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Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Minho swore time had never passed so slowly.
“What are you doing?”
Minho tore his eyes away from the clock to glare at Hyunjin, who was looking at him incredulously over the top of his phone from his slouched position in the chair next to Minho.
“Did the clock do something to offend you, hyung?” he asked just as Felix entered the breakroom and sat down next to Hyunjin, a bright smile on his face as he placed his water bottle on the table.
“No, I just have an appointment at 1:30. I don’t want to be late,” Minho explained shortly, glancing at the clock on the wall again. 5 minutes until he could leave.
“Oh, what a coincidence! Jisungie has an appointment at 1:30, too!” Felix said sunnily. “But I’m sure you already knew that.”
Minho tensed. “How do you know that?” he asked a little too harshly. He immediately felt bad about being cold to Felix, but he was worried. Did Jisung… tell Felix?
“Um, I asked him if he wanted to get lunch with me today and he told me he couldn’t because he had an appointment,” Felix explained, eyeing Minho suspiciously as Minho let out a silent sigh of relief. “You’re being weird, hyung.”
Hyunjin snorted. “When is he not weird?”
“I will kill you,” Minho threatened, grabbing a plastic knife from the cutlery cup in the middle of the table and brandishing it at Hyunjin, who didn’t seem at all phased. “You’re still good to take my 1:00, right? I’m leaving in 3 minutes.”
“I thought it only took you 10 minutes to get to the doctor’s, hyung. Why are you leaving so early?” Felix asked, playing with his water bottle.
“Uh, I’m going to a different doctor. A specialist,” he said, not technically lying. He was going to a specialist, just not for himself. But Felix seemed to buy it as he nodded, cuddling up to Hyunjin’s side.
“You owe me,” Hyunjin mumbled as Minho stood up and began collecting his stuff from around the room. Minho rolled his eyes as he playfully pulled Hyujin’s ponytail.
“No, I don’t. This is you repaying me for that time you made me take all your afternoon classes so you could go get fucked by your boyfriend in Jeju all weekend,” Minho explained as he pulled his hoodie on and grabbed his duffle bag, slinging the strap over his chest as Hyujin let out an affronted gasp.
“ First of all, you say that like you haven’t left me scrambling to find a replacement for you when you’ve been too busy plowing Jisung,” Hyunjin said, indignant. “And secondly–fine, you have a point.”
Minho smirked to himself as he checked the time on his phone before pocketing it and starting toward the door. “I’m leaving,” he called, waving at his friends as he left, Felix’s bright farewell following him.
Minho quickly made his way out of the building and started toward his car, nodding politely at the people he passed. Once he got to his car, he threw his bag in the back and climbed into the driverseat, starting the engine and pulling out of the parking lot.
He quickly navigated through the city, sighing when he hit yet another red light. Of course, the one time he was trying to get somewhere quickly, he hit every red light in the city.
He eventually made it to his destination, pulling into the parking lot of Jisung’s apartment building and shooting his boyfriend a quick text letting him know of his arrival. All he could do was wait after Jisung reacted to his text with a thumbs up.
While he waited, Minho connected his phone to his car’s bluetooth and put on Jisung’s “calm vibes” playlist, which consisted mostly of soft piano music, in the hopes that the ambient, peaceful sounds would quell some of Jisung’s inevitable anxiety.
A knock on the passenger’s side window made Minho jump. He looked up in alarm only to see Jisung waving at him, a small, nervous smile on his face.
Minho broke out into a large grin as he reached over the console and opened the door for his love. Jisung ducked into the car and got settled, buckling his seatbelt over his giant oversize hoodie.
“Hi, jagi,” Minho greeted, kissing Jisung’s round cheek before sitting back in his seat. “How’re you feeling?” He put the car in drive again and drove out of the parking lot, frequently glancing over at Jisung to gauge his emotions.
“Nervous,” Jisung replied, his arms crossed over his stomach as he hunched in on himself. Minho couldn’t smell his boyfriend's scent thanks to the medical grade scent blockers on his neck and the scent neutralizing oil on his other scent glands–all of which Minho would have to put on before they entered the clinic–but it was easy to tell from his body language that Jisung was telling the truth.
“That’s totally understandable,” Minho assured, looking over at Jisung once he stopped at a red light. “I’m nervous, too.”
“Really?” Jisung looked over at him, his wide, shiny eyes taking Minho’s breath away.
“Of course,” he said as he turned his attention back to the road when the light turned green. “I don’t want to, um, put any negative energy out into the world,” he began, obviously influenced by Hyunjin’s philosophy, “but it’s better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, y’know?”
“Yeah,” Jisung agreed softly, letting the conversation fizzle out. Minho glanced over at him again, his heart clenching when he saw Jisung staring out the window melancholically. He wished he could take away all the pain and worry and confusion that his love was no doubt feeling and just deal with it all himself.
The rest of the ride was quiet, only the sounds of soft piano music and the occasional ticking of the turn signal resounding in Minho’s small car.
