Kyungsoo wakes up Junmyeon before the sun is up.

Through half-lidded, tired eyes, not even the dark room can hide the desperation written across the kid’s face, eyes clear with tears. The haze of sleep is quickly wiped out of Junmyeon as he remembers his predicament; he barely manages to sit on his bed before Kyungsoo is all but on top of him, tiny fists bunching up his clothes as the boy sobs.

“Sehunnie feels bad! He’s hot and… and…” Kyungsoo hesitates for a second, “he puked on your covers..! I’m sorry, I’m gonna c-clean it but please help him!”

A lot more awake, Junmyeon softly holds the boy’s shoulders, “Everything is fine Kyungsoo-ah, it’s no problem,” he consoles – tries – him, the boy crying and crying, “let’s go to Sehun-ah, okay? Calm down.”

Kyungsoo sniffles and climbs off Junmyeon, scampering down the hallway before him, without a doubt going to Junmyeon’s guestroom; he didn’t have the need for one, since his parents lived close enough for them to visit him and vice-versa, but it was a good thing to have when his friends drank too much and weren’t capable to go home by themselves. In general he kept it closed and bare – some of his friends had said he couldn’t use a room without wrecking it with his dirtiness, the absurd – and after this recent spur in the moment decision, he’s thankful for investing on a bigger apartment than a bachelor like him normally does.

The guestroom is just across the hallway from his room, and he enters the place with dread weighting his conscience. The scene that greets him is a sight out of a nightmare: Kyungsoo looks frantic, lost on what to do as Jongin cries, the shirt Junmyeon gave him – his brother sometimes visits, together with his wife and two-year old toddler – soiled with vomit and Sehun trembles and coughs, everything around him dirty, from his face to his clothes and sheets. The stench permeates the room, and Junmyeon suddenly feels like crying too. He’s way over his head here.

“Think Junmyeon, think,” he says to himself, trying to remember his limited experiences with his nephew; what had his sister-in-law taught him? 

“Toddlers can have sensitive bellies,” she had said, cradling her own toddler closer to her , “depending on the day, a food that they would normally eat is enough to make them sick.”

Maybe Sehun hadn’t been used to the mac&cheese he had eaten that night. Maybe he had eaten too much and too fast – Junmyeon didn’t know when was the last time they had eaten, but judging their ravenous appetite, not in some time – maybe he was allergic to some ingredient and now he was going to die in front of Junmyeon and his brothers thus generating more trauma for the two boys and enough to send him into therapy for the next thirty or so ye–

Calm down Junmyeon. Think.

“Kyungsoo-yah,” he finally says, two pairs of wet eyes snapping to meet his as Jongin also looks up; his heart clenches at their wideness, the panic and fear that darken orbs of a mere child. “Do you think you can go to the bathroom and turn on the water for me? I’ll go in a minute with Sehun-ah and Jongin-ah.”

The older boy nods, wiping the tears with the back of his hands before running down the hallway. Breathing deeply – regretting it after being hit by the stench again – Junmyeon approaches Sehun first, crouching to stand on a similar height to the toddler.

“Sehun-ah,” he calls softly, “Sehun-ah, does your belly hurts?”

The toddler continues to cry nonstop, not answering to his question. So Junmyeon turns to Jongin, who’s looking at him while fat tears also fall from his eyes. “Jongin-ah, did Sehunnie said anything to you before puking? Maybe that his belly hurt?”

Jongin doesn’t say anything, but nods. He’s just as dirty as Sehun, borrowed clothes too small for him wet with vomit. The boy is doing an impressive job at crying without making noise and like it’s doing lately, Junmyeon’s heart decides to lurch painfully in his ribcage. At this point, Junmyeon will die of a premature heart attack at age 31, all because he can’t deal with his own emotions.

“I the water ahjussi!” Kyungsoo runs back to the room. Junmyeon admires the amount of energy the boy can produce in midst so much chaos. At the same time, Junmyeon wants to kiss his badly cut hair and cuddle up to him, for now he can organize his thoughts into a resemblance of… something. To say he’s lost like never in his life would be a euphemism: he doubts he’ll ever be as lost as he is right now.

“Great, Kyungsoo-yah! Can you please help Jongin-ah out of these clothes while I take Sehun-ah to the bathroom?”

