"I think Changmin isn't sleeping well at night."

Yunho looks away from the TV to find Jaejoong with an armful of cranky Changmin. It's quite rare because Changmin doesn't cry much. He gets upset, angry, or whiny not unlike infants his age. But they're yet to see him cry like babies do. Which makes this a worrisome situation.

Yunho pauses the YouTube cooking video he's watching on TV and walks to Jaejoong who's pacing behind the couch trying to comfort Changmin. Jaejoong shifts Changmin a little for Yunho to check him. The baby demon's meek sobs quieten when Yunho enters his view. But the puffy red eyes and little sniffles speak of his distress.

"He looks tired."

"He was sleeping at the cafe today while Heechul was doing 'legal' work. But I don't think he'd sleeping as much as babies do."

"He was up this morning too... I don't get it. If he's up at night we'd know."

"You don't think Heechul has anything to do with it do you?"

They pause for a second before they shake their heads. What would Heechul be doing? If anything, Heechul is the type to not inconvenience his lord and master in any way. Though he's also somewhat dumb when it comes to babies.

A whimper gets their attention back to the sleepless baby. "Sleep, you." Yunho playfully pokes that chubby cheek making Changmin giggle through his tears. "We can try feeding him. Get him in bed. I'll get a bottle."

"Check the baby monitor too. Maybe it's not working." Jaejoong says before going upstairs with Changmin.

Yunho turns off the TV before preparing a couple of Changmin's bottles. While he's doing that, he checks the baby monitor feed on his phone. The sound and video feed are as clear as it can get. If Changmin had a restless night, they should've known.

When he walks into the room, Jaejoong is sitting on the floor in front of the crib. "I don't think we need the milk anymore." Jaejoong gestures at Changmin, tucked in and snuggling his stuffed burger toy.

"Knowing Changmin, he'll be needing it soon. The baby monitor is working just fine by the way."

"Maybe we sleep through it."

"I guess..." Yunho checks on Changmin and sighs seeing that he's still awake. Changmin's eyes are fixated on Yunho though they're drooping. "He's fighting sleep."

"Huh?" Jaejoong panics, about to stumble to his feet. But Yunho stills him with a hand on his shoulder and a reassuring glance. Yunho bends over the crib, pulling Changmin's blanket higher.

"Go to sleep Bambi. We're right here." Yunho sits on the floor beside Jaejoong, letting the shorter male lean on his shoulder. They meet the pair of deep black eyes as dark as an unknown world peeking between the bars of the crib and smile. "We're here as long as you want." Maybe hearing Jaejoong say that or just his voice was all Changmin needed to finally give in to sleep.

It's well past midnight. Yunho and Jaejoong are sleeping on the floor in all manners of discomfort, with only each other as a substitute for a blanket. They weren't fully relaxed though. Once in a while they'd twitch, ready to attend to Changmin when they have to, but never truly waking.

