Chapter Text
"You can't have spicy ramyeon for breakfast."
Mystery's words were soft but blunt.
Zoey pouted at her boyfriend. Sometimes, she swore Mystery had some type of weird demon mind-reading ability. She hadn't even mentioned anything about her intense craving for some spicy noodles, and yet the dewy-faced Saja Boy was already onto her plan to sneak some of Mira's special "Spice Queen" ramyeon.
Zoey sat up in her bed and crossed her arms in defiance. "And why not?"
Mystery didn't bother to look up from the pile of clothes on the floor he was sorting through. "You'll get heartburn. And acid reflux."
"Pfft! How would you know?"
"Because we had this exact conversation last week…and you didn't listen to me…and you were miserable for the rest of the day."
Zoey grimaced at the memory. Originally not believing his warnings (because what does a centuries-old male demon know about this stuff, anyway?), she remembered how she paid the price for it by feeling intensely nauseous all throughout rehearsals that day. She had to admit he was right, albeit begrudgingly so.
It was then that Mystery stood and gave his hunter girlfriend a gentle smile. "Don't forget we have somewhere to be today."
Zoey nodded as she watched the reformed demon disappear into their bathroom. There was no way she could forget; today was the day of her first proper ultrasound.
A part of Zoey still couldn't believe she was pregnant, with Mystery's child, no less. They found out nearly two weeks earlier. Zoey wasn't exactly concerned about a missed period (she was never very regular to begin with), but her suspicions began when the idea of kimbap made her feel sick, and she started craving dog treats of all things.
It was no use trying to slip under Rumi and Mira's radar, not even for a quick trip to the pharmacy to grab some pregnancy tests.
Confessing her suspicions to the girls wasn't as disastrous as Zoey thought it might be. Sure, she might have had a bit of a breakdown because, oh, god, what if she was pregnant? And with a Saja Boy's half-demon baby? Her public image would never recover from this. All of their careers would be over instantaneously, all because of her.
Luckily, Rumi and Mira were able to bring her back down to earth with minimal emotional scars.
Overall, her fellow hunters weren't all too surprised by the revelation. Her relationship with Mystery was basically an open secret between HUNTR/X and the Saja Boys, and they were well aware of how many nights he would spend in her room.
"If anything, I'm surprised this happened to you first and not Rumi," Mira had said nonchalantly.
"Ok, rude," Rumi had replied. She and Jinu were always very careful, thank you very much. That wasn't to say that Zoey wasn't careful, but instead just had rotten luck when it came to contraceptives.
Nevertheless, their plan for the time being would be to get Zoey her pregnancy tests and simply figure things out from there.
Needless to say, Bobby and the rest of their PR team were currently working out how to announce their upcoming hiatus.
Breaking the news to Mystery was also pretty simple. When Zoey had texted him saying that they needed to talk, the Saja Boy had teleported to their penthouse within point five seconds of receiving the message. Knowing that Rumi and Mira were there to support her, Zoey just came straight out with it.
"I'm pregnant."
If Mystery had more of a reaction, she certainly couldn't see it behind his stupidly (yet cutely) long bangs. What Zoey did get to see was Mystery quietly picking her up, sitting her down on the couch, wrapping her in a blanket, and cuddling up to her as much as he could.
"Whatever you need, I'm here."
Knowing how Mystery preferred to show his feelings through actions instead of words, this was all Zoey needed. A silent promise to love her and to keep her and their baby safe.
The rest of the Saja Boys figured it out naturally after that, especially when Mystery refused to leave HUNTR/X Tower or Zoey's side. This somehow inadvertently led to the Saja Boys inviting themselves to move into their penthouse until further notice. Jinu tried to justify this by claiming that he needed all of his bandmates together at all times, and as long as Mystery was going to be staying, they'd be staying too.
The days following the Saja Boys settling in were chaotic to say the least. Jinu and, to an extent, Romance were both low-maintenance demons, meaning they could keep to themselves with minimal risk of disaster (unless Romance happened to annoy Mira a little too much). Where they really had to worry was with Abby and Baby.
One thing they learned about Abby was that he didn't know his own strength very well. Whenever he wasn't trying to bench press a piece of furniture, he was accidentally breaking something, whether it be a random appliance or the whole kitchen table. Mira finally snapped at him when he broke one of her instruments, and only then did Abby start to be more careful around their home.
Maybe he was scared of Mira, or maybe he just liked getting ordered around by her. They supposed it didn't matter as long as he was behaving.
Baby was…just Baby. The Saja Boys' maknae wasn't necessarily as bad as Abby, but the girls learned quickly to never leave him unsupervised in the kitchen. Long story short, they had to say goodbye to their poor microwave after one of Baby's "experiments."
Rrrrrr…
Zoey was brought back to reality by the sound of her stomach growling.
That's it. If she didn't get some spicy ramyeon to stuff her face with as soon as possible, she was going to lose her mind.
The first thing that Mystery heard when he stepped out of the shower was a lot of yelling coming from the main room. Arguments had become a regular event in HUNTR/X Tower ever since they all moved in, so Mystery wasn't fazed one bit as he dried himself off and got dressed.
Investigating the rather loud conversation with a towel draped over his shoulders, it didn't take long for Mystery to find Mira reprimanding a totally unbothered Baby.
"Well, maybe she wouldn't be puking her guts up if somebody didn't convince her to put hot sauce on her ramyeon!" Mira shouted, still dressed in her polar bear pajamas.
