Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Choi Beomgyu can’t believe his own rotten luck. 

After everything he’s done for society—no, the world— he’s being punished for acting with kindness in his heart. For being a good person! Isn’t this what his dad has always taught him to do? 

Ugh. His life is so unfair. 

Beomgyu huffs, crossing his arms and pouting angrily. He’s sitting on the hard wooden bench outside of the principal’s office, waiting impatiently for his turn to go inside. He tries to make his face look as unhappy as possible. 

He shouldn’t even be here in the first place. The teacher must have something against him to send him all the way to the principal’s office. 

And he didn’t even do anything wrong! Beomgyu wasn’t purposely hurting anyone—he was helping a friend in need. 

So maybe he pushed an older kid into a trashcan. So what? 

Beomgyu doesn’t think he should be blamed for that. Obviously, gravity is to blame for slamming Lee Hanseok into the lunchroom garbage can! Not Beomgyu. 

And he totally deserved it, too. Hanseok has been picking on Beomgyu and his friends since they were just tiny first graders. His newest focus is Huening Kai, one of the younger boys in their class. Even though Beomgyu and Taehyun try to protect him, bullies always target Kai. 

But one day, Kai is going to grow up to be big and strong—Beomgyu just knows it! He’ll tower over everyone else, and bullies won’t be able to hurt him anymore. Until that day, Beomgyu is going to do everything in his power to protect his friends. 

During lunchtime, Hanseok had stalked up their lunch table, sneering down at their food choices with disdain. Kai always brought cool American snacks from his dad that bullies loved to steal. They always made fun of Kai, saying mean things about his parents and how he liked to sing. 

It isn’t Beomgyu’s fault that Hanseok has really poor balance.

When Hanseok started to push Kai, Beomgyu stood up from his seat and pushed him right back! He stumbled backward, tripping over his own feet and flopping directly into the lunchroom garbage can. Which just so happened to be right behind him. 

…in Beomgyu’s direct line of sight. He likes to think he has pretty good aim. 

Either way, it was a total accident! Beomgyu acted purely out of self-defense. His dad watches a lot of crime shows, so he knows that alibi can sometimes hold up in court. 

And Beomgyu barely even laughed when Hanseok was sent to the lost-and-found for new clothes afterward. He was completely covered in milk, half-eaten noodles, and other nasty garbage. That’s gotta count for something, right? 

Either way, it doesn’t matter. Beomgyu wasn’t going to let anyone hurt his friends—not on his watch! His dad always taught him to stand up to bullies and fight for what’s right. 

Beomgyu thinks that his dad should be proud and not disappointed with his behavior, but his teacher seems to believe otherwise. 

That wasn’t very kind, Beomgyu! That’s not how big boys behave. Your father will be very upset by this outburst. 

What a bunch of garbage (pun intended). 

And now he’s sitting on this stupid wooden bench, waiting for the front door of the principal’s office to swing open. Unfortunately, Beomgyu is no stranger to sitting outside of the principal’s office. He’s been plopped here more times than he can count, chastised for his overactive imagination and complete disregard for authority— whatever that means. 

Usually, Beomgyu is forced to talk with the assistant principal or the school social worker when he gets into situations like this. His dad always says that he has a knack for getting in trouble—and Beomgyu’s finally starting to believe it. 

According to the school secretary, Beomgyu has been called down to the front office too many times this year. She said that meeting with the school social worker just won’t cut it anymore. Now, the secretary explained, he needs to have a meeting with the principal of their school. And his dad. 

Beomgyu doesn’t know if he’s ever seen the principal, but he’s heard lots of scary rumors from the sixth graders. They say he’s a creepy old man with a lizard tongue who eats elementary schoolers for breakfast. They say he sleeps in the main office in an underground cave system—that’s why he sees and hears everything around the school. 

Beomgyu frowns at the nameplate on the front door, hoping to channel every scary-looking protagonist from his favorite superhero movies. He won’t let Principal Choi Soobin eat him or any of his friends. 

The front doors to the school suddenly click open, revealing Beomgyu’s father in all of his disorganized glory. The third grader releases a sigh of relief. Finally. 

Choi Yeonjun stalks into the front lobby, heeled boots clicking on the grimy tiled floors. He’s wearing one of his fanciest suits—a long pair of black dress pants, a stylish-looking blazer, and a white button-up shirt underneath. The top two buttons of his shirt are undone, which Beomgyu thinks makes him look like 007. His dad’s dark hair is styled off his forehead, curling at the base of his neck and showing off his silver hoop earrings. Beomgyu wants to get his ears pierced someday.  

He’s wearing a pair of luxury brand sunglasses—some expensive name that Beomgyu can barely pronounce. He slides them up into his hair, furrowing his eyebrows as he looks around the lobby. Beomgyu thinks he remembers his dad mentioning that he had a photo shoot to go to this morning, so it makes sense that he’s dressed so fancy. 

His dad is literally the coolest guy on the planet. 

“Dad!” Beomgyu cries, waving his arms wildly to get his father’s attention. He’s so relieved to see him that Beomgyu can barely speak. 

“Gyu! Honey, are you okay?” Yeonjun’s eyes widen, rushing over to see his son. He bends down until he’s crouched at Beomgyu’s eye level, swiping the boy’s hair away from his eyes and checking for any superficial cuts or bruises. “They told me you got into a fight in the lunchroom. What happened?”

“It was hardly a fight…” Beomgyu mumbles under his breath, resisting the urge to scowl, “But I’m okay, Dad. One of the fifth graders was bullying Kai. He called him all sorts of mean names and talked about his parents.” 

Yeonjun frowns, smoothing his thumb across his son’s face. Beomgyu leans into the touch, feeling more comfortable by the minute. He’s so glad that his dad is here. 

“So where does the fight come in?” 

Beomgyu cringes, awkwardly staring at the scuffed toes of his sneakers. “It happened right after that. But I did everything you taught me! I pushed him and he stumbled into the garbage can—because people who are bullies belong in the trash!”

Yeonjun gasps, looking half-horrified and half-proud of his son’s behavior. “Gyu—you can’t just—” He sighs, looking exasperated, “When I said that people who bully others belong in the trash, I didn’t mean literally!” 

Beomgyu shakes his head defiantly. “But this guy totally deserved it, Dad! He was so mean to Kai—and this wasn’t the first time either. He made Kai cry.” 

Yeonjun’s face softens, reaching down to grab Beomgyu’s hand and give him a meaningful squeeze. “I’m proud of you, baby. You should always stand up for what’s right. But maybe next time, try to tell a teacher before resorting to violence.”

Beomgyu promises to avoid fighting any more bullies in the near future, but his fingers are secretly crossed behind his back. 

He can’t promise something like that! What if something happens to Taehyun or Kai? Beomgyu doesn’t want to lie to his dad, but he needs to be ready to protect his friends no matter what happens. 

Beomgyu is already nine years old—which means he has a lot of responsibility. He has to look after Taehyunnie and Kai because they’re both only eight years old. 

Since he’s older than both of his friends, that means Beomgyu is their hyung. It’s the hyung’s job to take care of the younger ones, and Beomgyu takes his job very seriously. 

“Mr. Choi? The principal is ready to see you now.” The secretary interrupts, peeking her head through the doorway with a soft smile. 

Beomgyu’s heart drops to his feet. He’s so scared he feels like throwing up. Maybe they should head to the school nurse instead. His tummy is twisted in knots, all jumbled up like someone is playing hopscotch on his ribcage. 

Beomgyu’s dad grabs his hand and steps towards the door with a fiery look in his eye. “Don’t worry, Gyu. We can do this.” He whispers conspiratorially. 

Beomgyu nods, taking a deep breath. He’s still a little scared, but he already feels so much better with his dad by his side. He wouldn’t want to walk into Mr. Choi Soobin’s underground cave system by himself. 

Instead of spooky caves and lizard monsters, Yeonjun and Beomgyu walk into a nicely decorated office space—who would’ve thought? 

There’s a large desk sitting in the center of the room that Beomgyu has trouble seeing over, and lots of fancy trophies decorating the walls. There are a few knick-knacks and bobbleheads on the principal’s desk, surrounded by a massive collection of multicolor sticky notes and reminders. Beomgyu thinks that he must have a lot he needs to remember. 

There’s also a bowl of candy sitting right at the front of his desk, and Beomgyu can’t wait to get his hands on some. There’s a beautiful collection of lollipops, mints, and multicolored taffy. The third grader’s mouth is practically salivating at the possibilities. Maybe this Mr. Choi Soobin guy isn’t so evil after all. 

Beomgyu reaches out to grab a piece of candy, and Yeonjun sends him a warning look. He sighs unhappily and puts his hand down. 

Clearly, now is not the time for a sweet treat. 

Beomgyu is surprised to see a handsome guy around his dad’s age sitting behind the desk—no crinkly, old lizard men in sight. The principal has nicely styled blond hair and is wearing a fancy blue suit and tie. It reminds Beomgyu of the one he had to wear for his older cousin’s wedding last summer. That means it’s pretty fancy. 

The principal smiles politely at Beomgyu, gesturing to the nice leather chairs in front of his desk. 

“Thank you so much for waiting! Please, take a seat.” 

Beomgyu is completely shocked by the principal’s youthful appearance—and apparently, so is his dad. Yeonjun’s jaw momentarily drops in surprise before quickly schooling his expression into something more serious. Beomgyu squeezes his dad’s hand in silent support. 

Get him, dad! 

“Mr. Choi, thank you for calling me down to the school today. It sounds like there’s been a major misunderstanding regarding Beomgyu’s behavior. I’m not sure what you’ve already heard about the situation, but I refuse to stand for any unfairness.” 

Mr. Soobin quickly tears his eyes away from the third-grade student to answer Yeonjun, but the words immediately get stuck in his throat. Mr. Soobin’s eyes widen, and he sits up straighter in his desk chair, fiddling with his perfectly styled hair. His cheeks glow bright red as he slowly drags his eyes up and down Yeonjun’s body, clearing his throat awkwardly. 

“M-Mr. Choi!” The principal stutters, blinking rapidly at the papers sitting in front of him. It looks like he’s having trouble looking directly at Beomgyu’s dad. “It’s nice to finally meet you. I was hoping we could talk about everything that happened from Beomgyu’s perspective.”

Yeonjun’s shoulders slump in relief, seemingly satisfied with that answer. He sits down in the leather chair on the left side, crossing one leg over the other and placing his hands in his lap. Beomgyu sits down and does the same, matching his father’s posture and crossing his legs perfectly. He thinks they look pretty intimidating. 

Mr. Soobin keeps looking at his dad with wide eyes, fidgeting with a few stray pieces of blond hair. Beomgyu realizes that he must be nervous. His chest puffs out with pride. Beomgyu’s dad is super tough! Mr. Soobin should be nervous. 

“I’m glad we’re finally meeting, Mr. Soobin—though I wish it was under better circumstances.” Yeonjun sighs, shooting Beomgyu a mildly exasperated look before continuing. “I’ve heard wonderful things about you from the parent meetings, so I hope you’ll extend some of that kindness to Beomgyu as well.”

Somehow, Mr. Soobin’s face looks even more pink at the compliment. “Oh! Of course—I’m glad you’ve heard good things. T-that’s…great!” 

Yeonjun raises an eyebrow at his flustered response, resting his chin on his hand. He’s starting to get this weird look in his eye that he only ever gets while teasing Beomgyu about Mario Kart. He fixes Mr. Soobin with his most award-winning smile. 

“Lots of good things, Mr. Soobin. It seems like you have quite the fan club—the whole swarm of single PTA moms couldn’t stop talking about you.” 

Beomgyu doesn’t really understand why his dad is giggling or why Mr. Soobin still looks so nervous. This must be some new intimidation tactic or something. 

Whatever it is, it seems to be working like a charm!

“I appreciate their support, but that’s not really…what I’m looking for.” Mr. Soobin trails off awkwardly, shuffling through the papers on his desk and avoiding Yeonjun’s interested gaze. 

Beomgyu’s dad sits up straighter in his chair, humming softly in response. He’s still smirking. “I see…their loss, I suppose.” 

Beomgyu looks between the two of them, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. What’s going on? He feels like there’s a huge chunk of information that he’s missing in this conversation. He hates it when adults talk in weird code. 

Isn’t this meeting supposed to be about him? 

He’s completely innocent in all this. And if his dad is too busy fluttering his eyelashes, then it’s up to Beomgyu to clear his own name! 

