(your hand across my) Heartbeat (het!ChanKey) [3/3]
Title: (your hand across my) Heartbeat [3/3]
Pairing: Chanyeol/Gwiboon(girl!Key), side Jonghyun/Baekhyun, Minjung(girl!Minho)/girl!Suho, Onew/girl!Chen, girl!Kyungsoo/girl!Sehun, Taemin/Kai
Rating: NC-17
Genre(s): romance, fluff, smut, humor
Warning(s): a/b/o, mpreg, f(x) and Red Velvet cameos
Word Count: 21,756
Summary: Even though unplanned pregnancy between a female alpha and a male omega is nearly unheard of, Chanyeol is living proof that it’s possible. Getting pregnant by his beautiful alpha, Gwiboon, is certainly not the worst thing that could have happened. In fact, it might be the best.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
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The Third Trimester
---
“Surprise!” Baekhyun hollered, up in Chanyeol’s face when he stepped into his apartment after getting lunch with Gwiboon at their favorite cafe.
“Wha-”
An hour and a half ago, his and Gwiboon’s apartment had looked, well, normal. Now, there were pastel yellow, pink, and blue (emphasis on the pink, probably thanks to Jonghyun) streamers hanging from the ceiling, balloons shaped like baby bottles and teddy bears and pacifiers tied in clusters, and a stack of presents against the wall that seemed to be threatening to take over the entire living room, not to mention a large selection of their friends, all grinning at him and waiting for a reaction.
Baekhyun and Jonghyun were there of course, Joonmyun and Minjung, Sehun and her alpha, Kyungsoo, Jinki, Jongdae with Sunyoung on her hip, as well as an assortment of other friends and acquaintances they had from college as well as some people Gwiboon knew from work, including the two male models who’d famously set off each other’s heats.
Everyone was smiling happily, eyes on Chanyeol as Baekhyun put a party hat on his head, and Chanyeol promptly burst into tears.
Now, he’d always been a pretty sensitive guy- easily touched by sad movies and not afraid to show emotion. But recently, with his hormones going haywire and a tiny person wiggling around and kicking his bladder when he was trying to sleep so he wasn’t getting nearly enough, it was like all of his emotions had been increased tenfold.
Baekhyun froze, the elastic snapping against Chanyeol’s chin as Baekhyun looked at him with wide, panicked eyes.
Chanyeol wanted to tell him that he wasn’t crying be cause he was upset, but he was too busy sobbing to do so.
Fortunately, Gwiboon was right there to swoop in and steer Chanyeol toward the bedroom while assuring Baekhyun that, no, he hadn’t broken Chanyeol.
“Is it too much?” Gwiboon fussed when the door was closed behind them. “If it’s too overwhelming or you’re too tired, we can have everyone go. They’ll all understand, I promise. I didn’t know if we should have it be a surprise, but Jonghyun and Baekhyun really wanted to plan the whole thing.”
“I’m not-” Chanyeol took a gulping breath of air, “upset.”
“No, I know, baby,” Gwiboon cooed, rubbing Chanyeol’s back soothingly as he slumped into her as much as he could without knocking her over with all the extra weight he’d put on. “It’s just a lot and you’re...well, pregnant.”
Chanyeol nodded helplessly, glad that he didn’t have to explain.
Letting him cry it out, Gwiboon made hushing sounds as she petted his hair- reaching up to wipe away his tears when the sobbing had died down to a quiet sniffling.
“What do you think?” she asked, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. “Totally up to you. You say the word and I kick everybody out so we can lounge on the couch in sweats all afternoon.”
Chanyeol chuckled, wrapping his arms around his mate gratefully.
“No, I’m ready,” he told her. “I’m excited. I just. I’m good now.”
Gwiboon beamed. “You sure?”
Chanyeol nodded, letting Gwiboon kiss him again before she pulled away to go tell their guests that Chanyeol was fine and that he didn’t have any traumatic experiences with party hats that had been unexpectedly brought up when Baekhyun had put one on his head. It gave Chanyeol a few more minutes to compose himself, and hopefully keep everyone from incessantly asking if he was okay.
He knew the concern was well-meaning, but it was hard to explain that he was just a mess of emotions and hormones and that a slight breeze was likely to set him off these days to people who didn’t understand. Though at least Jongdae was probably out there regaling the guests with what a mess she’d been when pregnant to diffuse the awkward atmosphere. Chanyeol smiled to think of it, and almost teared up again. Though he managed to get ahold of himself so he could attend his own baby shower.
Gwiboon was at his side when he emerged from the bedroom, hand grasping tight to his. The wordless support had his heart squeezing as he greeted his guests in a more socially acceptable way than sobbing uncontrollably.
“Doing okay, there?” Baekhyun asked when Chanyeol stopped mingling to admire the cake. There were teeny rosettes gathered in the corners and It's a Girl piped in fancy script in the center. Chanyeol wondered if ordering the cake had been Jonghyun’s job since he seemed more excited they were expecting a girl than anybody.
“Yeah, sorry about before,” Chanyeol said sheepishly, nibbling on a cracker from the platter of snacks. Aside from being moody, he was also so hungry all the time.
“It's cool,” Baekhyun assured him, though he still seemed wary, like Chanyeol might burst into tears at any second. “You're all…” he gestured at Chanyeol's person as though to convey the havoc that was happening inside him. Chanyeol knew what he meant.
“Thanks,” Chanyeol said, grabbing Baekhyun in a one armed hug that had Baekhyun squirming and teasing him for being a softie, but Chanyeol knew that it was all for show. Baekhyun gave him a real hug before going to join Jonghyun where he was cooing over Sunyoung.
Idly, Chanyeol wondered how much longer it would be before the two were expecting their own baby. Baekhyun pregnant would undoubtedly be some mix of horrifying and wildly entertaining. Chanyeol was looking forward to it.
It was a good thing they had a baby shower, Chanyeol thought, because there were so many things they’d needed that they hadn’t had. Sure, they’d done some baby shopping, but they hadn’t gotten any of the big stuff yet. But now they had a crib, a changing table, a high chair, a vast array of toys, and more adorable onesies than Chanyeol had ever seen.
By the end of the shower, Chanyeol was just about ready to cry again, whether from gratitude or from exhaustion, he wasn’t quite sure.
Gwiboon might have grimaced at the mismatched pillows and blankets Jonghyun and Baekhyun had included with their very generous gift of the crib, but she and Chanyeol both could rest easy knowing that they were much more prepared for Seulgi’s debut in the world than they had been before.
---
“Make sure you tape off all the crown molding!” Gwiboon instructed, watching as Jonghyun and Baekhyun readied the nursery for paint. Now that they had almost all they needed for the baby, Gwiboon deemed it time to convert their second bedroom into a nursery.
Chanyeol had pictured the two of them doing it all themselves, but apparently Gwiboon had other plans. She was absolutely refusing to let Chanyeol lift a finger, and was instead bossing Jonghyun and Baekhyun around.
To be fair, they had offered to help, despite all the whining Baekhyun was currently doing even though they’d barely started.
“I still think you should have chosen pink,” Jonghyun groused as he covered his paint roller in pastel yellow paint. “It would have looked so pretty with the netted canopy I got you!”
“If you want a pink nursery, then have your own baby,” she told him, observing him closely as he began to apply paint to the wall.
Baekhyun’s brows jumped at that, and Chanyeol couldn’t help but laugh from where he was watching from the door.
“Get out of here!” Gwiboon scolded when she heard him, abandoning her place next to Baekhyun as she nearly breathed down his neck to try to shoo Chanyeol out of the room. “I don’t want you inhaling all the paint fumes.”
“But I’m just out here doing nothing,” Chanyeol complained, even as he allowed Gwiboon to corral him back into the living room.
“That’s the idea,” she said, helping him sit back down on the couch. “You and Seulgi need to rest out here and let those two do all the heavy lifting, okay?”
Chanyeol kind of wanted to protest because he hated feeling useless, but the way Gwiboon referred to him and Seulgi, like Chanyeol was really out here with their baby instead of just planted in front of the TV by himself, had him smiling.
“Okay, okay,” he relented, happily returning the kiss Gwiboon pressed to his lips. “Don’t let Jonghyun paint a mural on the wall.”
Gwiboon laughed. “I won’t.”
“Fuck,” sounded from the other room in Baekhyun’s voice.
Gwiboon’s eyes widened in panic as she straightened up and hastened to the nursery.
“What’s going on in there?”
“We’re fine!” came Jonghyun’s voice, too high to be believable.
“What- Baekhyun! That’s a waste of an entire can of paint!”
“At least there’s plastic covering the floor!” he defended, loud enough that Chanyeol could hear.
He might have been relegated to the couch, but at least he was confident Gwiboon would be able to keep things on track.
“Don’t step in it!” Gwiboon screeched
Relatively on track, anyway.
---
Helping to paint the nursery wasn’t all Chanyeol couldn’t do.
Even without Gwiboon forbidding him from doing anything too physical, Chanyeol was finding himself having trouble doing plenty of things he used to take for granted.
Doing laundry proved difficult since he couldn’t carry the basket in front of himself with his stomach in the way. Washing his legs in the shower had turned into squirting body wash in that general direction and trying to rub his legs against each other in hopes that that would do the trick. Even standing up and sitting down was a struggle, though he could manage with a lot of grunting.
Chanyeol hated not being able to do everything as easily and quickly as he was used to, but Gwiboon, for as much as she liked to be pampered on occasion, seemed to take satisfaction in doing as much for Chanyeol as she possibly could. Chanyeol suspected that Gwiboon would have gone to the bathroom for him if it was physically possible.
He was touched by her care and concern, his heart swelling every time she brought him tea or rubbed his shoulders, which led to a lot of tearful thank you’s and Gwiboon cooing at him even as she affectionately chuckled at his overly emotional tendencies.
Unfortunately, the mood swings went both ways, so even if he was feeling grateful, he ended up snapping at Gwiboon half the time, which usually led to tearful I’m sorry’s. Of the two of them, Gwiboon was the one with the shorter fuse, so Chanyeol being the one with no patience was jarring to them both. But Gwiboon was being so understanding and patient with him that Chanyeol sometimes just started crying out of nowhere.
Occasionally even at work, though he managed to gather himself by the time he was expected to announce the next song.
Basically, he felt like a mess, yet Gwiboon was pampering him and fussing over him like he was the most precious thing on earth. He said as much through tears one evening after he’d snapped at her for asking about when he planned to go on maternity leave.
“You’re almost right,” she’d told him, curled up next to him on the couch and rubbing his back as he sobbed into her shoulder. “You’re the second most precious thing on earth. The most precious is in your belly.”
Had Gwiboon been putting him in second place to anyone besides their unborn daughter, he’d have protested (in a joking way...mostly), but he couldn’t argue since he felt the same. Seulgi already meant the world to him and she hadn’t even taken her first breath.
It was hard to believe that in just about a month, it wouldn’t just be the two of them anymore. Because while Seulgi might have been loved and treasured already, she was still part of Chanyeol. She wasn’t a third being in the room. Not really. But soon...soon she was going to be there needing to be fed and changed and coddled and played with. Soon, evenings weren’t going to be him and Gwiboon snuggled on the couch while they binge-watched a TV show. It was kind of a scary thought, but it was also exciting. And humbling.
“Pretty soon, I’m going to be comforting Seulgi when she cries instead of you,” Gwiboon teased, nearly echoing Chanyeol’s thoughts.
“That makes more sense,” Chanyeol chuckled, sniffling.
Gwiboon kissed his wet cheeks, and let him tuck his head against her as they watched the end of the movie that was playing.
As much as Chanyeol was sick of the mood swings, he was going to miss being pregnant a little bit.
Though being able to wash his own feet in the shower would be nice.
---
“I’m amazed you can even reach the microphone,” Sehun observed during a commercial break when she was bringing Chanyeol a new bottle of water and a bag of dried apricots because he was starving and dried fruit had been all he’d been craving for the past week.
“Are you calling me fat?” Chanyeol asked around a mouthful of apricot, trying to eat as much as he could before he had to go back on the air after the commercials.
“No, your legs are still toothpicks,” Sehun informed him. “I’m calling you extremely pregnant.”
“I’m only eight months pregnant,” Chanyeol told her, still chewing. “I’m gonna get a lot bigger than this.
Sehun’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head.
