Lunch with Kang-Joon was awkward for Baekhyun. He might as well have been talking to himself with all the input Kang-Joon contributed. Baekhyun knew he was naturally a quiet person but it was on a whole new level. He was so numb with grief that he was shutting himself in and other people out.

Baekhyun chewed his lip thoughtfully. How could he help his broken friend? 

At the very least Kang-Joon was eating. That showed he still somewhat cared. Still, maybe Baekhyun had bitten off more than he could chew when he invited Kang-Joon over.

"We should go out tonight. You, me, and the guys. Let's do something fun."

"Like what?" Kang-Joon wondered. 

Baekhyun shrugged. "Just something to get your mind off things." He sent out a quick group text, quickly explaining that Kang-Joon was in town and needed some cheering up. He asked if they had any ideas.

Yixing responded first. 

It's been a while since we've all gotten together. We should bowl.

The rest of them responded with similar ideas of eating dinner together or bowling. 

"Do you bowl?" Baekhyun wondered as he set his phone on the table.

"Yeah. I used to bowl a lot with my sister." He replied sadly.

"Oh. Maybe we should do something else then."

"No. It's okay." Kang-Joon stated. Right after the funeral, his sister went back to California. He didn't expect to hear much from her for a long time. "I appreciate you wanting to help. And I want to feel better, Baek. I'm tired of feeling like ."

Baekhyun smiled. They were making progress. "Okay."

Lunch ended semi positively and Baekhyun had time to kill before picking up Mina. He decided there was nothing better than to visit the Waterfront. Sitting by the water was always peaceful and Kang-Joon deserved some peace.

The younger man didn't protest when Baekhyun grabbed his hand and led him out of the restaurant. He allowed Baekhyun to push him onto the underground T and held on to the same pole as Baekhyun as the subway roared to its destination.

When they got off, he didn't question Baekhyun grabbing his hand again and leading him to the Waterfront. 

"Are we here to watch boats?" Kang-Joon questioned and Baekhyun nodded.

"There's nothing more peaceful than being by the water, right? It's one of the reasons I love Boston." Baekhyun sighed contentedly as he sat on a bench that faced the water.

Kang-Joon sat next to him and focused on a boat far in the distance. 

"Will you smile for me?" Baekhyun asked suddenly. 

"Huh?"

"Smile for me. I know you're not in a good mood but I did study psychology for years and I know for a fact that smiling makes you feel better. Even if it's not genuine." 

Leading by example, Baekhyun smiled his famous smile and rested his head on Kang-Joon's shoulder. He looked up at the younger and batted his eyelashes. 

"Please."

Kang-Joon slowly allowed the corners of his lips to turn up into a smile. How could he refuse when Baekhyun was being so persuasive?

It felt strange for him to smile. He hadn't done so in such a long time. It was no wonder, though. He had a tendency to smile the most whenever he was around Baekhyun. That time was no different. 

"See? I'm sure you feel better already."

Kang-Joon couldn't help but chuckle. He was lucky to have Baekhyun in his life, he thought. He had never had a friend like him. 

They spent a little over an hour watching boats pass by and watching people. Just to make it fun, whenever someone caught their attention, they made up a story about them. Whispering it to the other.

"I'd say she's about 50." Baekhyun whispered in reference to a lady that had just walked by in a seemingly bad mood. "She has 5 kids and has been divorced twice. She just got served divorce papers today from her 3rd husband and went to get a haircut to cheer herself up. The hairdresser ed it up and she's overly pissed at life. She wants to kill everyone. Starting with her soon to be ex husband."

Kang-Joon laughed and Baekhyun did too. How could something so silly be so funny? Maybe it was because Baekhyun made everything more fun. That was why Kang-Joon had fallen for him in the first place.

Eventually, Baekhyun stood up and stretched. "Come on, I need to pick up Mina from school. I'm just warning you ahead of time. She hasn't seen you in a while and she'll probably talk your ears off about school."

Kang-Joon chuckled and stood. "It's okay. I missed her." 

"It hasn't even been an entire day and you're already smiling and laughing. I told you coming here would help." Baekhyun stated. In truth, he was honestly surprised that he'd gotten Kang-Joon to let loose so easily. He had seemed like a hopeless cause when Baekhyun first saw him earlier that day.

"Seeing you helps a lot." He replied honestly. 

"Don't flatter me. It's embarrassing." Baekhyun joked, pretending to turn away in embarrassment. 

For what seemed like the millionth time that day, Kang-Joon laughed. Baekhyun was joking around more than usual for his sake.

The younger felt special that the older would joke around just for him.

They made their way over to Mina's school together. And Baekhyun wasn't lying when he said Mina would talk his ears off.

"Kangie!" She exclaimed when she saw Kang-Joon. She ran into his arms for a hug and he eagerly hugged her back. Mina was so special. He wished he could have a daughter like her.

"Are you not gonna say hello to me? I am your mother after all. Might I add, I did carry you for 9 months and you were heavy."

Mina giggled and ran into Baekhyun's arms instead. "Hi, mommy."

Baekhyun smiled and kissed Mina's head. The 5 year old waved goodbye to her teacher and her friends and took Kang-Joon's hand.

She took in a deep breath and didn't stop talking while she told Kang-Joon every little ing detail of her 4th day of kindergarten. 

Kang-Joon nodded. "Interesting." He would say when necessary. 

Mina didn't stop talking until they got back home. Baekhyun actually had to tell her to stop so he could get a chance to talk to Kang-Joon instead. 

"Do you want anything special for dinner?" Baekhyun asked Kang-Joon. The latter shook his head.

