sorry for any mistakes. i apologize in advance.

"all right. remember you guys have homework for tonight! i'll see you all tomorrow." 

kyungsoo wraps up the class, wiping off the white board of simple math whilst the five year olds pack their stuff, exiting the class room with "bye, mr. kyungsoo!". their proud teacher looks up, waving at them before returning to tidying up the classroom. he looks over the room as the last few students exit, one being jongdae. 

"bye, hyung! i'll see you tomorrow!" jongdae beams, swinging his backpack on and skipping out of the door. "wait, baekhyun hyung!" could be heard as he runs down the hallway. kyungsoo can only laugh at his cuteness. kyungsoo then walks around the classroom, pushing in any chairs and checking the floor for any huge pieces of garbage or any forgotten items (because every other day, he'll have a student or two ask him if they've seen their stuff.) he ends up finding a scarf on the ground and places it on to his desk at the front of the room. he then starts to pack up the school work that was turned in today so he could take it home and grade them- grading them meaning, adding stickers and "good job"'s and "amazing"'s to their colorful drawings. looking over the room once more, he deems it clean enough to pack up for the night. he checks the clock and smiles that he's actually going home "early" for once. 

after gathering his things from the staff offices, he makes his way down the hall and to the front of the school. he checks his phone and sees that it has been about forty minutes since the preschoolers were let out. he then shifts his eyes across the court yard and to the gate where he sees jongdae waving at baekhyun who had just gotten picked up from his mother. once the other leaves, jongdae purses his lips together, his gaze moving towards the ground before he walks back to the swing set. he plops down on to the swing and kyungsoo can see him sigh. being not only jongdae's teacher, but also jongdae's father's lover (and pretty much jongdae's other parent) he makes his way over to the swing set because like hell is he going to leave jongdae by himself. 

"jongdae-ah, what are you still doing here? isn't your daddy going to pick you up?" kyungsoo asks as he kneels down in front of jongdae. the child looks up and shrugs. 

"i don't know where he's at..." he sadly replies before returning his eyes back to the open space on the ground between kyungsoo and him. 

"hmm..." kyungsoo pulls out his phone from his pocket and unlocks it before going to his contacts, searching for joonmyeon's name. and as if on cue, his phone starts to ring. no doubt, it's joonmyeon. kyungsoo stands before answering. 

"yah! where are you? don't you know what time it is?" kyungsoo questions. 

"i know, i'm sorry. something came up at work and my boss is holding all of us overtime. i have no idea when i'll get out." joonmyeon apologizes and you can hear the regret in his voice. "i'm so sorry, but can you look over jongdae for awhile? just until i get out?"

without hesitation, kyungsoo replies with a firm "yeah, okay." just wanting to hang up the phone.

joonmyeon apologizes again (because, that's just joonmyeon for you) before repeating everything he just said like how he should've at least texted him earlier or left him a message and explaining that this was his only free time, and kept rambling on and on about how sorry he was and that jongdae was probably sad since he wasn't there. 

"okay, okay. just get back to work. i got it." kyungsoo interrupts quite playfully, with a hint of annoyance as joonmyeon stops his chain of apologies. 

"mmm, okay. i'll tell you about it later. see you in a few, my loves." kyungsoo blushes but it's not like joonmyeon can see it anyway.

"okay, just text me when you're out. we'll be at my place."

"all right. can you tell jongdae that i'm sorry and that i'll make it up to him? to both of you! also kyungsoo, i'm just re-"

"shut up. goodbye!" kyungsoo hangs up, rolling his eyes before slighting laughing to himself. joonmyeon can be too much sometimes. he turns his attention to jongdae who was still pouting about not knowing the whereabouts of his father. kyungsoo kneels down and smiles. "guess who's going to spend some time with their favorite hyung?" he asks and jongdae looks up, face a bit brighter than before. 

"m-me...?" he asks slowly. kyungsoo nods and jongdae grins, eyes forming crescents. "yay!" he jumps, backpack flinging into the air and then back down expressing just how excited jongdae is. "but where's daddy?" jongdae asks, looking up towards kyungsoo with curiousness and confusion on his face.

