(TWO WEEKS LATER)

Mir's heart continued to beat faster and faster the more the seconds passed as the five of them made their way down the hallway towards the unknown room at the end. What could be hiding in there for him and Thunder? What had the other hyungs done that required a rented space and a secret location from everyone else? Was it something dangerous, or was it fun? Was it going to hurt the baby (even though he knew none of them would even dare to put her in harm's way)? He really didn't know anything about it, except for the fact that it was freaking the heck out of him, and yet he continued on solely because of Thunder's pleas and tugs to move quicker, because he really wanted to know what was inside.

"Doongie-hyung, I can only move so fast," he whined, but Thunder just ignored that and ran on ahead of Seungho and G.O., who were bringing up the front. "Yah, don't just leave me here for a surprise!" he shouted when he realized he was alone. "I'm carrying your kid, you know!"

"Here, Cheolyongie, I've got you," Joon offered at his side, and he had to smile when a strong arm swept out under his knees, and picked him up bridal style in the dancer's hold. "That's better, nae?"

"Nae, thank you, hyung," Mir nodded. "But now my back hurts..."

"You can sit down once we're inside," Seungho assured him as they all arrived at the door, where Thunder stood bouncing on the tips of his toes. "But first, are you ready to see what's on the other side?"

"Yes, yes, I want to see!" Thunder happily exclaimed. "Let us in, hyung!"

"Cheolyong, what about you?" G.O. asked, glancing over his shoulder to the nervous-feeling maknae, who merely feigned a grin and shrugged. "Okay, here you go."

He pushed open the door, and the five of them looked inside to find... nothing. The lights were off, and not a single human being or piece of furniture seemed to occupy the place as they all stepped inside. "What... What is it?" Thunder questioned curiously, before he turned around to face the others. "All I see is an empty room."

"Yeah, what's going on, Joonie-hyung?" Mir whispered to Joon, who only chuckled and rotated until their gazes fell back on the black abyss at their fronts. "I don't see any—"

"Surprise!"

A hundred voices seemed to shout out all at once, and Mir and Thunder both jumped up when the lights suddenly burst to life, followed by more than three dozen people popping out, and throwing pink streamers and sparkles at the shocked, soon-to-be-parent maknaes.

"U-umma..." Mir stuttered, seeing his mother in amongst the crowd with a party hat on her head and a pink hula skirt around her waist.

"Dara-noona?" Thunder pointed to his oldest sister standing near the front, before he moved on to the person beside her. "Durami-noona?"

"Both of your families came for this," Seungho stated, as he motioned for the nine members of Mir's and Thunder's closest family members (including Mir's bother in-law and nephew) to come closer. "And we also got most of your friends, and some of our closer co-workers, to come as well," he motioned out to all of the guests. "So here it is. This is your baby shower, maknaes."

"We hope you enjoy it," G.O. said, patting Thunder on the shoulder. "We worked really hard on it, and everyone here had to travel quite a ways to get here to surprise you."

"Omo, this is so nice of you, hyungs," Mir murmured as he let Joon put him back down onto the floor. "Thank you so much. You're really the best hyungs ever."

"We know," Joon said, before he ushered their two youngest further into the crowd of people they knew and loved. "Now, go on and enjoy yourselves. Cheolyongie, your umma made up games and stuff for everyone to play, and Doongie, your noonas did the present registry so you two can have everything you need for the baby. That means that all you have to do is play along, and then open up tons of wrapping paper. Sounds like fun, right?"

"Nae, Joonie-hyung!" Mir sang, and soon he was tugging Thunder away from the older three in order to go see what games and prizes his mother had laid out on the far table near the windows. "Come on, Doongie-hyung! I want to win all of the stuff Umma has for us!"

"What about the presents though, Mireu?" Thunder asked, before he pointed over to the mountain of wrapped items crowding up an entire wall of the place. "Don't you want to see what everyone got the baby?"

Mir paused, before he glanced back over to the games, then over to the presents, then over to the huge table of catered food that was laid out just a few feet away; he his lips and took a half-step forward, and Thunder already knew of his true answer. "Okay, come on then," he said, guiding Mir over to the bowls and plates. "Just tell me what you want, and I can get it for you."

