Hyukjae was led around the lavish apartment that seemed more like a small mansion than should even be possible. The dark leather furniture and sterile white walls gave the place an elegant feel that was suddenly disturbed when Hyukjae tripped over on one of the many toys that littered the soft carpet. 
  “I’m sorry about that,” Donghae said, leaning down to pick up the toy and a few more that he passed. “Jino doesn’t like to clean up after himself,” he said, giving a pointed look to the boy in question, who began his thumb faster and looked down at his feet to avoid his uncle’s gaze. 
  “It’s fine,” Hyukjae quickly said. “I’m ok,” he said, leaning down to help Donghae. 
  “Oh, you don’t have to-“
  “It’s part of the job, right?” Hyukjae quickly said, giving Donghae a smile before picking up a green stuffed frog and a purple kangaroo. “Are these yours?” he asked Jino. 
  Jino ran over to hug the frog and mumbled something else while staring up with wide eyes at Hyukjae. 
  “Jino, you have to take your thumb out of your mouth or he won’t be able to understand you,” Donghae said.
  “Oh, it's fine. I can understand him. He said that the kangaroo was Kyuhyun’s, right?” he said while Donghae blinked in disbelief.
  “Kwu yung,” he repeated in his gibberish, nodding happily while pointing at the plushie. 
  “Why don’t you go take it to him? I sure he misses it,” Hyukjae said handing the toy over while Jino struggled to carry them both in his one free arm. 
  He crushed them up against his chest and ran quickly to the room Kyuhyun locked himself in the moment they entered the apartment. Hyukjae watched with a smile as he tried not to trip over his feet.
  “He’s so cute,” Hyukjae complimented to Donghae, a smile on his lips as he helped Donghae straighten up the room.
  “Yeah, he looks a lot like his mom,” Donghae said, glancing at a picture of them automatically. Hyukjae followed the gaze and walked to the picture.
  “Is this them?” he asked, looking at the picture of smiling faces. Even Kyuhyun had a huge grin on his face.
  “Yeah. My sister-n-law and my hyung, Donghwa.” Donghae moved to stand next to Hyukjae so he could look at the picture of them. 
  “Um, if you don’t mind me asking…” Hyukjae trailed off, hoping he wasn’t being too nosy.
  “It’s fine,” Donghae gave him a reassuring smile. “It was around 6 months ago. They were driving to pick up the kids from our parents house, but the weather was really bad. A truck hit the ice wrong and… they couldn’t avoid it.” Donghae looked at the picture, smile gone and a small crease in between his eyebrows. 
  “I’m sorry Donghae-sshi. I won’t bring it up again,” Hyukjae said, regretting asking in the first place. 
  “Ah, don’t worry about it. Sometimes it helps to talk about it. And you can drop the ‘-sshi’,” he said, resuming his smile. 
  “Oh ok, Donghae,” Hyukjae said, returning the smile when Donghae’s got bigger. 
  As they continued cleaning, Hyukjae noticed that the kids weren’t the only ones who were responsible for the mess. He picked up tons of papers with lyrics and sheet music littered around. He found out that Donghae was a music producer, and a pretty famous one at that. He gave Hyukjae a wounded look when Hyukjae admitted he hadn’t heard of him. 
  He was going down the list of hits he was responsible for when Kyuhyun came walking back into the room with Jino trailing behind him.
  “Hae hyung, we’re hungry,” Kyuhyun announced as soon as he walked in. 
  “Is it lunchtime already?” Donghae asked as he walked over to them and picked up Jino when he stretched his arm up. He nodded as soon as he was in Donghae’s arms. 
  “Yes,” Kyuhyun said as he pulled on Donghae’s pants leg. Donghae laughed at his impatience. 
  “Are you sure?” he teased.
  “Yes!” Kyuhyun and Jino both yelled, Donghae smiled at their excitement and gave in.
  “Ok, fine. I’ll feed you. Go put on your shoes. Kyuhyun, help Jino,” he said and put Jino back down. Kyuhyun took his hand and pulled him to the front door.
  “What time should I come in tomorrow?” Hyukjae asked, preparing to leave. 
  “Where are you going?” Donghae asked. 
  “Home?”
  “You’re not coming with us?” 
  “Well… uh, would you like me to?” 
  “Of course. It can be… your welcome celebration!” Donghae grinned widely, looking excited. 
  “Celebration?” Hyukjae asked, finding it hard not to be amused. 
  “Yeah. So, come on,” he said, dragging Hyukjae to the front door where Kyuhyun was kneeling in front of Jino showing him how to tie his shoes. 
  “How is it going Kyu?” Donghae asked.
  “He always gets stuck when the bunny goes in the hole,” Kyuhyun said, tying the knot himself and standing up. 
  “Don’t worry, he’ll get it soon. You’re a good teacher,” Donghae said as he ruffled his curly hair. 
  Kyuhyun smiled a toothy grin up at Donghae and Hyukjae’s eyes widened at the sight, only used to the scowl the younger had been wearing. But he wasn’t surprised for long because when Kyuhyun’s eyes landed on him his smile disappeared and the scowl replaced it. 
  “He’s coming too?” he said, obviously upset by the news.
  “Yes he is, so you need to be on your best behavior.” 
  Kyuhyun eyed Hyukjae one more time before saying, “No promises.” 
  “Kyuhyun,” Donghae warned, but he was already opening the door. Donghae sighed and turned to Hyukjae with an apologetic look on his face. “Sorry… again.” 
  “It’s ok,” Hyukjae answered. 
  “Kyu hyung, you have to hold Jino’s hand!” Jino said, calling after the boy who was already out the door. Kyuhyun came back, grabbing onto his younger brother’s outstretched hand. 
  “Sorry, I forgot,” he said. 
  Jino smiled and turned to Hyukjae, holding out his other hand for him to take. Even though his thumb was covered in drool from being in its owner mouth, Hyukjae didn’t hesitate to take the small hand in his. 
  Kyuhyun led them all out the door and Donghae followed behind them, closing and locking the door on his way out.
 