Beomgyu decides to speak up, insistently tapping his finger on Mr. Soobin’s desk to get his attention. The principal finally looks away from his dad, blinking slowly like he’s exiting a trance. Yeonjun giggles beside him. 

“Mr. Soobin, I just wanna let you know that this totally isn’t my fault.” Beomgyu begins, sitting up on his knees so he’ll be able to see over the principal’s large desk, “Lee Hanseok has been bullying my friend Kai this whole school year, and no one will help him but me and my friend Taehyun. I was just protecting him, Mr. Soobin! It’s not fair.”

Mr. Soobin’s face softens. “I think it’s very admirable that you wanted to protect your best friends, Beomgyu. I’ll need to talk with the fifth-grade teacher about Hanseok’s behavior as well. But pushing another student into the garbage can is not very nice.” 

Beomgyu slumps, looking over to his dad for help. Yeonjun sends him a meaningful look, raising an eyebrow. The third grader sighs dramatically. “I know that wasn’t very nice, Mr. Soobin—but I promise it’ll never happen again! Especially if Hanseok finally leaves us alone.” 

Mr. Soobin nods solemnly, sharing a secret look with Yeonjun. “I appreciate that, Beomgyu. Since this is your first time in the principal’s office, I won’t be too hard on you. You seem like a very nice boy.”

Beomgyu preens, straightening in his seat with a massive grin. He is a very nice boy! He’s so glad that Mr. Soobin has finally noticed. 

Before Beomgyu can celebrate his good luck, Mr. Soobin continues, “We can move past this discretion as long as you apologize to your teacher and the lunchroom monitors for causing a disturbance. I’d also like you to write a one-page essay on why we shouldn’t push our schoolmates. Does that sound okay?”

Apologize to everyone? That sounds like something that Beomgyu really doesn’t want to do. And it’s even worse knowing that there’s homework to finish right afterward. He’s about to protest, but he’s quickly silenced by a stern look from his dad. 

Take the deal, dummy! His dad silently emphasizes, reaching over to tuck a stray piece of hair behind his son’s ear. 

Beomgyu sighs heavily again, slumping in defeat. “I can do that…” 

Mr. Soobin instantly brightens. “Fantastic! I’m glad we could work this out.”

Even though he doesn’t want to apologize or write a one-page essay, Beomgyu can’t help but think that he probably got off pretty easy today. Some of the older kids have gotten expelled for things similar to this. Starting fights with other classmates is not taken lightly at Crown Preparatory School. 

Beomgyu can’t help but wonder why Mr. Soobin is being so nice to him. 

While Mr. Soobin and his dad discuss the rest of their disciplinary plan, Beomgyu decides to zone out completely and play with the loose thread on the edge of the chair’s stitching. He wonders how many other kids have sat in this exact same seat, crying and getting scolded for misbehaving. 

But not him—he didn’t cry at all. That means Beomgyu is a pretty tough kid. 

He hopes Kai and Taehyun have been holding up without him in class. He feels like he’s been gone for a million hours, but it’s probably only been one. They should be finishing up with gym class by now and preparing for silent reading time. 

Beomgyu hates silent reading time. He'd rather talk to his friends than read stupid chapter books at his desk. School can be so boring sometimes. 

He can’t wait to tell everyone about his near-death experience in the principal’s office—how he barely escaped the caves underneath the school and almost got eaten by the lizard monster. Now that’s a much better story. 

Beomgyu is startled out of his superhero daydream by his dad’s loud laughter, watching as Yeonjun quickly covers his mouth to stop the giggles from spilling out. Mr. Soobin looks incredibly pleased, watching Beomgyu’s dad with massive cartoon heart eyes. 

Wait— heart eyes? 

“I was wondering why you looked so familiar! I think I saw you on the cover of GQ magazine recently—is that right?”

“Probably in their September issue. It was a quick men’s fashion spread.” Yeonjun answers modestly, waving off any type of compliment or praise. His dad has always been annoyingly humble about his supermodel career. Beomgyu can already see the bright red flush crawling up the back of his neck. 

Mr. Soobin leans forward, doing absolutely nothing to hide his admiration for the man in front of him. “It’d be hard to forget seeing a face like yours, Mr. Choi.”

Yeonjun gasps, blushing and tucking a loose piece of hair behind his ear. Beomgyu’s jaw immediately drops to the floor, eyes widening in shock. No way. 

Double heart eyes?!

Beomgyu has seen that move before—the girls in his class always tuck their hair behind their ears when they have a crush on someone. Does his dad have a crush on someone? 

Does his dad have a crush on Mr. Soobin?

Beomgyu looks back and forth between them rapidly, swiveling his neck like he’s watching the world’s most intense game of ping-pong. He quickly looks for any other signs of crushing on someone that he’s learned from popular K-dramas. 

Laughing together. Leaning towards each other. Fluttering eyelashes. Compliments. Eye contact. Blushing. Being totally and completely lost in their own world. 

No. Freaking. Way. 

“Hopefully the next time we’ll be seeing each other is at parent-teacher conferences next month.” Yeonjun jokes, leaning down to help tie the laces on his son’s left shoe. Beomgyu huffs in annoyance but still lets his father help him. 

Beomgyu is totally old enough to tie his shoes on his own, but he likes it when his dad takes extra care of him sometimes. It makes him feel warm inside. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t a big kid. 

He can barely focus on anything else because his mind is still reeling from this… new discovery. Mr. Soobin is flirting with his dad. His dad is flirting with Mr. Soobin. Insanity! 

Beomgyu is so distracted by this overwhelming evidence that he almost misses Mr. Soobin’s next question. 

The principal pauses, silently considering his next words. “Will…Beomgyu’s mother be joining you as well?” 

“No, it’ll be just me. We separated a few years ago.” Yeonjun explains, shrugging his shoulders and tucking his hair behind his ears again (so weird!), “We just…didn’t want the same things. But we do a great job co-parenting with each other!”

“My Mom travels the world as a dancer!” Beomgyu adds excitedly, momentarily distracted from the new information in his brain. He loves talking about his mom and all of her hard work. Beomgyu jumps out of the fancy leather chair to show off a few of his best dance moves. Yeonjun chuckles fondly. 

“That sounds really cool!” Mr. Soobin tells Beomgyu, ruffling his shaggy brown hair and opening the door to his office. The three of them step back into the lobby, and Beomgyu waves to the secretary again. Mr. Soobin straightens and turns to Yeonjun, looking a little apologetic. “I’m sorry for asking. I didn’t mean to overstep.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Yeonjun answers, waving him off, “I’ve gotten used to those types of questions while living the single life.”

“The single life.” Mr. Soobin repeats thoughtfully, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe. Beomgyu has to admit that the principal looks pretty cool like this. 

Now that Beomgyu is paying more attention to their interactions, he notices the way the principal’s eyes flicker over Yeonjun’s whole body—silently admiring yet again. He turns to see that his dad is already doing the same thing. 

Gross. And Beomgyu obviously knows that his dad is an attractive guy—he’s a super famous fashion model for a reason! Duh.  

Everyone always wants to take his picture and flirt with him at the grocery store, but it never bothers Beomgyu. He’s glad that people can see how cool his dad is. 

Usually, Beomgyu’s dad always gets the same look on his face whenever someone starts flirting with him. First, he laughs politely, rubbing the back of his neck and accepting the stranger’s compliments. As things start getting more awkward, Yeonjun will start searching for an excuse to leave the conversation and avoid any strange romantic advances. 

That's where Beomgyu comes in. 

There’s nothing he loves more than deterring weird dudes and older women from hitting on his dad. This is usually the point where he’ll start talking about his mother or whining about going to the bathroom or talking about his highly contagious lice (that guy was especially persistent). Then Yeonjun buys them ice cream on the way home and they giggle about each awkward encounter. 

But this definitely doesn’t feel like that. 

There are no side-eye looks or awkward laughs. Yeonjun doesn’t look like he’s trying to escape this situation at all. Instead, it looks like he’s enjoying his time with Mr. Soobin—laughing at all of his jokes (even the ones that aren’t funny) and casually brushing the principal’s arm as they talk. 

And Mr. Soobin isn’t doing much better. 

His cheeks have been red since the second he laid eyes on Beomgyu’s dad, looking flustered and nervous around such an attractive man. Yeonjun keeps fluttering his eyelashes and showering the principal with compliments. Something is clearly going on. 

At first, Beomgyu thought his dad was acting like this to get him out of trouble—but now, he’s not so sure. 

It almost seems like they like each other. But not just any like—they might like-like each other. 

Beomgyu resists the urge to throw up. Super gross! 

Even though he’s only a third grader, Beomgyu still thinks he’s a pretty smart kid. He knows what it means when two people have a crush on each other. He’s seen a million different K-dramas and American rom-com movies where the two main characters have a silly little crush on each other. 

And Mr. Soobin definitely has a crush on Beomgyu’s dad. 

Maybe that’s why he’s being so nice to me, Beomgyu wonders. He didn’t punish me because he has a crush on my dad!

This could be a total game-changer for Beomgyu. 

If Mr. Soobin thinks that his dad is pretty, Beomgyu will never get in trouble ever again. He might still be called down to the office, but the principal will always melt into a blushing pile of goo every time he lays eyes on Beomgyu’s dad. 

He’s about to be unstoppable. His third-grade class won’t even know what hit ‘em.

Beomgyu silently thanks every higher power in the universe for giving him a really hot supermodel father. 

“I hope to see you again soon, Mr. Choi.” Soobin flirts, running his fingers through his perfect blond hair. Yeonjun’s eyes track the movement.  

“Oh! Before I forget,” Yeonjun exclaims, digging around his bag for something. He pulls out a single white card, and Beomgyu nearly squeals with excitement, “Here’s my card. My number is at the bottom in case you ever want to call for…contact reasons.”

Soobin grabs the card and holds it in his hands like it’s a precious artifact. Beomgyu thinks he’s being a little pathetic. 

“Contact reasons…right, absolutely! Thank you. I’ll hold onto this.”

Yeonjun laughs, failing to hide the flirty grin on his face. Now that Beomgyu has noticed it, he’ll never be able to un-notice it. 

“Thank you again, Mr. Choi! I appreciate all your help this afternoon.” Beomgyu’s dad answers. He quickly bends down to give his son a peck on the forehead. “Be good for the rest of the day. I’ll see you soon!” 

As Beomgyu is being ushered back to class by his teacher, he can’t help but laugh.

I hope to see you again soon, Mr. Choi. 

Don’t worry, Beomgyu secretly smirks. That can definitely be arranged. 

———

“You’re back!” Taehyun cheers as Beomgyu enters the classroom, immediately scooting over to make room for him on the ground. The rest of his classmates are also sitting in small pods around the room, tucked together for comfy silent reading time. 

The teacher shoots Taehyun a warning look, motioning for him to stay quiet. The younger boy slumps dejectedly, opening his chapter book again. 

Kai nervously scoots closer, keeping his voice as quiet as possible. “Are you okay, hyung? I can’t believe you went to the principal’s office! Was it scary?”

Beomgyu nods solemnly, puffing out his chest. “Yeah, it was really scary. But it doesn’t even matter because I was super brave and barely even got in trouble!” 

Kai and Taehyun’s eyes widen in surprise. They share a look of poorly concealed amazement, abandoning the pretense of flipping through their chapter books completely. 

“Really, hyung? That’s so cool!” Kai answers excitedly. 

“How did you avoid getting in trouble?” Taehyun asks, looking a little wary, “You pushed a fifth-grader into a garbage can. That seems like a pretty big deal.”

Beomgyu smirks, rubbing his hands together like a tiny supervillain. He was hoping they would ask. 

“Because I have a secret weapon now, Taehyunnie. And that means I’m totally invincible!” 

Kai gasps, ignoring the way their teacher pointedly shushes their group once again. “A secret weapon? You’re like a super-sneaky spy, hyung! What’s the weapon?”

Beomgyu grins, pulling his two friends extra close and trying to keep his voice down. He doesn’t want anyone else to know about his secret weapon. 

“My dad.” 

Taehyun tilts his head, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “Your dad? What does he have to do with this?” 

Beomgyu rolls his eyes, leaning forward again to whisper frantically. “Because Mr. Soobin totally has a crush on my dad! They were flirting basically the whole time.”

Kai’s jaw drops, his book completely forgotten. “No way!” 

