#dodae

In all of his four years as kindergarten teacher, Daehwi has never seen a kid as cute as Guanlin, nor a father as handsome as Guanlin’s.

***

The first time he had ever met Guanlin was three months ago, the boy, who was obviously much taller than the rest of the class, was walking with his back hunched, looking at the floor shyly but as soon as he had spotted Daehwi, the cutest gummy smile had appeared on the 4-year-old’s face.

“You must be, Mr. Lee,” he had greeted, taking his hand and shaking it. Daehwi had never met a kid as polite as him until now either. “I’m very pleased to meet you.”

“The same goes for me,” Daehwi replies and crouches down to pat Guanlin’s head.

At the end of the day, it was pretty clear to him that Guanlin was his favourite child ever. While the others went around throwing blocks at him, not listening or throwing tantrums because their parents weren’t there, Guanlin would help Daehwi out, acting as the second teacher and doing cute things to cheer him up.

***

Now, three months later, Guanlin is still his favourite child.

Currently, he is saying goodbye to Andrew, the only one who was left to go home except for Guanlin.

Daehwi is used to being alone with Guanlin, his nanny or grandmother almost always arriving at the last minute. If Daehwi really thinks about it, he has never seen either of Guanlin’s parents but he has seen Guanlin paint his father countless of times and heard him swoon of how perfect his dad is for hours in the end.

“Mr. Lee, do you know when my father is picking me up?” Guanlin asks while he plays with some blocks.

“I don’t know, sweetie,” Daehwi replies, sitting down in front of him. “But we can play until then!”

***

It’s almost two hours after five o’clock, the time the kindergarten closes down. Daehwi is waiting for someone to pick Guanlin up in front of the school, sitting on a bench, since his boss had told them that he couldn’t have them wait inside any longer – if it hadn’t been his boss, Daehwi would have probably gone ape shit on him because what the hell?

Guanlin has his head resting on his lap and is soundly asleep when Daehwi finally sees a car drive into the parking lot.

When he first sees a man step out of the car, his heartbeat begins to quicken – because a) the guy is super handsome and b) he looks very fucking scary. He is in a suit and has his pitch black hair gelled back. His body is muscular, his face is fucking incredible and he is also very stylish.

“I’m so, so sorry,” the man says, jogging up to them. His voice is even deeper and huskier than Daehwi had expected it to be. “I thought my mother would pick him up but she thought the nanny would and the nanny thought I would. I’m really, really sorry.”

“It’s a-alright,” he stutters, hands caressing Guanlin’s side softly. “It’s nice to finally see you in person. I’ve heard a lot of you through Guanlin. He swoons about you every day.”

The man laughs. It almost seems as if he’s blushing too. It’s almost as endearing as Guanlin’s gummy smile.

“I’m Kang Dongho, by the way,” he introduces himself, trying to shake Daehwi’s hand without waking Guanlin up. “I seriously owe you one; if you ever need anything, call me or something. I’ll definitely be there.”

“But… I don’t have your number?” Daehwi laughs awkwardly, feeling a blush spread across his face. “Plus, it’s fine. It’s my job after all.”

“Oh, right, you don’t have my number!” Dongho nods. “I’ll give it to you through Guanlin tomorrow. Not every kindergarten teacher would do this, I’m sure.”

“Sure, Guanlin is very reliable,” Daehwi smiles down at the sleeping boy on his lap. “You should know that you have an awesome child. He’s very polite and intelligent. Guanlin is going to make it big when he grows up.”

Dongho seems to melt as he lays his eyes upon Guanlin, a small smile forming on his lips.

“Dad, it’s embarrassing, stop looking at me,” the boy says out of nowhere, gingerly standing up and immediately clinging onto Dongho’s leg. “Why are you so late?”

“Grandma, Soojung and I didn’t co-ordinate today well, so we kind of had some trouble on remembering who would pick you up,” Dongho admits sheepishly, picking Guanlin up from the ground.  “But don’t worry! I’ll make it up to you by taking you out for burgers this Sunday.”

