Take Me For A Walk In The Morning Dew - The First Trimester (part 2/2)
Pairing: OnHo
Rating: Idk, somewhere between pg and nc-17
Warnings: Cursing, male pregnancy
The First Trimester (part 1/2) | The Second Trimester
7 weeks
The secretary sounded worried on Monday morning, when Onew called her again.
Minho was still refusing to let Onew come out of the closet (was that even possible?) and so he had to lie again. Which made him feel guilty - again.
“We’re getting her prescription today, I’ll be in tomorrow.”
He was glad Minho was still in the bathroom, washing his teeth for the third time that morning; he wouldn’t have liked to hear that.
The appointment was at 9.30; the only time that had been available when Onew had asked for an appointment on Friday. If he was wrong, and Minho was right, he could even show up at work for the afternoon - he was sure he had a pile of folders on his desk waiting for him.
“Come on, Minho-ah! You’re not going to the dentist!” They should have been on their way already if the younger hadn’t thrown up just when he had been about to put his shoes on, effectively emptying his stomach of any breakfast Onew had managed to get into him.
“We’ll have to swing by Starbucks…” He mumbled to himself as Minho emerged from the bathroom, face slightly pale and the youthful energy he had displayed just ten minutes ago gone.
“No Starbucks, hyung, let’s just get this over with.” He slipped his shoes on and unlocked the front door.
The morning traffic ruined any plans Onew had had to forcefully buy and feed Minho a muffin and a coffee. They were three blocks away from the hospital with only a quarter of an hour to spare and stuck in traffic. He’d make sure his boyfriend would eat later.
“Stop tapping your fingers. We won’t get arrested for being five minutes late.” Strong fingers wrapped around the older's hand on the steering wheel, stopping his nervous habit.
“I’ll try to go to work for the afternoon, okay? We’ll stop by the pharmacy on the way home if we need to. We’ll have time for lunch too.”
“Hyung, stop babbling! I’m not even sick.” The red in front of them finally turned green and Minho lifted his hand away. Onew being nervous made him nervous, and he didn’t like the feeling in the pit of his stomach at all.
The three blocks drive to the hospital went smoothly; Onew always managing to pass the intersections on green or yellow lights, and they swung into the parking lot with a few minutes to spare.
There was a single man, no doubt the ten o’clock appointment, waiting in front of the office as the elevator doors slid open. The door to the office was open and Onew saw Dr. Kim talking animatedly to a woman in a white coat, a doctor herself.
“Let’s sit down.” Minho tugged at his boyfriend's hand, walking towards two empty chairs next to the table with newspapers when Dr. Kim looked up.
“Ah! Choi Minho, you’re next.” He smiled, slightly forced. The woman made no effort to leave the three men to themselves as Onew walked in last and there was a very unpleasant nervousness, different from the one he had been feeling during the car ride, settling in.
“This here is Dr. Park, we’ll need her consultation later on. Please, sit down.” The doctor pulled out a yellow folder from a stack of files and flipped it open.
“The results came in this morning, I’m not an expert in this area so I called dr. Park down from her ward to help out. I’m sure you two will have many questions.”
“What’s wrong with me?” The younger’s eyes darted from doctor to doctor, the palms on his hands starting to get sweaty, his heart beating too fast.
“You came in last week, complaining about nausea. Are you still feeling sick Mr. Choi?” The doctor wasn’t looking at the computer screen this time; instead he leaned back into his chair, placing his hands over his knee.
“He threw up this morning, and thrice during the weekend” The older said, when Minho didn’t open his mouth. “Please, just tell us what’s wrong.”
“Nothing is wrong, Mr.…” The doctor trailed off, looking at Onew.
“Lee.”
“Mr. Lee…” He turned to the computer screen and pressed some letters on the keyboard, most probably writing the name up.
“The results from the blood test came in this morning. Mr. Choi does not have a virus, you’re perfectly fine.” He smiled reassuringly, “But the hCG levels in his blood stream are high. That’s nothing to worry about, though. The fact that there is any hCG in your blood is unusual though.”
“He has cancer?!” Minho’s head snapped to the side so fast it could have fallen off, his eyes big and panicked as he looked at Onew, who didn’t look any calmer himself. “You said nothing was wrong!”
“There is nothing wrong, Mr. Lee. The levels are low, not high enough for it to be cancer, but rather, pregnancy, that’s why Dr. Park is here, she’s an obstetrician. I’ll leave you three to it then, congratulations.”
“There’s no way…” But Onew couldn’t find the words to finish his sentence as dr. Kim rose from his chair and walked out the room. “Almost impossible…”
Dr. Park smiled gently as she rose from the stool she had been sitting on and sat down in dr. Kim’s chair.
“Very rare, and almost impossible, Mr. Lee, you’ve paid attention in biology class I see. But you, Mr. Choi, look a little lost?”
“I can’t be.” The younger’s voice came out weak as he looked at the woman in front of him. It had to be some mix up. He couldn’t be pregnant.
“I’ll give you the quick version then, just so we’re all on the same page.” She smiled again before continuing, “ You must have heard about male pregnancies, they’re rare, yes, but they do happen. Very rare over here, might I add, but I’ve had half a handful of patients myself.” She stopped, giving Minho’s brain a chance to process her words before continuing.
“About one out of every one hundred to one hundred and fifty males is born with the specific gene structure to conceive a child. Consider it a minor mutation, we don’t know why or what causes it. If it’s not rare in itself, we need to add in the fact that not all of these men live in a sexually active homosexual relationship, which drops the odds to a significantly lower level.”
“So I’m a mutation.”
Dr. Park sighed heavily but still her smile didn’t falter, “No, Mr. Choi. you’re pregnant, about a couple of weeks so. An ultrasound will give us the exact time. I’ve scheduled a time for Thursday afternoon. I think it’s better to let this settle in for a few days, to let you talk it over in peace before I whip out the machines and gels.”
-
The hallway was a haze. It took three tries for Onew to press the right button on the elevator and he almost walked into the glass door on their way out of the building. It took some fumbling to unlock the car doors, and too many seconds for the older to manage to get the key into the ignition hole.
“I can’t drive like this. I’ll cause an accident.” He closed his eyes and let the back of his head make contact with the seat as the reality of the situation slowly dawned in on him.
Minho wasn’t sick. He was pregnant. He wasn’t sick. He was pregnant. Minho was pregnant.
“I’m a mutation.”
The voice of his boyfriend sounded like a thousand miles away even though it was coming from the passenger seat right next to him.
“Mutations are freaks. I’m a freak, just like my father told me.” His voice was hollow, his eyes staring into nothing as his lips moved.
“He told me I was a freak, when I told him I loved you.” Onew’s eyes snapped open, his mind finally processing the words he was hearing.
Minho had suffered from depression after his parents had cut off any ties they had to him, and it had started out just like this.
The older reached out and pulled his boyfriend into an awkward hug, brushing out a few strands of hair that were hanging in front of his too-empty eyes.
“Minho-ah, listen to me: you’re not a freak. Mutations aren’t freaks.” He felt the younger shake, burying his face into Onew’s shoulder; it wouldn’t be long before he would feel the t-shirt moisten with salty tears.