Mir began to point out almost every type of food there was, and from far off near the entrance, Seungho and G.O. laughed at the sight of it. That was so typical of their maknae though, to want to stuff his face beyond reasoning, especially when he was pregnant (it just gave him a proper excuse to do so). But as the two of them continued to watch on in amusement, G.O. realized that there was one person he found much better suited for the job, and he snuck a quick side glance over to Seungho to see his smiling face still focused on their maknaes and their weird, pre-parent ways. That just made his own face light up in response, and he put a hand on the leader's shoulder to bring them closer before they found a seat somewhere in a far corner to watch on as the shower officially began.

Time swept by and everything seemed to fall into a smooth pattern. Mir finished his mountain of food in less than fifteen minutes, and so he impatiently begged Thunder to play the games instead of opening the presents since they could do that once they were tired; Thunder agreed and gave in to him happily.

"Hyungs, are you going to join us?" Joon asked of Seungho and G.O. in passing, as he led Dara and Durami over to the circle of tables surrounding Mir's crazily dressed mother, but the older two just shook their heads.

"We're fine with just watching," Seungho said.

"Yeah, so go on and play, Joon. We want to stay right here for now," G.O. added.

"Okay, then. Have fun," Joon threw each of them his signature grin, before he was dragged away by the two giggling Park sisters, who figured that if anyone could help them win a game against their brother, it would be one of his own groupmates.

"Is there any particular reason you didn't want to join everyone?" Seungho asked a while later, when all of the others were in the middle of stuffing balls into their shirts to see who could look the most like Mir the quickest, and the maknae was none too happy about it (except for when Thunder and Joon walked out with lumpy, overgrown stomachs that made them look like fat old men rather than pregnant idol boys).

"Well... I just thought it was nice here, didn't you?" G.O. replied, leaning back in his chair. Seungho inhaled and nodded, before he turned his gaze back towards the others, but his attention was everywhere but.

All he could think about was the maknaes' question before about his feelings for his best friend, and the longer the two of them sat there side by side in silence, the more nervous he grew about what he actually felt, and whether or not G.O. would feel the same way. Yeah sure, they were close, like brothers, and they could read the other's mind as if it was his own, but did that really add up to being—did he dare to say it—in love with each other? No, it could just be some dumb crush, or maybe it was just his mind over thinking things, because he and Thunder had been dumb enough to fall for one of Mir's pranks again. And even if he did... feel something, how was he supposed to prove the others wrong, or right? Should he just lean over and kiss G.O. to see what happens? Should he confront Mir and question if he really meant what he said or not? The latter certainly seemed more logical, and safe, but at the same time, would Mir ever go back on a prank once he started it, unless he was about to get his behind kicked (which Seungho surely couldn't do whilst he was pregnant)?

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, before he let it fall back to its place on the table. He was lost, perhaps even more so than he'd ever been before, and he just couldn't get his brain to straighten everything out to make sense anymore. What was he going to do?

G.O. noticed the leader's inner turmoil stirring right in front of his eyes, and he grew worried the further down his bleached eyebrows fell on his face, until he was just downright glaring at the blank wall across the way. What was going on in that handsome head of his to make him look so miserable, and confused, and more than ready to murder someone? Was it his answer to the question? Was it something about the baby shower? Was it Joon's awful game skills (he chuckled at that)? No, probably not. The Yang Seungho he knew wouldn't have that kind of reaction to any of those things, out of fear that he'd upset someone else. So what was it then?

"Seungho, are you okay?" he asked, finally deciding to just settle things the easiest way he knew how. "You look kind of... well, mad."

He reached his hand out and grasped the leader's own in it, before he pulled it closer and let it rest on his thigh. That drew Seungho from his thoughts quick enough, and he paused altogether not a moment later to stare down at their entwined fingers, before his gaze turned up to G.O.'s, and time seemed to stop all around them.

