Chapter Text
Jihoon didn't know where to put his hands, he had left the delivery room and felt dizzy. He took a couple of steps before leaning against the nearest wall trying to catch his breath.
Choi Jihoon was a Gynecologist and Obstetrician who had specialized for at least 5 years, one of the most recommended. Many credited the choice of his specialty due to his secondary gender, but, no matter what his classmates or family said, there was no greater joy than helping bring a little angel into the world. Nothing compared to the joy that filled the rooms when newborns were handed over to their parents, when they cried for the first time, vigorously greeting life. Jihoon loved it all and fervently wished to experience it one day.
His days were exhausting since he was in charge of the perinatal care room, where alphas, betas and omegas were admitted whose pregnancy was at risk for an organic reason.
Jihoon changed his clothes after arriving at the medical staff room. The shift had been exhausting, and his bones were screaming for rest. He checked his cell phone, not finding the good morning message that he always received in the mornings. He searched and searched in his inbox and nothing. There was no more message after 5 in the morning.
Surprised, he gathered his belongings and with his backpack on his shoulders he left the premises, saying goodbye to the medical staff he came across. He walked down the halls, leaving the area dedicated to his specialty to take the elevator. Once there, he hummed a contagious melody that woke him up a little despite having only slept for three hours.
The reception area of Healeen hospital would always cause him the same excitement as when he was a dreamy medical student. Since he began his career, he longed to practice his profession in that place and there he was being successful and leaving his small footprints in the field of medicine.
Some hands interrupted his appreciation of the panorama, covering his eyes delicately.
"Who am I?" He would recognize that voice anywhere, a smile instantly appeared on Jihoon's lips.
The sweet laughter of a certain internist could be heard delighting his heart with that little song, beating like they were still teenagers.
Those hands that held him so gently, with such devotion, would always know who their owner was.
"Cheollie." Jihoon squealed, causing the older to let out a jovial laugh.
Seungcheol removed his hands only to put them around the younger's waist, hugging Jihoon from behind.
A blush flooded the obstetrician's cheeks, who out of the corner of his eye with a beautiful smile on his lips observed his husband's face.
And so it was, Choi Seungcheol and he had married 7 years ago, he remembered very well that their wedding was an intimate ceremony at sunset on the beach where they both confessed.
It was 2011 and the Busan summer festival was taking place. The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of Seoul University had organized a small excursion. Jihoon was not a fan of collective activities, he preferred to be in his dormitory watching a series or a movie while ordering takeout, but the nostalgia of trying marinated crab, hugging his parents, playing with the sand, made him want to return to Busan even if it was just for a day.
Seungcheol was a young alpha who was a year away from finishing his degree, a friend of Jihoon since childhood, and in charge of taking care of the youngest, despite the fact that Jihoon had always been the living antonym of the word omega.
His blonde hair was loose back then, Jihoon remembers running through the hallways until he reached the alpha section, his feet stopping in front of Choi's room, who looked like he had a nest in his head when he opened the door to his room.
One word from Jihoon and they were both in Seungcheol's car on the way to Busan since the bus had left half an hour ago.
In that convertible car that Seungcheol had managed to buy with the money saved from his part-time job, he and Jihoon were fleeing from stress, not knowing that they didn't need much when they were next to each other.
The sea breeze embraced them after an hour and a half of travel.
Jihoon always looked beautiful but that day with an elegant hat placed on his hair accompanied by a loose shirt and a pair of shorts Seungcheol swore that his beloved best friend couldn't be more beautiful.
The festival had begun, immersed in the crowd they enjoyed the street food sold at the stalls, an old lady greeted them warmly when they approached her stall and even gifted them a few bungeoppang, Seungcheol took a photo of Jihoon with the fish-shaped bean cake while taking a bite.
Jihoon insisted on seeing the photos while Seungcheol denied. The playful atmosphere led them to dare toflirting imperceptibly testing the waters with clumsy baby steps.
Seungcheol took more photos of Jihoon who looked like an angel on that beach, everything about him was perfect, his skin like porcelain, his small slanted eyes, his little nose, his pink lips, Lee Jihoon had him like a fool in love from head to toe.
Choi Seungcheol and Lee Jihoon played tag like children in the sand while running barefoot, Seungcheol wrapped Jihoon in his arms capturing him, just as he wanted to do one day with his heart.
