“Shut up!” Jongdae shouted from the living room.

Junmyeon stopped screaming, not because Jongdae had told him to, but because he had run out of breath. He inhaled and exhaled as he stared at the baby on the floor. The baby…Yixing?

Impossible, Junmyeon thought. He rubbed his eyes, yet the baby in front of him didn’t disappear. Junmyeon stared at the child with amazement, wide eyes and an open mouth. He must be going insane. Or rather, he must be dreaming. Yes, it must be a dream because there was no possible, rational, believable, explanation of how a twenty-three-year-old Yixing could have transformed into a baby out of nowhere. He might have drunk yesterday, but this was not possible… Right?

“What happened, Junmyeon?” Minseok asked, startling Junmyeon on his spot. “Why do you look like that?” He yawned, and he stretched his arms while waiting for Junmyeon’s response.

However, Junmyeon was still too thunderstruck to even say something. He couldn’t stop staring at baby Yixing with a shocked expression on his face. So, he only raised his hand and pointed down.

Minseok took some steps until he stood next to Junmyeon and then stopped short. “Holy moly,” Minseok gasped, he covered his mouth with one hand while the other squeezed Junmyeon’s arm. “Is that?”

“Yes!” Junmyeon said, nodding his head.

“But-but, how?” Minseok whispered.

“I don’t know!” Junmyeon said exasperatedly, that was what he had been trying to figure out these past minutes. “I woke up, and he was already like this.”

The baby, as if he was aware of their conversation, kept staring at them and smiled. Oddly, the more Junmyeon looked at him, the more he believed in the bizarreness of the situation: that was Yixing.

“There’s gotta be some explanation.” Minseok squinted his eyes while he looked around the kitchen. “Wait a minute… Are you sure this isn’t a prank? What if Yixing is hidden somewhere, filming our reactions to this?” Minseok gasped again. “What if that’s his son?”

Junmyeon frowned. “Minseok, Yixing’s right in front of us.”

“But think about it, Junmyeon. That’s the only logical explanation. What if this is Yixing’s ‘unique’ way of introducing his son? I mean, don’t you remember how he introduced T-rex to us? If he did that for his bearded dragon, surely he could do this for his son.”

Oh, Junmyeon did remember. Yixing too had some slightly eccentric ideas from time to time (which explained how he and Baekhyun had met). And let’s just say T-rex’s introduction had involved a hot air balloon. But there was a significant flaw with Minseok’s suggestion. Yixing having a child? Please. That was impossible.

“Yixing, it’s over. Come out. We know. This is the son you’ve been keeping away from us all this time.”

“Yixing doesn’t have a son!”

“Maybe he had reasons not to tell us earlier. But it’s okay Yixing, we don’t mind.”

Minseok kept defending his standpoint of why that baby was Yixing’s son while Junmyeon argued that Yixing was not living a secret life, neither did he have a wife and son, and he didn’t fly every summer back to Changsha to visit them… That wasn’t true! As crazy as it sounded, Junmyeon believed the child had to be Yixing himself. He looked exactly like the baby pictures Yixing had shown him. Junmyeon and Minseok were too immersed in their debate, they hadn’t heard a third person arrived at the kitchen.

“Guys! What does a man gotta do to get some sleep over here?” Jongdae whined. “Could you please be any louder?”

Minseok and Junmyeon looked Jongdae’s way, who didn’t seem amused to have been woken up.

“Yixing has a son!”

“No, he doesn’t. I’m telling you, he’s the baby!”

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Jongdae said, looking confused and not less annoyed. He walked forward until he suddenly stopped when the baby came into his view. Yixing let out another laugh just like earlier when he noticed Junmyeon. Jongdae’s mouth fell open. His reaction? Bolt out of the kitchen while screaming Baekhyun’s name. Not one minute later, Jongdae dragged along with him a drowsy Baekhyun.

“What? What? Why did you wake me up?” Baekhyun complained as they approached Minseok and Junmyeon.

