Chapter Text
"No, he's not even staring at the ramyeon now!" Jay harshly whispers into his phone and glances back at Ni-ki on the stool behind the counter.
It's the Sunday following Ni-ki's disastrous first meeting with Jieun, the kid he will now babysit five days a week, and the daughter of the man of his dreams. Literally.
On Saturday, he arrived home utterly exhausted. So exhausted in fact, that he couldn't even tell his roommates about how his "Does the kid he's supposed to babysit one day even like him" test went, or the lunch, walked past them like a zombie, dragged himself up the stairs to his room in complete darkness because he still didn't replace the lightbulb and isn't very likely to replace it any time soon, and collapsed into his sheets, just to immediately pass out. In his outside clothes and jeans and without washing up and everything.
His sleep wasn't very refreshing either. He might as well could have stayed awake all night and study, that’s how restless he felt after waking up. Like he didn’t sleep at all.
He dreamt of Jungwon. A little too early, to be dreaming about his crush after meeting him twice. Ni-ki feels a little insane because of it. Very insane, to be honest. The 'crushing on him'-thing? Fine. He's always the one idiot to fall hard and fast. Already subconsciously dreaming of kissing him? Too fast.
It's probably the memory of Jungwon wiping his mouth for him like he's a toddler that needs to be taken care of, and, okay, that sounds weird at first. But Jungwon's thumb was gently caressing over his lips, soft skin and carefully applied pressure, and it was almost too easy to imagine that it were Jungwon's lips on his mouth. Ni-ki's brain seemed to have agreed, how else would it have conjured up the image – and feeling – of kissing Jungwon, and make it feel so real.
Ni-ki was woken up for breakfast with a flushed face and a weird heat on his cheeks that he was too embarrassed by to explain to Jake, and now, he probably seemed like he was having... inappropriate thoughts. But it really wasn't like that! Ni-ki just – he only kissed someone in his dream. And, maybe, played with the hair on his nape, soft, silky locks of hair between his fingers, and pillowy lips on his own as he held him by his small waist. Oh God. Jungwon's waist looks so small. Ni-ki would probably feel his fingers touch in the back while he holds him –
Jay flicks his forehead with a deadpan expression.
"Earth to Nishimura Riki?" he nags him and pats his butt, phone long slipped back into his pocket, "Can you focus on your work please? You're staring again."
"Sorry," he mutters sheepishly and shuffles on his spot behind the counter. It's hot out today, and it was already warm in the morning when Ni-ki left for the dance studio he rents out every weekend. Not that he did any dancing. Ni-ki just stood in front of the mirror wall and stared at the ground as he fiddled with his flannel and remembered his dream a little too well. The uniform of the convenience store is too thick to let him breathe properly. "I... I don't know."
"Everything okay with you?" Jay asks him in a softer tone, more concerned than nagging, and he offers Ni-ki a box of strawberry milk with the straw already punched in for him.
Technically speaking, Ni-ki is fine. He really is! He's just a little distracted, by either his dream of Jungwon kissing his lips, or by the memory of Jungwon touching his lips—
"I'm sick," Ni-ki blurts, even though it's far from the truth, and the only thing he achieves is the look of concern flashing across Jay's face, "Lovesick. I am in love. With Jungwon-hyung." Jay's concern melts off his shoulders as he deflated with an exasperated sigh.
"You met him twice," he reminds Ni-ki, which is not something he needs to be reminded of.
"I know that!" he groans and leans back against the shelf of cigarette packs behind him, "But Jay-hyung, oh my God, I can literally feel his lips on mine."
Jay doesn’t answer, understandably so. He simply blinks at Ni-ki with a blank stare, once, twice, thrice. Then, he sighs again.
"You're a lost cause, kid," he tells Ni-ki and slides him another box of strawberry milk. Ni-ki stabs the straw into the hole almost too eagerly and takes a sip. His mouth is really dry. "You have time to think about kissing him when you should ask yourself how to replace his toaster?"
"He told you that?!" Ni-ki gasps and almost chokes on his milk. Jay chortles a laugh at him and shakes his head with a fond smile.