Speaking of Minho’s car–now that he thought about it, would a car seat even fit in his tiny Toyota? The thought stole Minho’s breath away as he felt panic wash over him.
Minho took a deep breath as he parked in the clinic parking lot. He would have to worry about that later. Right now, he had to focus on supporting his–well, not his his, but his–omega.
“Here, hyung,” Jisung said as he unbuckled his seatbelt and rummaged around in the big front pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a packet of scent blockers and a little roller bottle of scent neutralizing oil, handing them over to Minho.
Minho thanked him and took all that Jisung offered him, placing it all on the dashboard. He carefully peeled the used blockers he had been wearing all day off his neck, his slightly bitter coffee and cinnamon scent flooding the car.
He opened the new scent blockers and put them on quickly, trying to mitigate the amount of distressed scent that could affect Jisung. He then rolled neutralizing oil on his wrists and awkwardly shoved his hand down his pants and underwear to roll oil on the scent glands on the inside of his thighs.
Once he was thoroughly scentless, he gave the oil back to Jisung and climbed out of the car, making sure he had his phone, keys and wallet with him as he locked the car and walked around it just as Jisung stepped out. He smiled at Jisung as the younger tangled their fingers together and trailed behind him as they walked into the clinic.
The receptionist smiled at them as they walked past the automatic doors into the sterile, harshly sanitized smelling environment of the clinic.
They strolled up to the reception desk, Jisung peeking out from behind Minho’s back to talk to the lady through the plexiglass divider.
“Um, hi. I’m Han Jisung and I’m here to see, um, Doctor Choi?” Jisung said quietly, like he didn’t want any of the few people waiting in the reception area to know why he was here.
“Han Jisung,” the receptionist said as she typed on the computer in front of her. “Date of birth?”
“Uh, September 14th, 2000,” he responded, stepping out from behind Minho to stand next to him.
“Perfect,” she said, continuing to type. “Can I see your insurance card?” Jisung nodded and pulled his wallet out of his pocket and grabbed the card. He handed it to the receptionist with two hands politely.
Minho rocked back and forth on his heels as the receptionist made a photocopy of Jisung’s insurance card and typed his information into the computer.
Once she had handed the card back and asked Jisung a few more questions, she handed him a clipboard with a form already attached. Jisung nodded when she told him to come back up once he had filled out all his information.
Minho let himself be dragged away from the desk and over to the chairs furthest from the reception desk in the waiting room. He sat next to Jisung and slung an arm over the back of his chair as the younger got to work.
While he waited, Minho looked around the room absent-mindedly. The decor was drab, but the paintings of parents holding their pups lining the walls was interesting enough to hold his attention for a while. It made him feel a bit… weird , honestly, to think that that would be him in around 9 months. Not bad weird, but more… unprepared. Like he had no idea what he was doing, and even if he did, what if something happened to their pup before they were born? What if something happened to Jisung ? What if—
Minho’s catastrophizing thoughts were cut short when Jisung stood up and went to return the clipboard to the receptionist all by himself. It made Minho proud, but he would never tell Jisung–Jisung hated being patronized, even if it was unintentional. Instead, Minho just offered his love a soft smile when he came and sat back down, curling minutely into Minho’s side.
“You doin’ okay, jagi?” Minho asked, his arm sliding from Jisung’s chair to his shoulders.
Jisung shrugged. “Yeah, ‘m fine. Scared.” Minho hummed in understanding and pressed a kiss to Jisung’s temple. Jisung smiled weakly when Minho pulled back.
“Would you rather be sticky everywhere for the rest of your life or itchy everywhere for the rest of your life?”
Jisung burst out laughing, loud and rich and everything Minho loved hearing.
“Hyung, what ?” he asked incredulously, pushing at Minho’s chest.
It was Minho’s turn to shrug, a sly smirk on his face. “I think it’s a fairly simple question, Jisung-ah. Would you rather be sticky everywhere for the rest of your life or itchy everywhere for the rest of your life?”
“Well, how sticky are we talking?” Jisung asked, voice jovial.
“Like you’ve been dipped in maple syrup. Everything you touch will stick to you.”
“I assume that means the itch is just as dramatic, right?”
“Of course. It’s like you’re allergic to air and can never satisfy the itch.”
“That’s tough,” Jisung began, relaxing into Minho’s side. “ Buuut … probably sticky. I think I would scratch my skin off if I was itchy all the time and then have a breakdown and maybe something worse, so I think sticky is the lesser of two evils.”
“That’s fair,” Minho conceded, nodding as he gently brushed a knuckle along the side of Jisung’s neck. “But if you’re sticky, everything will stick to you. Like, you won’t even be able to type on a computer because you’ll just take the keys with you.”
“Yeah, but you know I already scratch myself sometimes when I get anxious. Imagine that, but times ten worse and everywhere all the time. That would only last as long as my sanity, which would not last long in that scenario.”
Minho chuckled. “Very true. So sticky is your final answer?”
“Yes, hyung, sticky is my final answer,” Jisung giggled, bumping the side of his head on Minho’s shoulder.
