Sorry for the delay with this chapter, I had some issues with checking it. Or rather those issues were with me. Sometimes I just get this complete aversion towards rereading my stuff and I don't want to post rough drafts. Hopefully this sudden anxiety attack won't repeat soon and I'll keep on posting on schedule!

***

Kyuhyun woke up to the sound of dishes clanking in his kitchen. The only reason he didn’t bolt up and run to find the intruder was that he didn’t really sleep properly because of the said intruder and managed to fall into sort of a nap only in the very early morning. He knew that it must have been Sungmin trashing around his badly organized kitchen in search for food. It wasn’t that his fridge and pantry weren’t stocked. They were… For most of the week. But as it was Saturday there were probably only scarce leftovers lying around. Saturday was the shopping day and normally he was having cereal with Chunghee before heading to the nearby supermarket for more supplies.

The smell that spread all over his house, reaching even his closed bedroom, was telling him that Sungmin somehow managed to find food around the house. That, or he made a half an hour trip to the nearest shop since there were none in the village. People agreed to a traditional bar but screamed bloody murder at the prospect of a small grocery shop.

Pushing himself up with a grunt Kyuhyun managed to drag his body out of the bed. He straightened his posture and waited a moment for the world to stop spinning. Yeah, drinking was a great idea.

Sliding his feet tiredly across the floor he reached the door and with a wince emerged onto the bright hallway. The sounds of quiet talk and some giggling were coming from the kitchen and he dragged his hangover body towards the room.

Just as he expected he saw Sungmin with a frying pan, crashing eggs onto it while Chunghee was standing with a plate in an appropriate distance so not to get burned, watching mesmerized how Sungrin’s father  quickly and very professionally made breakfast.

A happy squeal filled the room when Sungrin, seated in a high chair that Chunghee was using until he was about three, saw Kyuhyun in the doorway.

Sungmin spun around with a spatula in hand and a huge smile on his bright face. ‘Oh, good morning! I helped myself to some stuff and I’m finishing breakfast.’ He stopped and looked with tilted head at the man before him. Then his face was full of pity. ‘I suggest you eat these very greasy eggs with sausages with us, it’ll help.’ He said, but his face didn’t look all that better.

Kyuhyun grunted and plopped onto the chair standing beside the one in which Sungrin was flailing. Unconsciously, he reached towards the small boy, who caught his hand and hugged it while still gurgling to himself. Chunghee came to his father’s side and looked at him worriedly.

‘You look sick papa.’ The boy pointed out and then pouted. ‘Are you going to be sick?’

Kyuhyun sighed and shook his head. ‘No Chunghee, I’m just very tired. I had bad dreams and couldn’t sleep well.’ He explained as well as he could to a 5-year-old while he circled his son’s waist with his arm and dragged the small body towards his. Chunghee instinctively melted into his father’s half-embrace, burying his face in the man’s chest, skinny arms rounding the long, and much bigger than his own, neck.

‘I’ll sleep with you tonight, you won’t have bad dreams.’ The boy suggested and tightened his arms around his father. Kyuhyun smiled at that and felt that his other hand, the one held by Sungrin, was also suddenly squeezed tightly. The younger boy was probably imitating his older colleague.

He heard an artificial sound of a snapshot and he looked up. Sungmin was standing still by the stove with his fancy smartphone and he obviously just took a picture.

‘You all look adorable.’ The man laughed and pocketed the phone in the loose pajama pants that belonged to Kyuhyun. They were too long and a little loose on the of the smaller man, but since he was quite curvaceous himself they were holding well on his hips.

Kyuhyun didn’t have energy to retort so he waited until both boys got bored with clinging to him. Chunghee was first as he jumped from his father at the sound of the toaster going off, and run to it with a plate waiting for Sungmin to put two new slices on the heap that was already there. Sungrin, on the other hand, didn’t seem too eager to let go, so Kyuhyun simply took him out of the chair and placed on his laps. The boy was smiling to himself and playing with the untied straps hanging from Kyuhyun’s pants.

‘I made some grits with strawberry sauce for Sungrin and Chunghee said he wanted it too, is it okay if he eats it?’ Sungmin put a small bowl with pinkish mass on the small table attached to the high chair and he was holding another one in the other hand.

