light up just a little more with every new creature he comes up with and he giggles and chuckles when Daehyun talks about tiny tickle-monsters and runs his fingers quickly over Youngjae's belly to underline the monsters actions.
Youngjae's cheeks turn an adorable shade of pink and he wiggles on the floor, laughing loud and happily, Daehyun laughs along.

A short while later Youngjae struggles to his feet and dashes or more likely stumbles off.
Daehyun watches as the boy runs on unsteady feet and comes back a while later, crumbling more than holding a sheet of paper in one and a couple of crayons in the other hand.
He holds out one of the crayons for Daehyun to take and starts scribbling on the sheet.
It's not more than a mush of lines and swirls that he creates but he smiles as he does and urges Daehyun to join him.

When Youngjae's mom comes up to the two of them to take Youngjae for his afternoon nap the boy pouts and shakes his head furiously.
His mom crouches down to him, tells him how important it is for him to get rested but the boy's bottom lip starts to quiver and within seconds he's in tears.
Daehyun watches helplessly as the boy plops down on his and windmills his arms while tears stream down his face and snot runs from his nose.
His mom seems rather perplexed as well for a moment, rubbing circles on the boy's back to keep him from choking on his tears.
Daehyun shifts a little closer to the bawling boy then and calls him a couple of times, voice soft and warm, until Youngjae lifts his head and looks at him through moist eyes.
“We'll play some more later ok? I promise, if you take your nap we'll play a lot more after you got up.”
The boy blinks at him but doesn't agree or disagree at all, he merely stares as if to determine whether Daehyun means what he says or maybe he's just trying to figure what he said at all, Daehyun doesn't know.
Youngjae's mom smiles softly and heaves the boy up in her arms, who complies without much resistance now.
Youngjae rests his head on his mother's shoulder and closes his eyes for a moment before she sets into motion, she doesn't get further than a couple steps before the boy starts struggling in her arms again.
The pout is back on his lips and his eyes fix on Daehyun.
Tiny hands stretch towards him, doing a grasping motion and Daehyun smiles a little when he realizes the boy wants him to tag along.
“Ok, we'll go together.” He promises and Youngjae's mom smiles at him apologetically but Daehyun just shakes his head a little and follows the two of them into the guestroom upstairs.

Youngjae drifts off to sleep as soon as his tiny form lies on the bed with a soft blanket draped over his body.
His mom says he's probably worn himself out with crying but Daehyun doesn't care because all he knows is that Youngjae's sleeping form is charming.
His cheeks look even more chubby and his lips part in that kind of heart shaped form that makes him look just adorable.
He'd planned to play some football with Yongguk while Youngjae was asleep but now Daehyun doesn't even want to anymore, so he grabs his gameboy from his backpack and sinks down on the floor, back resting against the bed frame right were Youngjae's feet are sticking out from underneath the blanket.
Two rounds of Super Mario later, Daehyun places the gameboy aside and snuggles against the edge of the mattress instead.
It doesn't take more than 5 minutes until he sinks into slumber as well.

Daehyun wakes up to a er-punch precisely delivered to his stomach, at least that's what he thinks it is at first.
When he opens his eyes he finds his lap full of a bundle Yoo Youngjae, the boy happily bouncing on his body like it's a moonwalk.

Daehyun groans, Youngjae giggles.
His first intuitive reaction is to scold the young boy for pushing his knee into his midriff but when the boy throws his tiny arms around his neck to hug him he can't find it in him to do so, even when the boys feet now trample dangerously close to his groin.

They spend the rest of the day doing whatever Youngjae wants to do.
Daehyun can't even count the amount of make believe calls he's taking from Youngjae.
For a while the two of them “play mirror”, Daehyun hasn't even intended to play that but when the little boy sat in front of him and started mirroring his gestures it turned into a natural thing for the elder to play along.
The gestures he does are rather small, just waving at each other, clasping and unclasping their hands, clapping, whatever comes to Daehyun's mind that the other boy is able to mimic, he does it.
When Youngjae grows bored of the game Daehyun goes to grab a couple of chalks and takes the boy to the terrace where they sit and color the floor in swirls and stripes until his aunt walks in on them and asks them to take their game somewhere else.
The colorful pictures the two drew get washed away by a flood of water only minutes after they settled with rolling a beach ball from one to the other.

A couple of times Daehyun attempts to play by himself or more accurately he goes to see if anyone wants to play with him.
He talks Yongguk into playing a belated soccer match and Junhong into letting him use his skateboard to roll up and down the driveway because his mom won't let him go further than that.
Youngjae stays with his mom while Daehyun is gone but the little boy is moody, he crawls onto his mother's lap and rests his head against her shoulder, his eyes following the elders soccer season attentively but with a pout on his lips.

