The Competition
Title: The Competition (The sequel to TC, TG, and TE'sM)
Author: tikibuddy91
Genre: General, Fluff? (omg idek)
Pairing: KrisHo, Kaisoo
Rating: G
Word Count: 3020
“Hun, that's all of the volunteers. We’re still handling the kids and parents signing in, but we can manage without you, child. Why don’t you go join ‘your hubby’ over there and watch the kids, too?” Linda gave a wink as she saw Joonmyeon blushing redder.
“Mrs. Linda, p-please,” Joonmyeon spluttered. “…W-we hardly know each other.”
“All the more that you should leave me alone and flirt with him like you two did earlier!” Linda chuckled as Joonmyeon facepalmed himself out of secondhand embarrassment.
Joonmyeon scanned the area for Yifan and the kids, before he spotted the tall giant sitting on the floor, soothing one kid in his arms as the toddler is crying. Yifan was constantly being gentle with the kid, petting his hair and slowly rocking him. There was a faint flutter in Joonmyeon’s chest at the sight.
Yifan would make a wonderful father, Joonmyeon thought to himself.
“What you waitin’ for, child? Shoo shoo! Begone from this area! I don’t want no ogling here!!” Linda made a shooing gesture, giving Joonmyeon a look of mock disgust. Joonmyeon hastily got up and, retrieving his backpack that has been under his chair since that morning when he came in, left with an amused expression on his face.
“Remember, no PDAs. I’ll be watching you,” Linda threatened with an air of humor behind her line. Joonmyeon threw a scandalized look at her, but did not say anything. He walked across the indoor gymnasium court to where his group was huddled.
Joonmyeon noticed that in his group of Pre-kindergarteners and Kindergarteners, there were a few parents who volunteered to watch for their own kids as well. He then settled to make himself comfortable by walking up to the parents and introducing himself. After confirming with linking the right names to the right people, he scanned the area for his partner.
Yifan was now standing up, rocking the child in his arms. Crooning to the sniffling child as the kid wrapped his arms around Yifan’s neck, Yifan turned slowly in his spot when his eyes met with Joonmyeon’s. He shoots a smile at him.
Joonmyeon gazed at Yifan with admiration, not realizing that he is smiling back at the tall giant. He watched as Yifan made his way towards him.
“Hey there.”
“Mhm,” Joonmyeon said distractedly, nodding, not registering the greeting yet.
“…Huh?” Yifan said softly, as his forehead crinkled in confusion and amusement. He stopped in front of his shorter friend.
1… Blink.
2…
3… Blink.
“…Erm…what did you…say earlier?”
“I…just said ‘Hey there’,” Yifan repeated with a crooked smile. Meanwhile, the kid was watching them quietly, his sniffles dying down.
Oh…
“…Oh,” Joonmyeon trailed off lamely, as warmth filled his cheeks. “Erm, hello.” Yifan chuckled.
“Sehun-ah, this is Joonmyeon. He’ll be your other hyung of the group,” Yifan acknowledged the kid in his arms, and Sehun looked down shyly at Joonmyeon (because the latter’s height did not reach up past Yifan’s neck). Joonmyeon’s heart melted instantly when their eyes met.
“Hi, Sehunnie… I’m Joonmyeon. It’s nice to meet you, kiddo.” Joonmyeon reached out to pat Sehun’s head gently. “Yifan and I will be taking care of you and the others here at camp. We’re gonna have lots of fun, all of us. I know you miss Mommy and Daddy” - “actually, his brother, Luhan, is here, too” Yifan muttered but Joonmyeon did not appear to hear him, continuing on - “but don’t worry; they’ll be here once this is all over. You’ll see them soon today.”
Yifan watched with silent admiration while Joonmyeon continued to soothe the kid, not even paying attention to anything else but Sehun. Yifan was even more surprised when the kid moved in his arms, letting go of Yifan’s neck and reaching out towards Joonmyeon. A low whine crept out of Sehun’s throat and Joonmyeon’s eyes widened at the action.