Joonmyun rapped on the glass with her knuckles, holding out ten fingers to let them know that there were only ten seconds left in the break.
Chanyeol took a swig of water to wash everything down and shooed Sehun out of the room.
Honestly, he had had to readjust his set up to be able to get as close to the microphone as he needed to with his belly keeping him from being able to scoot all the way up to the desk. But it was working out just fine.
Though he was always craving a nap by the time he finished. It wasn’t his fault that Seulgi liked to move around and wake him up in the middle of the night.
Speaking of, Seulgi decided to ram a foot into his bladder as Chanyeol read through a couple of viewer comments, making him wince and brace himself against the sudden need to pee.
“Bathroom!” he mouthed as soon as he’d announced the next song, pushing himself out of his chair as quickly as he could and power waddling to the bathroom down the hall.
This had become a common occurrence. Chanyeol made three more emergency bathroom trips during the remaining hour and a half of his show.
He was wondering if he had to pee again when Joonmyun led him into her office after he'd bid adieu to his listeners.
“How are you doing?” Joonmyun asked when she'd settled behind her desk and Chanyeol was sitting across from her, hoping this wouldn't take too long because Seulgi seemed to have been leaning against his bladder.
“Good,” Chanyeol told her with a smile and a hand resting over his swollen belly. “Though full disclosure, I have to pee. I think.”
Joonmyun chuckled, casting him a fond look.
“We’ll make this quick then,” she said. “What do you think about taking your maternity leave?”
Chanyeol blinked. “Now?”
Joonmyun nodded.
He still had a month before he was due. With the understanding that he'd be off work for a few months after the birth, he'd assumed he wouldn't be going on leave until he was much closer to his due date.
“Why? I- I can still-”
“I know you can, Chanyeol,” Joonmyun assured him, a hand reaching across her desk to rest comfortingly against his wrist. “But wouldn't you rather be able to relax and prepare for the baby? And take as many bathroom breaks as you need?”
Chanyeol flushed, choking out a laugh.
“You'll still get as much time after the baby is born as we talked about before, so don't worry about that.”
“I didn't even tell the listeners that I'll be gone for a while,” Chanyeol fretted. He had planned to announce his pregnancy before he took time off in order to explain his forthcoming absence. He didn't want to just disappear…
“You can work tomorrow and start your leave on Monday?” Joonmyun suggested.
Chanyeol felt like a goldfish- mouth opening and closing again when he realized he didn't know what to say. Did he want to start his maternity leave so soon? Was Joonmyun trying to get rid of him? Had his work been suffering due to his pregnancy?
“It's completely up to you,” Joonmyun added at Chanyeol's hesitation. “You can stay until you start going into labor live on air. But I just wanted to give you the option. I don't want you straining yourself.”
Chanyeol chuckled at the idea of trying to time the commercial breaks to match up with his contractions.
“Can I think about it?” he asked, wondering what Gwiboon would think, though he had a pretty good idea.
“Of course,” Joonmyun said with a reassuring smile.
And then Chanyeol had to excuse himself when Seulgi decided to kick him in the bladder.
---
“How much dried fruit do you have?” Baekhyun marvelled, peering into the kitchen cabinets.
“A lot?” Chanyeol ventured to guess. He hadn’t been able to get enough lately. Dried apples, especially, had been a constant craving for the past few weeks.
“More important question,” Baekyhun said, turning to him. “Do you have other food that is not of the dried or fruit variety?”
“Yeah? I can make something,” Chanyeol told him, making to get up.
“No!” Baekhyun shrieked, leaping forward and holding Chanyeol down by his shoulders. Chanyeol rolled his eyes. “Gwiboon entrusted me with you! And she specifically said that you should be resting. Rest!”
Chanyeol sighed.
Gwiboon had had to go out of town for a two-day shoot, thereby leaving Chanyeol home alone for the whole weekend. Despite his insistence that he’d be fine- his due date wasn’t for another three weeks- Gwiboon would not hear of Chanyeol staying in their apartment by himself. So, she’d called in reinforcements, meaning that she’d called Baekhyun and had put in on Chanyeol babysitting duty.
Because Gwiboon could be scary when she wanted to be, Baekhyun was taking the job a little too seriously.
“Do not get up,” Baekhyun reiterated, hands held out in front of him like Chanyeol was capable of making sudden movements. “We can just order take out.”
Baekhyun grabbed for his cell phone, and Chanyeol heaved himself up from the kitchen chair.
“Why are you up?” Baekhyun demanded, fluttering around him like a small bug as Chanyeol made his way out of the kitchen.
“I have to pee,” Chanyeol informed him, and Baekhyun finally stopped trying to corral him back toward a chair. “Get used to it, because this is going to happen a lot. When you have a baby pressing into your bladder, you have to get up to go to the bathroom a lot.”
It was a good thing that Chanyeol had decided to take Joonmyun up on her offer to let him go on maternity leave early because it had only gotten worse and he feared he’d have ended up having to get up in the middle of a call on air to hurry to the bathroom.
Unsurprisingly, Gwiboon had insisted he take the early leave when he’d brought it up to her, so he’d gone to work one last day, and explained to his listeners that he’d be gone for a while because he was due to give birth soon. The congratulations that had flooded the show’s twitter page had made Chanyeol tear up a bit, and Sehun had laughed at him for being a sap.
A week of not working, and Chanyeol was starting to feel a little stir crazy. But he knew he should revel in the feeling of being bored, because he knew that after the baby came, he and Gwiboon would be so busy that boredom would be a long forgotten memory.
“I ordered pizza,” Baekhyun announced when Chanyeol returned from the bathroom, making sure Chanyeol sat down on the couch immediately.
“You know, doctors actually recommend that pregnant people go on walks,” he informed Baekhyun, sitting down anyway. “It can help move along the process.”
“We do not want the process to be moved along at all this weekend!” Baekyhun announced, flopping down next to Chanyeol. “You can’t have the baby this weekend. I am not equipped for such things, and Gwiboon would kill me.”
“My due date is weeks away,” Chanyeol reminded him, noting the genuine apprehension in Baekhyun’s eyes. “I’m not going to have the baby in the next two days.”
“Still,” Baekhyun said. “Better safe than sorry.” He eyed Chanyeol’s round belly warily.
“Seulgi is going to stay in here for now,” Chanyeol assured him, patting his tummy fondly.
Baekhyun looked...mostly convinced.
---
“Are you going into labor?” Baekhyun garbled out, half asleep and panicked.
It was after three in the morning, and Chanyeol had just been getting up to, surprise, use the bathroom.
Something like that wouldn’t have woken Baekhyun up except for the fact that Baekhyun had insisted on sleeping in Chanyeol’s and Gwiboon’s king size bed with him. In case of a middle of the night emergency.
So far, Chanyeol had only been kicked in the shin once, so it could have been worse.
“No, I’m going to the bathroom,” Chanyeol mumbled, voice gravelly from sleep.
“Are you sure?” Baekhyun asked, sitting up in bed to squint at Chanyeol in the dark.
“I’m sure,” Chanyeol said, shuffling away and hearing Baekhyun flop back against the mattress.
Chanyeol climbed back into bed with a grunt after he’d seen to his needs, trying to get in a decently comfortable position with his belly protruding as much as it was.
“No baby?” Baekhyun asked sleepily, shifting under the covers and making the mattress move under them.
“Nope,” Chanyeol confirmed, moving again and making the whole bed shake.
“Wake me up if you start having contractions,” Baekhyun said around a yawn, and Chanyeol snorted, tossing the comforter off when he found he was too warm.
“Will do,” Chanyeol answered, but he could already hear Baekhyun’s breathing evening out before his best friend started whimpering and yipping in his sleep like a puppy.
With Seulgi squirming around and rolling side to side, Chanyeol hoped that he would be able to find sleep that easily, too.
---
Much to Baekhyun’s (and Gwiboon’s) relief, Seulgi stayed put while Gwiboon was away.
Chanyeol was relieved that he no longer had someone around him at all times who nearly went into cardiac arrest every time he moved. Not that Gwiboon was a whole lot better, but she at least seemed to understand that Chanyeol was not constantly on the cusp of going into labor.
When Baekhyun headed back to his and Jonghyun’s apartment, he looked like he could use a very long nap.
The following week went by as normal- Chanyeol staying at home while Gwiboon went to work, trying to find little jobs around the house to occupy himself that wouldn’t make Gwiboon scold him for exerting too much energy.
But what was supposed to be a relaxing Saturday lunch out was interrupted by a pain in Chanyeol’s abdomen that was definitely not indigestion.
“What? What’s happening?” Baekhyun demanded when Chanyeol stopped mid-sentence and put a hand on his stomach.
“Chill, you’re not responsible for me anymore,” Chanyeol said distractedly, trying to discern what was happening in his body. He was still two weeks away from his due date. Surely...
“Chanyeol? Baby? What’s wrong?” Gwiboon asked, out of her seat and at his side.
“Don’t know,” he admitted, sandwich long forgotten as his muscles seized uncomfortably.
“Tell me what you’re feeling,” Gwiboon urged. “Do we need to go to the hospital?”
Chanyeol didn’t know.
“It’s not,” he started, trying to put it into words. “It doesn’t hurt.”
“That’s good,” Gwiboon said, a hand rubbing soothingly against his shoulder.
“Just tightening,” Chanyeol explained, muscles currently not contracting, but body on alert for the slightest discomfort. “Probably braxton hicks?”
Gwiboon nodded, grabbing her chair and pulling it over so that she could stay right next to him without having to awkwardly crouch.
“Let’s wait and see if you get another,” she suggested, “and we can see if it’s random or at regular intervals, okay?”
“What will that mean?” Baekhyun asked, still looking uneasy and like he thought Chanyeol liable to detonate at any moment.
“If they’re irregular, then it’s probably braxton hicks, and not real labor,” Gwiboon explained.
“Can we do anything?” Jonghyun tried, eyebrows sloped in concern.
Chanyeol shook his head at the same time Gwiboon told him no, but thanks.
The concern of their friends was nice, but Chanyeol didn’t want to make this a big deal if it didn’t have to be. He knew they’d already garnered a little attention in the bustling restaurant when Gwiboon had first rushed to his side. He didn’t need everyone in the whole place thinking that he needed an ambulance. Besides, there really wasn’t anything anyone else could do for him. He just had to count on his body to figure itself out.
“Here,” Gwiboon offered, handing Chanyeol his mostly full glass of water. “Dehydration can cause braxton hicks contractions, so drink this and maybe it’ll help.”
Obligingly, Chanyeol took the proffered glass, condensation running over his hand, and finished off the contents.
They spent another few minutes like that, Gwiboon’s thumb stroking against the back of his hand and all of them nearly holding their breath like Chanyeol might explode.
“Another one,” Chanyeol announced, muscles clenching.
“Feel any different from the last one?” Gwiboon asked.
“Maybe a little shorter?”
“That’s a good sign that this isn’t real labor,” Gwiboon acknowledged. “Let’s get up and go for a little walk. The books say you should change position, and that can make them stop.”
Part of Chanyeol wanted to turn to Baekhyun to go, Look! See? Walking! Movement! But instead he just let Gwiboon help him up from his chair, still feeling a bit shaken by the whole thing.
“We’ll get the bill,” Jonghyun assured them as Gwiboon grabbed her purse and put a steadying hand on Chanyeol’s arm.
“Thank you,” Chanyeol said, feeling bad that he’d interrupted their meal with fake contractions.
He was also disappointed that he hadn’t been able to finish his lunch, though he wasn’t feeling particularly hungry at the moment.
“It’s no problem,” Baekhyun told him, shooting him a grin. “I’ll finish your fries and everything.”
Chanyeol huffed out a laugh. “Gee, thanks.”
With Gwiboon at his side, they exited the restaurant- fresh air a relief after all that.
“Sorry,” Chanyeol murmured, feeling Gwiboon’s grip on his hand tighten.
“What on earth are you apologizing for?” Gwiboon griped, shooting him a judgmental look. “Carrying our baby?”
Chanyeol shrugged. “Ruining lunch?”
Gwiboon’s facial expression didn’t change. “You’re ridiculous,” she muttered, even as she pulled Chanyeol closer, turning his head with her free hand and planting a kiss on his lips as they waited for the light to change to cross the street. “You are absolutely ridiculous.”
Warmth filled his chest, and a relieved tear escaped and slid down his cheek.
