Archive of Our Own

***

WHEN JIMIN saw those distinct two pink lines, an influx of emotions coursed through him that his legs shook without his permission and he immediately sought out to sit on the toilet lid. 

He was happy—of course he was, this was his and Jeongguk’s pup! He was surprised—because how the fuck did they manage to conceive after spending one mating cycle together—but then again, semantics. And he was, above all, scared—because how the fuck are they going to do this? They still haven’t finished college, their careers barely even starting, their relationship entirely too fresh, and now they have a pup on the way…

Jimin knew he had a choice. He could make a call, schedule an appointment in the clinic downtown. Jeongguk didn’t even have to know. He had no right to control Jimin’s decision anyway, not that he would because his alpha was too righteous than that. 

Was his alpha going to accept it in the first place? Or would he bolt right out the door the moment he’d know?

And yet when Jimin touched his belly that time, he could almost feel their pup’s heartbeat through everything separating them. 

That night, he watched as Jeongguk snored lightly on their nest, arm loosely thrown over Jimin’s waist. The pregnancy test was still hidden in Jimin’s desk, well placed between his textbooks where Jeongguk doesn’t bother enough to look. 

Right then and there, Jimin knew he couldn’t make that call. And that Jeongguk would not leave him hanging because no, not his Jeongguk.

Was it selfish? He didn’t know, but Jimin knew—he wasn’t sure how or why—but they were gonna be okay. They will figure this out. As long as Jeongguk was here—and even in the slim chance he wouldn’t be—Jimin will thrive to give their pup the best life he could give them. No matter what.

“We’re gonna be okay, my pup,” Jimin whispers into the dark, one hand caressing his belly, and the other resting on the nest of his alpha’s hair.

***

JIMIN DEBATES how to tell Jeongguk for days. The simplest thing to do is to ask his alpha to sit down with him, show him the results, and pray for the best. Yet that is entirely too plain—and boring too!—so Jimin brainstorms. 

He can’t ask any of his friends because aside from himself, he wants Jeongguk to know first. So, he turns to the world’s most trusted confidant—the Internet.

The damn thing is both useful and not. Jimin has scoured through too many Reddit threads, lengthy blogs, trendy Instagram reels, and it takes little time for him to get overwhelmed. The sudden onslaught of options brought him indecision, and now he can’t choose among all the hundred ways he can do it.

A Reddit user told her alpha by giving him a shirt that says “Congrats, papa”. A blog writer said he didn’t bother doing an elaborate surprise because the moment he got the results, he was too pumped that he went out of the bathroom butt naked. Then there was this influencer who baked two cookies—one pink, the other blue—and gave it to her alpha and made her choose. And when said alpha did choose, she dropped the line with “that’s nice! Let’s see in nine months!”

Each time he has an option, a part of him keeps on making counterarguments. It’s too common. It’s not unique. It’s too expensive. Now, that requires too much effort and time he doesn’t have. Now, that’s also too low-effort. It’s too obvious. But that too, is too complicated. 

It’s endless!

“You okay, baby?” Jeongguk brings him out of his stupor.

He stands behind Jimin, with only his sweatpants on, positioned low enough for his Calvins to peek out along with that sinfully crafted v-line. Sometimes Jimin forgets that this fine specimen of an alpha is finally his and his alone.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jimin beams at him.

Jeongguk regards him for a second longer.

“You sure, omega?”

Jimin laughs. “Yes! I’m just thinking about my paper that’s due next week. I have to start planning out drafts. It’s killing me, alpha.”

Jimin pouts.

Jeongguk kisses the crown of his head, rich petrichor surrounding him instantly. Strawberries sweeten.

“You’re gonna figure it out like you always do. Don’t worry too much about it, hm? I’ll bring you iced caramel and strawberry cupcakes after my classes.”

Jimin pouts even more as he looks up to him.

“I love you,” he says.

Jeongguk’s lips curve before he leans down to give Jimin a chaste kiss.

“I love you more.”

Then he moves away to prepare their toast and coffee. While waiting for it, Jeongguk grabs the last banana from their basket. He turns to Jimin and presents it to him.

“You want, baby?”

Jimin shakes his head. “No, you can have it.”

“But do you want it?”

Jimin laughs again.

“Alpha, go eat it.”

“Okay,” Jeongguk settles, and leans on the counter. 

“We should get groceries later too,” he tells Jimin between bites.

“Yeah…” Jimin trails off, watching the peel laying beside Jeongguk’s cup of coffee. 

His eyes linger on it. Thoughts start to race one after the other, then a plan quickly forms in his mind like dots finally connecting after almost two antagonizing weeks.

He looks up to Jeongguk.

His lips curve into a wide smile, a giggle bubbling out his chest.

“We really should.”

***

WHEN JEONGGUK  gets home, two bags are already placed on the counter as Jimin arranges the newly-bought items. Petrichor saturates easily arond their apartment, announcing his alpha’s presence before Jimin can ever look back to greet him.

“Jeonggukie!” Jimin says and smiles.

Jeongguk frowns, one hand holding the bag with the logo of Jimin’s favorite cafe.

“You didn’t wait for me,” his alpha sulks.

“My professor cancelled my last class so I figured I’d do it myself.” Jimin walks toward him.

Jeongguk is still not smiling, petrichor now tinged with bitter undertones. Jimin scrunches his nose. Shit, it truly seems he had him upset.

“Why do it yourself when we can do it together?”

“To save time?”

“That’s unnecessary.”

Jimin laughs. “Okay, I promise that will be the last time I’m getting groceries alone.”

Jeongguk places the cafe takeout down the counter, glaring at the bags as if it personally offends him. Jimin does not doubt it, honestly.

“They are heavy, Jimin-ah.”

“Hey!” Jimin pouts. “Just because I am an omega and not an alpha like you doesn’t make me weak and incapable of doing mundane things such as getting groceries!”

Jeongguk’s eyes soften and seeks Jimin’s hands.

“You know I don’t think that. I just don’t want you exhausted. Besides,” he grins, “don’t act like you don’t secretly like seeing me carry things for you. You and your strength kink—”

“Okay, shut up now,” Jimin presses his finger against his lips. “One more word and I might not thank you for your cupcakes and iced caramel.”

Jeongguk archs a brow. “Fine by me, and I can take it out to the trash anytime I want.”

Jimin gasps. “Don’t you dare!”