Both prisoners of joy laughed and laughed, Seungcheol carried Jihoon while he hugged him by the shoulders.
Jihoon was the place where he could find himself, it was the home he found without knowing it, it was a sweet lullaby when he was tired.
The sun shone on the horizon, the sound of the waves calmed their anxious hearts, suddenly Jihoon's hands rested on the alpha's shoulders, who gave himself over to his touch enjoying it, their breaths intermingled and the distance between their lips became smaller and smaller.
Their lips danced on each other, Jihoon raised the tips of his feet trying to reach the height of the older one, Seungcheol lost in that carnival of feelings, could only kiss with fervor those fine lips of Jihoon. When his lungs begged for oxygen they separated.
Their hearts seemed to be participants in a horse race, galloping towards the finish line. Seungcheol pulled Jihoon back to his lips, holding him by the cheeks, kissing him as if there was no tomorrow, reaching higher than the sky, flying through the clouds, diving into the waves.
Jihoon placed his hands on his husband's, "Cheollie." The affectionate nickname melted Seungcheol, he loved it when the younger was this sweet but, a worried expression took over his face as he saw how Jihoon clumsily sought support by holding his forearms trying not to lose his balance.
The world was spinning around him again, Seungcheol reinforced his grip guiding him to one of the waiting benches in front of the reception.
The cherry wine-scented alpha helped Jihoon tilt his head up, while he normalized his breathing and closed his eyes.
"Ji, since when do you feel like this?" Jihoon opened his eyes gently, reincorporating his body instinctively he searched for Seungcheol's, inhaling the scent of his partner.
Seungcheol stroked the younger's hair with one of his hands, while the younger thought. "Since two weeks ago, I think." Seungcheol sighed.
"You are very hard on yourself, honey, and at first glance it doesn't look like an infection to me, Jihoonie, let's do an analysis, love." At the word analysis Jihoon flatly denied, he didn't feel like Seokmin taking a quarter of the blood out of his body under the pretext of filling a syringe, call it exaggerated but that always happened.
The younger got up with the help of his alpha insisting on returning home and that it was just lack of sleep.
Seungcheol's internalist instinct told him that it could be something else, but for a minute he ignored that alarm, preferring to take his omega home.
Seungcheol was sure something was wrong with Jihoon when he saw how in the middle of the night his omega ran to the bathroom, falling in front of the toilet expelling all the contents in his stomach, the alpha combed his husband's hair back clearing his forehead while his free hand caressed the younger's back, Jihoon gagged a couple of times before continuing to expel everything from his body.
"Baby." Jihoon knew that tone perfectly, it was the tone of "you need to take a day off", and he couldn't, he was the head of the room and just tomorrow they had scheduled to induce at least four births in alpha mothers.
Seungcheol shook his head, pulling the younger into his arms. Jihoon inhaled his husband's bittersweet scent, indicating that his alpha wasn't very happy with his silent decision, but hugged him, letting his pheromones mix with the older's, trying to ease Choi's anger.
"Cheollie, before going to sleep I went down to the kitchen and... ate half of the Hawaiian pizza we ordered... with peanut butter and some vanilla ice cream." Seungcheol opened his eyes wide. What the hell possessed his omega to eat like that?
Jihoon laughed at Seungcheol's comical expression before walking away to brush his teeth, but Seungcheol had no such plans as he stuck to his omega, hugging him from behind.
Why did Jihoon seem to smell so much better? The omega didn't just smell like strawberries, but there was a small hint of cherry wine in his scent, and along with that, one more detail that he still couldn't figure out. Strawberries whipped? Strawberries with cream? Strawberry milkshake? The alpha continued sniffing his beloved's scent glands trying to decipher the smell.
Jihoon let out a low chuckle. "Are you a dog by any chance?" Seungcheol let out a sad moan, hugging his omega who despite feeling drained smiled discreetly.
Seungcheol grabbed the younger kissing the pairing mark in the process.
"Choi Jihoon." He called him, Jihoon looked at him raising both eyebrows, silently challenging the older. "Tomorrow I'll wait for you in my office, and I don't want any excuses."