Gwiboon brushed it away with a tsk and another kiss, her eyes soft when she pulled away.
After walking for thirty minutes and not feeling another contraction,Chanyeol was feeling confident that what he had felt at the restaurant had been braxton hicks contractions, and that they were done for the time being.
But even though it hadn’t really been his body telling him that it was time for the baby to come out, it only served to remind him that that time was coming, and it was coming soon.
It was only a matter of time before Seulgi would be demanding to make her debut into the world. Chanyeol just had to be ready.
---
The next time Chanyeol felt anything strange was when he was picking up milk three days before his due date. Gwiboon was at work, and he hated to make her stop at the grocery store again. Plus, he had been feeling restless in the apartment all by himself.
He knew Gwiboon would have insisted on going for him if she was home, but the little grocery store was only a block away from their apartment. Chanyeol was perfectly capable.
Now though, as he paused on the sidewalk with a gallon of milk in his hand and his abdomen clenching, he wondered if he was.
The walk back to his apartment was short, so he didn't feel another contraction until the milk was in the fridge and he was heading for the couch.
It wasn't incredibly painful, but there was something more pointed about the feeling than when he'd been out to lunch. Sitting down on the couch, Chanyeol grabbed the pad of paper from the coffee table and jotted down the time. The next time a contraction came, he did it again.
After an hour of recording his contractions, Chanyeol was fairly certain that he wasn’t experiencing braxton hicks again. These contractions were coming at regular intervals and they seemed to be getting more intense as time progressed. He still wasn’t in extreme pain, but Chanyeol was pretty sure that he should be heading to the hospital soon.
The only problem was that Gwiboon was still on a shoot and wasn’t due home for quite some time.
Chanyeol forced himself to breathe as he dialed her number and waited for her to pick up.
“Chanyeol?” she answered after four rings. “What’s wrong?”
Perhaps if he called her at work often, the call wouldn’t have been so conspicuous. But knowing Gwiboon and how close he was to his due date, she’d probably have been just as on edge.
“I think,” he began, taking a breath and trying to stay calm for both of their sakes, “that I’m in labor.”
Gwiboon’s shriek had Chanyeol holding the phone away from his ear for a couple of seconds.
“I”m coming home,” Gwiboon was saying, sounding harried like she was speed walking and trying to do eight things at once. “But I’m an hour away, so you should go to the hospital and I’ll meet you there.”
Chanyeol did not like the idea of going to the hospital alone and lying in some sterile bed with only his very large belly to keep him company. But he knew that Gwiboon was going to get there as soon as she could. There was nothing they could do.
“Call Baekhyun and have him come over and take a cab with you,” Gwiboon instructed before Chanyeol could agree. “He can stay with you until I get there.”
“But Baekhyun is at work,” Chanyeol argued, even though the thought of company was extremely appealing.
“So what?” Gwiboon scoffed, and Chanyeol heard the sound of a car starting. She really was on her way. Everything was going to be fine. She was coming. “Surely he can take off early this one time. If not, call Jonghyun.”
“Okay,” Chanyeol agreed, feeling preemptive guilt at calling his best friend and asking him to miss work, but too greedy for someone to be there with him to not follow through.
“If you can’t get ahold of either of them, call me right back,” Gwiboon told him, leaving no room for argument. Chanyeol was grateful that she seemed so in control right then when he was just trying to not freak the fuck out, because oh my god the baby was coming. “And text me when you get to the hospital, okay?”
It was a plan, and that alone had Chanyeol feeling more steady as he hung up the phone and retrieved his packed bag from the bedroom as he dialed Baekhyun.
“I know you’re lounging on the couch eating bon bons, but some of us still have to work,” Baekhyun said as soon as he picked up, teasing.
“Baekhyun, I’m in labor,” Chanyeol interrupted, too focused on what he needed to do to fire back at Baekhyun’s jab.
“Oh, shit,” Baekhyun immediately replied, tone turning serious. “Where’s Gwiboon? Did you call her?”
“No, I decided I’d rather talk to you than my mate,” Chanyeol said sarcastically. “She’s an hour away at a shoot. She’s on her way now, but I should go to the hospital now to be safe.”
“Fuck,” was Baekhyun’s ever-so-helpful reply.
“I hate to ask this, but can you come with me to the hospital?” Chanyeol asked, twisting at the hem of his shirt as he waited for a response.
“Of course!” Baekhyun exclaimed, and Chanyeol let out a breath. “I can grab a cab right now and pick you up. Are you ready?”
Chanyeol almost wanted to sob in relief. “Yeah, I’m all ready.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in less than ten,” Baekhyun assured him. “Keep that baby in while I’m en route.”
“You do know male omegas give birth via c-section, right?” Chanyeol asked.
“Yeah, yeah,” Baekhyun griped, and Chanyeol couldn’t help the huff of laughter that escaped. It felt good to be laughing instead of panicking. “See you soon. I’ll text you when I’m close.”
It was going to be fine. He was going to get to the hospital, and he was going to have a baby.
Oh, shit. He was going to have a baby.
---
“Does it hurt a lot?” Baekhyun asked, nose scrunched in sympathy as he watched Chanyeol breathe through a contraction.
“Yeah, it’s starting to,” Chanyeol gusted out, relaxing as the contraction ebbed after a few moments.
It definitely wasn’t pleasant.
Had he opted to schedule a c-section in advance, which was quite common for male omegas, he could have skipped the whole labor thing altogether. But he and Gwiboon had decided that they wanted to wait until Chanyeol’s body went into labor, and have the c-section that day. There was no health benefit either way, it was just a personal preference. Though Chanyeol couldn’t give birth the way a female beta or omega could, he wanted to have as much of the experience as possible.
Now, as he had to breathe through contraction after contraction, he was wondering whyhe had wanted that.
Technically, he could have gotten an epidural and gone into surgery as soon as he had arrived at the hospital, but he wasn’t going to let Gwiboon miss the birth of their daughter, so he was waiting it out.
In the case that Gwiboon was hours and hours late, he would have to let the doctors remove the baby before it became dangerous. But for the time being, it was safe for him to wait it out and feel the way his body was telling him that it was nearly time.
“I am definitely going to schedule a c-section, so I don’t have to do this,” Baekhyun observed, eying the machine that was recording the baby’s heart rate like he was looking at an interesting museum display.
“Glad I could help,” Chanyeol said wryly, and Baekhyun gave him a thumbs up that had Chanyeol snorting out a laugh and rolling his eyes fondly.
“But you can do it!” Baekhyun told him, changing tactics. “Gwiboon will be here any minute! Go go!”
Chanyeol raised his eyebrows.
Baekhyun shrugged. “Just trying to keep the energy up. But the good news is that you can totally hang this over the kid’s head later. Like, you better be grateful because I was in labor with you before your mom got to the hospital, and I had to listen to Uncle Baekhyun talk that whole time.”
Chanyeol let out a genuine laugh at that, happy to have his abdominals tensing from mirth and not pain. Baekhyun grinned triumphantly.
“How are we doing in here?” Dr. Zhang asked, stepping into the room and smiling at Chanyeol and Baekhyun in turn. “Still no Gwiboon?”
Chanyeol shook his head. “Still doing alright, though.”
“Good to hear,” Dr. Zhang said, studying the machine Baekhyun had been looking at earlier. “Everything looks fine, and we still have time. Do you have an estimate when Gwiboon will get here?”
“She texted a couple minutes ago and said she was ten minutes away,” Chanyeol supplied, eyes moving to the door hopefully as they had been doing since he’d gotten there. Not that he didn’t appreciate Baekhyun’s company, but he just wanted his mate, his alpha, to be there with him.
“We can give you your anesthetic now, if you’d like,” Dr. Zhang offered. “That way we won’t have to wait for it to work after Gwiboon gets here, and we can get things moving. Unless you’d rather experience a few more contractions?”
“Please, no,” Chanyeol groaned, and Yixing chuckled.
“Alright, let’s get going, then.”
With a large and painful needle being inserted into his spine, Chanyeol grasped onto Baekhyun’s hands with all his might- wincing at the sting and the ache in his back. Definitely more painful than the contractions had been, so far.
“Ow,” Baekhyun complained when Chanyeol let go, shaking his hands out.
Chanyeol shot him an unimpressed look.
“But you win!” Baekhyun added, patting Chanyeol on the shoulder.
“Chanyeol!” Gwiboon exclaimed, rushing through the door and to his side- cheeks pink from exertion and brows pinched in concern. “Baby. How are you doing? I’m so sorry I’m late.”
“It’s okay,” Chanyeol told her, relieved tears springing to his eyes. “I’m okay. I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Me too, baby,” Gwiboon said, leaning down to press a gentle kiss to his lips.
“We’ll be able to start the surgery in a few minutes, once the spinal has started to take effect,” Dr. Zhang told Gwiboon when she’d pulled back and grabbed Chanyeol’s hand tightly in hers. “So sit tight and I’ll get everything prepared. You can stay for the operation,” he said, addressing Gwiboon, before turning to Baekhyun. “But I’m afraid you’ll have to wait in the waiting room.”
“That’s quite alright,” Baekhyun assured them all. “Good luck, Yeol. And I will be back when there is an adorable, tiny human to look at.”
“Thank you, Baekhyun,” Gwiboon said sincerely, stepping away from Chanyeol to give Baekhyun a hug that seemed to surprise the omega. “I really appreciate you being here with Chanyeol when I couldn’t be.”
“No problem,” he chuckled awkwardly. “I’m sure my presence was nothing but helpful.”
Chanyeol huffed out a laugh. He knew Baekhyun was intimidated by Gwiboon on the best of days, so the unexpected affection had clearly thrown him for a loop.
“I’m sure,” Gwiboon said wryly.
With a salute and another set of well wishes, Baekhyun was gone, and Chanyeol met Gwiboon’s eyes- feeling all the anticipation, fear, and excitement bubble up in his chest.
“You ready?” Gwiboon asked, squeezing one of Chanyeol’s hands with both of hers.
“Not at all,” he laughed, comforted by just Gwiboon’s presence. “But also, yes.”
Gwiboon pressed another kiss to his lips.
“Me too.”
---
Everything felt a little like a dream, Chanyeol thought, as he leaned against the pillows in his hospital bed with Gwiboon perched next to him and their baby in her arms.
If it wasn’t for the slight pull of the stitches in his abdomen, he’d have been sure that this was all a dream and he was going wake up any minute at home, in bed, and still pregnant.
The procedure hadn’t been too scary with Gwiboon holding his hand and a swath of fabric blocking his view of what was happening. But it was still a relief to hear those first, wailing cries from Seulgi’s mouth, knowing that she had safely entered the world.
After the nurses had cleaned her off and made sure that nothing was wrong, Seulgi, still crying, was passed to Gwiboon, who promptly burst into tears herself.
Chanyeol’s lashes were wet when Gwiboon bent down so he could see their daughter- red faced and angry to have been pulled from her nice, warm home in Chanyeol’s belly, but perfect. That little, squirming thing in a pink blanket was theirs to take home, and she was the best thing that Chanyeol had ever laid eyes on.
“She’s so perfect,” Chanyeol said for probably the eight hundredth time since he’d entered recovery, voice wavering with fresh tears when Gwiboon passed Seulgi to him.
“I know,” Gwiboon agreed softly so as not to wake their daughter.
Her tiny hands were held in relaxed fists as she slept, and every now and again, her lips would part, teeny tongue peeking out, before she settled again.
Chanyeol wasn’t sure how his chest hadn’t burst open with how big his heart felt when he looked at her.
“I can’t believe we made her,” he marvelled, holding Seulgi to his chest and resting a hand lightly against her front to feel the rise and fall of her breaths.
“No one else could have made such a perfect, little cherub, though,” Gwiboon pointed out, and Chanyeol chuckled even as a happy tear slid down his cheek.
“Knock, knock,” was said softly, and Chanyeol and Gwiboon looked up to see Jonghyun in the doorway with Baekhyun peering over his shoulder.
“You can come in, but be quiet. She’s sleeping,” Gwiboon told them
“Guess you have to stay in the hall,” Chanyeol said to Baekhyun, and Baekhyun stuck his tongue out in a silent gesture of defiance against the jab.
“You guys,” Jonghyun murmured as he came up to the bed to look at the bundle in Chanyeol’s arms. “She’s so precious.”
