The sun shone brightly through opaque curtains, and Minho squinted an eye open. Glancing over at the clock which read 8:02am, he decided more shuteye would do no harm.

After what felt like mere minutes, Minho was awoken by tiny hands fiddling with his large fingers, sparing no effort to bend them as far backwards as they could go.

Minho smiled with eyes still closed. He loved these little moments when Yoogeun subtly tried to wake him up, and with each failure his actions usually intensified.

This time was no different, when playing with Minho's fingers didn't work, Yoogeun resorted to prodding his sides, then gentle kisses on his face, before finally poking at Minho's eyes calling out "appa" with each jab of the finger.

Minho finally gave in, opening both his eyes and saw his son finger in mid prod, body in a squatting position.

"I'm hungry appa ah." he pouted.

Minho reached out to grab his precious son and engulfed him in a hug before planting a kiss on his forehead,

"Okay Yoogeunnie, just give appa a few more minutes."

Unfortunately the impatient boy wouldn't stand for it and started yelling objections, forcing Minho to roll out of bed and get both of them dressed and ready for the day.

When they walked into the kitchen they saw three plates of breakfast on the dining table, and a smiling Jinki pouring out glasses of orange juice.

"Morning," he greeted.

"Morning hyung," Minho replied voice raspy from sleep, while Yoogeun gave a bashful wave.

They ate and talked about the day's plans.

Minho would take a look at the art classes after breakfast, and then head to his job interview afterward. Jinki took half the day off so he could relief Minho of Yoogeun duties after lunch.

After helping Jinki clear the breakfast plates, Minho grabbed Yoogeun and his coats, bid Jinki goodbye and headed out the door, his son holding onto his hand.

Light footsteps took father and son towards their destination which Jinki had given specific instructions to, while breathing in the cool fall air. Ten minutes later they arrived in front of a small building, the front of it had large letters that read 'School of The Arts'.

They headed inside, and were greeted by a warm smile from behind the reception desk.

"May I help you?" the lady behind the desk gave a small wave.

"Yea, I would like to enquire about the children's art class, and I was told to talk to a Mr Lee Taemin?" Minho responded with a polite smile.

"Oh, turn left down the corridor this way, you'll find him in room 2B."

With a nod Minho walked towards the row of classrooms, Yoogeun sticking close to him.

When he reached room 2B he glanced inside through the window, and saw a group of about twenty children no older than six busy doodling and colouring. Crouched down next to a little girl was who he presumed was the teacher Lee Taemin, dressed in a casual tee with dark blue jeans, auburn hair in a small ponytail.

With a light knock on the door Minho entered, and Taemin looked up.

"Hi," he beamed, one of the liveliest smiles Minho had ever seen, "May I help you?"

"Hi," Minho bowed slightly, "I would like to enroll my son here, Choi Yoogeun, into an art class? And I was told to look for you."

"Oh," Taemin said as he bent down to wave at Yoogeun, "Hi there."

Once again the timid Yoogeun merely hid behind his father's pants.

Standing back up Taemin beamed at Minho once again, before motioning towards a teacher who happened to be walking past the corridor at that moment.

The blonde teacher entered the room, loud voice filling it up,

"Yah Taemin ah what now? I just helped you finish the mountain of paperwork you conveniently forgot about in the office."

"Kibum hyung, could you watch over the class for me for awhile? Please?" Taemin pouted, much to Minho's amusement.

"Yah! It's supposed to be my break you ," Kibum hissed but obliged nonetheless.

"Thank you," Taemin replied with an almost sing song voice, "You know I love you hyung." he smiled playfully as Kibum stuck out his tongue.

'O…kay…' Minho thought as he watched both teachers' interaction.

He followed Taemin out of the classroom, up the stairs to the second level and entered an office. Which he assumed was Taemin's.

It was brightly coloured, the walls looked like they had been hand painted, and children's art pieces were plastered all over.

Minho put Yoogeun on his lap as he sat across the desk from Taemin.

"So, Mr.."

"Choi"

"Mr Choi. I'd love to take Yoogeun in for my class," he smiled at Minho, then at the restless child attempting to wriggle out of his father's lap.

"I teach every Monday and Wednesday, one morning class and another in the afternoon. If Yoogeun is attending kindergarten he can come in the afternoon."

"Well, Yoogeun hasn't been enrolled for school yet, we kind of just got back to Seoul yesterday. We've been overseas for years." Minho replied.

"Oh. Would you be interested in joining our curriculum then?" Taemin grabbed a few brochures from his drawer.

Slowly he explained to Minho that Yoogeun could sign up for a kindergarten education here, with arts infused classes as added lessons in the curriculum. He talked about the facilities and explained they even had a daycare for parents who could only pick their children in the evenings.

Minho was interested, and asked a bunch of questions, about the fees and requirements, applications and school hours, before deciding to take a day to give it extra thought.

At the end of their discussion, Minho politely thanked Taemin before exiting, brochures in hand, appalled at how for the hundredth time that day Taemin could break into a wide smile. Didn't his cheeks hurt?

As Taemin strolled back to his class he saw a foot tapping Kibum anxiously waiting,

"Did you get his number?" he smirked.

"What?" Taemin gave a puzzled look.

"I saw the way you looked at him, the extra sweet smiles and not to mention that millisecond of checking out his ."

Taemin hit Kibum's shoulder,

"No, no I didn't. It's a parent for god's sake."

A slight pause later, Taemin spoke again, "But he was quite handsome."

To which Kibum snickered.

The day went by rather fast, Minho rushing to his job interview after leaving Yoogeun with Jinki at home. Which went well by the way, twenty minutes in and he got the job. He spent the rest of the afternoon in a long and boring briefing of his job scope.