“Okay, would you rather–”
“Han Jisung?” a voice called out from behind where they were sitting, cutting Minho off. Minho glanced over his shoulder to see a person dressed in pink scrubs standing in a now-open doorway with a clipboard, glancing around the room. He groaned as he stood up and grabbed Jisung’s hand, helping him to his feet and following as Jisung walked over to the person who had called him.
“Uh, yeah, hi. That’s me,” Jisung said to who Minho assumed was a nurse. The nurse glanced over at Minho before looking back at Jisung and giving him a smile.
“Follow me,” they said, turning around and walking into the door behind them. Jisung followed instantly–he had confided in Minho before that he was always afraid of getting lost in the maze of hallways in a clinic, so he always made sure to stick close to the person leading him to his room. Minho, always hopelessly endeared by his love, had found it unreasonably cute.
Once they reached presumably the correct room, the nurse turned to Minho and asked, “Do you mind waiting out here for a moment?”
Minho blinked rapidly a few times before answering, “Oh. Yeah, of course,” and dropping Jisung’s hand.
The nurse gave him a tight smile before opening the door and ushering Jisung in, who stared wide-eyed at Minho as the door between them closed.
Minho stood awkwardly in front of the door as he waited, glancing at the people passing by him and hoping they didn’t ask what he was doing. He had a guess as to why he was relegated to the hallway, but he couldn’t be sure and he didn’t want anyone to question him. Thankfully, the door opened soon after, the nurse holding it open and allowing Minho into the room.
“The doctor will be with you soon,” the nurse said as they left the room, the door closing behind them.
Minho blinked at the closed door before walking over to Jisung, who was sitting on the crinkly paper on the exam table. “What was that all about?”
“She, um, asked me if you were the sire and if I actually wanted you in here with me, which I obviously said yes to. And she gave me these,” Jisung said, handing Minho a few pamphlets. Minho flipped through them, reading the titles under his breath.
“ So You’re Pregnant, Now What? , Dealing With An Unhappy Alpha , How To Get Out Of An Abusive Relationship , A Guide To Homelessness ? Wow, they really don’t have much faith in me.”
Jisung scoffed, pushing at Minho’s shoulder. “You know it’s not about you , specifically, you narcissist,” he snarked, taking the pamphlets from Minho’s hand and shuffling through them as Minho laughed. “But I’m glad they asked, and I’m glad they give out these resources. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to need them,” he finished softly.
“You won’t ever need them,” Minho promised, cupping Jisung’s cheek and raising his head to look at Minho. “I know there’s a lot of unknowns right now, but I’m in it for the long haul, okay? And if I ever physically hurt you, I want you to immediately tell Chan hyung about it so he can beat some sense into me, alright?”
Jisung giggled and nodded into Minho’s hand. “Okay, hyung,” Jisung accepted. Minho nodded, satisfied for now. He took the pamphlets from Jisung and shoved them into the front pocket of his hoodie–he would put them in Jisung’s dresser the next time he was over at the younger’s place. He could reassure Jisung until the cows came home, but he knew Jisung would inevitably have lingering doubts and Minho wanted to support him however he could, which included making sure he had access to resources if things did go sideways.
Just then, the door opened and in walked a person in a white lab coat, a stethoscope around their neck and a clipboard in their hands. As they walked closer and smiled at Minho and Jisung, Minho noticed the pink she/her pin on her breast pocket.
“Good afternoon, I’m Doctor Choi,” the doctor said, bowing to them both, her long, black ponytail spilling over her shoulder. Minho and Jisung bowed back respectfully before Minho stepped away and sat in one of the plastic chairs along the wall to get out of the way. “I’ll be in charge of your care today. You’re Han Jisung-ssi, correct?”
Jisung nodded, his legs swinging back and forth. “Yep. That’s me.”
Dr. Choi nodded and sat down in the rolley office chair in front of the computer on the counter next to the chair Minho was sitting in. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jisung-ssi. And you’re the sire?” she asked, looking at Minho who smiled and nodded. Doctor Choi smiled back at him–she seemed to have a calm, professional demeanor that Minho hoped Jisung would vibe with.
“Alright, Jisung-ssi,” she said, turning her full attention back to him, “to get started, I’ll take your blood pressure, height and weight. Then, I would like to confirm your pregnancy. Would you prefer a blood test–which will take at least a few hours to get the results back–or a urine test, which will yield results in a few minutes? Both tests are 99% accurate and the choice is completely yours.”
“Um, a-a urine test sounds, um, good,” Jisung replied, his cheeks coloring a pretty pink. Minho tried his best not to get distracted by his beautiful boyfriend as the doctor stood up and wrapped the blood pressure monitor around Jisung’s bicep after directing him to roll up his sleeve. Once his blood pressure had been measured and recorded, Dr. Choi directed Jisung to stand and led him over to the wall and measured his height and then to the scale next to it to measure his weight.
Once finished, Dr. Choi rummaged around in the cabinets above the counter along the wall and pulled something out.
