Twenty minutes had passed since Seungho had gone, and G.O. sighed in happiness at the sound of an empty dorm when he exited the bathroom to go get ready for the day (or afternoon, really); he stepped out in nothing except a towel—as he usually did—but he figured he could have just gone completely instead, since his two maknaes were too caught up in their own things to even notice him (and because Mir was still hiding out in his room). "Go ahead," he said to Thunder, who was busy picking up the living room when he walked in, "I can get the cleaning done out here."

Thunder immediately dropped everything in his hands, sending clothes, shoes, jewelry, and other questionable things scattering about on the floor. "Thank you, hyung," he said, bowing, "I promise to help you finish up later on, even in the bathrooms."

G.O. merely chuckled and waved him away; and he gratefully obliged, running off to the bedroom that held their pregnant, sleeping maknae. He pushed the door closed once he was inside, then tiptoed over to the bed Mir was buried in, his quiet snores being the only noises the room offered… at least until Thunder sat down beside him and heard him mumbling in his sleep. "Yah, Mireu," he whispered, rubbing a hand on the maknae's shoulder to stir him slowly and easily. "Wake up, I'm here to see you."

"No… too tired…" Mir groaned, snuggling deeper into his giant mound of blankets.

"Please," Thunder begged, before he leaned down to lay his head against the one hidden from him, "before Seungho gets back. I really want to talk to you."

Mir laughed and rolled over. "Fine," he conceded, just barely peeking his eyes out from underneath his anime-themed coverings, "what do you want to talk about?"

Thunder smiled, finding his maknae's sleepy antics amusing; but then his expression sobered, and he looked down to his lap, watching as his fingers played with the hem of his pajama top. "Well… about what we're going through first of all, and what we're going to do in the future…" his gaze wandered over, and fell on the maknae's concerned-looking face. "And you can tell me the gender, and we can talk about names and clothes and toys and—"

"Hold on, hold on," Mir chuckled, quickly grabbing onto Thunder's shoulder for support as he struggled to sit up in the bed. "You're getting carried away, hyung. Right now, we should be focusing on the first part of what you said—nothing else. Once we get used to the change, and come closer to the due date, we can think about all the extra things."

Thunder suddenly held a hand to his forehead and scowled, looking confused. "Am I sick or something?" he asked. "Since when is Bang Cheolyong more responsible than any of his hyungs? Since when can he be so serious?"

"Yah, I can be plenty responsible when I have to be," Mir protested, slapping the visual maknae's arm. "And right now, I do… This is what we get for being so dumb about things before."

Thunder sighed, his eyes trained on a poster of MBLAQ hanging just above them on the wall. Mir noticed his distracted attention too, and followed his gaze up to the same place. "We were kind of dumb, weren't we?" he mumbled. "We'd just… done those kinds of things before we'd even considered the consequences… and now look."

"We can do this though, right?" said Mir, sounding hopeful. "I mean, we took care of three kids before—we can definitely take care of one."

"This is different though, Mireu," Thunder explained, shaking his head. "Hello Baby was only three months long… This is going to be the rest of our lives. And if things don't go the way Bear-hyung plans, then our baby is going to have to deal with all the hate and pain our fans give…" he froze, realizing then that he still didn't know whether they were having a son or daughter.

"Her," Mir finished for him a moment later, somehow sensing that that was what he wanted him to do. "We're having a girl."

Thunder nodded, his voice suddenly caught in his throat at the thought of a cute, young girl being ridiculed and yelled at by complete strangers who wanted nothing more than to shame her and her two parents. No, he couldn't let that happen to her; when Dara had been bullied in school when they were younger, he'd stood up for her (even though he'd been a lot smaller than her at the time), and he would do the same for his daughter, no matter what.

"Good," he said, smiling. His voice was shaky, and he sounded nervous, but he was genuinely happy. He loved taking care of girls, protecting them, holding them, spoiling them; and now that he, Dara, and Durami didn't have as much free time to hang out together as they used to, he figured the next best thing for him was to have another pretty girl to take care of… and he was soon going to get one in the form of a daughter.

Mir laughed, roughly tapping at his forehead to break him from his thoughts. "Yah, yah, hyung, wake up," he played. "Are you in there? Come on, wake up."