"daddy is still at work, but you'll be able to see him as soon as he gets out. for now, we'll have to wait, but in the meantime, we can do whatever you want, jongdae-ah." jongdae beams at kyungsoo before grabbing kyungsoo's hand. they both walk out of the gate, jongdae being just as talkative as usual. 

"okay, where shall we go?" kyungsoo asks as he looks down at jongdae.

"mmm..." jongdae purses his lips together as his gaze is geared towards the sky. "i want to go to the supermarket!" he says excitedly, practically hopping around as they walk, further expressing his joy. kyungsoo gives the hopping boy a weird look because what kind of kid likes going to the supermarket for fun? but nevertheless, kyungsoo goes along with it because one, jongdae is just too cute, and two, he needs to buy the ingredients for tonights dinner. 

they walk to kyungsoo's usual bus stop, jongdae awkwardly standing there, holding kyungsoo's hand. he looks up, sort of confused. "so. where's the car?" he asks innocently which makes kyungsoo chuckle on the outside but on the inside, he's slowly questioning his social status just because of a five year old. kyungsoo meets the child's eyes before chuckling again.

"well, i don't use a car, jongdae-ah. i take the bus." kyungsoo points at the multiple buses around the area. "some people buy cars so they don't have to take the bus, but i don't mind it." kyungsoo explains, jongdae just nodding in return. 

"so, you don't need a car, right hyung?" he asks, which kyungsoo nods in agreement. "i see. so daddy has a car because he needs it?" kyungsoo nods again and jongdae opens his mouth in a shape of an "o" as he takes in the new information. "i've never riden in a bus before because daddy always drives me. but i know chanyeollie has riden in a bus because he told me that one time-"(a/n: i know riden isnt a word but jongdae is a kid and he doesn't always use correct grammar) he sneezes and wipes his nose with his sleeve before he continues. "he was with his grandmother and they were in a bus on the way back to his own house. he said it was fun." and as jongdae continues with his little story, kyungsoo can't help but smile at the child's cuteness. 

he continues to talk until the bus arrives and kyungsoo lifts jongdae on to the first step of the bus. jongdae walks up the other two steps before smiling at the bus driver. "it's my first time on a bus!" he announces and the bus driver can only laugh before commenting that the bus is fun to ride before giving him a thumbs up. kyungsoo laughs along, scanning his bus card. the bus was quite full, only one seat open at the middle of the bus. 

"jongdae-ah, go sit down, okay? i'll stand right next to you." kyungsoo directs jongdae to the open seat and jongdae obediently takes the seat, taking off his backpack and placing it on his lap. an arm comes up to hold on to the hem of kyungsoo's sweater and kyungsoo can tell that jongdae was a bit nervous to be on the bus for the first time, even though he was also fascinated by it. 

there were so many people that jongdae had never seen and it was much louder than joonmyeon's car. he wasn't buckled in a car seat and he never had to hold on to something when the vehicle stopped. he looks up at kyungsoo with a slight pleading glint in his eyes. "h-hyung. do you want to sit down?' he asks, his grip tightening on kyungsoo's sweater. kyungsoo gives him a confused look before realizing that jongdae is uncomfortable with their surroundings. he must not feel safe, kyungsoo thought. kyungsoo agrees before picking up jongdae and taking his place on the seat. he puts his bag on the ground between his feet and places jongdae onto his lap, loosely holding him around the torso so he wouldn't slip off. he could feel jongdae relax a little as jongdae starts to ask a few questions here and there, unlike how he was, very still and quiet. not much like the usually talkative jongdae everyone knows and loves. 

jongdae and kyungsoo get off at the stop a few blocks away from the supermarket, jongdae putting on his backpack and kyungsoo throwing on his laptop bag. kyungsoo extends his arm and jongdae takes the extended hand at the side of him. jongdae waves at the bus as it pulls away with his free and looks up at the other. 

"that was fun hyung!" jongdae says, beaming up at kyungsoo. "i want to do that again!" 

"okay, okay. maybe some other time, alright? but let's go to the supermarket first." kyungsoo smiles and jongdae nods, following kyungsoo as they start walking. 