“She is,” Gwiboon agreed, smiling proudly as their best friends admired their baby.
“Can I?” Jonghyun asked, eyes already looking suspiciously shiny.
Chanyeol actually found himself looking to Gwiboon as though she might be opposed to anyone else holding her.
Gwiboon quirked a brow. “Jonghyun can hold her.”
“Sorry,” Chanyeol chuckled, holding Seulgi out for Jonghyun to lift from his arms, but Jonghyun didn’t seem offended. He didn’t even seem to have heard Chanyeol as he cradled Seulgi to his chest and gazed at her in wonder.
“Hi there, baby girl,” he cooed softly, and Gwiboon pressed closer to Chanyeol’s side as she happily watched her childhood best friend hold her daughter. “You’re the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.”
“He’s about to cry,” Baekhyun stage-whispered, and Jonghyun shot him a look even as the tears that had been filling his eyes spilled over.
“She’s just so wonderful,” Jonghyun sobbed, and Baekhyun stepped up behind him and pressed against his back.
“Chanyeol, she has your ears,” Baekhyun observed. “What?” he defended at Chanyeol’s look. “They’re cute on her!”
“You’ve seen your ears, right?” Gwiboon remarked.
“Geez, I was just giving your baby a compliment,” he griped, arms wrapping around Jonghyun’s middle and chin hooked over his shoulder.
Chanyeol felt like he might start crying all over again at the scene in front of him, and the fact that so many people he loved were in one room.
“She has Gwiboon’s eyes,” Jonghyun sniffled, and Gwiboon grinned.
“Sure, no one gets mad at that observation,” Baekhyun grumbled.
Seulgi blinked her eyes open and started fussing shortly after that, but after Gwiboon lulled her back to sleep, Baekhyun was clamoring for his turn to hold her.
“Hi,” Baekhyun said softly, lips curving up as he took in her sleeping face. “I'm Uncle Baekhyun.”
Gwiboon snorted, and Baekhyun paused just long enough to huff before he continued.
“I'm your cool uncle,” he went on and Jonghyun whined at him, prodding him in the arm gently enough that it didn't upset his hold on Seulgi. Baekhyun’s eyes were laughing at his mate. “One day, you and I can have epic squirt gun battles. You're gonna be a natural, I can tell already. You and I can team up and destroy your dad. It'll be great.”
“Why do you think she's gonna be on your team?” Chanyeol quietly complained from the bed.
“Because I'm her cool Uncle Baekhyun,” he answered with a grin.
Once Baekhyun had filled Seulgi’s baby brain with a plethora of ways she could wreak havoc when she was old enough, it was getting late and Chanyeol was about ready to crash.
“Okay, Uncle Baekhyun,” Gwiboon teased, “give me my child back.”
Chanyeol felt a surge of warmth at the fact that he and Gwiboon truly had a child. He was in danger of crying again, but considering he’d been crying on and off for the last few hours- for the last few months, really- he didn’t think anyone would be alarmed.
“No, I'm not done yet,” Baekhyun whined, nuzzling against Seulgi’s cheek and cooing about how he was going to put her in his pocket and take her home.
“Pretty sure that's kidnapping,” Gwiboon said, shooting a look Jonghyun that seemed to say please make your mate unhand my baby.
Unfortunately, Jonghyun seemed more concerned with letting Seulgi grab his finger and exclaiming over how tiny her hands were.
Gwiboon sighed.
“At least we have willing babysitters?” Chanyeol offered, and Gwiboon laughed before turning her attention back to the pair who were coddling her offspring.
“Alright, Chanyeol needs to sleep,” Gwiboon announced, no nonsense, and Chanyeol was grateful. “If you want a baby this badly, then make your own.”
Two sets of wide eyes were on Gwiboon then, and she took the opportunity to pointedly hold out her arms for her daughter.
This time Baekhyun complied, though his pout and his theatrical sighs communicated his displeasure.
“We’re coming back to visit tomorrow,” Jonghyun promised, giving Chanyeol a one armed hug and Gwiboon a kiss on the cheek.
“I figured,” Gwiboon chuckled, allowing the two a couple more minutes of saying goodbye to Seulgi before shooing them out.
“Seulgi needs to eat,” Chanyeol sleepily told Gwiboon, reaching out and letting Seulgi hold onto his index finger.
“I was just going to find the nurse to get some formula,” Gwiboon assured him, getting up from the bed with Seulgi in her arms before bending down to press a gentle kiss to Chanyeol’s lips. “You should get some sleep.”
“Are you sure you don't need me?” Chanyeol asked, almost too tired to properly form the words. Now that all of the excitement was dying down, he began to realize just how exhausted he really was.
“I’m sure, baby,” Gwiboon said. “You just rest.”
That was good because Chanyeol could feel his eyes closing, body relaxing into the uncomfortable hospital mattress.
His last thought before he fully succumbed to sleep was that he and and Gwiboon were truly parents now.
Gwiboon told him later that he was smiling in his sleep.
---
Three Years Later
---
“You’re not welcome here!” Seulgi yelled, holding her stuffed dinosaur toy in front of her and attempting to kick it. She mostly missed, but seemed pleased with the result anyway.
Zooming by Chanyeol where he was setting the table, Seulgi was singing some song she made up. Chanyeol wasn’t quite sure what it had to do with dinosaurs or the tiara, tutu, and cape combo she was wearing, but from the looks of it, this was some kind of victory lap.
The doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it,” Gwiboon said, setting down the cloth she’d been using to wipe the kitchen counter and heading for the door.
Seulgi abruptly changed direction and took off after her mother, excited about their dinner guests. Chanyeol followed at a more sedate pace.
“Uncle Baekhyun!” she hollered. “Don’t worry! It’s safe! I slayed all the dragons!”
“Do you think I can’t fight dragons?” Baekhyun teased, stepping inside.
“I made it safe for the baby!” Seulgi exclaimed, looking at Baekhyun like he was stupid.
Baekhyun laughed, a hand reflexively going to his rounded belly. “Good thinking! You’re my hero.”
Seulgi beamed, grasping onto the hand Baekhyun had outstretched since he couldn’t bend down to greet her like he used to.
“Such a brave princess!” Jonghyun exulted, scooping Seulgi up and making her squeal happily.
“I’m not a princess,” she corrected when she was settled, hands braced on Jonghyun’s shoulders.
“You’re not?”
Seulgi shook her head. “Mommy is the princess.”
Gwiboon laughed, stroking over Seulgi’s cheek with the backs of her fingers before she went back to getting the kitchen ready for guests.
“Is your daddy the prince?” Jonghyun asked, shooting a grin at Chanyeol.
“No, he’s a lion tamer,” she explained.
“Sounds reasonable,” Baekhyun interjected with a chuckle.
“And what are you?”
“A ballerina ninja!” she exclaimed, waving her arms around excitedly.
“Of course!” Jonghyun smacked his forehead.
Seulgi grinned, triumphant.
“You can be the dragon queen,” she told Jonghyun.
“I thought you slayed the dragons.”
“Only the bad ones,” she said. “You can teach the other dragons to be good.”
“I’ll do my best,” Jonghyun promised, hefting her up on his hip and heading toward the kitchen.
“What am I?” Baekhyun asked eagerly, following and tugging on one of Seulgi’s pigtails.
“You have a baby inside your tummy,” she reminded him. “You already have a job.”
Jonghyun burst out laughing, setting Seulgi on the floor when she wiggled to get down.
“Can’t I be a dragon at least?” Baekhyun asked, shooting the three year old an exaggerated pout.
Seulgi shrieked with laughter at his face.
“What if I’m having a dragon baby?” he prompted, trying a new tactic.
Seulgi’s eyes grew wide. “Are you?”
“No, he’s having a human baby,” Gwiboon interjected, not wanting Seulgi to start thinking that people could give birth to dragons.
“But we can pretend!” Baekhyun jumped in.
“The dragon queen has to teach your dragon to be a good dragon!” Seulgi pronounced, picking up the plush dinosaur from where it had been discarded earlier. “Here, we can practice with this.”
“I think she’s more prepared for the baby than you guys,” Gwiboon joked, herding Seulgi into the bathroom to wash her hands for dinner.
“Maybe the dragon will be rainbow colors and shiny!” Seulgi was saying to Gwiboon even as Chanyeol heard the tap turn on.
“So, dragons this week?” Jonghyun asked Chanyeol, amused.
“And it breathes yellow fire, but it freezes everything it breathes on!” was heard from the bathroom. “Except if it breathes on a ballerina because ballerinas can’t get frozen from dragons because-”
“Among other things,” Chanyeol said wryly.
---
“So you guys really aren’t going to find out the gender ahead of time?” Gwiboon asked after dinner and once Seulgi was in bed.
“We don’t need Jonghyun sulking for a month if it’s not a girl,” Baekhyun joked.
“I would not!” Jonghyun protested. “I’ll be happy no matter what. Besides, I can always spoil Seulgi with cute, girly things.”
“Seulgi just likes everything,” Chanyeol agreed.
“With Jonghyun buying her dolls and Baekhyun getting her plastic weapons, it’s no wonder she’s a ballerina ninja,” Gwiboon laughed.
“Thanks to us, she’s very well rounded,” Baekhyun gloated.
“Not as well rounded as you,” Chanyeol said, referring to Baekhyun’s belly.
“That was a terrible joke,” Gwiboon told him, and Baekhyun nodded in agreement.
A sweet kiss from Gwiboon stopped Chanyeol’s pouting.
“Should we leave you two to it?” Jonghyun asked, waggling his brows.
“That does sound nice,” Gwiboon admitted. “We just have to cross our fingers that Seulgi doesn’t come wandering into our room after a bad dream.”
Gwiboon gave Baekhyun a pointed glare.
“What?” he groused. “The Creature from the Black Lagoon isn’t scary. How was I supposed to know it would give her nightmares?”
“It gives Jonghyun nightmares,” Gwiboon reminded him.
“But everything gives Jonghyun nightmares,” Baekhyun argued.
“True,” Gwiboon acquiesced.
Jonghyun huffed, indignant, from his spot next to Baekhyun on the couch.
“How about I take you home and make it up to you?” Baekhyun suggested, shooting Jonghyun a lascivious grin.
“Stop flirting on my couch,” Gwiboon told them, lip curled in disgust.
Baekhyun stuck his tongue out even as Jonghyun helped him up.
“We’ll see you guys next week?” Chanyeol asked, seeing the two to the door.
“If this one hasn’t popped yet,” Jonghyun joked, hand on Baekhyun’s stomach as they stepped into the hall.
“I am a whole month away from my due date!” Baekhyun complained. “I am not gonna pop!”
“Maybe you will when I’m done with you-”
“Ew, bye,” Gwiboon said, closing the door in their faces before she had to hear the end of that sentence.
Chanyeol guffawed.
“Now,” Gwiboon said, stepping up close to Chanyeol and pressing him against the wall next to the door.
Their lips met easily, a zing going through Chanyeol’s system as it did every time Gwiboon kissed him with intent.
“Are you too tired?” Gwiboon asked, hands fisted in the front of Chanyeol’s shirt.
Chanyeol shook his head, shivering when Gwiboon kissed him again.
“I’ll go check on Seulgi,” he finally got out. “And I’ll meet you in the bedroom.”
Gwiboon’s lips pulled up in a seductive smirk as she sauntered away, shooting Chanyeol a look over her shoulder that had his knees feeling weak.
Tiptoeing over to Seulgi’s room, Chanyeol eased the door open a crack to peer in at his sleeping daughter, a soft yellow glow from the night light illuminating her serene face.
Sometimes,Chanyeol still couldn’t believe that he and Gwiboon had really made this angel. Or ballerina ninja.
Chanyeol’s heart was full as he watched her breathe, twitching slightly in her sleep and holding on tight to her favorite teddy bear.
He was so lucky. He had a mate whom he loved even more than the day he asked her to claim him. And he had a beautiful daughter who was so much more than he could have ever dreamed. Even if she sometimes did result in some lost sleep.
Chanyeol thought that he could stand and happily watch her sleep all night long, never tiring of just watching her exist.
But, he allowed, that might not have been the most practical use of his time. Especially since he needed to be well-rested for their trip to the zoo the following day.
Besides, Gwiboon was waiting.
- This is the most self-indulgent thing I've ever written. And it's het. I don't know what's going on either.
- Thank you so much to Dal for looking this over for me! <3
- Title from Foxes' All I Need.