“Called the group chat after he tucked Jieun in,” Jay tells him, and his fond smile that looked so welcoming and loving just seconds ago morphs into a gleeful smirk, “Told me and Heeseung-hyung all about it.” Ni-ki garbles miserably and hides his reddening face in his arms. It’s horrible. His failure to impress Jungwon was a gossip topic! Jay only laughs louder.
“It’s not that bad, right?” Ni-ki whines and pulls at Jay’s arm before he can fall over from his stupid laughter, “He didn’t say anything about a bad impression now, did he?!”
Jay stays silent. That’s answer enough.
Ni-ki slumps over the counter with a miserable groan. He’s done it. He landed the babysitting job but didn’t land the date with a cute guy. Great. No, really, it’s unironically great that he landed the babysitter job. But a date with Yang Jungwon would have been nice, too. They clicked very well, and conversation flowed easily between them. They already entered the stage where Jungwon finds Ni-ki cute!
Oh God, he called Ni-ki cute…
“I was just messing with you,” Jay hurries to say and pats his shoulder, “He didn’t actually say anything bad, so you can stop beating yourself up – “
“Hyung,” Ni-ki whines and tugs at Jay’s shirt, “He called me cute.” Life is so horrible when a cute man calls Ni-ki cute. Has Jungwon ever looked into a mirror? He’s the cute one. His hair is so fluffy, and he just looks so… round. Is that a weird thing to say? Probably. But no, it’s just the truth. Jungwon is cute.
“That’s what made you space out again?” Jay snorts and ruffles his hair playfully, “Okay, kid.”
“Tell me more,” Ni-ki asks of him, “What did he say if it wasn’t anything bad?”
“Hm,” Jay hums contemplatively and tilts his head to the side, “Nothing much. Just that he needs a new toaster, and that Jieun insists on calling you ‘papa’. And that you looked like you haven’t eaten anything proper in weeks. Do you want to check out the fresh vegetables, too, this time?”
Okay, so maybe Ni-ki lied. Jay is very nice to him and also lets him take stuff home that isn’t close to their expiration date. He can just be a bit stricter with Ni-ki when he slacks off during work. Regardless, Ni-ki shakes his head and declines the offer. If Jay and Heeseung continue being this nice to him, he might just rob the store and run it into bankruptcy. Consensually, because they let him. But then, he would lose his part-time job, and Ni-ki appreciates the extra money to pay for his hobbies.
“The meal kits are fine,” Ni-ki says and sips from his box of strawberry milk, “How’s your mom?”
“She’s good,” Jay replies with a gentle smile, “Just a bit lonely since most of her friends still work.”
“Yeah, not everyone’s husband is rich,” Ni-ki rolls his eyes in exaggeration and smirks, “Speaking of husbands. Jungwon-hyung told me that you’re married?”
Jay’s smile has probably never fallen faster than now. He already knows that Ni-ki, as respectful of an employee and dongsaeng as he might be, doesn’t and will never hold back on the teasing. Especially not when it’s about a supposed marriage that’s been kept a secret from him. It’s almost as hilarious as Sunghoon’s girlfriend.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jay scowls, “South Korea doesn’t even legally recognize same-sex relationships.”
“It doesn’t?” Ni-ki gasps. He has been living in Korea for three years now and nobody told him that they were still outlawed? Like, not even a legal recognition? Wow. And he though Osaka’s partnership certificates were old-fashioned and non-sensical.
“No,” Jay huffs, just as the bell chimes and announces the arrival of a customer, “So stop talking about it in public.”
“Yes, sir,” Ni-ki mock-salutes and scrambles to his feet to greet the customer.
He planned on greeting the customer. It’s part of his job as employee of the store to greet the customer. But he doesn’t greet the customer. Because the customer is Yang Jungwon, in all his ‘oversized zip-up sweater and loose pants and fluffy hair and big eyes and kissable lips’ glory, holding his daughter Jieun by the hand. Oh fuck. Oh shit.
Ni-ki curls up into a ball to hide himself behind the counter.
“Hi, Jay-hyung,” Jungwon chirps happily, oblivious to Ni-ki’s existence in close distance, “You don’t happen to have toasters on sale, do you?”