Jeongguk laughs and kisses Jimin’s forehead. The omega almost instantly melts at the soft gesture because what the actual magical fuck is Jeongguk concoting in every meal that he serves Jimin. It is impossible to be inlove at this rate and at this intensity. It has to be insanity, somehow. 

Maddening enough for Jimin to almost forget the intricate plan he’d formulated in his mind like his IQ is higher than Namjoon (it isn’t). Nevertheless, he isn’t high-ranking in his courses for nothing!

And this plan absolutely needs to work. Fool-proof.

“I’m kidding,” Jeongguk brings him back to reality. “They’re all yours, baby.”

“Thank you, alpha. You’re the sweetest to me.” Jimin beams up at him.

Jeongguk’s chest swells in pride, even when his cheeks are dusted with an adorable shade of crimson. Like tiny red snowdrops. Jimin wants to coon, his hand almost touching his belly. 

Will their pup look like him too? God, Jimin hopes they will. Well, perhaps a combination of them both because won’t it be too unfair for him to carry them for nine months only for them to be a carbon copy of their father?!

He stops his hand before it fully finishes the action.

“Which reminds me,” Jimin turns and picks up the very thing he’s been gearing towards with shaking anticipation since he arrived home. “I bought these for you!”

And Jimin turns to Jeongguk and presents to him his beautiful, marvelous gift.

Jeongguk’s brows knit together as he looks down at them.

“Those are… bananas.”

“They are!”

“In single pieces.” Jeongguk’s eyes scan each one nestled in Jimin’s arms as if he’s carrying their pup. It is great practice, not gonna lie. “Nine pieces, to be exact.”

“Yes!” Jimin smiles.

“That’s… they didn’t come in a bunch?” 

Jimin shakes his head. “Nope. Which was very inconvenient. All their bunches were rotten so they allowed us to pick apart those that were not. You should have seen us earlier. We were standing by the aisle for a good half hour, trying to see which one didn’t contain maggots… or whatever.”

Jeongguk chuckles then takes the bananas off Jimin’s arms.

“You shouldn’t have bothered, baby. We could’ve waited for their new delivery.”

“But our supply ran out. And you love bananas. So, I made sure to get ones for you!” Jimin grins at him and points at the fruits. “Nine pieces, to be exact.”

“An ‘I love you’ would have sufficed, but thank you, baby.”

“You’re welcome, alpha!”

Phase 1 of Letting Jeongguk Know He’s Now a Father: completed.

***

JIMIN INITIALLY wanted to wait for a week to pass before commencing Phase 2 of Letting Jeongguk Know He’s Now a Father but Jimin is… impatient. To say the least. And apart from the excitement-induced leg shaking he’s been doing since two days ago, it’s been getting harder to hide things from Jeongguk. There is only so much vomiting at 3AM Jimin can do before he officially taps out and throws the stick at his alpha’s face.

So Phase 2 starts today, three days after Phase 1.

He lines up in the grocery mart, munching on fresh strawberries from a pack he has yet to pay, when the woman behind him side-eyes him.

Jimin’s face, which was melting in the sweet taste of the fruit which he thinks might go well with vinegar, sours at her obviously targeted look.

“I’ll pay for this, you know,” Jimin tells her.

“Didn’t say anything,” she says.

“Didn’t have to,” Jimin rolls his eyes. 

Good thing the cashier is a kind beta who offers him a gentle smile, and doesn’t say anything as she checks out all the items Jimin picked out. All ten of them, to be exact, including his pack of new addiction.

“Thank you!” Jimin says to her before leaving the mart. 

As he drives home, his legs do the annoying shaking again during stoplights, as he imagines how Jeongguk would react this time. Will he find it odd now? Or will he just say thank you again like last time? What if he’ll never actually get it because Jimin is being too subtle? Can he survive another weeks, worse months, of 3AM vomitting, because frankly, he cannot.

“No, he’s a smart man, he’ll eventually clock it,” Jimin whispers to himself as he parks.

Waiting for Jeongguk wasn’t a very cruelling ordeal because Jimin decides to wolf down his newly-bought strawberries along with his newly-discovered recipe. It is phenomenal to dip it in vinegar that has some teeny-tiny bit of sugar in it. It’s tasteful enough that he is onto his last piece when he hears Jeongguk’s keys rattling outside.

Jimin giggles and arranges everything perfectly on the counter.

“Hi, alpha!” Jimin greets him before Jeongguk can finish taking off his shoes.

His laugh vibrates into Jimin and the omega almost sighs—in relief? In contentment? In love? 

Pregnancy has been doing odd things to him. Jimin has read about them but he didn’t know they can be this all too-consuming. Besides the vomiting, he’s been sensitive to smells and all he wants is petrichor to sit in his nose for hours, for weeks, for years. He also frowns more at the idea of Jeongguk leaving him for class, and sulks in his own class because why is his alpha not with him?

It’s… a learning curve, and Jimin is just grateful to be held like this. 

“I miss you, my Jeonggukie,” he confesses.

Jeongguk laughs again and properly embraces Jimin this time.

“I wasn’t away for long, hyung.” 

“Long enough,” Jimin pouts.

Jeongguk stares at him for a second longer, his smile not deterred, but it’s that lengthier-than-usual regard that has Jimin springing up in both delight and fear. Did Jeongguk notice something was strange? But it was too early! They were still in Phase 2!

“Just say you hate your omega and leave.” Jimin feigns a scoff and moves away from him.

Jeongguk, because he too has now become a little shit ever since they got together, pretends to hum.

Jimin archs a brow at him.

“You are saying anything, alpha?”

Jeongguk peers down at him, his eyes growing a shade darker.

“You can murder a thousand people and I can never hate you, omega.”

As grotesque as it may be, Jimin cannot help but feel warmed by his words. It further convinces him, confirms to him, that there truly is nothing to fear in this new chapter in their lives. Not with Jeongguk in it.

“Good! Otherwise, I would’ve thrown all of these.” Jimin points to the cartoons on the counter. “All nine of them. And I would’ve laugh while you cried.”

Jeongguk finally turns to the man (cartoons) of the hour.

“Banana milk?” Jeongguk cocks his head to the side as he asks.

“Yup!” Jimin gives him one. “They were out of stock the last time. Good thing, I was right on time when they delivered earlier.”

Jeongguk accepts the milk, albeit hesitantly.

“Isn’t nine too many?”

“Do you truly believe that, you banana-milk-hogger?”

Jeongguk laughs.

“Fair point, omega. Well played.”

As Jeongguk sips on one of the milks and places the other eight inside the fridge, Jimin wonders if things are finally stating to click for his alpha.