"Stop, Mireu," he laughed, shooing the offending hand away from his face. "You're going to poke my eyes out if you keep doing that."

"Stop daydreaming then, and actually have a conversation with me," Mir replied, sticking his tongue out like a little kid; Thunder sighed at the display, but smiled all the same. "Come on, we don't have all day, remember? Seungho-hyung is going to be back soon, and if we get caught—"

"Where are we going to live?" Thunder asked in an all-too-serious tone, interrupting the maknae's tease. "Or… you and her, at least. We can't have her staying in the same home as five grown men—"

Mir scoffed. "Of course we can, babo—Lauren and Dayoung were in the baby house with us during the show, and we were able to contain ourselves for their sakes while they were around. We can do that for the new baby as well. And we won't have to worry about that until she's older anyways. Babies don't understand things like ness and… you know, those areas."

"But what about when she is older?" Thunder folded his arms over, before raising his eyebrows up in utter interest; Mir always had the most fascinating solutions to their problems (though they weren't usually the most appropriate). "Are we just going to let her wander the house when G.O.-hyung's in nothing but his underwear? What about when Joon-hyung's practicing those dance moves that we aren't allowed to do, even in our videos?"

"When she reaches that age, we can get a new place," the maknae answered calmly, shrugging his shoulders. "Bear-hyung is more than capable of providing that kind of help, and—"

Thunder groaned, dropping his arms down onto the bed so he could lean forward towards his bandmate, close enough so that their foreheads nearly touched. "Mireu, we can't keep relying on other people to do things for us," he sternly explained. "We're grown men now—we have to learn to take care of our problems on our own. That means that what we're talking about here, stays between you and me and no one else, okay?"

Mir puffed out an irritated breath of air, sending his bangs fluttering every which way until they settled back down on his forehead, making them an even bigger mess than they'd been before. "Yeah, okay. But seriously, I don't know why you're all about being grown-up now. Pretending to be all naïve and innocent is what's going to get us through this, especially with the public."

"That's cheating, babo," the visual maknae pointed his chin upwards, looking more admirable in his choice of words than Mir knew he was capable. "Like Seungho-hyung said, we need to take responsibility for what we did, and pay the consequences. Having him, and Bear-hyung, and everyone else do that for us like we're a couple of helpless teenagers isn't going to prove that we've grown up and can handle ourselves."

"Fine, fine, but you're going to owe me something for this," Mir scooted back down into his blankets, pouting, and lazily coaxed Thunder to lay alongside him. "Hmph, making me wake up when I'm already so tired… and then he only tells me to start acting grown up... Doongie-hyung just isn't fair to me…"

Thunder laughed again, moving his arm up over his head so Mir could snuggle up closer to him. "You're cute, maknae," he said, looking down upon wavy, brown hair, and closed eyes. "No wonder you're so popular."

"Not as popular as you and Joonie-hyung though," Mir snorted, burying his face in Thunder's side. "You two are definitely what makes MBLAQ so well-known."

There was a long pause, one in which Thunder almost believed that Mir had fallen asleep on him. He wiggled around a bit just to test this theory, and was thankfully proven wrong when a hand slapped at his stomach, and a muffled voice told him to stay still. "Sorry," he said, smiling. "I was just wondering."

"Say something then, instead of moving me around like that," Mir mumbled back, clearly on his way into unconsciousness despite his insistence to stay awake. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot, hyung…" he continued a moment later, and Thunder made a small sound of acknowledgement to urge him on. "What did Bear-hyung say about me being on TV and stuff? Is he going to let me go on with you guys, or am I not going to be a group member anymore?"

Thunder suddenly pulled him closer, and laid his chin on the top of his temporarily-brunette head; a small, satisfied grin grew on his face at the affectionate gesture, before he snuggled in as close as he could to the larger, warmer body. "He said that he's going to talk to J. Tune's executives to see whether they're supportive, and if they are, then all the shows we're scheduled for have to be informed and asked to accommodate you for the sake of your career."