“Look! It’s Yixing. He’s a baby!” Jongdae said amused.

“Oh, my god,” Baekhyun exclaimed when he saw Yixing. He crouched down and did what neither Junmyeon nor Minseok had dared to do yet, approach baby Yixing. He began caressing the baby and cooing him, who in response laughed and smiled back. After all, Baekhyun was studying to become a kindergarten teacher, he knew more about babies than the other three combined. “It really is Yixing, aren’t you cutie?” Baekhyun said, pinching Yixing’s cheek.

“Isn’t it more reasonable that’s his son?” Minseok questioned.

“Come on, Min. Those dimples, that hair, the thick lower lip and the lack of eyebrows are dead giveaways,” Jongdae said, who had also squatted down to pat Yixing.

“You’re all crazy. But okay, let’s assume that’s Yixing. How in the world did that even happen?” Minseok asked again.

There just weren’t any coherent, believable explanations. How could Yixing have turned into a baby? Could this be real? Yet the proof of it happening was right there. Baekhyun and Jongdae were playing with him, Yixing was physically real, a baby. And the more Junmyeon looked at him, the more he believed this was real. It had happened. But the question remained, how and why? What had happened after Junmyeon and Yixing had gone to sleep last night? Or was it this morning, after-

“The potion,” Junmyeon mumbled, suddenly remembering what he had seen earlier. Now he ran out and went to grab the love potion. “Yixing must have drunk this,” Junmyeon said when he returned. “Maybe that’s why.”

“You gotta be kidding me,” Minseok mumbled.

“Wasn’t he supposed to fall in love with you, then?” Jongdae asked, “It’s a love potion.”

“Exactly! So maybe that’s not what it does. She must have tricked me. She fooled me!”

“Didn’t you read the instructions?” Baekhyun intervened, “‘Failure to administrate the recommended dose could lead to secondary effects.’ You must read carefully, Junmyeon. And Yixing drank like half of it.”

“But you removed the label and Yixing thought it was some energy drink,” Jongdae said.

“Still, this is Junmyeon’s fault. He should have put it away before something like this happened,” Baekhyun concluded, shrugging his shoulders.

So that stupid love potion did not only work, but it had also transformed Yixing into a baby. How great! Just what Junmyeon needed right now, Yixing back into wearing diapers and having a snotty nose. He wanted to scream in frustration. “I don’t care whose fault it is, we have to turn him back to normal. Did the instructions say anything about how to reverse the secondary effects?”

“No… But I know, we could visit my fortune-teller. She must definitely know how to bring him back. Although I suggest, we first get this boy some clothes and diapers, right Xing-Xing?” Baekhyun said, making Yixing voice something incomprehensible yet cute again.

What other option was there? They couldn’t simply go to a hospital and say: ‘Hey, this baby was our friend, turn him back into an adult!’ Who in their right minds would believe that? Besides, what if they took Yixing away and did some scary experiments on him? Junmyeon didn’t want any of that. He won’t risk putting Yixing into any danger. Therefore, he nodded to yet another one of Baekhyun’s ideas. “Okay, we’ll do that. How old do you think he is?”

Baekhyun raised Yixing to stand up. Surprisingly, Yixing could stand on his feet and even walk on his own. Baekhyun carried Yixing in his arms while he continued examining him. “I’ll say somewhere between fifteen to eighteen months.”

“In human years please,” Jongdae said.

“One and a half year. More or less.”

“Our neighbor has a daughter that age, maybe she can help us,” Junmyeon said.

But just then a phone alarm rang. Jongdae searched in Yixing’s jeans that were on the floor and brought out the ringing phone. “It’s a reminder… ‘Give T-rex parasite medicine,’” Jongdae read. “Aww, I didn’t know T-rex was sick. We should go check on him.”

“Jongdae, I think we have bigger problems here than a sick lizard,” Junmyeon said, pointing at baby Yixing, who was pulling Baekhyun’s hair extensions.