‘Yeah, that’s fine. He likes it.’ Kyuhyun nodded and stood up slowly. Without thinking he placed a quick kiss on Sungrin's forehead and put him back in the kiddy chair. When he turned around he saw that Sungmin was looking at him, frozen in the middle of putting scrambled eggs onto a plate. ‘Hm?’ He asked curious as of why he was being looked at like that.

Sungmin blinked and shook his head. ‘Nothing. You just look so familiar and comfortable with Sungrin. It just feels… nice. That there is someone else beside me to give him a kiss.’

Kyuhyun felt blush spreading on his cheeks. He cleared his throat and leaned down to kiss the top of his own son’s head to hide his embarrassment. Chunghee was too immersed in what looked like a great bowl of grits to even notice.

When they were already seated and inhaling their food Kyuhyun started to feel a little nervous. It was the truth that he couldn’t sleep properly at night. But it wasn’t caused by nightmares. He was haunted by what Sungmin said when they were parting for the night. However he looked at it, and however he analyzed it, he could only come up with a one explanation. Sungmin was flirting with him. But he was so easy going and casual in the morning that he threw Kyuhyun off the track again.

Deciding that he was feeling way too out of it to ponder over such heavy stuff Kyuhyun pushed those thoughts away. He focused on his food and only after a moment noticed that the typical gurgling that was filling the room whenever Sungrin was in it, and awake, was not there. And Sungrin was both very awake and very in the room. He looked at the boy who, with surprising precision, was putting the grits into his mouth. Some of it was still spilling and falling down his chin, dropping onto the paper towels placed all over the small table, but still most of it was staying in.

He looked with surprise how the boy was inhaling his food before he looked at Sungmin. The man was also observing his son with amusement before shaking his head a little and looking at Kyuhyun. ‘There is a reason he is so chubby. He loves food, anything really, as long as it’s food. Kind of genetic inheritance after both me and Sunkyu. We were both gluttons…’ He smiled again and bit into his fried sausage.

Kyuhyun’s eyebrows shot even higher into his hairline before a chuckle erupted from his chest and before long he was laughing, already feeling a lot better after first bites of the tasty breakfast and strong coffee.

***

‘So maybe you wanna spend the day together?’

The question made Kyuhyun straighten up abruptly and hit his head on the shelf above him. Sungmin laughed at him as he was finishing buttoning his dress shirt in the doorframe of Chunghee’s bedroom, where Kyuhyun was helping his son to dress.

‘Wha-what?’ He asked quickly while massaging his head. Chunghee was still trying to figure out why his head didn’t fit into the sleeve.

‘I mean, you kind of run a therapy session for me yesterday, babysat my child, let me stay here and use your supplies. I just want to repay you somehow. I need to change and put Sungrin in lighter clothes, since it’s hot today, so maybe you want to come to our place with Chunghee. I’ll make lunch and we could go to the park.’ The man spoke without wavering, sure, and it was obvious he was determined to hear a positive response.

Kyuhyun run over all of the things that he normally had to do on Saturdays. He was employing one other guy to work as an emergency contact on the weekends and administrate the sites since he wanted to spend some time with his son. But then there was shopping, laundry, his reading time…

‘You don’t have to. I’m not pushing. Just thought kids could spend more time together too, I think Chunghee is very serious about being an older brother to Sungrin.’ Sungmin shrugged and smiled at the 5-year-old, who managed to finally find his way out of the t-shirt. Even if it was put on backwards.

Kyuhyun looked at his son and sighed before redressing him. He was mulling over the proposition in his head and trying not to think about Sungmin’s last words before sleep.

‘Dad, let’s go to Sungrin’s house.’ Chunghee whined and tugged at his sleeveless top. ‘They have a dog!’

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes. Chunghee wanted to have a pet for some time now, but he was still too little to take care of it and Kyuhyun didn’t really like having animals.

He swallowed thickly and turned towards Sungmin when Chunghee dove under the bed in search of his flip-flops.

‘Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll just get my stuff and we can go.’

Sungmin grinned, his face suddenly brightening. ‘Oh, great!’ And he spun on his heels to grab the rest of his and Sungrin’s things.