“Uhum!” the oldest boy is already at Jongin’s side, taking him by his hand and leading him away.

Reuniting all of his strength, Junmyeon picks up Sehun – dirty and sobbing – to take him to the bathroom; the toddler sniffles and tucks his head in the junction between Junmyeon’s shoulder and neck, tiny hands holding onto him tightly. The smell is even worse this close, and Junmyeon holds the desire to gag and the stray thought of how in all heavens will he clean up everything. Priorities, priorities, he needs to care for these children first.

The bathroom is pleasantly warm thanks to the running water. Kyungsoo is only wearing his underwear, spraying a Jongin with the shower head to take off the worst of the vomit; his brow is furrowed in concentration and he says words of comfort to the younger child. All Junmyeon wants to do is crack open his chest and put these three children inside it, cage them in warmth and safety. 

He puts Sehun down and takes off his clothes, taking care to not soil the toddler’s hair and face with the shirt. Sehun’s face is red and tears still fall from his eyes, but touching his forehead and neck doesn’t indicate fever – thank God.

“Kyungsoo-yah, can you help Sehunnie while I change the covers and find new clothes for him and Jonginnie?” Junmyeon doesn’t want to abuse the oldest sibling’s maturity, not when he’s probably not older than eight, yet he’s so out of his depth here he’s not going to try to do everything by himself and somehow – certainly – mess it all up. Kyungsoo even seems comfortable in taking care of his younger brothers; he nods and calls for Sehun, who goes to him in wobbly steps.

Junmyeon uses the opportunity to leave the bathroom – letting the door ajar, he is not leaving three children all alone – to search for other clothes and his cellphone.
Google pretty much says Sehun has his days counted, and Junmyeon can’t close the tabs fast enough before he is in the brink of hyperventilating. He soothes himself by peeking at the bathroom, seeing Sehun inside the bathtub being softly cleaned by Kyungsoo, Jongin playing with – he breathes deeply, in and out – his very expensive shampoo by making bubbles that cause Sehun to squeak happily, eyes wide open in wonder.

Next he goes to the guest room, using his moment alone to contort his face in all possible angles at the soiled bed sheets; ugh, why did it have to be vomit, and so much of it? A poop accident was better than this… no, scratch that, it was just as bad. Junmyeon should have expected this – he did kind of acquire 3 children, one of them no more than a toddler – but seeing it is a bit… annoying. He`s no parent, he hasn`t had to deal with any of his nephew`s fluids either. A new wave of respect surges for his sister-in-law for having to deal with everything mostly by herself as his brother works. 

What has to be done has to be done, so Junmyeon gathers the soiled covers and sheet in his arms and takes them to the laundry area. His nose scrunches up at the mess; he should call Ms. Hyun to help him clean one of these days or just take some time to do it himself, instead of throwing it all on an out of sight place. He changes his shirt and then looks for some more clothes from his nephew, instantly regretting that he did with the boys` clothes what he does with his own: threw it together with his dirty laundry and forgot about it.

Now, now, he doesn’t have for this. He dumps everything on the floor, checks the bathroom quickly, seeing that Kyungsoo appears to be finishing toweling his brothers, and runs to the bedroom to fetch the clothes. He finds only a crocodile onesie and a pair of pajamas that’ll be too short for Jongin and have no way to fit Kyungsoo; in fact, Kyungsoo will have to put on a shirt of his until he finally does the laundry. 

He goes back to the bathroom feeling somewhat embarrassed by his bad habits; Kyungsoo is eight and more of a responsible adult than he is, cleaning up his mess and his brothers’ with practiced ease.

“We are done, Mye- Ahjussi” Kyungsoo stumbles a little, seemingly uncertain of what to call him, deciding on keeping things more formal. Junmyeon doesn’t want to think that he’s old enough to be called ahjussi. 

But he’s so cute, looking so flustered over a simple thing, “Myun or Myeon is fine,” then, turning to Sehun, says, “What about you, little champ? Are you feeling better?”

Big, round eyes stare at him, still red from the crying, but the toddler nods. He’s been silent at all times; his crying is quieter than his nephew’s and he doesn’t babble away like him either. In fact, Sehun hasn’t said anything at all after copying Jongin earlier that night. He understands his surroundings and things a toddler his age would, yet he’s much too silent and obedient. While Jongin is more outgoing than his youngest brother, he’s also exceptionally obedient; again, Kyungsoo is more adult than most people Junmyeon knows, including himself.