“I don’t know Junmyeon, a sick lizard sounds much more logical than any of this,” Minseok commented, clearly still quite skeptical about the whole situation.

“If T-rex dies, it will be your fault.” Jongdae pointed at Junmyeon, frowning.

Junmyeon sighed. “Fine. Take the car and Yixing’s keys and go check on it. Then come back here, and you’ll drive us to that witch’s house.”

Jongdae grinned before doing just that, while Minseok went to take a shower and see if he could wake up from this ‘surrealistic dream experience.’

Luckily, Junmyeon’s neighbor, Yuri, was at home. She was surprised when she saw baby Yixing in Baekhyun’s arms, not due to recognizing him as Junmyeon thought at first, but one, because of Baekhyun’s appearance (traces of his fake beard had fallen out), and two, because of the long shirt Yixing wore. Junmyeon, though, came up with a quick response to her questions: Yixing, or ‘Xingyi,’ was their friend’s baby, who they were babysitting. But earlier his clothes had gotten dirty and were still in the washing machine, on top of that they had run out of diapers just now. Apparently, the explanation worked because Yuri was kind enough to let them come in and aid them. Baekhyun took care of changing Yixing and doing all that stuff while Junmyeon waited in the hall. About twenty minutes later they headed back to Junmyeon’s and Minseok’s apartment. Before leaving, Yuri had also lent them her extra diaper bag just in case.

“Really? A sheep onesie was the only thing Yuri could borrow you guys?” Minseok asked he saw them walk back into the living room.

“He bit me whenever I tried to put him on a dress or something pink.”

Junmyeon though it looked rather cute. Whenever Yixing walked, his little sheep ears and tail would swing around. It had made him the laugh the first time he saw it. The onesie also was convenient because that way Yixing had some protection on his feet. And Yixing had always liked sheep for some reason. Junmyeon knew, if Yixing could, he would also have kept one as a pet.

“Watch him for a second while I go shower. This beard is itching like hell,” Baekhyun said.

Minseok left too, to continue cleaning his room, had he said.

So, when it was peace and quiet, Junmyeon sat down on the floor and leaned against a couch. He let out a deep sigh while he closed his eyes. This morning had been a roller coaster of emotions, thoughts, and whatnot. As much as he thought baby Yixing looked adorable, he just wanted old Yixing back. Even if this baby technically was Yixing, at the same time he wasn’t the Yixing Junmyeon knew. Of course, it wouldn’t feel the same. He missed the real Yixing, the Yixing that understood him, spoke to him, made him smile and laugh, and most importantly, was not a baby. Junmyeon hoped that this odd, crazy problem would get solved. He couldn’t imagine the rest of his life without Yixing by his side. He just couldn’t. And he really regretted not having been braver before. What if everything might be lost forever?

Suddenly, a tiny hand touched his cheek. Junmyeon opened his eyes and saw Yixing standing next to him, patting his cheek. This was the first time he had come so near to Yixing. Junmyeon just wasn’t sure how to approach Yixing in this state and had been a bit scared to do so. Babies never seemed to like him anyway.

Yixing let out another one of his shrill noises.

“What’s wrong?” Junmyeon asked.

Yixing said, or screamed, something again, pointing at Junmyeon with his other tiny hand.

“Are you worried about me?”

Yixing nodded? Junmyeon wasn’t sure if the nod had been real or his eyes tricked him. But could Yixing perhaps understand him? Did that mean the actual Yixing was trapped in his younger self’s body? No… Maybe babies were just this smart. After all, he remembered Baekhyun talking about how children developed communications skills early.

“It’s nothing. You wouldn’t understand it… I just miss someone.”

In response, Yixing leaned closer and enveloped his little arms around Junmyeon’s head. The action caught Junmyeon off guard. It seemed Yixing could somehow comprehend what he had said, otherwise why would Yixing be giving him, what appeared to be a comforting hug? Either Yixing was brilliant for a baby, or he was a twenty-three-year-old in a baby’s body… Still, Junmyeon half-smiled at Yixing’s effort to cheer him up. He raised his hand, removed the hood and gently ruffled Yixing’s hair. “Thanks… Yixing.”

