TASO | YG [✔]

17. Yeonjun [End]

A week later

"So, uh... can I give it back now?" Taerae whined, looking greatly flustered and kind of pale, holding in his big hands one of the babies, the tiny head fitting perfectly in his palm. "Please?"

Yeonjun suppressed a laugh. It didn't do to mock his fellow alpha. "Hold him for a minute longer. I need to finish dressing this one."

The babies still had no names, and they were so damn similar... One had lighter eyes than the other, and one seemed slightly taller, or longer, or however you measured babies. Yeonjun was honestly too tired at the moment to ponder the question. Too many sleepless nights, and he was grateful that his finals were still a way off so he could take the time to help Beomgyu who was dead on his feet most days. Still recovering from the birth and breastfeeding every two hours, it was a wonder his Mate was still functioning.

So having his own friends over was nice and all, but they turned out to have an aversion to babies. In retrospect, that was to be expected. It wasn't as if he had been so baby-focused before becoming a father.

And yeah, it was damn funny to watch.

"Here," Taerae said now to Jeno who was pretending to be busy rearranging parenting brochures and books on the coffee table. "You hold it."

"Him," Yeonjun corrected. "It's a person, not a thing."

Jeno slumped further back in his seat. "Ugh, no, I can't—"

"Cut the bullshit and take the baby. I gotta take a piss." Taerae thrust the baby into Jeno's reluctant hands and stomped off to the toilet.

Yeonjun rubbed a hand over his face, shaking his head. The baby in front of him gurgled. "Guys..."

"All good, all good." Jeno stood up, lifting the baby up. "We're best buddies, aren't we, nameless baby?"

The baby promptly threw milk all over him.

"Ah fuck. Fuck!" Jeno stood, still holding the baby up, his face purpling. "Where's Beomgyu?"

Yeonjun couldn't stop staring. It was like watching a train wreck. "He's resting. Just... gimme a sec. Almost done here." He pulled on socks on two tiny feet and booped the gurgling baby on the nose. Was it just him or were these two the cutest babies in the world? "All done here. Let's swap."

"What? No way."

"Don't wave him about in the air. They just ate, as you must have realized by now. I burped them, but still. Keep him in your arms, don't move him too much. Got it?"

Jeno sighed. "At least give me a chance to wash the sick off me."

"Right. Give him here." And instantly got an armful of a happy baby.

"Look at him," Jeno accused. "He's pleased because he threw up on me."

"It's a form of love," Yeonjun said sagely. "Which has graced us too many times to count. We're basically a laundry service with breaks to eat and doze."

"Is that normal?" Jeno was muttering to himself as he attempted to clean the vomit from his shirt at the kitchen sink. Yeonjun should probably tell him not to bother, he'd have to wash the shirt to get the stink out, but... "This is like a madhouse."

"I'm told it's normal for the first ten years or so."

"What? You serious?" Jeno turned, looking horrified.

"No, not really. Only until they grow up enough to sleep through the night and eat their meals more spaced apart."

He tried not to think how long that would take. The brain wasn't designed to think on one-hour naps or to consider long-term torture, and on top of that, there was a conflict at the core of his gray cells stemming from the fact that he loved the causes of this exhaustion so much he'd give his life for them.