Pairing: Chanyeol/Gwiboon(girl!Key), side Jonghyun/Baekhyun, Minjung(girl!Minho)/girl!Suho, Onew/girl!Chen, girl!Kyungsoo/girl!Sehun, Taemin/Kai
Rating: NC-17
Genre(s): romance, fluff, smut, humor
Warning(s): a/b/o, mpreg, f(x) and Red Velvet cameos
Word Count: 21,756
Summary: Even though unplanned pregnancy between a female alpha and a male omega is nearly unheard of, Chanyeol is living proof that it’s possible. Getting pregnant by his beautiful alpha, Gwiboon, is certainly not the worst thing that could have happened. In fact, it might be the best.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
------------------
The Third Trimester
---
“Surprise!” Baekhyun hollered, up in Chanyeol’s face when he stepped into his apartment after getting lunch with Gwiboon at their favorite cafe.
“Wha-”
An hour and a half ago, his and Gwiboon’s apartment had looked, well, normal. Now, there were pastel yellow, pink, and blue (emphasis on the pink, probably thanks to Jonghyun) streamers hanging from the ceiling, balloons shaped like baby bottles and teddy bears and pacifiers tied in clusters, and a stack of presents against the wall that seemed to be threatening to take over the entire living room, not to mention a large selection of their friends, all grinning at him and waiting for a reaction.
Baekhyun and Jonghyun were there of course, Joonmyun and Minjung, Sehun and her alpha, Kyungsoo, Jinki, Jongdae with Sunyoung on her hip, as well as an assortment of other friends and acquaintances they had from college as well as some people Gwiboon knew from work, including the two male models who’d famously set off each other’s heats.
Everyone was smiling happily, eyes on Chanyeol as Baekhyun put a party hat on his head, and Chanyeol promptly burst into tears.
Now, he’d always been a pretty sensitive guy- easily touched by sad movies and not afraid to show emotion. But recently, with his hormones going haywire and a tiny person wiggling around and kicking his bladder when he was trying to sleep so he wasn’t getting nearly enough, it was like all of his emotions had been increased tenfold.
Baekhyun froze, the elastic snapping against Chanyeol’s chin as Baekhyun looked at him with wide, panicked eyes.
Chanyeol wanted to tell him that he wasn’t crying be cause he was upset, but he was too busy sobbing to do so.
Fortunately, Gwiboon was right there to swoop in and steer Chanyeol toward the bedroom while assuring Baekhyun that, no, he hadn’t broken Chanyeol.
“Is it too much?” Gwiboon fussed when the door was closed behind them. “If it’s too overwhelming or you’re too tired, we can have everyone go. They’ll all understand, I promise. I didn’t know if we should have it be a surprise, but Jonghyun and Baekhyun really wanted to plan the whole thing.”
“I’m not-” Chanyeol took a gulping breath of air, “upset.”
“No, I know, baby,” Gwiboon cooed, rubbing Chanyeol’s back soothingly as he slumped into her as much as he could without knocking her over with all the extra weight he’d put on. “It’s just a lot and you’re...well, pregnant.”
Chanyeol nodded helplessly, glad that he didn’t have to explain.
Letting him cry it out, Gwiboon made hushing sounds as she petted his hair- reaching up to wipe away his tears when the sobbing had died down to a quiet sniffling.
“What do you think?” she asked, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. “Totally up to you. You say the word and I kick everybody out so we can lounge on the couch in sweats all afternoon.”
Chanyeol chuckled, wrapping his arms around his mate gratefully.
“No, I’m ready,” he told her. “I’m excited. I just. I’m good now.”
Gwiboon beamed. “You sure?”
Chanyeol nodded, letting Gwiboon kiss him again before she pulled away to go tell their guests that Chanyeol was fine and that he didn’t have any traumatic experiences with party hats that had been unexpectedly brought up when Baekhyun had put one on his head. It gave Chanyeol a few more minutes to compose himself, and hopefully keep everyone from incessantly asking if he was okay.
He knew the concern was well-meaning, but it was hard to explain that he was just a mess of emotions and hormones and that a slight breeze was likely to set him off these days to people who didn’t understand. Though at least Jongdae was probably out there regaling the guests with what a mess she’d been when pregnant to diffuse the awkward atmosphere. Chanyeol smiled to think of it, and almost teared up again. Though he managed to get ahold of himself so he could attend his own baby shower.
Gwiboon was at his side when he emerged from the bedroom, hand grasping tight to his. The wordless support had his heart squeezing as he greeted his guests in a more socially acceptable way than sobbing uncontrollably.
“Doing okay, there?” Baekhyun asked when Chanyeol stopped mingling to admire the cake. There were teeny rosettes gathered in the corners and It's a Girl piped in fancy script in the center. Chanyeol wondered if ordering the cake had been Jonghyun’s job since he seemed more excited they were expecting a girl than anybody.
“Yeah, sorry about before,” Chanyeol said sheepishly, nibbling on a cracker from the platter of snacks. Aside from being moody, he was also so hungry all the time.
“It's cool,” Baekhyun assured him, though he still seemed wary, like Chanyeol might burst into tears at any second. “You're all…” he gestured at Chanyeol's person as though to convey the havoc that was happening inside him. Chanyeol knew what he meant.
“Thanks,” Chanyeol said, grabbing Baekhyun in a one armed hug that had Baekhyun squirming and teasing him for being a softie, but Chanyeol knew that it was all for show. Baekhyun gave him a real hug before going to join Jonghyun where he was cooing over Sunyoung.
Idly, Chanyeol wondered how much longer it would be before the two were expecting their own baby. Baekhyun pregnant would undoubtedly be some mix of horrifying and wildly entertaining. Chanyeol was looking forward to it.
It was a good thing they had a baby shower, Chanyeol thought, because there were so many things they’d needed that they hadn’t had. Sure, they’d done some baby shopping, but they hadn’t gotten any of the big stuff yet. But now they had a crib, a changing table, a high chair, a vast array of toys, and more adorable onesies than Chanyeol had ever seen.
By the end of the shower, Chanyeol was just about ready to cry again, whether from gratitude or from exhaustion, he wasn’t quite sure.
Gwiboon might have grimaced at the mismatched pillows and blankets Jonghyun and Baekhyun had included with their very generous gift of the crib, but she and Chanyeol both could rest easy knowing that they were much more prepared for Seulgi’s debut in the world than they had been before.
---
“Make sure you tape off all the crown molding!” Gwiboon instructed, watching as Jonghyun and Baekhyun readied the nursery for paint. Now that they had almost all they needed for the baby, Gwiboon deemed it time to convert their second bedroom into a nursery.
Chanyeol had pictured the two of them doing it all themselves, but apparently Gwiboon had other plans. She was absolutely refusing to let Chanyeol lift a finger, and was instead bossing Jonghyun and Baekhyun around.
To be fair, they had offered to help, despite all the whining Baekhyun was currently doing even though they’d barely started.
“I still think you should have chosen pink,” Jonghyun groused as he covered his paint roller in pastel yellow paint. “It would have looked so pretty with the netted canopy I got you!”
“If you want a pink nursery, then have your own baby,” she told him, observing him closely as he began to apply paint to the wall.
Baekhyun’s brows jumped at that, and Chanyeol couldn’t help but laugh from where he was watching from the door.
“Get out of here!” Gwiboon scolded when she heard him, abandoning her place next to Baekhyun as she nearly breathed down his neck to try to shoo Chanyeol out of the room. “I don’t want you inhaling all the paint fumes.”
“But I’m just out here doing nothing,” Chanyeol complained, even as he allowed Gwiboon to corral him back into the living room.
“That’s the idea,” she said, helping him sit back down on the couch. “You and Seulgi need to rest out here and let those two do all the heavy lifting, okay?”
Chanyeol kind of wanted to protest because he hated feeling useless, but the way Gwiboon referred to him and Seulgi, like Chanyeol was really out here with their baby instead of just planted in front of the TV by himself, had him smiling.
“Okay, okay,” he relented, happily returning the kiss Gwiboon pressed to his lips. “Don’t let Jonghyun paint a mural on the wall.”
Gwiboon laughed. “I won’t.”
“Fuck,” sounded from the other room in Baekhyun’s voice.
Gwiboon’s eyes widened in panic as she straightened up and hastened to the nursery.
“What’s going on in there?”
“We’re fine!” came Jonghyun’s voice, too high to be believable.
“What- Baekhyun! That’s a waste of an entire can of paint!”
“At least there’s plastic covering the floor!” he defended, loud enough that Chanyeol could hear.
He might have been relegated to the couch, but at least he was confident Gwiboon would be able to keep things on track.
“Don’t step in it!” Gwiboon screeched
Relatively on track, anyway.
---
Helping to paint the nursery wasn’t all Chanyeol couldn’t do.
Even without Gwiboon forbidding him from doing anything too physical, Chanyeol was finding himself having trouble doing plenty of things he used to take for granted.
Doing laundry proved difficult since he couldn’t carry the basket in front of himself with his stomach in the way. Washing his legs in the shower had turned into squirting body wash in that general direction and trying to rub his legs against each other in hopes that that would do the trick. Even standing up and sitting down was a struggle, though he could manage with a lot of grunting.
Chanyeol hated not being able to do everything as easily and quickly as he was used to, but Gwiboon, for as much as she liked to be pampered on occasion, seemed to take satisfaction in doing as much for Chanyeol as she possibly could. Chanyeol suspected that Gwiboon would have gone to the bathroom for him if it was physically possible.
He was touched by her care and concern, his heart swelling every time she brought him tea or rubbed his shoulders, which led to a lot of tearful thank you’s and Gwiboon cooing at him even as she affectionately chuckled at his overly emotional tendencies.
Unfortunately, the mood swings went both ways, so even if he was feeling grateful, he ended up snapping at Gwiboon half the time, which usually led to tearful I’m sorry’s. Of the two of them, Gwiboon was the one with the shorter fuse, so Chanyeol being the one with no patience was jarring to them both. But Gwiboon was being so understanding and patient with him that Chanyeol sometimes just started crying out of nowhere.
Occasionally even at work, though he managed to gather himself by the time he was expected to announce the next song.
Basically, he felt like a mess, yet Gwiboon was pampering him and fussing over him like he was the most precious thing on earth. He said as much through tears one evening after he’d snapped at her for asking about when he planned to go on maternity leave.
“You’re almost right,” she’d told him, curled up next to him on the couch and rubbing his back as he sobbed into her shoulder. “You’re the second most precious thing on earth. The most precious is in your belly.”
Had Gwiboon been putting him in second place to anyone besides their unborn daughter, he’d have protested (in a joking way...mostly), but he couldn’t argue since he felt the same. Seulgi already meant the world to him and she hadn’t even taken her first breath.
It was hard to believe that in just about a month, it wouldn’t just be the two of them anymore. Because while Seulgi might have been loved and treasured already, she was still part of Chanyeol. She wasn’t a third being in the room. Not really. But soon...soon she was going to be there needing to be fed and changed and coddled and played with. Soon, evenings weren’t going to be him and Gwiboon snuggled on the couch while they binge-watched a TV show. It was kind of a scary thought, but it was also exciting. And humbling.
“Pretty soon, I’m going to be comforting Seulgi when she cries instead of you,” Gwiboon teased, nearly echoing Chanyeol’s thoughts.
“That makes more sense,” Chanyeol chuckled, sniffling.
Gwiboon kissed his wet cheeks, and let him tuck his head against her as they watched the end of the movie that was playing.
As much as Chanyeol was sick of the mood swings, he was going to miss being pregnant a little bit.
Though being able to wash his own feet in the shower would be nice.
---
“I’m amazed you can even reach the microphone,” Sehun observed during a commercial break when she was bringing Chanyeol a new bottle of water and a bag of dried apricots because he was starving and dried fruit had been all he’d been craving for the past week.
“Are you calling me fat?” Chanyeol asked around a mouthful of apricot, trying to eat as much as he could before he had to go back on the air after the commercials.
“No, your legs are still toothpicks,” Sehun informed him. “I’m calling you extremely pregnant.”
“I’m only eight months pregnant,” Chanyeol told her, still chewing. “I’m gonna get a lot bigger than this.
Sehun’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head.
Joonmyun rapped on the glass with her knuckles, holding out ten fingers to let them know that there were only ten seconds left in the break.