“Uh, you...want me…to hold you?” Joonmyeon asked with a light concern in his voice, his hands at the ready to take Sehun in his arms. Sehun nodded, but his soft grunts were persistent, and one of his hands immediately grabbed onto one of Joonmyeon’s fingers. Joonmyeon exchanged glances with Yifan, who half-shrugged.
“…Okay, here we go, Sehunnie,” Joonmyeon muttered loud enough for Sehun and Yifan to hear him as he took Sehun, bringing the kid closer to his chest.
The kid made himself comfortable before sitting up and carefully bringing a hand to the side of Joonmyeon’s face. Joonmyeon watched him with an amused look.
“Shoomun?”
In an instant, things went crazy for a moment. Yifan spluttered and chortled, while Joonmyeon had a scandalized look on his face. It was such an innocent mispronunciation, and the kid was learning to speak with names and words, but it was done in an innocent manner that no one could find the heart to shun him.
“Sehunnie, it’s Joon-myeon. Joon. Myeon.” Joonmyeon said, good-naturedly.
“Shoonmyeon?”
“Close enough,” the fair-skinned male chuckled with a smile.
“Sehun. Like. Shoonmyeon,” the kid said with an air of finality, before he brings his arms around Joonmyeon’s neck, resting his head on the elder’s neck. The elder was caught off guard at the declaration and the action that followed; he looked to Yifan in bewilderment, but what he saw was not what he was expecting to see. Joonmyeon could tell that in those eyes of the familiar giant, there was an emotion hidden that he could not quite put his finger on.
“You’ll be a great father,” Yifan mumbled, but Joonmyeon caught it and went flaming red out of embarrassment.
“Thanks.” I think…
A moment of silence passed before a voice behind Yifan interrupted them.
“Hyung!” The two of them looked around to see Kyungsoo and Jongin walking up to them.
“Hyung, what are you doing??” Kyungsoo hissed softly, alarmed and concerned. Joonmyeon felt confused. “You’re not supposed to have kids in your arms, none of us are supposed to,” Kyungsoo reprimanded. “They might get attached with us, remember? We don’t want to create any competition among the kids.”
Joonmyeon paled at his forgetfulness of the important reminder from last night’s meeting with the camp volunteers. Sure they were caretakers for the students, but there were certain boundaries they had to respect.
“Ah…right… I…forgot.” Joonmyeon nervously glanced to Sehun in his arms, who was looking up at him.
“It’s my fault, Kyungsoo-yah. Sehun here was crying and missing his mom, even though Luhan’s here, so I had to soothe him. When Joonmyeon came over to us, I forgot about that reminder,” Yifan explained, with one hand brought up to rub on Sehun’s back. Joonmyeon simply looked at him, frowning at the unfamiliar name.
“Well, how come we didn’t see you at the meeting last night, hyung?” Jongin asked in a tone that was hardly demanding at all.
“I had been out of town and was coming home last night, but I got the email and read it before I went to bed. It just slipped my mind, that’s all.”
“Oh…okay.”
Joonmyeon sighed before he looked to Sehun. “Sehun-ah?” Joonmyeon murmured, and Sehun looked up upon hearing his name. “I’m gonna put you down on the floor now, okay, Sehunnie? I have to go check on everyone else here in your group, so I cannot carry you around with me. You can come to me and play with me while we’re here, but I cannot carry you after this time, okay?” Joonmyeon made an apologetic face, but he hoped that Sehun would understand.
The kid stared at him for a few seconds, his expression unchanging, before he let go of Joonmyeon’s neck. A little relieved, Joonmyeon slowly crouched down to let Sehun stand on his feet. Once Joonmyeon stood up, Sehun tilted his head backwards to look up at him before looking around at the other three tall guys (tall, from his perspective). He shyly made his way over to Yifan and grabbed onto one of Yifan’s fingers. Joonmyeon smiled at Sehun with a wave before he acknowledged his friends, and he took his leave to do roll call for the group.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“He’s cute,” Jongin commented, looking down at Sehun. He stoops down to meet Sehun’s eye level. With a smile and a wave, he introduced himself. “Sehunnie, I’m Jongin. Nice to meet you!”