"Hey, not my fault she couldn't handle my culinary genius." Baby shrugged.
"She's pregnant, dumbass! What did you think would happen?!"
The maknae raised an eyebrow at this. "What's that have to do with anything?"
Mira stared at Baby, stunned into silence. After a few seconds, she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Please, do us all a favor and never touch a woman."
"You tell him, babe!"
Mystery looked to see Abby and Romance watching the scene unfold from behind the couch, the former voicing his unwanted support for Mira while the latter cowered with a mixture of desire and fear on his face.
"Shut up!" Mira snapped, clearly in no mood for the two loverboys' shenanigans.
Mystery sighed. He wasn't going to ask. Making his way back to the girls' bedrooms, he assumed he'd find Zoey in one of their respective bathrooms.
He could relate to Mira's protective instincts when it came to Zoey; he just wished she could voice them a little more quietly.
Knocking on Rumi's door, Mystery wasn't surprised to see Jinu on the other side. Derpy was lounging on Rumi's bed, looking around like he had no clue what was going on.
"Sorry," Jinu immediately apologized as he let his fellow bandmate in, "if we'd known Baby was causing trouble again-"
"It's alright," Mystery reassured him. He nodded towards the bathroom door, and Jinu understood. Maneuvering around his giant pet tiger, Jinu softly knocked on the door before opening it up.
Zoey was sitting on the floor next to the toilet, pale and sweating. Beside her was Rumi, carefully handing her a glass of water. Surprisingly, Sussie was perched on Zoey's shoulder, cooing gently as if to try and soothe her.
Mystery offered his silent support as Zoey took small sips of her water. They waited a few minutes to make sure she didn't need to throw up again before Rumi spoke up.
"You ok to stand?" she asked, her voice lending its own form of comfort.
Zoey nodded weakly.
"Back to bed?" Rumi said with a bit of humor in her voice as Zoey got to her feet.
That thankfully got a chuckle out of Zoey. "Yup…" She leaned on Rumi as they shuffled out of the bathroom.
Zoey stopped to give Sussie and Derpy a few pets, something they were both grateful for. Derpy purred curiously as he nudged his head into her stomach, likely sensing that something was different about her, but not being able to figure out what. Sussie sighed dramatically at the tiger's obliviousness. The magpie nuzzled against Zoey's neck as if to say "get well soon" before flying over to perch on Derpy's head.
With their animal friends satisfied, Zoey made her way back to her room, Mystery following close behind.
While normally she liked to crash into bed, this time Zoey eased into it with precision, taking extreme care not to aggravate her stomach.
Mystery already knew that either Rumi or Mira, or possibly both, were gathering whatever they could to help Zoey's stomach: medicine, ginger ale and crackers, a playlist of her favorite turtle videos, etc. In the meantime, the demon could help her in a way that only he could pull off: super cuddle time.
He crawled into bed next to her, his girlfriend's arms instantly wrapping around him as she buried her face into his chest.
"How do you feel?" he asked, quiet as ever.
"Bad. And gross… And tired," Zoey listed off, her voice somewhat muffled by his shirt.
His hold on her tightened ever so slightly. "...Sorry."
Zoey tilted her head up to look at him. "Aw, Myst. It's not your fault."
"It kind of is."
Zoey's heart melted at the subtle pout of his lips. How could a demon be so perfect? God, she loved her good boy. "It's really not. You were the one trying to talk me out of eating something I shouldn't have. Besides, I still love our little puppy, no matter how much indigestion they give me."
The corners of Mystery's mouth twitched. "Heh…puppy…"
The cute little nickname for their child started as a joke, funnily enough, from Baby. When the rest of the Saja Boys originally found out about her pregnancy, he'd quipped that he "always wanted a puppy." Clearly meant to be a dig at Mystery and his weird habit of barking like a dog.
Mystery took the comment in stride, and Zoey ended up loving it so much that the nickname stuck.
Zzzt, zzzt.
Their phones buzzed in unison, Zoey's on her nightstand and Mystery's in his pocket.
Zoey burrowed back into her boyfriend's chest as Mystery pulled out his phone, reading the message they were both sent.
"It's Bobby." The demon boy slid his phone back into his jeans pocket. "Says he'll be here in half an hour to come get us."
Zoey groaned. Mystery frowned.
"I can let him know if you're not feeling well enough."
"I'll be fine, it's just… I still need to shower and get dressed, but I just got comfy…" Zoey whined like a mopey child.
"Then I'll carry you," Mystery replied frankly.
Zoey stared at her boyfriend, trying to decide whether or not he was joking. Then again, Mystery wasn't normally one to tell jokes. He was certainly more of the direct type. "Like...into the shower?"
He nodded.
Zoey blinked. She didn't know whether to laugh or blush. Mystery was busy doing neither of those things as his lips were pressed into a thin line.
Either he was smooth as hell, Zoey thought, or just plain oblivious to the implications of his own words. She would bet on the latter.
A swift knocking interrupted her thoughts as Rumi's voice rang out from the other side of the door. "Medicine delivery!"
"We're here to make you feel better. Do not resist." Mira said this as if it were a threat.
Zoey snuggled back into Mystery's chest with a smile as her friends let themselves into her room, medicine and heating pad in hand. When she saw the cute animal videos already queued up on Mira's phone, she nearly sobbed from how indescribably amazing her family was.