They had gotten both of the twins to sleep in their beds and were laying there beside each other, neither of them speaking. Jongin was just staring at the ceiling, unsure of what he could even say.
"This is crazy, we used to talk nonstop at night because it was some of the only time we got to talk fully." Taemin said, sitting up and looking over at Jongin. "The only way I can see this working is if we just start acting like a couple again."
Jongin sat up as well, "I don't know what we can do or what we can't do right now."
Taemin leant over, connecting their lips in a slow kiss. "I'm tired of not really being with you." He said, pulling back slightly from the kiss. "I'm tired of having this awkward air between us."
"I am too."
"This is such bullshit that we're this way now. Especially cause shit we don't even know what caused this. Not really."
Jongin nodded in agreement, it was something that he was still wracking his brain on. Why had they ended up like this? He couldn't pinpoint one thing or another. It seemed to be a bunch of little things that all happened one after another.
There were the small little arguments over stupid little things turned into bigger arguments. It got to the point where it seemed like any little thing was enough to cause a huge argument.
Which is when they decided it might be for the best if they were away from each other for a while and Jongin went to staying at the EXO dorm.
"We didn't set time aside for us anymore."
Taemin nodded, "You're right. We didn't. It was all our careers and being parents, that's what we revolved around. Nothing else."
That had been Jongin's concern even all the way back to before they made the decision to have kids.
And while there was absolutely no way that Jongin would ever regret having the twins or their baby coming up, he hadn't realized how little focus they had put on their relationship after the twins had been born.
Jongin shook his head, sighing. "How do we even fix that though, Taem? Our careers take up a huge portion of our lives and the twins and baby number three are always going to be our number one focus - as they should be."
Taemin reached over, pulling Jongin to his side of the bed. "We'll find a way, even if it means staying up until the early hours of the mornings in order to fit time in for us. Just put in a little bit of effort with me and we will work this out. Please. Our careers can still be just as important and we can still focus just as much on the twins while somehow making time for ourselves and our relationship."
Jongin nodded, connecting their lips. "Okay. Obviously I want to fix this, I wouldn't be here if I didn't. And I'll do whatever it takes to fix this between us."
■
They were laying in their bed, wide awake despite how late it was. They had been talking about different things and eventually the conversation shifted to the new addition to their family.
"So baby number three..." Taemin said, fingers trailing against Jongin's jaw. "Are we going to talk about names beforehand or wait until they're born?"
"Whichever you want to do is fine with me."
Taemin nodded and tilted Jongin's head to connect their lips. "Maybe we should wait to decide on potential names like we did with the twins."
"Sounds good to me." Jongin replied, smiling as he kissed Taemin again. "Plus I have no ideas as far as potential names at the moment."
■
The last month of preparation for the arrival of their third child went by quickly and Jongin was rushing to put up a crib in their room about a week before Jung Ah's due date. And they had already made arrangements with Kibum for him to watch the twins while everyone else was at the hospital.
Jongin felt more prepared overall this time around.
"Not that much longer until we're parents of three children." Taemin said, wrapping his arms around Jongin's shoulder's from behind him.
Jongin nodded, "I know, it's crazy. Our twins are going to be older brothers to a little brother or sister, where has the time gone."
"Wild to think that our two babies are going to be older brothers."
■
Jongin and Taemin had dropped the twin's off at Kibum's house before they quickly made their way to the hospital - having gotten the phone call from Jung Ah a little earlier.
As soon as they got into the hospital, they were immediately lead to Jung Ah's room by Sehun - finding themselves back in a very familiar situation to a couple years prior except for the fact that this time their baby was going to be on time instead of weeks early.
"Hey you guys made it." Jung Ah said, smiling.
"Got here as soon as we could." Taemin said, walking over to one of the open chairs.
Jongin walked over to the bed, leaning and hugging Jung Ah. "Hows things going?"
"Pretty good. They've been in here a couple times just checking to make sure that things are progressing good - which they are."
"That's great."