The kid watched him with curious eyes.
“And this here is Kyungsoo!” Jongin indicated to his boyfriend, who also joined Jongin at Sehun’s eye level. “Jongin. Kyungsoo.” He pointed to himself and to Kyungsoo for clarification.
Sehun gave a faint nod, his eyes never leaving Jongin’s except for a moment when his eyes glanced over to Kyungsoo.
The bell rang loudly in the room, a sign that the leaders of each set of age group needed to take roll of the children. With a “bye” and a wave of hands, Jongin and Kyungsoo left Sehun and Yifan to their own groups. While waving back to the two young men, Yifan looked down at Sehun who was waving back, his eyes continuing to watch them go. As the kid looked up at Yifan with expectation, the giant could not help but chuckle when he saw Sehun stumbling a few steps backwards due to tilting his head so far back up, despite holding onto a couple of Yifan’s fingers.
“Aigoo, you’re cute, Sehun-ah. Come on,” Yifan squatted for Sehun’s convenience, “let’s go over there and join ‘Shoonmyeon-hyung’ with the kids. You might meet some new friends, who knows? You guys can play with each other, today, tomorrow and the next day after that. Doesn’t that sound fun?” He smiled when Sehun brightened and nodded excitedly.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Joonmyeon, finally done with the roll call, looked at the schedule planned out for today. Their group had a shorter day schedule than the rest of the older kids, finishing up after lunch. They only had painting, music, and games once they attended the general assembly first thing in the morning. The general assembly was where all the kids and volunteers gathered to watch skits and hear announcements.
“So what’s today looking like?”
Yifan’s voice startled Joonmyeon as he looked up to the tall giant at his right. He felt a large warm touch on his left shoulder and that alone got his heart to speed up. He glanced over to his left shoulder to see Yifan’s hand.
“First we have general assembly, then music, painting, games and then finally lunch for the kids before they go home,” Yifan muttered to himself. “Hmm, so it’s different from last year…”
“W-what do you mean?” Joonmyeon tore his gaze away from Yifan’s hand to look at him, his breath hitching at just how close their faces are. He had tried his best to respond nonchalantly, because Yifan’s thumb is brushing lightly on his shoulder.
“See here,” Yifan moved his hand from Joonmyeon’s shoulder to point on the schedule, and Joonmyeon could feel more than just a hand on his shoulder and nape, “last year, the kids had more activities, dancing, food, and calligraphy. I suppose it’s done this way as to not burn them out as easily after lunch. You know how kids are sometimes at that age.” He chuckled, briefly looking at Joonmyeon.
“O-oh…I see,” Joonmyeon found his voice quivering as he was trapped in his spot, with Yifan’s arm draped around his shoulders. He caught a whiff of Yifan’s cologne, and tried to regulate his own breathing.
“Joonie, are you okay?” Joonmyeon’s ears had no doubt that they could hear the subtle teasing in Yifan’s voice. Joonmyeon looked up to Yifan and he could see the slight smirk on his partner’s face. He smiled nervously.
“Y-yeah.”
“Your shoulders are shaking…” Yifan gave a full-blown smirk before his hands found themselves on Joonmyeon’s shoulders. “You need to relax; they’re kids. We’ll be fine. Just pretend that we’re parenting them…well those without their parents around…with boundaries set, of course. Remember what Kyungsoo said, right?”
Joonmyeon tried not to squeak when Yifan’s large hands massaged his shoulders. He brought himself to nod, not allowing his voice to betray him.
“You can be like the mom and I could be the dad, since it was supposed to be a male/female team. Well, ‘mom-dad’ or ‘dad-mom’, if there’s such a title for your case.” Yifan chortled.
Joonmyeon blushed, and he knew, because Yifan could see it from the way he was smirking at him. He averted his eyes, and to his pleasant surprise, he spotted Sehun being approached by a boy with dark eyes.
“Yifan, look at Sehunnie.”