“Yes way!” Beomgyu emphasizes, “That means I can basically do whatever I want now. We won’t have to worry about bullies picking on us anymore.”

Taehyun frowns. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Gyu-hyung. What if—”

Beomgyu places his hands on the younger's shoulder, jostling him back and forth to get him to stop thinking for thirty seconds. Taehyun is always thinking things through. It usually messes with Beomgyu’s spontaneous flow. 

“It’ll be fine, Taehyunnie! Stop worrying so much.” Beomgyu insists, gesturing wildly to the whole classroom, “No one here will be able to pick on us anymore. We’ll be unstoppable!” 

“I really like the sound of that! I think it’s a great idea,” Kai agrees, giving Beomgyu a secret high-five, “And since your dad will be here all the time, he’ll be able to talk to Mr. Soobin even more. So they can fall in love!” 

Beomgyu pauses, mouth dropping open in surprise. He never really thought of that before.

The more he gets into trouble, the more chances his dad will have to flirt with the principal! This is a win-win situation for both of them—Beomgyu gets to do whatever he wants without being punished, and his dad gets to find the love of his life! Literally nothing could go wrong at all. 

Even though he doesn’t want his dad to get cooties from Mr. Soobin, he thinks that a minor cooties infection might be a small price to pay for Beomgyu’s invincible freedom. 

“Exactly, Kai!” Beomgyu cheers, struggling to keep his voice down, “In just a few weeks, I’ll be the King of the School!”

“Boys! That’s quite enough!” Their teacher scolds, standing over them with an annoyed look on her face. Taehyun and Kai pretend to read their chapter books again, but Beomgyu doesn’t even have a book to pretend-read. Great. “All three of you move to separate areas of the room. We’ll be finishing our silent reading quietly and without disturbing our fellow classmates.”

Beomgyu groans silently, muttering under his breath as he grabs a book and scoots across the room. 

Fine! He needs some quiet time to think of a plan anyways. From across the room, Kai and Taehyun each send him a supportive thumbs up. 

When Beomgyu gets home that night, his dad seems extra distracted during dinner. He keeps asking strange questions about the school staff and possible volunteer opportunities. For some reason, his dad really wants to chaperone their upcoming Halloween party. 

After cleaning up the kitchen, Beomgyu heads upstairs to get dressed in his pajamas. His dad is sitting on the couch, bundled up in their favorite blankets and staring intently at his phone screen. He blinks down at the device with a small smile.   

Using his super spy stealth, Beomgyu sneaks down the stairs and peeks over the edge of the couch. Yeonjun’s phone is open to a single text message. 

Hello, this is Principal Choi. I just wanted to make sure you had my number as well! Let me know if you need anything. 

Beomgyu watches as Yeonjun types and erases at least fifteen different options before finally settling on a simple: Hello! Thanks again for your help today.

“Mr. Soobin is pretty nice—right, dad?” Beomgyu exclaims, leaning over the back of the couch to hover right over his dad’s shoulder. 

Yeonjun jumps nearly a foot in the air, screeching in surprise and dropping his phone. “Gyu, don’t do that! You’re going to give me a heart attack!”

Nope, Beomgyu thinks to himself, that’ll be Mr. Soobin’s job. 

———

Beomgyu waits nearly an entire week before causing trouble again. 

After lots of self-reflection, Beomgyu has decided to use this newfound power for good. He’ll be like Robin Hood or Batman—fighting for the little guy instead of using his power to hurt others. Stealing from the rich and giving to the poor—blah, blah, blah, whatever. 

Only in this case, the rich refers to Beomgyu’s third-grade rival, and the poor means the rest of their third-grade classmates. 

Song Mijung and Beomgyu have been sworn rivals since kindergarten. Mijung stole Beomgyu’s lead role as Share Bear #1 in their class show, and he will never forgive her for it. Instead, he was demoted to Share Bear #3–not even Share Bear #2! 

He still had a decent amount of lines, and his parents were really proud of him, but Beomgyu still not-so-secretly resents her. 

She’s just such a know-it-all about everything! And she loves to brag about all the cool stuff she has to all of their classmates. It’s so annoying. 

Recently, Mijung has been bragging about the tasty American candy she has hidden in her backpack. Her older sister just recently came back from a study abroad program and brought back a ton of stuff. She’s been taunting the entire class with her stash for nearly two weeks now. But she refuses to share! 

And somehow she was still chosen to be Share Bear #1… interesting. 

There are three things in this world that Beomgyu will always fight against: bullying, eating brussels sprouts, and hoarding candy. 

For the past few days, Beomgyu and Kai have been bringing lots of candy for all of their classmates to enjoy. They’ll give some to anyone who asks—except for Mijung. She clearly has enough candy already! 

He knows it probably isn’t the nicest thing to do, but Beomgyu feels like justice is being served. 

Eventually, Mijung tattles on Beomgyu to their teacher for no reason, claiming that he’s purposely not including her and refusing to share. Sounds pretty familiar, huh? 

The rest of the class supports Beomgyu, telling their teacher about Mijung’s candy hoarding and bullying tactics. The teacher decides to call her parents and say that she can’t bring candy to school anymore. 

Beomgyu counts it as a HUGE win. 

Is this what power feels like? Maybe Robin Hood was onto something with this whole steal from the rich and give to the poor thing. It also helps that he was able to kick some bully butt. 

But before he knows it, Beomgyu finds himself sitting on the bench outside of the principal’s office yet again. This time—instead of being terrified of lizard men and secret cave systems—he’s swinging his feet and humming a girl group song that his dad has been super obsessed with recently. 

He can’t wait to see Mr. Soobin again! 

Last week, he overheard his Uncle Changbin teasing his dad over the phone about this silly crush. He kept saying things like he must be really hot if you’re acting like this, Junnie, and are there any other hot teachers there? I’ll sign up to volunteer, too.  

Within a week, Yeonjun quickly signed up to be the party planner for the third-grade Halloween party—which is very telling. Beomgyu can’t wait. 

As a world-famous supermodel, Yeonjun has never had time to chaperone elementary school field trips or volunteer in the lunchroom. But Beomgyu is totally okay with that. He prefers to keep his school shenanigans at school—he doesn’t need his dad hanging around to cramp his style. 

The front doors of the school click open, and Beomgyu’s dad steps through, frowning as he enters the lobby. Beomgyu gets an odd sense of deja vu that he quickly ignores. 

Only this time, Yeonjun isn’t dressed like a supermodel. Instead, he’s wearing a ratty well-loved hoodie that Beomgyu picked out for him in Chicago and a cozy pair of sweatpants. He’s also wearing the thick-framed glasses that he usually wears while reading—he must’ve forgotten to take them off in his rush to get to school. He clearly didn’t have a photoshoot today. 

Despite his laid-back clothing choices, Beomgyu can tell that his dad is wearing light makeup, and his hair is artistically styled—carefully tousled in a super hot movie star way. 

Even in comfy loungewear, Beomgyu’s dad still looks runway-ready. He knows that Mr. Soobin will think so, too. 

Beomgyu quickly turns away, struggling to hide the growing smirk on his face. This has all been so easy. 

As his dad approaches the bench, Beomgyu notices that he looks less stressed and more annoyed by the interruption. He’s ready to support his son but clearly not thrilled to be standing in the school lobby on a Wednesday afternoon. 

“What happened this time, Gyu?” Yeonjun sighs, squatting down to be at eye-level with his young son.  

Time to put on a show! 

Beomgyu frowns, letting his eyes get big and round. He thinks about sad stuff to get his emotions going—indoor recess, multiplication tables, his dad trying to cook. He sniffles sadly, and his lower lip wobbles.

Bingo. 

Yeonjun instantly melts, reaching forward to rub his son’s back comfortingly.  “It’s okay, buddy. I’m not upset with you.”

Beomgyu inwardly celebrates, using his imaginary hands to pat himself on the back. That was so easy! And it’s all because of the puppy dog eyes. His dad is a total sucker for them. Beomgyu secretly prays that they never stop working. 

When they enter Mr. Soobin’s office, the first thing Beomgyu notices is that he’s definitely cleaned up the place. The messy piles of sticky notes and papers have been moved. The bookshelf behind him is dusted. The entire room smells like jasmine. 

Mr. Soobin is clearly trying to impress them. His dad is—unsurprisingly—impressed. 

While they chat about the scent diffuser and the beautiful weather outside, Beomgyu discreetly slides back into his leather chair. If all goes well, they’ll both tune him out completely and flirt with each other instead.

And his plan is totally working—not that Beomgyu is surprised at all. He’s definitely a romantic mastermind. 

After the first five minutes —how has it only been five minutes?— Beomgyu starts to feel a little antsy. He begins picking at the loose thread on the armrest again, unfurling the string a bit further with each haphazard tug. He really wants to take a piece of candy from the bowl on Mr. Soobin’s desk, but he doesn’t want to remind the adults of his presence. So he’ll just need to suffer in silence until the final bell of the day rings. Sigh. 

Luckily, this behavioral situation happened near the end of the day. Depending on how long this meeting goes, Beomgyu might be able to head home a little early with his dad. He won’t have to see that smug little munchkin until Monday morning. 

Tuning out their boring conversation, Beomgyu decides to study the trinkets on Mr. Soobin’s desk. It’s for research, his brain suggests, to see what Mr. Soobin likes and dislikes. 

One of the few things that Beomgyu knows about being in a romantic relationship is that you should probably like some of the same things as your partner. Not everything— duh— but a few things to talk about. 

There’s a mini figurine of Gudetama lying on a piece of toast right next to Mr. Soobin’s computer, which Beomgyu is instantly obsessed with. And he notices that the candy dish is decorated with tiny pictures of Sanrio characters. 

On the wall beside his framed degree, there’s an abstract art piece that Beomgyu immediately recognizes—it’s a reference to the album cover of Love Yourself: Answer by BTS. He would recognize that color scheme and fancy heart in his sleep!

Beomgyu stifles a gasp. Mr. Soobin knows BTS? But that’s his favorite group! Beomgyu and his dad listen to their music all the time—in the car, in the kitchen, when they’re working together to tidy up the house. 

While admiring Mr. Soobin’s trinkets and wall art, Beomgyu sees so many things that he also likes. This is a really good sign for Yeonjun and Mr. Soobin’s future relationship. They already have so much in common! 

And maybe he wouldn’t mind if Mr. Soobin became his other dad. That’s what happens when you find someone you’re compatible with, right? You start dating, get married, and live happily ever after! 

Based on their flirting, Beomgyu thinks that there’s a pretty good possibility right now. And the three of them could listen to BTS together! Plus, it would be way easier to tidy up the house with three people working instead of two. 

Beomgyu really likes the sound of that. 

Beomgyu is so busy imagining different scenarios where Mr. Soobin becomes his second dad that he doesn't even realize their meeting is already over. He must’ve zoned out through the entire thing. 

“Does that sound manageable, Gyu?” Yeonjun asks, sending his son a subtle look that says agree to this or you’re walking home. 

Beomgyu nods politely, clasping his hands in his lap and trying to look as angelic as humanly possible. “Of course! I’m so sorry again, Mr. Soobin. You’re a very kind man, and I appreciate everything you do for our school.” 

Mr. Soobin looks surprised by the compliment, completely thrown off by his student’s praise. His cheeks turn pink. “Thank you, Beomgyu. I’m very glad you’re willing to work on your behavior.” 

Yeonjun thanks the principal again, tucking his dark hair behind his ear— ew. Beomgyu resists the urge to roll his eyes. 

Before they can step into the lobby, Mr. Soobin suddenly makes a strangled noise in the back of his throat. “Oh! Mr. Choi, before I forget—I saw on the parent sign-up sheet that you’re planning to chaperone the Halloween party next week. I know that can be a lot to manage on your own.” 

Yeonjun blushes, nodding excitedly. “Yes, I am! I wanted to try to be more active in Gyu’s school life. I have some time off before preparations for New York Fashion Week, so I thought I’d volunteer!”  

“You’re incredible.” Mr. Soobin mumbles under his breath, staring at Yeonjun in awe. Even though Beomgyu hears him loud and clear, his dad seems to miss this subtle praise. The principal quickly clears his throat, physically shaking himself from those thoughts. Beomgyu frowns, mildly disappointed. 

“I’ll—um, I’ll have to stop by and check out your party planning skills then.” Mr. Soobin answers, teasing Yeonjun in a way that’s so obviously flirty that it makes his teeth hurt. He’s heard middle schoolers with better lines than this. 