Or has it not?

Nevertheless!

Phase 2 of Letting Jeongguk Know He’s Now a Father: completed.

***

JIMIN LIFTS the shirt higher and inspects it better under the store’s bright lighting. It’s a size extra large which is an upsize than Jeongguk’s normal but he’s always preferred his shirts way larger on his frame. The fabric is soft and smooth on the skin which is a good thing (for the both of them). And most importantly, it is is a plain black shirt aside from the huge number 9 printed on the back.

It took him half a week to brainstorm his next gift, and another half to actually scour the ends of the Internet to actually find something like it. He was gonna give up on the idea when he stumbled upon this local website a bit farther from the city, but that’s okay! Anything for his alpha.

Jimin giggles to himself as he pays for the clothing at the register.

He cannot wait to give it to Jeongguk. Then steal it for himself a week or two after, now heavily scented with rich petrichor. It will be a perfect addition to his nest. See, maybe he really was buying things for himself and not for his alpha. 

Last night, he finished (shamefully, okay!) the last two banana milks on the fridge while Jeongguk was snoring his lungs out beside him. You can’t blame Jimin! He’s pregnant and always hungry and–whatever.

Jeongguk was already awake when he got back to their apartment, torso bare as he sautés what smells to be onions and garlic in their kitchen. Jimin groans in his throat as his belly grumbles, instantly kicking his shoes off, the shopping bag rustling in his haste.

“Alpha!” Jimin greets in delight. “I’m hooome! God, that smells so good.”

Jeongguk chuckles as Jimin wraps his arms around Jeongguk’s waist, nosing around the expanse of his back. His alpha always smells ridiculously magnificent. The type of scent that Jimin wants to put in a bottle so he can save it up and sniff whenever and wherever he wishes to. Hm, people should start looking into that. He will tell Namjoon later.

“Was the bus ride okay?” Jeongguk caresses Jimin’s knuckles with his thumb. “Was watching your location the whole time, but I was still agitated. Why didn’t you want me to drive you there, anyway?”

“I wanted to take the bus. It’s been a long time since I did.” That part wasn’t a lie though.

“Why?” Jeongguk almost sounds genuinely confused. “You have me. I’m your bus, omega.”

Jimin laughs. “Your usually my bus, alpha. There’s a difference.”

Jeongguk grunts, as if he isn’t still convinced, but he relents nevertheless. Even before they got together, Jeongguk has always insisted in being Jimin’s personal driver wherever he may go. He never complains. Rather, he even insists, always goes out his trouble to do things for Jimin.

Now that he pauses to think about it, Jeongguk has done many things that inconvenienced him for Jimin’s convenience.

Jimin hides his smile on Jeongguk’s back.

God, he’s gonna be such a good father.

When they eat, Jimin climbs on Jeongguk’s lap because (1) he finally can now, (2) he’s pregnant and he can have whatever he wants, (3) he wants Jeongguk physically close to him that he can feel his warmth and have petrichor wafting around him or else he might probably die.

Jeongguk doesn’t complain, doesn’t even ask. He readily adjusts himself to accommodate Jimin like it’s the most normal thing in the world. Well, it’s Jeongguk. In normal circumstances, his alpha clings to him like a koala more than Jimin does.

Before Jimin can ask Jeongguk to be fed, a spoon is already pressed on his mouth.

Jimin beams at him.

“Thank you, alpha!”

“Welcome, baby.”

The smell first hits him. Intrusive and dizzying and absolutely disgusting–how did something so aromatic turn into whatever sorcery this is?! Bile rapidly rises in Jimin’s throat, the toast from his breakfast threatening to throw all over Jeongguk’s delicately plated and lovingly cooked meal.

Fuck. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Jimin swallows what he thinks might be the beginning of his soon-to-be-vomit and widens his smile for his sweet, unknowing alpha.

He takes the spoon into his mouth, hides his grimace with an even wider smile from ear to ear if possible, and immediately swallows. Just in case the taste won’t last longer if it won’t stay longer on his tongue. Somehow, it doesn’t work, and Jimin craves for the glass of water that is just right fucking there but taking it this early will raise Jeongguk’s suspicion. And Jimin cannot do that?! Not when his alpha always works himself harder to cook Jimin meals that are normally delicious but this one in particular–

“How is it, hyung?”

Jimin smiles.

“Perfect, like always, Ggukie,” he lies through his teeth.

Would it be still a lie, though? He’s pregnant, so there must be an exception, right? Because Jeongguk’s cooking never misses. God, Jimin already hates the awful parts of pregnancy. Does their baby not like their appa’s cooking?! A betrayal!

Jeongguk smiles, his chest puffing in pride. “Good. Finish that all. There’s more in the pan.”

“Yay, more for me,” Jimin slowly laughs to himself.

Fuck.

He immediately scours for an excuse, something, anything, because the bile is rising threateningly higher now.

He spots the shopping bag.

“Oh!” He jumps on Jeongguk’s lap and hurries for it. “Which reminds me! I bought something for you earlier!”

Jeongguk turns to him as Jimin hands him the bag.

“What’s this, baby?”

“See for yourself!”

Thankfully, now that he is farther from the source of his nausea, Jimin can breathe easier and think clearer. He watches as Jeongguk carefully opens the bag, as he takes the shirt out, as he displays it open in front of him, then as he turns it around to see the design printed at the back.

“Do you like it?” Jimin asks, hands clasped.

“I do, it feels very soft, hyung.” Jeongguk smiles at him. “Thank you, baby.”

“You’re welcome, Jeonggukie!” Jimin’s fingers fidget. “Do you like the color? The design?”

Jeongguk nods, “yeah, it’s black. It’s simple.” He points at the lone digit on its back. “Minimalist style.”

“Right?” Jimin grins. “Number nine!”

Jeongguk slowly nods at him,, his stare unwavering. He drops the shirt on his lap as he cocks his head to the side.

“Yeah, you seem to like that number recently, hyung.”

Jimin blinks innocently. “Do I?”

“You do not?” Jeongguk’s brows furrow.

“Anyway, we should watch a movie!” Jimin heads for the couch, just as Jeongguk’s stool scraped against the floor.

“Hyung, you didn’t finish your food yet.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“But I want to watch Netflix, alpha.” Jimin pretends to whine that increasingly becomes real now because the thought of nearing their counter table right now threatens to destroy his intricately-formulated-under-the-sheets masterplan.