So this was the answer, Seungho thought, as he tightened his grip and let a small smile pass over his face. That was good then, because it felt so nice he didn't want it to stop. There was just this... heat, surrounding his heart, and it was spreading to every inch of his body the longer their skin kept in contact. He could feel the redness coming to his cheeks, he could feel the tingle in his toes, he could feel the butterflies in his belly, but he ignored all of them so he could instead scoot his chair closer to G.O.'s, and rest his head on his shoulder. "Thank you," he whispered then, his eyes sliding closed, and the singer knew just what he meant by that without question.

"Yeah, you're welcome..." he said, before he laid a gentle kiss on Seungho's temple. "And I love you too."

The noise and chaos swarmed back in on them the second the words faded from his lips, but they didn't pay all that much attention to it as they were still too wrapped up in their newfound feelings for each other, and didn't really care anymore about what happened to anyone else. But that was okay, because Mir and Thunder were in the middle of celebrating their grand victory for the most baby games won, while Joon joked about with Dara, Durami, Hyo Sun, and Hyo Jin, and the rest of the guests either ate, danced to the radio set up in the back corner, prepared their present to give to the expecting maknaes, or just talked amongst themselves about how happy and excited they were about what was going on.

But that ended soon enough when Mir asked to open the baby's things, and Thunder had his noonas gather everyone around to watch, even Seungho and G.O., who took a spot near the back so their hands wouldn't have to part, before Dara began to read off each name written on the clipboard in her hands, and Durami pushed or carried each wrapped item over to her brother and Mir to take apart at their pleasure.

"This one is from Mireu-ah's parents," Dara said to the first one, and Mir had to stand up from his chair to yank the wrapping paper to the floor; it was a white-washed crib and changing table set.

"Omo, you two got this for us?" he asked, looking surprised at the older couple. "You didn't have to do that!"

"Of course we did, Cheolyong," his mother responded, her hand motioning his way dismissively. "This is our first granddaughter, and our only son's first child. What else should we have done?"

"I-I..." Mir felt his lip quiver, and he walked over to hug each of his parents separately. "Thank you so much. I never thought you would do this for me."

His mother merely snorted, before she playfully whacked at the back of his head. "Come on now, you're our baby. Of course we would do it."

"Mireu, here's another one. Come open it," Thunder suddenly called, and Mir gave each of his parents one last, grateful look, before he waddled back to the visual to continue opening the presents.

"This one is from us!" Dara cheered as she and Durami ruffled their brother's hair, and even their mother came to stand by as Thunder and Mir worked together to undo the outer layer of paper. "We hope you like it!"

It was a matching, pink-flowered car seat and stroller set, and there were a few extra things inside of each, like a pack of bottles, a pair of pajamas, a cute dress, and a pair of shoes. "Wow," Thunder said, in English, before he stood up and gave each of his family members a hug, and Mir followed suit. "Thank you for all of these things."

"Just make sure you use them when you come to visit us, nae?" Durami giggled as she pat Thunder on the back and kissed his cheek. "Every weekend!"

"Okay, noona," Thunder smiled.

The next two hours went on just like that, with Mir and Thunder opening up their slew of baby presents. Hyo-Sun had given them cute blankets to match the crib set; Hyo-Jin had bought them toys and a bouncy seat; Mir's brother in-law, jokingly, had gotten them a handmade poster that had a picture of Mir's latest ultrasound on it, and the caption "MBLAQ Baby" along the bottom of it; some of their friends had gotten them clothes and snacks, and a few scrapbook materials; Joon had brought out a hand-painted, custom-made dollhouse; Seungho had given a baby monitor and a stuffed panda (to which he said that the baby would be able to snuggle with her Seungho-oppa no matter where she was, because her "panda" would always be at her side); and G.O. had picked out a music box for her that played one of his favorite classical songs when the lid was opened. But then it was time for Mir to go, because he was feeling tired, and so he asked Thunder to lead the way back to Seungho's car—after he was bombarded with hugs and farewells from their families and friends, of course—before falling asleep not even a quarter of the way back to the dorm.

Seungho, G.O., and Joon however, stayed behind when they took off, and instead cleaned up all of the trash left by their guests, before they packed the baby stuff into their group van and safely drove back home, only to find Mir and Thunder snuggled up together in Mir's bed, their hands clasped together on the round of his tummy like the cute couple they were.