oh my god....my last update was in october?? wowzy...well, here i am once again -starts singing kelly clarkson out of nowhere- i was super busy with my thesis (and admittedly some other fics on my second account), so i had put this on hiatus. i've been trying to update sind end of march but it took me a long time to finish this chapter. updates for small bump are quite long, so it takes some time to write them >_< i have to work now, so i'm always getting up at like 5 am and coming home around 6 pm. i have to type my fics on the phone to get somewhere, which takes a while and surroundings noises keep distracting me + tiredness from waking up at 5 am haha.

but anyways, who cares about my life story! you're here to finally get back to small bump. if you want to reread the past chapters, go ahead, i did the same haha XD' i hope you'll like the new chapter and that there will be no loss of quality after the long break. i'll try to update again soon, but dark choco (and a myunggyu prompt from the ficlathon) are currently next on my to-do-list ;;

leave me motivating comments huhuhuhu ;;;;;;;;u;;;;;;;;;

side note: i differentiated between stroller and buggy in the past. i think stroller is legit for both (english natives may tell me what they'd use haha), so i'm going with that for now. just know that what haneul is in right now looks kind of like this which means he's lying down and not sitting yet.

Sunggyu pursed his lips in disapproval. “You’re an idiot, aren’t you?”

Woohyun huffed. “I just wanted to give you some space so you can sob your heart out.”

“I wasn’t crying!”

“Yeah right.” They silently stared at each other until Woohyun gave in. “Anyways...your fridge . We need food. Can you give me some money please? I’ll pay you back once I have access to my bank account.”

The older man put his coffee mug down. He thought about giving Woohyun some money, but then he imagined the scenario of Woohyun running away with that money. There was also the possibility of him going grocery shopping, but first off, Sunggyu had no idea what to buy and second off, that would mean leaving Woohyun alone with Haneul. He could take the boy and escape while Sunggyu was distracted.

There was only one solution, although it meant risking the wrath of a sleepy toddler. “We’ll go together.”

Woohyun blinked. “What? But I just put Haneul into his crib…”

“I don’t trust you with my money and I don’t trust you with Haneul, so there is no other solution. He loves sleeping in the stroller, so as long as we move him carefully, we should be fine.” Sunggyu refused to budge.

“I thought we were past this.”

“If you want to give up, you’re welcome to do so.” It was going to take time for him to trust Woohyun. He was never the type to trust someone easily. If Woohyun was going to give up from just this, he wasn’t worthy anyways.

“Fine. Let’s go together. Can I get Haneul ready for the walk at least? Or do you think I’m going to strangle him to death?”

Sunggyu looked at himself. He still had to get dressed and tame his bed hair. “Okay, but if you leave without me, I’m calling the police.”

Woohyun beamed at him and immediately walked away to the nursery. Sunggyu gasped. “Yah! Your shoes!!”

The younger man stopped in his tracks and took his dirty shoes off. He bowed his head shortly. “Sorry, hyung.”

And then Woohyun ran off again like a happy puppy. Sunggyu huffed quietly and drank the rest of his coffee. Afterwards, he moved into the bathroom to get ready. He left the door ajar to check for any alarming sounds coming from Haneul’s nursery. Sunggyu washed his face and grabbed a comb to straighten his hair. The only noises his ears picked up were Woohyun’s voice and the rustling of clothes. He left the bathroom when he deemed himself presentable. Not presentable to Woohyun, of course. Sunggyu just didn’t want to look and smell like he was living under a bridge instead of a house. Plus, Haneul would hate it if he stank.

He trailed out of the bathroom again and threw a look into the nursery. Haneul was still lying on the changing table, half-dressed for the little walk. Woohyun was looking down at him, not moving an inch. Sunggyu couldn’t see his face but he saw Haneul’s tiny fingers wrapped around one big finger. The boy still seemed to be sleeping, but the older man knew Haneul often started grabbing things in his sleep. It seemed to be a reflex, perhaps a sign of his fear of being left behind again. He saw Woohyun’s right hand cupping the boy’s head. His thumb caressed the baby’s forehead tenderly. Maybe Woohyun really did care about his son.

Sunggyu smiled shortly, before he remembered it was Woohyun he was looking at. He turned away to get some fresh clothes to wear. Haneul never made any suspicious sounds and by the time he was fully dressed, Woohyun had already placed the toddler into his stroller. Haneul was peacefully lying in it, his arms raised and tiny fists resting next to his head. Sunggyu never understood how the boy could sleep like that.

Woohyun grinned at him. “Did I do well?”

Is he expecting me to praise him now? Sunggyu curled his lips. “Let’s go. I have work to do and I can’t waste my time standing in the hallway.”

He took control of the stroller and pushed it down the short hallway towards the front door. Woohyun ran past him to open the door for them and Sunggyu went through it wordlessly. He did have to let go of the handle then, since he had to lock the door from the outside. Surprisingly, Woohyun didn’t steal the stroller from him, but instead just made sure Haneul’s pillow/blanket was protecting him flawlessly. Babies lost their temperature real quick.