“I’ll bring it there,” Jeongguk takes the plates.

“Jeonggukie, can you cook me popcorn?”

Jeongguk stops, the dent on his brows deepening.

“Popcorn?”

“Yes, please,” Jimin pouts at him. “I really want popcorn right now. And we can eat that for dinner. Please? Pretty, pretty please?”

Jeongguk looks at him for a second longer.

Then he sighs.

Jimin internally pats himself in the back for a job well done.

“You are such a princess,” Jeongguk says but he places the food in a dish anyways, before putting it inside the fridge.

“Do you hate me now?” Jimin’s lips quiver, and raptly watches Jeongguk’s face. His pulse hammers slightly, waiting for the reaction.

Is he too demanding now? Is he too overbearing? Does Jeongguk think he doesn’t like his food? But it isn’t his intention! Even he felt betrayed by their pup’s tastebuds! What is he supposed to do? Does Jeongguk truly hate him now?

Jeongguk’s laughter breaks his stupor.

His alpha is suddenly behind the couch, leaning down and places a gentle kiss on the crown of Jimin’s head.

“I’ll die before that happens, omega,” he whispers.

Jimin’s breaths even out, strawberries sweetening up a notch.

“Go pick a movie. I’ll prepare your popcorn quickly.”

Jimin giggles to himself as he reaches for the remote and the blanket on the pouch. He wraps it around himself and raises the fabric to his nose, inhaling a lungful of petrichor and strawberries combined into an comforting mix.

God, he truly loves that man.

Jimin listens to Jeongguk in the kitchen.

Phase 3 of Letting Jeongguk Know He’s Now a Father: completed.

***

“STUPID, STUPID, stupid,” Jimin mutters incessantly and picks up the item nearest to him, which happens to be a pillow, and throws it with all his strength (very little strength). It hits nothing, makes no sound, and Jimin kicks his legs like a damn pup. He leans against the legs of the couch, tears welling in his eyes, because damn this fucking stupid, stupid, stupid–

–okay.

It’s okay. Everything is okay and well. I am calm. He is calm. We are calm.

He looks at the half-inflated balloon on his lap. His eyes glisten, lips trembling, and suddenly, he wants to sob. He wants to cry until he can’t, to scream until his neighbors bring them a noise complaint, to pop all these stupid balloons that he’s spent almost two hours on! He wants to do all of them.

He wants to do even more, but he also just want to return to his nest and sleep to the scent of petrichor; forget all this even happened.

And the worst of it all, he hates how something so small turns him into some miniature version of Hulk when he doesn’t even get angry. He’s Jimin. He never gets angry.

Why are balloons so hard to inflate, anyway? He has a fucking pump. All it needs is to suck air. How fucking hard is that?! At this point, Jimin can suck better than these damn stupid plastics. Jeongguk can attest to that.

As tempting as his nest is, he can’t give up now. He doesn’t want to. Jeongguk is due to return in less than half an hour and he’s not even halfway yet. The stress and the pressure is making him crave the strawberry mini cake Jeongguk got him yesterday. Never mind that he’s already had a couple of slices at lunch. Who’s judging anyway? He wants cake!

But he also doesn’t want to stand up. And he doesn’t have time to stand up and munch.

Jimin sighs, rubs the wetness in his eyes, and gets back to the stupid balloon-pumping again.

Jeongguk has this big project he was working on in one of his majors for almost half the semester now, and he’s presenting it to his panel today. He obviously hasn’t messaged Jimin yet with how it went but Jimin still wanted to do something when he gets home; to make something special regardless of the result. Originally, he was going to cook his ultimate kimchae jiggae recipe that his alpha is willing to kill for, he also bought this anime merch that he liked when they last went out, when it hit him.

Phase 4 of his covert operation is perfect for this occasion.

So here he is: frustrated, hungry, mad, hungry, annoyed, did he mention hungry?

It takes him fifteen minutes to finish inflating all balloons because there is no greater pressure than a ticking clock. All of them are golden that would’ve looked beautiful had they not resembled the size of fucking small melon. But they would have to do. It’s the thought that matters, anyway, despite how it gnaws on Jimin’s nerves.

He ties them all around their kitchen counter, surrounding the cake, kimchae jiggae, and gift at the center. He side-eyes his balloons each time he passes by them because it is the only imperfect thing in this whole set-up. He’s currently lighting his unscented candles when the knob rattles and Jeongguk’s boots thud in their doorway.

Jimin forgets all about the balloons, the earlier fury, the tears and the kicking. His eyes brighten as he waits for Jeongguk to reach their kitchen, his tiny socked feet rocking in anticipation. It takes his alpha less than a minute more to see him, and–

“Baby…” Jeongguk gapes at him.

“Surprise!” Jimin yells in glee.

He wants to jump into his arms like he always does, but he doesn’t want to do anything strenuous; what if it’ll harm their pup? Will it? Jimin should add that to his list of ‘things to research for our dear pup’. Not to mention, the parenting class, the prenatal, the check-ups he has yet to go to. His task list is ever growing and Jimin needs to start crossing them one by one before he’ll lose his mind. First of which is to finish this damned covert operation.

Jimin beams at Jeongguk and wraps his arms around his waist.

“Congratulations! How did it go?”

Jeongguk looks at the counter again. “Baby…”

“It’s nothing,” Jimin says.

“It’s not nothing, hyung.” Jeongguk cradles his face and kisses him tenderly. “You didn’t have to.”

“But I wanted to!” Jimin rests his chin against Jeongguk’s chest. “So, how did it go? Did you go all alpha on them? Did you woo them and impress them with your prowess?” His eyes narrow. “Were there omegas there?”

His alpha’s laughter vibrate in his chest.

“If there were any omegas there, I didn’t notice. And,” Jeongguk winks at him. “Aced the presentation like a fuckin’ champ.”

“That’s my alpha!” Jimin hugs him a little tighter. “I knew you could do it. Anyway, even if it was gonna go well, you know it would’ve been their fault, right? They’re a shitty panel. And anyway I just wanted to make tonight special for you, regardless.”

“Jimin-ah,” Jeongguk trails off.

“I bought cake and look at this paper bag! Check that out later, you’ll lose your mind.” He giggles. “I also cooked your favorite.”

“And you even pumped balloons?”

Jimin frowns a little. “Tried to anyway.”

Jeongguk pulls him closer as he inspects each shameful nine of them. That was the whole point—for him to notice them, and hopefully to note (once more) that they’re nine but now, Jimin doesn’t want him looking at them. He’d rather have his alpha look at the cake instead, or at his lovely kimchae jiggae!