“Did you know blue eyes are a mutation? About ten thousand years ago something happened, until then there were only brown eyes you see, but a mutation happened and a baby was born with blue.” There was a loud sob, and Onew reached besides his seat to find the button that would allow him to kick back from the steering wheel - this awkward hug wouldn’t do.
He finally managed to find it, kicking his seat as far as it would go in its rails and coaxed Minho into climbing into his lap. The younger never once removed his face from where it was buried into Onew’s shoulder, his tears already soaking through the fabric.
“Shh…Baby don’t cry.” He cooed as he slipped his fingers through Minho’s silky strands of hair, kissing the crown of his head and waited for his sobs to die down. “My Minho-ah…I love my Minho-ah.”
-
Onew was worried.
It felt like he had been nothing but worried for the past week and a half, ever since that morning Minho threw up, but he was really worried now. Worried to the point where he was pacing around in circles on the living room rug because he couldn’t stand still, but he wasn’t about to leave Minho alone and go for a walk (or a drink - he could really use a drink). Not when he was like this.
Once they had returned from the hospital Minho had walked straight into their bedroom, slid in under the covers and turned his face towards the wall and his back to Onew. He wouldn’t reply to speech and would freeze when Onew laid a finger on him, his eyes boring holes into the wall in front of him.
He hadn’t moved out of bed until the next morning when Onew had woken up to find Minho scrambling over him on his way to the bathroom to throw up. He had washed his teeth for ten minutes until the older had pointed it out, and slid back into bed with his back facing Onew once again.
He had refused to get up or eat and Onew had called the secretary again. He really must have sounded like hell because she told him to take as many days as his girlfriend needed and assured him his colleagues were making sure he wasn’t running behind on work.
His boss had called later, asking him if there was anything he could do for him.
“Minho-ah, I made dinner. Would you please try it?” The tray of food was on the bedside table, the aroma filling the room. Onew was hoping Minho’s empty stomach would react to the delicious smell sooner or later.
There was a low growl from it just a few seconds later as the younger shifted, trying to conceal the noise.
“The baby needs food, Minho-ah.” He reached out to stroke his boyfriend’s hair.
“Come on, I made your favorite. Just like you like it.” Onew nudged his shoulder once, twice, before Minho rolled onto his back.
Relief washed over the older.
The younger sat up and Onew moved quickly to make a pile of pillows for him to lean on before passing him the bowl of food and chopsticks.
It wasn’t like Friday when he finished two and a half bowls before he announced he was full, this time he barely finishied half the bowl; picking and choosing the beef and carrots, leaving the rest of the veggies and the rice almost untouched. But it was better than nothing, and Onew wasn’t going to push him. He would be hungry in a while now that his stomach had gotten a taste of food again.
After passing the bowl back to Onew the younger slipped back down under the covers, his eyes finding those invisible holes in the wall again, and continued to stare, not blinking once.
He didn’t move when Onew slid in right behind him and wrapped an arm around his torso and stayed there for a moment before his hand slid further down Minho’s chest and rested upon his abdomen. The younger flinched and Onew’s hand disappeared.
“Sorry.”
-
His parents hated him. His father had kicked him out. His mother didn’t love him.
They’d kicked him out the moment he had told them, had told them he loved a boy.
And he couldn’t understand why. What was so wrong with it? Onew was kind and respectful, always smiling and bowing. He was caring and loving and always put others before himself.
So what was so wrong with Minho loving him?
“You’re a disgrace to this family.” His father’s voice was calm, even. He didn’t look at Minho once after he had told them, after he had “come out”.
Minho looked at his mother, sitting quietly at the breakfast table, staring down at the lightly colored wood, unmoving. Her lower lip was trembling, her cheeks stained with tears.
She didn’t utter a word when his father closed the door in front of Minho’s shocked face.
The familiar feeling of nausea lifted its head and Minho tried to fight it. Tried to lie as still as possible, to breathe as little as he could, but eventually it got the upper hand and he had to run for the bathroom again, the sour liquid invading his mouth before he was able to spit it out.
8 weeks
It had been a week, a week of mopping around. They had missed the scheduled appointment on Thursday and when Onew had mentioned the exams Minho hadn’t even blinked.
Luckily Dr. Park had been kind enough to write out some sort of medical explanation when Onew had told her the reason to why they’re missing out on the appointment so Minho wouldn’t fail the semester, he would take the exams once he got better.
It seemed the only food Minho would eat was beef rice. And only when he was so hungry the aroma would make his stomach growl. Onew prepared and heated up the food four times a day, hoping Minho would eat at least twice, and to keep it down for a while before throwing it up.
The all too familiar flush of the toilet resonated through the quiet apartment as the door creaked open and Minho walked out. Onew turned off the stove in the kitchen, knowing fully well nothing went past Minho’s lips for at least a few hours after he vomited. The food would have to wait until supper.
The doorbell rang just as he was putting the cold food back into the fridge and the older ripped off his apron and walked over to the front door.
It could be his mother, he thought, coming to check up on him because he had refused the last date she had set up and hadn’t answered the phone for five days.
Or it could be his boss because he was halfway through his second week of sick leave (he spoke to his boss more often than his mother, worried about how his absence was affecting his job but was always reassured to come back when he could and that everything was okay).
Or it could be Minho’s friend from university, Onew decided once he looked through the peephole, because Onew wasn’t the only one being absent.
He opened the front door and stepped aside, the male on the other side walking in without an invitation.
“He’s not feeling well.” The door clicked shut as Onew spoke. He wasn’t sure how much he was allowed to tell Key, formally Kibum, about Minho’s situation.
The two were close, from what he knew since the last years of middle school or the beginning of high school, and he was one of the only people Minho had let in on his and Onew’s relationship.
“Figured that much.” The blond male dropped his school bag next to his shoes and walked towards the bedroom door.
“What? You can’t just walk in there!”
“If you can’t make him get up, somebody else has to.” He spoke over his shoulder. “Minho! Get up!”
Onew hurried after the other, catching him standing to the side of their shared bed.
“What’s wrong with him?” Key asked when he heard Onew walk in. Onew only motioned for the blond to follow him; if he was about to talk behind Minho’s back he wasn’t about to do it literally.
He didn’t speak until the door was shut behind them and they were in the kitchen.
“His parents…”
“They were here?!” Key looked momentarily alarmed, then furious.
“No! No, it’s just something happened and Minho remembered, and he’s been like that ever since. Barely eats. Doesn’t move.”
The blond’s eyes drifted off to the closed bedroom door. “What happened?”
“I can’t tell you that. Not without knowing if he’d want me to say.”
“Look, I need to know so I can help him out. We know each other inside out anyway.”
“I can’t Kibum, go ask him yourself.”
The blond huffed before he stomped off towards the bedroom again. Onew wasn’t about to follow. There was a bigger chance of Minho telling Key in privacy anyway.
He had just finished reordering a shelf of photographs when the bedroom door creaked open and Key walked out.
“Jesus, Onew. What happened? All he does is cry and say ‘mutations are freaks, I’m a freak’.” He plopped down on the couch, letting his head loll back and stared up at the ceiling.