-

the walk to the supermarket wasn't as long as kyungsoo thought it would be while walking with a five year old. it actually went fast as jongdae was quite entertaining as he talked about everything he was curious about to what happens in his dreams to just everyday life. he was even more talktative outside of school which kyungsoo didn't even know was possible. sure, kyungsoo has spend a great amount of time with jongdae wither it'd be at school or the few weeks him and joonmyeon were back together, but he has never been with jongdae alone. he applauds joonmyeon for going through this everyday, not that he's getting annoyed or anything, but between work, chores, bills and taxes, and this ball of energy, couldn't that be... draining? being the only parent with so much more responsibilities... kyungsoo can't even begin to fathum joonmyeon's current lifestyle. but kyungsoo reminds himeself that joonmyeon has been doing this for a little over five years now, but besides the fact, isn't it still hard? kyungsoo knew joonmyeon was strong, but this is a whole 'nother level of strong.

they arrive at the supermarket, the same three-story one that jongdae was excited about going into and where kyungsoo got to tell joonmyeon how he felt after all these years. yeah sure, it's just a supermarket, but to kyungsoo, it was quite special. however, to jongdae, it just interested him at how massive the place was. it literally has everything.

"okay, jongdae, we're going to play a fun game, all right?" kyungsoo says whislt talking a cart and putting his and jongdae's bags in it. 

"what kind of game, hyung?" jongdae asks as he holds on to the metal lining on the cart. 

"i say an ingredient and you have to find it in the aisle then put it in the cart!" kyungsoo explains as he pushes the cart into the main section of the supermarket. jongdae grins at kyungsoo, nodding his head, agreeing to play the "game". 

the game went like this: kyungsoo would say the ingredient and jongdae would walk through the aisle until he found it. ounce he did, he'd yell "found it!" and jump around for a bit before placing it into the cart with the help of kyungsoo. it would continue like that until all of the ingredients were in the cart. they ended up with, some spaghetti noodles, tomato sauce, fresh basil and cheese. they aquired all of the ingredeients of one of the most simplest dishes that kyungsoo learned to make and was actually his favorite thing to eat since it was so easy to prepare (and it tastes good.)

"good job jongdae!" kyungsoo cheers as he gives jongdae a double high five which jongdae happily jumps up to do. "okay, since you were so outstanding at this game, you can pick out a snack and a drink of your choice. anything you want." jongdae's face lit up at the words. anything? 

"can i get strawberry juice and..." jongdae looks around before running over to the end of the candy aisle and grabbing a bag of candy with suhsi on it. once again, sort of confused, kyungsoo looks at jongdae with a weird look, nut nonetheless, he accepts it from jongdae's hands. "daddy said his favorite food is sushi." he says and kyungsoo looks at the packaging dumbfoundedly. the ing package has sushi on it. kyungsoo can't help but laugh at jongdae's actions and his simple thinking. he's honestly so cute. 

-

after they pay for the stuff, kyungsoo and jongdae walk hand in hand back to kyungsoo's apartment, kyungsoo carrying the bag of groceries in his free hand as jongdae holds his strawberry juice in his. the walk back is calm and breezy, filled with jongdae's questions and kyungsoo's answers that he could best come up with. they stop for a little as they spot a bird's nest on a low branch, just in time to watch as a mother bird feed her young. jongdae giggles and comments on how cute the baby birds are. 

once they arrive at kyungsoo's flat, jongdae helps his teacher place the ingredients on the table, taking them out of the bag and pronouncing all of the labels as best he can, kyungsoo correcting him when he says the word wrong. 

"jongdae-ah~ why don't you do tonight's homework and then you can watch a movie?" kyungsoo suggests and jongdae just beams at him, replying with an "okay, hyung!" before grabbing his backpack and placing his schoolwork on to the dining room table. while jongdae takes out his homework for the night, kyungsoo sits across from him, pulling out some papers he needed to turn in the next day. it was silent for a littler over ten minutes as they both dilegently did their work. 

just then, kyungsoo hears tapping noises from the other side of the table. he peers up and notices jongdae tapping his pencil, brows furrowed, lips pursed together and eyes on the ceiling. kyungsoo then looks at jongdae's paper and sees eraser marks on one particular problem. kyungsoo clears his throat causing jongdae to snap out of deep thought, looking back at his teacher. 