“Don’t look at them!” Jimin whines. “They’re fucking horrendous.”

“Don’t say that. You made them all pretty for me. All…” he pauses. “… nine of them.”

“They’re not, you’re lying! I was fighting for my life just to get one of them inflated. I hate them. They’re the bane of my existence. I think I only got one right.” Jimin picks the one that looks closest to a watermelon. “Here, hold this so I can take photos of you.”

Jeongguk chuckles and while Jimin knows that his alpha is not the greatest fan of taking pictures of any kind, much less himself, he dutifully takes the balloon, takes the cake, and smiles for Jimin’s camera. He doesn’t need to pose because his alpha is the most beautiful and photogenic man alive; Jimin is the luckiest omega in the whole world.

“Come here, baby,” Jeongguk says only after a few clicks.

“Eh, but I haven’t taken a lot.”

“You’ve taken enough. I want more of our pics.”

How can Jimin say no to that?

So, he readily slots himself to the arm Jeongguk has opened for him and snaps a dozen of photos, the flash blinding them both, but it doesn’t matter. Jimin cannot wipe the smile off his face as he takes more candid photos of Jeongguk and their mini celebration. He doesn’t check if they’re pretty or if any of them are even Instagrammable because it doesn’t matter anymore.

He’s happy.

Despite Jimin’s protests, Jeongguk carefully plucks out the pasted balloons on the counter and cradles them all like a baby against his chest, then he turns to the camera with a cheeky smile. Jimin’s fingers hover on the shutter for a while, the image blinding him. For a split second, reality changes and suddenly, gone are golden balloons and on their place instead, is a small pup wrapped in the softest of onesies.

Jimin blinks.

He swears he feels something flutter in his belly.

He clicks the camera.

Phase 4 of Letting Jeongguk Know He’s Now a Father: completed.

***

JIMIN DROPS the packs of ramen on the counter and smiles like a proud mother hen. Ooh, he likes that thought. Is that what Jimin will look like when he will hang medals around their pup’s neck because they are an absolute genius like their mother? Or when they’ll excel in any sport because they take after  their father’s adrenaline addiction? Or when they’ll successfully open a bottle without anyone’s help?

God, Jimin cannot physically wait anymore.

Jeongguk looks up from his iPad, his pen hanging on between his fingers as he glances at the items on the table, then up at Jimin who grins at him.

“Baby?” Jeongguk looks at the ramen again. “I thought you went out for a run.”

“I did, but I passed by Walmart and I remembered you wanted to eat ramen the other night but already ran out of it. So, I bought one!”

“One is an understatement.” Jeongguk chuckles, but the knit on his brows remain. “That’s an eight short of what you actually bought.”

Jimin pouts, “you sound upset. Why do you sound upset? You don’t like it?!”

The omega cannot tell if he is acting or in the verge of actually getting upset himself because this is not the reaction he imagined when he formulated his Phase 5 plan. He even made the excuse of going on a run! He rarely goes on runs now!

“No, baby, I do.” Jeongguk stands and reaches for him. “It’s not that, I do like it. It’s just–”

His alpha pauses as if he’s trying to find the right words while Jimin is internally screaming for him to finish the sentence. 

It’s just–what, alpha? Say it, say it, say it! Cooperate with this covert operation so it may finally reach its end because Jimin is one 3AM vomit away from actually throwing the pregnancy test at Jeongguk’s snoring form.

“It’s just what?” Jimin asks when he cannot take it anymore.

“Okay, omega, seriously, what’s the deal?”

Jimin blinks at him innocently.

“What’s the deal with what?”

“You and your obsession with the number nine.” Jeongguk finally utters the words Jimin has been hoping for him to say.

The omega waits for the moment to click for Jeongguk. He already uttered the word nine, doesn’t it say something, anything to him?

A part of Jimin wants Jeongguk to realize right now, never mind the fact that there are still four other phases supposedly on the way; and that Jimin would lead him to that realization if that meant he has his alpha rubbing his back every time he wants to die on the toilet bowl.

But another part of him also doesn’t want him to feed the conclusion to his alpha; he wants Jeongguk to make the conclusion himself, to connect all the dots starting from the first very phase. And he also kinda wants this operation to reach Phase 9 because his ideas for that phase has been absolutely genius.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jimin responds.

Jeongguk looks at him pointedly. “Baby, you do.”

“Alpha, I don’t.”

Jeongguk runs a hand through his hair.

“It started with the bananas.” He explains calmly because Jeongguk seems incapable of raising his voice or getting frustrated when it comes to Jimin. 

“The single pieces because you said the bunches were rotten. Then the banana milks. Then the shirt, which wasn’t nine pieces but there was a number nine on its back. Then the balloons–”

“Wait, what?”

Jimin pats himself at the back for his flabbergasted tone that matches the equally flabbergasted expression on his face. He can tell the moment Jeongguk’s confidence wavers because the dip on his brows deepen and he does this thing with his lips whenever he’s in a deep thought.

“What do you—You thought those are connected?”

“They’re not?”

“Why would they be?! Wait what—” Jimin starts to laugh and really, someone nominate him an Oscar because if not, he’ll nominate himself.

“It can’t be a coincidence, hyung.” Jeongguk insists which, in his defense, only reflects how observant and intelligent he is, just as Jimin knows he is, and just as Jimin is confident their pup will be.

Too bad Jimin cannot hop on that train right now.

“But that’s what it is, really. I mean do I have to explain—okay, I think I already told you this before. The bananas were because the bunches were rotten. The milks was only because you like them so much. The shirt was because you like that too. And the balloons was for your celebration. Like what—!”

Jimin laughs.

Jeongguk cocks his head to the side.

“But that’s not the only thing I’ve been noticing, omega.”

“Yeah?”

“You’ve been nesting and hogging my clothes a lot more. And eating, and I love that but I don’t understand the things you're stuffing down your belly, baby. Pickles and Nutella? Really? That over my cooking? And don’t think I haven’t noticed you wearing that god-awful perfume.”

So.

Observant.

As Jimin said.

What does a guilty man do when presented with reliable, solid evidence that holds up to no reasonable doubt?

He deflects.

So the omega laughs harder again. He walks toward Jeongguk and plasters chaste kisses all over his face, before finally ending on his lips.

“You are so funny, alpha.” Jimin kisses him again. “But I do hope this is a joke because I might actually schedule us a consultation. These are some serious hallucinations, Jeonggukie.”