Beomgyu decides to save him from his floundering by asking the real questions. He tugs on Mr. Soobin’s pants to get his attention, staring up at the principal with wide, innocent eyes. 

“Do you normally visit the Halloween parties for each class, Mr. Soobin? Or is my grade just special?” 

Mr. Soobin’s eyes widen as his cheeks flush crimson. “Uh—well, n-no, I haven’t visited all the classrooms in the past, but I’m trying to start a new tradition. But I’ll make an extra effort to stop by the third-grade classroom just to…check on you both and see your Halloween costumes!” 

Beomgyu beams, staring up at his dad excitedly. “We’ll need to make sure everything is extra special if Mr. Soobin is going to be there!”

“Yeah, extra special,” Yeonjun repeats, seemingly hypnotized by the way Mr. Soobin reaches down to ruffle Beomgyu’s hair comfortingly. The look on his dad’s face makes him want to shout from the rooftops: I’m the biggest genius in the whole world!

“Let me know if you need anything, Mr. Choi. I’ll be here.” 

And if Yeonjun and Beomgyu head straight to the party supply store and buy almost everything single (kid-friendly) Halloween decoration in stock, that’s nobody else’s business but their own. 

———

By October 31st, Beomgyu’s dad is an absolute mess. 

He’s been running around all morning, packing and repacking the decorations, double-checking the party games, and agonizing over whether or not they bought enough candy. He’s totally freaking out. 

“Gyu, honey? Have you seen the bag of fake spiders? I can’t seem to find them anywhere.”

Beomgyu sighs, shaking his head and lazily pointing at their kitchen table. “The bag is right there, Dad. You’ve asked me four times since this morning, and they haven’t moved once.”

Yeonjun straightens, frowning at the bag of plastic spiders in confusion. “Huh…I guess you’re right. Are the fake spiderwebs with them? Because we need to—”

“— make sure we bring both so the spiders have a place to go. I know, Dad.” Beomgyu repeats from memory, sending his dad a knowing look, “You’ve mentioned it like thirty million times now! I promise everything is prepared.”

“I know, Gyu, but—”

“No more buts, dad! You’re not even dressed in your costume, and we need to leave soon.” Beomgyu interrupts, pushing his dad toward the stairs insistently. 

Yeonjun laughs, allowing himself to be pushed towards his bedroom. “Okay, fine! I’ll go get dressed in my costume, bossypants.” 

Luckily, the two of them have had their costumes planned out since the beginning of October. The students are not allowed to wear super complex or scary costumes to school, so Yeonjun and Beomgyu decided to keep things simple for the Halloween party. 

Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Kai are wearing matching trio Halloween costumes this year, and they’re all so excited. The eldest definitely thinks that their idea is simple, comfortable, and totally iconic. 

Beomgyu is dressed in a gigantic red hoodie and jeans, complete with a matching red hat. He has a yellow letter “A” sewn onto his chest. His dad has always been really good at sewing because of all the fashion stuff he does. Beomgyu is extra grateful for his talents every Halloween. 

Beomgyu can’t wait to see Taehyun and Kai wearing the corresponding blue and green hoodies to match! 

They’ve been planning to dress up as Alvin and the Chipmunks since they watched the movies over the summer. Beomgyu is obviously Alvin—loud, talkative, and always getting into trouble. Taehyun was the easy choice for Simon because he’s the smartest kid in their group. And Kai just had to be Theodore because he’s the cutest and friendliest boy in the entire universe. 

Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Kai. Everything about their costume just makes sense. 

Beomgyu asked his dad to dress up as the mean and bald music producer from the movie, but Yeonjun refused to do any costume involving a bald cap. He needs to look his best for Mr. Soobin— especially since the principal is planning to stop by each classroom. What a bummer. 

After what feels like an eternity, Yeonjun bounces down the stairs with an excited flourish. He poses at the bottom of the steps, twirling around to show his son the entire outfit. 

“What do you think, Gyu? Is this good enough for the third-grade critics?”

Yeonjun is dressed in an all-black outfit, completely monochrome from the top of his silver embellished cowboy hat to the toes of his cowboy boots. His long-sleeve shirt hugs his torso nicely, showing off the subtle definition of his muscles and his tiny waist. The belt he’s wearing is one of Beomgyu’s favorites—black with silver stars attached along the middle. The black pants he’s wearing are pretty standard, except for the strange cutouts right near his hips. There’s a small patch of exposed skin there that makes Beomgyu furrow his eyebrows. Hm. 

He reaches forward to poke the exposed skin on Yeonjun’s hips. “Why are your pants ripped?” 

Beomgyu’s dad instantly blushes, adjusting his hat to hide the red tips of his ears. He looks like he doesn’t want to answer, but Beomgyu blinks up at him expectantly. 

“T-they’re the only black pants I have right now, honey!” 

Beomgyu resists the urge to roll his eyes. He knows that isn’t true. His dad’s closet is practically bursting with clothes of all different shapes, sizes, and colors. There are at least six other pairs of black pants that Yeonjun could’ve chosen, but instead, he chose the ones with rips near the waistline. How silly!

His dad is also wearing a weird piece of string around his neck with a metal clasp in the center—what’s it called again? A bobo tie? Boobo, Bolo? Beomgyu really isn’t sure, but it looks pretty Western. 

Yeonjun is wearing light, shimmery makeup that makes his features pop. Beomgyu can tell that his dad is wearing that nice-smelling lip gloss that they’re both obsessed with. Even though he doesn’t need to, Beomgyu always finds himself stealing that lip gloss whenever he can. It just smells so good! Like strawberries and glitter and happiness. 

When he was growing up, Beomgyu also loved stealing his dad’s cowboy hat to wear around the house. He’s pretty sure it was a gift from his Uncle Changbin or something. Beomgyu would do homework, eat dinner, and watch television wearing that hat. If Yeonjun hadn’t told him not to, Beomgyu probably would’ve slept in the hat, too. 

Since New York Fashion Week is coming up in a few months, Yeonjun has been doing lots of fashion stuff and visual preparation. He recently dyed his hair blond for a modeling ad campaign, and Beomgyu is completely obsessed with it. His new hair color really stands out against the all-black ensemble. Beomgyu thinks he wants to dye his hair blond one day. Or maybe red. Or maybe purple? There are too many colors to choose from!

According to Beomgyu’s teacher, the parent chaperones rarely dress up in costumes for their class Halloween parties. Beomgyu and Yeonjun both decided that the trend is kinda silly and boring. With his cowboy costume, Beomgyu’s dad can dress up for Halloween without being too crazy. 

It’s perfect. 

“I love it, dad!” Beomgyu exclaims, standing up in his chair to show his excitement, “I think it’ll totally knock Mr. Soo— I mean, um— the school’s socks off! Everyone will really like it.” 

Yeonjun looks pleased with his son’s praise, tilting his hat and laying on a thick Southern American accent. “Why thank you, partner!”

Beomgyu groans. He really hopes his dad won’t embarrass himself like that in front of Mr. Soobin. Or worse—he hopes that Yeonjun won’t embarrass him in front of Beomgyu’s friends like that. 

Beomgyu’s dad continues to fuss over his hair and makeup, murmuring under his breath about good impressions and hot principals. Beomgyu thinks it’s cute how nervous he is—but they really need to leave. 

“Let’s go! I wanna see Taehyun and Kai before our Halloween pep rally.”

Yeonjun nods, handing Beomgyu his backpack and grabbing the Halloween party decorations—plastic spiders and attached webs included. 

“Let’s do this!” Beomgyu exclaims, grinning evilly as his master plan continues to unfold. 

———

Once they arrive at school, Beomgyu is immediately whisked away to the gymnasium for the Halloween costume contest. He’s so excited that he’s practically bouncing off the walls. 

Yeonjun wishes him good luck, dropping a kiss onto his forehead and heading in the direction of Beomgyu’s third-grade classroom. While the students are busy in the gym, the chaperones typically work hard to decorate for the Halloween festivities. Beomgyu hopes that he won’t miss any interactions between Mr. Soobin and his dad while he’s gone. 

Beomgyu quickly finds Taehyun and Kai, plopping down between them and wrapping them both in a hug. The three of them plaster themselves together, giggling quietly about their matching costumes and quoting random scenes from the movies. He’s so lucky to have such amazing friends. 

When it’s their turn to walk past the judges, the three of them break into a few steps of practiced dance choreography. Beomgyu’s mom helped them think of some super cool dance moves to use. Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Kai end their mini-performance with their arms crossed and backs pressed together, soaking in the applause from their teachers and classmates. 

No one else in the whole school prepared anything else ahead of time, so Beomgyu thinks that their group costume really stood out to the judges. 

At the end of the assembly, Beomgyu walks out of the gym holding a massive candy bar, a homework pass, and a certificate that says Best Group Costume. 

This is the greatest day of his life! 

…and it’s about to get even better. 

When Beomgyu arrives in the third-grade classroom, his jaw practically drops to the floor. The decorations look amazing! His dad has really outdone himself this time. 

The room has been totally transformed into a witch’s lair—complete with creepy spiderwebs, flying bats, and a massive cauldron placed in the center of the room. The lights are turned off, but Beomgyu can see perfectly fine thanks to the warm-toned fairy lights hanging around the room. There are also candles (fake, of course—it’s not a good idea to bring flammable objects to a third-grade classroom) that flicker mysteriously. Not to mention a huge snack table with a “bloody” chocolate fountain and even more desserts. 

The desks and chairs have been pushed aside to make room for games like Pin the Spider on the Web and other life-size decorations. As the kids begin to file into the classroom, the cauldron starts to bubble and froth until smoke pours from the opening. 

Beomgyu’s classmates look around the room in awe, loudly oohing and ahhing at all the spooky decorations. One thing about Choi Yeonjun—he’ll never do anything halfway. If he’s doing something, Beomgyu’s dad is always going to commit to it. Especially when that something is party planning. That’s the Choi guarantee!

Beomgyu smirks, feeling extra proud of his dad. He knows that his classmates are probably wishing their parents were even half as cool as Yeonjun. His dad is so awesome. 

“Dad! Dad, look!” Beomgyu shouts, pushing past his classmates to find Yeonjun across the room. His dad is putting the final touches on the Mummy Making Corner. He sets down the rolls of toilet paper he’s holding, crouching down to greet Beomgyu with a massive hug. 

“How’d it go, kiddo? Were the judges impressed by your dance moves?” Yeonjun asks, mirroring his son’s excitement. 

Kai and Taehyun wave their certificates in the air, jumping around happily. “We won, Mr. Choi! We won the award for Best Group Costume!” 

Yeonjun beams, giving each of the third graders a congratulatory high-five. “That’s amazing! I know you’ve all been practicing really hard. Why don’t you guys go grab some eyeball cupcakes to celebrate?”

Kai and Taehyun cheer, bouncing over to the snack table and chattering loudly about their new prizes. Beomgyu decides to hang back, giving his dad another tight squeeze. 

“Thanks again, Dad,” Beomgyu answers sincerely, tucking his prizes into his dad’s tote bag so they don’t get lost. “And all the decorations look perfect! I know Mr. Soobin will be impressed.”

Yeonjun blushes, adjusting his cowboy hat and smiling softly. “I hope so. But either way, these decorations are for you and the rest of your class. I want everyone to enjoy this Halloween party.” 

Beomgyu nods, lowering his voice to a whisper. “Well, our classroom definitely looks the best. Mrs. Kim’s second-grade classroom only has a couple of boring streamers. None of the parents even tried to decorate for the party.” 

Yeonjun hums, looking secretly pleased by this news. He picks up an extra garland of bats and readjusts them thoughtfully. “That’s because she’s the worst! I bet none of the other parents wanted to help because she’s so awful to them. I still haven’t forgiven her for everything she said at last year's parent-teacher conferences.” 

Beomgyu rolls his eyes, gesturing to the bubbling cauldron in the center of the room. “Clearly, there’s no competition! Dad, you totally crushed it. No other classroom has a working cauldron.” 

Yeonjun laughs loudly, turning around to hang up the last string of bats. He’s standing precariously on a step stool meant for third graders, but Beomgyu assumes he’ll probably be fine. 

“I’m just glad my dry ice guy was able to deliver everything in time.” 

“You have a dry ice guy?” Mr. Soobin’s voice suddenly echoes from behind them, layered with poorly concealed amusement and disbelief. Beomgyu grins, already knowing what’s about to happen next. He takes a quick step backward to watch the scene unfold. 