At his words, Yixing drew back his arms and smiled at him, his little dimples appearing on his cheeks. Somehow, Junmyeon couldn’t shake away the thought that Yixing somehow understood him.

A while later, when Jongdae called them after feeding and giving T-rex its medicine, Junmyeon and the rest left the apartment. They didn’t have a car seat for Yixing, but Baekhyun sat with him just in case something happened. Thankfully, nothing happened during the car ride.

Once again, in less than twenty-four hours, Junmyeon found himself outside the fortune-teller’s house. Unlike last night, when he had been disbelieving about it, this time he firmly believed the woman would be able to bring back Yixing to normal. She had to do it! Yixing couldn’t stay like that forever, he was an adult, he had a life. Except it seemed to be one problem, to Junmyeon’s incredible dismay. Nobody was answering the door, no matter how many times they rang the doorbell or knocked. Junmyeon started to freak out.

“Where the hell is she?” Junmyeon looked at Baekhyun, “Don’t tell me she ran away because I swear-”

“I’m gonna go call her!” Baekhyun said.

Junmyeon sighed. He rubbed his temples. To calm down, he stared at Jongdae and Yixing who were playing together on the front lawn. Yixing laughed while he chased after Jongdae. It seemed Jongdae was pretending to be a lizard if that explained his loud reptile noises and walking on four legs. But Yixing was enjoying it. His little sheep tail swung around as he ran. His feet were getting dirty though, they’ll probably have to buy a new onesie to give back.

Minseok took a seat on the stairs and began staring at the exchange in front of them. He and Junmyeon did that under silence until a troubled Baekhyun stood in front of them.

Baekhyun scratched his head, just like he always did whenever he was nervous. “So… I talked to her.”

“And?” Junmyeon asked.

“I got good and bad news.”

“What?”

“The good news is she is out of town but will return next week.”

“Is that supposed to be good news? We have to wait seven days to turn Yixing back to normal?”

“No, no, not exactly… That’s the bad news. You see, she’s quite proud of her abilities and not exactly keen on helping someone who insulted her.”

“Huh?”

“Last night, she sensed how you doubted and mocked her skills. She saw how your fate would change and something would go wrong if she gave you the love potion.”

Junmyeon raised one eyebrow. Was this going where he thought it was?

“So, she gave it to you and… It changed, just like she had predicted.”

“But it’s Yixing that has changed, not me!”

“Yes, yes, you see, she said Yixing’s future was closely related to yours, depending on what decisions you two made. So, basically, if your fate changed, his would also change as a result.”

Junmyeon walked to stand in front of Baekhyun. Junmyeon had that look on his face that he always did when he got mad. “Byun Baekhyun, are you telling me she did this on purpose? She cursed Yixing on purpose?”

“She didn’t say curse per se… It was more to teach you a lesson to not disregard everything you can’t see. And! To help you consider things and be braver in your life and value every opportunity you have from now on. Isn’t that great life advice? Ha-ha.”

“Wow,” Minseok huffed while he shook his head. “Could this get any more Disney-movie-nightmare like?”

“Remember, I’m just the messenger, don’t blame the messenger,” Baekhyun said, covering his face with his arms.

Junmyeon let go of Baekhyun’s shirt. As much as he wanted to scream and say lots of not-so-nice words, he didn’t want to scare little Yixing. Instead, he simply fell on his knees on the grass. Rather than putting the blame on Baekhyun, Junmyeon accepted this was actually his fault. If he hadn’t come to this foolery last night, he wouldn’t have made that crazy woman angry, he wouldn’t have bought that damn love potion, and nothing of this would have happened. And now what? Was Yixing going to stay as a baby? Won’t he ever see the Yixing he once knew ever again? Was this the end for them? Of course, it was. There was a twenty-two years age difference between them. How could they possibly remain friends?

