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“Minho hyung?” Jisung’s voice called out gently, cautiously. Minho raised his head off the arm of the couch and looked over at his boyfriend who was cuddled up on the other side of the couch, Minho’s feet captured in his lap. Jisung’s brows were creased, his eyes shiny. Minho immediately sat up and gave Jisung all his attention.
“What’s up, jagiya? Are you okay?” Minho asked, gently rubbing his knuckle along Jisung’s scent gland, trying to lessen the bitter twinge in the younger’s otherwise sweet vanilla and caramel scent.
“Um, would you… would you still love me if I was a worm?”
Minho broke into a relieved grin, relaxing as he squeezed the back of Jisung’s neck, thankful that Jisung’s source of distress wasn’t as bad as he thought it might’ve been.
“Well, that depends,” Minho said, carding his fingers through the short hairs on the back of Jisung’s neck, pumping out more of his own soothing coffee and cinnamon scent to calm his still-tense partner.
“On?” Jisung asked, leaning into Minho’s touch.
Minho couldn’t help but admire the younger’s pretty, pretty face as he continued. “Well, on if you magically turned into a worm right now or if you were always a worm.”
“Is the answer different?”
“Of course,” Minho responded as if it was obvious. Jisung cracked a smile and Minho silently celebrated. His baby was so beautiful when he smiled. “If you turned into a worm right now, I would make you the best, most beautiful terrarium in the entire world filled with the best dirt I could find and make sure the sun couldn’t get to you so you would never dry out. Then, I would do everything I could to turn you back into my Jisungie.”
“Hyung,” Jisung said, his voice a little wobbly, sounding touched by Minho’s answer. He scooted over and rested his head on Minho’s shoulder. Minho wrapped his arm around the younger’s shoulders to keep him close. “What if I was always a worm, then?”
“Well, if you were always a worm, we probably wouldn’t have met,” Minho answered realistically, laying his head on top of Jisung’s. It probably wasn’t what Jisung wanted to hear, but it was the truth. Jisung didn’t say anything though, just let out a little hum as he played with the string of Minho’s sweatpants.
“What if I murdered someone?” Jisung questioned, nuzzling into Minho’s shoulder.
Minho blinked rapidly. “Wow. Quite the change of pace,” he muttered, but went along with Jisung’s hypothetical anyway. “Again, I guess it depends. If it was self-defense, then of course I would still love you and I would do whatever I could to support you because I can’t imagine how hard it would be to deal with the trauma of killing someone in self defense,” he explained, gently rubbing Jisung’s arm as he talked to the ceiling. “If you did it for no reason… well, it would be impossible for me to just stop loving you, but I don’t think I could support you through the consequences.”
Minho felt Jisung nod. Minho was still worried about him–the younger’s scent was turning almost rotten, sour around the edges. Minho squeezed Jisung closer, pumping out calming pheromones to soothe his omega.
“What if I was a cat?” Jisung mumbled.
“That’s easy,” Minho smiled, pressing a kiss to the crown of Jisung’s head. “If you were always a cat or you just turned into one, I’d love you either way.”
Jisung giggled–he probably figured that would be Minho’s answer. Minho’s love for cats was no secret–his three cats were proof enough, let alone the fact that he went out of his way to take care of the stray cats around his apartment building, too.
“Okay, one more,” said Jisung as he pulled back, his eyes shifty as he avoided Minho’s gaze. Jisung’s distressed scent made Minho antsy, and it didn’t seem to be getting better no matter how much calming pheromones Minho released. “Um, would you still love me if I was pregnant and I knew it was yours?”
Jisung talked so quietly that Minho wasn’t sure he heard him correctly at first, but the sheepish look Jisung gave him told him he had understood correctly.
Minho’s breath caught in his throat as he blinked rapidly. Jisung, pregnant? It was Minho’s? Minho was frozen, his brain unable to comprehend what he had just heard.
“Hyung, please say something,” Jisung pleaded quietly. He was so shrunk in on himself, it was like he barely existed. Minho’s eyes were drawn to the younger’s arms, which were wrapped around his stomach protectively.
“You’re pregnant,” he repeated flatly, immediately regretting his delivery when Jisung flinched, his long, unruly brown hair falling into his eyes, but Minho couldn’t help it. Flat was his natural affect when he was overwhelmed. “But, Sung, we never…” he trailed off.