“He didn’t tell you?” The older was slightly surprised, he had been sure Key would manage to press it out of Minho sooner or later.
“I brought him a list of assignments, he’s missed many exams and deadlines.”
“I have it covered; I got a doctor explaining he’s absence. Called one of his professors too, he’ll do the exams once he’s feeling better.”
“What about you? I can tell you haven’t left the house, at least not for work.”
“Almost two weeks of absence. But I can’t leave him like that. I’m too worried.” The older dropped his head into his hands, closing his eyes.
“And your boss?”
“Told me to come back when my girlfriend is feeling better. They got me ‘covered.’”
“Go tomorrow. I’ll be here in the morning. I don’t have school for a week.”
Onew gave the blond a surprised look; he was only ever this kind to Minho, never to him. He always had a feeling Key hated his guts.
“Would you like some beef rice?”
“You’re seriously feeding him that? You can’t even get the marinade right.”
“Only thing he doesn’t refuse to eat, most of the time.”
-
His boss paid his cubicle a visit the moment word was out that Onew had returned. He’d never been sick for a day, so he figured being absent for two weeks would draw that much attention.
His desk was clean of any files and Onew had to ask the guy sitting next to him for something to do to keep from rolling his thumbs, he had to almost steal the folder off of his desk in the end.
His boss had looked worried to find Onew actually working, asking him repeatedly if he should be there even though Onew told him his girlfriend was being taken care of.
The change seemed to do Minho some good, though. He had finally risen out of bed and Onew found him sitting on the living-room couch when he returned home after the second day of work.
“He ate ramyun.” Key said victoriously, shooting him a smirk. Onew figured it was the nagging that got him out of bed and the food down his throat.
“Good.” Onew was about to sit down next to his boyfriend on the couch when Minho got up and speed walked to the bathroom. There was the sound of flushing a few minutes later and the faucet running.
“You know, I’m not an idiot. I’ve been here for two days.” Key gave him a piercing look.
“I know you’re not. But it’s not really my place to tell.”
“H-how far along?” The older sighed, as the blond’s piercing gaze turned into one full of concern for his best friend.
“We won’t know until he gets himself together and let’s me take him to the doctor’s office.”
The sound of the bathroom door opening and closing ended the discussion, and Key hurriedly excused himself, shouted a good-bye to Minho who had gone back to the bedroom, and left.
When Onew entered he found Minho lying on his back, his head turned towards the door. Maybe he should have called Key days ago.
10 weeks
There was a definite small bump where his six-pack used to end - Minho wasn’t imagining it. He let his fingertips lightly trace over the slightly tanned skin before snapping out of it and turning the shower on.
He hadn’t showered for what felt like forever. And with all the throwing up he had been doing over the last two-three weeks he was surprised Onew, even more surprised Key, hadn’t complained about it. God, he smelled disgusting.
He popped open the shampoo bottle, squeezing out a generous amount into his palm before he brought it up to his head. He repeated the procedure twice.
Today was the day they were going to the doctor’s office. He felt his stomach twist at the mere thought, the sole reason he had refused breakfast even when Onew had insisted; he wasn’t about to throw up somewhere else than their own toilet.
He rinsed off the shower-gel he had absentmindedly lathered into his own skin, hoping the fresh smell would cling on to his skin.
He was over this, this…whatever it had been.
Onew had threatened to take him to his old psychologist and Minho wouldn’t have taken it seriously if it hadn’t been for Key standing behind him, arms crossed over his chest and lips pressed into a straight line. He couldn’t remember when those two had gotten on the same team but he knew he would loose the fight.
He turned the water off and watched it go down the drain before he stepped out and wrapped the towel Onew had left for him around his lower half. The cool air in their bedroom made him shiver, the hair on his arms and legs rising.
“Get dressed so you don’t get sick, Minho-ah.” Onew was sitting wide-legged on the edge of the bed, elbows resting on his knees. He had been dressed and ready even before Minho had gotten out of bed.
The younger felt guilty; the older was doing his best to cover up how excited he was and when he had pressed his hand against Minho’s then non-existent bump days ago the younger had reacted in such a way Onew hadn’t dared try it again.
Wasn’t pregnancy supposed to be something to be happy over? And instead he was sucking all the happiness out of it. He didn’t even know how far he was, or what gender the baby would be.
Fuck, to be completely honest he hadn’t even given the baby a thought until he had felt Onew’s hand press against his stomach. Up until then all he had been thinking about was his mother and father.
There was the feel of something soft and heavy landing over his head, white obscuring his vision. It took Minho a moment to realize it was another towel, and that Onew was standing behind him, rubbing it against his wet hair.
“-spacing out. We’ll be late.” Onew practically dressed his boyfriend, pulling on a t-shirt over his damp hair and a clean pair of jeans over his longs legs. He turned Minho around to face him and was about to button up the jeans when he noticed it, and his heart skipped a beat.
It was definitively a small bump protruding halfway between the younger’s groin and bellybutton. He swallowed thickly before pulling the zipper up. His heart was beating two hundred times a minute.
He was about to push the button through the hole when Minho’s fingers closed around his wrist; the older looked up in surprise but Minho’s gaze was on the floor.
“I’m sorry hyung, I didn’t mean to…then.” Onew could see a faint blush color his cheeks.
He swallowed thickly again before dropping his gaze back to the bump. He reached out with shaky fingers, slowly, allowing Minho to stop him if he wanted, towards the bump.
When his fingers grazed against the warm skin his world stopped spinning.
Yes, Minho was pregnant; he knew that. He’d known it for weeks. But he hadn’t really known. Not until that warm feeling of Minho’s skin ran up his fingertips, all the way up his arm and to his shoulder, moving down to his chest and into his heart. It swelled and burned and it got pumped out into his blood stream to every corner of his body until there wasn’t a single cell in him that didn’t feel it.
He wanted to say something, as he pressed the whole palm of his hand against Minho’s abdomen, against the baby, but every word, every thought in his brain had dissolved with the heat burning through his body.
He leaned in and captured Minho’s lips with his own. The younger was unresponsive for a moment but then Onew felt the younger’s lips move against his own, his head tilting to the side to deepen the kiss.
It was their first kiss in weeks, the first kiss since the doctor’s had given them the news and the older pressed his other hand on the back of Minho’s head, tongue sneaking out to lick the seam between the younger’s plump lips, and, when they parted, letting it slip in.
They parted for air, taking in deep breaths of oxygen and letting it fill their lungs and expand their chests.
“Hyung, we'll be late. I wanna see the baby.” Onew couldn’t help but laugh, a joyous melody as he placed several kisses all over his boyfriend before grabbing his hand.
“Let’s go then.”
-
The waiting room in front of the doctor’s office was filled with women. Some looked ready to burst at any moment, others still looked functioning as they sat on tall-legged chairs, deliberately chosen for their height so that the women wouldn’t have any trouble sitting down.
Husbands or boyfriends accompanied some. A few looked terrified (it applied mostly to the ones with huge whales sitting next to them), and some looked excited; tapping a restless foot against the faded white floor.