The day passes and as the sun sets Daehyun gets busy helping his uncle with setting up the bonfire place.
Yongguk and Junhong help with setting up the benches around the fire place and Daehyun is called inside to help his uncle fight the printer to get little booklets with lyrics printed.
Everyone seems to ask him for help and Daehyun complies because he's a nice kid and he likes the praises he gets when he helps the elders.
He doesn't see Youngjae for most of the afternoon and only when they finally get seated around the fire he spots the little boy again, sitting on his mother's lap with the resemblance of a frown on his cute face.
His uncle starts strumming his guitar and his aunt distributes dough to put on sticks and roast over the fire.
Daehyun likes the bonfires most about the whole gathering.
He likes to listen to the soft guitar and the smell of burning wood in the air and he likes how everyone joins into the singing whether they can hold a note or not.
Daehyun himself is not that confident, he likes singing, he really does but he's done it once at school and his classmate all had laughed at -the Ariel boy- referring to the red haired mermaid and the thought of owning a glittering fishtail and wearing shells had crept him out so much, he hasn't sung since than except in the shower.
When his uncles start a medley of old Korean songs, Daehyun decides to join into the singing anyway because he knows the lyrics by heart (he used to listen to the LPs his mom owns ever since he figured how to use the record player at the age of 4), he's not sure the pronunciation is right though but he sings along anyways.
He barely makes it though the first song before one of the grannies looks at him with big eyes.
Her wrinkles seem to crave into her skin even deeper as she smiles at him and showers him in compliments for his voice, says he should go to Korea to become an idol and Daehyun feels awkward as she keeps praising.
Instead of singing more like she begs him to he falls silent and feels the heat crawl to his cheeks that now appear in a red tint.

It's only a minute if even later that Youngjae appears in front of him, swaying unsteadily on his tiny feet.
He looks at him with big round doe eyes and his mouth is slightly agape as he blinks at him almost as if he's fascinated.
Daehyun looks back at the boy, a smile molding onto his lips.
Youngjae's hands grab for his knees and the boy struggles to climb up onto the elder's lap, his leg slips and Daehyun's arms shoot out to grab Youngjae underneath his arms and heave him up onto his lap.
He wraps his arms around the tiny form and holds him tightly, Youngjae's head resting against his chest.
The little boy sighs happily and Daehyun can't do anything but smile to the sound of contentment.
Youngjae yawns just a little, his lips forming into a small O shape and his hand grabs for Daehyun's shirt, small fingers clenching into the fabric for leverage.
As the family keeps singing and conversing Youngjae quickly falls asleep in Daehyun's arms to the brush of the elder's fingertips through his hair.
His tiny hand unconsciously grabs for Daehyun's hand instead of his shirt, his fingers too small to wrap around anything but the older boy's thumb, holding on to it without the intention of letting go as he drifts though his slumber.
 

Daehyun gets the privilege to take the little boy “to bed” that night and really it is a privilege to him.
He wraps the boy up in his arms securely and follows his aunt to the car where he places the boy into his car seat.
Youngjae stirs a little and yawns again as Daehyun unclasps the tiny fingers holding on his thumb.
He watches the boy for a moment as his aunt says her good byes for the night and smiles to the fact that such a tiny, little being could make his heart swell to this extend.


 

It's the second day of the gathering and as always they have to get up early to go to Daehyun's relatives for breakfast before setting off for a hike.
Daehyun doesn't mind the hike too much, he can ride his uncle's bike while everyone else walks and it's always fun.

Everyone is either much older or much younger than him and sometimes it's just boring, especially when his mom gets protective over her only son and won't allow him to go off on his own.

So when they finally get ready to leave for the park he's quick to dash towards the garage to gather the bike he knows is hidden inside.
He swings his leg over the ride and places his feet onto the pedals eagerly waiting for the mop to get into motion.
There's a basket attached to both ends of the bike and as soon as his aunt steps out into the front yard he understands their purpose.
Food supplies and water bottles get tossed into the baskets and for a moment Daehyun feels like a packhorse but he quickly figures it's worth it as long as he gets to ride instead of walk.
 

The sun has just broken through the clouds when finally the whole family gathers in the yard, ready to set off on their hike.
Daehyun scans the crowd for Yongguk but can't seem to find him nor Junhong anywhere, it's a little sad because Yongguk normally comes over to him once in a while to play little guessing games with him while they're on their way.
This time Daehyun seems to be left all alone with his bike and it's just a little disappointing.
He's not a very social bird but certain things just have a routine and he really likes to stick around certain people.
 

They set off with Daehyun pedaling far ahead of the group, he knows the route by heart so there's no reason for going slow except the occasional calls from his mom telling him to slow down.

That's when he falls back again, missing the rush of warm summer air on his skin and breezes weaving through his hair.

Youngjae's mom walks a couple steps behind him, pushing a sleepy Youngjae in his buggy.
Daehyun falls back a little more then, not pedaling as fiercely as he's done before and soon enough he's at the perfect height to look into to the buggy, watching Youngjae's sleeping face and bow shaped lips twitching as the boy drifts through his slumber.