Kyuhyun was still standing in the middle of his son’s room. He sighed and treaded heavily towards his bedroom. Sungmin was making it very hard not to get dragged into a spiral of attraction towards him and Kyuhyun knew that he was already somewhere halfway to another heartbreak.

***

The day was impossibly hot and humid. No clouds in the sky, the heat pouring down onto the streets undisturbed.

After a short battle Kyuhyun managed to make Chunghee wear a hat and long sleeved, but very thin, shirt. He didn’t want the boy to get a sunburn, they both shared the same complexion – death-pale, and this kind of sun was changing them both into red lanterns if Kyuhyun didn’t go wild with 50 SPF sunscreens. He himself was wearing an outfit similar to his son’s trying to cover as much of himself from the rays as possible. Sans the hat.

Sungmin on the other hand was basking in the sun. His shirt was opened to his sternum, sleeves rolled over his elbows and whenever he didn’t have to look straight ahead he was tilting his head towards the sun, a small pleasure-filled smile on his lips. Sungrin, apparently, didn’t share his father’s love for the heat as he was curled in the trolley completely covered by the shadow a small screen provided him with.

‘I love summer.’ Sungmin muttered after some time walking in silence. ‘I don’t have to wear layers of clothes, outside of work of course. Everything seems just easier.’ He sighed and turned his head from the sun towards Kyuhyun and smiled.

A breath caught in Kyuhyun's throat and all he could do was just nod. He wasn’t even conscious that he was staring at his new friend so intensely. He cleared his throat quickly and looked ahead.

‘Well, we…’ He pointed between himself and his son. ‘Look like lobsters most of the summer if we don’t use lotions. If we do, we could compete with the snow on the North Pole in the whiteness competition.’

The pearl laughter filled the space around them. Sungmin reached toward him and patted him on the shoulder.

‘Yeah, my brother has the death-warmed-over complexion, we joked around that in the summer he managed to achieve sheets’ white kind of tan when he was still in high school. He was so pissed at us that he started to frequent all those tanning places. Now I’m never sure what shade he’ll be even if I’m seeing him every couple of days.’ He barely managed to tell the story because he was obviously in fits inside and once he finished he stopped walking and bend over while still holding the trolley. His body was shaking with laughter and he had troubles with inhaling air in-between the chuckles.

Kyuhyun didn’t know if he was amused more by the story or by the way Sungmin was behaving. The man was so unrestrained with his emotions, kind of like Siwon, but without the lack of propriety and personal space boundaries.

They were back to walking a few minutes later when Sungmin managed to gather himself back, although there were still tears sparking in the corners of his eyes and smile was spread on his face.

They long since left the village and strolled through the streets towards the housing district where Kyuhyun had a vague idea Sungmin lived. It was still in the older part of the city, so the blocks were only renovated, but obviously they remembered times before Kyuhyun and Sungmin were even born. However, there were many young people rushing past them, probably trying to do shopping for the weekend. In the hanok village Kyuhyun rarely encountered people around his age. Of course, he knew he wasn’t that old, he was still under 30, but as far as he knew there wasn’t anyone younger than 40 anywhere around. Aside from Sulli, but she wasn’t exactly living there, she was just concerned with her grandparents and chose to spend most of her days taking care of them instead of living with her parents in the city center.

‘We’re here.’

Kyuhyun stopped mussing over his thoughts and turned towards Sungmin, but his eyes went straight to the building visible over the man’s shoulder. It was a two-storey house, quite huge if anyone asked for his opinion. Squeezed between two other similar houses with balconies and entrance gates.

‘And you were falling all over yourself about my house.’ He teased and smirked at the shorter man. Sungmin made a face at him before turning towards the house and walking through the small gate.

‘It’s a three-family house. We live upstairs on the right, next to me is a newlywed couple. They moved in just a month ago. And the ground floor is occupied by the owner.’ Sungmin explained hastily as they entered the building and stopped in, what looked like, a foyer with wooden stairs leading up. The house must have been remade into this kind of a tenant building from a normal family house, because even where they were standing it was feeling homey. The foyer looked just like a normal hall and he was expecting that before the changes it was open to the rest of the house.