“There are only women here!” Minho whispered quietly as the two neared the waiting area. He would have rather spent the ten minutes they had to wait sitting in the car or hiding behind the corner because it was weird to have two guys show up on this floor, in front of this office.
“If you’re shy I can pretend to be pregnant, look I can totally imitate the way they hold their back when they walk. And the penguin walk is child’s play.” Onew said, imitating one of the women.
“Hyung, stop! Don’t make fun of them!” The younger slapped Onew’s arm, trying to make him stop; they were already receiving enough stares as it was.
“Choi, Minho!” Doctor Park announced from the doorway before her eyes saw the duo. “Oh, there you are. Come on!” She beamed at them as they walked past her into the examination room, closing the door behind her.
“Feeling better I presume?” She handed Onew a slip of paper as she ushered Minho towards a bed. “Up you go!~”
“What’s that?” The younger asked no one in particular as Onew neatly folded the paper and tucked it into his pocket.
“Apparently you missed a couple of very important exams, I just wrote a short note explaining you we’re unfit to attend them. No biggie, and don’t worry, I can keep a secret.” She smiled brightly at Minho as she walked around the bed, sitting down on a stool in front of a small machine.
“Lift your shirt. You might have to pop open the button on those jeans too.” She pulled out a clear blue plastic bottle from underneath the machine, “It’s going to feel a little cold. Feels a little weird, too.”
She squirted a small amount onto Minho’s stomach before smearing it out with the transducer. “Are you still experiencing morning sickness?” The screen on the ultrasound machine lit up, a dark gray color filling it.
“Yes.”
“It will die down after the third trimester, once your body gets used to the hormones. Ah, there we have it!”
She turned the screen around, the arrow of the mouse placed next to a small white lump against the grey background.
The younger’s heart skipped a beat. He looked at the screen in awe, Dr. Park's excited voice registering somewhere in the back of his mind as her finger moved up and down the screen, pointing out different things and explaining stuff Minho didn’t pay attention to.
His world went into tunnel vision the moment he had spotted it, the small white dot against all the grey, the little baby somewhere deep inside of him, slowly growing and developing.
In a few months he or she would be born, and he would hold it, taking in the scent and feel the warmth of of the baby against his body, slide his fingers against the baby's soft skin and hear it make little noises.
A squeeze on his hand broke the younger out of his daze and he saw Dr. Park and his boyfriend smile down on him.
“It’s hard to tell the exact time since we can’t count periods and ovulations, but the size is about that of an ten week old embryo’s.” The doctor pressed a button on the machine as she spoke.
The image on the screen went black as she removed the transducer from Minho’s abdomen, handing the stunned male some tissues to wipe himself clean. She handed the picture, now decorated with a red circle where the baby was and a “congratulations” written next to it, to an equally stunned boyfriend.
“I’ll schedule an appointment for three weeks from now. I’ll need to keep a close watch; complications are frequent with male pregnancies. If you feel something is off, or you’re just simply worried you can give me a call anytime.”
Minho nodded dumbly as he pulled his shirt down and slid off the bed, his legs feeling slightly wobbly and his head feeling a little too light as the doctor led them out before she called another name.
-
“Let me see it!” the blond shouted as the front door swung open, making Minho jump in his seat.
“Who gave him the keys?”
“Had to, I needed to leave for work and he kept coming late. We can change the lock now, though.”
“Yah! Stop talking like I’m a pain in the ass. Come on, whip the photo out - uncle Key wants to see the baby~”
“Who made you an uncle?” The oldest of the three asked; as the photo he was holding in his hand was ripped out of his grasp.
“How far are you, Minho?” Key plopped down next to the male on the couch and lifted his feet onto the coffee table, inspecting the picture in his hand closely.
“Ten weeks.”
“You’re not the uncle, just so you know. I’m not going to let my child close to you, it’s going to grow up rude or something.”
“Shut up, old man, go get me a glass of water or something, I’m thirsty.” Key waved Onew off with the back of his hand.
“I can’t believe I got along with him.” The oldest mumbled as he walked towards the kitchen taking a glass out. “I’m not even that old…”
“When is the next appointment?” The blond’s tone of voice changed immediately when they were left alone as Onew walked out the room.
“Three weeks. The doctor said male pregnancies have a lot of complications so she’s keeping a close watch on me.”
“Don’t worry about it, everything will be fine. I can feel it!” Key gave Minho the photo back with a bright smile.
“I’m already showing, though. It will be all over campus by the end of the month.” The younger slumped down in his seat, brows furrowed.
He’d been careful to not reveal his relationship to more than a handful of people, even scolding Onew whenever he tried to hold his hand or kiss him in public, and now it was all going down the drain because of a huge stomach.
“You’re forgetting winter clothes, my friend. Just wear something loose until then. No one pays attention to you anyway, you’re a geek.”
“You mean he’s a straight A student.” A glass appeared in front of Key’s face as Onew bent down to kiss the tip of Minho’s nose.
“He’s only straight A because you pay for whatever his tuition doesn’t cover.”
There was a sharp pain in Key’s side as Minho elbowed him, sending him a warning look.
“No more sleepless nights, baby. Stress is not good for the baby.” The older mumbled, before giving his boyfriend a long kiss.
“Oh god, I’m gonna throw up.”
12 weeks
“We have to tell my parents.”
Minho was lying on the bed, watching Onew undress after another blind date; the clock on the bedside table showing 10.23 pm.
“I can’t keep running on dates and my mother will kill me if I don’t tell her she’s having a grand child soon. We can’t even pretend we didn’t know because it definitively shows.”
He had been preparing this speech for days, and today’s blind date was the perfect time to bring up the forbidden subject. There was no way Minho could expect him to not tell his parents he was going to be a father in a few months.
“Minho?” The younger was lying on his back, his eyes hidden behind his bangs and his lips pressed into a tiny pout Onew knew was because of deep thought. The older sat down on the edge of the bed. “Telling them now will be the best, you know it.”
“Hyung…” When Minho’s eyes met Onew’s the older recognized all the unspoken thoughts and questions going through his mind.
He’d seen them a long time ago.
“We can’t keep it a secret. I won’t do that to my parents. And you can’t hide a baby or a child! We have to tell them, Minho-ah.”
“Tell them you knocked-up some girl, it won’t be as bad as knocking me up.”
“That’s ridiculous!” The older stood up from the bed and kicked off his black pants, throwing them over the chair in the corner. “They’re coming over for dinner next week.”
“What?!”
“End of discussion.” Onew shut the door behind him as he walked into the bathroom, half expecting Minho to burst through at any moment with an angry expression on his beautiful face.
It didn’t happen, though, and when he returned to the bedroom after showering and washing his teeth he found it covered in darkness and Minho was under the covers.
The older slipped in, hesitating for a moment before he pulled the younger to his chest, inhaling his scent.
“I just don’t want you to regret it, hyung.”
The First Trimester (part 1/2) | The Second Trimester
A/N: Posting this a little early because I'm going home to mommy and daddy (yay mother's day with mom~) to take some exams so it's either now or idk when.