“I know,” Jisung said desperately, his voice thin. “But if it’s not you, I’m the next Virgin Mary, and I haven’t been visited by any angels recently, so.”
Minho took a deep breath, rotting vanilla pods and burnt caramel invading his senses. His Jisungie was distressed, and it was all Minho’s fault.
“Are you mad?” Jisung asked quietly when Minho’s silence continued.
“What? No, of course not,” Minho was quick to assure, sitting up straighter and going to grab Jisung’s shoulders before he thought better of it. His hands flopped pathetically onto his lap, Jisung’s scent staying distressed–he didn’t believe Minho.
“Jisung. Look at me, please.” Jisung hesitantly looked up. Minho’s heart clenched as a tear rolled down the younger’s cheek. “Jisung. If you’re sure, I believe you. I’m just–confused.”
“I am too, honestly.” Jisung sniffed and wiped the tear track from his cheek with his shoulder. “But you really aren’t upset?”
“I’m not upset. Why would I be?”
Jisung shrugged, still avoiding eye contact. “We aren’t mated. And we’ve never seriously talked about having pups. I mean, we have absolutely nothing for pups–hell, we haven’t talked at all about how we would raise them! And that’s if,” Jisung paused, his breathing turning ragged, “if you want to stay.”
“I’m staying,” Minho said immediately, not leaving any room for doubt with his calm, steady scent. Jisung eyed him suspiciously. “Sung-ah. I’m staying with you. I mean, that’s–that’s us in there. That’s our kid. Yeah, we haven’t talked much about pups, but I’ve always wanted a family. I honestly couldn’t think of a better mom for my kids than you, Jisung. As for the other stuff–well, it’s a good thing we have 9 months to figure it all out.”
“Are you sure?” Jisung whispered hopefully, peering at Minho hopefully, his posture softening just a touch.
“A hundred percent.” Jisung sighed as he melted into Minho, gripping Minho shirt and burrowing into the older’s chest as he hugged him tightly. Minho wrapped his boyfriend’s shaking body up comfortingly, closing his eyes and breathing in the now sweet, syrupy vanilla caramel. “Does anyone else know?”
“No, just you,” Jisung said, his voice muffled from Minho’s t-shirt. “I just found out a few days ago.”
“Really? If you don’t mind me asking, how?” Minho rubbed Jisung’s back tenderly as the younger pulled himself out of his hiding spot to look Minho in the eyes.
“Um, I’ve been feeling kinda sick lately.” Minho cooed as he frowned, listening as Jisung continued, “Like, my tummy’s been feeling icky and I’ve been, like, sore in my chest area, but not like my lungs, more the muscles in my chest, and I just had a feeling I was pregnant. I don’t know how to explain it, but I just had this sinking feeling that would not go away and knew I had to take a test, even though you’ve never, y’know…” he trailed off.
“Never cum inside you?” Minho supplied helpfully, smiling at the way Jisung ducked his head and nodded, admiring the way red overtook the tips of Jisung’s ears. It was adorable how shy Jisung still got when talking about anything sex-related, even though they had been together for a year and had been fucking frequently the whole time, especially since Minho knew the younger was just as much of a freak in the sheets as Minho was. The dichotomy always amused Minho.
“Yeah. That.” Jisung cleared his throat before continuing, “So I went to the convenience store and bought the first pregnancy test I saw, and then one of every brand available when the first one was positive. I took, like, 8 pregnancy tests then proceeded to have a breakdown in the convenience store bathroom.” He huffed out a self-deprecating chuckle when he finished talking, looking down at his lap defeatedly. “I didn’t know what to do. I mean, I knew it was yours because you're the only person I’ve been with in the last year and a half, but I–I didn’t think I would be able to survive if you wanted nothing to do with me after I told you, so I just didn’t. Until now, I guess.”
“Oh, honey. I’m sorry you had to go through that alone,” Minho comforted, cupping Jisung’s full cheek and gently brushing his thumb along his cheekbone. Jisung leaned into his touch and looked back up at Minho’s face. “And I’m sorry if I’ve ever done anything to give you the impression I would leave you for something like this.”