“You don’t seem to be mad anymore about all of us going together.” Sunggyu noted as they headed towards the mart.

The younger man smiled shortly and shrugged. “I’m happy that I get to spend some time with Haneul, even if I’m just walking beside the stroller. I’ve missed so much of his life already and I just...I don’t want to miss another second of it, you know? I’m sad you can’t trust me yet, but I understand. We haven’t known each other for very long and I...I wasn’t there when I should’ve been.”

Sunggyu hummed. There wasn’t really anything to add to that. He pushed the stroller into the elevator and Woohyun took the place next to him. “Did you know Seungah was afraid of elevators?”

He stared straight at the gray elevator door. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards shortly. “Yeah...she’d take the stairs whenever she could. It’s a wonder she’s never tried to push the stroller up the stairs.”

“She once told me the reason behind her fear. I used to make fun of her for that.” Woohyun smiled sadly.

Sunggyu gave him a look of surprise. “She told you that?”

Seungah had always been so embarrassed of that memory that she had never shared it with anyone. She even made Sunggyu swear to take their secret to the grave with him. He had only been a young boy when Seungah and he got stuck in an elevator once during a power outage. It had happened in their hotel during a holiday in Busan. They had been alone in the elevator when the lights had flickered and then it had suddenly stopped. Of course that hadn’t been the scariest part about the elevator ride yet. Sunggyu had quite the trauma from that memory too, because he had surely never wanted to know about girls and their periods that early. He had screamed in shock when blood had run down her legs from under her skirt. Seungah, just another young 13 year old with no clue, had been scared as well. They had thought she was going to die, crying and screaming in fear for a long time, at least until they were saved from the elevator and their mother told Seungah she had just gotten her period for the first time.

Which boy wants to learn about why girls bleed from between their legs at 10?, Sunggyu thought with a light shudder. Maybe that memory had added to the fact that he grew up to like boys more, but who knew for sure. Not like he ever saw a shrink for it. When he became older, he had dealt with the memory like any other adult would. He had buried it deep in the soil of his mind where all the memories laid that were better off forgotten. Despite her mother’s reassurances, pads and years of experience, Seungah had never grown out of her fear of bleeding to death in a stuck elevator.

In the end, it hadn’t been an elevator that killed her, Sunggyu thought bitterly. Somehow every memory seemed to end up feeling bittersweet. The shadow of her death still hung over his soul like a thick cloud. The elevator stopped with a bing and they got out again. Woohyun held the door open for him once more and the older man pushed the stroller onto the sidewalk.

“We were best friends, so of course. We didn’t keep any secrets from each other!” Woohyun chuckled shortly. “And, well, she might have been a little drunk that night.”

“My sister and you, you were just friends with benefits, right?” Woohyun nodded. “Why did you do that? Didn’t you want a real relationship? I still can’t wrap my head around it, sorry. I always thought she’d never do something like that.”

The younger man shrugged after a moment. “I don’t think casual is that bad. We were both lonely and it was a great way to get rid of stress.”

“Do you have someone else now? Another... friend.”

“No. There was no one after I broke up with Seungah.” Woohyun replied without hesitation.

Sunggyu continued his interrogation, determined to find out more about the mystery called Nam Woohyun. Not because of personal interest, of course, but simply in hope to catch him tripping over one of his lies. He found it hard to believe that his sister had lied about her ‘boyfriend’, even if it made sense because of their strict parents. “Why not?”

The younger man ruffled his hair and continued walking. Sunggyu had no choice but to move again too. “I told you I was pretty busy in America. New job, new colleagues, another language, my stuff getting stolen...and I honestly wasn’t ready for another relationship, Steady or not. Though, even before the job offer came up, I kind of felt like Seungah and I should look for something more serious. Any other questions, Detective Kim?”

He pursed his lips at the playful nickname. Sunggyu fought the urge to smile. The devil in him whispered to tell Woohyun ‘I just wanted to check if you’ve got more pregnant one-night-stands walking around that might come ringing at my door’ but instead Sunggyu just said: “No.”

“No? Okay, then it’s my turn. Hyung, did you know we went to the same school?”

Sunggyu glanced at him. “We probably went to the same kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school. There’s only one of each in this small town, so that isn’t very hard to guess.”

Despite their town being super small, Sunggyu didn’t remember ever meeting Woohyun or noticing his existence. Not hard since the other man was younger than him. Sunggyu had never really interacted with his juniors.

Woohyun puffed his cheeks shortly. Is he pouting? “I could’ve moved here from another city!”

“No, you got that look.”

“That look??”

“Hmh. I look at you and I know you’re from here.” Woohyun’s face just screamed ‘HELLO! I’M FROM A SMALL TOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE’.

The younger man laughed, loud and light. “You’re funny, hyung. Seungah told me you’re funny. I guess she was right, like always.”

“Lies. She always called me grumpy instead of funny.”

“Maybe she did call you that sometimes, but she liked you a lot. I even once believed she was in love with you.” Woohyun laughed again.

Sunggyu grimaced. The younger man continued. “She always spoke so highly of you. I hoped to meet her awesome brother one day, but I didn’t expect us to meet under such cir