Thank you to koteunkaendi for once again correcting all my typos. Apparently i still can't spell through correctly even tho I've been taking english since fifth grade and that was a long time ago too long
Rating: Idk, somewhere between pg and nc-17
Warnings: Cursing, male pregnancy
The First Trimester (part 1/2) | The Second Trimester
7 weeks
The secretary sounded worried on Monday morning, when Onew called her again.
Minho was still refusing to let Onew come out of the closet (was that even possible?) and so he had to lie again. Which made him feel guilty - again.
“We’re getting her prescription today, I’ll be in tomorrow.”
He was glad Minho was still in the bathroom, washing his teeth for the third time that morning; he wouldn’t have liked to hear that.
The appointment was at 9.30; the only time that had been available when Onew had asked for an appointment on Friday. If he was wrong, and Minho was right, he could even show up at work for the afternoon - he was sure he had a pile of folders on his desk waiting for him.
“Come on, Minho-ah! You’re not going to the dentist!” They should have been on their way already if the younger hadn’t thrown up just when he had been about to put his shoes on, effectively emptying his stomach of any breakfast Onew had managed to get into him.
“We’ll have to swing by Starbucks…” He mumbled to himself as Minho emerged from the bathroom, face slightly pale and the youthful energy he had displayed just ten minutes ago gone.
“No Starbucks, hyung, let’s just get this over with.” He slipped his shoes on and unlocked the front door.
The morning traffic ruined any plans Onew had had to forcefully buy and feed Minho a muffin and a coffee. They were three blocks away from the hospital with only a quarter of an hour to spare and stuck in traffic. He’d make sure his boyfriend would eat later.
“Stop tapping your fingers. We won’t get arrested for being five minutes late.” Strong fingers wrapped around the older's hand on the steering wheel, stopping his nervous habit.
“I’ll try to go to work for the afternoon, okay? We’ll stop by the pharmacy on the way home if we need to. We’ll have time for lunch too.”
“Hyung, stop babbling! I’m not even sick.” The red in front of them finally turned green and Minho lifted his hand away. Onew being nervous made him nervous, and he didn’t like the feeling in the pit of his stomach at all.
The three blocks drive to the hospital went smoothly; Onew always managing to pass the intersections on green or yellow lights, and they swung into the parking lot with a few minutes to spare.
There was a single man, no doubt the ten o’clock appointment, waiting in front of the office as the elevator doors slid open. The door to the office was open and Onew saw Dr. Kim talking animatedly to a woman in a white coat, a doctor herself.
“Let’s sit down.” Minho tugged at his boyfriend's hand, walking towards two empty chairs next to the table with newspapers when Dr. Kim looked up.
“Ah! Choi Minho, you’re next.” He smiled, slightly forced. The woman made no effort to leave the three men to themselves as Onew walked in last and there was a very unpleasant nervousness, different from the one he had been feeling during the car ride, settling in.
“This here is Dr. Park, we’ll need her consultation later on. Please, sit down.” The doctor pulled out a yellow folder from a stack of files and flipped it open.
“The results came in this morning, I’m not an expert in this area so I called dr. Park down from her ward to help out. I’m sure you two will have many questions.”
“What’s wrong with me?” The younger’s eyes darted from doctor to doctor, the palms on his hands starting to get sweaty, his heart beating too fast.
“You came in last week, complaining about nausea. Are you still feeling sick Mr. Choi?” The doctor wasn’t looking at the computer screen this time; instead he leaned back into his chair, placing his hands over his knee.
“He threw up this morning, and thrice during the weekend” The older said, when Minho didn’t open his mouth. “Please, just tell us what’s wrong.”
“Nothing is wrong, Mr.…” The doctor trailed off, looking at Onew.
“Lee.”
“Mr. Lee…” He turned to the computer screen and pressed some letters on the keyboard, most probably writing the name up.
“The results from the blood test came in this morning. Mr. Choi does not have a virus, you’re perfectly fine.” He smiled reassuringly, “But the hCG levels in his blood stream are high. That’s nothing to worry about, though. The fact that there is any hCG in your blood is unusual though.”
“He has cancer?!” Minho’s head snapped to the side so fast it could have fallen off, his eyes big and panicked as he looked at Onew, who didn’t look any calmer himself. “You said nothing was wrong!”
“There is nothing wrong, Mr. Lee. The levels are low, not high enough for it to be cancer, but rather, pregnancy, that’s why Dr. Park is here, she’s an obstetrician. I’ll leave you three to it then, congratulations.”
“There’s no way…” But Onew couldn’t find the words to finish his sentence as dr. Kim rose from his chair and walked out the room. “Almost impossible…”
Dr. Park smiled gently as she rose from the stool she had been sitting on and sat down in dr. Kim’s chair.
“Very rare, and almost impossible, Mr. Lee, you’ve paid attention in biology class I see. But you, Mr. Choi, look a little lost?”
“I can’t be.” The younger’s voice came out weak as he looked at the woman in front of him. It had to be some mix up. He couldn’t be pregnant.
“I’ll give you the quick version then, just so we’re all on the same page.” She smiled again before continuing, “ You must have heard about male pregnancies, they’re rare, yes, but they do happen. Very rare over here, might I add, but I’ve had half a handful of patients myself.” She stopped, giving Minho’s brain a chance to process her words before continuing.
“About one out of every one hundred to one hundred and fifty males is born with the specific gene structure to conceive a child. Consider it a minor mutation, we don’t know why or what causes it. If it’s not rare in itself, we need to add in the fact that not all of these men live in a sexually active homosexual relationship, which drops the odds to a significantly lower level.”
“So I’m a mutation.”
Dr. Park sighed heavily but still her smile didn’t falter, “No, Mr. Choi. you’re pregnant, about a couple of weeks so. An ultrasound will give us the exact time. I’ve scheduled a time for Thursday afternoon. I think it’s better to let this settle in for a few days, to let you talk it over in peace before I whip out the machines and gels.”
-
The hallway was a haze. It took three tries for Onew to press the right button on the elevator and he almost walked into the glass door on their way out of the building. It took some fumbling to unlock the car doors, and too many seconds for the older to manage to get the key into the ignition hole.
“I can’t drive like this. I’ll cause an accident.” He closed his eyes and let the back of his head make contact with the seat as the reality of the situation slowly dawned in on him.
Minho wasn’t sick. He was pregnant. He wasn’t sick. He was pregnant. Minho was pregnant.
“I’m a mutation.”
The voice of his boyfriend sounded like a thousand miles away even though it was coming from the passenger seat right next to him.
“Mutations are freaks. I’m a freak, just like my father told me.” His voice was hollow, his eyes staring into nothing as his lips moved.
“He told me I was a freak, when I told him I loved you.” Onew’s eyes snapped open, his mind finally processing the words he was hearing.
Minho had suffered from depression after his parents had cut off any ties they had to him, and it had started out just like this.
The older reached out and pulled his boyfriend into an awkward hug, brushing out a few strands of hair that were hanging in front of his too-empty eyes.
“Minho-ah, listen to me: you’re not a freak. Mutations aren’t freaks.” He felt the younger shake, burying his face into Onew’s shoulder; it wouldn’t be long before he would feel the t-shirt moisten with salty tears.
