Work Text:
Yeonjun panted against the toilet seat. Once he collected his breath, he flushed away the vomit and stood up. "Shit," he mumbled as he looked at his disheveled state in the bathroom mirror. He washed his face and gargled a little, trying to dampen the stink of his mouth and clean his mess up.
"Baby." Soobin opened the bathroom door, panting. "Are you okay?" He just came home from the office after his ten hours shift, his briefcase still in his clutch and socks still covering his feet. "I heard vomiting sounds from the entrance door." He looked so concerned, frown lines forming on his forehead as soon as his gaze met Yeonjun's.
The omega just smiled. "I'm good. No worries." He slowly approached Soobin and hugged his husband, head buried in Soobin's chest, seeking for comfort. "I guess I may have some acid reflux?"
Soobin embraced Yeonjun by his waist, head resting on Yeonjun's shoulder. "Should we get you to the doctor?" He rubbed Yeonjun's back instinctively, trying to soothe his husband. "How many times has this happened today?"
Yeonjun finally let go off the embrace. "Thrice," he replied. "I think it's my gastritis, so I already took some lansoprazole we got this morning." He opened his arms, trying to reassure Soobin that he was, in fact, alright. "Look, I'm fine, okay? No changes at all."
The younger alpha sighed. He examined Yeonjun thoroughly and saw no paleness and no sunken cheeks. Yeonjun also wasn't ambushed with cold sweat or any sort of fever which further planted in Soobin's mind that the omega was just okay. Though still, unsureness crossed his heart. "Fine," he caved in. "You're just eager to go to Beomgyu's baby gender reveal dinner, aren't you?"
"I have prepared my cutest outfit to wear and I'm not going to let anything stop me from wearing it to the dinner!" Yeonjun proudly stated as he grinned and walked to their bedroom.
Soobin and Yeonjun had been married for four years by then, as they took their wedding vows right after they graduated together. They lived in a quite small apartment with two bedrooms in the heart of Seoul, which was bought by the money Yeonjun earned and saved and invested from the days when he used to model during college. They were twenty seven and twenty six then—Yeonjun and Soobin respectively—and they had navigated through their quarter life with one another, as Yeonjun worked from home as a full-time full stack developer and Soobin worked from office as a marketing manager in a canned foods company. Regardless of what life had it for them, they were steady and sturdy hand in hand, always having each other's backs as they went on.
"Oh, yeah?" Soobin just smiled, smitten. There was nothing that could hide the fact that he was totally head over heels for his husband. Especially not when then he just followed the trail of Yeonjun towards their bedroom, like a mindless puppy. "Oh, yeah. This is beautiful, Junnie."
There was a proud grin that was drawn on Yeonjun's face. He showed Soobin what hung beside their vanity mirror was a baby blue turtleneck knit sweater and a pleated knee-length skirt that matched the top. "I'm going to pair this with the necklace you gave me on my birthday last year, then it'll be purrrr-fect," he said. "Oh, and you can wear that matching baby blue suit set, Binnie!"
The alpha nodded and huffed. "Good idea, chubs," he replied as he pressed a soft kiss on Yeonjun's forehead, who was sitting at the edge of their bed just then. "Let me take a shower first, okay?"
Yeonjun nodded.
The pair had an invite that night. Apparently, Beomgyu and Taehyun—their younger college friends and Soobin's colleagues—were expecting, so they decided to take Soobin and Yeonjun to dinner for a mini gender reveal party, alongside their two other friends from college in their circle, Kai and Lea—that were siblings. And since Beomgyu came from a wealthy family, and Taehyun too was loaded, the dinner was held in a quite fancy Italian restaurant neither Soobin and Yeonjun had ever gone to. Therefore, they had to dress the part, as they wore their only designer brand clothes, and in the color that Beomgyu and Taehyun had assigned—since Kai and Lea were forced to wear pink and Soobin and Yeonjun got the lucky end to be able to wear blue.
It didn't take that long for Soobin to get ready. The man just showered and shaved and washed his face and brushed his teeth. When he's done and clean, he just sprayed himself with some sandalwood cologne that complimented his own scent and wore the shirt and suit and pants that Yeonjun had prepared for him beforehand, before then styling his hair in a more appropriate way. With a little bit of moisturizer on his face, he already looked incredible somehow.