Another thing about Choi Yeonjun is that he gets startled very easily. 

Beomgyu’s dad always jumps and gasps at every minor noise or jumpscare. Last Halloween, Yeonjun banned scary movies for the entire month of October after watching Zombie Graves 2. The two of them had sleepovers in Yeonjun’s queen-sized bed for a week straight to avoid nightmares—but not for Beomgyu’s sake. 

So Beomgyu already knows what’s about to happen when Soobin accidentally scares Yeonjun. His dad yelps in surprise, teetering on the edge of the step stool and losing his balance. 

Luckily, Mr. Soobin has super fast reflexes. He reaches out to grab Yeonjun’s waist, steadying his flailing limbs and lowering him to the ground gently. Beomgyu’s dad quickly turns around in his arms, looking mildly horrified by his own clumsiness. 

“Mr. Soobin! I’m so sorry—I didn’t realize! I must’ve a-accidentally lost my balance. You surprised me!” His dad stutters, blushing like a tomato. 

While his dad internally and externally panics, Beomgyu decides to admire Mr. Soobin’s Halloween costume. The casual costume rule extends to the teachers and staff as well, but the principal is definitely more committed than most. He has a light dusting of hair color chalk in his hair—one side red and one side blue. He’s wearing a plain white T-shirt and form-fitting black jeans. The only difference between his dad’s pants and Mr. Soobin’s jeans is the holes near the waistline. Beomgyu giggles at the absurdity. 

On top of his boring t-shirt, Mr. Soobin is wearing a metallic bomber jacket with two different colors on each sleeve. The colors match the chalk in his hair perfectly—one side red and one side blue. There’s a tiny heart drawn on his cheek in eyeliner, but other than that, the makeup on his face is very simple. Beomgyu recognizes the costume as a super casual version of Harley Quinn and decides that Mr. Soobin is actually pretty cool. 

Mr. Soobin reaches up to fix the cowboy hat on Yeonjun’s head, correcting the position with a small grin. “It’s alright, Mr. Choi. I didn’t mean to sneak up behind you.” 

Beomgyu’s dad blinks up at him, lips parted in shock—probably because he’s never admired Mr. Soobin from this close before. “I’m glad you’re here. Thank you for coming.”

Now it’s Mr. Soobin’s turn to blush. He smiles shyly, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. The principal takes a step back, reluctantly removing his hand from the curve of Yeonjun’s waist. 

“Of course, I really wanted to see you,” Mr. Soobin murmurs softly, blinking down at Yeonjun with honest eyes. He finally seems to remember where he is—and who he is—and shakes his head aggressively, “—and Beomgyu too! I r-really wanted to see you and Beomgyu. Both of you. Together.” 

Soobin stutters, awkwardly bending down to greet the third grader beside them. Beomgyu fixes him with a knowing look. “Hi, Mr. Soobin. Thanks for catching my dad.”

The principal coughs awkwardly, running his hands through his two-toned hair. All of his emotions are written right across his face—embarrassment, fondness, panic, and maybe even a tiny bit of that mysterious like-like. Beomgyu really hopes that’s the case. 

“No problem, Beomgyu. Glad I could help.” 

Unfortunately, Beomgyu’s perfect bubble is suddenly popped by his lame teacher tentatively joining the conversation. 

“Mr. Soobin! I didn’t realize you’d be stopping by the classrooms today. Do you need anything?” Beomgyu’s teacher giggles, twirling her hair and fluttering her eyelashes at the principal. 

Beomgyu narrows his eyes. He knows what that look means—his teacher also has a crush on Mr. Soobin. He resists the urge to yell at her to back off. Mr. Soobin is going to be his other dad one day. He’s going to marry Beomgyu’s dad and live happily ever after. 

He doesn’t need his third-grade teacher messing everything up. 

Mr. Soobin clears his throat, straightening his jacket and trying to look professional—or at least as professional as he can look in a metallic bomber jacket. “Hello, Ms. Yoon. I’m fine, thank you. I decided to stop by the classrooms today to see all the decorations and costumes. Everything looks great!” 

Beomgyu’s teacher giggles again, smoothing down her dress carefully. The third grader resists the urge to scoff. She’s not even wearing a costume! She’s wearing the same ugly dress she usually wears throughout the school year. Don’t fall for it, Mr. Soobin!

“I’ll be standing by the snack table if you change your mind.” She answers, sending Mr. Soobin a flirty smile and sauntering across the room. 

Beomgyu can barely hide the disgust on his face. That was so weird and nasty. He can’t wait to tell Taehyun and Kai about this. 

But first, Beomgyu needs to do some damage control on his master plan. He just hopes that Mr. Soobin has a little bit of common sense. 

Yeonjun frowns, turning back around to detangle the garland of cartoon bats once again. He probably doesn’t want Mr. Soobin to see the disappointment on his face—but Beomgyu can tell. 

He always knows when his dad is feeling sad or angry. Most of the time, it’s just the two of them there to support each other. If Mr. Soobin makes this worse, Beomgyu is prepared to give him a piece of his mind—it doesn’t matter if he’s the school principal or the King of England! 

“Are you sure you don’t want to join her by the snack table?” Yeonjun asks, keeping his voice light. He doesn’t turn to look at Mr. Soobin. “It’s alright if you want to—I can handle myself over here.” 

It clearly doesn’t seem like it. Yeonjun has been working on the same stubborn knot since he first turned around. At this rate, maybe the garland will finally be detangled by Christmas.  

Soobin sighs, reaching forward to grab the garland from Yeonjun’s hands. He quickly gets to work on the knots, sliding beside Beomgyu’s dad and sending him a soft smile. “I’m positive. I’d much rather make sure you don’t die while putting up this string of cartoon bats.” 

The stiffness in Yeonjun’s shoulders melts away, replaced by an easy grin. He’s clearly relieved that the principal isn’t purposely ditching him. Beomgyu silently cheers. “Well, aren’t you a hero?” 

“More like an anti-hero,” Mr. Soobin answers, gesturing to his costume. Before he can think better of it, the principal continues, “I forgot to say this earlier, but I really like your costume. The cowboy hat, the boots, the all-black look. It’s amazing—like really, really great.” 

“I’d be better if my dad’s pants didn’t have holes in them.” Beomgyu interrupts, leaning forward to poke the exposed skin of Yeonjun’s hip bones. “He said he didn’t have any other black pants, but I know he’s lying.” 

Mr. Soobin’s eyes drop down to follow Beomgyu’s hand, gaze lingering on the smooth strip of exposed skin beneath Yeonjun’s waistband. The principal’s eyes widen in surprise, ears growing redder and redder by the second. 

“Oh,” Mr. Soobin mutters, voice cracking a little, “I d-didn’t realize. I think they look…nice.” 

All of Yeonjun’s sad feelings are apparently gone, because now he’s grinning like he just won the lottery. 

“Why don’t you go enjoy the party, Gyu? You don’t need to hover around me all day.” Yeonjun murmurs, barely tearing his eyes away from the principal, “Besides, Mr. Soobin is already here to keep me company. Have fun with your friends, baby.” 

Beomgyu nods dejectedly, pretending to walk towards the snack table. While his dad’s distracted, he quickly takes a sharp turn to the right. 

As if he would ever miss this! He needs to soak up every moment of their flirting for scientific purposes. It’ll completely throw off his data if he leaves now! 

Mr. Soobin and Beomgyu’s dad continue unknotting the tangled string, whispering together in hushed voices. Yeonjun laughs happily, and Beomgyu realizes that he needs to get closer if he’s going to hear anything. 

Beomgyu decides to quickly slide underneath one of the abandoned desks, hiding behind a discarded piece of purple tablecloth. Finally! This is the perfect opportunity to use his super secret spy skills. 

It seems like the two of them are joking around, keeping their voices low to avoid interrupting the party. 

“You know, the leader of your PTA Fanclub is right next door in the fourth-grade classroom. I could put in a good word for you if you’re single.” Yeonjun teases, holding up his end of the garland and stepping onto the stool. Mr. Soobin holds out his hands to steady Beomgyu’s dad in case of disaster. 

Beomgyu is a little annoyed that his dad is trying to set Mr. Soobin up with another woman. After all the work he’s put into this plan, why is Yeonjun throwing everything away? 

It takes another moment for Beomgyu to realize the hidden question inside his dad’s real question. Oh! 

“I think I’d rather just stay single.” Mr. Soobin answers, pursing his lips to hide his disgust at the suggestion. He offers his hand to Yeonjun, helping the elder hop down from the stool. Neither of them let go of their clasped hands right away. “Besides, I think I’m doing just fine right here.” 

“That’s what I was hoping you’d say,” Yeonjun grins, giving Mr. Soobin’s hand a gentle squeeze before letting go. He spins around to grab two rolls of toilet paper, smirking wickedly. “Since you’re here, I hope you’re ready to get mummified by a bunch of third graders.” 

Mr. Soobin doesn’t even put up a fight. “It would be an honor.” 

Later that day, Yeonjun goes home with a Best Classroom Decoration certificate from the administration—another new thing that the school randomly started doing. 

And Beomgyu goes home with the Best Group Costume award, the coolest dad in the world, and a really intense sugar high. 

Best. Halloween. Ever.

Chapter Text

Two weeks later, Beomgyu is starting to feel a little hopeless. 

Since the Halloween party, he’s been trying to push his dad and Mr. Soobin together at every given opportunity. The most recent PTA meeting was a total bust, and trying to read his dad’s text messages was a waste of time. 

He’s talked to Taehyun and Kai about the rest of his plan, drawing out maps and complicated graphs in sidewalk chalk during recess. Beomgyu just needs a few more opportunities to make them see that they’re completely meant for each other! 

Usually when Beomgyu is feeling frustrated, he asks his dad for help. His dad is a really smart guy and always knows what to say to make Beomgyu feel better. He also makes the best cheer up hot chocolate in the entire world (it’s from a powdered package, but Beomgyu doesn’t mind). 

But this isn’t something he can easily ask his dad about. Hey, Dad! Can you help me figure out the easiest way to make Mr. Soobin fall in love with you? I want him to be my new dad. 

That definitely won’t work. Besides, his dad is halfway around the world at some supermodel photoshoot for the rest of the weekend. He won’t be much help from Prague. 

So Beomgyu decides to ask the next best person. 

“Mom?” Beomgyu calls, slowly freeing himself from a massive blanket cocoon on the couch.  He can hear his mom humming softly from the kitchen, washing dishes and making a fresh batch of popcorn for their movie night. 

He really needs her help on this. 

“What’s up, kiddo?” His mom answers, waltzing back into the living room holding a giant bowl of popcorn and two sodas. His dad usually doesn’t let him have soda this late, but this is a special occasion. It’s not every day that he gets the chance to spend the weekend at his mom’s house. 

Not that his parents don’t like each other or something. In fact, it’s kinda the opposite. 

Beomgyu’s dad and mom are best friends. They’ve always loved each other a lot—just not like that. 

Choi Yeonjun met Shin Ryujin in college. 

They were both the star members of the university’s dance crew, constantly competing together and working on partner choreography after practice. According to his Uncle Changbin, Yeonjun and Ryujin were constantly attached at the hip—two halves of the same whole. Beomgyu likes to think that not a lot has changed since then. 

In college, they loved spending time together but never wanted any long term commitment. Everything was always very casual between them—natural. Nothing to worry about at all. 

That is, until Beomgyu came along. 

Having a baby was obviously a pretty massive surprise for two college seniors, but Yeonjun and Ryujin survived thanks to the help of their friends. Beomgyu has a lot of close Uncles and Aunts who helped them through. It takes a village— or however that saying goes. Beomgyu thinks he’s pretty lucky to be surrounded by such a cool village. 

Once Beomgyu was old enough, Yeonjun decided to stay home and work odd modeling jobs to support them. He worked on everything— ramen commercials, teeth-whitening ads, local department stores—you name it! He loved staying home with Beomgyu and wouldn’t change anything for the world. Instead, Yeonjun pushed Ryujin to chase her dreams of touring the world as an idol backup dancer. 

By the time Beomgyu was four years old, Yeonjun’s face was plastered on the cover of Vogue magazine, and Ryujin was traveling as a backup dancer for Twice. Beomgyu thinks—no, he knows that he has the coolest parents in the world. The three of them would sometimes meet up at different tour stops around the world, checking in with each other and going on crazy adventures. 

