“Are you sure I helped?” I asked Kyungsoo. The meeting had ended shortly after Junmyeon’s great idea and we were walking back to my brother’s apartment.

            “Of course! Everyone seemed to like you too, and it was nice of you to give them your phone number in case they ever have questions or need help.” My brother responded. In fact, giving them all my cell was not my idea, but rather the result of Sehun sheepishly approaching me at the end of the meeting and asking if he could have my number in case of “emergencies”. Junmyeon happened to have overheard and insisted I give it to everybody, and the sincerity (or was that desperation?) in his voice was too much to refuse.

            Still, I just hoped they wouldn’t be needing too much help.

            Later that night, as Kyungsoo was preparing dinner and I was watching Kyungbin, our conversation got back to those eleven fools.

            “How did that group even start?” I asked.

            “Well, first it was just Junmyeon and Minseok.” My brother said, expertly dicing some carrots for our meal. “They are neighbors and Minseok would watch his daughters when he had to work late. They started to meet more of the other guys through day cares and pediatricians’ waiting rooms, so they figured, well, strength in numbers, right?”

            “And I suppose the community center magically filled with children’s toys and the like?” I asked.

            “It was a daycare, but it closed down. Junmyeon got a hold of the lease and thought it would be a good idea to have a common meeting place for everyone and a place to drop a kid off if you have to run and errand and need them watched. We’ll do group babysitting there. Like, every Wednesday Yixing goes in the afternoon and evening to watch whoever gets dropped off. We rotate who watches when.”

            “That’s actually a good idea.” I said, covering my eyes to play peek-a-boo with Kyungbin.

            “Yea, but it’s hard too. Like, we can’t trust Jongin or Sehun yet to watch the kids by themselves. They can barely handle one on their own.” Kyungsoo says, shaking his head. “I feel bad for them, sometimes.”

            “They looked young.” I inquired.

            “They are. They only graduated high school last year.  The whole baby thing caught them off guard and the moms are both completely out of the picture.”

            “That .”

            “Yea,” Kyungsoo agreed, scooping out some rice. “Personally though, I think Jongin handles it much better. Sehun is constantly paranoid, I don’t think he still really realizes what his life has turned into.”

            I agreed completely. Just seeing the poor boy today, it was like he was in a perpetual state of confusion.

            “I’m sure he’ll figure it out eventually.” I said. “He works too?”

            “Mhm, Luhan hooked him up with an intern position at his company. Good thing he had half-way decent grades in high school so he barely got in.”

            “Does Jongin work too?” I asked.

            “He doesn’t need too.” Kyungsoo said, plating up our food.  “He doesn’t like to talk about it, but his parents are loaded. They didn’t seem to care much when he became a dad, but he moved out and has a little studio his parents pay for. I think he takes some classes, but his life really just revolves around Hyein.”

            “Must be nice.” I said. Kyungsoo tilted head, telling me I needed to explain. “I just mean, not having to worry about money.”

            “Hey, he has other things to worry about.” My brother said, defending him. “Like coming up with something for father-daughter bonding .” He said, a playful smile on his face.

            “Speaking of which,” I prodded, “What are you planning on doing?”

            “I don’t know, to be honest.” Kyungsoo said, coming over to sit next to me with a plate full of food. “Kyungbin is too young to really know what’s going on half the time.” He sighed.

            “How about playing a sport?” I offered.

            “He can’t walk…”

            “Sculpting?” I tried.

            “What? Where did that even come from?”

            “Ice fishing!”

            “Pantomime!”
            “Stop! Those are terrible!” Kyungsoo yelled, laughing.

            “I got it! Singing!” I said, pleased with my final answer.

            “Singing?”

            “Yea! You love to sing, Kyungsoo! And don’t start with the whole ‘but Kyungbin can’t talk yet’ rant, I know that. But if you start singing to him, I’m sure that would work as bonding.”

            “I don’t sing much anymore.” He said shortly, starting to play with his food.

            “Which is why this will help you, too.” I said, playfully punching his shoulder.  I knew he hadn’t sung much lately. Especially not after she left him. And call me selfish, but I missed his voice and I knew singing again would do him a lot of good.

            “Ok, I’ll think about it.” He responded, yawning and checking his watch. “It’s getting late, I’m going to put Kyungbinnie to bed.” He abandoned his food and picked Kyungbin out if his high chair. The little boy had started to doze off and could barely keep his head up sitting in the chair.

            After Kyungbin was put to bed, Kyungsoo and I finished dinner, but didn’t bring up the singing again. We watched television for a bit before Kyungsoo retired into his room to go to sleep. With him gone, I laid down on the mattress in the living room.  It wasn’t the ideal situation, sleeping in my brother’s place my last year of university, but I needed to save money for after I graduated so I could get a place of my own.  He may not have charged rent, but I was starting to realize the favor he asked for in return maybe worth more than the money.

Later that night, right before I fell asleep, I got a text proving my thoughts.

From: Oh Sehun

To: Do Yisoo

Hi Noona… Sorry to bother you… but which socks do you think are better? Wool or fleece?

From: Do Yisoo

To: Oh Sehun

Umm, whichever you feel like wearing? Wait- this isn’t about what Baekhyun said earlier is it?

From: Oh Sehun

To: Do Yisoo

Maybe…

From: Do Yisoo

To: Oh Sehun

Sehun-ah, don’t listen to him. He’s just trying to scare you

From: Oh Sehun

To: Do Yisoo

Well it’s working… so wool?

From: Do Yisoo

To: Oh Sehun

Fine, yes I’m sure wool socks will adequately protect your precious toes from your daughter’s vicious canines.

From: Oh Sehun

To: Do Yisoo

YOU THINK HER CANINES HAVE ALREADY STARTED TO COME IN??!!!?!?

From: Do Yisoo

To: Oh Sehun

GOODNIGHT. SEHUN.

I sighed, I could see now why Baekhyun had some much fun trolling the poor guy.  He was so lost he literally believed anything.

Oh Sehun, I thought, you need a lot of help, don’t you?

-------------

Sehun laid his daughter down in her crib after what felt like an eternity trying to get her to fall asleep.  He tucked a blanket snug around her and made sure she was laying properly on her back. As he tiptoed away from the crib, he looked back to admire his handiwork. The crib bars were now covered in a cross-sectional pattern, various blankets wrapped in and out of the bars to create a zig-zag formation.  He had put toys surrounding the base of the crib, so that even the lightest touch would sound off an alarm of “A-B-C!” from the (creepy) alphabet book and a “HEHE THAT TICKLES” from the (also creepy) Elmo plushie.

Sehun thought to himself for a moment that maybe this was a crazy idea.

Nah.

Not taking any chances, he reassured himself, as he carefully made his way over to his bed.  He put on his wool, and fleece, socks just before tucking himself in snug.

Yup, he said to himself just before he fell asleep. Better safe than sorry.

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