It also didn't really take long for Yeonjun, because he had cleaned himself. He only needed to wear his outfit and his accessories. His hair was styled in a way he always had and he didn't bother with make up either, except for lip oil. Once he wore his signature perfume that aligned with his own scent, he was done and ready as Soobin was already staring at him with such intensity. "Stop looking at me like you're going to eat me," he said. "We've been married for four years and you still look at me like you have a crush on me." He couldn't believe that his husband hadn't changed at all for the last eight years together.
"How could I not? You're so pretty, my Yeonjun," said Soobin as he pulled Yeonjun into an embrace, still star struck. He was so mesmerized at his husband that he thought for a while he might be a bit too obsessed. He slid his arms around Yeonjun's waist. "I can't believe I get to spend the rest of my life with such beauty."
"You won't say that when I'm old and wrinkly like a date, Bin," scoffed Yeonjun as he playfully pushed away his husband. He took his handbag and walked towards the door to wear his boot heels. He chuckled. "Realistically, speaking, we will both get old and I won't be as pretty as I am right now."
But as Soobin complied and walked towards the door to wear his dress shoes as well, he only huffed. "Yeonjun, you will still be pretty regardless of age. I'd still love you even if you're with back pain and constantly complains about the younger generation," he joked. He made sure his wallet, keys, and phone were all in his pockets. "Besides, will you not love me still when I'm old and on my death bed?"
Yeonjun opened the door and held it for Soobin to exit. He paused for a while. "I'll still love you. Probably, even more."
Soobin locked the door behind them and took Yeonjun's hand. He intertwined their fingers and smiled. "Then, it's the same for me, chubs," he affirmed. "I'll love you anyways, because you'll still be my pretty Yeonjunnie. Forever."
"And, you'll still be my prince Soobinnie." He gave a little peck on Soobin's cheek.
The two walked towards the elevator hand in hand. As they waited, Soobin held Yeonjun by his waist. Yeonjun let his head rest on Soobin's shoulder. It's quite simple, really, but neither were willing to let go of that small act of domesticity.
"Well, hello, neighbors," greeted Lea as soon as the elevator door opened. She was wearing a bright baby pink dress with a square neckline, sleeveless, and puffy skirt. She looked effortlessly elegant. "Didn't expect to see y'all here."
Yeonjun rolled his eyes. "Sweetheart, I've seen you in this elevator more than I see my parents," he said. "We've literally lived in the same building for almost nine years now."
"Yet you never see me, hyung," Kai complained all in a sudden. His hair was blond then and he was wearing a suit just like Soobin's, only in baby pink. "Don't you miss me at all?"
"That's because you live in your studio more than in your unit, Kai," chimed in Soobin. "If I were you, I'd move in all my stuff to the studio. Might as well right?" He shrugged. "I think Lea would be happy with the more space she could occupy."
Kai only grumbled in playful annoyance.
The four arrived at the basement parking space. They walked towards Soobin's SUV that'd take them to the restaurant and sat accordingly. Soobin drove, while Yeonjun sat beside him, and behind them were the other two.
The ride didn't take as long since the spot Beomgyu had picked was only fifteen minutes away from their shared apartment building. During the whole ride, Kai was somehow granted the chance to be in charge of the playlist so he just played his music all ride long, humming and priding on it in front of his friends and sister. Yeonjun did take part on doing the carpool, but Soobin focused on the road and Lea chose to display a disgusted face the whole time and did not participate on singing because of her 'sore throat.'
Once they all arrived, Soobin gave the key for valet parking and the four of them entered together.
It was quite a grandeur restaurant. They all knew it was going to be a jaw-dropping experience, but they didn't know that there would be huge circular chandeliers hanging from the ceiling involved. The large floor to ceiling windows showed the city view landscape from inside of the space, which only added to the aesthetics of the restaurant. Immediately, the four of them were guided to the private room that Beomgyu had booked.