"do you need help?" kyungsoo asks to which jongdae looks at his paper and back up, nodding. "okay, okay." kyungsoo says as he gets up, pulling his chair next to jongdae. "what do you need help on?" he questions and jongdae points at the second to last problem. an addition problem; something they've been working on in class for the past week or so. "okay, well, what is the question asking?" kyungsoo asks and jongdae is silent for a bit. 

"there's a four... and then... you add five..." he says slowly. 

"mmhmm." kyungsoo says. "then what do you do?" jongdae looks up at kyungsoo uncertain of what to do and kyungsoo ruffles his hair. "it's okay, look." kyungsoo lifts up his hands and puts up four fingers. "how many fingers am i holding up?" he asks. jongdae's eyes gaze over his hand before counting off four. "right, there's four. so when you add five," kyungsoo adds one finger at a time until he holds up five more fingers. "what do you get?" jongdae's eyes follow the fingers, counting five until moving on kyungsoo's other hand. 

"six, seven, eight, nine...?" he looks up at kyungsoo's eyes, still uncertain. kyungsoo smiles and nods. 

"right. you get nine. so four plus five is..." 

"nine!" 

kyungsoo claps and give jongdae a high five. "good job jongdae!" jongdae beams up at his teacher before writing a nine in the appropriate spot. "now you only have one more problem left~" kyungsoo coos as he pulls his chair to it's original spot across from jongdae to finish up his grading. 

the two both finsh at the same time, both laughing. they clear their stuff from the table and set their bags aside. kyungsoo then asks jongdae if he wanted to watch tv or something and jongdae naturally agrees. as jongdae watches tv while drawing his heart away on the floor, kyungsoo takes this as a time to get some chores done around the house. it starts with doing his laundry and washing any leftover dishes, then replying to some emails and planning out part of next weeks schedule for the little ones. he then hangs up his clothes to dry and ends his chores with making dinner. by the time he's done with everything, it's already well past five and the whole apartment smells like an italian resaurant. 

jongdae comes padding into the kitchen, eyes closed and he inhales the arouma from the kitchen. "wow~ it smells so good, hyung~" jongdae comments and kungsoo smiles at him. 

"does it? are you hungry now, jongdae-ah?" he asks and jongdae excitedly nods his head, quite enthusiastically. "great~ come here, let's wash our hands so we can eat." kyungsoo says, signalling jongdae to follow him to the sink. 

kyungsoo plates their food and sets it at the small table, loving how jongdae pops himself up on his knees so he can hover above the steaming plate to smell the delicious scent of fresh basil, cheese and tomato. 

"let's eat~" kyungsoo says and they pick up their forks in unison. 

"thank you for the food!!" jongdae beams as he digs in. once he takes a bite, he can only smile as he gets enveloped in the taste. "hyung! this is so yummy!" he says, shoving another bite into his mouth. kungsoo chuckles, thanking the child before taking a bite out of his own plate of food. by the time he knows it, they're both on their second, third plate and they're struggling to finish up their last bits of food.

"hyung, that was so yummy! can you make it again next time!" jongdae asks as he hands kyungsoo his plate so kyungsoo can wash it. 

"sure, if you want me to." kyungsoo smiles which makes jongdae jump for joy as he runs out of the kitchen and back to his scattered drawings on the floor. 

kyungsoo and jongdae end up watching a movie of jongdae's choice after the dishes were washed and put away. the time was now around seven-thirty and the movie was about to end. kyungsoo peers over to jongdae who was lying on the floor, his colored pencil still in his hand. the sight made kyungsoo laugh to himself since the boy was just so cute. he left his position on the couch to lean down and pick up the sleeping angel who was drooling on one of his drawings. he quietly walks down the hallway and to his bedroom where he places jongdae on to his bed and tucks him into the covers. kyungsoo wipes jongdae's fringe away from his forehead and smiles as the boy shifts in his sleep. kyungsoo then leaves his room, leaving the door open just a tad. 

-

the time was now around eight and kyungsoo was watching a random sitcom as he folded his now dry clothes. beside him, his phone starts to ring and a smile creeps on to kyungsoo's lips as the caller id reads: kim joonmyeon. 