Right. Because the convenience store also sells a few electronics, like rice cookers, and mini ovens, and microwaves, and – most importantly – toasters. Toasters that Jungwon should buy because Ni-ki burned the one at his home. And now he came to buy one. In the very same convenience store that Ni-ki works at. Because the store is only a ten-minute walk away from his apartment.
“Hello, Jay-oppa!” Jieun’s voice chimes up, high pitched and high in spirits. Seems like she was okay with going out today. She's even wearing a proper outfit today, with stylish jeans and a yellow t-shirt. “We need a new toaster.”
‘Sorry,’ Ni-ki thinks, for no reason in particular.
“Hey, you two,” Jay greets back cheerily, and glances down to Ni-ki still curled up on the floor with a skeptical look, “We got some toasters in aisle twelve. My part-timer can help you pick one.”
He more or less gently kicks Ni-ki back to his feet, and he jumps up and appears with a wide grin from behind the counter like he and Jay are performing a magic trick. Jungwon’s gaze flickers over to him before his eyes widen in surprise, and he stumbles back a few steps.
“Good afternoon, Jungwon-hyung,” he greets in an embarrassingly squeaky voice, and embarrassingly too politely, before he smooths down his uniform vest and runs a hand through his hair in the hope that he doesn’t look too disheveled, “Toaster?”
“Uh, yes,” Jungwon stammers, just as Jieun raises her hands in the air and squeals, “Papa!”
Ni-ki tears his gaze away from Jungwon’s beauty to the tiny human standing in front of him (okay, Jieun isn’t that tiny, she already reaches his hip), and can’t help the grin that splits his face. Jungwon, however, grimaces and helplessly turns to Jay. Not that Ni-ki would notice. He’s too busy high-fiving Jieun.
“Hey, Jieun,” he greets her, more composed and in a gentler voice that doesn’t scream ‘I am panicking because my crush just walked into my job’, “Taking your appa shopping?”
“Uh-huh!” she nods eagerly and puts her hands down, “We need a toaster for pop tarts.”
“And toast,” Jungwon chimes in firmly, “You like toast for breakfast, too, remember?” Jieun sighs and nods, less eagerly this time. She lowers her head and starts sulking. Cute.
“And toast,” she mumbles in agreement and grabs Jungwon’s hand again, “But only with egg.”
Ni-ki laughs when he sees how dejected she looks just because of toast. But Jungwon is right. She can’t only have pop tarts for breakfast.
“Maybe the toast will be yummier if you pick a nice toaster,” Jay suggests, in an odd, fond voice that doesn’t fit his usually cool demeanor at all. When Ni-ki turns back to look at him, he even has a weird, lopsided smile tugging at his lips. “Ni-ki can show you.”
“I know where the toasters are,” Jieun huffs and tugs at Jungwon’s hand, “Ai—As—Row twelve!”
“Uh, yeah,” Jungwon snaps out of a sudden daze that Ni-ki missed to witness, “Aisle twelve. Let’s go.” He lets Jieun lead him to aisle twelve where the electronics are. Ni-ki follows them, mostly because Jay ushers him away from the counter with flopping hands and a quiet, physical altercation. Traitor. Ni-ki will probably pass out in aisle twelve if he has to look at Jungwon for longer than a second.
The shelves are lined with multiple rows of various electronics. The toasters are at the very end of the aisle, the furthest away from the cash counter. Thus, Ni-ki follows behind Jungwon for what feels like an eternity. It probably takes them only a few seconds before Jieun stops in front of the toaster section, but Ni-ki is busy staring and taking in the view of the back of Jungwon’s head. His hair is a little messed up there and sticking up in two different directions. It bounces with every step he takes. His hair, and his bu –
“This one?” Jieun suggests and points at a yellowish orange toaster on the bottom row of the shelf. The packaging has a cartoon figure of a sunny side up egg that's smiling almost as brightly as the sun drawing is supposed to look. "This one looks like it makes tasty toast!"
It's also, conveniently, the cheapest one. A mere fifteen thousand won, something that Ni-ki can get easily docked from his pay after his first day as babysitter.
Jungwon sighs, probably out of relief at the cheap price, and nods at Jieun.
“I think so, too,” he agrees. Jieun eagerly pulls the box from the shelf with an excited giggle (kids are so easy to excite, it’s so cute) and shows it off to Ni-ki with a radiant grin. “Can you put that on the counter for us while we get the rest?”