"I'm okay with whatever." 

"Mina, what do you want?"

"Tacos!" She supplied. 

Baekhyun nodded. Tacos were okay.

"Let's make a grocery list. Come on." Baekhyun ushered Mina into the small study to retrieve a pen and a piece of paper. He also wanted to get her alone to talk to her.

"Sweetie, Kang-Joon doesn't know that mommy's pregnant. Just like you have been, I want you to keep it a secret."

Mina huffed. Secrets were no fun. "Why?"

"Because he's been through a lot and I don't want to draw attention to myself. I just want as much attention to be on him as possible."

"When are you gonna tell?" Mina wondered as she poked Baekhyun's belly that housed her unwanted sibling.

"When the time is right, I'll tell everyone." Baekhyun assured her as he retrieved the paper and pen.

"Fine." She mumbled while she watched him scribble down ingredients for tacos.

When he was done, both of them left the study. Kang-Joon was looking out the window when they entered the living room. 

"It's such a nice view." He stated as he looked out across the historic campus. 

"It is. Do you miss going to school here?"

"Yeah. Sometimes I do. I guess I had the best memories here because it's where I met you."

Baekhyun smiled. "Aw. Don't be sappy. Come on, it's grocery shopping time."

The three of them made their way across campus to the grocery store that rested on the outskirts. Baekhyun picked up a grocery cart and went about grocery shopping with Kang-Joon and Mina trailing behind him. 

Seeing Mina and Baekhyun in the grocery store reminded him of going to the grocery store with his own mother. He would pick up things he wanted and put them in the cart when she wasn't looking. 

Mina did the same thing. 

"Put it back." Baekhyun said for the umpteenth time in reference to a box of cookies. 

"But we don't have any!" She whined. 

Kang-Joon stood behind and found amusement in watching the mother and daughter interact. It really was like old times, hanging out with Mina and Baekhyun.

Kang-Joon wanted to pretend like it really was old times.

He was lost in that little fantasy until Baekhyun's phone rang. Afterward, he was back into reality. 

"Put it back." Baekhyun said firmly before answering the phone. Mina pouted but picked up the box of cookies from the cart and returned them to their rightful place on the shelf. 

"Hey, baby." Baekhyun smiled, face lighting up as he rested the phone between his ear and shoulder.

Kang-Joon wanted it to be real. Him, Mina, and Baekhyun hanging out together like a family. But he couldn't be apart of Baekhyun's family since Baekhyun had Chanyeol and Chanyeol was his husband

Whatever romance he'd had with Baekhyun no longer mattered. It didn't exist anymore. All the happiness he had collected during the day began to disappear because of that eye opening phone call that snapped him back to reality. 

"Chanyeol." Baekhyun giggled at something Chanyeol said and giggled some more before becoming serious. He continued to push the cart down the aisle. 

"Yeah, Kang-Joon's here. He's doing well." Baekhyun looked back and smiled at the younger who forced a smile back. 

"I was thinking we could go out tonight, you know, with him and all of the guys." Baekhyun continued and paused as Chanyeol spoke.

"Yeah, I'm sure Sung-Woo will babysit. Maybe Minseok and Luhan can get him to babysit Ryder." Baekhyun continued. 

The phone conversation continued a little while longer before ending. "I love you. Bye."

Baekhyun turned back around to see the smile that had been permanent on Kang-Joon's face almost all day was suddenly gone. 

"What's wrong?" He asked, genuinely concerned. 

"Oh, nothing. I just zoned out a bit." He smiled.

Baekhyun smiled back. "Keep smiling. It helps, remember?"

Kang-Joon nodded.

The rest of the grocery shopping trip went by uneventfully. 

When they got home, Baekhyun started on dinner and Kang-Joon helped Mina with her spelling homework. When that was done, he offered to help Baekhyun with dinner but the elder refused and suggested Kang-Joon relax instead. 

Since helping with dinner was no longer an option, Kang-Joon made his way into the living room/his temporary bedroom to watch tv with Mina. A show about magical talking ponies wasn't really his forte but he endured it.

The show had just ended when Chanyeol arrived home. Mina had previously been sitting in Kang-Joon's lap but abandoned the young 22 year old to greet her father. 

"Daddy! Daddy!" She jumped up and down, just waiting for him to pick her up. He obliged, not one to disappoint his daughter. 

Chanyeol kissed her forehead in greeting. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Kangie's here." She said and Chanyeol smiled. He acknowledged Kang-Joon, who still sat on the couch/his temporary bed, in greeting. 

"How are you doing?" Chanyeol asked the younger man as he shifted Mina onto his hip. 

"I'm okay. Thanks for asking." Kang-Joon replied with a tiny forced smile. His relationship with Chanyeol wasn't the greatest and it wasn't because he had anything against Chanyeol. Chanyeol just had everything that Kang-Joon would ever want, including Baekhyun. 

Chanyeol had lost his own family and made a new and better one on his own.  Whereas, on the other hand, Kang-Joon had lost his mother and the only family he currently had was a depressed father and apathetic sister. There was no way in hell that was fair.

Likewise, being with Baekhyun had been the best thing that had ever happened to Kang-Joon but then Chanyeol came back and took it away from him.

"Good." Chanyeol murmured. He put Mina down and she went back to watching her television show.

Baekhyun then appeared from the kitchen. It was his turn to greet Chanyeol. 

It took everything Kang-Joon had to not get up and walk away when Baekhyun kissed Chanyeol. He wrapped his arms around the taller, Chanyeol not hesitating to kiss back.

It hurt Kang-Joon who had lost everything to