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Juyeon is nervous, for the first time in his life, to be on a plane. He’s flown on them a hundred times in his life, he knows how to board a plane and hold out his passport and get into his seat like any person does.
But he doesn’t know how to do all of that with a baby.
She’s so small in his arms, sound asleep with her pacifier in her mouth. He doesn’t know how long she’ll remain asleep for, and he’s worried about what’s going to happen when she does wake up. He knows people aren’t fans of babies crying on planes, even if they’re well aware that babies can’t control their reactions to it. Juyeon can already feel the eyes of people watching him and his daughter, knowing that they’re going to keep their eyes on him the entire time.
Juyeon murmurs excuse me softly as he ducks into his seat, thankful that he had managed to get an aisle seat to keep from bothering the other passengers when he needs to get up to rock Sunhee or go change her in the tiny airplane bathroom if he needs to.
Sunhee stays asleep as all of the passengers board the plane, Juyeon cradling her in his arms. He stands up to let a woman into the row with him, who sits by the window, and a few minutes later, a man stops by the row and gently taps on Juyeon’s shoulder for his attention.
Juyeon looks up at the man, eyes widening slightly at just how handsome he is. Tan skin, kind and warm brown eyes looking down at Juyeon. He glances towards Sunhee, then the empty seat between Juyeon and the woman.
“Sorry, but my seat is here.” He says quietly, nodding towards the seat.
“Oh—right, of course.” Juyeon nods and carefully moves to stand up, holding Sunhee to his chest.
The man moves out of the way for Juyeon to stand up, and quickly sits himself into his seat. Juyeon sits back down and reaches around for his belt, but with Sunhee in his right arm, it’s difficult to get the belt in the buckle. Juyeon grumbles quietly as he tries to do it one-handed, and after a minute or two, hands come into view from his right side.
Juyeon looks up, blinking in surprise as the man beside him offers him a gentle smile.
“Sorry if this is too odd,” the man says, his hands gesturing towards the seat belt. “But may I?”
Juyeon nods, lips parted slightly in awe as he leans back, holding Sunhee up a little higher as the man takes the seat belt and buckles it for him. He pulls it tight, but not enough to be uncomfortable, looking at Juyeon.
“Good? Not too tight?”
Juyeon gives him a small smile, shaking his head. “No, it’s good. Thank you—doing it one-handed was…”
The man chuckles quietly. “It’s alright, I get it. When I traveled with my sister when her boys were babies, she’d struggle to do the same thing.”
It manages to make Juyeon laugh softly, careful to not be too loud, though Sunhee seems to be sleeping through everything happening in the plane.
“I’m Sangyeon, by the way.” The man, Sangyeon, says, holding his hand up.
Juyeon takes his hand with his free one, shaking it, before he takes a moment to shift Sunhee from his right arm to his left. “I’m Juyeon. This is Sunhee.”
“How old is she?” Sangyeon asks, gaze soft as he watches Sunhee.
“Not old enough for a plane,” Juyeon jokes, letting out a small huff of laughter. “She turns one in two months. We’re headed back home for it.”
“Wow, not even a year old yet…” Sangyeon murmurs, his gaze moving up to look at Juyeon. “Is mom on the flight with you?”
Juyeon can’t stop the small grimace that comes to his face, and he slowly shakes his head. “No, her mom is… she’s not in the picture.” He says quietly, gazing down at Sunhee in his arms.
Sangyeon frowns. “I’m sorry.”
Shaking his head again, Juyeon turns and gives him another small smile. “It’s alright.”
The plane starts, engines roaring to life and startling Sunhee in Juyeon’s arms. Her eyes flutter open unhappily, her face scrunching up as she gets ready to cry. Juyeon hushes her immediately, lifting her up higher and starting to gently bounce her.
“I know, I know,” Juyeon says quietly, rubbing Sunhee’s cheek gently. “Shhh, baby girl, it’s okay, I promise. I know it’s scary, baby…”
Sunhee cries despite Juyeon’s best efforts to get her to stop, especially as the plane takes off. Juyeon continues to bounce her, knowing that the pressure is hurting her ears. She’s got her pacifier, but it’s not enough for her right now. She’s also probably hungry, having just woken up, but Juyeon can’t get to her diaper bag at the moment.
“Do you need something?” Sangyeon asks from his right, nearly whispered.
Juyeon looks over at him and makes a bit of a face, before sheepishly nodding. “Her bottle,” he says, nodding down towards her diaper bag under the seat. “I forgot to take it out before we took off; it’s supposed to help with the pressure in her ears.”