“Yeah, of course,” Ni-ki complies almost too quickly, glad for the excuse to not look at Jungwon any longer. Because any longer and he would probably say something weird like ‘Please go on a date with me, and then let me adopt your daughter’, and he does not want to make that impression after the one he left the day before. So he takes the toaster from Jieun’s small hands and jogs back to the counter where Jay is waiting for him with a shit-eating grin.
“You are actually so whipped,” he teases Ni-ki under his breath and laughs when he whips his head back around to look for Jungwon. Thankfully, he’s on the other side of the store where the fridge displays a variety of meat, and he shows no sign of having heard Jay’s comment as he chats with Jieun about what they could make for dinner. Good. Ni-ki would prefer if Jungwon learnt of Ni-ki’s feelings personally, from him, and not by getting exposed by his boss.
“You’re having fun right now,” Ni-ki threatens and steps closer to him, putting the toaster between them on the counter as he leans over to get uncomfortably close to Jay’s face, “But just you wait until I find out who your husband is.” Jay’s grin falls fast after that. Instead, he stares at Ni-ki with a blank expression for a few seconds, blinks, and leans back to regain his personal space.
“My husband has seen me at my worst,” he deadpans, “I think I can handle it. But how will you save face with your strawberry bo – ”
“Stop right there,” Ni-ki cuts him off, just in time. Jungwon returns to the counter to place to packs of meat onto the counter, holding Jieun by the hand. Okay, three things to know about Ni-ki’s underwear. One (1): not all of them have a strawberry pattern on them, it’s really just this one pair. Two (2): they’re for good luck, okay! He wore them during all of his exams in high school and washed them religiously every day during exam week, and he aced all of those tests and ranked top ten in his year. He also might or might not have worn them the day before to take advantage of his lucky briefs and make their mystical power make Jieun like him. Three (3): they’re not something he wants to talk about with children around, or his crush.
“Jay-hyung,” Jungwon speaks up, standing so his shoulder bumps against Ni-ki’s, “Do you have any deals on the vegetables?”
“We got a coupon book for them,” Ni-ki answers, even though the question was not directed at him. Jungwon turns his head to the side to look up at Ni-ki with a radiant smile, all while Jieun fakes a gagging noise.
“No bell peppers please,” she asks and huffs, earning herself a round of laughter. “I mean it! Bell peppers are gross.”
“Fine, no bell peppers,” Jungwon relents and pulls Jieun back to the aisle with vegetables. They disappear from Ni-ki’s sight, but not from his earshot this time, so it’s safe to assume that he will be able to hear Ni-ki and Jay, too, once he’s not focused on trying to discuss with Jieun which vegetables she will or won’t eat. Just to be sure, he sends Jay a warning glare, who returns it with another shit-eating grin.
“Are you sure you’re gonna be fine taking the late shifts?” Jay changes the topic. Thank God. Ni-ki doesn’t want to talk about his embarrassing crush anymore. Or his lucky underwear. “With classes and the babysitter job…”
“It’ll be fine,” Ni-ki waves him off lamely and shrugs, “There aren’t many customers at night, so I can just study here.”
Jay nods thoughtfully, but he doesn’t seem convinced. He’s frowning at Ni-ki like a mother disapproving of his grades, even goes as far as giving him a look over from top to bottom as if to search for any signs of exhaustion in his posture. Ni-ki shows none of those, of course. Not more than usual, at least. His days have always been busy with classes, studying whenever he can, his part-time job at the convenience store, a plethora of hobbies that he drops faster than he picks up, a few hobbies that remain like video games and skating and dancing, maintaining his social life. The time he’s planned for his babysitter job, pushing back his shifts at the convenience store, usually would have been spent going shopping with Jake, or eating out with Sunghoon, or going to cafés with Sunoo, all things that Ni-ki can’t afford right now anyway. Even then, Ni-ki has plenty of free time that he can use to sleep, like the one-hour bus ride home, or breaks between classes. Maybe Jieun isn’t at the age yet where she doesn’t appreciate the greatness of afternoon naps.
All in all, his time management skills are just those of a regular college student.
