Joon looked more than dumbfounded by what Mir had just said to him, but instead of bursting out in anger or disgust—as the other three would have expected—he just grinned, then laughed, and reached out to grab at Mir's shoulders to pull him into a tight hug. "Babo," he whispered, sending worried shivers through Mir's body, even though his tone was nothing but loving. "Did you really think that I wouldn't know about this already? You and Doongie have been all over the news ever since you went on Weekly Idol to make the announcement. The whole world probably knows at this point, nae?"

Mir just remained silent, and more than nervous, but he slowly nodded into Joon's shoulder to acknowledge that he agreed. Did this mean he was okay with it then, or was he about to come out and tell them that their maknae was the most dispicable person on Earth... Thunder too?

"Alright, so tell me," Joon continued on, once he'd pulled Mir away from him so he could get a proper look at his (shocked) face and overgrown tummy again, "how did this happen, presicely? Our schedules have been just so busy these past seven months that there must have been almost no time for you two to have ever... well, you know."

"That's because we planned around our schedules," Thunder replied, and even Seungho turned to look at him, dumbfounded; their maknaes knew how to plan those kinds of things without getting caught? Since when? "Remember that one night when we gave you money to go see a movie, and G.O.-hyung went shopping?"

"You did it then?" Joon shouted, and both Thunder and Mir nodded in confirmation. "Omo, you two are smarter than I thought! So? How did you do it?"

Thunder looked over to Mir, who just shrugged and lowered his head even more to hide his embarrassment and shame; the hyungs were going to find out sooner or later anyways, since they were so... persuasive, so he and Thunder might as well just come out with it now. "Well, we had everything all ready to go, you know, like protection and stuff, but as soon as everyone was gone, I took Mireu into your room like we had planned, and forgot all about the stuff being on my bed. And hyung..." he timidly turned to Joon, who just raised his eyebrows in questioning. "We um... we... well, when we did it together, we didn't realize where we were, and um... it was on yours..."

Joon dropped his arms back to his sides, and his mouth fell open in surprise. Surely by "on yours", they didn't mean his bed, right? But judging from the way the two of them were suddenly cringing and avoiding his gaze, he knew that that was nothing but the truth. "What?" he shouted, looking over from one to the other, his mouth set into a deep frown. "You did what?" he repeated, and Thunder bowed over as far as he could in apology; and Mir would have done so as well, had he not expected to fall over when he did.

"We're so sorry, hyung!" Thunder quickly claimed, but Joon was already starting to fume in anger, and had they not been on the verge of becoming parents, he would have tackled them to ground right then and there, and given them something ten times as painful as a ddakbam. "We were just so... caught up, and by the time we saw that it was your bed we had already finished, and were getting ready to greet you three hyungs on your arrivals back here."

"And you waited seven months to tell me this, why?" Joon shouted, causing both maknaes to take a few nervous steps back from him out of fear of a cruel punishment. "I slept on those sheets that same night, if you didn't recall! I slept in your mess!"

"No, no!" Thunder assured. "We changed them before you got home! And I made sure they went through the washer three times before I changed them back! Please, hyung, forgive us! We never meant to! Really!"

Joon just huffed out a deep breath of air, and glanced over to Seungho, who was more than amused to learn what he just had. That only made Joon more annoyed though, because once again, he was the center of their teasing. But when Seungho moved over to wrap an arm around his shoulder, he had to relax some, or he feared he might end up on the floor himself. "Oh, come on, Joonie, like you haven't done it in someone else's bed before. And they're just kids still—let them get away with it just this once and learn their lesson."

Joon sighed, but he eventually bowed his head down in defeat. He was still angry, of course, and more than ready to head into his room, strip his sheets, and burn them until there was nothing left, but it was kind of true that he'd done the same thing before—both accidentally and intentionally—so he knew he had to go along with Seungho on this, and just leave it alone for once. "Fine," he finally caved, and Thunder and Mir both gave him their thanks a dozen times over, before they ran up and gave him another hug... which he had to give in to and accept no matter how mad he was, because they were just too cute and innocent to stay upset with for long. "But no more of this, you hear? I don't want to come home one day and find my sheets a different color from what they were in the store."

