Chapter Text
It had been about three months since Jake first met Yunho. He had been over to meet his family a few times and they absolutely love him. His mom especially. She says he’s exactly how Jake was when he was that age.
Today was the first time though that Jake got to spend time with him without his mom around. She had an errand to run that she couldn’t take him to.
They spent their time at the park just playing with each other and Jake had a blast. Spending time with Yunho was always fun, but since it was just the two of them and Yunho had finally begun to really open up to him, the two of them had even more fun.
Yunho waved to Jake as he climbed up the playground.
“Be careful,” Jake called out to him.
“I will~!” Yunho laughed as he went down the slide and excitedly ran back up to go again.
Jake chuckled softly and sat down on the bench nearby. He pulled out his phone to snap a photo of Yunho going down the slide and sent it over to his mom. Suddenly, he was approached by a random woman who smiled at him.
“Hi~ May I sit?”
“Oh, uh, sure.”
She sat down and smiled. “So, which one is yours?”
Jake smiled and pointed at Yunho. “That one. He’s cute, isn’t he?”
“Yeah,” she said with a smile. “Not as cute as his dad is though.”
Jake laughed. “He had to get it from somewhere.”
“I don’t see a ring. Are you and his mom not married?”
“Oh, no. We’re not.” Jake shook his head.
“But you two are together, right?”
Jake chuckled awkwardly. “Um, well…not really.”
“No? So you’re single then?”
“Yeah, technically, but I—”
“Mommy!” Yunho yelled. He slid down the slide and excitedly ran up to his mom as she approached.
She smiled and scooped him up in her arms. “Hi, baby~ Did you have fun today?”
Yunho grinned, nodding excitedly. “Mmhm~ We played all day and I even got ice cream!”
She laughed. “Well, no wonder you have so much energy right now.”
She placed him down and he ran back to the playground. She approached the bench Jake was sitting at and glanced at the woman sitting with him.
The woman rolled her eyes at her and handed Jake a paper. “Call me sometime.”
Jake blinked. “Uh, okay?”
She stood up and walked away. He glanced at the paper noticing it was her number and blinked.
Yunho’s mom laughed and nudged him. “Why so awkward? You’ve never been flirted with at the park before?”
He frowned and looked up at her. “You have?”
“Oh, loads of times.” She sat on the bench next to him and sighed. “You know, it’s okay if you want to have a girlfriend. It’s not like we’re together or anything. I can’t get mad at you for it. She just has to love Yunho, too. I wouldn’t want him to never see you if she doesn’t like him.”
Jake looked over at Yunho. “I think my priorities have changed a little bit. Before seeing you again and meeting him I was thinking that maybe I should find some time to settle down, but I like having all this free time to spend time with him. And you. It’s nice seeing you again. The two of us, we’ve really come a long way from where we were before, huh?”
She nodded. “Yeah, we have.”
“And maybe, you never know, if I stick it out long enough, you might finally give me a second chance.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “Jake, I told you already…”
“I know. You only have time for one boy in your life and you’re not looking for a relationship.” Jake looked up at Yunho who waved at them. “It’s just… sometimes I can’t help but think maybe this is the universe’s way of giving us a second chance.”
“I… I know, I just don’t know if I’m ready for that yet. I don’t know if I trust myself enough yet to not hurt you again. And right now, I really just want to focus on Yunho.”
Jake nodded. “Yeah, I get it. That worries me a lot too. It’s just, you know, we were… like twenty when it happened. I’d like to think the two of us have changed a lot since then. I’m definitely not that person anymore and I can tell you’re not either.”
She smiled softly. “I’m not. I just… My priorities aren’t on a relationship right now. Maybe I’ll think about it when I turn thirty.”
“I can wait.”
She laughed and nudged him. “No, please, don’t. You should go out and find someone. You deserve to be happy, too.”
“I am happy. And now with Yunho in my life, I couldn’t be happier. You’ve brought a joy into my life I didn’t know I needed. I look forward to when you send me pictures of him or when you come to hang out with him. Today, honestly, is the happiest I’ve ever felt.”
She smiled, nodding. “I’m glad. Yunho really is just the best, isn’t he?”
“He is and I wouldn’t trade the happiness I feel when he’s around for anything else.”
Yunho giggled as he ran up to them and grabbed onto Jake’s hand. “Can you push me on the swings?”
“Sure.”
Yunho grinned and pulled his arm to get him off the bench. “Come on, daddy! Faster before someone takes it!”
Jake’s eyes widened and he looked at her. “Did he just—”
She grinned and got up to gently push Jake along with Yunho. “Go on~ He asked you to do something~”
They walked together to the swings and Yunho excitedly got on. Jake gave him a push and looked at her as she leaned against the swingset.
“You heard that right,” Jake asked.
She nodded. “Mmhm. You must be excited.”
“It’s the first time he’s called me that. I… I’m so happy. I’m beyond happy.”
Yunho giggled happily and looked at his mom. “Mommy, join me~ Daddy can push us~”
“Ah, he did it again.” Jake grinned and held his chest.
She laughed and walked over to her son. He got off the swing to let her sit down and hopped up on her lap.
“We’re ready,” Yunho said.
Jake couldn’t help the smile on his face and he pushed them, gently at first.
“No! Too soft! Let us go high!”
He pushed them a little harder this time and Yunho giggled happily, holding tightly onto his mom’s arm around his waist. After a little bit, Yunho hopped off her lap to go play by the tree nearby and began picking flowers.
She smiled staying on the swing, watching him and then looked at Jake who knelt next to her. “This place sure has changed since the last time we were both here, huh?”
Jake chuckled and nodded, recalling the memory. “Yeah. I skinned my knee here at these swings and you laughed at me while helping me up.”
“I told you not to jump off the swing, but you did it anyway. It was your fault.”
He shrugged. “I was just trying to impress you. Apparently it worked, ‘cause you said yes when I asked you out after I did something so uncool.”
“I didn’t like you for your cool side. I preferred it when you were goofy. You always knew how to cheer me up.” She looked over at Yunho and smiled. “I’m glad he got that from you. I’m rarely ever sad anymore thanks to him.”
Yunho ran over to Jake with a few little flowers in his hand and whispered into his ear. “These are for mommy. Tell her they’re from you.”
Jake chuckled, taking the flowers from him and winked at him. Yunho giggled and ran back over to the tree to look for more flowers.
His mom frowned and looked at Jake. “What was that about?”
Jake took the flower with the longest stem in his fingers and got up to go near her. He held out his hand with the other little flowers to her. “These are for you, from me.”
She looked at the flowers and chuckled. She took the flowers carefully from him. “Thank you.”
Jake laughed. “I promise that was all his idea. I didn’t put him up to it.”
She smiled, looking at the flowers in her hand. “He is quite the natural charmer. Another thing he inherited from you, I guess.”
Jake tucked the last flower he had in his hand behind her ear and he kept his hand there to observe her. She blinked up at him and he smiled at her before moving his hand away. Yunho ran up to her and gave her more flowers.
“And these are from me, mommy~” He grinned.
She took them carefully and gave her son a peck on the cheek. “Thank you, Yunnie~ I love them~”
Jake turned away from them for a moment and put his hand to his chest. Ah, it turns out he really is still very much in love with her.
He felt in his pocket for the paper from the random lady before and tossed it into the trash nearby. If there’s any girl he’d want in his life, it’s going to be her or no one.