“Mr. Lee should come, too,” Guanlin suggests out of nowhere, his hands wrapped around Dongho’s neck as he looks at Daehwi with pleading eyes.

Daehwi sputters for a moment – because yes, fuck, he would love to spend some quality time with Guanlin and his very handsome father but it seems kind of uncalled for so he really doesn’t know what to respond to that.

Turns out, he doesn’t need to.

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Dongho acknowledges. “We would love for you to join us, Mr. Lee.”

“Oh, you can call me Daehwi!” he exclaims, a bit too loudly. “And yes, I would really like that. I’ll text you to know the time and place.”

“Perfect,” Dongho replies.

The three of them smile at each other one more time before Guanlin and Dongho head to their car.

***

“Is Mr. Lee really so handsome that you had to blush?” Guanlin asks with an evil smirk.

Dongho is, not surprisingly, taking aback.

“I knew you two would love each other,” his son sing-songs as Dongho buckles him up safely. “You should have met each other sooner. Dad, you are going to ask him on a date right?”

“How do you even know what a date is?” Dongho inquires with his eyebrows raised.

“Please dad, I’m all grown up,” Guanlin replies and Dongho can’t help but snort. “Plus, Jihoon, my boyfriend, asked me on a date today. He told me what that is.”

“Wait, isn’t Jihoon way too old for you? I mean, he is five,” he responds playfully.

“I prefer older boys, they are more mature you know,” Guanlin tells him.

Dongho has to stop himself from laughing.

“Anyway, you should spend time with Mr. Lee and give him a kiss, too, he’s really nice,” his son continues, half-distracted by his dinosaur toy.

Dongho is pretty sure he is going to go insane if Guanlin doesn’t stop talking about Mr. Lee. Although he has to admit, that “Mr. Lee” is pretty freaking cute.  

“Wait, did Jihoon also show you what a kiss is?” Dongho exclaims, looking back at his son.

Guanlin just blushes. Dongho laughs.

***

Daehwi does really receive Dongho’s number through Guanlin the next day.  Guanlin smiles happily at him, swooning about how much of a good time they’re going to have together before running off to play with the other kids.

***

[To:  Kang Dongho, 18:49]

Hey, it’s Daehwi, I wanted to ask where we are meeting up this Sunday?

[To: Kang Dongho, 18:50]

I mean, only if you still want to, I don’t want to interrupt some quality father-and –son time.

***

[From: Kang Dongho, 21:37]

Don’t worry, you’re not interrupting anything, Guanlin is really looking forward to it.

[From: Kang Dongho, 21:41]

And I am, too.

Daehwi only squeals a little bit when he reads the second message. He can’t wait to tell Jinyoung all about this.

***

After what seems an eternity, it’s finally Sunday.

Daehwi spends almost an hour only thinking about what to wear – he decides for some simple skinny jeans and a white button down – and another on choosing how to style his hair. Jinyoung gives him advice on how to act on the date – well, it’s not a date, technically but still.

As soon as he is done, he grabs his car and home keys, his phone and wallet and leaves his house, feeling giddy and happy.

***

When he arrives at the restaurant Guanlin is running towards him in less than five seconds. He giggles and picks him up without protesting. The 4-year-old immediately wraps his hands around his neck and hugs him tightly, telling Daehwi how excited he is for tonight. Daehwi nods acknowledging him with a smile.

“Hey, I’m very glad you’re here,” Guanlin’s dad greets him.

Today, without his suit and gelled back hair, his features look much softer than before.  He looks absolutely adorable. Daehwi’s heart can’t help but start beating faster.

Guanlin squirms his way out of Daehwi’s embrace ere he skips back to his seat. Daehwi follows him while greeting Dongho back with a bright smile.