The duo of babies carried in a two-seater stroller made the obstetrician smile enormously, Jisoo, his previous patient, looked radiant, motherhood seemed to suit him the best, the oldest of the Omegas watched tenderly as his doctor played with the babies pouting.
Both of them had developed an empathy beyond the doctor-patient relationship and it was one of the few times in which Jihoon could say that he felt comfortable with that, Jisoo as a patient was the discipline in person, he was calm unlike his alpha who seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown at the time of delivery -typical of alphas- they would both assure, but Jisoo as a friend was someone who sometimes made him want to tear his hair out, the older one loved to joke in addition to how affectionate he was and always ended up pinching his cheeks like a grandmother to her grandchildren.
There was Jihoon smiling at little Eunchae and Jungwon, who opened their eyes from time to time looking around, searching for the voices that surrounded them.
"Jihoonie you smell different." Joshua commented, while rocking the car back and forth causing the puppies to fall asleep due to the gentle movement.
Jihoon smiled softly, since that morning he had his suspicions when Seungcheol told him the same thing, it was ironic that as an OB/GYN and omega he was the last to suspect that cause.
"You smell like strawberry milkshake." Jisoo let go of the car's steering wheel to take the other omega's hands in his own.
"Jihoonie you know what that means." A small smile decorated Jihoon's face as he blushed.
They had tried several times, but nothing at all happened, taking a small break and deciding that it would happen when nature wanted it, they hadn't lost hope but the truth is that they had preferred to focus on their careers before continuing to press the matter. The doctor who attended them explained that it was normal for some couples to take longer, and Jihoon, being the specialist that he was, could confirm it, his little eyes filled with tears as he hugged the other omega who wrapped him in his arms, Seungcheol and he would have a child.
The door to the perinatal care room opened revealing a pair of alphas.
Jeonghan put one of his arms around Seungcheol's shoulders while with his other hand he ruffled the doctor's hair.
The coffee-scented alpha winked at his omega, who already had an idea of what the alphas had talked about.
Jungwon's crying made everyone focus their attention on the little one, Jeonghan took the baby in his arms kissing his hair. "Wonnie-ah you're hungry little thing, you were saved because we packed some milk for both of you." Jisoo handed the bottle to the alpha who happily gave it to one of his babies who drank the milk while his little hands tried to hold the bottle, it wasn't long before Eunchae started crying too, so Jisoo would feed her.
This is what Seungcheol and him would look like one day, that thought caused a pleasant warmth to surround him.
Jeonghan checked the time on his watch, the appointment with his children's pediatrician would be in a few minutes, so his visit to the pair of doctors should end soon.
With several hugs Jeonghan and Joshua said goodbye but not before sharing a look of complicity between them that made Jihoon blush. Seungcheol didn't understand anything that was happening, nor the senseless comments that the CEO made to him like "get ready for insomnia", "I see you preparing food in the middle of the night", "don't even think about contradicting him", what the hell was he talking about?
Jihoon continued to look a little pale but he looked better than he had been in the previous days, holding hands they walked towards Seungcheol's clinic who seemed willing to play "doctor and patient", the younger rolled his eyes while Seungcheol interrogated him, asking thirty thousand questions to end up giving him some complementary ones.
"Cheol."
"We also have to do glucose studies on you, you know, to keep everything under control even though you haven't presented any symptoms."
"Cheol"
"I think the blood draw will give us a definitive result but what if we do an x-ray."
"Cheol"
Jihoon rubbed his temples, Seungcheol's chatter was irritating him, leaving him a little more and maybe he would send him for a biopsy.
"What if-"
"CHOI SEUNGCHEOL!" The aforementioned shrank in place, Jihoon took a couple of breaths before taking his alpha's hands over the table. "Cheollie, the only test we have to run is a pregnancy test, love."
And that was when a bucket of cold water fell on the alpha's head, everything fit from his omega's new smell to Jeonghan's jokes and the symptoms his omega was showing.
He walked around his table to take his partner in his arms, hugging him around the waist, kissing his husband's cheek soundly.
"Jihoonie."
Jihoon nodded a couple of times, he would be sure that the test would be positive, he took his alpha's beautiful face in his hands, appreciating his long eyelashes, his puppy eyes, his beautiful, thick lips, going over each feature before kissing him.
He loved Choi Seungcheol so much, and he adored the fact that together they would build their own family.