Yifan followed Joonmyeon’s line of sight, to where the boy is poking at Sehun’s shoulder and waving to get his attention. Sehun shyly looked between the new boy and the ground, and every time he looked to the ground, the boy would try to be all up on his face, petting his hair.
“Ah, that’s Zitao. I met him earlier this morning. He was the boy with his mom that you saw with me earlier.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
When it was time for the general assembly, Joonmyeon found himself sitting among the little kids with several parents around. Yifan had joined the other parents standing, supervising the kids. The rest of the older kids were either with their leaders on the floor or seated at the chairs.
Sehun was seated next to Joonmyeon, one hand subconsciously holding onto one of Joonmyeon’s fingers while he played with Zitao on his other side. The two were giggling and babbling nonsense.
“Sehun-ah!”
Joonmyeon’s ears picked up an unfamiliar voice behind him. He turned to see a young boy, assuming to be in the fourth grade, as he heard Kyungsoo beckoning Luhan to come back. He looked down at Sehun, who had picked up his name being called and turned to the source.
“HYUNG!!” Sehun let go of Joonmyeon’s finger and, with both hands, he reached out with open arms and bright eyes. Joonmyeon watched as the boy sat down and brought Sehun closer to him.
“Sehunnie-yah, hyung’s here. I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you the whole time this morning after Mommy left,” the apparent older brother crooned to the kid on his lap. Joonmyeon smiled when he heard a small giggle from Sehun as the latter played with his brother’s face, poking at his forehead. There was a loud noise of a woman clearing her throat on the microphone, and everyone looked to the stage.
Sehun continued to giggle as he poked everywhere on Luhan’s face.
“Yahhh, Sehun-ah…” the boy pouted as he tried to block his brother’s attacks. The woman started listing off announcements.
“You little rascal, you,” Luhan muttered quietly to his brother. There was a tone of playfulness in his voice as he tickled Sehun. He then brings up a finger to his lips, letting Sehun know to be a little quiet, before his eyes met with Joonmyeon’s.
“Oh, sorry!” the boy apologized. “I’m Luhan!” He waved.
“I’m Joonmyeon, the other caretaker for the group with Sehun.” Joonmyeon smiled. Sehun turned to look at him upon hearing his voice, before a small squeal came out of his throat.
“Shoonmyeon! Shoonmyeon!” Sehun beamed every so brightly, his hands clapping excitedly.
Luhan giggled at his brother’s mispronunciation. “Shoonmyeon?”
“Yeah, he’s close enough though,” Joonmyeon chuckled lightly.
Zitao, who had been pouting at the lack of attention, went up to Luhan and poked his shoulder. He then took one of Sehun’s hands and started swinging it gently, tugging at him for his attention.
“Sheeto! Sheeto!” Sehun exclaimed, which caused Zitao to kneel on the floor and cackle.
Joonmyeon brought a hand to his face, smiling at the adorable antics from the kids. He brought up a finger to his lips to shush them quietly.
“Sheeto?” Luhan asked, obviously confused.
“He means Zitao,” Joonmyeon clarified.
“Ahh, okay. Hello, Zitao, I’m Luhan.”
Joonmyeon watched as the 4th grader played with his brother and his brother’s new friend. He’s so mature for his age, tending to his brother and then minding the assembly.
“Quite a mature kid for a 4th grader, don’t you think?”
For the second time, Joonmyeon started at Yifan’s voice. He turned his head around to see Yifan seated comfortably next to him, one leg crossed over the other as he leaned back on one of his hands. Joonmyeon did not pretend to notice that their knees were almost touching each other, nor that Yifan’s supporting arm is close to Joonmyeon’s side.
“Y-yeah, I agree. I didn’t know Sehun had a brother though.”
“…I said it earlier, maybe you didn’t hear me,” Yifan guffawed. “You were in too deep for Sehun, just as Sehun took an instant liking to you.”
Joonmyeon is caught off guard when Yifan suddenly leaned close to whisper in his ear.
“Looks like Sehun and I got some competition.”
Joonmyeon blushed furiously under Yifan’s gaze, and when their eyes met, he could see a twinkle in Yifan’s eyes.