"Yes, hyung!" Mir sang happily, while Thunder just nodded his head. "We promise it won't happen again!"

"Well, this is good," Seungho murmured to himself as he watched the three of them embrace, and start in on their constant habit of having to fool around whenever they were in the same room together for more than five minutes. "The family is happy and all back together again."

He took a seat on the couch once more and sighed, feeling a weight lift off of his chest at the thought that Joon was more than accepting of the baby, and Mir and Thunder's carelessness. He'd even been so kind about it as to act as if nothing had changed between them (which had sent Mir thought a loop, much to Seungho's delight), and the fact that he had already known about it before he'd even shown back up made things go a thousand times smoother than they would have if Mir's confession had been the first he'd ever heard of their newest child.

And now everything could go back to normal. The five of them could do their schedules and finish up their work for the new album before the baby was born, and then they could all be there to help Mir when he gave birth and had to take a few weeks of downtime to recover. And then, if Mir and Thuner wanted to of course, they could introduce the baby to their fans and followers all over the world, and raise her as an "A+ baby", as she had already so famously been labelled. And Seungho knew that the five of them would be there to protect her no matter what, especially himself and Thunder, so when she grew up to be another famous performer, just her parents and oppas, she wouldn't have to face nearly half as much resistence as she would have without them there at her side.

"Ah! I almost forgot!" Joon suddenly cheered from where he stood between Thunder and Mir, and he quickly rushed over to his bags to go fetch something from inside of the largest one. This piqued the others' interests considerably, including G.O., who had slipped out of the kitchen to let the food finished cooking, and was now lounging on the couch beside Seungho. "Look here, maknaes, I made this just for you and our baby!"

He pulled on whatever it was he was trying to reach, and out came a blanket, big enough for two grown people at least, covered over with patterns of "A+" and "MBLAQ" in a pastel pink color. And the border, Mir and Thunder noticed, as Joon stepped closer to them and wrapped the blanket around their shoulders, had all of their names, and a special blank spot after Mir's each time for where the baby's could go once they chose one for her. "Do you like it?" Joon asked them, but they were far too busy admiring the beautiful piece of fabric to answer. "I came up with the idea myself, and I had one of my co-workers on the show help me make the design. And look here, I left space for her name in between Cheolyongie's and Seungho-hyung's, since she's going to be our new maknae soon, right? So all you have to do is tell me what you want it to be when you decide, and I can take it back to the tailor to finish it off."

Mir snuggled deep into the blanket, and looked up to Thunder who seemed just as awestruck by the kind gesture as he was. They certainly hadn't expected things to go this well upon Joon's return home, but it wasn't like they were complaining about it now that it was happening; no, they were elated, and relieved, and wanted nothing more than for the feelings of happiness coursing through them to continue to do so even long after the baby was born.

"H-hyung..." Mir breathed, rolling the soft fabric around in his hands as if it was the most precious thing in the world. "You really did this? For us?"

Joon just smiled and nodded. "Yep, I worked on it every chance I got on break during filming to make it perfect for you, and I even had a back-up design made just in case you didn't like this one."

"But Joonie-hyung, why wouldn't we like it?" Thunder asked, before he moved over to Joon and hugged him as tight as he could. "You made it for us, and you're one of our hyungs. Of course we would like it, no matter what."

Joon practically gushed happiness in response to what Thunder said, and in a new rush of adrenaline, he picked the visual right up off of the floor and spun him around in a circle, before he dropped him back down beside Mir, who was giggling away like he always did. "Cheolyongie," Joon stepped up to the maknae and lifted him up bridal style as well, before he repeated what he'd done to Thunder, just in a slower and more careful fashion. "Ah, but..." he said as he carried Mir over to the living room chair, and dropped him into it. "Can I ask for something in return for being such a good hyung to you maknaes?"

"Sure, hyung, what is it?" Mir questioned as he settled down into his new seat, and rubbed at his rounded tummy.

Joon slowly held out his hands. "Can I feel? Please?"