“Did you know blue eyes are a mutation? About ten thousand years ago something happened, until then there were only brown eyes you see, but a mutation happened and a baby was born with blue.” There was a loud sob, and Onew reached besides his seat to find the button that would allow him to kick back from the steering wheel - this awkward hug wouldn’t do.
He finally managed to find it, kicking his seat as far as it would go in its rails and coaxed Minho into climbing into his lap. The younger never once removed his face from where it was buried into Onew’s shoulder, his tears already soaking through the fabric.
“Shh…Baby don’t cry.” He cooed as he slipped his fingers through Minho’s silky strands of hair, kissing the crown of his head and waited for his sobs to die down. “My Minho-ah…I love my Minho-ah.”
-
Onew was worried.
It felt like he had been nothing but worried for the past week and a half, ever since that morning Minho threw up, but he was really worried now. Worried to the point where he was pacing around in circles on the living room rug because he couldn’t stand still, but he wasn’t about to leave Minho alone and go for a walk (or a drink - he could really use a drink). Not when he was like this.
Once they had returned from the hospital Minho had walked straight into their bedroom, slid in under the covers and turned his face towards the wall and his back to Onew. He wouldn’t reply to speech and would freeze when Onew laid a finger on him, his eyes boring holes into the wall in front of him.
He hadn’t moved out of bed until the next morning when Onew had woken up to find Minho scrambling over him on his way to the bathroom to throw up. He had washed his teeth for ten minutes until the older had pointed it out, and slid back into bed with his back facing Onew once again.
He had refused to get up or eat and Onew had called the secretary again. He really must have sounded like hell because she told him to take as many days as his girlfriend needed and assured him his colleagues were making sure he wasn’t running behind on work.
His boss had called later, asking him if there was anything he could do for him.
“Minho-ah, I made dinner. Would you please try it?” The tray of food was on the bedside table, the aroma filling the room. Onew was hoping Minho’s empty stomach would react to the delicious smell sooner or later.
There was a low growl from it just a few seconds later as the younger shifted, trying to conceal the noise.
“The baby needs food, Minho-ah.” He reached out to stroke his boyfriend’s hair.
“Come on, I made your favorite. Just like you like it.” Onew nudged his shoulder once, twice, before Minho rolled onto his back.
Relief washed over the older.
The younger sat up and Onew moved quickly to make a pile of pillows for him to lean on before passing him the bowl of food and chopsticks.
It wasn’t like Friday when he finished two and a half bowls before he announced he was full, this time he barely finishied half the bowl; picking and choosing the beef and carrots, leaving the rest of the veggies and the rice almost untouched. But it was better than nothing, and Onew wasn’t going to push him. He would be hungry in a while now that his stomach had gotten a taste of food again.
After passing the bowl back to Onew the younger slipped back down under the covers, his eyes finding those invisible holes in the wall again, and continued to stare, not blinking once.
He didn’t move when Onew slid in right behind him and wrapped an arm around his torso and stayed there for a moment before his hand slid further down Minho’s chest and rested upon his abdomen. The younger flinched and Onew’s hand disappeared.
“Sorry.”
-
His parents hated him. His father had kicked him out. His mother didn’t love him.
They’d kicked him out the moment he had told them, had told them he loved a boy.
And he couldn’t understand why. What was so wrong with it? Onew was kind and respectful, always smiling and bowing. He was caring and loving and always put others before himself.
So what was so wrong with Minho loving him?
“You’re a disgrace to this family.” His father’s voice was calm, even. He didn’t look at Minho once after he had told them, after he had “come out”.
Minho looked at his mother, sitting quietly at the breakfast table, staring down at the lightly colored wood, unmoving. Her lower lip was trembling, her cheeks stained with tears.
She didn’t utter a word when his father closed the door in front of Minho’s shocked face.
The familiar feeling of nausea lifted its head and Minho tried to fight it. Tried to lie as still as possible, to breathe as little as he could, but eventually it got the upper hand and he had to run for the bathroom again, the sour liquid invading his mouth before he was able to spit it out.
8 weeks
It had been a week, a week of mopping around. They had missed the scheduled appointment on Thursday and when Onew had mentioned the exams Minho hadn’t even blinked.
Luckily Dr. Park had been kind enough to write out some sort of medical explanation when Onew had told her the reason to why they’re missing out on the appointment so Minho wouldn’t fail the semester, he would take the exams once he got better.
It seemed the only food Minho would eat was beef rice. And only when he was so hungry the aroma would make his stomach growl. Onew prepared and heated up the food four times a day, hoping Minho would eat at least twice, and to keep it down for a while before throwing it up.
The all too familiar flush of the toilet resonated through the quiet apartment as the door creaked open and Minho walked out. Onew turned off the stove in the kitchen, knowing fully well nothing went past Minho’s lips for at least a few hours after he vomited. The food would have to wait until supper.
The doorbell rang just as he was putting the cold food back into the fridge and the older ripped off his apron and walked over to the front door.
It could be his mother, he thought, coming to check up on him because he had refused the last date she had set up and hadn’t answered the phone for five days.
Or it could be his boss because he was halfway through his second week of sick leave (he spoke to his boss more often than his mother, worried about how his absence was affecting his job but was always reassured to come back when he could and that everything was okay).
Or it could be Minho’s friend from university, Onew decided once he looked through the peephole, because Onew wasn’t the only one being absent.
He opened the front door and stepped aside, the male on the other side walking in without an invitation.
“He’s not feeling well.” The door clicked shut as Onew spoke. He wasn’t sure how much he was allowed to tell Key, formally Kibum, about Minho’s situation.
The two were close, from what he knew since the last years of middle school or the beginning of high school, and he was one of the only people Minho had let in on his and Onew’s relationship.
“Figured that much.” The blond male dropped his school bag next to his shoes and walked towards the bedroom door.
“What? You can’t just walk in there!”
“If you can’t make him get up, somebody else has to.” He spoke over his shoulder. “Minho! Get up!”
Onew hurried after the other, catching him standing to the side of their shared bed.
“What’s wrong with him?” Key asked when he heard Onew walk in. Onew only motioned for the blond to follow him; if he was about to talk behind Minho’s back he wasn’t about to do it literally.
He didn’t speak until the door was shut behind them and they were in the kitchen.
“His parents…”
“They were here?!” Key looked momentarily alarmed, then furious.
“No! No, it’s just something happened and Minho remembered, and he’s been like that ever since. Barely eats. Doesn’t move.”
The blond’s eyes drifted off to the closed bedroom door. “What happened?”
“I can’t tell you that. Not without knowing if he’d want me to say.”
“Look, I need to know so I can help him out. We know each other inside out anyway.”
“I can’t Kibum, go ask him yourself.”
The blond huffed before he stomped off towards the bedroom again. Onew wasn’t about to follow. There was a bigger chance of Minho telling Key in privacy anyway.
He had just finished reordering a shelf of photographs when the bedroom door creaked open and Key walked out.
“Jesus, Onew. What happened? All he does is cry and say ‘mutations are freaks, I’m a freak’.” He plopped down on the couch, letting his head loll back and stared up at the ceiling.
