Crumbling Bridges {YuJae} | complete

twenty-two

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Yuta stays the night. And the next night. And the next, until he's borrowing Jaehyun's clothes and the younger completes his day to day tasks with a new enthusiasm, his boyfriend's presence the perfect accompaniment to the routine. They walk to work together, then walk home together, choosing to stroll along with intertwined hands over taking the bus any day, and Jaehyun cooks dinner while Hyejin and Yuta sit at the counter, discussing all kinds of random topics that always make him laugh. The weeks are no longer threaded with boredom or stress, and Monday mornings are no longer hell.

When Yuta heads home on a Thursday evening, the promise of returning tangles on their lips as they share a kiss in the hallway. Jaehyun doesn't want to let him go. He's so used to their routine together, as a couple, that being left alone again seems unbearable. But he bids Yuta goodbye and thinks about seeing him the next day at work again. Everything is certain with Yuta. The man sticks his words, never lets him down, speaks an unfiltered truth in all his confessions and childhood stories, eyes showing off his true enthusiasm towards life.

"Is he gonna move in? Like, for real?" Hyejin asks over dinner, the first without Yuta for nearly two weeks.

Jaehyun looks at the empty chair, wistful as he stabs at the pasta in his bowl. The girl doesn't appear to be against the idea. In fact, hope sparkles in her eyes, the fire burning with gentle curiosity.

"Maybe. We haven't discussed it. It's still quite soon, I suppose." Jaehyun replies. Hyejin nods, a poor attempt at concealing her disappointment.

Having Yuta around the house helped the two of them talk more. With his sociable nature, Yuta slotted himself into the family in no time and could weave the conversation between both his boyfriend and the teenager, until Jaehyun and Hyejin would keep talking while he showered, or wouldn't be afraid to make light conversation if he was working overtime at the shop. Jaehyun swears Yuta is a miracle to his life. The missing key to unlock each of his insecurities one by one, setting them free from his chest so they can leave him for good. Where the girl's moody silence would intimidate him before, her new chattiness makes him eager to build a healthier relationship between them.

He would even go as far as saying that they feel like father and daughter. He drops her off at school, occasionally picking up a few of her friends along the way, gives her extra lunch money, greets her in the evening, listens to her piano practice and praises her progress, and he even made it to the most recent recital. Having arrived early, he sat at the front and took photos and videos to embarrass her after. She didn't grumble – not too much – and while Jaehyun gushed over how proud he is of her on the way home the satisfaction in her smile was another point for him. More validation, another bridge rebuilt between them.

"Can you help me with my maths homework, please?" Hyejin reappears in the kitchen with a thick textbook, pencil case, and a wad of paper, and Jaehyun doesn't hesitate to agree, despite not having studied the subject since high school, and even then it was questionable whether he was actually studying it or not.

His own father would check over every question to make sure they were all correct before Jaehyun could take it to school for marking, a poor box of tissues depleted every week when he'd cry under the man's glare, ashamed for getting a question wrong. It never took long for the man to get frustrated at his son's apparent inability to count. Jaehyun cringes at the memory, and makes an effort to read through the textbook so he can explain it as best he can until Hyejin's face lights up and they both reach the answer to the first question without any tears.

The whole page of sums takes nearly two hours, but Jaehyun has no doubts that it's worth the relief that rushes through him when his daughter can return to her room with all her assignments complete for the week. He stays in the kitchen for a while. Rubbing his cheeks, his thoughts rewind the time Yuta spent living with him. It wasn't intended. It just happened. The Japanese showed no desire to leave, and Jaehyun certainly didn't want him to go, so the arrangement was decided without the need for a discussion. They shared their warmth each night, legs tangled and fingers intertwined and lips tracing patterns across skin.