“Please pee in this.” Dr. Choi turned around and handed Jisung a clear plastic cup. “The bathroom is right across the hall. Please, take your time and return once you’re done.”
Jisung nodded as he hopped off the exam table and drifted out of the room, leaving Minho and Dr. Choi in silence. The doctor sat back down in the office chair and began typing on the computer as Minho pursed his lips and looked around the room awkwardly.
“Have you and Jisung-ssi been together very long?” Dr. Choi asked suddenly, making Minho jump. Minho looked over at her and cleared his throat.
“We’ve been together for about a year,” he replied succinctly, playing with the string of his hoodie as Dr. Choi hummed, silence once again settling over them.
Thankfully, Jisung returned soon, careful not to spill the cup now filled with his piss as he walked back into the room. “Here you go,” he said, holding out the cup to the doctor.
Dr. Choi smiled at him as she stood up and pulled on a pair of blue gloves before she took the cup from Jisung and gestured for him to sit back down on the exam table before she headed back over to the cabinets, doing whatever it is she had to for a pregnancy test. Minho wasn’t really sure what that all entailed, but he was more focused on his love sitting on the table, anyway.
“How was pissing?” he asked, laughing when Jisung pouted and kicked his leg out toward him, even though he was too far away to make contact.
Before he could tease Jisung again, Dr. Choi pulled her gloves off, threw them in the trash and washed her hands, turning back to them and sitting back in the office chair, grabbing her clipboard. “Alright, that should be ready in a few minutes. In the meantime, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”
“Um, no. Go ahead,” Jisung responded, shoving his hands into the kangaroo pocket of his hoodie.
Dr. Choi smiled. “Excellent. To start, could you tell me about your and your family’s medical history?”
Minho listened attentively as Jisung explained all the horrible diseases and conditions members of his family have dealt with as Dr. Choi scribbled down notes on her clipboard. Minho smiled softly whenever Jisung glanced over at him during his explanation. He wanted his jagi to know that he was supporting him every step of the way, through everything.
He was so focused on Jisung that he was surprised when Dr. Choi turned the question to him. He supposed it made sense, considering it was both Jisung and Minho’s genes in there, but he still wasn’t expecting it, so he stumbled over his words a bit as he began recounting what he knew. It made Jisung giggle, though, so the temporary embarrassment was worth it.
Once Minho had told the doctor everything, she thanked him and stood up to check Jisung’s test. He heard the sharp intake of breath Jisung took as he stared at the doctor’s back expectantly.
“Well,” Dr. Choi said as she turned back around. “It’s official. You’re pregnant, Jisung-ssi.”
Jisung blew out a long breath, his body visibly untensing as he smiled softly. “I’m really pregnant,” he repeated, breathless, his eyes going all shiny, but not in a bad way–more disbelieving as he stared down at his belly.
“Now that your pregnancy is confirmed, I have some more questions for you,” she said, washing her hands and returning to her chair and grabbing her clipboard again. “When was your last heat, Jisung-ssi?”
Jisung looked up at her, his hands still in his pocket. “Um, August. The twelfth to the fifteenth.”
“Was the fifteenth the day it ended, or the last full day of your heat?”
“The day it ended,” he clarified.
“Are you on any form of birth control?”
“Um, no. Birth control pills conflict with my anxiety meds and I’m kinda scared of IUDs,” he admitted, chuckling self-deprecatingly.
Dr. Choi smiled kindly. “That’s alright. Did you spend your last heat with Minho-ssi?”
“Um… yeah,” Jisung confirmed, his ears and neck flushing cutely as he shifted in his seat, the paper under him crinkling. “But, the thing is, he never, um…” he trailed off, looking over at Minho for help.
Minho swooped in readily. “I’ve never finished inside of him without protection,” he explained. Dr. Choi looked over at him, unspeakingly urging him to continue. “We’ve been careful, and I would never betray Jisung’s trust and lie.”
Dr. Choi nodded. “Alright. Have you ever had unprotected penetrative vaginal sex together?”
It was Minho’s turn to blush, the back of his neck heating up. Maybe Jisung had a point–this was a bit embarrassing to talk about, but they were all adults here and honesty was important, especially when it came to Jisung’s health.
“Yes, we have,” he answered honestly. “But again, I’ve never finished inside of him.”
“When? How often do you engage in unprotected penetrative vaginal sex?”
“Um, I honestly can’t tell you the specific dates,” Minho began, rubbing the back of his neck. He didn’t want to say it out loud, but he and Jisung kinda fucked like rabbits (which was fitting, considering Jisung’s nickname for Minho in bed), so it was a bit difficult to remember exactly when he and Jisung had gotten busy.
“That’s fine–approximations are alright. When was the first time you engaged in this type of sexual activity?”
“Um, that would have to be September 14th of this year,” he said haltingly, his face feeling warm. No doubt, the doctor had taken notice of Jisung’s birthday while looking over his information.