■
Jongin was sitting beside Jung Ah while Sehun and Taemin had walked out to get drinks.
"So things are still good between you two?"
Jongin nodded, "Yeah things are great. We've just been trying to stay more focused on us as well as focusing on the twins and our jobs."
"That's good, really worried me when you two started having issues. Especially considering you pretty much moved out."
"Everything worked out, which is great because I can't imagine raising three kids while being split up."
Jung Ah nodded, "I'm just glad things are good for you guys again."
"Same here. It would definitely suck to be welcoming this little girl or guy to the family while we weren't really a family."
"So when are Daehyun and Seojun going to getting up here?"
"They're over at Kibum's house living it up with one of their favorite uncles so... I doubt they'd want to be up here at any point today, which we were thinking it'd be better to just have them come up in the morning anyway once things have calmed down and they're not tired or anything."
"Makes sense."
■
Jongin wasn't sure he had smiled as widely since the twins had been born as he was smiling while holding their newborn son. It hadn't taken nearly as long for Jongin and Sehun to be brought back to the room as it had the first time around.
Jongin had known that their third child would be bigger than Daehyun and Seojun considering he wasn't premature, but it was still a shock to notice exactly how different in size he was from the twins when they were born.
Their newborn wasn't as fragile seeming and he was able to be held as much as they wanted from the get go this time around instead of them having to wait for the okay from the doctors.
Everything was completely different this time around.
Jongin looked up from his son and over at Taemin, "So names."
"I don't even know where to begin." Taemin said, shaking his head.
"I know." He replied, smiling again.
■
Kibum had texted Jongin to let him know that he was outside with the twins, Jongin quickly making his way through the hospital and out the side entrance. Daehyun and Seojun ran up to him.
"Appa!" They both hollered as Jongin knelt down to hug and pick them both up.
"Hey guys. You ready to meet your little brother?" Jongin asked, smiling. The twins nodded.
"Well I'm going to head home, let me know if you all need anything." Kibum said, smiling.
Jongin nodded, "Thank you for watching them."
"No problem, anytime."
Jongin made his way back up to Jung Ah's room with the twins in order for them to meet their new brother, Hansol.
Once they were outside the room, Jongin stopped them and knelt down some in front of both of them.
"Now listen to appa, you have to be quiet and on your best behavior in here, okay? Especially if your little brother is asleep."
Daehyun and Seojun both nodded, smiles on their faces.
It was something that Jongin and Taemin had gone over with the twins a hundred times over the course of Jung Ah's pregnancy that once the baby was here, the twins had to try to be a little bit more quiet than they normally were.
Jongin stood back up and opened up the hospital room door, letting the twins walk in first before he walked in and shut the door.
Taemin was holding Hansol while sitting on the couch and smiled up at Daehyun and Seojun. "Hey guys." He said as the twins hurriedly made their way over to him. Jung Ah grinned over at Jongin.
The twins got up on the couch on either side of Taemin - looking down at their new baby brother.
Jongin walked over, standing beside the couch and watching on as the twins looked at Hansol.
"So Daehyun, Seojun, this is your little brother Hansol." Taemin said quietly. "What do you guys think?"
"He's small." Seojun said, smiling.
"Yeah he is, isn't he? You two were actually even smaller than he is at one point." Jongin said, sitting down beside Seojun on the couch.
■
Once they had gotten home with Hansol a couple days later and the twins were dropped off at home by Taemin's parents, watching Hansol seemed to be their main activity anymore. In order to get the twins to take a nap, Hansol had to be in his crib as well or else Daehyun and Seojun would try to insist on staying awake more than normal.
"So you know how we were worried early on about any potential jealousy from the twins? I don't think we had to worry about that." Taemin said, sitting down beside Jongin.
Jongin nodded, "I know right."
Taemin leant over, kissing Jongin quickly. "I know we haven't really been able to set aside time for us since getting home - but we're okay right?"
"Yeah of course we are, Taem. Better than ever in fact. We've got each other and our three sons. We're great."