Author: tikibuddy91
Genre: General, Fluff? (omg idek)
Pairing: KrisHo, Kaisoo
Rating: G
Word Count: 3020
“Hun, that's all of the volunteers. We’re still handling the kids and parents signing in, but we can manage without you, child. Why don’t you go join ‘your hubby’ over there and watch the kids, too?” Linda gave a wink as she saw Joonmyeon blushing redder.
“Mrs. Linda, p-please,” Joonmyeon spluttered. “…W-we hardly know each other.”
“All the more that you should leave me alone and flirt with him like you two did earlier!” Linda chuckled as Joonmyeon facepalmed himself out of secondhand embarrassment.
Joonmyeon scanned the area for Yifan and the kids, before he spotted the tall giant sitting on the floor, soothing one kid in his arms as the toddler is crying. Yifan was constantly being gentle with the kid, petting his hair and slowly rocking him. There was a faint flutter in Joonmyeon’s chest at the sight.
Yifan would make a wonderful father, Joonmyeon thought to himself.
“What you waitin’ for, child? Shoo shoo! Begone from this area! I don’t want no ogling here!!” Linda made a shooing gesture, giving Joonmyeon a look of mock disgust. Joonmyeon hastily got up and, retrieving his backpack that has been under his chair since that morning when he came in, left with an amused expression on his face.
“Remember, no PDAs. I’ll be watching you,” Linda threatened with an air of humor behind her line. Joonmyeon threw a scandalized look at her, but did not say anything. He walked across the indoor gymnasium court to where his group was huddled.
Joonmyeon noticed that in his group of Pre-kindergarteners and Kindergarteners, there were a few parents who volunteered to watch for their own kids as well. He then settled to make himself comfortable by walking up to the parents and introducing himself. After confirming with linking the right names to the right people, he scanned the area for his partner.
Yifan was now standing up, rocking the child in his arms. Crooning to the sniffling child as the kid wrapped his arms around Yifan’s neck, Yifan turned slowly in his spot when his eyes met with Joonmyeon’s. He shoots a smile at him.
Joonmyeon gazed at Yifan with admiration, not realizing that he is smiling back at the tall giant. He watched as Yifan made his way towards him.
“Hey there.”
“Mhm,” Joonmyeon said distractedly, nodding, not registering the greeting yet.
“…Huh?” Yifan said softly, as his forehead crinkled in confusion and amusement. He stopped in front of his shorter friend.
1… Blink.
2…
3… Blink.
“…Erm…what did you…say earlier?”
“I…just said ‘Hey there’,” Yifan repeated with a crooked smile. Meanwhile, the kid was watching them quietly, his sniffles dying down.
Oh…
“…Oh,” Joonmyeon trailed off lamely, as warmth filled his cheeks. “Erm, hello.” Yifan chuckled.
“Sehun-ah, this is Joonmyeon. He’ll be your other hyung of the group,” Yifan acknowledged the kid in his arms, and Sehun looked down shyly at Joonmyeon (because the latter’s height did not reach up past Yifan’s neck). Joonmyeon’s heart melted instantly when their eyes met.
“Hi, Sehunnie… I’m Joonmyeon. It’s nice to meet you, kiddo.” Joonmyeon reached out to pat Sehun’s head gently. “Yifan and I will be taking care of you and the others here at camp. We’re gonna have lots of fun, all of us. I know you miss Mommy and Daddy” - “actually, his brother, Luhan, is here, too” Yifan muttered but Joonmyeon did not appear to hear him, continuing on - “but don’t worry; they’ll be here once this is all over. You’ll see them soon today.”
Yifan watched with silent admiration while Joonmyeon continued to soothe the kid, not even paying attention to anything else but Sehun. Yifan was even more surprised when the kid moved in his arms, letting go of Yifan’s neck and reaching out towards Joonmyeon. A low whine crept out of Sehun’s throat and Joonmyeon’s eyes widened at the action.
