Yeah, I have no reason why I couldn't post earlier. I was just lazy and it was sunny and hot out so the free time I had I prefered to spend basking in the sun :P

I understand that some names of the kids might be confusing - would you like me to make a list of parents and their kids? Cause Siwon alone has 3...

***

Sungmin grumbled petulantly as he moved his head from the awkward position and felt the kink in his neck acting up. That didn’t normally happen in his comfortable bed. And why was there a hum of TV, he didn’t have a TV in his bedroom.

Opening his eyes with reluctance, the first thing he saw was some late night show playing on TV. The second thing he saw, as he twisted his neck, was the familiar form of Kyuhyun sprawled all over opposite side of the couch. There was also Sungrin, lying flat on his stomach on the man’s chest, probably blocking his respiration quite significantly.

Shifting slightly, Sungmin felt numbness in his left arm and, upon investigating the source, he noted Chunghee clutching to his side like a barnacle.

Already more awake than not Sungmin raised his brow at the sudden switch between the kids. And not only the kids. Apparently Bernard decided to adopt Kyuhyun as well, judging from how he managed to climb his way onto the couch and nuzzle his nose under Kyuhyun’s back. The man probably didn’t even have a choice.

Stifling laugher threatening to burst out of his chest, Sungmin slowly shifted so that he could slide both his arms under Chunghee’s pliant body and lift him. The boy instinctively wrapped his arms around his neck and snuggled into him, still asleep. After a short trip to Sungrin’s room and placing the sleepy child in the bed Sungmin returned to the living room. None of the trio sprawled on the couch moved even an inch and he snorted. They were like peas in the pod, could sleep through a canon round.

Quickly gathering the dirty dishes and setting them in the sink to deal with in the morning, Sungmin finished putting the living room back in order. A glance towards the clock told him it was past 2pm. They all fell asleep after the satiating dinner. He barely managed to pry the mousse from Sungrin’s hands after the boy tasted the first spoon of it. He knew it would get down to that.

Apparently Korean dramas weren’t enough to hold the interest of neither of them after the boys dozed off and so they ended up giving into sleep on the couch as well.

For a moment, before he would have to carry Sungrin to his own room and crib, Sungmin sat on the armrest of the couch. Bernard must have awoken suddenly because he quickly tore his muzzle from under Kyuhyun’s back and up to look at his owner. His eyes were wide for a fraction of a moment before they started to drop, muddled with sleep. His big head plopped back down, onto his own paws, and he fell back asleep while his eyes were still on Sungmin. The man smiled at his pup and reached out to pat the dog’s gently. Bernard’s eyes opened for the briefest of moments before closing completely.

Shifting his gaze from the dog to his guest Sungmin sighed. He was really glad that Kyuhyun called him earlier that day and that they once again could share a meal. He didn’t know what he would do if thing’s went sour between them since he kind of set his own mind on trying to build something more with the man. And next time he would just bite his own tongue before speaking so rashly. For some time now he didn’t have anyone to tone down his impulses, his own brother even urging them more, making them end up in heated arguments most of the times they were meeting. Good thing was that they learned how to choose their words around Sungrin. When Sunkyu was between them she was heir buffer.

Looking up over the couch Sungmin swallowed with difficulty. Sunkyu was looking down at him from the traditional wedding photo. He didn’t feel any accusation in her eyes, or any guilt building in his own stomach at the thought of bringing Kyuhyun into his life. He knew that she would have approved, maybe even more that it was a man Sungmin chose to pursue – she was one of those wives who would probably sit down with snacks while watching her man getting it on with some other guy. Her slight obsession with idol groups and fan fiction spilled into the real world more than he was comfortable with sometimes, but who was he to deny her that. Hell, he even went to a few concerts with her and helped her make the banners. He was THAT awesome.

Despite all that there was still a gaping hole in his life. A place that Sunkyu was filling with her cheerfulness and weirdness and he wasn’t sure that it would ever fill again.

Looking back down at Kyuhyun he felt something different. He felt the need to heal, to show all the joys of the world to the man. But Kyuhyun had already a separate place for himself in Sungmin’s life and it was obvious to him that the younger would never take over Sunkyu’s spot. It was both painful and relieving. The former, because Sungmin wanted to know the feeling of being whole again. But relieving because that meant Sunkyu was as important for him as he thought she was, he didn’t imagine that love.

