It started when Qi Jiayi woke up one night.

The little monkey clock that Father had made for him said it was late. Too late, Bàbà would say, for little monkeys to be awake. And he wanted to go back to sleep, he did! But his throat was aching, begging for water. Jiayi sat up, hugging Dr. Snuggles, the monkey Grandpa Sun had gotten him, and hopped out of bed. He knew the way to the kitchen. He could get some water and be back in bed before Father and Bàbà knew he was awake.

Jiayi toddled out of the room and down the hall. The nightlight Father had also made glowed in the darkness from its place plugged into the wall. It seemed all was silent and still.

Then his ears picked up noise.

Down the hall, right where his parents' room was.

It was a weird noise, like the ones Bàbà made when he slammed his funny bone into something. It came with another noise. Thumping. Heavy, loud thumping. Jiayi took a few steps closer, confusion overtaking thirst. It was coming from his parent's room, certainly.

There was another big thump, and then silence. Jiayi held his breath.

And then a cry rolled through the air.

It was loud. And scary.

Forgetting his water, Jiayi took back down the hall and straight to his room. He ducked under his sheets once he hopped into bed, curling up under their safety. "Don't worry, Dr. Snuggles," he said, tense as a board. "It'll stop eventually."

Despite his words, the sounds rolled through his mind.

Jiayi found himself shivering all night. When he poked his head out again, his clock was blaring and the sunshine was peeking through the window. He could hear Father and Bàbà downstairs already, the smell of breakfast starting to coat the air. He could also hear Huiying stumbling from her room and down the stairs.

But no weird noises.

"Jiayi!" The five-year-old jolted and turned to see Bàbà, peering at him. "C'mon, sleepyhead," he cooed, picking him up when he extended his arms for up. "Time for breakfast."

"I heard weird noises last night," Jiayi said as his bàbà adjusted his hold on him. His bàbà came to a stop. He must've been waiting for an explanation. "Really weird ones!" he emphasized, tugging on his hoodie. "Thumps and those noises you make when you hit your funny bone...and yelling!"

He looked around as the only conclusion came to him.

"It must've been a ghost!"

"Oh, uh, well..." Bàbà looked strangely nervous all of a sudden with the weird nervous grin, returning back to motion so suddenly Jiayi had to grab more of his hoodie. "I'm sure it was nothing. Probably a figment of your imagination."

...he didn't believe him.

Makes sense, Jiayi admitted as Bàbà set him down in his seat and hurried over to where Father was pouring juice. Ghosts weren't well known. Not like demons like Father or Yéyé or Zumu and Zǔfù were known. Of course, Bàbà wouldn't believe him right away.

He would need to gather proof.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"He thinks there's a ghost," Xiaotian repeated.

It was a few days after Jiayi's first report of weird noises. Weird noises...coming from their bedroom. Noises that, after he had described them, Xiaotian had recognized them all too well.

Because he had been the one making them as Red fucked him senseless.

He probably should've brought it up to Red the first day. But Xiaotian hadn't, hoping at Jiayi would eventually get distracted and forget about the noises. But Jiayi hadn't.

No, he had continued to report the ghost activity. Daily. To the point that Xiaotian was pretty sure his baby boy wasn't getting any sleep and was instead hovering outside their bedroom door when he and Red went to bed. Even that one night where they had couch sex had been reported, Jiayi thankfully not have seen them, instead saying the ghost must haunt the living room too.

The kicker was the picture he had gotten.

It was a crayon drawing of a stick figure (Jiayi had drawn an arrow with ME at it) hovering outside a door with ghostly noises scribbled all around it.

So now he had to tell Red.

"...he thinks...there's a ghost...in our room."

"He's three Red, he doesn't know what sex is."

The demon wheezed, covering his face. "And now he knows what it sounds like my gods..." He looked up suddenly, horror in every inch of his face. "Oh my gods, we have to give him the Talk." He sobbed, collapsing his face back into his hands. "I didn't think it would be this soon! I thought we had a few more years to have an innocent child!"

Xiaotian sighed. He'd had the same reaction when it was time to give Huiying the Talk. "Red, he's three, he's not old enough to get the Talk."

"Then what are we going to tell him?!"

Before Xiaotian could manage a thought towards that, there was a thump. The two shared looks before heading upstairs. They poked their heads into their room and stared.

"Hi Bàbà! Hi Father!" Jiayi sat on the floor, the sheets of their bed curling around him. He must've fallen off while trying to get on. At least he didn't seem to be hurt. In one arm, Dr. Snuggles was tucked. In his other hand, the one he used to wave at them, a...EMP detector beeped. "I was looking for the ghost!"

Xiaotian blinked. "Where did you get that?"

"Oh, this?" Jiayi held it up further. "Auntie gave it to me! She said it would help me find the ghost!" Xiaotian glanced at Red, who looked like he wasn't sure whether to be upset or mad.

Most likely at Xiaojiao.

"Okay, Jiayi..." He glanced at the closet where the...toybox was kept and mentally sighed when he saw it was firmly shut. "I have to come clean to you." He knelt so he and his son were eyes to eye. "There's no ghost."

"But-"

Xiaotian sighed, adjusting himself so he could sit down. Jiayi took the invitation and plopped into his lap. "Those weird noises were Bàbà and Father...having fun." Red wheezed behind him. "It's a special, adults-only kind of fun, which is why we didn't tell you."

Jiayi blinked. "Oh," he said, sounding a little sheepish. "You were?"

"Yeah," And there was Red, finally helping. He settled next to him, smiling at their son. "We didn't mean to scare you and we weren't sure how to explain. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I'm just a little sad there's no ghost. Maybe, if there was, we could've been friends." And Jiayi was bouncing back. "Wouldn't it be so cool to have a ghost friend?!" Xiaotian burst into laughter, kissing his forehead.

"It would!"

As Jiayi continued to chatter about ghost friends, Xiaotian and Red shared a sigh of relief.

Their son would be innocent for a little while longer.

"Not ready to tell Jiayi you're working on a third baby, I see."

Annoyed, Xiaotian looked up at Huiying from the laptop he and Red were looking at soundproofing options.

"Better than your little brother thinking there's a ghost."