“Uh, you...want me…to hold you?” Joonmyeon asked with a light concern in his voice, his hands at the ready to take Sehun in his arms. Sehun nodded, but his soft grunts were persistent, and one of his hands immediately grabbed onto one of Joonmyeon’s fingers. Joonmyeon exchanged glances with Yifan, who half-shrugged.
“…Okay, here we go, Sehunnie,” Joonmyeon muttered loud enough for Sehun and Yifan to hear him as he took Sehun, bringing the kid closer to his chest.
The kid made himself comfortable before sitting up and carefully bringing a hand to the side of Joonmyeon’s face. Joonmyeon watched him with an amused look.
“Shoomun?”
In an instant, things went crazy for a moment. Yifan spluttered and chortled, while Joonmyeon had a scandalized look on his face. It was such an innocent mispronunciation, and the kid was learning to speak with names and words, but it was done in an innocent manner that no one could find the heart to shun him.
“Sehunnie, it’s Joon-myeon. Joon. Myeon.” Joonmyeon said, good-naturedly.
“Shoonmyeon?”
“Close enough,” the fair-skinned male chuckled with a smile.
“Sehun. Like. Shoonmyeon,” the kid said with an air of finality, before he brings his arms around Joonmyeon’s neck, resting his head on the elder’s neck. The elder was caught off guard at the declaration and the action that followed; he looked to Yifan in bewilderment, but what he saw was not what he was expecting to see. Joonmyeon could tell that in those eyes of the familiar giant, there was an emotion hidden that he could not quite put his finger on.
“You’ll be a great father,” Yifan mumbled, but Joonmyeon caught it and went flaming red out of embarrassment.
“Thanks.” I think…
A moment of silence passed before a voice behind Yifan interrupted them.
“Hyung!” The two of them looked around to see Kyungsoo and Jongin walking up to them.
“Hyung, what are you doing??” Kyungsoo hissed softly, alarmed and concerned. Joonmyeon felt confused. “You’re not supposed to have kids in your arms, none of us are supposed to,” Kyungsoo reprimanded. “They might get attached with us, remember? We don’t want to create any competition among the kids.”
Joonmyeon paled at his forgetfulness of the important reminder from last night’s meeting with the camp volunteers. Sure they were caretakers for the students, but there were certain boundaries they had to respect.
“Ah…right… I…forgot.” Joonmyeon nervously glanced to Sehun in his arms, who was looking up at him.
“It’s my fault, Kyungsoo-yah. Sehun here was crying and missing his mom, even though Luhan’s here, so I had to soothe him. When Joonmyeon came over to us, I forgot about that reminder,” Yifan explained, with one hand brought up to rub on Sehun’s back. Joonmyeon simply looked at him, frowning at the unfamiliar name.
“Well, how come we didn’t see you at the meeting last night, hyung?” Jongin asked in a tone that was hardly demanding at all.
“I had been out of town and was coming home last night, but I got the email and read it before I went to bed. It just slipped my mind, that’s all.”
“Oh…okay.”
Joonmyeon sighed before he looked to Sehun. “Sehun-ah?” Joonmyeon murmured, and Sehun looked up upon hearing his name. “I’m gonna put you down on the floor now, okay, Sehunnie? I have to go check on everyone else here in your group, so I cannot carry you around with me. You can come to me and play with me while we’re here, but I cannot carry you after this time, okay?” Joonmyeon made an apologetic face, but he hoped that Sehun would understand.
The kid stared at him for a few seconds, his expression unchanging, before he let go of Joonmyeon’s neck. A little relieved, Joonmyeon slowly crouched down to let Sehun stand on his feet. Once Joonmyeon stood up, Sehun tilted his head backwards to look up at him before looking around at the other three tall guys (tall, from his perspective). He shyly made his way over to Yifan and grabbed onto one of Yifan’s fingers. Joonmyeon smiled at Sehun with a wave before he acknowledged his friends, and he took his leave to do roll call for the group.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“He’s cute,” Jongin commented, looking down at Sehun. He stoops down to meet Sehun’s eye level. With a smile and a wave, he introduced himself. “Sehunnie, I’m Jongin. Nice to meet you!”