“Thank you for inviting me, I really didn’t want to intrude on your father-son time,” Daehwi says as he sits down.

“But this is a date,” Guanlin points out confidently.

Both Dongho and Daehwi blush at Guanlin’s statement. Even if he is embarrassed, he is thankful because Dongho blushing is literally one of the cutest things he has seen.

“What’s intruding anyway?” Guanlin asks, looking at them both questioningly with his big, big eyes.

Dongho and Daehwi explain it to Guanlin the best they can but it seems that neither of them can’t do it well enough because the kid just rolls his eyes at them and tells them to stop since he won’t understand it anyway. Daehwi giggles.

“So, Daehwi, what are your hobbies?” Dongho questions then, trying to change the topic.

***

All in all, Daehwi has a really good time.

Guanlin, as expected, is a sweetie. He takes turns swooning about his dad and then Daehwi, making both of the adults blush. Dongho, also as expected, is very nice. The man leads the conversation well and doesn’t let any awkward moments happen.

Furthermore, when you put Guanlin and Dongho together they are the most adorable combo.

He also gets to know about Dongho. He is a business man who works from Monday to Friday, which is the reason he doesn’t pick up Guanlin  – although, Guanlin makes him promise to do it more often, wiggling his eyebrows as he does so, Daehwi sometimes doesn’t believe that he is just four. Dongho also tells him about his hobbies – singing in the shower, fencing and taking Guanlin on surprise trips.

Daehwi is definitely crushing on him. Hard.

***

He brings Dongho and Guanlin back to the car. Guanlin is already fast asleep in Dongho’s arms so he helps the father put him in his kiddies seat securely. For one scary second, Guanlin frowns in his sleep and both, him and Dongho, think that he is going to wake up but fortunately the lines on his forehead smooth out and he goes back to sleep.

“That was close,” Daehwi sighs in relief as he accompanies Dongho to the front door. “I really had a good time today, thank you for inviting me.”

“Oh, no problem, it was a pleasure,” Dongho replies with a small smile. “I’ve never seen Guanlin as excited or happy as today. I’m the one who has to thank you.”

“Not at all, Guanlin is really endearing, he is a precious kid,” Daehwi nods.

He can feel Dongho staring at him but he isn’t too sure what he is supposed to do now. Daehwi can feel every pore of his body and he has goosebumps all over, he doesn’t know why since he is only standing in front of Dongho but he feels… giddy and happy and he is kind of hoping for the other to make a move – to tell him that he also feels as attracted to Daehwi as Daehwi to him.

“We should… We should do this again,” Dongho suddenly blurts out, stepping closer to Daehwi.

“Yeah, definitely,” he breathes out, then looks up, only to find Dongho mere inches away. “I’m sure Guanlin would be happy about that.”

“I… I actually meant… just us both,” Dongho clarifies with a blush. “Pretty sure that Guanlin will love that just as much as us three hanging out together. He’s been bugging me to ask you out since the first day we met, actually.”

Daehwi giggles. Of course, Guanlin has been. He loves the kid.

“My answer is still the same, I’d love to,” this time he is the one to step closer.

Dongho doesn’t even hesitate before he pecks Daehwi softly on the lips. For Daehwi, the kiss is too short, so he leans in himself to connect their mouths together. Dongho seems taken aback at first but then responds to the kiss enthusiastically.

“Finally,” they hear Guanlin suddenly squeal from the car.

The both of them separate, having matching blushes on their face, as they look at a happy Guanlin.

Daehwi lets his head fall against Dongho’s shoulder in defeat. They laugh together, the adults speechless.

Suddenly, he feels Dongho’s hand on his back. It makes a shiver run down his spine and his heart tighten with affection towards the man.

“Maybe… you want to go back home with us?” Dongho says.

It doesn’t even take Guanlin a second to be begging him to join them. Daehwi can’t say no at the both of them, so he nods in defeat and tells them that he is going to be right behind them.

***