“If you say so,” Jay relents with a sigh and runs a hand through his hair, “But if you change your mind, we can lessen your shifts. Jungwon needs you as babysitter all the time, but we can just hire another part-timer.”
“You are replacing me way too quickly!” Ni-ki complains, whining.
“I mean, like, Heeseung-hyung’s boyfriend or something,” Jay reasons with him and pats his head, “So he can actually do something instead of just sitting at one of the tables and eating more bread. Speaking of, can you check the storage for booze? I swear, last night, that group just – ”
Ni-ki slips into the storage room faster than Jay can finish his rambling. He has no idea how Jay made the jump from bread to booze but whatever. He will also finish checking storage faster than Jay can finish his rambling. There are a few regular customers who come in close to midnight, buy and drink the store empty of all its alcohol, basically trash the entire place as they try to make themselves food, and Jay hates their guts. He even considered giving them a ban on entering the store.
When he comes back from the storage room, however, Jay isn’t rambling anymore, and Jieun and Jungwon aren’t shopping anymore. Jieun is waiting patiently, rocking back and forth on her feet with her hands clasped behind her back, as Jay and Jungwon pack up the rest of his shopping. They fill up two plastic bags that Jungwon has to balance in one hand, because his other hand refuses to let go of Jieun’s. Nobody has taken the toaster yet. Jay looks between Jieun, then Jungwon, then the two bags and the toaster that’s still on the counter. And then, his gaze falls on innocent, unsuspecting Ni-ki, and his face splits into a grin. Oh no.
“Help them out, part-timer,” he calls out to him cheerily and waves him over, “I’ll pay you extra.”
“It’s okay, Jay-hyung,” Jungwon refuses and shakes his head, “I can just – let me…” He tries to pull the toaster into his arms but fails miserably. Ni-ki decides that, yes, Jay is right, he should help him. So he takes the two bags of groceries from Jungwon, hand brushing against the knobs of his fingers. Jungwon’s hand is so small. And they hold the toaster so gently – now that Ni-ki thinks about it, he could have just taken the toaster. Wow. Okay. His subconsciousness really just wanted an excuse to touch his hand, huh. But it was so soft and warm...
"Should we go?" Ni-ki asks after clearing his throat, because Jungwon is sheepishly smiling and fluttering his pretty eyelashes at him, and there is only that much damage that Ni-ki's poor gay heart can take before it combusts in his chest. "You said you lived close, right?"
"Yes, only ten minutes," Jungwon confirms and attempts to wave at Jay with the hand that is holding the toaster close to his chest. Jieun sighs at her dad's silly behavior and waves at Jay with their conjoined hands instead.
"Bye-bye, Jay-oppa!" she chirps and pulls Jungwon out of the store. He trips over his own feet a little clumsily, and normally, Ni-ki would laugh because it’s so endearing. Unfortunately, Ni-ki also trips over his own feet, so his laughter is more out of embarrassment rather than endearment. It would be great if he could just be normal around Jungwon, really.
Thankfully, the walk to Jungwon’s apartment isn’t anything exciting. Since it’s just a side road with basically no traffic except for the people who live here, it’s quiet except for Jieun’s chatter about a TV show she watches. The sun beats down on Ni-ki’s back and nape, and he starts to regret not taking off the uniform vest before walking outside. It’s stuffy and made of a thick material that does little to cool him down. His long hair also doesn’t help. If there is any breeze of wind at all, it doesn’t hit Ni-ki’s neck, and so, he can feel his face slowly start to heat up the closer they get to Jungwon’s apartment. The surrounding houses cast no shadow on the street.
They walk at an agonizingly slow pace. It’s not Jieun’s fault though, because she happily trots through the street with a little skip to her step, pulling Jungwon along at an equal pace. It’s only Ni-ki who awkwardly shuffles his feet, because, even though Jieun is obviously walking at a quicker pace for herself, her legs are short, and her entire body is about the same height as Ni-ki’s hip.
“Are you okay?” Jungwon asks him when they can finally see the apartment complex where he lives, “You look a little… red.” Jungwon is one to talk. He’s just as red in the face, the color even spreading down his neck. A single beat of sweat rolls down the side of his face and travels along his jawline.