Dr. Choi didn’t say anything about it though, just nodded as she continued to jot down notes. She then looked back up, glancing between the two men. “I understand you may be wondering how this is possible,” she began, eyeing Minho specifically very carefully. It hurt Minho’s heart that he knew exactly why she was treading lightly. “But, while rare, it is possible for an omega to get pregnant without an Alpha ejaculating inside, knot or no knot. Sperm has been found in precum, and as Jisung-ssi is in his peak fertility period, it’s not unheard of for a sperm from precum to fertilize an egg.”
“Peak fertility period?” Jisung asked, voicing his thoughts for the first time in a while. “I thought omega’s were the most fertile at, like, eighteen.”
“Ah, yes, that is a common misconception. Peak fertility for omegas is typically between 23-26 years old, and for Alphas, it’s between 27-30 years old.”
“That late?” Minho asked, his brows drawn together. “I thought our ancestors started breeding way younger.”
“Well, yes, but that was because children were needed to work on farms or in whatever business the family was in, so people had children earlier to take some of the pressure off their backs. However, the peak fertility range has more or less always been the same as it is now, it just wasn’t known or cared about much since many omegas had a litter each year after mating, no matter what.”
Minho nodded sagely–he supposed that made sense. Though it did make him sad that omega’s were treated more as breeding sows rather than people back in the day and that there were still some people who inexplicably believed that.
“Moving on,” Dr. Choi began after she let the information sink in for a moment, “since we don’t know when conception occurred, it’s difficult to say exactly how far along you are. If we take September 14th as the date of fertilization, then you would be around 4 weeks along right now. We could do an ultrasound, which would give us a better idea of how far along you are, but since you’re at max four weeks, we might not see anything at all. Typically, I suggest waiting until 6 or 7 weeks for an ultrasound, but again, it’s up to you.”
Jisung glanced at Minho, who gave his baby a reassuring nod to say, whatever you want .
Jisung nodded back. “I would like to do an ultrasound today,” he said, quiet but sure. Dr. Choi nodded and stood up, pulling on a new pair of gloves and grabbing the ultrasound machine from the corner of the room and wheeling it over to Jisung.
“Minho hyung?” Jisung called softly, looking at the older wide-eyed and questioning, holding a hand out toward Minho as the doctor got the machine ready. Minho smiled and stood up, rounding the exam table and standing next to Jisung. He threaded his and Jisung’s fingers together, smiling down at the younger and using his free hand to pet Jisung’s fluffy hair. Jisung pouted and shook his head to dislodge Minho’s hand, making Minho laugh.
“Please lay down,” Dr. Choi directed, and Jisung followed her direction quickly, Minho shifting back so he was standing next to Jisung’s head. “Alright, do you mind lifting your sweater for me?” she asked, holding a plastic bottle in her hand. Jisung did as asked, revealing his cute tummy and the little trail of hair leading below his waistband. If Minho had any less self-control, his teeth would already be sinking into the soft, smooth skin, but he supposed that’s how they ended up in this situation in the first place.
“Thank you. Now, this might be a little cold,” Dr. Choi advised, opening the bottle and pouring some gel-like substance on Jisung’s abs. Jisung’s stomach clenched, his ab muscles momentarily more defined as he shivered. Dr. Choi then grabbed a probe-looking thing connected to the ultrasound machine and squeezed some gel onto it before putting it on Jisung’s stomach.
The image on the screen of the ultrasound machine changed as Dr. Choi moved the probe around on Jisungie’s tummy. Minho wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at on the screen, but it was kinda cool to be able to see inside his love.
“Ah, here we go,” Dr. Choi exclaimed, the screen filled with gray with a small black blob in the center. “That right there is the gestational sac,” she explained, pointing to the black blob. “It looks just like it should at 4 weeks.”
Minho looked down at Jisung to see him smiling widely, his attention fixed on the screen. The older couldn’t help but smile down at him, his heart melting at Jisung's excitement. He squeezed Jisung’s hand, admiring Jisung’s pretty face when he turned to look at him.
He couldn’t help but lean down to press a kiss to Jisung’s forehead, a deep feeling of happiness overtaking him as Jisung pouted shyly.
Dr. Choi wiped the gel off Jisung’s tummy and let him fix his sweater and sit up, the paper crinkling as he moved, not letting go of Minho’s hand as the doctor cleaned the probe and moved the ultrasound machine back to the corner.
“Alright, next I would like to do both a breast and pelvic exam,” said Dr. Choi as she walked back and stood next to the table. Jisung eyed her a little warily, presumably a little scared at what that would entail, but agreed.
For the breast exam, Dr. Choi had Jisung take off his sweater and position his arms in different ways as she checked his pecs, both visually and physically. Jisung had to let go of Minho’s hand for the duration of the exam, much to Minho’s chagrin, but the sight of Jisung’s pretty tits made up for it. They didn’t look any different yet–which Minho supposed it made, considering Jisung was barely a month into pregnancy. Just like his stomach, the physical changes would probably start a few months in the future.
