Work Text:
Lee Sa-young stared at his office wall. He'd been unable to get any work done since this morning.
'Am I infertile?'
He had not given it any thought before reuniting with J, too busy trying to find the love of his life to consider the luxuries. But given his poison messed with his taste buds... who was to say it didn't impact his body in other ways.
But how could he go about finding out... it seemed too awkward to call up Nam Woo-jin for something like this, and if he suddenly handed over a deadly sperm sample to the Pado lab crew he'd probably end up with a lawsuit.
Why did it matter? Because Lee Sa-young noticed Cha Eui-jae's soft spot for children. Park Ha-eun, Yoon Ga-eul... what if he wanted kids when they settled down?
Just the other day he watched his hyung stop on his way to the Pado Guild to help a kid get a balloon out of a tree.
And even if he didn't want kids, wasn't it better to have options?
Just as he pondered, Seo Min-gi emerged from his shadow pushed far by the noon sunlight.
"Excuse me Guild Leader, to report about the-"
"Is there anyone from the lab team looking for a salary bonus?"
"... Pardon?"
He decided he would rather risk the lawsuit.
-
This all started after Bae Won-woo opened his big mouth.
After wrapping up work, Lee Sa-young headed over to the hangover soup restaurant to claim his regular table. Bae Won-woo had tagged along as usual.
"Part-timer..." he started when Cha Eui-jae came by to take his order.
"What is it this time?" Cha Eui-jae replied with his best customer service smile.
"Have you ever thought about having kids?"
"..." Both him and Lee Sa-young stared blankly.
"Ah please understand- I heard a few regulars wondering about it the other day and got curious myself."
Cha Eui-jae sighed, putting away his pen and notepad. "I haven't given it much thought, no."
"I see..." Bae Won-woo said sheepishly.
Unfortunately, that was all it took to send Lee Sa-young’s mind into a spiral.
-
It took a week and a half of impatient waiting for Lee Sa-young to receive the results.
He found the report on his desk one morning without prior notice. Likely done this way to prevent casualties. They all saw him as the type to shoot the messenger, after all. (Which he was.)
Lee Sa-young reclined his chair, carefully lifting the corner of the protective folder to read the last page.
'Conclusion: Subject is infertile.'
Lee Sa-young bit the inside of his cheek. No- it was too early to grieve. He fliped back to the page with detailed results. It could be because Cha Eui-jae’s immunity wasn't taken into account.
'Poison confirmed as the cause. Sperm are killed within their first stage of development, therefore, already dead long before exiting the body.'
"Shit."
The page crumpled in his gloved hand. He was devastated. Just how was he going to break the news to his hyung.
He spent the remainder of the day sulking in his office. Although the paperwork still got done, the Guild Leader’s mind was elsewhere. His feet dragged on his way out the building and lead him to his only source of comfort. Which was unfortunately also the source of his stress.
A run-down hangover soup sign hung above his head like his heavy conscience. The closed sliding doors and dimmed interior, for the first time, appeared uninviting. Lee Sa-young stood there ominously like one of those soup-deprived zombies Cha Eui-jae would deal with in the morning. Was he any better than those zombies?
The door slid open.
"Are you going to keep standing there like that? I nearly called the bureaux to report an addict," Cha Eui-jae gripped. But the irritation died from his voice when his eyes landed on Lee Sa-young’s pitiful figure. "Did something happen?"
Lee Sa-young slumped in and went to sit at his usual table in the dark. Cha Eui-jae hesitantly joined him.
"I'm sorry, hyung..."
"Why... What did you do?"
A folder slid across the table and stopped in front of him. The part-timer raised an eyebrow and lifted the corner of the document, just as Lee Sa-young had done earlier. And then he set it back down.
"What is this about?"
"Did you read it?"
"Yes?" Cha Eui-jae pushed the folder back. "I don't see how it applies to me."
"But you said you weren't sure if you wanted kids. What if you decide-"
If looks could kill, Lee Sa-young would've disintegrated.
"I can't get pregnant, you brat!"