Sungmin parked the trolley in the niche behind the stairs and pulled Sungrin out of it. The boy encircled his father with his chubby arms and held on tight when Sungmin was getting the rest of the bags.

Chunghee was standing uncertainly right next to Kyuhyun, not sure what he was supposed to do next. Despite all of the confidence his son was showing off in front of his friends and people he knew closely, he was a rather shy child.

Just when Sungmin opened his mouth to say something to Kyuhyun the door on the younger’s left opened and an elderly lady came out. She was fanning herself with what looked like a TV guide, her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized Kyuhyun. Chunghee startled and quickly slid behind his father. He didn’t exactly like elderly people, aside from Kyuhyun’s grandmother.

After the lady did a full scan of Kyuhyun, who bowed politely and stuttered out a greeting, she turned towards Sungmin, who merely nodded at her.

‘Sungmin-ssi, you didn’t come back last night.’ She croaked out, cleared and again narrowed her eyes.

‘No, I didn’t.’ He replied calmly, his eyes fixated on the lady, waiting for any further comments.

They stood like that for another minute, before the lady simply turned and shut the door behind herself.

Arching his brow, Kyuhyun looked at Sungmin, who only shrugged and motioned with his head towards the stairs. He quickly padded up the steps, Kyuhyun following in tow with Chunghee still stuck like glue to his leg.

Once they were inside the apartment Sungmin put Sungrin on the floor, the boy immediately waggling his way towards the back of the place.

‘Bena… Bena…’ His childish slurring clear enough to make out the words.

Before Kyuhyun had a chance to ask he heard the sounds similar to that of small plastic balls hitting the floor boards. A moment later a bundle of skin, brown and black spots and sunken eyes padded into the hallway, stopped in front of Sungrin and allowed to be smothered by the childish hug. The Basset Hound was just high enough for Sungrin to hug it without problem.

Kyuhyun looked at the scene with amusement before throwing a quick glance at his own son. And just as he thought, Chunghee mouth was agape, eyes sparkling and the blush of excitement was already spreading on the boy’s cheeks.

‘Dad, they have a dog!’ Chunghee tugged at his hand, but didn’t move from his spot.

In the meantime, Sungmin managed to put away all of his bags, toed off his shoes and kneeled in front of Chunghee.

‘His name’s Bernard and he loves little boys so go ahead and join Sungrin in that hug.’ He explained and before he finished Chunghee already kicked off his flip flops and run to the dog.

Kyuhyun pulled off the straps of his sandals and left them next to Sungmin’s shoes. The man already walked into the first room on his left, which turned out to be the kitchen, and was half stuck in his fridge. He emerged from it with two bottles of water and tossed one at Kyuhyun. He unscrewed the bottle and quickly drained it.

Kyuhyun refused to admit that his eyes lingered for a moment too long on his long neck. Instead, he just busied himself with his drink.

Sungmin fumbled with a pitcher that was standing next to the fridge on the counter. Taking out a colorful plastic mug out of the cupboard over his head, he poured the yellowish content of the pitcher into it and, a moment later, into a spill cup.

‘Sungrin, Chunghee, come to drink the juice.’ Sungmin called both boys.

In mere seconds two pairs of bare feet slapped against the floor, joined by another two pairs of paws. Kyuhyun felt pity for the dog when he saw that Sungrin was holding him by one ear, and Chunghee by the other. They didn’t let go even when Sungmin gave them their respective cups. However, Bernard seemed unfazed by his predicament because when the two boys turned to move back to wherever they were before the dog followed easily.

‘Forgot you had a dog.’ Kyuhyun finally found something to say. It seemed that Sungmin was the one doing most of the talking between the two of them.

‘Ahh, yeah, Bernard. He’s Sunkyu’s. Well, ours, but she was the one taking care of him the most. We got him soon before Sunkyu got pregnant so he’s just as much of a baby as Sungrin.’ Sungmin was clattering around the kitchen for a moment before he turned towards his guest.