  Hyukjae decided that he rather liked eating with Donghae and the kids. Although Kyuhyun made it his mission to loath Hyukjae until he left, Jino made sure he was having a good time. He even tried to feed Hyukjae when the latter would leave his food untouched for too long.
  He also found that he was beginning to like Donghae more and more. Even though he seemed to act like more of a kid than the other two at sometimes, he was fun to be around, and Hyukjae found out that they had a lot in common. They both liked dancing and had a great passion for music. They had been discussing their favorite musicians when Jino and Kyuhyun finally demanded their attention again. 

---
 
  After they made a trip to get ice cream and took an hour long walk through the park, they finally made their way back to Donghae’s apartment. Jino was asleep in Hyukjae’s arms while Donghae had a sleeping Kyuhyun in his. 
  After carefully changing them into their pajamas and tucking them in, Hyukjae told Donghae that he should be heading home.
  “Do you want me to drive you?” Donghae offered, trying to stifle a yawn.
  “No thank you. I’ve already called my friend to pick me up. Besides, you look pretty tired.” 
  “Well, it’s been a while since I spent some time with them and they really wore me out today.” Donghae gave him a tired but content smile. “I’ve been really busy with work lately. This is my first break in almost two weeks,” he said as he plopped down onto the couch. 
  “I could tell that they had a lot of fun today. They must’ve really missed you.”
  “Yeah,” Donghae chuckled sleepily. “I feel so guilty for leaving them alone so much, especially after everything that’s happened… so, I’m really glad that I met you Hyukjae. You seem to be really good to them too...” he trailed off. 
  Hyukjae was glad that Donghae’s hand was over his eyes so he couldn’t see the blush that he was sporting. 
  “I-I’m glad I met you too Donghae… And the Kyuhyun and Jino, of course,” he added, but it fell on deaf ears, as a small snore was heard from Donghae. 
  Hyukjae smiled, thinking of how much Donghae resembled a kid right now before he moved to lay the blanket that was on the back of the couch over him. 
  Just as he was pulling the blanket up on Donghae, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He jumped in surprise before reaching in his pocket to answer the call. 
  “Hyuk, hurry and come on out. I left Yesung at home alone,” Ryeowook voice sounded through the receiver. 
  “I don’t know why you did that. What if we don’t have a house to go back home to?” he questioned, moving to the front door when a movement caught his eyes. 
  He turned around and saw Kyuhyun walking to Jino’s room. 
  “I’m on my way down now Wook,” he cut off what he was saying and slid the phone back into his pocket. “Kyuhyun-ah?” he called.
  Kyuhyun froze and turned around like he had been caught in sneaking after midnight. “What?” he questioned.
  “What‘s wrong?” Hyukjae asked. Kyuhyun looked around, trying to come up with an excuse. 
  “Uh, Jino gets sad sometimes… and he cries in his sleep too. So, I sleep in his room, so… he doesn’t get lonely.” Hyukjae would have believed that if Kyuhyun’s eyes weren’t red and puffy. 
  “Well, that’s really nice of you to do Kyuhyun-ah.” 
  “I don’t need you to tell me that,” he scowled, crossing his hands over his chest and walked ahead to Jino’s room.
Hyukjae just smiled, not really able to be mad at the boy. He wanted to go and check on them one more time but the vibrating in his pocket reminded him that he had an impatient friend downstairs, so he quietly let himself out the door, a warm feeling filling his chest as he thought about spending more time with Jino, Kyuhyun... and Donghae.