“He didn’t tell you?” The older was slightly surprised, he had been sure Key would manage to press it out of Minho sooner or later.
“I brought him a list of assignments, he’s missed many exams and deadlines.”
“I have it covered; I got a doctor explaining he’s absence. Called one of his professors too, he’ll do the exams once he’s feeling better.”
“What about you? I can tell you haven’t left the house, at least not for work.”
“Almost two weeks of absence. But I can’t leave him like that. I’m too worried.” The older dropped his head into his hands, closing his eyes.
“And your boss?”
“Told me to come back when my girlfriend is feeling better. They got me ‘covered.’”
“Go tomorrow. I’ll be here in the morning. I don’t have school for a week.”
Onew gave the blond a surprised look; he was only ever this kind to Minho, never to him. He always had a feeling Key hated his guts.
“Would you like some beef rice?”
“You’re seriously feeding him that? You can’t even get the marinade right.”
“Only thing he doesn’t refuse to eat, most of the time.”
-
His boss paid his cubicle a visit the moment word was out that Onew had returned. He’d never been sick for a day, so he figured being absent for two weeks would draw that much attention.
His desk was clean of any files and Onew had to ask the guy sitting next to him for something to do to keep from rolling his thumbs, he had to almost steal the folder off of his desk in the end.
His boss had looked worried to find Onew actually working, asking him repeatedly if he should be there even though Onew told him his girlfriend was being taken care of.
The change seemed to do Minho some good, though. He had finally risen out of bed and Onew found him sitting on the living-room couch when he returned home after the second day of work.
“He ate ramyun.” Key said victoriously, shooting him a smirk. Onew figured it was the nagging that got him out of bed and the food down his throat.
“Good.” Onew was about to sit down next to his boyfriend on the couch when Minho got up and speed walked to the bathroom. There was the sound of flushing a few minutes later and the faucet running.
“You know, I’m not an idiot. I’ve been here for two days.” Key gave him a piercing look.
“I know you’re not. But it’s not really my place to tell.”
“H-how far along?” The older sighed, as the blond’s piercing gaze turned into one full of concern for his best friend.
“We won’t know until he gets himself together and let’s me take him to the doctor’s office.”
The sound of the bathroom door opening and closing ended the discussion, and Key hurriedly excused himself, shouted a good-bye to Minho who had gone back to the bedroom, and left.
When Onew entered he found Minho lying on his back, his head turned towards the door. Maybe he should have called Key days ago.
10 weeks
There was a definite small bump where his six-pack used to end - Minho wasn’t imagining it. He let his fingertips lightly trace over the slightly tanned skin before snapping out of it and turning the shower on.
He hadn’t showered for what felt like forever. And with all the throwing up he had been doing over the last two-three weeks he was surprised Onew, even more surprised Key, hadn’t complained about it. God, he smelled disgusting.
He popped open the shampoo bottle, squeezing out a generous amount into his palm before he brought it up to his head. He repeated the procedure twice.
Today was the day they were going to the doctor’s office. He felt his stomach twist at the mere thought, the sole reason he had refused breakfast even when Onew had insisted; he wasn’t about to throw up somewhere else than their own toilet.
He rinsed off the shower-gel he had absentmindedly lathered into his own skin, hoping the fresh smell would cling on to his skin.
He was over this, this…whatever it had been.
Onew had threatened to take him to his old psychologist and Minho wouldn’t have taken it seriously if it hadn’t been for Key standing behind him, arms crossed over his chest and lips pressed into a straight line. He couldn’t remember when those two had gotten on the same team but he knew he would loose the fight.
He turned the water off and watched it go down the drain before he stepped out and wrapped the towel Onew had left for him around his lower half. The cool air in their bedroom made him shiver, the hair on his arms and legs rising.
“Get dressed so you don’t get sick, Minho-ah.” Onew was sitting wide-legged on the edge of the bed, elbows resting on his knees. He had been dressed and ready even before Minho had gotten out of bed.
The younger felt guilty; the older was doing his best to cover up how excited he was and when he had pressed his hand against Minho’s then non-existent bump days ago the younger had reacted in such a way Onew hadn’t dared try it again.
Wasn’t pregnancy supposed to be something to be happy over? And instead he was sucking all the happiness out of it. He didn’t even know how far he was, or what gender the baby would be.
Fuck, to be completely honest he hadn’t even given the baby a thought until he had felt Onew’s hand press against his stomach. Up until then all he had been thinking about was his mother and father.
There was the feel of something soft and heavy landing over his head, white obscuring his vision. It took Minho a moment to realize it was another towel, and that Onew was standing behind him, rubbing it against his wet hair.
“-spacing out. We’ll be late.” Onew practically dressed his boyfriend, pulling on a t-shirt over his damp hair and a clean pair of jeans over his longs legs. He turned Minho around to face him and was about to button up the jeans when he noticed it, and his heart skipped a beat.
It was definitively a small bump protruding halfway between the younger’s groin and bellybutton. He swallowed thickly before pulling the zipper up. His heart was beating two hundred times a minute.
He was about to push the button through the hole when Minho’s fingers closed around his wrist; the older looked up in surprise but Minho’s gaze was on the floor.
“I’m sorry hyung, I didn’t mean to…then.” Onew could see a faint blush color his cheeks.
He swallowed thickly again before dropping his gaze back to the bump. He reached out with shaky fingers, slowly, allowing Minho to stop him if he wanted, towards the bump.
When his fingers grazed against the warm skin his world stopped spinning.
Yes, Minho was pregnant; he knew that. He’d known it for weeks. But he hadn’t really known. Not until that warm feeling of Minho’s skin ran up his fingertips, all the way up his arm and to his shoulder, moving down to his chest and into his heart. It swelled and burned and it got pumped out into his blood stream to every corner of his body until there wasn’t a single cell in him that didn’t feel it.
He wanted to say something, as he pressed the whole palm of his hand against Minho’s abdomen, against the baby, but every word, every thought in his brain had dissolved with the heat burning through his body.
He leaned in and captured Minho’s lips with his own. The younger was unresponsive for a moment but then Onew felt the younger’s lips move against his own, his head tilting to the side to deepen the kiss.
It was their first kiss in weeks, the first kiss since the doctor’s had given them the news and the older pressed his other hand on the back of Minho’s head, tongue sneaking out to lick the seam between the younger’s plump lips, and, when they parted, letting it slip in.
They parted for air, taking in deep breaths of oxygen and letting it fill their lungs and expand their chests.
“Hyung, we'll be late. I wanna see the baby.” Onew couldn’t help but laugh, a joyous melody as he placed several kisses all over his boyfriend before grabbing his hand.
“Let’s go then.”
-
The waiting room in front of the doctor’s office was filled with women. Some looked ready to burst at any moment, others still looked functioning as they sat on tall-legged chairs, deliberately chosen for their height so that the women wouldn’t have any trouble sitting down.
Husbands or boyfriends accompanied some. A few looked terrified (it applied mostly to the ones with huge whales sitting next to them), and some looked excited; tapping a restless foot against the faded white floor.