Once the breast exam was finished and Jisung was declared all good, he pulled his sweater back on and was asked if he would like a chaperone for the pelvic exam. He declined, looking over at Minho, most likely knowing that Minho would never let any funny business slide. Minho puffed out his chest a little, his Alpha proud that Jisung knew he would always protect him.
Dr. Choi then instructed Jisung to remove his pants and undergarments and lay on the table and cover himself with the sheet she handed him before she left the room and told him to call her when he was ready.
“Turn around,” Jisung insisted when the door clicked closed behind Dr. Choi.
“Who, me?” Minho asked, pointing to himself as if there was anyone else in the room Jisung could’ve been talking about.
“Yes, you ,” Jisung said, hopping off the table and grabbing Minho by the shoulders, pushing and pulling to try to forcibly turn him around.
“It’s not anything I haven't seen before,” Minho commented as he let Jisung face him toward the wall. Despite his observation, Jisung obviously didn’t want Minho to watch him, and Minho wasn’t about to tread on his boyfriend’s boundaries push the issue.
“‘S embarrassing,” Jisung muttered as Minho heard the rustling of cloth behind him. Minho cooed quietly–he couldn’t say he knew exactly how Jisung felt, but given the context, it made sense that Jisung would be a bit uncomfortable.
“Okay, hyung,” Jisung said after a few minutes. Minho turned back around to see Jisung laying demurely on the table, his lower half covered by the white sheet, his pants folded nicely on one of the two free chairs along the wall. “You stay here,” he commanded, pointing next to the bed beside his head. Minho just nodded, accepting Jisung’s request easily and standing where directed as Jisung called the doctor back into the room.
Dr. Choi walked back in pushing a little cart with some sort of duckbill-looking tool on it. She washed her hands and pulled on a new pair of gloves before going to the end of the exam table by Jisung’s feet and pulling out and setting up some spindly looking plastic things from one of the compartments.
“Please place your feet in the stirrups,” Dr. Choi instructed. Jisung followed her request, careful to keep his bottom half covered by the sheet.
Dr. Choi then began her exam, explaining everything as she went along. The exam seemed a bit painful, if Jisung’s drawn-up eyebrows and the way he was squeezing Minho’s hand was any indication, but he valiantly kept the little noises that Minho knew were threatening to escape in as Dr. Choi poked and prodded at him.
“All done,” Dr. Choi said eventually, clicking something shut and standing up from between Jisung’s legs, helping him remove his feet from the stirrups and wheeling her little cart to the side of Jisung’s bed. “Everything looks all good, Jisung-ssi. Your PAP will be sent to the lab and we’ll call you when we get your results in a few days. Speaking of sending things to the lab, I would recommend doing blood tests to detect any possible genetic complications. Would you like to do that today, or at your next appointment?”
“Let’s just get it done today,” Jisung decided as he shuffled into a half-sitting position. Dr. Choi nodded.
“Sounds good. Would you mind if a medical student drew your blood, or would you rather I do it?”
Jisung hummed in contemplation before saying, “I’m happy to give a med student the opportunity to do it.” Dr. Choi nodded and left the room, instructing Jisung to put his clothing back on and call her when he was ready. Jisung made Minho turn around again. Minho didn’t complain this time, instead readily turning and staring at the blank wall as he listened to his love redress. When Minho was allowed to turn back around, Jisung was sitting back on the table fully dressed, his fluffy hair all staticy.
“Hyung, can I hold your hand?” Jisung asked quietly after calling out that Dr. Choi could re-enter the room.
“Of course,” Minho answered immediately, offering the younger his hand and smiling at him when Jisung threaded their fingers together. Jisung gave him a strained smile back just as Dr. Choi entered, a young, handsome masculine presenting person following behind her. The person smiled easily at Jisung, their perfectly straight and white teeth on display. Minho’s jaw clenched.
“Hello, I’m Jung Jiho. It’s nice to meet you,” the person said, bowing deeply–maybe a little too deeply–at the two of them as Dr. Choi sat back in her chair. “My pronouns are he/him. Thank you for allowing me to draw your blood today, Han Jisung-ssi.”
Minho’s muscles tensed minutely, not liking the way his boyfriend’s name sounded coming out of the med student’s mouth. Something about it was a bit too… familiar for the environment and situation. Jisung either didn’t notice or didn’t mind as he greeted the student politely, nudging Minho to do the same. The Alpha bit the inside of his cheek and obliged, taking a deep breath to calm his mind. He was definitely overreacting, but who could blame him for being a little more protective of Jisung given the circumstances?
Jiho was probably just being kind. Minho expected everyone to be kind to Jisung, so he should be happy with the way Jiho was treating Jisung.
The med student washed his hands and put on a pair of gloves, all the while making polite small talk with Jisung. The smile he kept flashing at the omega still rubbed Minho the wrong way, but he couldn’t do much other than suck it up as the med student rolled over a small cart and a stool and sat directly in front of Jisung.