Then Jimin leaves a confused, frozen Jeongguk behind, his laughter following his trail.

Phase 5 of Letting Jeongguk Know He’s Now a Father: completed.

***

JIMIN DECIDES that he wants Jeongguk to arrive at Phase 9, because the reveal is too cute for it to go to waste now, so he decides to tame the next phase to lose his alpha’s suspicion. 

Jeongguk has been watching him like a hawk for almost a week now, so Jimin cannot make his move. It’s like he’s a guinea pig stuck in a cage, and his scientist is closely observing him too closely that it’s making him act up!

Finally, today, they are getting groceries together. Jimin’s hand is looped around Jeongguk’s arm while his alpha is pushing the cart.

When they reach the section he’s been eyeing, his eyes light up.

He reaches for the protein powder Jeongguk always uses. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight—

“Nine,” Jeongguk whispers at him.

Jimin squeals and almost drops the last bottle. He turns to Jeongguk: proud that he clearly is still actively connecting the dots, and also annoyed that he is connecting the dots too soon.

“Jeonggukie,” Jimin whines and furrows his brows deep enough for Jeongguk to note the slight spiking in his scent.

Speaking of scents, since his alpha oh-so-helpfully pointed out his excessive use of perfumes, Jimin has to resort on extreme matters aka: masking the steadily-increasing milk undertone of his scent with Jeongguk’s to the point petrichor drowns him almost from flesh to bone. It hits many birds with one stone because (1) the perfumes start to worsen Jimin’s 3AM nausea, (2) his alpha’s scent makes everything infinitely better, and (3) Jeongguk is too smug and proud and comforted with the act to start thinking of anything else.

“Are you still not over that shit?” Jimin fakes a groan and rolls his eyes for the added flair.

He feels only a sliver of guilt when he sees Jeongguk’s eyes widen, how the smug expression on his face softens, how petrichor swims more warmly around them now. Only a sliver of guilt because his alpha will thank him for this unique and genius reveal by the end of Phase 9.

Despite his weird pregnancy mood swings, Jimin cannot be really annoyed by Jeongguk’s insistence (and oblivious participation) in this covert operation. 

In fact, it’s the other things that irks him. Like last night, when Jeongguk was sleeping and unconsciously hogged their blanket. Normally, Jimin would just chase him and hug his body. But last night? Oh, you would bet Jimin was already halfway waking Jeongguk up because why the fuck would he do that? He thought he loved “his omega”.

Of course, he cannot do that.

“Baby…” Jeongguk’s voice softens.

“God, you’re still not over it, are you?”

It takes Jeongguk a minute to respond.

“You did put nine pieces of them in our cart.”

Jimin groans. “Gguk-ah, it’s not a big deal. It’s a random number! And anyways, this is not all for you! I use them too, remember?”

Jeongguk remains silent.

“Cut it out, please.” Jimin sighs and grabs the handle of the cart. “It’s getting annoying.”

As Jimin starts walking away, the guilt is now way more than just a sliver. He stops on his tracks, and risks a glance bank. His alpha has not moved and remains looking at Jimin, a dose of hurt glistening in his eyes. It’s subtle enough to go unnoticed for anyone else, but Jimin does because of course he does.

Fuck.

He overdid himself with that one, did he not?

Now, Jimin wants to cry.

His lips start to quiver. He wants to go back there and apologize. Fuck this stupid bullshit reveal!

No. No.

He shakes his head.

He (they) will see this through!

Phase 6 of Letting Jeongguk Know He’s Now a Father: completed (?).

(When they get home, Jimin immediately gets his arms buried in flour, sugar, milk, and all the ingredients that makes up Jeongguk’s favorite pastry. He bakes them with extra precision, the sour strawberries now seeping past saturated petrichor. Still, Jimin perseveres.

When he gives them to his alpha, flour still dusting his cheek, he does so hesitantly. Almost like how a child would approach their fuming parent when they left the house after being explicitly told not to.

Jeongguk watches him silently first. Jimin’s confidence dwindles. The plate shakes in his grip. Then Jeongguk motions him closer. Jimin instantly climbs into his lap—almost scared that Jeongguk will change his mind. He tucks his nose where petrichor sits the strongest, and refuses to leave his alpha for many, many hours.

It’s okay. Jeongguk doesn’t complain.)

***

JIMIN TRULY wants to go with Jeongguk for his first doctor appointment. But he’s approaching almost 8 weeks now and the very fact that he hasn’t yet gone to one, hasn’t been given instructions how to properly care for himself and their pup, hasn’t yet heard their heartbeat, is making him restless. So he makes the appointment.

When he first hears the rhythmic dum-dum in the small clinic, Jimin sobs so hard his doctor panics how to console him. When he calms down just enough, he listens attentively to every medical advice and takes note. He also dutifully buys all prenatal vitamins.

And when he reaches his car, he stares at the little bean in the ultrasound picture, and Jimin cries again for a good 15 minutes. He takes active breathing exercises fort he next 15. He cannot be sad anymore, because his pup might be sad too, and that cannot be. Starting from now, no more crying!

Now, with the gift box in his hand, Jimin goes to Jeongguk who is writing his notes on his desk, with a slight skip in his step.

“Alphaaa,” he sings as he approaches him.

Jeongguk looks up, “hm?”

Jimin smiles at him.

“I have a gift for you, Jeonggukie!”

Jeongguk cocks a brow at him, then glances at the carefully wrapped box Jimin presents to him. The omega even tied with a cute red ribbon! He had to watch a YouTube video for it to sit perfectly.

“Really?” Jeongguk asks.

“Yes!”

Jeongguk looks up, his lips curving up ever so subtly.

“What nine items have you bought for me now, hyung? Any new promos this time?”

Yes, alpha, be a lot more perceptive now, we are nearing Phase 9! Yet, of course, because Jimin is now qualified to hold his own acting lessons at this point, the omega fakes a frown. He allows his shoulders to deflate as he peers down on his socked feet with his lashes. Socks Jeongguk got him for his birthday last year.

“I thought we were over that,” Jimin says softly.

“We were?” Jeongguk’s tone isn’t necessarily mocking, but it isn’t purely genuine either.

“Alpha,” Jimin pouts harder this time.

He even feigns a sniffle for the added effect and because he knows Jeongguk loves him, whatever tension sits on his alpha’s shoulder eases. Almost mimicking his posture whenever they argue and Jimin knows he is wrong as well as Jeongguk knows he is wrong but the omega doesn’t want to admit it; so he does what he does best and sulks and be sad. And Jeongguk does what he does best and surrenders defeat.