“Look Junmyeon, maybe when she comes back if you apologize, she’ll help you out. She can’t be angry forever.”

“Has she ever changed her mind?”

Baekhyun shook his head.

“And what makes you think she’ll do it now?”

Baekhyun didn’t say anything, only looked away anxious, and mumbling sorry.

“Why does Jun look so miserable?” Jongdae approached the three friends while he carried a tired Yixing on his arms. Baekhyun took the task of whispering everything that had occurred. Minseok remained silent, sitting on the stairs. And Junmyeon kept regretting and cursing inwardly. But some part of him also thought, if there was a possibility this was a ‘surrealistic dream,’ now was a good damn time to wake up.

Later, Junmyeon didn’t say anything when they got in the car and went to search somewhere to eat lunch at. Neither did someone pressure him into talking, actually nobody said anything at all. Each of them was caught in their own thoughts. Not even Yixing had screamed out loud as he had done earlier.

Jongdae drove them to a Chinese food restaurant. They sat down, ordered their foods, and once it had arrived, began eating under silence again. Baekhyun took charge of feeding Yixing his food.

Unexpectedly, it was Minseok who broke the table’s unbearable quietness. “What are we going to do? Yixing is a baby.” It seemed Minseok finally had accepted the crazy reality they were facing.

“I can take care of T-rex now that Yixing, well, can’t anymore.”

All eyes fell on Jongdae, whose cheeks were stuffed with noodles.

“What?” Baekhyun said.

Jongdae chewed and swallowed. “Somebody has to take care of the pet lizard… But, look at the bright side, Junmyeon. In twenty years you’ll be forty-four and Yixing twenty-two. Who knows… He might need some economic support by then… You could step in and be, you know.” Jongdae wiggled his eyebrows.

Junmyeon almost choked on his food. “Ew, Jongdae! What kind of bright side is that?”

“Hey, I’m just saying.”

“Ignoring Jongdae’s unhelpful comments, what are we going to do with him? Should we take Yixing back to his parents?” Baekhyun wondered. “Because otherwise, I can offer myself to raise him.”

“You?” Jongdae questioned.

“I have more qualifications than any of you guys.”

“Maybe in theory. But you can’t even keep your room clean and tidy for a day. And you’re constantly stressing out about college. How are you gonna handle everything with a baby on top of that?”

“I’ll figure it out, Jongdae. It’ll be an adventure for both of us. Right, Xing-Xing?”

“No, you’re not ready to be a single dad. I, on the other hand, had to help taking care of my younger siblings. I know what to do.”

Junmyeon rolled his eyes. His friends could indeed be the most helpful at times. Just when Junmyeon was about to put an end to Jongdae and Baekhyun’s fight over who would raise Yixing (which by the way Junmyeon thought none of them were suited for), a voice spoke to them.

“Junmyeon?” said that very familiar, melodious voice again. And yes, when Junmyeon looked up from his seat, Yitian was standing beside their table, holding a bag in his hand and looking at him questioningly. Oh, how great, just what Junmyeon needed.

“Hi,” Junmyeon said, followed by the rest of the table members.

Yitian’s gaze shifted from Junmyeon to everyone else as he greeted them, but it stopped on someone, on the little figure sitting in the baby chair, who was a dumpling. Slowly but surely Yitian must be falling into the realization of who it was, especially when he gasped, and his eyes widened. “Yixing?” he asked, trying to get closer to him and mumbling stuff in Chinese.

Swift as lighting, Jongdae stood up. He tiptoed so he could reach and put an arm around Yitian, hindering him from looking closely. “No, that’s Xingyi, Yixing’s cousin. Isn’t he cute? I need to talk to you, Yitian. Come with me,” Jongdae said, leading with him a confused Yitian towards the doors.

“For a guy that says some questionable stuff at times, his flirting can be really helpful,” Minseok said.

“I guess we should change his name. People might suspect if we keep calling him ‘Yixing,’” Baekhyun whispered. “Oh! I got some suggestions!”