‘So you left him here all day and night?’ Kyuhyun scrunched his nose because he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

However, Sungmin just chuckled. ‘That’s fine, stop looking so taken aback. The balcony doors are opened, there as stairs down to the back garden and since I didn’t want to have a garage and the owner could change it into another room she let me use the garden however I wanted. It’s fenced, there are trees and flowers and I taught Bernard to do his business only in one corner.’ Then he pointed towards the humming machine in the corner of the kitchen. ‘There are electronic food and water dispensers. I think he has it better than most dogs.’

Kyuhyun looked amazed because Sungmin seemed to have everything figured out. Every aspect of his life was planned and executed and it didn’t even look like the man was struggling much with all that.

‘I’ll go change, make yourself at home.’ Sungmin’s fingers were already running through his buttons, undoing them as he exited the kitchen and moved towards the back of the apartment.

Only slightly unnerved Kyuhyun slowly checked the rest of the place. Right in front of the kitchen there was an open living room with brown leather couch and two armchairs, low coffee table, a huge TV and a playpen next to the balcony door. There were two chests of drawers against the wall, each carved and made from dark rich wood. Everything in the room just matched and was obviously expensive.

Feet sinking into the soft beige carpet, Kyuhyun ventured farther into the room. Everywhere, on every single flat surface and on the walls there were framed pictures. He remembered from the night before, that Sungmin had thousands of photos of his wife.

The most prominent pictures were hanging over the couch. One was obviously from the traditional wedding. The girl in the picture, Sunkyu, was dressed in red jeogori with rich embroidery over radiant pink chima with lace flowers sewn at the bottom. Her hair was slicked back and she was wearing quite a thick make up, two red spots painted onto her cheeks. The headset looked like a crown and was falling onto her forehead obscuring her face. He couldn’t properly make out how she really looked like from that picture, but Sungmin looked just the same. His hair was hidden under the tall hat, but his face wasn’t covered more than that. His gwanbok was sapphire blue with golden embroidery. They were just standing there, small smiles on their faces, hands folded in front of them in the formal pose. However, the obvious discomfort was pouring out of the picture.

The next one was so much more natural. Kyuhyun could finally see the real face of Sungmin’s wife. Sunkyu was really pretty, her cheeks puffed as she was laughing while Sungmin was spinning her. Her dress was short and puffy at the bottom, strapless at the top – girly and fun, just like the girl in the picture. Her hair was curled and messily pinned up. The bouquet of white roses held carelessly in the hand that wasn’t connected with Sungmin’s in an attempt to dance.

Sungmin on the other hand… he was looking amazing in the light grey suit. His hair was shorter than now, but a similar shade. It was styled up, in an elegant wave. However, no matter how attractive Sungmin was looking, Kyuhyun’s eyes traveled back to Sunkyu. He could feel himself smiling while looking at her, she was beaming with happiness.

Tearing his eyes with difficulty from the happy bride, Kyuhyun looked at the last picture. There were already three people and a dog in it. Sunkyu was sitting in the comfy looking chair, her condition already visible on her pale face. However, if he didn’t know he would have guessed she was just tired after being kept all night up by the baby, which she was gazing at with love. Sungrin was safely tucked into her arms, sleeping peacefully – he couldn’t be more than a couple of weeks old. Sungmin perched on the armrest, slightly bend over his wife and son, looking at them both with fondness. One arm thrown over the backrest, the other gently holding Sungrin’s tiny hand in his much bigger one. Bernard probably photo-bombed the picture when he perched his big paws or the other armrest, standing on his hind legs. Big muzzle was trying to reach the head of the baby. No one was looking towards the camera and it seemed like someone just took a sneak peak at a very intimate family moment.

A breath caught in his throat and he felt a lump building there. He never even knew Sunkyu but he felt immensely miserable that she wasn’t there, in that apartment, to welcome them. She should be there.

Not wanting to embarrass himself, Kyuhyun quickly turned away from the pictures, but in an instant he knew, that if he wanted to escape the sudden rise of emotions he would have to leave the room. Sunkyu was smiling at him from almost all of the pictures. He couldn’t imagine how it was like for Sungmin to live surrounded by her like this all of the time. But apparently it was what kept the man going.

Wiping at his eyes, just in case, Kyuhyun quickly escaped the room and decided to check on the kids. He was surprised he didn’t think of that earlier, it wasn’t like he was an irresponsible parent, but somehow it didn’t seem like there was any danger awaiting them around the place.