“Just the summer heat,” Ni-ki reassures him and readjusts his grip on the two grocery bags. His hands are sweaty and a little slippery. Jungwon’s beautiful eyes blink at him. “I’m okay, don’t worry.”
Thankfully, they take the elevator up to Jungwon’s apartment. It’s only when they’re in front of the door that Jungwon lets go of Jieun’s hand to give her the toaster and unlock the door, releasing a gust of cold air from inside. He must have left the Ac on while he went shopping. Ni-ki follows them inside and toes off his shoes. He looks around the apartment. It’s the same as yesterday, except for the missing toaster on the kitchen counter. The bare space is painful to look at, reminding Ni-ki of his past failure to warm up pop tarts.
“You can put the groceries next to the fridge,” Jungwon instructs him with a gentle voice and helps Jieun pull out the little stool so she can wash her hands in the sink. He walks over to Ni-ki and gives his arm a squeeze. The apartment doesn’t feel that refreshingly cold anymore. “Thank you. For helping.”
“No problem,” Ni-ki croaks, throat dry. Man. The short amount of time he spent in the heat should have not made him this dehydrated. “I’ll see you tomorrow then?”
“Yeah,” Jungwon agrees softly and smiles, “Tomorrow.”
Their faces are close. Or maybe it just looks like Jungwon’s face is very close because Ni-ki can’t seem to focus on anything else but sparkling eyes and pink lips and the lovely, rosy color on Jungwon’s cheeks. Damn. He needs to chill with the crush because it’s getting ridiculous. He wets his lips. The memory of his dream makes him freeze. Jungwon’s lips look even softer in real life.
“Appa!” Jieun calls out and steps between them, finally pulling Ni-ki’s attention to anywhere else but his thoughts of kissing Jungwon. “We have to put the groceries away.”
“Ah, yes,” Jungwon agrees, ripped out of yet another trance that Ni-ki missed, and turns away from him, “Let’s say bye to Ni-ki first, yeah?”
“Eh?” she whines and crosses her arms, “He’s not staying?” Jungwon only sighs and shakes his head, sinking to his knees to take Jieun’s hands in his. He shakes them playfully and pulls her into his arms, rising back to his feet once her arms are wrapped around his neck and he can carry her comfortably.
“You’ll see him tomorrow again,” Jungwon tells her. The moment he turns, Ni-ki’s breath hitches. When he carries Jieun like this, and faces Ni-ki with a gentle smile, it’s almost embarrassingly easy to imagine that they’re a family. His chest constricts uncomfortably. He definitely needs to chill out. “He’ll pick you up from pre-school and then you can play with him, okay? But he has to go back Jay-hyung today.”
“Fine,” she mumbles, sulking, and stretches out a small hand to wave at Ni-ki, “Bye-bye.”
“Bye,” he replies with a grin and gives her another high five, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jieun.”
—
“And then, I take the bags from his hand,” Ni-ki finishes his story with a groan and slumps in his chair. He’s having dinner with Jake and Sunoo, Sunghoon is missing because he is on yet another date with his mystery man. The frozen ramen kits they heated up in the microwave are still a little frozen, but the broth is rich, and the noodles are soft. Sunoo and Jake laugh at him.
“Woah,” Sunoo gasps between his giggles and covers his grin with a hand. Good. Ni-ki doesn’t want his stupidity so openly made fun of. “You’re even worse than Jake.”
Which is really not that great of a comparison. Jake, at least, is Sunoo’s boyfriend. Ni-ki is a mere babysitter to Jungwon’s daughter. He won’t even see him much the next day because the whole point of Ni-ki being at his apartment to watch Jieun is that Jungwon isn’t there to watch her! Sunoo and Jake meanwhile go on cute dates and cuddle on the couch while watching a movie and get to be one of those sappy couples, because that’s what they are. A couple.
So what if Jake always manages to sneak an arm around Sunoo’s waist, or more or less subtly puts a hand on his shoulder, or finds any excuse to make their fingers brush? He gets to. That’s what boyfriends do. Ni-ki is just an idiot in love. He has no excuse for his behavior.
“Whatever,” he sighs and runs a hand through his hair. It’s still damp from the shower he took earlier, and he completely forgot to blow-dry it because he got a few text messages from Jungwon.