“We’re not changing his name.” Minseok frowned. “Neither should any of you keep him.”

“Then, what do you suggest we do with him?”

“I think he should go back to his parents. They know how to raise him properly. They did it once before.”

“Oh, and how will we explain this?” Baekhyun said, motioning his hands in Yixing’s direction. “What if we scare them? What if they don’t believe us and think we’re crazy?”

“Well, they’ll be more scared when suddenly their twenty-three-year-old son cuts all communication with them.”

“Oh my god, guys,” Jongdae jumped into the conversation once he came back and sat down again. “I got Mister Perfect Face’s number!” He laughed, “Hah, in your face Baekhyun!”

“What?!” Minseok and Baekhyun said at the same time. Even Yixing had looked up to see Jongdae’s winning grin.

“Yes, look,” Jongdae said, holding up his phone and flaunting the contact name: ‘Yitian ❤️.’

“How?” Minseok asked.

“We just spoke. I underestimated him, Yitian actually understood what I said. And, in the end, I asked for it, and he said sure.”

“I can’t believe this,” Baekhyun said, “You’re dressed as a smelly egg, and he still gave you his number? Boy, something must be seriously wrong with that Yitian.”

Either it was a coincidence, or he had understood, but had Yixing laughed at what Baekhyun said? Maybe it was just a coincidence… Then Jongdae smacked Baekhyun’s head. At that Yixing definitely laughed again.

“Or he actually likes me? Besides, he could use someone with a Korean mother tongue. If you know what I mean.”

Now Baekhyun smacked the back of Jongdae's head. When the excitement and questions about Yitian giving Jongdae his number, finally died down, the other guys stared at Junmyeon.

“So… You haven’t said anything yet, Junmyeon. What do you think we should do?” Baekhyun asked.

Junmyeon gulped down the last of his beverage. He reached his hand to grab a dumpling. Now that everything seemed lost, he didn’t have much choice. He knew what they had to do. He knew that Yixing had to go back home with the ones that would know how to take care of him. This was it. He looked at baby Yixing, who in response looked back at him back. Yixing lifted his little arms and tried to talk as if telling Junmyeon to pick him up. So, this was their life now. Junmyeon had lost everything that once had mattered to him.

“He should go back home with his real parents… And relive his life while we continue with ours.”

Baekhyun and Minseok nodded. Minseok put an arm around Junmyeon’s shoulders while saying it was the right choice. Yixing began screaming louder, and Baekhyun tried to calm him down because the other guests started looking at them.

“I can’t take this anymore,” Jongdae said, “He’s about to cry while chewing a dumpling.”

“I’m not!” Junmyeon said. Stupid, watery sensation in his eyes.

“I may know someone who can fix this.”

All eyes fell on Jongdae again, even Yixing stopped his cries and stared at him.

“What?” Junmyeon muttered.

“Yes, I never mentioned this before because I didn’t want you guys to mock me as we do with Baek.”

Baekhyun huffed, crossing his arms.

“But do you remember this guy I used to date, Park Chanyeol?”

The tall guy with scary disproportionate ears, yes, they all nodded in agreement.

“As you know, Chanyeol had many hobbies. And one of them was…” Jongdae said, pausing to pour himself another glass of juice, and drank it.

“What?” everyone said in unison when Jongdae had finished but did not resume his words.

“You might not have believed me if I had said this earlier, but with everything happening right now, you will,” Jongdae said, adding yet another dramatic pause. This time he took the time to grab a dumpling and stuffed it in his mouth.

“For god’s sake, just say it, Jongdae,” Junmyeon complained.

Jongdae grinned. “He is a wizard, or actually, a wizard in training,” he spoke with his mouth full.

Baekhyun gasped with wonderment. Yixing clapped with his little baby hands. Minseok banged his head against the table. And Junmyeon, Junmyeon would accept any kind of ridiculous idea if it meant he would get old Yixing back.