“Do you mind rolling up your sleeve for me, Jisung-ssi?” Jiho asked. Jisung nodded and let go of Minho’s hand to do as instructed. “Wow, you have very healthy wrist scent glands,” he commented, brushing a finger along the glad, effectively caressing the inside of Jisung’s wrist.
Minho growled lowly as he took a step in front of Jisung, unconsciously puffing his chest out and glaring at Jiho. Jiho looked up at him with raised eyebrows and let go of Jisung’s arm, holding his hands up. The thought of Jiho’s trying to scent his omega made him want to bare his teeth and carry Jisung out of there immediately.
“Hyung, stop,” Jisung chastised, grabbing Minho’s forearm and pulling him back. He went, only because he didn’t want to cause a scene, but he kept glaring at the med student. “I’m sorry, Jiho-ssi,” Jisung apologized, elbowing Minho’s side.
Jiho laughed good-naturedly, waving away Jisung’s words. “It’s alright, Jisung-ssi. It’s normal for Alpha’s to get a little, well, irrational when their omega’s are pregnant. Or, well, the omega they’re dating, at least.”
“I’ll show you irrational,” Minho mumbled, grunting when Jisung elbowed him again. He backed down for Jisung’s sake, even though Jiho’s dig at him rubbed him the wrong way. His hackles remained raised as Jiho grabbed Jisung’s arm again and–very professionally this time, luckily for Jiho–drew Jisung’s blood.
“There, all done,” Jiho said with that stupid handsome smile as he bandaged Jisung up. “We’ll get this sent off to the lab and call you right away once we get the results.”
“Alright, thank you,” Jisung said as he rolled his sleeve back down as Jiho cleaned up and left with the sample of Jisung’s blood.
“What the hell was that?” Jisung hissed, rounding on Minho as Dr. Choi typed on her computer.
Minho shrugged. “He was flirting with you.”
“He was not ,” Jisung argued, his brows furrowed and his mouth set in an angry line. “He was being nice . There was no reason to growl at him like a fucking animal .”
Jisung was right, of course–it was rude to growl at someone and the action was often criticized as being too closely connected to their more animalistic side, but Minho really couldn’t help himself. He had never growled at anyone who had tried to make a move on Jisung–normally when Jisung was hit on in his presence (as long as it didn’t turn into harassment, of course), Minho was amused and proud of himself for having bagged such a catch. But this time, whether it was the environment, the situation, or both, Minho’s Alpha felt especially threatened and had momentarily taken over.
Not that he didn’t agree with his Alpha. Jiho was definitely flirting with Jisung (very unprofessionally, might he add). He just wouldn’t have acted so aggressively under normal circumstances. Probably.
Before Minho could respond to Jisung and explain, Dr. Choi turned her chair around and faced them. “I’m sorry about that. Jiho is… he has a certain bedside manner that can be abrasive for Alpha’s.” Jisung huffed as Minho smirked. “We’ll take this into account in the future. For now, there are still a few things we need to talk about.”
Oh. Right. They were at the doctor’s office for Jisung’s health. Maybe Minho should focus on what was really important, that being his beautiful boyfriend.
Minho cleared his throat and asked, “Like what?” His love’s health is the most important thing, and he wanted to know everything he could about how to keep his Jisungie safe during his pregnancy.
“Well, it’s well-documented that unmated pregnancies tend to be higher risk. That means there’s a higher chance of health complications during pregnancy and miscarriage.”
It felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. The weight of Dr. Choi’s words settled heavily on Minho’s shoulders. He looked at Jisung to see the younger curling in on himself, an arm wrapped protectively around his stomach.
In the back of his mind, Minho was aware that unmated pregnancies were typically more dangerous, but he hadn’t thought about it in the context of Jisung. The thought of not only losing the little fetus growing in his love, but something happening to Jisung stole Minho’s breath right from his lungs. He couldn’t even imagine it.
“What can we do?” Minho asked, breaking the heavy silence that had settled over the room. “To make it safer, I mean.”
Dr. Choi smiled at him. “Well, the best way to minimize risk is to mate, but I understand that that may not be what you two want.” Minho nodded, glancing at Jisung who was staring at the ground blankly. It was undeniable that Minho loved the younger man, but they hadn’t even been together a year yet. They hadn’t even talked about their thoughts on mating in general, let alone mating with each other .
And what if there were complications or something happened to Jisung? Would it be better to just move in together now so Minho could take care of him if need be? Minho’s one bedroom apartment certainly wasn’t big enough for two people, let alone a new pup, and Jisung’s studio apartment was no better. Did that mean they would have to move? While Jisung was pregnant, at that?
Minho took a deep breath to pull himself out of his thoughts. It felt like they had so many incredibly important decisions to make immediately, but Minho knew dwelling on them now was not going to be helpful.
“Outside of mating, it’s recommended to get lots of rest and get frequent checkups. Eating healthy, keeping yourself hydrated and taking prenatal supplements can help mitigate symptoms,” she explained as she turned around and opened a drawer in her desk, pulling out a few pamphlets that she handed to Jisung. “These have some guidelines for what to eat and what to avoid, which vitamin brands we recommend and a few options for parenthood classes in the area. Do you have any questions?”