“Let me get it.” Sangyeon gives him a small smile, leaning forward in his seat to reach for her bag. He unzips it and reaches into the pocket, pulling out Sunhee’s bottle with a triumphant smile. He turns to hand it to Juyeon, who takes it in his right hand with a grateful smile.
“Here you go.”
“Thank you.” Juyeon murmurs, reaching to take out Sunhee’s pacifier.
Sunhee cries louder when it’s taken out, but as soon as Juyeon replaces it with her bottle, she immediately starts sucking. Her face is still pink and tears are still falling, but she seems to be settling down more as she sucks her milk down.
“There we go,” Juyeon mumbles softly, smiling. “Better, baby girl? I bet it is. Keep drinking, we’ll be settled soon.”
He feels eyes watching him, so Juyeon glances to his right, seeing Sangyeon watching the two of them with warm eyes. Juyeon feels almost shy all of a sudden, turning his gaze back to Sunhee. She manages to not go through her milk too quickly, and as the plane settles on the right altitude, Sunhee decides that she’s done with her bottle. Juyeon sighs as he's able to lean forward and put her bottle back into the diaper bag.
As Juyeon leans back, he turns to Sangyeon and smiles once more. “Thank you for that, it really helped.”
Sangyeon shakes his head slightly, chuckling softly. “Don’t worry about it. I had to help my sister out with her boys on planes on more than one occasion; it’s just in my DNA, at this point.”
Juyeon laughs softly, half-grinning now as he lifts Sunhee up and sits her up in his lap. “Here, baby girl, meet Sangyeon-ssi—he’s a new friend.”
“Ah, there’s no need for ‘-ssi’... we can’t be that far apart in age, you can just call me hyung.”
Juyeon hopes his ears aren’t red as he feels them warm. “Alright, Sangyeon-hyung.”
The two lapse into comfortable conversation as Juyeon takes out all of Sunhee’s favourite toys to entertain her at the same time. Sangyeon does the same—playing peek-a-boo with her and actually reading some of her favourite books to her. Sunhee giggles and claps her chubby hands, constantly reaching out towards Sangyeon and the books with a bright smile on her face.
Juyeon is at ease the entire time. Sangyeon doesn’t make him feel nervous, and if Sunhee enjoys playing with him, then Juyeon knows that he can trust him. There’s no reason to be nervous, especially when he hears the gleeful laughter of his daughter. She babbles her baby talk, unable to say any real words at the moment, but Sangyeon nods his head and looks genuinely interested in whatever she’s ‘talking’ about to him and he talks back to her as though it’s a real conversation.
The flight isn’t too terribly long—they’re only going from Gwangju to Seoul, and as the plane begins descending, Juyeon is quick to pull out her other bottle.
“Here,” Sangyeon says as he reaches his arms out towards Sunhee. “Let me. Your arms must be killing you—you’ve been holding her this entire time.”
Despite Juyeon not being afraid of Sangyeon, and Sunhee not being nervous of him, Juyeon is still hesitant and somewhat reluctant at first. But Sangyeon is right—his arms are aching, and though he’s been playing with Sunhee in his lap, he’s been holding her since before the flight. He could use a bit of a break.
So, Juyeon nods as he turns and carefully lets Sunhee slip into Sangyeon’s arms. Sunhee goes without any kind of fuss, which is surprising to Juyeon—she usually doesn’t like letting other people hold her, especially when Juyeon is already in view. She looks up at Sangyeon with her big, wide brown eyes, chubby hands reaching up towards his face. Sangyeon leans down with a chuckle, letting her grab onto his cheeks and jaw and smack him playfully.
Juyeon tuts softly, leaning over the armrest to hold her bottle out. “Sunhee-yah, no, we don’t hit—that’s not nice.”
Sangyeon chuckles again as he shakes his head, adjusting Sunhee in his right arm. He reaches up to grab her bottle with his left hand, taking it from Juyeon and presenting it to her. “It’s alright. Can’t feel a thing, honestly.”
Sunhee coos for her bottle and Sangyeon gives it to her easily. She starts drinking as the plane continues descending, but the pressure in her ears is still bad, so even while she’s feeding, she cries around the nipple of the bottle, and Sangyeon hushes her gently, bouncing her in his arm.
“Shhh, Sunhee-yah… good girl, keep drinking.” Sangyeon says, voice gentle and soft, everything about him warm.
Sunhee is red-eyed and snotty by the time the plane lands, still crying softly as the plane slowly makes its way to the gate. As they grow closer, Sangyeon manages to calm her down. Juyeon melts at the sight of them, his heart beating rapidly in his chest.