“There are only women here!” Minho whispered quietly as the two neared the waiting area. He would have rather spent the ten minutes they had to wait sitting in the car or hiding behind the corner because it was weird to have two guys show up on this floor, in front of this office.
“If you’re shy I can pretend to be pregnant, look I can totally imitate the way they hold their back when they walk. And the penguin walk is child’s play.” Onew said, imitating one of the women.
“Hyung, stop! Don’t make fun of them!” The younger slapped Onew’s arm, trying to make him stop; they were already receiving enough stares as it was.
“Choi, Minho!” Doctor Park announced from the doorway before her eyes saw the duo. “Oh, there you are. Come on!” She beamed at them as they walked past her into the examination room, closing the door behind her.
“Feeling better I presume?” She handed Onew a slip of paper as she ushered Minho towards a bed. “Up you go!~”
“What’s that?” The younger asked no one in particular as Onew neatly folded the paper and tucked it into his pocket.
“Apparently you missed a couple of very important exams, I just wrote a short note explaining you we’re unfit to attend them. No biggie, and don’t worry, I can keep a secret.” She smiled brightly at Minho as she walked around the bed, sitting down on a stool in front of a small machine.
“Lift your shirt. You might have to pop open the button on those jeans too.” She pulled out a clear blue plastic bottle from underneath the machine, “It’s going to feel a little cold. Feels a little weird, too.”
She squirted a small amount onto Minho’s stomach before smearing it out with the transducer. “Are you still experiencing morning sickness?” The screen on the ultrasound machine lit up, a dark gray color filling it.
“Yes.”
“It will die down after the third trimester, once your body gets used to the hormones. Ah, there we have it!”
She turned the screen around, the arrow of the mouse placed next to a small white lump against the grey background.
The younger’s heart skipped a beat. He looked at the screen in awe, Dr. Park's excited voice registering somewhere in the back of his mind as her finger moved up and down the screen, pointing out different things and explaining stuff Minho didn’t pay attention to.
His world went into tunnel vision the moment he had spotted it, the small white dot against all the grey, the little baby somewhere deep inside of him, slowly growing and developing.
In a few months he or she would be born, and he would hold it, taking in the scent and feel the warmth of of the baby against his body, slide his fingers against the baby's soft skin and hear it make little noises.
A squeeze on his hand broke the younger out of his daze and he saw Dr. Park and his boyfriend smile down on him.
“It’s hard to tell the exact time since we can’t count periods and ovulations, but the size is about that of an ten week old embryo’s.” The doctor pressed a button on the machine as she spoke.
The image on the screen went black as she removed the transducer from Minho’s abdomen, handing the stunned male some tissues to wipe himself clean. She handed the picture, now decorated with a red circle where the baby was and a “congratulations” written next to it, to an equally stunned boyfriend.
“I’ll schedule an appointment for three weeks from now. I’ll need to keep a close watch; complications are frequent with male pregnancies. If you feel something is off, or you’re just simply worried you can give me a call anytime.”
Minho nodded dumbly as he pulled his shirt down and slid off the bed, his legs feeling slightly wobbly and his head feeling a little too light as the doctor led them out before she called another name.
-
“Let me see it!” the blond shouted as the front door swung open, making Minho jump in his seat.
“Who gave him the keys?”
“Had to, I needed to leave for work and he kept coming late. We can change the lock now, though.”
“Yah! Stop talking like I’m a pain in the ass. Come on, whip the photo out - uncle Key wants to see the baby~”
“Who made you an uncle?” The oldest of the three asked; as the photo he was holding in his hand was ripped out of his grasp.
“How far are you, Minho?” Key plopped down next to the male on the couch and lifted his feet onto the coffee table, inspecting the picture in his hand closely.
“Ten weeks.”
“You’re not the uncle, just so you know. I’m not going to let my child close to you, it’s going to grow up rude or something.”
“Shut up, old man, go get me a glass of water or something, I’m thirsty.” Key waved Onew off with the back of his hand.
“I can’t believe I got along with him.” The oldest mumbled as he walked towards the kitchen taking a glass out. “I’m not even that old…”
“When is the next appointment?” The blond’s tone of voice changed immediately when they were left alone as Onew walked out the room.
“Three weeks. The doctor said male pregnancies have a lot of complications so she’s keeping a close watch on me.”
“Don’t worry about it, everything will be fine. I can feel it!” Key gave Minho the photo back with a bright smile.
“I’m already showing, though. It will be all over campus by the end of the month.” The younger slumped down in his seat, brows furrowed.
He’d been careful to not reveal his relationship to more than a handful of people, even scolding Onew whenever he tried to hold his hand or kiss him in public, and now it was all going down the drain because of a huge stomach.
“You’re forgetting winter clothes, my friend. Just wear something loose until then. No one pays attention to you anyway, you’re a geek.”
“You mean he’s a straight A student.” A glass appeared in front of Key’s face as Onew bent down to kiss the tip of Minho’s nose.
“He’s only straight A because you pay for whatever his tuition doesn’t cover.”
There was a sharp pain in Key’s side as Minho elbowed him, sending him a warning look.
“No more sleepless nights, baby. Stress is not good for the baby.” The older mumbled, before giving his boyfriend a long kiss.
“Oh god, I’m gonna throw up.”
12 weeks
“We have to tell my parents.”
Minho was lying on the bed, watching Onew undress after another blind date; the clock on the bedside table showing 10.23 pm.
“I can’t keep running on dates and my mother will kill me if I don’t tell her she’s having a grand child soon. We can’t even pretend we didn’t know because it definitively shows.”
He had been preparing this speech for days, and today’s blind date was the perfect time to bring up the forbidden subject. There was no way Minho could expect him to not tell his parents he was going to be a father in a few months.
“Minho?” The younger was lying on his back, his eyes hidden behind his bangs and his lips pressed into a tiny pout Onew knew was because of deep thought. The older sat down on the edge of the bed. “Telling them now will be the best, you know it.”
“Hyung…” When Minho’s eyes met Onew’s the older recognized all the unspoken thoughts and questions going through his mind.
He’d seen them a long time ago.
“We can’t keep it a secret. I won’t do that to my parents. And you can’t hide a baby or a child! We have to tell them, Minho-ah.”
“Tell them you knocked-up some girl, it won’t be as bad as knocking me up.”
“That’s ridiculous!” The older stood up from the bed and kicked off his black pants, throwing them over the chair in the corner. “They’re coming over for dinner next week.”
“What?!”
“End of discussion.” Onew shut the door behind him as he walked into the bathroom, half expecting Minho to burst through at any moment with an angry expression on his beautiful face.
It didn’t happen, though, and when he returned to the bedroom after showering and washing his teeth he found it covered in darkness and Minho was under the covers.
The older slipped in, hesitating for a moment before he pulled the younger to his chest, inhaling his scent.
“I just don’t want you to regret it, hyung.”
The First Trimester (part 1/2) | The Second Trimester
A/N: Posting this a little early because I'm going home to mommy and daddy (yay mother's day with mom~) to take some exams so it's either now or idk when.
Thank you to koteunkaendi for once again correcting all my typos. Apparently i still can't spell through correctly even tho I've been taking english since fifth grade and that was a long time ago too long