Jeongguk takes the box and carefully unties the ribbon. He opens them and there cushioned between the foam are nine silver rings in various designs and sizes. Jimin is proud of himself for that. Hell, he stood in the store for hours painstakingly choosing which ones Jeongguk will like best!

“They were thrifted,” Jimin explains.

“I chose them all with so much love,” he decides to add. “So, you better like them and use them regularly!”

Jeongguk’s lips quirk up.

“Will you? Do you like it?” Jimin waits for a second, but that second is a beat too long so he quickly adds, “well, if you don’t, I’m taking it back! I’ll sell it to a thrift store! Or give it to Tae!”

Jeongguk stands and pulls Jimin to his chest. The omega isn’t entirely sure if the triumphant smile is because he is happy his plan is being successful or the fact that Jeongguk’s love for him displays so visibly even a blind person can see it. Jimin can already recognize what shape it will take form the moment he’ll know of the pup, and it makes him want to cry again.

“I like them, baby.” Jeongguk kisses his head. “Thank you.”

They stay in that position silently, until Jeongguk whispers to him, “you’ve been wearing sweatshirts an awful lot lately.”

Jimin freezes, hopefully not enough to be noticed.

Of course, he has been! As much as he loves their pup with all his heart and will most definitely die for them even when he hasn’t yet met them, the pregnancy also caused him to steadily gain an awful lot of weight. And Jimin doesn’t hate it. In fact, when he’s in the bathroom (locked because Jeongguk might barge in) Jimin often watches himself in the mirror as he caresses his tiny bump. It’s barely there, but he notices the shift. And he can’t wait for it to grow bigger, and bigger!

But Jeongguk doesn’t know yet.

So.

“It’s cold, Jeonggukie,” Jimin reasons.

“Hm,” Jeongguk says softly, his tone not at all accusatory, “it’s summer, hyung.”

It’s not a question. It’s not even accusing. And yet it spikes Jimin’s blood up a notch because Jeongguk is now treading into being too nosy for his own good when they are still in Phase 7! Can he cooperate exactly how he should cooperate?

Jimin removes himself from the warmth and comfort that is his alpha’s arms and glares up at him.

Jeongguk blinks down innocently, silently, watching every angry flickering of Jimin’s lashes.

“Well, I am cold, so there’s that!” He crosses his arms. “Whatever. Hmp!”

Then he walks away.

Whatever!

Phase 7 of Letting Jeongguk Know He’s Now a Father: completed (??).

***

SOMETHING IS definitely wrong with his omega. 

Jeongguk’s certain of it.

The first few times, he brushed it off. Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe he was thinking it too much. Maybe Jimin was just hyperfixating on something at present like how he sometimes do and come two, three months from now, both of them will forget this even occurred. And Jeongguk wouldn’t have minded it too much, even if his omega’s new fixation was a random, insignificant number. 

But it isn’t simply that anymore.

Jimin is behaving strangely.

His scent dulled, either overpowered by perfume or drowned in Jeongguk’s scent. The alpha cannot really complain on the latter, and while it isn’t unusual for Jimin to be scented thoroughly, sweet strawberries still often persist through the musk. Not now. 

One time, he woke up in the middle of the night to find the space beside him cold. Sleep wanes off him in an instant, as he sits up, and searches for his omega. The bathroom light is open, the faucet running fast. Jeongguk wondered then because Jimin was never the type that wakes up mid-sleep to sleep.

And worse, when he exited the bathroom, Jeongguk could swear he looked pale under their dimly-lit bedroom. 

“Baby, are you okay?” Jeongguk asked him then.

“Yeah, just peed,” he responded before returning to their nest and snuggling close to Jeongguk.

The alpha doesn’t want to doubt his omega’s words; never wants to make it seem like he doesn’t believe him, like he doesn’t trust him enough. He does. Painfully so. But how can he ignore the fact that he is being told one thing and yet showed something completely another?

The more he asks, the more his omega raises his defenses, so Jeongguk keeps his mouth shut. But never his eyes. No, since then even before Jimin has been officially his, the alpha never stopped observing him. 

It amplifies now. 

At Jimin’s timely “excuse”, at every food combination he starts eating only an hour after dinner, at every subtle step back whenever he enters the kitchen and Jeongguk is cooking a particular dish, at every hour he spends napping in the middle of day.

He’s missing something, Jeongguk knows, and he’s not sure what it is.

Is he sick? Is Jimin sick? 

No, he wouldn’t keep something like that a secret, he wouldn’t… No, that is exactly what his omega will do to “protect” Jeongguk from the “worrying” and “pain”. As if the alpha will not drag himself through the dirt for him.

He cannot ask his omega directly, because Jimin will only stomp his feet, move away, and exile Jeongguk to the couch. (The alpha wakes up in the middle of the night with Jimin snuggled right in his arms. Neither of them point that out the morning after.)

So he does what he does best, he watches. Why won’t he? He is his alpha.

It starts on a Tuesday while Jeongguk was opening their cabinet to take out his toner and moisturizer. The small, white rectangular film is expertly inserted between Jeongguk’s considerably lesser skincare products compared to the ones beside it. 

He takes the film, the texture familiar between his fingertips, because he’s felt it numerous times before. 

He flips it.

Their faces greet him, smiles wide as they make a V-sign. There’s a considerable distance between them, but their heads are inclined toward each other. 

This was taken when they went for dinner a few days after Taehyung introduced them both to each other. This was the first time Jeongguk met Jimin, whom Taehyung insisted would be a perfect roommate. It was the first time he laid his eyes on him, and when Jimin captured him both body and soul.

Jimin looked like an ethereal being, with eyes as bright as the damn moon, cheeks pink and supple, body carved like a goddess. And when he spoke, his voice was soft and playful but firm when he deemed it necessary. He talked to Jeongguk respectfully, asking questions perhaps to ensure he was safe to live with, filled in the gaps when needed, but never intrusive.

It was when Jeongguk knew was done for.

He smiles at the photo, thumb caressing Jimin’s cheeks.

“So, it’s a polaroid now, huh,” Jeongguk whispers, “what excuse are you going to give me now, baby?”

When asked during breakfast, Jimin only blinks at him and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Jeongguk stares at him.

His omega only blinks back.