Once Beomgyu got older, Yeonjun wanted to give his son a more solid routine. He did lots of research, reading stacks of parenting books with smiling kids on the covers. Eventually, they made the decision to enroll Beomgyu into kindergarten at Crown Preparatory School—awarding Yeonjun full custody. 

Beomgyu knows that his parents love each other—they always have and always will. Just…not like that. They don’t like-like each other. 

Yeonjun actually introduced Ryujin to her new wife at some fancy modeling event. He remembers hearing all about their love story at the wedding last year. Beomgyu’s dad was the Man of Honor, blubbering like a baby throughout the whole ceremony. He couldn’t stop crying happy tears over his best friend finally finding her real soulmate. 

And the rest is history. 

“Mom,” Beomgyu asks, eyebrows furrowed in thought, “how did you get Mama Yeji to fall in love with you?”

Beomgyu’s mom looks surprised by the question, leaning back into their mountain of pillows with a hum. This is a pretty deep topic of conversation compared to their usual Ryu and Gyu Weekends together. 

“Honestly? I’m not quite sure. Just lucky, I guess.” 

Really lucky. Mama Yeji is one of the prettiest ladies that Beomgyu has ever seen in his life. She just left on a convenience store run to help them stock up on movie night snacks. Beomgyu thinks she’s super awesome. 

“That answer isn’t good enough,” Beomgyu grumbles under his breath, groaning in frustration. 

Ryujin laughs quietly, reaching forward to smooth down Beomgyu’s wild hair. “What answer are you looking for? It might help if I knew why you were asking.”

Beomgyu sighs, realizing that his mom is right. “The principal at my school—Mr. Soobin, who is not a lizard monster, by the way—is a total catch. He’s pretty, super smart, and listens to BTS just like we do! Anyway, I think that my dad should date him so that he can have a happy ending just like you.” 

Ryujin softens, struggling to suppress her laughter. “You’re upset because…you want your principal to date your dad?”

“Yes!” Beomgyu exclaims, waving his arms wildly. He sends his mom an exasperated look. Isn’t she listening? “Mr. Soobin is really hot, and the two of them flirt all the time! He even volunteered to chaperone my Halloween party just to see him!”

Ryujin grabs a handful of popcorn, fully immersed in Beomgyu’s third-grader gossip. His mom always listens to the tea.

“No way! He never wants to chaperone school events because he’s terrified of the PTA moms. This principal guy must be super hot.”

Beomgyu nods excitedly, grabbing his mom’s phone off the coffee table. “He is! Mr. Soobin has a picture of himself on the school website. You need to see it!” 

Beomgyu knows about the picture because he secretly caught his dad showing it to Uncle Changbin a few weeks ago. He remembers the way Uncle Changbin gasped out loud, zooming in on his perfectly dimpled, chiseled face. 

He’s so hot, Junnie. You gotta go for him!

Beomgyu and his mom snuggle closer together, hovering over the phone as they navigate the school’s website. When Ryujin clicks the link to see School Administrators, she gasps out loud. 

“Woah,” she whispers, blinking down at the photo in shock. Mr. Soobin is gorgeous. Beomgyu is practically vibrating with excitement as she tries to think of the right words, “No wonder your dad is trying to be more involved at school!”

“I know!” Beomgyu squeals, nodding his head excitedly, “And I have the perfect plan to get them together.”

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with you getting in so much trouble recently, right?” 

Beomgyu smiles sheepishly. “Maybe?” 

Ryujin frowns, shaking her head softly. “I know you’re only trying to help, but I don’t want you to keep getting yourself in trouble for this. Your dad is perfectly capable of finding a boyfriend on his own.”

Beomgyu doesn’t believe that for even a second.

Yeonjun hasn’t been on a real date in years— and it’s not like people aren’t trying! He gets asked on dates all the time, but he always turns everyone down. If Beomgyu’s dad was actually capable of finding a boyfriend on his own, he would’ve said yes to one of the thirty guys who constantly hit on him in the grocery store! But he doesn’t. 

Clearly, he needs Beomgyu’s help with this whole dating thing. 

In the end, Beomgyu promises to stop meddling with Yeonjun and Soobin’s relationship—kind of. His fingers were obviously crossed behind his back! It works every time. 

Beomgyu can’t give up! Not when they’re so close to finally having a breakthrough. Maybe he’ll stop trying to get in trouble on purpose, but trouble always seems to find him anyway. 

———

Beomgyu’s hard work finally pays off after his fourth visit to the principal’s office. 

He really wishes that this visit was all part of his master plan, but that wouldn’t really be the truth. Like most of Beomgyu’s behavioral discretions, this was a total accident. 

Since the weather is getting nicer, the third-grade students have started having outdoor recess again— thank goodness. Beomgyu thinks he would’ve gone crazy if he had spent another recess running around the gym or coloring at his desk. He needs to explore! He’s a young, growing boy with lots of energy—or at least that’s what his mom always says. 

Taehyun, Kai, and Beomgyu’s most recent obsession is searching for (and adopting) different bugs around the playground. They spend their precious recess time turning over big rocks, squealing with excitement when they find rollie-pollies and centipedes hiding underneath. 

Taehyun knows like a million facts about insects, so he’s always blabbering about segmented bodies, exoskeletons, and the importance of bees. Beomgyu thinks it’s pretty cool that Taehyun is so smart. He wishes that he could remember facts as well as his friend. 

“You know, insects play an important role in our ecosystems as decomposers.” Taehyun murmurs, slowly lifting up another rock to check for any bug friends underneath. There are a few ants and tiny rollie-pollies that immediately scatter—probably terrified of the giants accidentally evicting them. 

“What’s a decomposer? That sounds kinda gross.” Beomgyu asks, scooping up one of the rollie-pollie bugs before they get too far. He quickly drops the little guy into the homemade terrarium with the rest of their insect friends. 

Taehyun hums, reaching over to grab another massive rock. “Decomposers are just animals that eat dead stuff to recycle energy into the food chain—like worms, termites, fungi, and these pillbugs.” 

He points to one of the tiny gray bugs at the bottom of their terrarium. Taehyun likes to call the bugs by their fancy names, but Beomgyu learned from his dad that those pillbugs can also be called “rollie-pollies.” 

“They eat dead stuff?” Kai wonders, looking mildly disgusted, “I bet their breath smells terrible. Maybe we should try to find some mini toothpaste or mouthwash to give them!” 

Taehyun sends them both a deadpan look. “That type of chemical would probably kill our whole terrarium, guys!” 

Beomgyu nods solemnly. They’re so lucky to have Taehyun around. He always thinks of everything. 

They’ve already spent the whole week collecting some new bug friends to add to their homemade terrarium. Beomgyu is so happy that everyone seems to be getting along! The rollie-pollies love hiding underneath the dirt, and the ants love climbing all over the leaves that Kai added to the enclosure. 

Beomgyu really thought this whole homemade bug terrarium thing was a great idea—but clearly he was very, very wrong. 

After many discussions, the three of them reached an agreement. Kai didn’t want the bugs to be cold outside and Taehyun wanted to make sure the bugs got a proper education, so Beomgyu came up with a master plan to take their terrarium inside the classroom. All he needed to do was transfer their new friends into a smaller, properly aerated pencil case! 

Unfortunately for their classmates, Beomgyu accidentally made the holes on the top a little too big…

Within minutes, every single one of their bug friends had escaped into the middle of their third-grade classroom. After everything they’ve done to help them—give them a new home, friends, and pieces of their lunch—the bugs immediately ran away. What a bunch of traitors! 

Creepy crawlies of all types are skittering around the floor, climbing on backpacks and art supplies and personal belongings. His teacher screams and drops her coffee mug, which explodes into millions of ceramic pieces. Her lukewarm coffee splashes all over Beomgyu’s shoes. 

“Ew!” One of Beomgyu’s classmates screeches loudly, “There’s a centipede on my math textbook! Ms. Yoon! Help!” 

“Don’t hurt Mr. Fuzzykins!” Taehyun yelps, rushing over to save his precious bug besties, “He’s just trying to learn multiplication!” 

Beomgyu stares at the surrounding chaos, shoulders slumped in defeat. This is not how he expected this to go. 

It only makes sense that he’s immediately called down to the principal’s office. 

Yeonjun once again meets Beomgyu in the lobby, looking down at him with an exasperated expression. He almost doesn’t even look surprised. 

“Let’s do this, Gyu. C’mon.” His dad sighs, ushering him towards the principal’s office with a frown. 

The meeting is exactly like the others—Beomgyu’s dad and Mr. Soobin are pretty familiar with the whole disciplinary meeting thing by now. They talk about Beomgyu’s bad behavior, they flirt a little bit, and Beomgyu picks at the loose thread on his chair. Everything is pretty much the same, just with a little more exasperation. 

It isn’t until the end of their meeting that Mr. Soobin suddenly goes off script. He’s supposed to tell Beomgyu to continue working on his behavior and then say something flirty to Yeonjun. Not this. 

“It’s clear that more appropriate measures need to be taken regarding Beomgyu’s behavior.” Mr. Soobin says, looking a little nauseous, “Maybe we should discuss a full disciplinary plan for the rest of the school year. One-on-one?” 

Beomgyu absolutely hates the sound of that. This is not the way this meeting is supposed to go. Full disciplinary plan? Why on earth would he need one of those?

Beomgyu looks to his dad for help, silently miming something that he hopes translates to let’s get out of here instead! 

Instead, Yeonjun completely ignores his son’s frantic waving. He nods slowly, looking at Beomgyu with poorly concealed disappointment. “I think that’s a great idea, Mr. Soobin. Maybe we could meet over dinner this weekend? That’s the only time I’m free—my schedule has been crazy recently.” 

Beomgyu blinks at his dad in shock. Is he joking? Why is he going along with this dumb disciplinary plan? 

Yeonjun and Mr. Soobin should be so wrapped up in each other that they completely forget to punish Beomgyu! But now they’re trying to plan a meeting without Beomgyu to talk about his behavior. Not good. 

Beomgyu also knows that his dad is totally lying about the “crazy schedule” thing. It’s the off-season for major fashion show events, so Yeonjun has had more free time than usual recently. 

When they get home from school each day, Beomgyu and Yeonjun spend some time working on math homework and then watch a few hours of K-pop music videos. Then his dad will drink some tea, do his hour-long skincare routine, and be in bed by 9:00 PM. 

He could definitely make time for a meeting next week, but instead, he’s suggesting they see each other over the weekend. 

Maybe his dad is smarter than he looks. 

Beomgyu decides to stay quiet, holding his breath and waiting for Mr. Soobin’s answer. 

Mr. Soobin’s serious face melts into a relieved grin, nodding his head enthusiastically. He meets Beomgyu’s eyes and quickly schools his expression into something a little more professional and stern. 

“That sounds doable. Only because it’s so necessary to build this behavior plan, of course.” Mr. Soobin emphasizes. 

“Right, very necessary.” Beomgyu’s dad agrees, smirking, “Text me the details?”  

Mr. Soobin sighs dreamily, stumbling a little as he opens the office door. The three of them step out into the lobby. Beomgyu is very familiar with this part. 

“Absolutely. I’ll text you.” 

Beomgyu hides a secret smirk of his own.

He’s a little annoyed that Mr. Soobin would suggest an actual disciplinary plan, but he’s proud of his dad’s quick thinking. Seeing each other over the weekend? Outside of school? Without Beomgyu?

Beomgyu is pretty sure that sounds like a date. 

———

No matter how many times Beomgyu pesters his dad about his date not-date with Mr. Soobin, Yeonjun still refuses to tell him anything. 

He started by avoiding the question completely, humming as he tried to make the two of them breakfast—which was honestly Beomgyu’s first clue. His dad is a mediocre chef, always burning the pancakes and setting off every smoke alarm in the apartment. They’ve had to evacuate the building a few too many times for Yeonjun to casually start cooking again. 

But here he is—his dad humming happily, dancing around the kitchen, and attempting to make edible pancakes. Beomgyu has always been able to read his dad like an open book, and right now, every page is screaming HAPPY in massive font. 

Whenever Beomgyu asks about their meeting, his dad continues to answer the same way. “I had a very nice time with Mr. Soobin, Gyu. We talked about your behavior over dinner, and I feel much better about everything. You’re lucky he’s so kind.” 

Beomgyu has no idea what any of that could possibly mean. Is he still in trouble? What happened with the disciplinary plan? Does Beomgyu’s dad think it was a date?

