Little Ba Reum AU - The roads not taken

Chapter 16

Ba Reum yawned when his alarm went off, now time to get up instead of going to the bathroom. Grumpily, he unburied himself from his blanket, barely noticing that he was holding unicorn tightly in his arm while he went to the bathroom and did his business.

Yawning, he pressed his face in the plushie, putting it to the side while he wiped himself and flushed the toilet, but grabbing it with him again on the way to the kitchen. Boiling some water in a pot, he put a filter in a funnel, and put in a generous measure of coffee powder and poured the water in it, refilling each time it was getting low until he had himself half a litre of coffee.

Drinking his first cup, he started to feel a little more alive, and by the second when he noticed the unicorn that was held on his lap. Putting his cup down, he looked at the stuffie, his hands patting it and feeling the soft fur.

"Hyuk said to take you with me this weekend," Ba Reum said, taking another sip of coffee before continuing to pet the plush, "I hope you're not nervous of staying over. He's very nice, you know,"

Looking at the plushie, Ba Reum gave a sigh, knowing that he was projecting his own nervousness, and that it was silly to talk to the plushie especially when he was out of headspace.

Not wanting to trigger another episode of headspace on a school day, he quickly went to his bedroom and put the plushie in his bed, tucking it in so it was nice and warm during his absence.

Finishing up his second cup, he poured himself a third one and went to open up the fridge, staring in it, but knowing that he still hadn't done the shopping needed, even though he had a free day the day before.

He had meant to do, but then he suddenly had realised that Hyuk had bought them fast food the day before, and Ba Reum hadn't paid him back yet, and he didn't know how much it had cost. There had been a lot. And he had eaten dinner and cookies, and then there was the cost of the laundry machine.

And of course, the diaper he had used, and Ba Reum had looked up the prizes of some of those, and they hadn't been cheap at all, and even now Ba Reum felt nervous about this weekend and how much extra that would cost him.

Would Hyuk expect him to pay for staying over as well? His aunt had always told him to pay his share of the household cost, like heating and water used, so he guessed that would come on the bill as well.

The feeling of owning money had been making him nervous, so he hadn't gone to the shop, and just ate some fruit still lying in the fridge, cutting out the bad spots, and ate some rice with Kimchi.

He took out the leftover as breakfast, knowing that this afternoon they would have another physical education session and not wanting to feel faint during it.

It would be bad enough today, to be called poopy pants by the man and perhaps some of the students would chime in as well. And after school, he would go to the Hyuk's office. The man was a prosecutor, and he had visited the school, so it was easy enough to know from where he came.

He just hoped that the caregiver wouldn't mind Ba Reum visiting him at work, but the little thought it would be less awkward to have unexpected visit at work then standing at the man's door suddenly.

At least, that way they were on neutral ground and Ba Reum could explain that he didn't have a lot of money and that he wouldn't mind being kept on his watch instead of an expensive diaper, or just eating some rice instead of the more lavish dinner he had gotten there.

Perhaps he should offer to take his own food with him for the weekend. It would be embarrassing to admit to not having a lot of money, but it was better that Hyuk knew it before Ba Reum came. That way he wouldn't have any wrong expectations.