"hey, honey, i miss you." joonmyeon's sweet angelic voice coos. kyungsoo laughs. 

"oh shut up with that." he teases. "are you already out?" 

"yeah, i just got out. i'll be there soon, okay?"

"mmm, okay. did you eat already? i made-" kyungsoo gets interrupted by a knock at the door. "hold up, someone's here. it might be my neighbor. he always gets drunk and forgets which room is his." kyungsoo and joonmyeon laugh as kyungsoo hurriedly gets the door. 

"yah, lim hyunsik, you're-" kyungsoo is stopped mid-sentence as his eyes fall on to not a drunk neighbor, but a handsome angel-like man, clad in a grey suit, a stupid smile splaying across his thin but kissable lips. 

"hi, love~" joonmyeon beams, eyes forming into crescents. kyungsoo chuckles, hitting joonmyeon on the chest lightly before opening the door wider to allow the other inside. 

"why didn't you just tell me you were here?" kyungsoo asks, slightly pouting as joonmyeon slips off his shoes. he returns to his spot on the couch, grabbing another shirt to fold. 

"because it would've ruined the whole "surprise, look, i'm here" act i planned." joonmyeon laughs as he plops right next to kyungsoo placing his bag on the ground and grabbing a clothing piece, helping his boyfriend fold. kyungsoo gives joonmyeon a judging look, but can't help but to laugh and shake his head. 

"what am i going to do with you kim joonmyeon." he sates as he folds another shirt. joonmyeon laughs, placing the folded shirt with the others. "anyway, how was work? it seemed pretty serious." kyungsoo says as he grabs the last article of clothing and folding it diligently. 

"oh, right. there was a party of some sort at the hotel and they were short staffed, so my department ended up being escorts." joonmyeon shakes his head. "they know i have a child that i need to pick up at 3 so i don't know why they forced me to stay." kyungsoo purses his lips, agreeing with joonmyeon that they shouldn't have done that, but assures joonmyeon that it was okay since jongdae was good and they had a lot of fun today. 

"i'm still sorry." joonmyeon says and kyungsoo rolls his eyes. 

"can you quit apologizing. i said it's fine." kyungsoo says as he slouches on the couch. 

"no, i can't. even though you're my beloved boyfriend, i still abruptly left you with jongdae for who knows how long?" joonmyeon's pouting and kyungsoo wants to both kiss him and punch him in his face. "even though it's not a big deal to you," joonmyeon says. "i-" joonmyeon is interrupted by a pair of soft, plush lips that crashes onto his own, thin lips and he can't help but to melt into the softness of the kiss. their lips fit perfectly together. just like how it was back then. no other pair of lips would ever be the perfect match to his own like kyungsoo's. he loved the feeling- he missed it. not just the feeling of kyungsoo's lips, but the unique smell that kyungsoo acquired. how his body fit so perfectly in joonmyeon's arms. and how he could feel kyungsoo's true intentions through every small thing he did. joonmyeon missed it and now that he had it back, he vowed to never let it go ever again.

kyungsoo pulls away, wrapping his arms around the back of joonmyeon's neck. "can you just shut up with that." kyungsoo states rather than questions. "it's okay. i love you and jongdae, so you don't have to be so hard on yourself." kyungsoo presses his forehead to joonmyeon's. their eyes meet and they stare deep into each other for awhile. "i love you, kim joonmyeon. always have and always will." kyungsoo's lips form his signature heart-shaped smile. 

"i love you too, my love. always have and always will." joonmyeon repeats the words before leaning down and kissing the other again.

- - -

daaaaang. look who updated after two years. yup. sorry. long story-short, i lost interest. and after my cousin got me back into a bit of kpop, i re-read this story and fell in love. i wanted an update but i'm the writer. i knew how you guys felt and i felt bad that i kind of just left. i can't promise anything like finishing the story since i'm a senior now. (dang ik i wrote this as a middle schooler whaaat) anyway, this chapter is kind of a tester for me so i can see how well i write. as i read the other chapters, i noticed how some details didn't match up, but whatever... i think my writing improved by being more simplistic and writing in the same past-tenths. 

hope you guy enjoyed, if you're still here. but yeah~