"Jongup."

"Hmm."

"Come over here for a minute, will you."

"Why."

"I’m confused. I need your help."

An exasperated sigh. “Can’t I help you from here?”

"Don’t be a wimp, you’re sitting exactly three steps away. Come over here."

Jongup rolls his eyes and climbs to his feet with exaggerated effort instilled in his every move, walking over to his patiently awaiting twin and joining him by the closed door to their parents’ room. Junhong smiles smugly and presses his ear against the door, his expression turning puzzled as he signals for Jongup to press his ear against the wooden surface, too. Junhong’s usually playful and bright, so this time Jongup doesn’t sigh as he follows his twin’s actions with a careful look in his eyes; this is probably serious, whatever it is they’re doing.

They stand like that for a few seconds, Junhong puzzled and Jongup straining his ears to catch anything. “Do you hear that?” The younger breathes, and Jongup shakes his head in wonder. Junhong snorts. “Listen harder.”

So he does, and it takes a few seconds of sheer embarrassment and thoughts that go along the line of “Why am I doing this” before Jongup finally hears it; on the other side of the door, he can hear faint rustling of fabric and a rhythmic banging sound, along with… what are those strange noises?

Jongup withdraws from the door with an expression of sheer awe on his face; Junhong nods furiously and presses closer against the wood, and the older rejoins him quickly, hoping he didn’t miss anything good. “What are they doing?” He whispers in confusion, his five-and-a-half-year-old mind struggling to make a clear image out of the garbled noises he could make out through the door; Junhong shrugs and bites on his inner cheek, his eyes expressing a deep feeling of misunderstanding.

"I have absolutely no idea," he whispers back, and Jongup shushes him because he thinks he heard Daehyun speak. It’s faint at first and it’s hard to make out the words, but with each banging sound the volume rises and finally they can hear him say, loud and clear, ", Jae, faster,” and then the banging gets faster and someone pulls them away by the arm and they can’t hear anything anymore.

Himchan looks unusually pale as he drags the protesting twins away as quickly as he can, his eyes wide and the tips of his ears a deep red. He drags them down the stairs and into the kitchen, where a confused and slightly amused Yongguk is sitting. “Never,” Himchan breathes in terror, “never go near dads’ room when the door is closed, you hear me?”

A beat of silence and Yongguk chuckles nervously, setting his book down and scratching the back of his neck in obvious discomfort. “So they heard that, huh,” he suggests in his low voice, and Junhong huffs angrily and folds his short arms in front of his chest, sending a filthy look at Himchan’s general direction.

"I don’t know what we did wrong," he states bravely, jutting his hips to the side over protectively. "All we heard was a banging sound and some weird noises and dad said—"

"I DON’T!! WANT TO HEAR THE REST!" Himchan yells as he claps his hands over his ears, his face now beet red and matching his ears. Jongup blinks in surprise and looks at his equally confused twin and then at his oldest brother in search for an answer. Yongguk sighs and opens his arms wide, signaling for the twins to climb into his lap. They do just that and Himchan flops into the nearest chair lifelessly, looking extremely traumatized.

Yongguk bites on his lower lip hesitantly, wondering if he can get away with a simple “Dad and dad were doing adult stuff”; a single glance at the nervous Junhong gives him his answer, regrettably. They’re five and a half, going on six, and such clichés won’t satisfy them now. They’re growing up and he should treat them like they are; bitterly, Yongguk shakes his head and begins.

"When two adults love each other very much—"

He’s cut short with Himchan’s pained “OH MY GOD” and before he knows it his younger brother storms out of the kitchen, dithering in front of the stairs to the second floor for a moment before throwing his hands up in despair and running to the living room, turning on the TV and setting it on full volume. Jongup chuckles and Yongguk supposes he’d be amused too, if he hadn’t gone through the exact same experience Himchan has gone through- they both had the questionable pleasure of walking in on their dads being… intimate with each other, not to mention having to go through the horrific talk about the birds and the bees. The memories alone make him shudder.