“It’s not that,” Jisung negated, minutely shaking his head. “You’re perfect. It was my brain being mean–it really had nothing to do with you or anything you’ve done.”
“It’s a reasonable thing to be worried about,” Minho offered, remembering all the horror stories he’d read on the internet of unmated omegas getting pregnant and being left to fend for themselves after their impregnator left them to fend for themselves in favor of going after someone younger, prettier, only for the cycle to continue. It was terrible, but since the pair wasn’t mated, there wasn’t much the law could do besides try to hunt down the impregnator for child support, and even that wasn’t taken very seriously. More often than not, child support payments were not kept track of, which impregnators took full advantage of, leaving the dumped omega and new pup destitute. “If I were you, I’d also be worried. The world isn’t kind to omegas, I know that. But I’ll always be here for you, Sung-ah. I hope you won’t keep burdens this big to yourself in the future.”
“Well, it’s not really that big of a burden yet,” Jisung joked, softly patting his stomach. Minho snorted, pressing a kiss to Jisung’s forehead. He could imagine it already–Jisung’s flat stomach turning soft and round, protecting their growing pup. Minho’s dick twitched, which he valiantly ignored in favor of peppering more kisses on Jisung’s face, happy that Jisung seemed to be feeling better.
“How did this even happen?” Minho wondered out loud once he had his fill of kissing his baby. Jisung’s big, curious eyes distracted him for a moment as the younger tilted his head like a puppy. “I mean, I’ve knotted you before, but I promise I’ve always been careful not to cum in you without protection, especially during your heat.”
“I believe you, hyung,” Jisung assured, wrapping his hands around Minho’s neck and clasping his hands together. “I mean, I’ve read online before that there are, um, swimmers in precum and we have done it unprotected, even if you didn’t, uh, finish inside me.” Minho smiled as Jisung stumbled through the sentence. “I guess I’ll have to ask the doctor.”
“Oh, right. Have you been to the doctor yet?” Minho asked, resting his hands on Jisung’s waist.
“No, not yet,” Jisung responded, brushing his wrists against the scent gland on Minho’s neck. “But I have an appointment on Tuesday.”
“Tuesday? What time?”
“Um, 1:30, I think.”
“1:30? Ok. That’s the same time as jazz class, but Hyunjin owes me, so I can get him to take it,” Minho muttered to himself before directing his attention to Jisung. “Okay, I’ll pick you up.”
“Oh, hyung, you don’t have to do that!” Jisung exclaimed, wide-eyed, shaking his head and waving his hands in the air.
Minho’s brows creased, the hollow feeling of insecurity settling in his stomach. “If you don’t want me to come, I won’t,” he said slowly, trying to hide his disappointment. He desperately wanted to support his Jisungie, and sometimes the best way to support the younger was to stay out of his way.
“It’s not that,” Jisung mumbled, squeezing Minho’s shoulders. “It’s just–you don’t have to. I don’t want you to feel obligated to come with me.”
“Sung, I won’t come if you don’t want me to, but I want to come with you. It’s my pup as much as it is yours, even if you're the one doing all the hard work. I want to know if they're okay,” he said, laying a hand on Jisung’s tummy.
Jisung smiled softly, putting a hand atop Minho’s on his stomach. “Then I want you to come with me.” Minho smiled back at him, laughing when Jisung kissed the tip of his nose. “I hope they look like you.”
Minho scoffed. “Nuh uh. I hope they look like you. Everyone knows you’re the cute one.”
“Well, duh, but you’re beautiful–gorgeous, even. I want pretty pups, hyung.”
Minho hummed, patting Jisung’s tummy. “Hyung will give you as many pretty pups as you want.” Minho relished in the flush that overtook his partner’s face as Jisung whined. “How about this–what if this pup looks like us? I hope they have your cheeks and pretty eyes.”
“And I hope they have your nose and pretty lips,” Jisung continued, dropping a brief kiss on Minho’s lips. “I can’t wait to meet them,” he whispered against Minho’s mouth.
“Me neither,” Minho responded, gently rubbing Jisung’s stomach. “We’ll get through this together, jagi. And I want you to know that, no matter what, I’ll still love you. Well, unless you murder someone in cold blood, I guess.”