Chanyeol took a swig of water to wash everything down and shooed Sehun out of the room.
Honestly, he had had to readjust his set up to be able to get as close to the microphone as he needed to with his belly keeping him from being able to scoot all the way up to the desk. But it was working out just fine.
Though he was always craving a nap by the time he finished. It wasn’t his fault that Seulgi liked to move around and wake him up in the middle of the night.
Speaking of, Seulgi decided to ram a foot into his bladder as Chanyeol read through a couple of viewer comments, making him wince and brace himself against the sudden need to pee.
“Bathroom!” he mouthed as soon as he’d announced the next song, pushing himself out of his chair as quickly as he could and power waddling to the bathroom down the hall.
This had become a common occurrence. Chanyeol made three more emergency bathroom trips during the remaining hour and a half of his show.
He was wondering if he had to pee again when Joonmyun led him into her office after he'd bid adieu to his listeners.
“How are you doing?” Joonmyun asked when she'd settled behind her desk and Chanyeol was sitting across from her, hoping this wouldn't take too long because Seulgi seemed to have been leaning against his bladder.
“Good,” Chanyeol told her with a smile and a hand resting over his swollen belly. “Though full disclosure, I have to pee. I think.”
Joonmyun chuckled, casting him a fond look.
“We’ll make this quick then,” she said. “What do you think about taking your maternity leave?”
Chanyeol blinked. “Now?”
Joonmyun nodded.
He still had a month before he was due. With the understanding that he'd be off work for a few months after the birth, he'd assumed he wouldn't be going on leave until he was much closer to his due date.
“Why? I- I can still-”
“I know you can, Chanyeol,” Joonmyun assured him, a hand reaching across her desk to rest comfortingly against his wrist. “But wouldn't you rather be able to relax and prepare for the baby? And take as many bathroom breaks as you need?”
Chanyeol flushed, choking out a laugh.
“You'll still get as much time after the baby is born as we talked about before, so don't worry about that.”
“I didn't even tell the listeners that I'll be gone for a while,” Chanyeol fretted. He had planned to announce his pregnancy before he took time off in order to explain his forthcoming absence. He didn't want to just disappear…
“You can work tomorrow and start your leave on Monday?” Joonmyun suggested.
Chanyeol felt like a goldfish- mouth opening and closing again when he realized he didn't know what to say. Did he want to start his maternity leave so soon? Was Joonmyun trying to get rid of him? Had his work been suffering due to his pregnancy?
“It's completely up to you,” Joonmyun added at Chanyeol's hesitation. “You can stay until you start going into labor live on air. But I just wanted to give you the option. I don't want you straining yourself.”
Chanyeol chuckled at the idea of trying to time the commercial breaks to match up with his contractions.
“Can I think about it?” he asked, wondering what Gwiboon would think, though he had a pretty good idea.
“Of course,” Joonmyun said with a reassuring smile.
And then Chanyeol had to excuse himself when Seulgi decided to kick him in the bladder.
---
“How much dried fruit do you have?” Baekhyun marvelled, peering into the kitchen cabinets.
“A lot?” Chanyeol ventured to guess. He hadn’t been able to get enough lately. Dried apples, especially, had been a constant craving for the past few weeks.
“More important question,” Baekyhun said, turning to him. “Do you have other food that is not of the dried or fruit variety?”
“Yeah? I can make something,” Chanyeol told him, making to get up.
“No!” Baekhyun shrieked, leaping forward and holding Chanyeol down by his shoulders. Chanyeol rolled his eyes. “Gwiboon entrusted me with you! And she specifically said that you should be resting. Rest!”
Chanyeol sighed.
Gwiboon had had to go out of town for a two-day shoot, thereby leaving Chanyeol home alone for the whole weekend. Despite his insistence that he’d be fine- his due date wasn’t for another three weeks- Gwiboon would not hear of Chanyeol staying in their apartment by himself. So, she’d called in reinforcements, meaning that she’d called Baekhyun and had put in on Chanyeol babysitting duty.
Because Gwiboon could be scary when she wanted to be, Baekhyun was taking the job a little too seriously.
“Do not get up,” Baekhyun reiterated, hands held out in front of him like Chanyeol was capable of making sudden movements. “We can just order take out.”
Baekhyun grabbed for his cell phone, and Chanyeol heaved himself up from the kitchen chair.
“Why are you up?” Baekhyun demanded, fluttering around him like a small bug as Chanyeol made his way out of the kitchen.
“I have to pee,” Chanyeol informed him, and Baekhyun finally stopped trying to corral him back toward a chair. “Get used to it, because this is going to happen a lot. When you have a baby pressing into your bladder, you have to get up to go to the bathroom a lot.”
It was a good thing that Chanyeol had decided to take Joonmyun up on her offer to let him go on maternity leave early because it had only gotten worse and he feared he’d have ended up having to get up in the middle of a call on air to hurry to the bathroom.
Unsurprisingly, Gwiboon had insisted he take the early leave when he’d brought it up to her, so he’d gone to work one last day, and explained to his listeners that he’d be gone for a while because he was due to give birth soon. The congratulations that had flooded the show’s twitter page had made Chanyeol tear up a bit, and Sehun had laughed at him for being a sap.
A week of not working, and Chanyeol was starting to feel a little stir crazy. But he knew he should revel in the feeling of being bored, because he knew that after the baby came, he and Gwiboon would be so busy that boredom would be a long forgotten memory.
“I ordered pizza,” Baekhyun announced when Chanyeol returned from the bathroom, making sure Chanyeol sat down on the couch immediately.
“You know, doctors actually recommend that pregnant people go on walks,” he informed Baekhyun, sitting down anyway. “It can help move along the process.”
“We do not want the process to be moved along at all this weekend!” Baekyhun announced, flopping down next to Chanyeol. “You can’t have the baby this weekend. I am not equipped for such things, and Gwiboon would kill me.”
“My due date is weeks away,” Chanyeol reminded him, noting the genuine apprehension in Baekhyun’s eyes. “I’m not going to have the baby in the next two days.”
“Still,” Baekhyun said. “Better safe than sorry.” He eyed Chanyeol’s round belly warily.
“Seulgi is going to stay in here for now,” Chanyeol assured him, patting his tummy fondly.
Baekhyun looked...mostly convinced.
---
“Are you going into labor?” Baekhyun garbled out, half asleep and panicked.
It was after three in the morning, and Chanyeol had just been getting up to, surprise, use the bathroom.
Something like that wouldn’t have woken Baekhyun up except for the fact that Baekhyun had insisted on sleeping in Chanyeol’s and Gwiboon’s king size bed with him. In case of a middle of the night emergency.
So far, Chanyeol had only been kicked in the shin once, so it could have been worse.
“No, I’m going to the bathroom,” Chanyeol mumbled, voice gravelly from sleep.
“Are you sure?” Baekhyun asked, sitting up in bed to squint at Chanyeol in the dark.
“I’m sure,” Chanyeol said, shuffling away and hearing Baekhyun flop back against the mattress.
Chanyeol climbed back into bed with a grunt after he’d seen to his needs, trying to get in a decently comfortable position with his belly protruding as much as it was.
“No baby?” Baekhyun asked sleepily, shifting under the covers and making the mattress move under them.
“Nope,” Chanyeol confirmed, moving again and making the whole bed shake.
“Wake me up if you start having contractions,” Baekhyun said around a yawn, and Chanyeol snorted, tossing the comforter off when he found he was too warm.
“Will do,” Chanyeol answered, but he could already hear Baekhyun’s breathing evening out before his best friend started whimpering and yipping in his sleep like a puppy.
With Seulgi squirming around and rolling side to side, Chanyeol hoped that he would be able to find sleep that easily, too.
---
Much to Baekhyun’s (and Gwiboon’s) relief, Seulgi stayed put while Gwiboon was away.
Chanyeol was relieved that he no longer had someone around him at all times who nearly went into cardiac arrest every time he moved. Not that Gwiboon was a whole lot better, but she at least seemed to understand that Chanyeol was not constantly on the cusp of going into labor.
When Baekhyun headed back to his and Jonghyun’s apartment, he looked like he could use a very long nap.
The following week went by as normal- Chanyeol staying at home while Gwiboon went to work, trying to find little jobs around the house to occupy himself that wouldn’t make Gwiboon scold him for exerting too much energy.
But what was supposed to be a relaxing Saturday lunch out was interrupted by a pain in Chanyeol’s abdomen that was definitely not indigestion.
“What? What’s happening?” Baekhyun demanded when Chanyeol stopped mid-sentence and put a hand on his stomach.
“Chill, you’re not responsible for me anymore,” Chanyeol said distractedly, trying to discern what was happening in his body. He was still two weeks away from his due date. Surely...
“Chanyeol? Baby? What’s wrong?” Gwiboon asked, out of her seat and at his side.
“Don’t know,” he admitted, sandwich long forgotten as his muscles seized uncomfortably.
“Tell me what you’re feeling,” Gwiboon urged. “Do we need to go to the hospital?”
Chanyeol didn’t know.
“It’s not,” he started, trying to put it into words. “It doesn’t hurt.”
“That’s good,” Gwiboon said, a hand rubbing soothingly against his shoulder.
“Just tightening,” Chanyeol explained, muscles currently not contracting, but body on alert for the slightest discomfort. “Probably braxton hicks?”
Gwiboon nodded, grabbing her chair and pulling it over so that she could stay right next to him without having to awkwardly crouch.
“Let’s wait and see if you get another,” she suggested, “and we can see if it’s random or at regular intervals, okay?”
“What will that mean?” Baekhyun asked, still looking uneasy and like he thought Chanyeol liable to detonate at any moment.
“If they’re irregular, then it’s probably braxton hicks, and not real labor,” Gwiboon explained.
“Can we do anything?” Jonghyun tried, eyebrows sloped in concern.
Chanyeol shook his head at the same time Gwiboon told him no, but thanks.
The concern of their friends was nice, but Chanyeol didn’t want to make this a big deal if it didn’t have to be. He knew they’d already garnered a little attention in the bustling restaurant when Gwiboon had first rushed to his side. He didn’t need everyone in the whole place thinking that he needed an ambulance. Besides, there really wasn’t anything anyone else could do for him. He just had to count on his body to figure itself out.
“Here,” Gwiboon offered, handing Chanyeol his mostly full glass of water. “Dehydration can cause braxton hicks contractions, so drink this and maybe it’ll help.”
Obligingly, Chanyeol took the proffered glass, condensation running over his hand, and finished off the contents.
They spent another few minutes like that, Gwiboon’s thumb stroking against the back of his hand and all of them nearly holding their breath like Chanyeol might explode.
“Another one,” Chanyeol announced, muscles clenching.
“Feel any different from the last one?” Gwiboon asked.
“Maybe a little shorter?”
“That’s a good sign that this isn’t real labor,” Gwiboon acknowledged. “Let’s get up and go for a little walk. The books say you should change position, and that can make them stop.”
Part of Chanyeol wanted to turn to Baekhyun to go, Look! See? Walking! Movement! But instead he just let Gwiboon help him up from his chair, still feeling a bit shaken by the whole thing.
“We’ll get the bill,” Jonghyun assured them as Gwiboon grabbed her purse and put a steadying hand on Chanyeol’s arm.
“Thank you,” Chanyeol said, feeling bad that he’d interrupted their meal with fake contractions.
He was also disappointed that he hadn’t been able to finish his lunch, though he wasn’t feeling particularly hungry at the moment.
“It’s no problem,” Baekhyun told him, shooting him a grin. “I’ll finish your fries and everything.”
Chanyeol huffed out a laugh. “Gee, thanks.”
With Gwiboon at his side, they exited the restaurant- fresh air a relief after all that.
“Sorry,” Chanyeol murmured, feeling Gwiboon’s grip on his hand tighten.
“What on earth are you apologizing for?” Gwiboon griped, shooting him a judgmental look. “Carrying our baby?”
Chanyeol shrugged. “Ruining lunch?”
Gwiboon’s facial expression didn’t change. “You’re ridiculous,” she muttered, even as she pulled Chanyeol closer, turning his head with her free hand and planting a kiss on his lips as they waited for the light to change to cross the street. “You are absolutely ridiculous.”
Warmth filled his chest, and a relieved tear escaped and slid down his cheek.
Gwiboon brushed it away with a tsk and another kiss, her eyes soft when she pulled away.