"Noona already told me she'd talk to Hyung about helping me to keep my place here in the group," Mir said, "so I guess I shouldn't be so nervous about what J. Tune is going to do to me once they know about the baby… But the shows, especially the live ones… those have got me really, really scared. The producers, the cameramen, the other guests, the MCs… they're all going to look at me weird, aren't they? They're going to judge me, and treat me like a girl, and I'm sure some of them won't even talk to me…"

Thunder clicked his tongue, replaying the words in his head over and over again like they were some kind of curse. He knew those things were bound to happen: dirty looks, mean remarks, maybe even some physical displays of disapproval… and he also knew that he was the main cause for every single second of those upcoming confrontations. He was the hyung to Mir, and even though they'd both mutually decided to be intimate with each other, he'd been the one to—for lack of a better word—top, and forget to be safe, and empty his id-driven desires into his cute, rapper maknae.

He'd known what he was doing that night; he'd known of the good, the bad, and the much undesired outcomes that could come along with what they'd planned to do. But he'd just been too distracted at the time, getting wrapped up in the sounds and sensations that Mir was creating for him, for him to really care about whether they ended up as parents or not. And Mir, well, he knew that maybe some of the blame laid on him, since he'd been a part of the conception process as well, but Thunder understood that as the older one, he should have been more careful, more aware; and if he could have, he would have taken the burden for himself, instead of making his dongsaeng suffer any more than he already had.

"You're spacing out a lot today," he heard Mir mumble, before he was moving (struggling) to get up to look at him properly. "But I guess you have more to think about right now than usual… Are you angry at all?"

"About what?" Thunder asked, looking confused. "About us being irresponsible, or about you not telling me about her?"

"Well… both really," the maknae crossed his legs to get more comfortable, but Thunder suddenly sitting up beside him had him falling backwards, where he successfully lodged his behind into the empty space created between his bed and the wall. He wiggled around a little to try and get free, but all he managed to do was bend more into the thin hole, forcing his stomach to press up against his knees and utterly keep him from escaping on his own; he held his arms out to Thunder. "Help me… please," he begged, and Thunder laughed, reaching his hands down to grab onto the maknae's hips before lifting him up and out of his trap.

Mir clung on to his neck as he was brought up into the air (even though the bed was only a few inches below him), and when he landed back on the mattress, he breathed a deep sigh of relief, before his hand pressed along the upper part of his tummy where the bump began to stick out from his skin. That was when he noticed Thunder staring at him intently… or rather, the place where the baby lay. Every time his hand rubbed along the area, curious brown eyes would follow, watching carefully, almost as if they'd never witnessed anything so simple before. Mir frowned and only stared back at him… that is, until he finally realized why the visual was so awestruck by his actions.

"Just feel if you want to feel, hyung," he said, letting his arms drop back behind him for support so Thunder could have a better view. "She's yours too, and you didn't get the chance to feel her before when the other hyungs did… So go ahead—I don't mind."

Thunder's hand shook as he reached out, and he hesitated for a few, long moments, looking nervous. But then again, Mir figured he'd never done such a thing before; Dara and Durami were older than he was, and as far as everyone knew, he didn't have any younger siblings or family members… which meant that being around a pregnant person was really new for him. And being the cautious and quiet person he was, he probably just wanted to make sure he didn't overstep his bounds, or make things uncomfortable between them by just rubbing his hands all over his maknae's stomach.

Minutes of silence passed as Mir watched the inner turmoil unfurl. He could see the way Thunder's eyes dilated, the way his forehead scrunched and relaxed, the way his fingers flexed nervously... But he was an impatient person, and he could only take so much before he reached out and grabbed Thunder's hand in his own, and guided him to feel along his right side, where the baby had just begun to kick. Thunder struggled for a few seconds, clearly not comfortable with the sudden action that had him practically feeling out his bandmate (even though he'd done much worse before), but as soon as that foot pressed out to greet him, he surrendered. "That's her…" he murmured, his lips twitching up into a small smile; Mir nodded in concurrence. "Wow… I never…this is…"

He knew he was stumbling over his words, and lacked the proper brain power at the moment to come up with a—somewhat—coherent sentence, but he had a right to be that way. He was feeling the foot of his baby, his daughter, touching him. The whole situation about him becoming an appa was already surreal enough to him, but then to be able to see (feel) the proof, to be able to connect to the tiny girl growing inside Mir was one of the most incredible things he'd ever experienced. He even brought his other hand up to feel as well, because the moment that foot had touched him, he'd been completely and utterly invested, and would do anything to protect his baby girl from the fans or fellow idols that wanted to harm her.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about you backing out on us," Mir deadpanned, obviously having noticed the sparks that were shooting through his hyung. "You're never going to let her go now, are you?"