Junhong’s small hand taps him on the shoulder and Yongguk is thankfully saved from his own mind, blinking around for a few seconds before remembering the general situation. He clears his throat and prepares himself for a very, very awkward talk.

———

It’s evening and Youngjae’s sitting in bed with Daehyun cuddled against his side, reading loudly from The Book Thief and stopping every once in a while to place a soft kiss on the older’s forehead. Today was the first time they had a few minutes alone in what feels like months, and they made the best of it, their hands touching heated skin and their eyes dark with want. It was hot and thorough and exactly what they needed, and after they were done Youngjae’s lower back ached and Daehyun could barely walk, reduced to a ridiculous sort of penguin-walk for the rest of the day. All in all, it was good, and the heavy weight sitting in the pits of their stomachs disappeared.

Youngjae’s just starting the part in which Liesel enters the mayor’s house for the first time when a soft knock is heard and Yongguk’s leaning on the doorframe, his arms folded over his chest and his smile a little tight at the corners. Daehyun sits up and smiles at his son and Youngjae’s heart does this weird, achy thing; he loves Daehyun’s smile so much and he just wants to grab his husband by the neck of his shirt and kiss him until he’s breathless and writhing and aching and—

Yongguk coughs awkwardly and Youngjae’s snapped right out of his little fantasy in less then a second, blinking and focusing on his son instead. “What is it, Guk?”

The younger clears his throat and ruffles his own hair, clearly uncomfortable with what he’s about to say. “Just so you know, you two had a pair of eavesdroppers today.”

It takes a while for them to fully understand the meaning of their son’s words, but when they do Youngjae splutters and Daehyun chokes on his own spit, bursting into a fit of coughs as Youngjae’s face turns redder and redder by the minute. “What-” cough cough gasp cough “-what did you just say?!” Daehyun chokes out in between frantic gasping, his eyes watering and his voice a shriek. Yongguk shuffles awkwardly and Youngjae buries his face in his hands out of sheer shame.

"Oh my god, three times,” he groans in horror. “Three times we let this happen. We’re ruining our kids, Dae, we’re the actual worst.”

Yongguk crosses the room quickly, sitting on the bed next to his devastated fathers with one of his arms around Youngjae’s shoulders and his other hand patting the still coughing Daehyun on the back. “Hey, you’re not the worst,” he comforts clumsily, stumbling over his words a little. “It’s not your fault, and they didn’t even see you this time! Consider this as an improvement.”

It doesn’t help at all, as you can probably already guess; Youngjae just lets out a sound that sounds like a pained whale and Daehyun finally stops coughing, but he’s just shaking his head and not saying anything right now, and Yongguk can’t decide if that’s better than his previous state. He’s uncomfortable and he’s tired and his parents seem to reflect those feelings perfectly, so he pats them both on the back and leaves as quickly as possible, closing the door after him.

Silence falls on them, heavy and serious and cold like snow; Youngjae looks up at the ceiling and fans his extremely hot-feeling face with a shaky hand, guilt rolling in his chest. “At least they didn’t see us,” he echoes Yongguk’s words hopefully, and there’s a beat of silence before Daehyun looks at him with the stupidest smile the world has ever seen smeared all over his lips and then they’re both laughing, laughing so hard that tears escape their eyes and their stomachs hurt and Daehyun’s rolling on the bed helplessly and Youngjae joins him and somehow he finds himself face to face with his husband and the laughter dies off as quickly as it started and then they’re just staring at each other.

Their lips are just a few inches away and Youngjae sighs, letting his fingers intertwine with Daehyun’s. “I’m tired,” he confesses quietly, and the older smiles fondly and pulls the covers on both of them, his arms wrapping around the younger’s waist and their legs tangled together.

———

Breakfast is quiet the next morning; Himchan keeps his eyes on his cereal and Yongguk shifts in his chair uncomfortably and Youngjae and Daehyun just do their best to act normal; Junhong swings his legs over the edge of his chair excitedly and Jongup sets his spoon down with a truly confused expression displayed on his face.

"What I still don’t get is why they call it the birds and the bees," he remarks lightly, and all hell breaks loose.