Giddily, they all took turns to hug and greet each other when they entered the space Beomgyu and Taehyun had been waiting in. They all sat around the table according to Beomgyu's arrangement. They all took turns to gift Beomgyu their congratulatory presents as well. Soobin and Yeonjun gave Beomgyu a box of matching mugs that said 'Papa' and 'Dada.' Kai and Lea handed Taehyun two full sets of baby feeding set. Then, there needed not to be a time for them to be awkward, as they all immediately dived into a warm conversation.
"Alright. I've already ordered you according to your usual likings," explained Beomgyu. "Mortadella Pizza and Pasticcioto for Soobin hyung, Salmone al Forno and Gelato for Kai, Mezze Maniche and Panna Cotta for Yeonjun hyung, and Risotto alla Parmigiana and Torta Barozzi for Lea noona."
"We also ordered non-alcoholic wines for tonight, because Beomgyu is pregnant," added Taehyun, emphasizing on the word 'non-alcoholic.' He's always so protective of his husband. His protectiveness somehow also induced the need to seek others' sympathy for Beomgyu.
"It's February now and it's been three months, huh," muttered Kai. "Whatever happened with no-nut-November."
Beomgyu snorted. "Well, I'm sorry I like to be knotted by my husband," scoffed Beomgyu. "You wouldn't know about it, would you?"
The rest of the table chuckled.
The six of them fell into a rhythm. They talked about their lives and it just flowed dynamically with ease. It's apparent how their bond had been formed firm for some time just then.
Kai talked about how his life was going first. As the youngest in the group, and the only other unmarried other than his sister, he poured his heart out about how his music releases hadn't been the most successful. He did finally gather a very niche group of fans, but somehow those group of people were mostly spread across Europe. Therefore, he thought about going for a concert tour there, but his management disagreed. The rest of the table empathized with him and offered him an idea of moving to another label instead. Beomgyu suggested he'd join his distant family's label, in which one of Yeonjun's friends was a producer there. Soobin told him that he should think about that opportunity so he could freely and creatively expand his career instead of being stuck in a shell in his label. Lea and Taehyun pushed him to go with Beomgyu's idea.
After Kai talked about his work, it was Taehyun's turn to talk about his work. Unlike Soobin and Beomgyu, who were division managers for marketing and production, Taehyun was one of the vice presidents. He ranted about how the human resources division kept on messing up with their employees, and so the rate of employee resignation had been in an all-time high, especially for the hard labor workers. He figured it's supposed to be the division's part, but since there seemed to be no changes, he had to be hands on and directly solve the problems. Yet then he couldn't find the pin point of his problem, so he was on verge of giving up. Soobin gave an insight from the gossip he had overheard from one of his assistants, that there had been suspicions about how the finance team had been involved in the mess by embezzling some funds and mostly stole from the lower level employees' payment. With the revelation, everyone just gasped and Taehyun noted to himself to cross check the situation.
The food came by the waiters. Their talks became less serious as food were served. They all thanked the servers and ate slowly, enjoying their meals.
Lea talked about their old friends' latest groundbreaking dramas. Apparently, someone from her batch, which was also Soobin and Yeonjun's batch, sued one of their fashion design professors of child grooming and sexual assault. The issue rose when several students from the lower batches 'came out' as the professor's victims. It turned out that the professor was being framed since he turned down the student, whom initially sued him, because he wouldn't give her a recommendation letter—that she did not deserve at all—for her to apply at Vogue, and so she used her parents' power in the government to make that very professor suffer and even paid those students who said that they were his victims. Everyone on the table gasped. However, Beomgyu and Yeonjun only reacted with their all-knowing eyebrows wriggle, as they both knew that the girl Lea was talking about had always been up to no good since they were undergrads.
The topic shifted towards Yeonjun. He didn't say much about his work, because as he always mentioned: it's boring. Instead, he opted to discuss about the current situation of heat suppressants shortage, relating to Lea about political power issues. He theorized that the money that's supposed to go to the medication's production were being corrupted and redirected somewhere. Kai chimed in and explained that—as he overheard from his friend that was an insider—some of the money were going into illegal researches to prioritize Alphas' scent enhancers to establish their dominance. Taehyun also chimed in and said that the United States' political situation might play a role as well, because most of the suppressants were produced there. Beomgyu, Soobin, and Lea only sighed.
When it's time for dessert, they paused for a while.