The kid watched him with curious eyes.
“And this here is Kyungsoo!” Jongin indicated to his boyfriend, who also joined Jongin at Sehun’s eye level. “Jongin. Kyungsoo.” He pointed to himself and to Kyungsoo for clarification.
Sehun gave a faint nod, his eyes never leaving Jongin’s except for a moment when his eyes glanced over to Kyungsoo.
The bell rang loudly in the room, a sign that the leaders of each set of age group needed to take roll of the children. With a “bye” and a wave of hands, Jongin and Kyungsoo left Sehun and Yifan to their own groups. While waving back to the two young men, Yifan looked down at Sehun who was waving back, his eyes continuing to watch them go. As the kid looked up at Yifan with expectation, the giant could not help but chuckle when he saw Sehun stumbling a few steps backwards due to tilting his head so far back up, despite holding onto a couple of Yifan’s fingers.
“Aigoo, you’re cute, Sehun-ah. Come on,” Yifan squatted for Sehun’s convenience, “let’s go over there and join ‘Shoonmyeon-hyung’ with the kids. You might meet some new friends, who knows? You guys can play with each other, today, tomorrow and the next day after that. Doesn’t that sound fun?” He smiled when Sehun brightened and nodded excitedly.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Joonmyeon, finally done with the roll call, looked at the schedule planned out for today. Their group had a shorter day schedule than the rest of the older kids, finishing up after lunch. They only had painting, music, and games once they attended the general assembly first thing in the morning. The general assembly was where all the kids and volunteers gathered to watch skits and hear announcements.
“So what’s today looking like?”
Yifan’s voice startled Joonmyeon as he looked up to the tall giant at his right. He felt a large warm touch on his left shoulder and that alone got his heart to speed up. He glanced over to his left shoulder to see Yifan’s hand.
“First we have general assembly, then music, painting, games and then finally lunch for the kids before they go home,” Yifan muttered to himself. “Hmm, so it’s different from last year…”
“W-what do you mean?” Joonmyeon tore his gaze away from Yifan’s hand to look at him, his breath hitching at just how close their faces are. He had tried his best to respond nonchalantly, because Yifan’s thumb is brushing lightly on his shoulder.
“See here,” Yifan moved his hand from Joonmyeon’s shoulder to point on the schedule, and Joonmyeon could feel more than just a hand on his shoulder and nape, “last year, the kids had more activities, dancing, food, and calligraphy. I suppose it’s done this way as to not burn them out as easily after lunch. You know how kids are sometimes at that age.” He chuckled, briefly looking at Joonmyeon.
“O-oh…I see,” Joonmyeon found his voice quivering as he was trapped in his spot, with Yifan’s arm draped around his shoulders. He caught a whiff of Yifan’s cologne, and tried to regulate his own breathing.
“Joonie, are you okay?” Joonmyeon’s ears had no doubt that they could hear the subtle teasing in Yifan’s voice. Joonmyeon looked up to Yifan and he could see the slight smirk on his partner’s face. He smiled nervously.
“Y-yeah.”
“Your shoulders are shaking…” Yifan gave a full-blown smirk before his hands found themselves on Joonmyeon’s shoulders. “You need to relax; they’re kids. We’ll be fine. Just pretend that we’re parenting them…well those without their parents around…with boundaries set, of course. Remember what Kyungsoo said, right?”
Joonmyeon tried not to squeak when Yifan’s large hands massaged his shoulders. He brought himself to nod, not allowing his voice to betray him.
“You can be like the mom and I could be the dad, since it was supposed to be a male/female team. Well, ‘mom-dad’ or ‘dad-mom’, if there’s such a title for your case.” Yifan chortled.
Joonmyeon blushed, and he knew, because Yifan could see it from the way he was smirking at him. He averted his eyes, and to his pleasant surprise, he spotted Sehun being approached by a boy with dark eyes.
“Yifan, look at Sehunnie.”