But there’s no answer to be found. Yeonjun has been very smiley all morning, giggling at his phone and sighing like some maiden in a fairytale. Maybe Mr. Soobin has finally swept him off his feet—knight in shining armor style. 

Once Beomgyu realizes that he’s probably not getting any more information from his dad, he decides to go straight to the source. 

Mr. Soobin helps monitor their outdoor recess every other Thursday afternoon. He stands over by the basketball courts, watching the students with his arms crossed and talking with the other teachers. 

This afternoon, he’s standing alone. Beomgyu decides it’s the perfect time to have a heart-to-heart chat.

He tells Taehyun and Kai to stay near the swing set, putting on his most serious “I Mean Business” face. Beomgyu tugs on the side of Mr. Soobin’s pants insistently, craning his neck to look up at the principal. 

“Mr. Soobin.” 

The principal looks down in surprise, clearly not expecting any visitors during recess. Beomgyu can’t believe how tall Mr. Soobin is—even taller than his dad, who is the tallest person he knows. Beomgyu’s dad deserves to be with someone tall. 

Mr. Soobin smiles softly, bending down until he’s practically eye-level with the third grader. “Hi, Beomgyu. I was wondering where you were. Have you been behaving like we talked about?”

Beomgyu shrugs noncommittally. “I guess so. But I have some questions.” 

“How can I help?”

Beomgyu sighs, reaching up to pat Mr. Soobin on the shoulder. They’re about to have a very important conversation. 

“Listen, Mr. Soobin…can I call you Soobin?”

Mr. Soobin scrunches his eyebrows in confusion, trying his hardest not to laugh. “No, you may not. What’s your question?” 

“Ugh, fine.” Beomgyu groans, resisting the urge to pout. Whatever, he has more important matters to attend to, “Mr. Soobin, I’ve just been wondering—if you like my dad so much, why haven’t you asked him on a real date?” 

Mr. Soobin immediately chokes, coughing and struggling to clear his throat. His eyes are practically bulging out of his head in surprise. Beomgyu watches him with an angelic smile, fluttering his eyelashes innocently. 

“Uh-um, what?” Mr. Soobin wheezes, “I don’t—I’m not sure I understand—I just—”

Beomgyu doesn’t know how much more awkward coughing he can take. This is serious business. “You do like him, right? I thought your meeting this weekend was supposed to be a date, but no one will tell me anything.”

Mr. Soobin’s face looks a little pained as he responds. “Well, it’s more complicated than that, Beomgyu—“

Beomgyu is so tired of excuses! Just because he’s only in third grade does not mean that he’s a little kid! The two of them have been dancing around each other for months now, constantly flirting and sending shy glances at each other when the other isn’t looking. Beomgyu has practically unraveled the entire right arm of Mr. Soobin’s chair! He doesn’t know how many more demerits he’ll need to get to make these two idiots understand. 

Beomgyu huffs in frustration, placing a hand on Mr. Soobin’s shoulder. Apparently, he needs to explain this in the simplest terms possible. 

“When two people like each other a lot, they usually get married—that’s what happens in the movies anyway! Why haven’t you married my dad yet, Mr. Soobin?” 

Mr. Soobin’s jaw drops open in surprise, but no other words come out. He looks like his brain is trying to reboot from a major system crash. Beomgyu can’t help but feel a little smug, even though he doesn’t understand why his question is so shocking. 

Once Mr. Soobin’s brain fully reboots, he quickly pulls Beomgyu aside with furrowed eyebrows. He looks around to see if any other teachers are eavesdropping before slumping his shoulders in defeat. Mr. Soobin clearly recognizes that Beomgyu is not willing to give up on this anytime soon. 

Now that the question is hanging out in the open, there’s no avoiding it. 

“It doesn’t really work like that, kiddo,” Mr. Soobin begins, sighing heavily and running his hands through his hair. Before Beomgyu can protest, he continues, “Besides, I doubt your dad would even want anything like that.” 

Now it’s Beomgyu’s turn to be surprised. Is he joking? 

Beomgyu thought the two of them were on the same page, but clearly Mr. Soobin isn’t even on the same planet if he thinks Yeonjun doesn’t like him.  

“Are you serious? He totally does.” Beomgyu emphasizes, shaking his head in disbelief. These two are more oblivious than he thought! “Mr. Soobin, he talks about you all the time and always giggles at his phone. And he kept telling my mom about how cute your dimples are. I wish I had dimples like yours.”

“He did?” Mr. Soobin asks quietly, fidgeting with the cuff of his shirt and trying to hide his growing smile. “Well…Beomgyu, even if it was a possibility to marry your dad, I would never want to overstep with your family.”

Beomgyu tilts his head in confusion. Huh? 

“But my mom and my mom’s wife totally support you!” Beomgyu insists, stomping his foot in frustration, “And I know my dad deserves someone who loves him.” 

“Your mom’s… wife?” Mr. Soobin repeats incredulously, a dazed look in his eye. For a moment, he looks shocked by this revelation—then relieved. Beomgyu doesn’t really understand why Mr. Soobin would care so much about his mom’s wife. Maybe he just wants Mama Yeji's approval? 

“Yeah?” Beomgyu answers, wrinkling his nose in confusion. 

After a moment, Mr. Soobin finally snaps out of his weird trance. “Listen, Beomgyu. I appreciate this, but—”

“Mr. Soobin,” Beomgyu interrupts, waving his hands wildly, “all I know is that my dad usually comes home from dinner dates looking really sad. But he was so happy after your disckaplenary plan date! You don’t seem like you’ll make my dad really sad, Mr. Soobin.” 

“Disciplinary.” Mr. Soobin corrects softly, staring at the other kids on the playground with a faraway look in his eyes. The principal eventually smiles, reaching forward to ruffle Beomgyu’s dark brown hair. “I don’t want to make your dad really sad, Beomgyu. Thank you for telling me this.” 

And with that, Beomgyu knows that his work here is done! He’s glad that Mr. Soobin is finally able to see what’s been right in front of him the entire time. 

The two of them would be perfect together—there’s nothing complicated about it. 

He skips back over to his friends, loudly boasting about being the smartest kid in the entire world. Taehyun rolls his eyes playfully, and Kai cheers, scooting over to make room for Beomgyu on their bench. 

Beomgyu tells them all about his conversation with Mr. Soobin and how he thinks the two of them will get married one day. They’re both really jealous that Mr. Soobin might be his new dad. Kai asks if he can be the flower boy at the wedding, but Beomgyu isn’t sure. He knows that he’ll have a first pick over whatever job he wants—but he isn't sure if he wants to be the flower boy or the ring bearer yet. Or maybe the Man of Honor! 

But he doesn’t need to make a decision about that now. Mr. Soobin needs time to process everything Beomgyu said and probably think of a few different ways to sweep Yeonjun off his feet. 

Beomgyu is just relieved that he can stop trying to get in trouble on purpose. Getting in trouble every single week is hard work. His days outside the principal’s office are over. 

He’s ready to sit back, relax, and enjoy the rest of the school year. 

———

When his classroom’s intercom suddenly flickers to life during science class, Beomgyu knows it means trouble. 

“Ms. Yoon, please send Choi Beomgyu down to the Principal’s Office as soon as possible. Thank you.” 

Usually, his classmates ooh and ahh when someone gets called down to the principal’s office. But for Beomgyu, everyone has started to expect these messages. 

Beomgyu’s teacher sends him a confused look, shrugging her shoulders and pointing to the doorway. “You heard her, Mr. Choi. Grab the office pass on the wall and head down.” 

Beomgyu slowly gets up from his seat, mind running through endless possibilities. What now? He hasn’t done anything bad over the past few days. He stopped trying to get in trouble after last week’s Bug Infestation Incident. He sends a worried look to Taehyun and Kai. 

Going to the principal’s office is much scarier when you’re not doing it on purpose. 

By the time he walks down to the front office, Beomgyu is feeling incredibly frustrated. He’s been behaving so well in class recently—why is he still being called down to the office? Is his behavior not good enough? He didn’t do anything wrong! This time, at least. 

Instead of sitting on the bench and waiting, Beomgyu bursts into Mr. Soobin’s office with a fire in his eyes. He puts his hands on his hips and stands tall, hoping to look as intimidating as possible. 

“Hello, Mr. Soobin. I heard you wanted to see me?” 

Mr. Soobin smiles bashfully, gesturing to the leather chair in front of him. Beomgyu sits in his usual seat, feeling strangely comforted by the unraveled thread and silly trinkets. 

There’s a moment of awkward silence before Mr. Soobin finally clears his throat, leaning forward with clasped hands. He’s having trouble looking at Beomgyu directly, nervously avoiding his eyes. 

Beomgyu has never felt more confused in his life. 

“Uh—so, um…about your dad…” Mr. Soobin murmurs quietly, grabbing a bright pink sticky note and pen off his desk, “…what does he—uh, what does he like?”

Beomgyu can’t believe what he’s hearing. Did Mr. Soobin really send him to the principal's office to ask about his dad’s preferences?  

Beomgyu’s eyes slide to his pen, watching the way it eagerly hovers over the sticky note. Mr. Soobin really isn’t kidding. Finally, someone is treating this seriously. 

The third grader smirks, making himself comfortable in the chair across from Mr. Soobin. He leans forward to grab a piece of candy from the decorative Sanrio bowl in front of him—just like he’d been dreaming about doing for the past few months. 

And now he can. He’s not here to be scolded—Beomgyu didn’t do anything wrong! Instead, he’s here to give Mr. Soobin insider information. 

For the first time, Beomgyu and Mr. Soobin are on the same team. 

Beomgyu smirks, popping a piece of candy in his mouth and leaning back in his seat. “I’m so glad you asked…”

———

Beomgyu feels like he’s going insane. 

It’s the weekend. He should be relaxing with a big bowl of ice cream in his lap, but instead, he’s pacing the hallways like a total crazy person. On a Saturday night!

Beomgyu can hardly contain his anxious energy. He’s spent the entire day twiddling his little thumbs, trying desperately to distract himself from the unbelievable mystery hiding beyond the front door. Beomgyu hasn’t felt this anxious since his first trip to the principal’s office. 

This is all Mr. Soobin’s fault. 

Apparently, Beomgyu’s secret intel about his dad’s likes and dislikes was a little too perfect. He told Mr. Soobin about all of the important stuff—his dad’s favorite flowers, favorite restaurant, favorite dessert, favorite movie, and most importantly, his dad’s favorite thing about Mr. Soobin’s face. 

It’s your dimples, Beomgyu had answered matter-of-factly, and also your pouty lips. That’s what my dad always says when he’s on the phone with Uncle Changbin. 

A trade of very valuable information—and apparently, Mr. Soobin wasn’t willing to waste another second. 

Because before Beomgyu even realized, his dad was telling him to be good, placing a kiss on his forehead, and skipping out the front door. His moms were already in the kitchen preparing dinner, dancing around and calling for Beomgyu to join them. Neither of them seemed phased by his dad’s departure, whispering excitedly when they thought Beomgyu couldn’t hear them. 

But Beomgyu knows that something is up. His dad was wearing his going on a hot date sweater—which Beomgyu barely recognized at first! That shirt has been tucked away in the back of his dad’s closet for way too long. 

Alarm bells immediately start ringing in Beomgyu’s head. RED ALERT: Date in Progress. Suspects include Beomgyu’s dad and a very handsome elementary school principal. Proceed with caution. 

This morning, Beomgyu’s dad sat him down and talked about the possibility of dating again. His dad kept saying things like how Beomgyu will always be the most important person in his life and that he’ll never be replaced. It was a little weird.

Beomgyu obviously already knew that. He knows that he’ll always be the most important person in his dad’s life. It’s been the two of them against the world since Beomgyu was born. He definitely knows that he doesn’t need to worry about that. 

So Beomgyu just nodded, pretending like this was surprising news to him. He was really busy trying to finish his homemade comic of Anpanman for Kai. He promised to draw him a comic over the weekend, so Beomgyu is obviously pretty distracted. 

He definitely didn’t realize that Yeonjun was talking about a possible date tonight. With Mr. Soobin. 

Beomgyu decides to check the doorway for the thirty-eighth time, hoping his dad might have spontaneously materialized within the last forty-five seconds. He huffs, dragging a kitchen stool over to the door so he can see through the peephole. The hallway is still suspiciously empty. 

What could they possibly be doing? 

