Jonghyun’s face lit up as Taemin was finally passed to him.

“Hey baby, hey baby,” he said softly as Taemin cooed back. “He’s so light,” said Jonghyun in amazement, holding still as Taemin tried to reach for Key until he was distracted by Jonghyun’s collar.

“So cuttee,” agreed Minho, oblivious as he tried to get Taemin to hold his finger again and smiling widely at Taemin over Jonghyun’s shoulder, opening his eyes wider to make himself cuter for the baby.

“Mmm,” said Onew in a comforting tone as he fixed Taemin’s clothes which were falling off him slightly. “Euurgh,” he said after inhaling and getting a whiff of something. “Oh god. Do you smell that?”

Minho sniffed and cracked up, clapping his hands together. “Oh hyung, oh hyung,” he laughed as he slumped back onto the couch.

“Oh god!” moaned Jonghyun, holding Taemin at arm’s length away from him. “Kibum, you’re horrible!”

Key was bent double, laughing his lungs out. “Remember…remember Hello Baby..before we saw Yoogeun you had this speech about how you knew how to change diapers and do everything? Well, now’s your chance to prove it!”

“No!” protested Jonghyun, trying to hand Taemin back to Key, who got up and ran away from the room, his cackles following him.

“Minho-ah,” he pleaded, turning to Minho on the other side of him.

“What are you looking at me for hyung, I’ve never done that before in my life!” yelled Minho. “I’ve never even seen it! You’re doing it!” before dashing out of the room too.

Taemin started to cry and Jonghyun let out a groan. “Jinkkiiiiiiii hyuuung??”

“No. Way.” Stated Onew, his eyes wide, already standing up and ready to walk away. “I can’t handle this. You know how Jonghyun. You’re doing it.”

“It’s always me who has to do the hard stuff,” grumbled Jonghyun. “Hey, shhh Taemin, shhh,” he tried to sooth and bounced Taemin up and down in his arms. He looked the infant in the face, who was turning red, tears trailing down his cheeks.

“Don’t cry Minnie,” pleaded Jonghyun, wiping away the baby’s tears with his hand gently. “It’ll be better soon, I promise.”

He sighed in resignation as he grabbed Minho’s shirt from a pile of laundry on the couch and laid it on the floor, laying Taemin carefully on top of it.

“Take that, Minho,” grumbled Jonghyun. “who cares about nasty old Minho’s shirt, hmm?” he said to the crying baby soothingly.

Jonghyun didn’t want to remember the next few moments of what followed after unpinning Taemin’s diaper. He had just changed Taemin, his friend, his colleague, his business partner in a way’s diaper.  Lines had been crossed, definitely.

Taemin had kept crying until Jonghyun grabbed a rattle from the bag manager bought and Taemin had stopped after shaking it for a bit, entranced by the sound and on the handle and the rounded top.

Jonghyun grabbed Taemin’s legs a bit like how one would grab a chicken’s, and slid the new disposable nappy underneath and fastened the nappy, glad that it was over.

“I hope you’ve learnt your lesson Taeminnie,” lectured Jonghyun. “That when things get messy, only your Jonghyun hyung will stick by your side. Did you see the other hyungs? They pretty much flew out of the room, you dirty little boy,” he teased the baby. “But it’s okay now. Jonghyun hyung made you clean again, didn’t he? Who’s a clean baby? Who’s a clean baby?” he said in baby talk, grabbing Taemin’s hands and cooing in his face.

Taemin squealed in response, smiling as Jonghyun gave a crooked grin and scooped him up. “Jonghyun hyung is the best, Jonghyun hyung is the best, other hyungs are bad, Jonghyun hyung is the best,” he sang as he rocked Taemin back and forth. “Who is best? Jonghyun hyung!” he crowed, lifting Taemin up higher in time with his song. Taemin smiled, his eyes curving into little crescents, dropping the rattle onto the floor.

“Aigoo, so cute,” praised Jonghyun, kissing Taemin on the head. “Jonghyun really is best, Taeminnie. I stuck with you even through all the crap we got after Internet War, didn’t I baby? It was music performed with our soul, wasn’t it, and who cares if people didn’t like it, they just didn’t get it. I promise I’ll be with you through thick and thin, and protect you when I can. I know you’re 20 now Taeminnie, but I can’t imagine and don’t want you to read all the messages I got on twitter and on our fanbase. You’ll always too young in my eyes. I’d never stop shielding you, and I’m proud of what you’ve become, baby. You’re less of a machine and more of an artist now. Congratulations~” he sang, bobbing him up and down in his arms as Taemin kept fiddling with the button on his collar.

“Ooh,” Jonghyun sang as he sat back down on the couch and his phone pinged to say that someone he knew tweeted him. “Hold tight baby,” he said, leaning Taemin on one hand and letting him sit on his lap as he reached for his phone.

“Look, look,” he told Taemin, swiping to get to his profile picture. “Who’s hand is that? Who’s hand is that?”

“Ah ah ah,” he panicked as Taemin grabbed the phone with sticky hands and pressed hard on the screen. “Let go Taeminnie!” he begged, unsuccessfully trying to tug it away from Taemin’s surprisingly strong grip. Taemin made a sound of disagreement, not letting Jonghyun take it back.

Jonghyun despaired as he saw little oily fingerprints on the screen.

“Taemiiin!” he cried. “Give it to me!”

Jonghyun managed to yank it away from the baby, who pouted and started up a whine that sounded like it was building up for a cry.

“Come on, come on,” said Jonghyun desperately, grabbing the rattle off the floor and shaking it, Taemin pushing it away and still whining.

“Look, look, button, button!” said Jonghyun, trying to desperately distract Taemin. It worked, with Taemin once again using his little fingers to push and pick at the button on his collar.

“Aww,” said Jonghyun, rocking Taemin and kissing him on the head. He thought it was safe to reveal his phone again and swiped to get to the video bit, recording Taemin.

 “Is it over?” asked Minho, popping his head through the door and observing the scene. “It’s over, guys!” he yelled to the other two.

“Yay!” yelled Key, exploding into the room as Onew followed.

“Why’s my shirt on the floor?” asked Minho, puzzled. “Oh! That’s the new shirt I asked the housekeeper ahjumma to wash! I’m going to put it on now!”

Minho ran out of the room as Jonghyun bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. He rested his cheek on Taemin’s head as Taemin leaned on him, on the tip of Jonghyun’s collar.

“What do we do with him now?” asked Onew, Taemin’s hair back while he tried to get the cloth out of Taemin’s mouth, getting a lot of hot baby saliva on his fingers in the process. He gently pinched Taemin’s cheek, who smiled at Onew.

“Well, he’s fed and changed, and he doesn’t look sleepy,” observed Key. “I don’t really know what they need other than that.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know!” announced Minho when he walked back into the room and Jonghyun started laughing. Minho ignored Jonghyun, figuring he was just being an . “This is the best bit about babies! We get to play!”