He shouldn’t feel such things for a man he’s just met, but Sangyeon is so good with Sunhee that it makes Juyeon want to cry. He’s barely been able to let anyone handle her because she gets so fussy without him, so Juyeon has been resigned to doing everything on his own. He hopes that Sunhee will like her grandparents when they get home; they’re going to be babysitting her a lot, after all, since Juyeon can’t afford to pay for an actual babysitter.
Juyeon is already falling for Sangyeon. He’s such a hopeless romantic.
“Here we go,” Sangyeon murmurs, turning in his seat to gently hand Sunhee back to Juyeon. “Back with daddy, darling.”
Juyeon feels himself flushing, pulling Sunhee into his chest with a quiet huff of laughter. “Welcome back, baby.” He presses a kiss to Sunhee’s cheek, chuckling again.
Sangyeon smiles at them, gaze so kind that Juyeon feels shy again, and there’s nowhere for him to hide.
The plane comes to a complete stop at the gate, and after a minute, the light for their seatbelts goes off. Unfortunately, though, the plane becomes instantly busy as people clamber out of their seats and begin making their way off the plane. Juyeon feels bad for Sangyeon and the woman they’ve been sitting with, so he stands up and allows the woman to pass, expecting Sangyeon to follow her, but he doesn’t. He stays behind, even as most of the passengers have left, and Juyeon gives him a look.
“Doing everything by yourself while holding Sunhee can’t be fun.” Sangyeon says, grinning as he steps out into the aisle. “Tell me which bag is yours—I’ll get it.”
Juyeon stares up at him in awe for a moment, one that seems to go on forever, before he manages to stammer out which carry-on is his. Sangyeon grabs both Juyeon’s carry-on and his own, and before Juyeon can even reach down to grab Sunhee’s diaper bag, Sangyeon is already grabbing it, too.
“Come on, Juyeon-ah.” Sangyeon smiles as he holds a hand out to him.
Juyeon hesitates for just a split second before taking Sangyeon’s hand and standing with him in the aisle, murmuring an apology to the folks waiting for them. Sunhee, despite having slept through most of their airport journey before the flight, is tired again. Her eyes are drooping as Juyeon walks off the plane and out through the gate terminal. Even through the loudness of the airport around them, Sunhee falls fast asleep against Juyeon’s shoulder, and Juyeon can’t help but smile at her.
“Looks like we wore her out,” Sangyeon chuckles, adjusting the straps of the bags over his shoulder.
“We did,” Juyeon laughs quietly. “Hopefully she’ll sleep through the ride to my parents’ house—it won’t be bad if not, but she can be hard to entertain in a car.”
He turns to Sangyeon then, shifting to hold Sunhee up with his left arm, holding out his right arm to take his bags. Sangyeon tilts his head a bit, blinking. “What?”
“My bags,” Juyeon says lamely.
With a soft noise of understanding, Sangyeon shakes his head. “No, don’t worry about it. Let’s go to baggage claim, we’ll get your stuff together.”
Juyeon’s heart beats rapidly in his chest, his cheeks flushing. “You don’t have to—”
“I know.” Sangyeon smiles at him, reaching out with his free hand and placing it on the small of Juyeon’s back. “I want to. C’mon, before we’re late for it.”
Juyeon is completely taken aback and flustered, unsure of what to do, but he doesn’t stop his body and feet from following Sangyeon’s orders. He holds Sunhee close to him in his arms, protecting her head and ears from the noisy airport around them. Miraculously, to Juyeon, she stays asleep the entire time he and Sangyeon wait for their bags at baggage claim. When both of them drop, Sangyeon grabs them, pulling their handles up and already trying to guide them both out of the airport.
“Wait, Sangyeon-hyung—” Juyeon reaches out to stop Sangyeon from going too far, grabbing onto Sangyeon’s forearm.
Sangyeon stops, seemingly blinking out of a daze, before he gives Juyeon a sheepish smile with a chuckle. “Sorry, sort of went into autopilot there for a minute. When I traveled with my sister, I’d do all the heavy lifting while she took care of the boys.”
Juyeon lets out a soft laugh, shaking his head gently. “I can tell. You’re very capable, hyung…”
“Can I… ask where you’re headed in Seoul?” Sangyeon asks, a bit of hesitation in his voice.
Juyeon hesitates himself, before quietly stating where his parents live. “It’s closer to the northwest area of Seoul.”
Sangyeon is quiet for a moment, before his eyes light up and he starts to grin. “What a coincidence. My sister lives close to there.”
“Really? She does?” Juyeon blinks in awe. “Or are you just saying that?”