“Gyu, honey—come back over here and enjoy the movie! It’s almost your favorite part.” His mom calls, patting the spot next to her comfortingly. 

They’ve been watching Mamma Mia—per Beomgyu’s request—for the last hour, but the younger boy can’t even enjoy the movie. While Sophie is trying to find her real dad, Beomgyu is too busy searching for his own. How is he supposed to sing along in these conditions?

Instead, his brain is running wild with romantic scenarios. 

Maybe Mr. Soobin is kissing his dad in the rain. Or maybe they’re riding a tandem bicycle together—that’s pretty romantic, right? If not a bicycle, maybe they’re riding off into the sunset on the back of a beautiful horse instead. 

As long as Mr. Soobin and his dad aren’t singing a spontaneous musical number about their powerful love connection—because that would totally break Beomgyu’s heart. He could be a great backup singer if they just gave him a chance! 

No matter what they’re doing, there’s one huge problem—Beomgyu is missing all of it. 

Beomgyu sends his mom a disappointed look, sighing loudly. He’s clearly doing some pretty serious detective work over here. And he doesn’t understand why she’s not more interested in Yeonjun’s dating life. He’s technically her ex-boyfriend! Shouldn’t she care about his new love life?

“Mom! How am I supposed to focus on the movie when Mr. Soobin is literally taking my dad on a date right now?” 

Ryujin pats the spot next to her again, and Beomgyu groans, stepping down off his stool and heading back towards the couch. His hallway observations can wait until after Sophie finishes her rendition of Lay All Your Love on Me. 

Mama Yeji giggles, shaking her head fondly as Beomgyu slumps back over to the couch. He throws himself into the cozy spot between them, crossing his arms petulantly. Yeji reaches over to smooth down the mess of his wild hair. 

“Your mom told me all about your master plan, buddy. Don’t you think this date is a good thing? That means they like each other.” 

“Yes!” Beomgyu wails pathetically, “Of course it’s a good thing. I just wish I was there to spy on them while it happens! It’s so unfair. Why would they go without me?”

Beomgyu’s mom struggles to stifle her laughter. She shares a secret look with Mama Yeji that Beomgyu doesn’t quite understand. He really hates it when they do that. 

“Because dates are usually supposed to be private, kiddo.” His mom explains slowly, “That way, both people can get to know each other without any distractions.” 

“I’m not a distraction!” Beomgyu pouts, grumbling under his breath about father-son loyalty and prehistoric dating practices, “This whole thing was my idea anyway. The least they could’ve done is invite me along.” 

His dad has been gone for almost four hours and twenty-three minutes. And Beomgyu has been dangling on the edge of his seat throughout this whole process. It’s cruel and unusual punishment to keep him here without any updates—he needs to know what’s going on! 

Is Mr. Soobin using his advice? Are they sitting at a restaurant? Are they planning to get married?

Beomgyu can barely handle the suspense. 

Halfway through Lay All Your Love on Me, Beomgyu hears a faint jangle of keys and the clickety-clack of heeled boots in the hallway. He immediately recognizes that sound, sitting up straighter in his seat. 

His dad is finally back. 

Before either of his moms can stop him, Beomgyu is racing towards the front door with poorly-contained glee. He can’t wait to hear all about their magical date! As long as Mr. Soobin remembered at least a little bit of Beomgyu’s advice, he’s sure their date was a total hit. 

“Gyu, wait a second—” His mom warns, standing up from the couch and reaching out to stop him. 

But it doesn’t matter. Beomgyu is lightning fast. He ignores her warning, ducking underneath her hand and leaping over their discarded snack wrappers. No one is going to stop him from getting to that door. 

Judging from the faint sound of voices in the hallway, his dad and Mr. Soobin are probably standing in front of the door. Beomgyu decides to show them both how polite he is by opening the door for them. He doesn’t understand why they would want to hang out in the dingy hallway anyway. 

Beomgyu reaches up for the handle, flinging the door open with an excited grin on his face. 

For a moment, Beomgyu is really confused about what’s happening on the other side of the door. The two of them are standing really close together, squished like they’re trying to combine into one whole person. 

Finally, he realizes what’s going on: Mr. Soobin is kissing his dad—like actually kissing him. 

Mr. Soobin has one hand outstretched against the wall to prop himself up, leaning forward to capture Yeonjun’s lips in his. The principal’s other hand is sitting low on Yeonjun’s waist, pressing their bodies together until they’re practically a jumble of limbs. Beomgyu’s eyes widen in surprise. 

Mr. Soobin is wearing regular-person clothes for the first time ever—a nice pair of jeans, a casual white button-up, and a skinny black tie. Usually, Beomgyu only sees him in his super fancy principal suit and dress pants. He barely even recognizes Mr. Soobin at first. 

Beomgyu’s dad is leaning against the wall outside their apartment, tilting his head upwards to kiss Mr. Soobin within an inch of his life. His arms are gently wrapped around Mr. Soobin’s neck, with one hand caressing the side of the principal’s face. The kiss looks magical, like something straight out of Beomgyu’s favorite romance movies. 

Beomgyu’s dad is obviously wearing his best date outfit—a red and navy blue striped sweater, jeans that show off his little waist, and sparkly lip gloss. He’s also wearing a brown jacket that Beomgyu doesn’t recognize. It’s totally oversized, practically swallowing Yeonjun’s small frame and slipping off one of his shoulders. Beomgyu realizes that it must be Mr. Soobin’s jacket. 

That’s so romantic. Mr. Soobin gave Yeonjun his jacket like a true gentleman! Which is definitely needed because his dad's sweater is sometimes a little see-through. 

Beomgyu’s dad needs someone to take care of him sometimes, so he knows that he made the right choice. Mr. Soobin would be a great boyfriend and an even better second dad. 

But they should probably check their hearing first. Somehow, neither of them heard the commotion behind the door or the sound of the creaky hinges swinging open. They’re too wrapped up in their own little world. 

Beomgyu can’t believe this is really happening. 

“No way…” Beomgyu gasps, unable to contain himself for even a second longer. He’s staring up at Yeonjun and Mr. Soobin in awe, jaw dropped in surprise. 

At the sound of Beomgyu’s voice, Yeonjun and Mr. Soobin jump apart like they’ve been burned. They look disoriented and embarrassed, cheeks burning bright red and eyes unfocused. In his haste to separate from Yeonjun, Mr. Soobin steps backward and accidentally knocks his head on the low-hanging door frame. The principal cries out in pain and clutches his head, muttering a few bad words under his breath. 

Yeonjun stares down at his son in shock, covering his kiss-swollen lips with shaky hands. “Oh god—Gyu! Why are you—uh, it’s not what it looks like?” 

Beomgyu is old enough to know that’s a total lie. He knows what he saw—and it’s everything he was opening for and more. 

“I knew it!” Beomgyu screams, pointing between Mr. Soobin and his dad with a wicked grin. He jumps up and down a few times in excitement. “You guys like each other. My plan totally worked! Mom, I told you my plan would work!” 

Yeonjun looks mildly horrified by his son’s celebratory outburst. “Your… plan?” 

“Duh,” Beomgyu answers, smirking and crossing his arms over his chest. He feels so proud of himself that his face might explode. “Because I’m the biggest genius in the whole universe!”

“Where is your mother?” Yeonjun asks helplessly, running his hands through his dark hair. He sends Mr. Soobin an apologetic look and tries to usher Beomgyu back inside. 

Not happening. Beomgyu already missed too much on their date—he’s not missing their hallway romance, too! 

Ryujin opens the door wider behind Beomgyu, peeking her head outside to see the commotion for herself. Mama Yeji follows closely behind, grinning excitedly. 

Ryujin waves politely at Mr. Soobin, raising her eyebrows teasingly at the awkward pair. She offers her hand out to shake. “Hi! I’m Beomgyu’s mother and Yeonjun’s gay ex-wife, Shin Ryujin. I was planning to meet you at the parent-teacher conferences this year, but Beomgyu said it would mess with Yeonjun’s complicated mating ritual if I attended. It’s nice to finally meet you!”

Mr. Soobin’s face looks incredibly pale, but he still reaches forward to shake Beomgyu’s mom’s hand. He has sparkly lip gloss smudged on his lips, and his hair is sticking up in different directions, but Beomgyu thinks he still looks really handsome. He hopes that his moms are super impressed. 

“My— what?” Yeonjun squeaks, wrapping the brown jacket tighter around his shoulders. His mouth opens and closes a few times while he tries to think of the right thing to say. “Ryujin, you said you had mandatory practice that day! And stop calling me your ex-husband! We were never even married. That’s not—I don’t have— whatever.” 

Beomgyu grins happily, reaching forward to grab Yeonjun’s hand. “Dad, it doesn’t even matter anymore because my plan worked! Did you have fun on your date? I helped Mr. Soobin plan the perfect date for you. Did you like it?” 

If possible, Mr. Soobin looks even more mortified by Beomgyu’s admission.

“Beomgyu,” He groans quietly, hiding his face in his hands and probably wishing the ground would swallow him whole. The principal looks thoroughly defeated. 

Yeonjun grins, wiggling his eyebrows in Mr. Soobin’s direction. He looks unbelievably pleased by this information. 

“You asked my nine-year-old for dating advice?” 

Soobin sighs loudly, sending the third grader a pointed look. Beomgyu is pretty sure that look is supposed to mean: thanks for ratting me out, kid. He resists the urge to laugh evilly. 

“Hyung, please don’t tease me,” Mr. Soobin begs, running his fingers through his disheveled hair. He looks a little overwhelmed by everything that has happened in the last ten minutes. “I just wanted to make sure that everything was perfect for you—because you deserve only the best. And, well, I was hoping that I could be that for you. If you’d let me.” 

Yeonjun practically melts into a pile of mush, reaching forward to grab Mr. Soobin’s hand. It’s like the entire world has faded into the background, leaving only the two of them standing together in this hallway. Beomgyu holds his breath, afraid of ruining the moment (again). 

“I’d really like that, Binnie,” Yeonjun murmurs, blinking up at Mr. Soobin with wide, earnest eyes. “The date was perfect—not because of any secret advice, but because I was spending time with you.” 

Beomgyu pretends to gag, rolling his eyes. So cheesy. But he also can’t help but enjoy how sappy they’re being together—it’s a very welcome change from Yeonjun’s usual dates. 

Beomgyu’s mom sighs dreamily, leaning her head on Yeji’s shoulder. She looks so proud of Yeonjun that it makes Beomgyu feel extra warm inside. He’s so lucky to have such amazing parents in his life. Clearly, Beomgyu will do anything to make them happy—like creating a ridiculous plan to sweep the principal off his feet. 

Which definitely worked, by the way. 

“Are you guys gonna be gross like Mama Ryujin and Yeji now?” Beomgyu asks suspiciously, looking between the two couples and their lovey-dovey relationships. Maybe he didn’t think this whole romance thing through. 

Mr. Soobin blushes and squeezes Yeonjun’s hand. “I sure hope so…”

Beomgyu nods excitedly, jumping forward to grab Mr. Soobin’s other hand. “Great answer! Are you staying for dessert, Mr. Soobin? We have lots of different ice cream flavors. My dad really likes the mint chocolate chip one, but I think it’s gross! So we have other flavors, too.”  

Mr. Soobin flounders for a second, looking at Beomgyu’s dad for reassurance. Yeonjun grins softly, bumping their shoulders together. He looks so happy that he’s practically glowing. 

“I’d love to, Beomgyu.” Mr. Soobin responds, allowing the third grader to drag their chain of people through the open door. Mr. Soobin and Beomgyu’s dad take off their shoes while the youngest starts explaining where all of their bathrooms are. He promises to give Mr. Soobin a full tour once they finish their ice cream. 

Ryujin and Yeji grab each of the ice cream flavors from the freezer, creating a buffet-style assortment with sprinkles, whipped cream, and other toppings. Mr. Soobin allows Beomgyu to pour some rainbow sprinkles on top of his ice cream, trusting the third grader’s judgment on creating the best ice cream sundae ever. Yeonjun watches the two of them fondly, ignoring the childish kissy faces that Ryujin sends in his direction. 

Everything is perfect—and it’s all because of Beomgyu’s master plan. He was hoping Mr. Soobin would stay for dessert, but now Beomgyu is kinda hoping that he’ll stay forever. 

Sitting around the dinner table with his moms, his dad, and Mr. Soobin, Beomgyu realizes that his luck has totally changed. 

Just wait until Taehyun and Kai hear about this!