Just as he didn’t imagine the attraction he felt towards Kyuhyun or the fact that he was affecting the other male in the same way. The moment they shared in the kitchen proved all that. He thought that he had a grip on the situation, that he was controlling all the flirting between them. But in that particular moment he wasn’t even sure if it was him or Kyuhyun slowly closing the distance between them, ready to kiss in just a matter of second. The draw was intoxicating, Kyuhyun’s eyes flickering between his eyes and lips making his insides twist with expectation.

If Sungrin hadn’t chosen that second for his rare display of clumsiness the lasagna would have probably burned as they gave into the heat of the moment.

With warmth growing steady in his chest Sungmin pushed himself off the armrest and walked to the soundly sleeping pair. He gently ran his hand through Sungrin’s hair, marveling in the softness of the boy’s strands and the love that was exploding every time he was with his son. Carefully he picked up the boy, whose head lolled back, body lax and so trusting. Upon pressing the tiny body to his chest Sungmin nudged Kyuhyun’s knee with his own. The man suddenly snorted and woke up with a start.

‘Wha~’

Chuckling Sungmin smoothed his hand over Sungrin’s back.

‘We fell asleep.’ He whispered.

Kyuhyun looked blearily at him, obviously not understanding what was being said to him. He turned his head a few times taking in his surroundings before it registered where he was.

‘What time is it?’ His voice cracked from sleep.

‘Past two. I moved Chunghee to Sungrin’s bed and I’ll put Rin in his crib now.’ Sungmin started to move back and heard shuffling behind. He stifled a laugh at the low get off me Bernard, you 25 kg of saliva I don’t want smeared on my clothes!

When he managed to tug Sungrin’s clothes off and was covering his son with the thin blanket he heard Kyuhyun entering the nursery.

‘We should go. I’ll call a taxi.’ The man’s voice was still gruff and laced with sleep.

‘Stupid.’ Sungmin said quietly and ushered them both out the door, Kyuhyun moving sluggishly. ‘I have perfectly good and huge bed and Chunghee has some of his clothes here, too, so either of us can take them to the nursery tomorrow. Preferably you, so I won’t have to rush for my tube.’

Kyuhyun was looking at him with furrowed brows, his expression clearly saying he was taking his time processing the words. When they reached proper places the man looked towards Sungmin’s bed and his head snapped back to look at the shorter male.

‘Bed? You want to sleep in ONE bed?’ Although whispering his voice still carried the shrill of surprise.

‘Well, you could take the couch.’ Sungmin folded his hands over his chest and explained slowly like to a small child. ‘But it’s leather and doesn’t pull out. You’ll stick to it and sweat all over it and I’d rather you didn’t.’ He raised his brow expectantly.

Kyuhyun’s eyes grew wide with poorly contained panic. ‘But bed?!’

Rolling his eyes Sungmin pushed by him and into his bedroom. ‘It’s big enough so we won’t touch if you don’t want to.’ He put special emphasis on the pronoun as he stopped at the edge of the bed. He pulled his t-shirt over his head and threw it in the general direction of the bathroom. Thankfully it was hot enough that he was already going around his apartment in his old gym shorts so he could fall into bed in just them.

There was a moment of silence and in a moment a sigh when Kyuhyun moved to the other side of the bed. As Sungmin crawled on the mattress and sprawled on his back, throwing an arm over his head, he looked towards the hesitating man. Kyuhyun was wearing loose khakis, but not comfortable enough to sleep in them. Which he was obviously debating in his head over.

Releasing air with exasperation, since it was too damn late for such dilemmas, Sungmin snapped. ‘You can strip to your underwear, I won’t get scandalized and sure as hell won’t jump you when I’m this tired and have my son’s crib in the direct line of vision.’

Kyuhyun spurted and Sungmin could bet all of his saving on that the man was blushing. That he wasn’t illuminating the room with red light yet was a wonder. However, after another moment of some mumbling he couldn’t understand, Kyuhyun finally pulled off his button down and draped it over the chair before hastily pushing down his pants and folding them. He almost sprinted to the bed and covered himself up to his waist with the thin sheet Sungmin used on the slightly colder nights.

Smiling to himself Sungmin closed his eyes and felt the tiredness washing over his body and already pulling him back to sleep.

‘Goodnight Ming.’ Soft words came from the other side of the bed and he was sure he mumbled something back, but he was already too far gone to care.