“No, it’s the truth—I promise! I can even show you, look.” Sangyeon lets go of a luggage bag to pull out his phone and unlock it. He taps around for a minute before turning his phone around to show Juyeon the Naver map app, a pinned location saying ‘Noona’s house’ right below it.
“Are you… going to her place?” Juyeon asks slowly, turning his gaze up to Sangyeon again.
“I was going to go home, actually,” Sangyeon admits softly, pocketing his phone. “But…” He looks back at Juyeon and gives him a warm smile. “If it means I get to spend more time with you and Sunhee-yah, I don’t mind taking a detour. Plus, I’ll get to see my nephews. It’s been a while.”
He’s not sure what to say. What to do. For all Juyeon knows, Sangyeon could actually be a terrible, terrible man and could be leading him to certain death—him and Sunhee.
But there is a look in Sangyeon’s eyes, one much too soft and too kind to be the kind of awful man Juyeon’s mind is conjuring up. He’s paranoid and nervous, just as any new parent would be, but he knows he can trust his gut still—and his gut is telling him that Sangyeon is a good man, and that this is okay.
“Okay.” Juyeon agrees quietly, slowly reaching up to set his hand against Sangyeon’s shoulder. He smiles shyly, his ears going warm, and he gives Sangyeon a small nod. “Just—will you let me carry her diaper bag, at least? Please? You’re already carrying so much.”
With a laugh, Sangyeon nods as he pulls off Sunhee’s diaper bag and places it over Juyeon’s left shoulder. “Here.”
Juyeon thanks him softly, before beckoning Sangyeon with his fingers. Sangyeon leans in, just a bit, and Juyeon leans forward to press a kiss to his cheek. His entire face feels like it’s on fire now as he pulls back, looking at the expression on Sangyeon’s face. It’s full of awe and wonder, his eyes wide and lips parted. Juyeon can’t help but giggle softly, reaching out to gently squeeze Sangyeon’s wrist.
“Sangyeon-hyung?” Juyeon says, a teasing lilt to his voice.
Sangyeon seems to shake himself out of it, literally and figuratively, before he lets out a small huff of laughter. He runs his hand through his hair, attempting to stifle his grin, and Juyeon grins right back at him.
“Let’s go.” Sangyeon mumbles softly, grabbing the luggage again, turning to lead them towards the taxis.
Sangyeon doesn’t let him pay for the taxi ride to his parents’ house, but Juyeon doesn’t argue. Sunhee is still asleep during the car ride, and Sangyeon’s gaze keeps drifting to her, warm and full of something that might be love, and it makes Juyeon’s heart soar.
Dating right out of the gate with a newborn might not be the smartest idea, especially since his relationship with Sunhee’s mother didn’t end in such a great way, but Sangyeon is kind, and Juyeon really wants to get to know him more. He doesn’t care that Juyeon is a single father, and he’s so good with Sunhee.
Fuck. Juyeon wants to kiss him so badly.
It’s definitely not appropriate to kiss a man he’d only just met about six hours ago. Especially not in the taxi with his newborn daughter.
But, god, he wants to.
When they arrive at Juyeon’s parents’ house, Sangyeon helps him out of the taxi and up to the door. Before he leaves, though, he holds out his hand and gives Juyeon a small, sheepish smile.
“Can I put my number in your phone?”
Juyeon chuckles softly, nodding as he pulls out his phone and hands it to Sangyeon. Sangyeon puts in his contact, then hands Juyeon his phone back, but as he does, he leans in, and Juyeon nearly jumps when he feels Sangyeon’s lips on his cheek.
Such simple contact, yet it makes Juyeon want more.
“Thank you for everything, Sangyeon-hyung.” Juyeon murmurs softly, watching with warm cheeks as Sangyeon leans back. “Sunhee-yah will be sad she missed saying goodbye, I’m sure, but… I’ll call you?” He says, mostly as a question, “So you can say hi again?”
Sangyeon nods, smiling wide as he brushes his fingers gently over the back of Sunhee’s head. “I’d like that.”
They stand there awkwardly for a moment, simply staring at one another, before Juyeon tucks his head in towards his chest and turns towards the door of his parents’ house. He hears Sangyeon retreating back to the taxi, refusing to let himself look back, because if he does, then Juyeon knows that he’ll try to go back and kiss Sangyeon for real—and he wants to save that for when they’re alone, and not where he’s sure the prying eyes of his parents have been watching them.
Sunhee wakes up only as soon as Juyeon passes through the threshold of the house, like she knows that Sangyeon has left, and Juyeon hushes her gently with the silent promise to call Sangyeon as soon as he can.