In a chiller situation, Soobin brought up about the new release of the game they used to play a lot together back in the days. Beomgyu smirked like a menace and called out Soobin for not being able to finish the old game anyways, so what's the use of buying the new edition. Kai and Yeonjun defended Soobin and said that he used to not be able to finish the old game because he used to use crappy consoles and had to balance the time on playing with his constant part time work back then, while Beomgyu finished the longest compared to Kai and Yeonjun and Taehyun, due to his lack of skill. Taehyun did not comment at all. Lea recorded as Beomgyu broke character and crashed out with Taehyun gripping his wrist, basically begging him to calm down.
"Whatever, it's not like any of you can beat me in other games as well," scorned Beomgyu as he leaned back.
"Anyways, let's start to cut the cake, shall we?" Taehyun stood up and shifted the tension away. He opened the glass lid that covered the beautiful white frosted strawberry adorned cake. "Come on, honey," he gently coaxed as he offered his hand towards Beomgyu.
Beomgyu stood up and took the knife. He's suddenly cheery again with Taehyun's hand holding his as he held the cake cutting knife. "Okay."
Yeonjun and Lea took their phones out to record the moment. Meanwhile, Kai and Soobin stood up for emotional support. They all cheered as they counted down.
When it was finally time for Beomgyu and Taehyun to reveal the cut cake's color, everyone applauded happily. It turned out that they were having twins, a boy and a girl. They all cheered even louder when Taehyun pulled Beomgyu into a kiss, with sweet honey glazed gaze into his husband's eyes.
"Thank fuck, we bought two sets," muttered Lea under her breath as she recorded, but she turned as soon as she heard a little aching noise.
Because then the joy was short lived. Yeonjun felt it again: the sharp pain in his stomach. Soon enough, he started to be more nauseous and he felt like his stomach was being clenched for absolutely no reason. Acid filled up his esophagus, and the urge to vomit pushed him to excuse himself hastily and run to the bathroom. He puked again in the toilet. "Shit," he murmured under his breath.
"Yeonjun hyung, are you okay?" It turned out that Beomgyu had followed the elder man in panic. He helped Yeonjun to flush the vomit away and handed him some tissues and a bottle of water. "God, you're so pale! Are you sick?" He looked so worried.
Yeonjun finally collected his breath and stood up facing Beomgyu. "Thanks, Gyu," he said weakly as he accepted Beomgyu's tissue and water. He wiped his mouth and drank the water and threw them away in the stall's bin. "I'm okay." He forced out a smile. "It's just I've been throwing up." He shrugged. "I think it's my gastritis."
"How long has this been going on, hyung?" Beomgyu slowly guided Yeonjun towards outside the sink.
"A while, I guess," replied Yeonjun. "I mean it's usually just in the morning, so I took my meds, but today I've vomited four times, including this one."
"Any other symptoms?"
"Not really," replied Yeonjun. He grabbed a couple pickle-chocolate candies from his pocket and munched them. "These are the only things I've been craving these days and probably one of my only sources of energy since I tend to throw up almost everything I eat." He sighed.
Beomgyu paused momentarily. Something shifted in his expression. He squinted his eyes suspiciously. "Does Soobin hyung know about this?"
"Yeah." Yeonjun snorted. "He has been worried sick about my vomiting condition and kept on urging me to go to the doctor, but I feel mostly fine, so I don't think that I need to go, you know." He smiled softly as he held on to the sink. "Speaking of which, why is it you that's here and not my husband?"
"Your husband is being held down by my husband because he looks like he's about to pass out when he wanted to chase you, Yeonjun hyung," explained Beomgyu. "Anyways," he smirked, "did you not notice there has been a scent change with you?" He sniffed a bit and scrunched his nose. "You smell like you're in pre-heat, like you're distressed. Something sweeter and thicker than your usual scent but also kind of off."
Yeonjun raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?" Then, he noticed it. When the whiff of vanilla entered his nose, he immediately felt overwhelmed and intoxicated. "Oh, damn it."
Beomgyu crossed his arms on his chest then. "One last question: when was the last time you were knotted out of heat?"
The elder omega bit his lips. "Five weeks ago."