When his aunt asks him to hand her a water he hops off the bike and hands it over with a polite and charming smile.
The woman smiles back as he keeps walking next to her, pushing his bike as they slowly move down the path lined with trees quickly starting a conversation.
She asks the usual question and Daehyun answers each and every one even though he's already done so many times.

When the conversation switches to her talking instead of asking, Daehyun gets engrossed in her evaluations about all the little cute things Youngjae does and seems to do every day.
It's oddly exciting to hear about how the boy seems to learn rather fast, about the first time he spoke, the things he seems to be interested in and his possible talents that Daehyun thinks are too early to determined.
His eyes set on the little figure once more and there's this weird feeling of pride bubbling in his chest because he's part of Youngjae's life, even if only for a couple days a year, he'll see the boy grow up and he can't wait for the day Youngjae get old enough so he can teach and show him all the things that he deems important.
He wants to share his knowledge with the boy and become someone he'll look up to.
It's a new, weird goal but right then and there, even though he is nothing more than a kid himself, it's what he wants.

They reach the park faster than any other time before and Daehyun instantly drops his bike to help his aunt spread out a blanket, the buggy with Youngjae placed right next to it.

People walk over and ask him for supplies form his baskets and he hands them out like he's the one in charge, it's not reluctantly at all, he rather enjoys the new task he's given.

Daehyun watches as Himchan pulls up with his fancy sports car at the other side of the park, the one Daehyun is not allowed to drive in because his mom deems Himchan's driving life threatening.

The handsome boy walks over, his girlfriend clinging to his side as they join the group and Daehyun averts his eyes quickly when the dark haired boy looks back at him because he's staring and though Himchan is very pretty he's also playing in a very different league from Daehyun.
He's not like Yongguk, open and friendly, all smiles and jokes, Himchan is distant in a way, too grown up to deal with someone like his little 11 year old cousin and where Daehyun thinks Himchan is a mystery and rather cool, his mother says Himchan is nothing but a snobby good-for-nothing.

Daehyun just can't agree with his mother, he admires Himchan, why exactly he can't say but maybe it's due to the other's charisma.
Daehyun wishes he could have that effect on others one day, to have their eyes drawn to him but he also knows that's not who he is or who he'll ever be.

Food and beverages are quickly distributed and soon everyone has found a place to sit and talk.
Daehyun feels bored to the core when Junhong and Yongguk don't show up at all and nobody really seems interested in spending time with him.
Only once one of the elder woman comes over to sit next to him, she asks him all those questions they always ask, about school and his age and how he likes to spent time with the family.
It's a little mean but Daehyun is glad when she leaves again and he can drop onto the blanket with his arms crossed behind his head.
He's left his gameboy at the hotel and Youngjae is still sound asleep so there's not a lot to do for him except from closing his eyes and listening to the chit-chat around him.
He drifts into a shallow slumber that only last so long before Youngjae's mother shakes him awake to hand him a plate of cheesecake.
 

Daehyun rubs the sleep out of his eyes and looks to the side where Youngjae is sitting in his buggy wide eyed, watching him.
He smiles at the little boy and places the plate next to himself when Youngjae's arms dart out with a grabbing motion.

“You want out?” he asks and slides his hands underneath the tiny boy's arms to heave him out of the buggy.
Youngjae giggles and smiles as his tiny hands grab for the sleeves of Daehyun's shirt.
 

When Daehyun settles back onto the blanket with Youngjae in his lap he finally spots two familiar figures walking towards their little picnic side.
He waves at the two boys walking into his direction and smiles brightly when Yongguk sends him one of his gummy smiles.
As soon as they are at a distance that Youngjae can easily bridge the boy climbs of his lap and dashes towards Yongguk on wobbly legs.
Daehyun watches as he stops in front of Junhong instead, arms stretched towards the tall teen until Junhong finally crouches down for him to reach.
It's a sweet sight when little Youngjae almost climbs onto Junhong's lap to place a short kiss onto his cheek and Daehyun finds himself giggling at Junhong's stunned expression.

The small boy comes running back to him right afterward, wrapping his short arms around Daehyun's neck and Daehyun in return wraps his arms around his slim frame.
 

Junhong and Yongguk settle right next to the two and Daehyun is glad they are around.
Junhong still doesn't talk to him as much as Yongguk does but he smiles more than he used to and Yongguk still his warm, calming self, makes their little circle laugh louder than the rest of the family with his funny-not so funny jokes.
 

Youngjae clings to Daehyun the whole time even when it's just holding on to the edge of Daehyun's t-shirt while the three elder play a game of cards they snatched from Junhong's dad.

There's laughter and giggles and Daehyun enjoys the playful squabbling between the two elder and the way Youngjae snuggles up to him in his slumber.

For the first time in the 11 years he's lived Daehyun feels like he really, honestly loves his family, a lot.