After walking for thirty minutes and not feeling another contraction,Chanyeol was feeling confident that what he had felt at the restaurant had been braxton hicks contractions, and that they were done for the time being.
But even though it hadn’t really been his body telling him that it was time for the baby to come out, it only served to remind him that that time was coming, and it was coming soon.
It was only a matter of time before Seulgi would be demanding to make her debut into the world. Chanyeol just had to be ready.
---
The next time Chanyeol felt anything strange was when he was picking up milk three days before his due date. Gwiboon was at work, and he hated to make her stop at the grocery store again. Plus, he had been feeling restless in the apartment all by himself.
He knew Gwiboon would have insisted on going for him if she was home, but the little grocery store was only a block away from their apartment. Chanyeol was perfectly capable.
Now though, as he paused on the sidewalk with a gallon of milk in his hand and his abdomen clenching, he wondered if he was.
The walk back to his apartment was short, so he didn't feel another contraction until the milk was in the fridge and he was heading for the couch.
It wasn't incredibly painful, but there was something more pointed about the feeling than when he'd been out to lunch. Sitting down on the couch, Chanyeol grabbed the pad of paper from the coffee table and jotted down the time. The next time a contraction came, he did it again.
After an hour of recording his contractions, Chanyeol was fairly certain that he wasn’t experiencing braxton hicks again. These contractions were coming at regular intervals and they seemed to be getting more intense as time progressed. He still wasn’t in extreme pain, but Chanyeol was pretty sure that he should be heading to the hospital soon.
The only problem was that Gwiboon was still on a shoot and wasn’t due home for quite some time.
Chanyeol forced himself to breathe as he dialed her number and waited for her to pick up.
“Chanyeol?” she answered after four rings. “What’s wrong?”
Perhaps if he called her at work often, the call wouldn’t have been so conspicuous. But knowing Gwiboon and how close he was to his due date, she’d probably have been just as on edge.
“I think,” he began, taking a breath and trying to stay calm for both of their sakes, “that I’m in labor.”
Gwiboon’s shriek had Chanyeol holding the phone away from his ear for a couple of seconds.
“I”m coming home,” Gwiboon was saying, sounding harried like she was speed walking and trying to do eight things at once. “But I’m an hour away, so you should go to the hospital and I’ll meet you there.”
Chanyeol did not like the idea of going to the hospital alone and lying in some sterile bed with only his very large belly to keep him company. But he knew that Gwiboon was going to get there as soon as she could. There was nothing they could do.
“Call Baekhyun and have him come over and take a cab with you,” Gwiboon instructed before Chanyeol could agree. “He can stay with you until I get there.”
“But Baekhyun is at work,” Chanyeol argued, even though the thought of company was extremely appealing.
“So what?” Gwiboon scoffed, and Chanyeol heard the sound of a car starting. She really was on her way. Everything was going to be fine. She was coming. “Surely he can take off early this one time. If not, call Jonghyun.”
“Okay,” Chanyeol agreed, feeling preemptive guilt at calling his best friend and asking him to miss work, but too greedy for someone to be there with him to not follow through.
“If you can’t get ahold of either of them, call me right back,” Gwiboon told him, leaving no room for argument. Chanyeol was grateful that she seemed so in control right then when he was just trying to not freak the fuck out, because oh my god the baby was coming. “And text me when you get to the hospital, okay?”
It was a plan, and that alone had Chanyeol feeling more steady as he hung up the phone and retrieved his packed bag from the bedroom as he dialed Baekhyun.
“I know you’re lounging on the couch eating bon bons, but some of us still have to work,” Baekhyun said as soon as he picked up, teasing.
“Baekhyun, I’m in labor,” Chanyeol interrupted, too focused on what he needed to do to fire back at Baekhyun’s jab.
“Oh, shit,” Baekhyun immediately replied, tone turning serious. “Where’s Gwiboon? Did you call her?”
“No, I decided I’d rather talk to you than my mate,” Chanyeol said sarcastically. “She’s an hour away at a shoot. She’s on her way now, but I should go to the hospital now to be safe.”
“Fuck,” was Baekhyun’s ever-so-helpful reply.
“I hate to ask this, but can you come with me to the hospital?” Chanyeol asked, twisting at the hem of his shirt as he waited for a response.
“Of course!” Baekhyun exclaimed, and Chanyeol let out a breath. “I can grab a cab right now and pick you up. Are you ready?”
Chanyeol almost wanted to sob in relief. “Yeah, I’m all ready.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in less than ten,” Baekhyun assured him. “Keep that baby in while I’m en route.”
“You do know male omegas give birth via c-section, right?” Chanyeol asked.
“Yeah, yeah,” Baekhyun griped, and Chanyeol couldn’t help the huff of laughter that escaped. It felt good to be laughing instead of panicking. “See you soon. I’ll text you when I’m close.”
It was going to be fine. He was going to get to the hospital, and he was going to have a baby.
Oh, shit. He was going to have a baby.
---
“Does it hurt a lot?” Baekhyun asked, nose scrunched in sympathy as he watched Chanyeol breathe through a contraction.
“Yeah, it’s starting to,” Chanyeol gusted out, relaxing as the contraction ebbed after a few moments.
It definitely wasn’t pleasant.
Had he opted to schedule a c-section in advance, which was quite common for male omegas, he could have skipped the whole labor thing altogether. But he and Gwiboon had decided that they wanted to wait until Chanyeol’s body went into labor, and have the c-section that day. There was no health benefit either way, it was just a personal preference. Though Chanyeol couldn’t give birth the way a female beta or omega could, he wanted to have as much of the experience as possible.
Now, as he had to breathe through contraction after contraction, he was wondering whyhe had wanted that.
Technically, he could have gotten an epidural and gone into surgery as soon as he had arrived at the hospital, but he wasn’t going to let Gwiboon miss the birth of their daughter, so he was waiting it out.
In the case that Gwiboon was hours and hours late, he would have to let the doctors remove the baby before it became dangerous. But for the time being, it was safe for him to wait it out and feel the way his body was telling him that it was nearly time.
“I am definitely going to schedule a c-section, so I don’t have to do this,” Baekhyun observed, eying the machine that was recording the baby’s heart rate like he was looking at an interesting museum display.
“Glad I could help,” Chanyeol said wryly, and Baekhyun gave him a thumbs up that had Chanyeol snorting out a laugh and rolling his eyes fondly.
“But you can do it!” Baekhyun told him, changing tactics. “Gwiboon will be here any minute! Go go!”
Chanyeol raised his eyebrows.
Baekhyun shrugged. “Just trying to keep the energy up. But the good news is that you can totally hang this over the kid’s head later. Like, you better be grateful because I was in labor with you before your mom got to the hospital, and I had to listen to Uncle Baekhyun talk that whole time.”
Chanyeol let out a genuine laugh at that, happy to have his abdominals tensing from mirth and not pain. Baekhyun grinned triumphantly.
“How are we doing in here?” Dr. Zhang asked, stepping into the room and smiling at Chanyeol and Baekhyun in turn. “Still no Gwiboon?”
Chanyeol shook his head. “Still doing alright, though.”
“Good to hear,” Dr. Zhang said, studying the machine Baekhyun had been looking at earlier. “Everything looks fine, and we still have time. Do you have an estimate when Gwiboon will get here?”
“She texted a couple minutes ago and said she was ten minutes away,” Chanyeol supplied, eyes moving to the door hopefully as they had been doing since he’d gotten there. Not that he didn’t appreciate Baekhyun’s company, but he just wanted his mate, his alpha, to be there with him.
“We can give you your anesthetic now, if you’d like,” Dr. Zhang offered. “That way we won’t have to wait for it to work after Gwiboon gets here, and we can get things moving. Unless you’d rather experience a few more contractions?”
“Please, no,” Chanyeol groaned, and Yixing chuckled.
“Alright, let’s get going, then.”
With a large and painful needle being inserted into his spine, Chanyeol grasped onto Baekhyun’s hands with all his might- wincing at the sting and the ache in his back. Definitely more painful than the contractions had been, so far.
“Ow,” Baekhyun complained when Chanyeol let go, shaking his hands out.
Chanyeol shot him an unimpressed look.
“But you win!” Baekhyun added, patting Chanyeol on the shoulder.
“Chanyeol!” Gwiboon exclaimed, rushing through the door and to his side- cheeks pink from exertion and brows pinched in concern. “Baby. How are you doing? I’m so sorry I’m late.”
“It’s okay,” Chanyeol told her, relieved tears springing to his eyes. “I’m okay. I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Me too, baby,” Gwiboon said, leaning down to press a gentle kiss to his lips.
“We’ll be able to start the surgery in a few minutes, once the spinal has started to take effect,” Dr. Zhang told Gwiboon when she’d pulled back and grabbed Chanyeol’s hand tightly in hers. “So sit tight and I’ll get everything prepared. You can stay for the operation,” he said, addressing Gwiboon, before turning to Baekhyun. “But I’m afraid you’ll have to wait in the waiting room.”
“That’s quite alright,” Baekhyun assured them all. “Good luck, Yeol. And I will be back when there is an adorable, tiny human to look at.”
“Thank you, Baekhyun,” Gwiboon said sincerely, stepping away from Chanyeol to give Baekhyun a hug that seemed to surprise the omega. “I really appreciate you being here with Chanyeol when I couldn’t be.”
“No problem,” he chuckled awkwardly. “I’m sure my presence was nothing but helpful.”
Chanyeol huffed out a laugh. He knew Baekhyun was intimidated by Gwiboon on the best of days, so the unexpected affection had clearly thrown him for a loop.
“I’m sure,” Gwiboon said wryly.
With a salute and another set of well wishes, Baekhyun was gone, and Chanyeol met Gwiboon’s eyes- feeling all the anticipation, fear, and excitement bubble up in his chest.
“You ready?” Gwiboon asked, squeezing one of Chanyeol’s hands with both of hers.
“Not at all,” he laughed, comforted by just Gwiboon’s presence. “But also, yes.”
Gwiboon pressed another kiss to his lips.
“Me too.”
---
Everything felt a little like a dream, Chanyeol thought, as he leaned against the pillows in his hospital bed with Gwiboon perched next to him and their baby in her arms.
If it wasn’t for the slight pull of the stitches in his abdomen, he’d have been sure that this was all a dream and he was going wake up any minute at home, in bed, and still pregnant.
The procedure hadn’t been too scary with Gwiboon holding his hand and a swath of fabric blocking his view of what was happening. But it was still a relief to hear those first, wailing cries from Seulgi’s mouth, knowing that she had safely entered the world.
After the nurses had cleaned her off and made sure that nothing was wrong, Seulgi, still crying, was passed to Gwiboon, who promptly burst into tears herself.
Chanyeol’s lashes were wet when Gwiboon bent down so he could see their daughter- red faced and angry to have been pulled from her nice, warm home in Chanyeol’s belly, but perfect. That little, squirming thing in a pink blanket was theirs to take home, and she was the best thing that Chanyeol had ever laid eyes on.
“She’s so perfect,” Chanyeol said for probably the eight hundredth time since he’d entered recovery, voice wavering with fresh tears when Gwiboon passed Seulgi to him.
“I know,” Gwiboon agreed softly so as not to wake their daughter.
Her tiny hands were held in relaxed fists as she slept, and every now and again, her lips would part, teeny tongue peeking out, before she settled again.
Chanyeol wasn’t sure how his chest hadn’t burst open with how big his heart felt when he looked at her.
“I can’t believe we made her,” he marvelled, holding Seulgi to his chest and resting a hand lightly against her front to feel the rise and fall of her breaths.
“No one else could have made such a perfect, little cherub, though,” Gwiboon pointed out, and Chanyeol chuckled even as a happy tear slid down his cheek.
“Knock, knock,” was said softly, and Chanyeol and Gwiboon looked up to see Jonghyun in the doorway with Baekhyun peering over his shoulder.
“You can come in, but be quiet. She’s sleeping,” Gwiboon told them
“Guess you have to stay in the hall,” Chanyeol said to Baekhyun, and Baekhyun stuck his tongue out in a silent gesture of defiance against the jab.
“You guys,” Jonghyun murmured as he came up to the bed to look at the bundle in Chanyeol’s arms. “She’s so precious.”
“She is,” Gwiboon agreed, smiling proudly as their best friends admired their baby.