Leaving the office building with a slight stretch, Minho couldn't wait to get home.

It was close to seven when Minho reached Jinki's front door, pushing it open with a tired sigh. And then all he heard was noise filling up the apartment.. Male voices yelling at each other.

"Yah get back here Lee Jinki! Stop stealing the chicken! Can't you wait just awhile, dinner's almost ready! And Kim Jonghyun! Get your back here you aren't done helping me cook!"

That voice sounded familiar.

"Get off my computer Jjong hyung! Go help Key hyung before he screams the house down!"

Another familiar voice too.

As Minho stepped into the kitchen his eyes grew wide. Four people turned to look at him and chorused a friendly "Hi!" before going back to their activities.

Jinki was holding a piece of chicken mid air while the male he recognized as Kibum was trying to grab it from him and Taemin was sitting at the table chuckling at them both. The other male who stood behind Taemin and joined him in laughter looked unfamiliar though.

"Sorry," Minho started, "But what's going on?"

Jinki finally let go of his chicken and turned to Minho.

"Sorry I forgot to tell you, I invited some friends for dinner. This is Jonghyun," Jinki gestured towards the stranger, "A close friend of mine."

Jonghyun waved.

"And I'm Kibum, Jonghyun's boyfriend. But call me Key. We met just now." the diva looking male said, to which Minho nodded.

"And you know I'm Key's colleague, and friend." that wide smile filled Taemin's face again. Damn why was he always so friggin cheery?

"They come over sometimes, and treat this like their own house," Jinki spoke as he playfully glared at the rest. "And Key cooks for us, delicious meals might I add."

"Do join us," Jonghyun motioned as everyone gathered around the dining table. "Oh and don't worry little Yoogeun had his dinner already and is fast asleep."

Minho moved towards the table and took a seat next to Jinki, as the others helped pass plates around.

Minho ate his dinner with light chatter surrounding him, and Jinki's friends made polite conversations trying their best to make Minho feel included.

They were nice people he concluded mid meal, and he sort of liked them. Throughout the meal though, he sometimes felt himself staring at the Taemin, a little more than he should, eyes lingering seconds more than necessary.

By now Minho was certain the boy never stopped smiling. Even as he stuffed spoonfuls of rice into his mouth he maintained that bright smile. He must admit he felt a little mesmerized, that much happiness radiating from a human being was definitely attractive, a teeny bit.

After dinner Minho excused himself to go check on his son, while the others each grabbed a beer and migrated to the couch.

"So what's his story?" Key asked Jinki as he plopped himself down on the sofa.

"Babe, why do you always have to prod?" Jonghyun shook his head while putting an arm around his boyfriend.

"What? I'm just curious, and a tat bit worried. He seems, distant." Key scowled at his boyfriend.

"Long story," Jinki replied solemny, "He's been through a lot, then lost his wife to cancer, that was the final straw. Ever since then he's been pretty much broken." Jinki sighed.

"Oh. The poor thing." Key pouted, looking at his boyfriend with a sympathetic expression.

Key felt the need to help Minho, it was in his nature to deal with other people's business like it was his own. He meant no harm though, he genuinely had their interests at heart, he just was a very caring individual.

Through Key's rambles about plans to aid Minho, Taemin was zoning out, quietly wondering what Minho's story was, besides losing his wife of course. He couldn't help but feel this overwhelming need to know, he wanted to help just as much as Key did, probably more. He cared about this Minho, although it had only been a day since he's known the man.

Did it even make sense to feel this way? Taemin frowned and scrunched his face.

Key being the observant best friend didn't fail to notice Taemin's mental battle as he sat deep in thought, hidden in his little corner.

So when Minho emerged again and joined their chat, Key kept trying make the two to interact, observing them silently. Intuition told him there was definitely a hidden spark between the two.

When it was time for the guests to leave, Key loudly suggested Minho send Taemin home, although he was a fully grown adult well capable of taking care of himself. Not to mention his house was a mere ten minute walk away.

"Really hyung, I'm sure I can manage getting home safely by myself." Taemin rolled his eyes.

"Hey, you never know what dangers may be lurking out there. Anyway I'm sure Minho doesn't mind, right?" Key flashed Minho a sickeningly sweet smile.

"Uh, no," Minho scratched the back of his head, "Of course not."

And so the four of them exited the apartment, Jinki waving them goodbye before returning to cleaning up the mess of beer bottles.

As soon as Jonghyun and Key went off in the opposite direction towards their home, Minho was left alone with Taemin, a sense of awkwardness filling the air.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Minho matched the pace of the younger male's footsteps, as they spent the next few minutes in silence.

After what felt like an eternity, Taemin spoke,

"So, have you decided about the enrollment?"

"Hmm? Yea, yea I think I'm going to send Yoogeun to your school. The curriculum seems alright for him."

Silence again.

Minho sneaked a few glances over at the younger male from time to time, noticing how his face had a slight blush from the cold night. He thought he looked beautiful.

Which was, odd. He wasn't supposed to think a male looked beautiful. So he mentally chanted to himself to get the thought out of his head.

A sense of relief and disappointment filled Minho when Taemin stopped in his tracks and gave him that blinding smile once again,

"Well, here we are, my home. Thank you, for walking with me."

"Sure, it was no problem really." Minho managed a small smile.

To which Taemin responded with an even bigger smile.

And then a hug.

That Minho was really not expecting. So all he could respond with were awkward arms around Taemin and a light pat on his back.

"Goodnight," Taemin chirped brightly before disappearing up the stairs, heading to his apartment.

"Goodnight," Minho whispered seconds later, still standing still at the spot, a slight part of him not wanting to move.