Yifan followed Joonmyeon’s line of sight, to where the boy is poking at Sehun’s shoulder and waving to get his attention. Sehun shyly looked between the new boy and the ground, and every time he looked to the ground, the boy would try to be all up on his face, petting his hair.
“Ah, that’s Zitao. I met him earlier this morning. He was the boy with his mom that you saw with me earlier.”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
When it was time for the general assembly, Joonmyeon found himself sitting among the little kids with several parents around. Yifan had joined the other parents standing, supervising the kids. The rest of the older kids were either with their leaders on the floor or seated at the chairs.
Sehun was seated next to Joonmyeon, one hand subconsciously holding onto one of Joonmyeon’s fingers while he played with Zitao on his other side. The two were giggling and babbling nonsense.
“Sehun-ah!”
Joonmyeon’s ears picked up an unfamiliar voice behind him. He turned to see a young boy, assuming to be in the fourth grade, as he heard Kyungsoo beckoning Luhan to come back. He looked down at Sehun, who had picked up his name being called and turned to the source.
“HYUNG!!” Sehun let go of Joonmyeon’s finger and, with both hands, he reached out with open arms and bright eyes. Joonmyeon watched as the boy sat down and brought Sehun closer to him.
“Sehunnie-yah, hyung’s here. I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you the whole time this morning after Mommy left,” the apparent older brother crooned to the kid on his lap. Joonmyeon smiled when he heard a small giggle from Sehun as the latter played with his brother’s face, poking at his forehead. There was a loud noise of a woman clearing her throat on the microphone, and everyone looked to the stage.
Sehun continued to giggle as he poked everywhere on Luhan’s face.
“Yahhh, Sehun-ah…” the boy pouted as he tried to block his brother’s attacks. The woman started listing off announcements.
“You little rascal, you,” Luhan muttered quietly to his brother. There was a tone of playfulness in his voice as he tickled Sehun. He then brings up a finger to his lips, letting Sehun know to be a little quiet, before his eyes met with Joonmyeon’s.
“Oh, sorry!” the boy apologized. “I’m Luhan!” He waved.
“I’m Joonmyeon, the other caretaker for the group with Sehun.” Joonmyeon smiled. Sehun turned to look at him upon hearing his voice, before a small squeal came out of his throat.
“Shoonmyeon! Shoonmyeon!” Sehun beamed every so brightly, his hands clapping excitedly.
Luhan giggled at his brother’s mispronunciation. “Shoonmyeon?”
“Yeah, he’s close enough though,” Joonmyeon chuckled lightly.
Zitao, who had been pouting at the lack of attention, went up to Luhan and poked his shoulder. He then took one of Sehun’s hands and started swinging it gently, tugging at him for his attention.
“Sheeto! Sheeto!” Sehun exclaimed, which caused Zitao to kneel on the floor and cackle.
Joonmyeon brought a hand to his face, smiling at the adorable antics from the kids. He brought up a finger to his lips to shush them quietly.
“Sheeto?” Luhan asked, obviously confused.
“He means Zitao,” Joonmyeon clarified.
“Ahh, okay. Hello, Zitao, I’m Luhan.”
Joonmyeon watched as the 4th grader played with his brother and his brother’s new friend. He’s so mature for his age, tending to his brother and then minding the assembly.
“Quite a mature kid for a 4th grader, don’t you think?”
For the second time, Joonmyeon started at Yifan’s voice. He turned his head around to see Yifan seated comfortably next to him, one leg crossed over the other as he leaned back on one of his hands. Joonmyeon did not pretend to notice that their knees were almost touching each other, nor that Yifan’s supporting arm is close to Joonmyeon’s side.
“Y-yeah, I agree. I didn’t know Sehun had a brother though.”
“…I said it earlier, maybe you didn’t hear me,” Yifan guffawed. “You were in too deep for Sehun, just as Sehun took an instant liking to you.”
Joonmyeon is caught off guard when Yifan suddenly leaned close to whisper in his ear.
“Looks like Sehun and I got some competition.”
Joonmyeon blushed furiously under Yifan’s gaze, and when their eyes met, he could see a twinkle in Yifan’s eyes.