“Can I?” Jonghyun asked, eyes already looking suspiciously shiny.
Chanyeol actually found himself looking to Gwiboon as though she might be opposed to anyone else holding her.
Gwiboon quirked a brow. “Jonghyun can hold her.”
“Sorry,” Chanyeol chuckled, holding Seulgi out for Jonghyun to lift from his arms, but Jonghyun didn’t seem offended. He didn’t even seem to have heard Chanyeol as he cradled Seulgi to his chest and gazed at her in wonder.
“Hi there, baby girl,” he cooed softly, and Gwiboon pressed closer to Chanyeol’s side as she happily watched her childhood best friend hold her daughter. “You’re the most beautiful baby I have ever seen.”
“He’s about to cry,” Baekhyun stage-whispered, and Jonghyun shot him a look even as the tears that had been filling his eyes spilled over.
“She’s just so wonderful,” Jonghyun sobbed, and Baekhyun stepped up behind him and pressed against his back.
“Chanyeol, she has your ears,” Baekhyun observed. “What?” he defended at Chanyeol’s look. “They’re cute on her!”
“You’ve seen your ears, right?” Gwiboon remarked.
“Geez, I was just giving your baby a compliment,” he griped, arms wrapping around Jonghyun’s middle and chin hooked over his shoulder.
Chanyeol felt like he might start crying all over again at the scene in front of him, and the fact that so many people he loved were in one room.
“She has Gwiboon’s eyes,” Jonghyun sniffled, and Gwiboon grinned.
“Sure, no one gets mad at that observation,” Baekhyun grumbled.
Seulgi blinked her eyes open and started fussing shortly after that, but after Gwiboon lulled her back to sleep, Baekhyun was clamoring for his turn to hold her.
“Hi,” Baekhyun said softly, lips curving up as he took in her sleeping face. “I'm Uncle Baekhyun.”
Gwiboon snorted, and Baekhyun paused just long enough to huff before he continued.
“I'm your cool uncle,” he went on and Jonghyun whined at him, prodding him in the arm gently enough that it didn't upset his hold on Seulgi. Baekhyun’s eyes were laughing at his mate. “One day, you and I can have epic squirt gun battles. You're gonna be a natural, I can tell already. You and I can team up and destroy your dad. It'll be great.”
“Why do you think she's gonna be on your team?” Chanyeol quietly complained from the bed.
“Because I'm her cool Uncle Baekhyun,” he answered with a grin.
Once Baekhyun had filled Seulgi’s baby brain with a plethora of ways she could wreak havoc when she was old enough, it was getting late and Chanyeol was about ready to crash.
“Okay, Uncle Baekhyun,” Gwiboon teased, “give me my child back.”
Chanyeol felt a surge of warmth at the fact that he and Gwiboon truly had a child. He was in danger of crying again, but considering he’d been crying on and off for the last few hours- for the last few months, really- he didn’t think anyone would be alarmed.
“No, I'm not done yet,” Baekhyun whined, nuzzling against Seulgi’s cheek and cooing about how he was going to put her in his pocket and take her home.
“Pretty sure that's kidnapping,” Gwiboon said, shooting a look Jonghyun that seemed to say please make your mate unhand my baby.
Unfortunately, Jonghyun seemed more concerned with letting Seulgi grab his finger and exclaiming over how tiny her hands were.
Gwiboon sighed.
“At least we have willing babysitters?” Chanyeol offered, and Gwiboon laughed before turning her attention back to the pair who were coddling her offspring.
“Alright, Chanyeol needs to sleep,” Gwiboon announced, no nonsense, and Chanyeol was grateful. “If you want a baby this badly, then make your own.”
Two sets of wide eyes were on Gwiboon then, and she took the opportunity to pointedly hold out her arms for her daughter.
This time Baekhyun complied, though his pout and his theatrical sighs communicated his displeasure.
“We’re coming back to visit tomorrow,” Jonghyun promised, giving Chanyeol a one armed hug and Gwiboon a kiss on the cheek.
“I figured,” Gwiboon chuckled, allowing the two a couple more minutes of saying goodbye to Seulgi before shooing them out.
“Seulgi needs to eat,” Chanyeol sleepily told Gwiboon, reaching out and letting Seulgi hold onto his index finger.
“I was just going to find the nurse to get some formula,” Gwiboon assured him, getting up from the bed with Seulgi in her arms before bending down to press a gentle kiss to Chanyeol’s lips. “You should get some sleep.”
“Are you sure you don't need me?” Chanyeol asked, almost too tired to properly form the words. Now that all of the excitement was dying down, he began to realize just how exhausted he really was.
“I’m sure, baby,” Gwiboon said. “You just rest.”
That was good because Chanyeol could feel his eyes closing, body relaxing into the uncomfortable hospital mattress.
His last thought before he fully succumbed to sleep was that he and and Gwiboon were truly parents now.
Gwiboon told him later that he was smiling in his sleep.
---
Three Years Later
---
“You’re not welcome here!” Seulgi yelled, holding her stuffed dinosaur toy in front of her and attempting to kick it. She mostly missed, but seemed pleased with the result anyway.
Zooming by Chanyeol where he was setting the table, Seulgi was singing some song she made up. Chanyeol wasn’t quite sure what it had to do with dinosaurs or the tiara, tutu, and cape combo she was wearing, but from the looks of it, this was some kind of victory lap.
The doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it,” Gwiboon said, setting down the cloth she’d been using to wipe the kitchen counter and heading for the door.
Seulgi abruptly changed direction and took off after her mother, excited about their dinner guests. Chanyeol followed at a more sedate pace.
“Uncle Baekhyun!” she hollered. “Don’t worry! It’s safe! I slayed all the dragons!”
“Do you think I can’t fight dragons?” Baekhyun teased, stepping inside.
“I made it safe for the baby!” Seulgi exclaimed, looking at Baekhyun like he was stupid.
Baekhyun laughed, a hand reflexively going to his rounded belly. “Good thinking! You’re my hero.”
Seulgi beamed, grasping onto the hand Baekhyun had outstretched since he couldn’t bend down to greet her like he used to.
“Such a brave princess!” Jonghyun exulted, scooping Seulgi up and making her squeal happily.
“I’m not a princess,” she corrected when she was settled, hands braced on Jonghyun’s shoulders.
“You’re not?”
Seulgi shook her head. “Mommy is the princess.”
Gwiboon laughed, stroking over Seulgi’s cheek with the backs of her fingers before she went back to getting the kitchen ready for guests.
“Is your daddy the prince?” Jonghyun asked, shooting a grin at Chanyeol.
“No, he’s a lion tamer,” she explained.
“Sounds reasonable,” Baekhyun interjected with a chuckle.
“And what are you?”
“A ballerina ninja!” she exclaimed, waving her arms around excitedly.
“Of course!” Jonghyun smacked his forehead.
Seulgi grinned, triumphant.
“You can be the dragon queen,” she told Jonghyun.
“I thought you slayed the dragons.”
“Only the bad ones,” she said. “You can teach the other dragons to be good.”
“I’ll do my best,” Jonghyun promised, hefting her up on his hip and heading toward the kitchen.
“What am I?” Baekhyun asked eagerly, following and tugging on one of Seulgi’s pigtails.
“You have a baby inside your tummy,” she reminded him. “You already have a job.”
Jonghyun burst out laughing, setting Seulgi on the floor when she wiggled to get down.
“Can’t I be a dragon at least?” Baekhyun asked, shooting the three year old an exaggerated pout.
Seulgi shrieked with laughter at his face.
“What if I’m having a dragon baby?” he prompted, trying a new tactic.
Seulgi’s eyes grew wide. “Are you?”
“No, he’s having a human baby,” Gwiboon interjected, not wanting Seulgi to start thinking that people could give birth to dragons.
“But we can pretend!” Baekhyun jumped in.
“The dragon queen has to teach your dragon to be a good dragon!” Seulgi pronounced, picking up the plush dinosaur from where it had been discarded earlier. “Here, we can practice with this.”
“I think she’s more prepared for the baby than you guys,” Gwiboon joked, herding Seulgi into the bathroom to wash her hands for dinner.
“Maybe the dragon will be rainbow colors and shiny!” Seulgi was saying to Gwiboon even as Chanyeol heard the tap turn on.
“So, dragons this week?” Jonghyun asked Chanyeol, amused.
“And it breathes yellow fire, but it freezes everything it breathes on!” was heard from the bathroom. “Except if it breathes on a ballerina because ballerinas can’t get frozen from dragons because-”
“Among other things,” Chanyeol said wryly.
---
“So you guys really aren’t going to find out the gender ahead of time?” Gwiboon asked after dinner and once Seulgi was in bed.
“We don’t need Jonghyun sulking for a month if it’s not a girl,” Baekhyun joked.
“I would not!” Jonghyun protested. “I’ll be happy no matter what. Besides, I can always spoil Seulgi with cute, girly things.”
“Seulgi just likes everything,” Chanyeol agreed.
“With Jonghyun buying her dolls and Baekhyun getting her plastic weapons, it’s no wonder she’s a ballerina ninja,” Gwiboon laughed.
“Thanks to us, she’s very well rounded,” Baekhyun gloated.
“Not as well rounded as you,” Chanyeol said, referring to Baekhyun’s belly.
“That was a terrible joke,” Gwiboon told him, and Baekhyun nodded in agreement.
A sweet kiss from Gwiboon stopped Chanyeol’s pouting.
“Should we leave you two to it?” Jonghyun asked, waggling his brows.
“That does sound nice,” Gwiboon admitted. “We just have to cross our fingers that Seulgi doesn’t come wandering into our room after a bad dream.”
Gwiboon gave Baekhyun a pointed glare.
“What?” he groused. “The Creature from the Black Lagoon isn’t scary. How was I supposed to know it would give her nightmares?”
“It gives Jonghyun nightmares,” Gwiboon reminded him.
“But everything gives Jonghyun nightmares,” Baekhyun argued.
“True,” Gwiboon acquiesced.
Jonghyun huffed, indignant, from his spot next to Baekhyun on the couch.
“How about I take you home and make it up to you?” Baekhyun suggested, shooting Jonghyun a lascivious grin.
“Stop flirting on my couch,” Gwiboon told them, lip curled in disgust.
Baekhyun stuck his tongue out even as Jonghyun helped him up.
“We’ll see you guys next week?” Chanyeol asked, seeing the two to the door.
“If this one hasn’t popped yet,” Jonghyun joked, hand on Baekhyun’s stomach as they stepped into the hall.
“I am a whole month away from my due date!” Baekhyun complained. “I am not gonna pop!”
“Maybe you will when I’m done with you-”
“Ew, bye,” Gwiboon said, closing the door in their faces before she had to hear the end of that sentence.
Chanyeol guffawed.
“Now,” Gwiboon said, stepping up close to Chanyeol and pressing him against the wall next to the door.
Their lips met easily, a zing going through Chanyeol’s system as it did every time Gwiboon kissed him with intent.
“Are you too tired?” Gwiboon asked, hands fisted in the front of Chanyeol’s shirt.
Chanyeol shook his head, shivering when Gwiboon kissed him again.
“I’ll go check on Seulgi,” he finally got out. “And I’ll meet you in the bedroom.”
Gwiboon’s lips pulled up in a seductive smirk as she sauntered away, shooting Chanyeol a look over her shoulder that had his knees feeling weak.
Tiptoeing over to Seulgi’s room, Chanyeol eased the door open a crack to peer in at his sleeping daughter, a soft yellow glow from the night light illuminating her serene face.
Sometimes,Chanyeol still couldn’t believe that he and Gwiboon had really made this angel. Or ballerina ninja.
Chanyeol’s heart was full as he watched her breathe, twitching slightly in her sleep and holding on tight to her favorite teddy bear.
He was so lucky. He had a mate whom he loved even more than the day he asked her to claim him. And he had a beautiful daughter who was so much more than he could have ever dreamed. Even if she sometimes did result in some lost sleep.
Chanyeol thought that he could stand and happily watch her sleep all night long, never tiring of just watching her exist.
But, he allowed, that might not have been the most practical use of his time. Especially since he needed to be well-rested for their trip to the zoo the following day.
Besides, Gwiboon was waiting.
- This is the most self-indulgent thing I've ever written. And it's het. I don't know what's going on either.
- Thank you so much to Dal for looking this over for me! <3
- Title from Foxes' All I Need.