Private Chat: Jungwon hyung !
Oh yeah, just a few things for tmrw
I told the preschool teacher that you’d pick up jieun, so no worries about that :)
And her screen time is thirty minutes a day, if she tells you otherwise, she’s lying (and I know she will)
You can go outside to the park if you want to, but please hold her hand on the way
Food is in the fridge, you can just heat it up in the microwave
Feel free to take anything to eat and drink whenever you want to :)
Jieun can take her snacks from her snack box anytime unless it’s an hour before mealtime
If I come home later than 8:30 pm, don’t worry about a bedtime
she won’t sleep unless I’m home
Also, please make sure that Jieun does her daily reading for preschool
So he got a set of rules and things he has to remember. But it’s okay. Most of the things are about telling Ni-ki what he is allowed to do instead of forbidding him anything, and that’s a lot less stress-inducing. He has read up on a few babysitter experiences on the internet, and some of them sound nightmarish. Most of them, actually. The experiences range from rowdy kids to bad pay to helicopter parents that call so often that the babysitter is busier being on the phone than watching the kid. He has read a few times that the parents sometimes don’t allow the babysitter to eat or ask the babysitter to do the house chores on top of babysitting. Ni-ki doesn’t seem to run into any of these problems though. Jieun, as far as he can tell, is an angel, and Jungwon leaves him a lot of freedom.
“Anyway,” Jake changes the topic. Thank God he does, because if Ni-ki spends any second more on thinking about Jungwon, he will probably melt in his chair. “We should all hang out next weekend. Sunghoon said that Sundays are usually when he and his lover go on dates, and I think, we should follow them.”
“That’s an invasion of privacy,” Ni-ki reminds him and stuffs a few noodles into his mouth. Jake only shrugs.
“You can’t tell me you’re not curious what she looks like,” he reasons and throws an arm around Sunoo’s shoulder, “Besides, who said we’ll do it secretly? We could just run into them by accident and make it a double date!”
“You mean, you and me make it a double date with them,” Sunoo corrects him and nudges his side playfully, “And Ni-ki just hangs around?”
“He can invite Jungwon and Jieun!” Jake suggests with an excited grin and looks at Ni-ki with his stupid, irresistible puppy face, “We can meet everyone then! Sunghoon’s partner, and Ni-ki’s soon-to-be partner.”
“You are way too extroverted,” Ni-ki sighs and shakes his head, “Besides, that’s weird. I’m just the babysitter, why would he hang out with me for no reason?”
“You didn’t deny the ‘soon-to-be partner’ part,” Sunoo points out, a teasing glint to his sharp eyes.
“Well, I am denying it now!” Ni-ki defends himself and shrinks in his seat. Fine, he’s a little delusional and moving very fast with his crush on Jungwon. Who dreams of kissing someone after meeting him twice? Only delusional people. Jake and Sunoo’s ‘soon’, if everything goes right, might be in a year, might be in two. Maybe it’ll take forever or doesn’t happen at all. Once Jieun is old enough to stay at home alone, Jungwon won’t need a babysitter anymore. Sure, that’s still a few years in the future, but Ni-ki will barely interact with Jungwon anyway. Which is a shame. Jungwon is fun to talk to.
But the chances of this – whatever it is that he has with Jungwon, a weird one-sided infatuation, a childish crush because Ni-ki is bored and needs some emotional turmoil in his life, a deeper connection that is yet to be discovered – blossoming into a romantic relationship are close to zero. And that’s fine. Ni-ki just wants to babysit a cute kid, earn some money, and help out a struggling single parent. And fix the lightbulb on the staircase.
“Fine, we don’t have to do it,” Jake raises his hands in defeat and lowers his head, “But at least a trip on Saturday. We could go fishing on the countryside. Have a nice meal.”
“You never catch anything,” Sunoo reminds him giggling, to which Jake responds with a dramatic gasp.
“It takes practice, Sunny!” he argues and grabs Sunoo by the shoulders to gently shake him as he laughs. Oh. Sunoo’s shoulders are as broad as Jungwon’s. “And the weather was bad. Fish don’t come to the surface when it rains.”
“Sure, sure,” Sunoo agrees easily and slaps at Jake’s wrist, “Whatever you say, hyung.”
