XXIV

“Hojun, look! Aren’t those Geun and Jimin, your best friends ever?” Baekhyun asked, sitting on the colorful playing mat Kyungsoo had laid in his living room. Very close beside him was Hojun, looking around him with wide eyes.

Jimin, Kyungsoo’s baby girl, put her little hands on the mat and crawled in their direction. Hojun wasn’t amused. He moved closer to Baekhyun with a sound of protest, and hid his face on his arm.

“But we saw them just last month, baby! And you played together! You don’t remember?” he asked in the high voice he used to try and comfort his son, who he was starting to think was way too attached to himself and Chanyeol.

At some point when Hojun turned four months old, he had developed a habit of starting to cry if Baekhyun or Chanyeol wasn’t on his sight. He cried when other people held him, except for Kyungsoo, and he was reluctant to socialize with other babies, including the twins. Baekhyun blamed himself this time, though, he shouldn’t have left four weeks go past before another playdate. A month was a lot of time when you had only been alive for six.

Meanwhile, Kyungsoo wasn’t in the room, and Geun and Jimin still played happily with each other. Geun was trying to stack blocks in a corner. He punched the pile and made a happy sound when they fell down, calling Hojun’s attention.

“Do you like the blocks? Don’t you want to go play with Geun?” Baekhyun tried again, gently pushing his son away. This time Hojun did crawl hesitantly towards the other baby. Geun smiled and made a clumsy wave in his direction.

Baekhyun watched with a smile as they interacted with each other through gestures and little sounds. Kyungsoo walked into the living room wearing an apron and with a glass of water for Baekhyun in his hand. His black hair looked greasy and stood in all directions, and the bags under his eyes were dark.

“Here,” he said, handing Baekhyun the glass.

“Daaaaah! Dahh?!” Jimin extended her arms towards her dad, looking at him expectantly.

“No, no, Minnie, dad is busy in the kitchen,” Kyungsoo said to her and then sighed. “Thank you for coming, I want to talk but I have to use this chance to catch up in the kitchen, I hope you don’t mind. I’m making enough food for Kai’s next week.”

“Don’t worry, I got things covered here, but don’t take too long.”

“Thanks, Baek!” Kyungsoo said and rushed back to the kitchen.

Jimin looked where her dad had disappeared and cried with a loud screech.

“It’s okay, Jimin, your dad will come back in no time! It’s okay, shhh,” Baekhyun tried soothing her, taking her in his arms. He grabbed a tiger plush from the mat and distracted the baby with it.

*

“Oh, good, they’re asleep,” Baekhyun whispered in relief. He and Kyungsoo exited the room and went to the master bedroom. Chanyeol was surely going to be annoyed about the scent of Kai over Baekhyun’s body, but he still laid down on the bed and closed his eyes.

“How have you been doing? We’ve barely talked,” Kyungsoo said, laying down beside him.

“Yeah, because, when? We’re barely fulfilling our biological needs. And you have two, plus Kai, how are you not dead?”

“Hey, what do you mean plus Kai?”

“I mean he doesn’t know how to turn on the washing machine.”

Kyungs