Sungrin’s nursery was at the end of the hall on the left. He peaked inside and learned that there was no point in getting worried. Sungrin’s room was void of any sharp edges, everything was secured, and even without it he doubted Sungrin would be in any danger. The boy was lively and happy, but he was also very easy to please. Give him a toy and he would amuse himself with it for the next half an hour at least. It was as if he was thoroughly examining the toy and, after concluding his research, he was moving on to the next one. However, currently he was busy with pawing at Bernard's excessive amount of skin, squeezing it and playing with it while the dog was just patiently sitting in front of still mesmerized Chunghee. Kyuhyun’s son was just patting the pup on the head from time to time.

Turning, Kyuhyun’s breath caught when he saw Sungmin in what must have been his bedroom. The man was wearing jeans shorts already, but he was still shirtless - light green Henley slung over his forearm as he was typing something on his phone. He turned his head just in time to see Kyuhyun gaping.

‘Oh, I’m ready. Just needed to cancel with my brother. I forgot we were supposed to meet him in the center for lunch, but it’s too hot to go there. Hate center in the summer.’ The last sentence was mumbled as Sungmin slipped the phone into the back pocket of his shorts and pulled the Henley over his head, flattening his hair before he run his finger through it, puffing it up a little again.

‘Won’t he get mad?’ Kyuhyun masked his embarrassment with the question as he took a step into the bedroom. It was quite simple – a double bed pushed against the wall, the headboard at the same level with the door, allowing Sungmin to look into the nursery and Sungrin's crib when he was lying in bed. A wide window with balcony door, the one leading to the back garden, a set of drawers and door to adjoining bathroom and a walk in wardrobe. The room itself was pretty small, but it was bright. And it was devoid of any pictures, which was quite a surprise after the living room.

‘Nope, I say he was even glad that he didn’t have to haul his from the bed. He’s working through university so I guess he’s pretty tired on Saturdays.’ Sungmin shrugged and grabbed his slacks from where they were thrown carelessly onto the bed. After searching the pockets he produced his brown leather wallet with quiet a-ha! and turned to Kyuhyun. ‘I’ll just throw something on Sungrin and we can go do some grocery shopping.’

‘Sure.’ Twisting the plastic bottle he was still holding, Kyuhyun stepped to the side letting the elder male walk past him. Sungmin smiled and squeezed his arm passing, before he entered Sungrin's room. Ruffling Chunghee’s hair he grabbed the younger boy and sat him on the changing table right next to the crib. It was quite obvious the table was already a little too small for the boy.

Kyuhyun entered the room, too, and crouched next to Chunghee. Extending his hand he patted Bernard, who immediately shifted his attention towards him and tilted his head before his tail started to waggle and a second later Kyuhyun emitted a low grunt when the heavy basset climbed into his lap and nestled.

Sungmin threw a glance over his shoulder and chuckled.

‘You’re so in trouble. Bernard is that calm only around kids. If he senses someone’s an adult he immediately wants to cuddle and I tell you, he’s heavy.’

Kyuhyun grunted again while trying to fend off the wet tongue that was lapping at his neck, but only because he craned his neck up as high as he could. His fight was futile and it took Bernard only a little more wiggling to clamber his way up Kyuhyun’s body and slobber his whole face. Chunghee was laughing heartily and clapping his hands.

‘Bernard, down, sit.’ Sungmin grabbed the red collar and tried to pull the dog away. It took him a few tries, as he was avoiding chocking the poor creature, and the moment Bernard got off Kyuhyun’s lap the man sprung up. There was a pile of skin and happy waggling right under his feet, looking at him expectantly, and he knew there was no way in hell he was ever again going to sit anywhere Bernard could climb onto. Sungmin was laughing at him while holding curiously looking Sungrin on his hip. ‘Go to my bathroom, there is sanitizing face wash – I get woken up by his enthusiasm every day.’

Scrunching his face at the laughing man Kyuhyun quickly walked to where he saw the bathroom, Bernard happily padding after him. He wasn’t exactly a dog man, so he didn’t feel too bad about shutting the door into the dog’s muzzle.