"Bingo," mumbled Beomgyu as he pulled something out of his pocket. He handed it to Yeonjun. "Hey, you should get it tested, Yeonjun hyung." It was pregnancy test pack. "This could be the reason, you know."
Yeonjun accepted the test pack with trembling hands. They had been trying for years to conceive a child but somehow never succeeded anyways. It turned out that Yeonjun's fertility rate was just that low when he got it checked. Soobin kept on reassuring him that they'd be fine without children and he'd love him regardless. Although Yeonjun had spent his time wallowing in sadness that he couldn't really give Soobin a child after four years of being together, he started to believe in himself again recently. Could his prayers finally be answered then?
"You haven't peed in the last three hours, right?"
The elder omega shook his head weakly.
The younger omega just smiled sheepishly. "Good." He pushed Yeonjun into one of the stalls again. "Go pee on it. I'll tell the others that we're alright and you just need some time to adjust yourself." He winked and left Yeonjun to get himself tested.
Yeonjun nodded and did as the instructions said. During the ten minutes of wait, he kept on hovering around the toilet, panic rushing all over his head. He really hoped that the pregnancy test could give him the results he wanted. Because even then, all he wanted was to give Soobin the children he wanted.
Ever since they knew each other, Yeonjun knew Soobin loved to interact with kids. The alpha had taken a liking to take care of his little nieces and nephews, and even baby sat them during his free time without being paid at all. His part time work back during college days was in a day care where he'd take care of little kids when their parents had to work. Yeonjun felt his heart shatter when he knew he couldn't give Soobin the kids he wanted.
Once even, Yeonjun contemplated to break their marriage and get a divorce. At that point, he was already giving up. He had tried to have a baby through IVF but it didn't work. They had also tried to adopt, but they kept on facing legality issues. Therefore, Yeonjun was already at his breaking point. However, Soobin hugged him tight and told him that they'd be alright even without children. He told Yeonjun to look at the bright side that they could enjoy more time together without having to take care of children just yet in their young age. He told Yeonjun that he loved him regardless of Yeonjun's ability to bear children for them, because to Soobin, Yeonjun was enough.
Ten minutes finally passed. Yeonjun gritted his teeth. Two blue lines. He gasped in disbelief. "Two blue lines!" He exclaimed. He couldn't care less and just ran out of the bathroom towards the area where the dinner was held.
When he arrived, Soobin was at the door, waiting.
Yeonjun jumped into his husband's arms, letting Soobin carry him with ease. He buried his own face in Soobin's shoulder. Joyful tears streamed down his face. He became utterly speechless, with only sobs coming out his lips.
Soobin, surprised, just gently rubbed Yeonjun's back. "Chubs, is everything alright?" He tried to look at Yeonjun.
The omega let go of Soobin and stood and grinned. "Soobin," he called out, fondly. "I love you."
"I love you too, chubs, but what's happening?" The alpha asked, inherently puzzled.
Yeonjun only placed the pregnancy test result on Soobin's hand.
"You're pregnant?!" Soobin fell onto his knees and hugged Yeonjun by his thighs. "Oh my god." He kissed Yeonjun's lower stomach proudly. Then, he turned towards their friends and announced, "Yeonjun's pregnant."
Everyone erupted from their seats and circled around Yeonjun. They all hugged and congratulated the man who seemed to be over the moon. Love warmed up the room, and Yeonjun had never felt more cherished.
"Then my twins and your child can be friends!" Beomgyu cheered. "If my calculation's correct, then the age gap between your child and mine will be somewhat similar to Soobin hyung's and mine."
"And I hope Soobin hyung and Yeonjun hyung can raise them to be a better child than you," snarked Kai, earning an elbow from Taehyun.
"You should hurry and break the news to your parents, guys," persuaded Lea as they all returned to their table.
"Okay, but first cheers to our twins and Yeonjun and Soobin's child, okay?" Taehyun filled his glass with the wine and raised it.
Everyone raised their glasses. "Cheers!" Glasses clinked as they toasted and drank.
Yeonjun only snickered. Right then, in Soobin's arms, he felt secured and safe, and so was the baby in his belly. Right there, with his friends, he knew that their child would grow up with the right people around them. Right then, and there, happiness came so easily and the future didn't seem as frightening.