Yet despite their subconscious awareness they don't sense the heavy shadow looming at the foot of the bed. When this dark formless presence hovers over the crib, Changmin's eyes open and he wriggles happily.

~~~

Jaejoong can't help the scowl on his face as he opens the door. Though his mother doesn't appreciate the sour welcome. "If you don't want me here, I've seven other children who still appreciate me."

"Don't you have nine kids in total?"

"Ever since Minyoung turned 45 she's been saying I don't treat her as an adult."

"Isn't she 44?"

"Exactly!"

Jaejoong is too tired to discuss with his mother at what age exactly will they be adults to her and lets her get comfortable.

"You look horrible."

"Yeah. Sorry about earlier. We slept on the floor last night."

 "Usually just one partner is delegated to the floor."

"It wasn't a fight Umma." Jaejoong stares at his empty coffee in a daze. Siyeon can tell his mind is out of sorts by that. She takes his mug and goes about making coffee for both of them. "Where's Yunho?"

"Showering... or sleeping in the shower... don't know."

Siyeon replaces Jaejoong's empty mug with a full one and sits on the chair opposite him with a mug of her own. "So, what happened?"

With a tired sigh, Jaejoong explained Changmin's lack of sleep and how they came to sleep on the floor last night. His bones are throbbing just at the memory of it. And truth be told, they were barely sleeping, partly out of discomfort and partly out of the nagging worry about Changmin.

When they woke up, Changmin was awake and trying to catch his left foot that was faster than his hand. Defeated and painfully aware of every joint in their body, they called in sick and properly tucked Changmin in.

"Well it's not uncommon for babies to have the most inconvenient of sleep routines. But if you're saying he's resisting sleep... that's a bit worrisome."

Siyeon abandons her coffee to cook up some breakfast for three of them. The kitchen looks clean today and she can tell they haven't made anything since they woke up. "I remember Hyesoo used to fight sleep too. At that time we didn't really know what it was till a doctor said she's either overtired or doesn't want to cut down on playtime."

"Overtired?"

"Yeah, I know it sounds ironic and the doctor did try to explain it back then. But I only got a vague idea of it and my memory is foggy." Jaejoong goes quiet after that while his mind is whirling with a few supernatural scenarios. "Anyway, you should take it easy since it's your day off. I'll take care of things today." Siyeon punctuates by shoving a piece of apple in his mouth. "Oh, look who's finally here."

Siyeon's voice gets at least two octaves higher in excitement when she sees Yunho enter with an armful of Changmin. Yunho gestures for them to shush and points at Changmin. Siyeon walks around Yunho, feeding him a slice of apple on the way, and checks on Changmin who's resting peacefully on Yunho's shoulder. He's dead to the world but with Yunho's every movement Changmin's fingers are gripping his shirt even tighter.

"So he's finally catching some sleep." Siyeon that soft tuft of hair, smiling when it seems to make Changmin relax.

"He's usually on his second bottle by now." Yunho sits on his chair and shifts Changmin with little difficulty. But Jaejoong assists him so Changmin is not disturbed.

"By the way aren't you two going to ask what I'm doing here." Siyeon pauses whatever she's doing to give them her usual pitiful huff as if no one appreciates her. But every Kim and those who've known them long enough have grown immune to Siyeon's tactic.

"Umma, you show up unannounced 98% of the time."

"That's because I know when and where I'm needed." After a brief staredown between mother and son, Siyeon relents. "Anyway, I thought I'd watch Minnie for you today. I wanted to take him shopping."

"You can take him out. He's napped through a lot of outings." Yunho can feel Changmin stir when he speaks. So he his back till he feels Changmin relax. Something that Siyeon catches.

"That right there is why I'm not taking my sleepy grandson out." She points at them while stirring the leftover miso soup she found in the fridge and decided to reheat. "You said he's fighting sleep right. We can't put him in a stroller and let him nap while we take him through a noisy subway or mall as usual."

"She's right." Jaejoong's slow awakening is almost done and he can feel more aware now. "Somin noona once told me she had a similar problem when Hayoung was small." "

Right. And Somin avoided anything that will keep Hayoungie awake during her naptime. Like going outdoors and the TV."

It must be the sleepiness he can't shake off but Yunho's unable to wrap his head around their suggestion that they need to keep Changmin away from anything that'll distract him from sleeping. They're making it sound like it's a college exam.

"Only till he gets into a sleep rhythm." Siyeon assures reading the confusion that's on Yunho's face.

"Okay since we've got a game plan decided," Jaejoong carefully takes Changmin and transfers him in the bassinet. When he frets in his sleep at being separated from a parent Jaejoong quickly slips his stuffed burger in his hold and Changmin calms down. His eyes open for a brief second before closing again telling Jaejoong he's not waking anytime soon. So he returns to Yunho and tugs him to his feet. "Umma please watch Min for a while. Yunho and I have to go somewhere quick."

"We do?" Jaejoong gives Yunho a look to play along before dragging him to the front door while Siyeon hollers for them to be back in time for breakfast. "Where are we going?" Yunho asks the very determined man walking ahead of him. Jaejoong let go of his arm