Mir giggled; he thought that Joon was going to ask for something ridiculous like he always did, but this time he actually wanted something normal. "Of course, Joonie-hyung. Here," he guided Joon's hands to his stomach, and moved them down to where the baby was kicking. "can you feel her?"

Joon didn't answer, but his jaw fell open and his eyebrows went up under his bangs. It just seemed so different now, in comparison to when he'd watched it on TV. Somehow, only being able to see Mir on variety shows with his hands crossed over the bump, or with the other idols asking to touch at it and feel the baby, was so much more divergent than being able to stand there in front of Mir and do it himself. Everything seemed so much more... well, real this way, like the TV was just a dream and being back in the dorm was waking up from that dream only to find that it had absolutely come true. And he was happy about that, because as soon as he'd heard Thunder blurt out the news on Weekly Idol those few weeks before, he'd wanted nothing more than to finish up his current schedule, and head home to see his pregnant maknae firsthand.

"Omo, this is so weird," he chuckled, using his thumbs to rub over the skin near Mir's bellybutton. "But it's so cool at the same time. I love it."

"Everyone does," Mir said, glancing up to find his other three hyungs smiling at the two of them happily, "especially Doongie-hyung. Whenever we're together, he's always touching me. But I guess he has some competition now though, nae?"

Thunder just frowned and turned his head away, not wanting to show off that he was a bit irritated by Mir's teasing, not to mention the idea of Joon getting to be near his boyfriend and daughter more than he was. He didn't want to be upset obviously, or possessive, but that was just who he was, and he was going to be sure that what was his, remained untouched by everyone but himself, and that was the case with Mir, their baby, and even Dara and Durami.

"Stop now, hyung," he said, stepping over to Joon to pull his hands away. "Mireu needs to rest before dinner's done," he leaned down and easily scooped Mir up into his arms, earning him a shriek of surprise, and a tight grip around his neck, but he just ignored it in favor of carrying the maknae off into his and G.O.'s bedroom, where he promptly shut the door behind them.

Joon just sat there, appearing dumbfounded, before he glanced over at the cackling G.O. and Seungho, and gave them a look that told them to stop teasing—as usual—and instead explain just what the heck had happened.

"Someone's become a very protective appa," Seungho said in between gasps for breath. "And he's like that with everyone, not just you, so you better get used to it."

"I think that's the worst he's ever taken it though," G.O. added, before he grabbed at his side and fell over into Seungho's lap to keep laughing away. "You got him really upset, Joonie. Now you're going to be on his list!"

Joon turned away from them and pouted; he'd been foolish to think that things had changed around the dorm in his absence just because of the baby. But no, the hyungs were as terrible as ever in their teasing, and had started at it not even a few hours after his arrival too. The only real one to have changed between the five of them was Thunder, and not necessarily for the better either. How was the baby supposed to grow up and be taken care of when he stepped in the way every time? How was she supposed to make friends (not boyfriends), and hang out with her oppas when her appa hogged her every second of the day? There just had to be a way to change that, Joon thought, and he was going to find it too, because there was no way on Earth that he was going to live in the same home as his maknaes' daughter, and not have anything to do with her.

"Mm, so what's your plan then?" Seungho asked suddenly, sliding down from the couch to scoot over and sit at his side. Joon looked up and found that G.O. had moved as well, before he realized that he must have made his declaration out loud rather than in his head, because how else would they have known what he was thinking? "You can't just walk up to him and tell him to back off. Cheondoong doesn't work like that. If anything, he'd just hate you more."

"What about Cheolyong?" G.O. suggested. "We all know that Doongie can't refuse anything he says, especially while he's pregnant. If we can just convince Cheolyong to talk to him and get him to ease up, then we won't have to deal with an overbearing Cheondoong anymore, or get into trouble achieving it."

Seungho nodded, mulling the thought around in his head. "I agree," he stated not long after, and Joon concurred as well. "So? Who's going to talk to Cheolyong to get him to do it?"

The three of them exchanged a cocky look, and suddenly their hands were out in front of them to determine the answer the best way they knew how.

"Kai, bai, bo!"