| 18 (1/2)

. . eighteen . .  The next day they enter the playground a little past eleven. Saeun immediately turns towards them, the previous conversation with her friends long forgotten as the excitement gets the better of her.

“I’m so glad you came!” she says, standing up and throwing her palms together.

Hyukjae halts next to the bench, hands tucked into his black bomber jacket’s pockets. Donghae stays right next to him, but he crouches down to pull up Jaemin’s jacket zipper properly.

“Sorry we’re a little late,” Donghae mutters as he stands back up, giving a side-eye to Hyukjae. “These two are impossibly slow to get going.”

Chuckling, Saeun takes a look around the playground, looking for her offspring before she hollers, “Hey kids! Come over here, I want to introduce you.”

A boy in green overalls raises his head, leaving his play truck in the sandbox, and a slightly taller girl with red cheeks follows soon after him.

Hyukjae watches the kids running for their mother, and stopping right next to their mother’s legs. The woman bends down on their level.

“Guys, this is Jaemin, she’s our neighbor,” she starts, turning her face towards Jaemin and the two men now. “This is Jun,” she taps her son’s shoulder, then her daughter, “And this is Minji. Jun is Jaemin’s age and Minji is five. Say hello to Jaemin, ok?” The kids shyly reply a ‘hello’ to Hyukjae’s daughter, who steps back against Donghae’s legs.

A soft smile lingers to Hyukjae’s lips, as he bends to encourage her. He knows she’s even shyer than Saeun’s children, and would need some reassurance.

“Jaemin?” he calls gently, looking the kid in the eye. “You can go play with Jun and Minji, ok? You can have some some fun.” He notices how Minji purses her lips in thought, before she takes a step towards Jaemin. Jaemin watches her from under her little frown, until Minji offers her hand to her.

“Come play with us? We can make a sandcastle together!” the older girl suggest, smiling.

Jaemin gives her father another, questioning look. She contemplates the matter, until Hyukjae nods with a smile.

“Go on,” he assures her, and she finally gives her hand to the other girl, following her to the sandbox.

With a relieved exhale, Hyukjae stands straight.

It takes a minute, but as Minji offers a yellow bucket for Jaemin to fill, the girl finally kneels down on the sand, and starts filling the bucket alongside her new friends.

“She’s so cute… I hope they become friends, it’s so much easier when there’s someone other than me having to entertain them,” Saeun says with a laugh.

“She’s a little shy. I don’t think she’s had friends before,” Hyukjae mutters back, finally relaxing enough to sit on the other bench, but the women on the other keep looking at them curiously, as Donghae sits next to him with a sigh, leaning his elbows against his thighs as they watch the kids play.

“Well, she has now, if it’s up to me,” Saeun grins.

Hyukjae realizes he’s been worrying over nothing. Saeun’s kids immediately take Jaemin into their circle as if they’ve always been friends. Jaemin is still not talking much, but at least she’s participating. It’s just a matter of time, before she’ll start babbling like no other. And having friends will definitely help with that.

“And now that the kids are gone, I can introduce you to the ladies here,” Saeun smirks, waving towards the same women Hyukjae remembers seeing there before as well. “So Hyukjae doesn’t need to be afraid of us anymore.”

Donghae snorts.

“Oh please,” Hyukjae groans, his cheeks warming up. “Would you stop reminding me about that?”

Saeun grins with a playful gleam in her eyes. She introduces the women, but the names go a little over Hyukjae’s head; as if he would remember them the next day. But he learns that the oldest of them, the one he knows as curls due to her hair, is actually Dabin. The one around Hyukjae’s age and whose face is always on full war paint, is Chaerin. The one with the kid always sleeping in the prams, is called Kiran, and Hyukjae comes to understand that she’s always there because the baby sleeps best outside, therefore giving the mother a long awaited moment of peace.

His neighbor continues, and despite the first impression she got about her (she was the one always reading a book), she really loves to talk.

“It happens we’re actually neighbors! We live in the same building, and the same floor!” Saeun’s hands go all over as she talks expressively, “So meet Hyukjae and Donghae, Jaemin’s dads from across the hall.”

Hyukjae’s head goes blank, and he can almost sense how Donghae’s body goes extremely rigid beside him.

Dads…?

Did she just…?

But the women on the next bench suddenly all go ‘ohhh’, and Saeun’s smile widens.

She thinks we’re… Hyukjae mulls, A couple?

“He’s your boyfriend?” Chaerin exclaims, stunned.

“Aww, that’s so cute!” Kiran replies in delight, looking at the two men with wide, excited eyes.

Dabin continues right away, but the words are too much for Hyukjae to comprehend.

He doesn’t have time to say anything back to them; the women are obviously too excited and about to swoon over the “fact”. Hyukjae’s stomach starts churning uncontrollably. Saeun has met them twice, and they’ve never even done anything that would implicate that they are a couple. But she has said it so confidently, that she really must think so. Did they really look like that to others? Did they really look like a couple?

Saeun notices the surprised look on Hyukjae’s face.

“Oh no, did you want to keep it a secret?” she gasps, a little apologetic, her hand going to cover her mouth in embarrasment, “They are totally fine with it, though,” she points towards the others.

Hyukjae stares at her for a minute, but he ends up snorting and letting out a laugh.

“It’s fine,” he says without thinking, and Donghae pokes his side with his elbow.

“Hyukjae!” the brunet hisses, his ears flaming red.

Donghae glowers at him, unbelieving that Hyukjae would go with it. But Hyukjae gives him a grin instead, against everything he would’ve thought. Hyukjae bites his tongue, the grin growing wider as his almond eyes gleam at him, playful. Donghae swallows as their gazes lock, his heart’s beat going erratic. What the heck is the other thinking? Why wouldn’t he deny the false accusation while he still had the chance?

Donghae grits his teeth as he clasps his fingers around Hyukjae's sleeve. The anger is building up on his throat, as Hyukjae's behavior doesn't make any sense to him. Why is he doing this? Why doesn't he correct them? He stares at Hyukjae, as if waiting for an explanation, but it seems as if Hyukjae finds the whole thing amusing.

Hyukjae gazes down on Donghae's hand, and suddenly he's not really sure what he's doing when he pulls his hand off from Donghae's grasp—only to put their hands back together as he slips his fingers through Donghae's. He lifts his eyes back up to meet the younger's confused expression. Donghae's palm is a little cold to touch, but everything else about it ends up warming him inside.

At first, Donghae's obviously hesitant to hold his hand, as he keeps clenching his jaw, about to nag. But Hyukjae gives him a slight squeeze and the younger starts slowly relaxing into it. Hyukjae hears how the brunet lets out a wavering breath, causing his insides to palpate, and his stomach to swirl. Is it supposed to feel like that?

And when Donghae allows himself to finally look at him, Hyukjae flashes him a little nervous, apologetic kind of a smile. He can't help himself. The thoughts that have been daunting him before are starting to dissolve, and the uncertainty about his feelings are finally settling piece by piece. It's not what he thought it would feel like.

The warmth that spreads along his body every time when he's around Donghae is suddenly making more sense.

He feels something for the man. The emotions are not loud and clear like thunder, but something fragile, yet constantly growing inside him, settling slowly on place like thousand pieces of a puzzle.

"What are you doing?" Donghae hisses, his voice barely a whisper.

"Holding your hand?"

"W-why?"