Thunder shook his head and only continued to ogle at the most wonderful sensation pressing into his fingertips. He'd never thought he'd be so… elated to know that he was going to be an appa, especially at such an inopportune time, when he was focusing on nothing more than his career as an idol, and when the other parent was his own bandmate too—another male. But there was something just so invigorating about feeling her teeny appendage poke out to greet his palm; something so heart-warming about knowing his blood was what flowed through her veins; something so… perfect about the idea that he was getting a daughter… and one between him and Mir, no less, which meant that she'd be more than beautiful (maybe even more so than Dara or Durami).

A fire ignited inside him, burning him up in an emotion akin to utter happiness, and he found that he didn't want to let go of her. He wanted to spoil her, play with her, teach her things in preparation for school, write her songs and show her how to play the guitar so she could be another famous performer like him and Dara. He didn't want to do to her what his own father had done to them, especially to his sisters; he wanted to be there to take of his baby, to make sure she stayed safe, happy, and grew up healthy, and he was sure Mir knew that too, since he'd made such a big deal over not telling him earlier on.

He wasn't mad though—how could he be? Mir was scared out of his mind at the thought of being an umma, but now thanks to him, the rapper was going through something he never should have had to… not until he was ready anyways. That only seemed like fair payback to Thunder, since Mir would be suffering—both emotionally and physically—a lot longer than he would be. He had to go through the pregnancy, the birth, the aftermath, the berating from fans and idols alike, while all Thunder had to do was stand there and look pretty as he always did, watching his maknae suffer for his mistake.

His hands jerked away from the stomach, and he looked down to his lap in shame; Mir made a small noise of confusion and sat forward to touch his forearm, trying to coax him into explaining his sudden change in behavior; but he only shook his head "no". "Hyung, what's wrong?" he asked, tugging harder on Thunder's arm until his nails began to pierce the skin. "Come on, tell me."

The struggling continued on for another minute, until Thunder pulled away roughly, and forced Mir to crash forward into him; but instead of being pushed off like Mir thought he would be, Thunder wrapped him up tightly and kissed his forehead, whispering out a quiet "I'm sorry" against his tanned skin.

"For what, babo?" Mir chuckled, running his hands up Thunder's back until he squeezed his t-shirt in his hands, locking them in their sudden embrace. "For getting me pregnant? Look, we did that together, and I'm not going to blame you for what I'm equally guilty of. So stop looking so gloomy, and think about the bright side of this—our noonas and ummas have someone new to torture instead of us."

A laugh vibrated through him, and suddenly Thunder was backing away, smiling down at him. "Thank you," he nodded, holding Mir's hands in his own two, "for not blaming me, that is. I never wanted this to happen, and as the hyung, I feel like I should be the one taking the fall. I am truly sorry, Mireu—you're the one who's suffering the most right now."

Mir nodded and buried his face back into Thunder's shoulder, holding him close. "As long as you and the other hyungs are here to help me, I can bear the hardships," he said, before a small grin flashed across his face. "I became an idol in a really talented group, right?"

"Yeah, but you kind of cheated," Thunder replied, earning a sharp slap on the back; he winced when the pain harshly shock-waved through his skin, but he smiled all the same. "Kidding, kidding," he confessed, and Mir just clicked his tongue at him in mock irritation.

"You—"

His comeback was cut short by the sound of the bedroom door clicking and opening, and both he and Thunder turned their gazes up to stare at their unexpected visitor. "Hey," G.O. pointed his chin up at the two of them, "I'm making lunch—come eat something before Seungho gets back."

Mir perked up at the mention of food, and he quickly—but gently—shoved Thunder away in favor of standing up and heading out into the kitchen. "Thank you, hyung," he sang, hugging G.O. as he passed by the doorway, before he disappeared out into the living room.

"Well… at least his eating habits haven't changed," G.O. commented lowly, so only he and Thunder could hear; he earned a snigger in response.

"I guess we won't have to worry about the baby's well-being then," Thunder joked back, following his hyung, and their maknae, out of the bedroom.