Ni-ki stares at them, deep in thought. It must be nice to be joking around with a boyfriend.
—
It’s already past midnight when Ni-ki collapses into his bed. His eyes are burning from the brightness of the lamp on his desk, and by the end of his study session, he had to squint really hard for the letters in his textbook to stop blurring together.
As usual, his bedtime routine lets him check his social medias for the updates his friends and family in Japan gave him. There aren’t many, but it looks like most of his friends went camping together for the weekend. All of them, except for Taki, who only sent him a picture of his cluttered desk with no caption or explanation whatsoever. Ni-ki zooms in on the stuff on the desk and squints his eyes. Even though his screen brightness is at the lowest setting, it’s still too bright.
There are a few pens and markers surrounding a textbook on the wooden surface of the desk. A half-empty bottle of sunscreen, two empty water bottles (with no condensation, because Taki, for some reason, has always preferred his water room temperature instead of cold). A plate with takoyaki. Some loose papers and something that looks like a passport.
Ni-ki zooms in on the textbook. Taki moved from chapter twelve to eighteen in a week. Ni-ki can’t tell what exactly he’s studying because the picture is blurry, and his vision is blurry, and his screen is still so fucking bright. But it can’t be for college. Taki goes to a dance school. Dance doesn’t need textbooks. Man. Ni-ki should have chosen to study dance instead of education. He wouldn’t need to sit at his desk for so long.
Next to the textbook, something glints in the light of Taki’s white desk lamp. He zooms in and freezes, stops breathing altogether. It’s the counterpart of Ni-ki’s own ring, a matching set they bought a month into their relationship. He’s not sure why, but his finger clicks away from the picture and hovers over the call button. It’s a stupid idea, because there is no way that Taki is still, or already awake. Then again, Ni-ki is also awake. As far as he is aware, so is Sunghoon since he hasn’t come home yet.
“Ni-ki?”
Taki’s groggy voice sounds through his phone, and Ni-ki almost drops it. His voice is deeper from the last time he’s heard it, which is a year and a half ago. He wasn’t aware that they were still going through puberty. At least that would explain Ni-ki’s voice cracks.
“Oh, hey,” he tries to greet him as nonchalant as possible, which is impossible. His heart clogs his throat, and he wants to punch himself for the awkward stutter in his voice. “Sorry, were you asleep?”
“No,” Taki denies, but he yawns nonetheless, and the sound of bedsheets rustling can be heard, “I was still up. How have you been?”
“Good, yeah,” Ni-ki croaks quietly, “I’ve been good. And you?”
“Me too,” he hums contemplatively, “We recently found out I can tell whose clothes belong to whom by the smell.”
“What,” Ni-ki cant help but chuckle, “That’s so weird.”
“I’m telling you, it’s actually genius,” Taki defends himself and laughs quietly, “I’m a genius, Ni-ki!”
“No, you’re a weirdo who sniffs people’s clothes. How did you even find out you can do that?”
“See, there was this jacket in the practice room – ”
[+]
“Appa…”
The door to Jungwon’s door slowly creaks open, revealing a tired Jieun in the hallway. She’s wearing her favorite pajamas, white with brown bears as pattern. Jungwon turns on the light on his bedside table to see her shuffling to his bed while rubbing her eyes. Her black hair is wildly sticking up in all directions, and her eyes are puffy from sleep and tears. She sniffles quietly.
“Did you have a nightmare?” he coos silently and lifts his blanket for Jieun to crawl under and cuddle up to him. He gives her reassuring pats on the back and holds her close. It’s a good thing he never fully closes the doors to their bedrooms so Jieun can go to the bathroom or come to him whenever she wants to. “Or just bad sleep?”
“Bad sleep,” she mumbles and rubs her cheek against his shoulder, “And a nightmare. You were gone and I couldn’t find you.”
Jungwon inhales sharply.
“You know I’d never just go away,” he tells her firmly and buries his nose in her hair. She smells like children’s shampoo. “Especially not without you.”
“You left with papa,” she sighs, “Dreams are weird.”
"Yeah", he agrees and turns the light off again, “Very weird. Especially since you should call him 'oppa', Jieun."
"Weird!"