***

Walking through the nursery’s gate Kyuhyun prayed to all deities that him bringing Sungrin in the morning won’t stir any interest in the employees. He kind of hoped Donghae would be the one he would have to deal with, considering the man still couldn’t distinguish between parents.

He already instructed Chunghee to not tell anyone where they had spent the night and the boy just shrugged and asked why he would, it wasn’t anything new to him to brag about anymore.

As soon as they reached the building Chunghee waved to him and kissed Sungrin on the forehead before changing his shoes for indoor ones and running to his age group’s room. He probably wanted to see Youngjin, the boys were apparently inseparable during the nursery hours.

It was surprising to find no parent in the waiting hall, normally he always met at least one of his friends. However, there was someone else there, a man he vaguely recognized as the social services inspector Kim Heechul.

The man threw him a side glance and nodded in a greeting gesture before fixing his eyes again on his phone. That way Kyuhyun had an easy access to looking over the man while unstrapping Sungrin from the buggy.

This time, without his work attire, inspector Heechul was dressed in quite wildly patterned thin white pants, leather sandals and white polo with a black design on it. Clothes that only very brave people would risk wearing. And with the aura of confidence the man was excluding it was obvious he felt very comfortable in his outfit. Kyuhyun pegged him as an eccentric figure from the first time he saw the man, with his burgundy hair swept in an old-fashioned, but currently trendy, wave. This time his hair was soft, falling onto his forehead and into his eyes.

‘Oh Kyuhyun, Sungmin must have been in a hurry if he left you to unstrap Sungrin.’ A familiar voice of the nursery’s owner drew Kyuhyun’s attention.

He managed to pull Sungrin out of the buggy and hitch him on his hip. He was already past his amusement about the child’s outfit, which comprised of yellow sandals, black pants and short-sleeved top with white front and black back. The top was a little longer and pointy in the back and there were two wing-like patches coming together in the front. The hood, because there was always a hood when Sungmin decided to dress Sungrin up like this, was mostly black, with a white half heart-shaped patch on the front, two black dots and a yellow beak.

Jungsu stopped and stared at the child for a second before laughter bubbled in his chest and rose up until the man was chuckling.

‘So, Sungrin’s a…’ He stopped and looked at Kyuhyun with amusement.

‘A penguin.’ Kyuhyun sighed, but turned his head to look at the child in his arms. Sungrin was contentedly on the small candy Chunghee shared with him from the treats Kyuhyun brought the day before.

Nodding to himself Jungsu reached towards Sungrin and the boy automatically leaned into his arms.

‘Sungmin knows that being dressed like a penguin won’t make him feel cooler in this weather, right?’ The elder brushed a strand from the boy’s forehead. In that moment Donghae arrived behind him and before long Sungrin disappeared in the backroom where his age group was. Jungsu looked back at Kyuhyun but not before throwing a quick look towards the other male in the hall. Kyuhyun noted a soft smile playing on the man’s lips. ‘So Sungmin run already?’

A slight blush crept onto Kyuhyun’s cheeks and he cleared his throat. ‘I picked Sungrin from his house today. Yesterday, when I went to take Chunghee home, he told me that he had an early meeting today and I suggested taking Sungrin to the nursery. It wasn’t that much of a detour.’ He shrugged hoping that he sounded convincing. And glad that no one of his friend saw him the day before because he was still wearing the same clothes.

Jungsu’s brow rose and he smirked knowingly. ‘Yeah, you just picked him up this morning…’ The voice held so many innuendos that Kyuhyun flushed even more. He wasn’t used to such scrutiny directed towards his… well, love-life would be the appropriate term, however he wasn’t sure himself if that truly was it. In spite of embarrassment, he straightened and fought his face into submission. He could always blame the redness on the heat.

‘So, anyway. You’re going to Siwon’s play day tomorrow?’ Maybe his diversion wasn’t too well thought through, or rather quite blatant, but it seemed to work as Jungsu chuckled and folded his arms on his chest, eyes once again darting for a second to the figure on the side.

‘Yeah, you’ll all need some professional support with those kids running around loose.’

‘Great, see you there.’ A quick retreat was in order before his hyung started asking him again about Sungmin and after those couple of months Kyuhyun wasn’t sure how he could answer some questions without lying. And he really didn’t want to lie. However, he could do some teasing of his own.

Already halfway out he turned and said loud enough for everyone in the hall to hear, ‘Have a nice date today hyung!’

He enjoyed the spluttering he heard before he dashed out of the facility and far away from his elder, who he might have annoyed just a tad.