Minho looked at Jisung again. The younger just shook his head.
“Alright. Well, if anything comes up, just give us a call. We also have some online resources available on our website that I suggest checking out. We’ll call you when we get your lab tests and PAP smear results back and then we can schedule an appointment to go over the results. But for now, I think we’re good to leave things here. What do you think?”
“Sounds good,” Jisung said airly, emptily. Minho frowned, his brows creasing as Jisung slid off the table. Dr. Choi nodded and stood up as well, clipboard in hand as she started making her way out of the room.
Minho looked around the room to make sure he had all of his and Jisung’s belongings before offering Jisung his hand. Jisung shook his head, not even glancing up at Minho’s face, so Minho dropped his hand and followed Jisung and Dr. Choi out of the room.
The doctor led them back to the front desk and chatted with the receptionist for a moment before telling Jisung he was all good to go. Jisung managed to give her a weak smile before they departed. Minho fell into step with the younger man, trying to be a strong, steady presence by his side.
Minho opened the passengers' side door for Jisung once they reached his car, silently waiting for him to climb in so he could close the door behind him. Minho rounded the car and got into the driver's seat, turning the key and immediately turning on Jisung’s seat warmer when he noticed the younger’s minute shivers.
“Are you hungry?” Minho asked into the oppressive silence, glancing at his boyfriend. Jisung shook his head, the movement barely visible from the way he was curled up into a little ball in his seat, his head buried in his knees. “Alright. I’ll bring you home, then.”
And with that, Minho put the car in drive and pressed the gas.
The drive was only 10 minutes, but it felt like a lifetime with the heavy silence and the way Minho’s Alpha was yelling at him to properly comfort his omega. Minho wished he could smell Jisungie’s scent to know exactly how he felt, but it was probably a good thing he couldn’t–Minho had a feeling his Alpha would go feral if it was aware of the full extent of Jisung’s pain. Besides, he could assume that Jisung felt the same way he was–confused, anxious, and overwhelmed.
Minho pulled up in front of Jisung’s apartment building and turned off the car before looking over at his boyfriend. The younger was still curled into a ball and made no move to get out of the car.
“Han-ah,” Minho called softly. His love looked over at him with watery eyes. Minho sighed through his nose and pulled the lever to make his seat go backwards away from the steering wheel before gesturing to his lap.
With a soft sob, Jisung maneuvered over the console and crawled into Minho’s lap. Minho peeled off his scent blockers and started pumping out comforting pheromones, carefully concealing his own worry so it didn’t bleed into his scent. He wrapped Jisung up in a hug as the younger sobbed into his shirt.
Minho rested his cheek on top of Jisung’s head, biting his tongue to keep his own tears at bay. He didn’t waste his breath promising everything would be okay because the harsh reality of it was there was no way of knowing that was true.
Minho held Jisung close until the younger stopped crying and his breathing returned to normal. He wiped the tear tracks off his love’s face once Jisung came out of his hiding spot, frowning at the younger's cloudy expression.
“Jagi,” he said softly, brushing a lock of hair behind Jisung’s ear. Jisung sniffed and leaned into Minho’s hand.
“I’m scared,” Jisung said simply, his voice scratchy.
“I am, too,” Minho replied. “I’m fucking terrified, actually.” He huffed out a laugh, shaking his head. “But we’re in this together. You and me, forever, okay? And our pup.” He smiled at Jisung softly as he rubbed Jisung’s tummy over his hoodie.
“Mmh, okay,” Jisung nodded. He didn’t look very comforted, but for now, he seemed settled. Jisung laid his hand on top of Minho’s on his stomach and laced their fingers together. Minho kissed his love’s cheek, right where his lovely mole used to be.
“C’mon, my love,” Minho said as he opened his door and helped Jisung get out, making sure the omega didn’t hit his head on the roof of the car.
“Don’t you have to go back to work?” Jisung sniffed as Minho climbed out of the car after him.
Minho smiled at him as he wrapped an arm around Jisung’s waist and pulled him close. Jisung looked at him with those big, pretty doe eyes, making Minho’s heart melt. “You’re much more important, baby,” he assured, kissing Jisung’s forehead gently. “Besides, they’ll survive without me for one afternoon.” Jisung wiped his eyes with his sweater paws and smiled at Minho shyly.
“Thank you,” he said, wrapping his arms around Minho’s neck and rubbing his wrist on Minho’s scent gland. Minho pumped out happy pheromones to make Jisung’s smile widen, even minutely.
“Let’s go, jagi.” Minho grabbed Jisung’s hand and laced their fingers together. “I’ll make you some kimchi jjigae and we can watch that movie you mentioned last week.”
“Okay,” Jisung agreed after a moment. Minho gave him a soft smile and squeezed his hand before he began leading Jisung into the apartment building.
Minho had never been less prepared for anything in his life, but he trusted that he and Jisung could face this situation together.