How can his heart handle all of this? These three kids have been with him for a third of a day, and he would very probably kill everyone in a room if they so much as looked at their direction wrongly. They are so small and defenseless, no matter how they appear to be more mature than the norm; anyone could do them harm. What if it hadn’t been Junmyeon to pick them up? What if someone with bad intentions caught one or all of them? This world is full of bad people, and they’re children. 

Junmyeon still doesn’t know what he’s going to do, but for now, he should put the boys back in the bed; the sun is starting to appear, and they all had a long night.

“… Myeon-ahjussi..?”

Junmyeon turns to see Kyungsoo looking at him, a tiny frown on his face. “Do you need help cleaning? I can help!”

Be still heart, now it’s not the time to leave your place. “Don’t worry about it, Kyungsoo-ah, Myeon will take care of everything, okay?” he waits for the boy to nod to continue, “Aren’t you sleepy? You can all go back to sleep, I took care of the covers.”

Kyungsoo still looks hesitant, but Jongin yawns as if in cue to show that yes, he’s would like to go back to sleep; however Sehun fixes his big eyes on Junmyeon and doesn’t do or say anything. “What’s the matter Sehunnie?”

He’s expecting the toddler to say something, yet Sehun just shakes his head; Kyungsoo turns sharply towards him, “Sehun, that’s not right. If ahjussi says we go to sleep, we go to sleep!”

Uh, no, that wasn’t exactly what Junmyeon expected… and when did he start to expect something if he’s so out of his depth? Who knows, “that’s not it, Kyungsoo-yah. If Sehunnie isn’t sleepy, we can do something, yes?”

“But ahjussi…”

“Don’t worry,” Junmyeon reaches out to Sehun, picking him up, sighing when he immediately grabs his neck with tiny arms, “me and Sehunnie will watch some cartoons while you and Jonginnie can go back to sleep.”

Jongin’s eyes snap out of their drowsy haze, instantly awake. “Pororo, Pororo! Me wants to see Pororo! Pwease Myeon!”

“Jonginnie!” Kyungsoo chides even though he looks excited at the idea of watching cartoons as well. Hesitantly he turns his sight towards Junmyeon.

“You can accompany us if you want,” Junmyeon smiles.

“I can…?”

“Yes, of course. We can see some cartoons then take a nap, deal?”

Kyungsoo nods. Jongin excitedly jumps around before grabbing Junmyeon’s pajama pants and tugging at it. He smiles brightly, cute cheeks round – Junmyeon wants to pinch it – and colored pink from delight. It’s so adorable Junmyeon smiles just as broadly, adjusting his hold on Sehun to support him with one arm so he can hold Jongin’s hand. The boy’s hand wraps tightly around three of Junmyeon’s fingers.

The four of them move to the living room. Junmyeon turns on the TV and is lost when he realizes he doesn’t know what channel to put on. Normally he’s too busy to sit idly and enjoy a movie or start a series; he watches the news while correcting his students’ essays. In fact, he doesn’t know why he has so many channels. Despite that, he’s glad that he quickly finds one with a penguin that causes Jongin to immediately focus all of his attention to it, not bothering to sit by the couch.

Junmyeon sits with Sehun on his lap, and the toddler also becomes enraptured by the cartoon. Kyungsoo also sits on the couch, the perfect picture of a well-behaved child: back straight, hands on his knees and stretched legs that dangle from the couch. Junmyeon wants to say something to make the boy relax, but he has no idea of what he could say. Every attempt at making him less concerned about doing what he thinks is right hasn’t worked. Kyungsoo seems to have a tight leash on himself that he won’t let go, and he looks at Junmyeon as if he’s waiting for the moment he’ll get tired of the children and put them right back on the streets. 

Clearly Junmyeon’s not equipped to deal with all of these children’s issues. He’ll soon have to call the police to try and identify their parents; by the few words Kyungsoo and Jongin have said to him, they are not exactly on the picture, but must have some other relative, right?

Honestly, at this point, Junmyeon is tired. He doesn’t even realize when his eyes close and he starts to doze off.

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