Jeongguk nods and inserts the polaroid in his wallet. He doesn’t buy it. He knows Jimin knows he doesn’t buy it. Neither of them mention it again.

The second one is placed beneath Jeongguk’s laptop. 

It was a picture of their vacation in Malta with their friends, almost a year after Jeongguk moved in. The alpha’s hand was wrapped loosely around Jimin’s waist, and Jeongguk vividly remembers what sheer restraint he had to practice not to dig his fingers firmly or pull Jimin closer to him or smell his damn fucking hair like a weirdo. No, he maintained comfortable-friend/roommate-like distance and smiled as he peered down at Jimin while his omega smiled at the camera. 

Jeongguk chuckles at the memory.

He then placed the polaroid right beside the first one on top of his bedside drawer. 

When Jimin climbs into bed that night, he glances at the pictures. Jeongguk watches him do it, at the small, restrained smile his omega hides in his pillow as he looks away.

Jeongguk shakes his head and climbs right after him, and when Jimin crawls into his arms, who is Jeongguk to say no?

The third one falls when Jeongguk grabs his hoodie from their shared wardrobe (shared is an understatement because Jimin takes 75% of the space while Jeongguk’s clothes are nestled in the corner, but that’s okay because Jimin is his omega and he gets whatever he wants).

The alpha picks it up. 

It’s one in their sophomore year where Jeongguk and Jimin were in the couch, popcorns on their blanket-covered laps, with Netflix on the background. It was one of their comfort nights, something that is entirely their own. No Taehyung. No other friends. Just them. 

Jimin had his head on Jeongguk’s shoulder as he smiles at the camera, and while smaller, Jeongguk smiled too. It was a time when Jimin became more comfortable with him, his omega trusting the alpha almost blindly, and Jeongguk had to convince himself to stay in his designated lane. That no amount of skinship could ever make him cross that explicit boundary between them.

He was willing to take whatever scraps Jimin was willing to give him.

Until now, Jeongguk cannot keep the smile off his face as he places the third picture beside the second one.

The fourth one is beneath his banana milk inside the damn fridge. 

Jeongguk chuckles as he takes the cold polaroid out. How does Jimin sneak in all of these without Jeongguk noticing? Truly. The alpha tried to watch his omega as closely as he can but he never finds him sneaking all these polaroids wherever in their home. Not that Jeongguk will stop him of course.

It’s one during their junior year, where they spent a night in the beach, surrounded by campfire. The warm glow reflected their smiles and Jimin was snuggling close to Jeongguk, wrapped in a thick blanket, while Jeongguk had his arms wrapped around his smaller frame. 

This was one of the rare moments Jeongguk allowed himself to make his emotions known without fearing that Jimin would notice it too much, or find it too strange. They were a couple of beers down and Jimin was being extra affectionate and Jeongguk’s control was extra loose. 

Nothing happened that night, of course not, but he can still remember what it was like to have Jimin sleep in his arms, his nose buried in his omega’s hair, wishing that time will stretch on forever.

He places the picture next to the third one.

The fifth one is inserted between the bills in Jeongguk’s wallet. He finds it when he buys himself a snack after gym. 

This was taken when they went to the university fair together. Jeongguk had great plans for that night: enjoy few bottles of beer paired with extra hot chicken wings and have Netflix on the background. Jimin had different plans, and because Jeongguk would rather die than deny his then ‘still-friend-still-roommate-definitely-not-his-omega-but-also-his-omega’ Jimin, it took almost zero convincing for him to go with him.

Jimin is small, even for an omega’s frame, so no matter how much he stood on his tiptoes, his eyesight would not go past the shoulder of the one in front of him.

Jimin did not even have to ask Jeongguk. The alpha was already crouching down and instructing him to climb on his shoulders. With a firm grip on his thigh (to which Jeongguk repeatedly reminded himself to stay on the fucking thighs), he stood on to his full height and gave his omega the night of his life.

Jeongguk carried Jimin for the whole duration of the night. The soreness on his shoulders the following day was worth every fucking hour.

The alpha laughs at the memory, and places it right next to the fourth one.

The sixth is pasted on Jeongguk’s boxing gloves. 

He laughs at the fact that Jimin used tapes that don’t leave residue because his omega knows how stringy Jeongguk gets when it comes to certain possessions. Jimin can never truly understand that even if he destroys ever single thing Jeongguk owns, the alpha will still come crawling back to him.

Jeongguk stares down at the photo lovingly.

It was taken in Tokyo, Japan, right in the middle of the busy street where they were probably seconds away from their deaths. The city lights created a warm glow around their faces, but it isn’t that that made this so memorable. It was the fact that Jimin was kissing his cheek, and the camera captured every piece of Jeongguk’s soul leaving his body.

They were the best of friends then, the omega Jeongguk treated especially, and the alpha Jimin only truly hung out with consistently; but they never did anything like this. It wasn’t to say that Jeongguk never thought of it, because his brain was creative in making believable scenarios of them together, but he never once acted on it. At the expense of Jimin’s comfort, never. 

And for Jimin to do it…

Even when he said “you’re the best-est of friends ever!” right after that fucking kiss, Jeongguk took that memory and engraved it in his heart. Because while his ears might have heard ‘friend’, his damn beating organ chanted ‘alpha’.

Jeongguk places it right next to the fifth one.

The seventh falls from the cupboard when Jeongguk takes the pan out to cook their dinner. It lands on the damp counter and the alpha instantly lifts it. 

This was three days right after they first spent their cycles together; when Jimin forgot his suppressants and Jeongguk entered their apartment smelling the sweet, irresistible strawberries for the first time; when the scent alone triggered Jeongguk’s rut; and Jeongguk’s rut triggered Jeongguk’s heat. And when right after an exhausting, but thrilling week, Jeongguk found the unbridled courage to say, “because I love you.”

The photo showed Jimin on Jeongguk’s back as the alpha cooked. His omega was wrapped around him like koala, scenting and smelling his neck until strawberries and petrichor was indistinguishable. Jimin had always been affectionate, but that was the first time Jeongguk truly felt that each hug, each kiss, each touch meant something; that it finally screamed mine.

Jeongguk places it next to the sixth.

The eight one is on Jimin’s pillow. Jeongguk finds it when he seeks for his omega only for his fingers to find film and not skin.

It’s a picture taken only a few days ago, something Jeongguk doesn’t remember taking. Maybe because he wasn’t supposed to. The alpha throws his head back in laughter.

In the photo, Jimin is tucked beneath Jeongguk’s chin, the alpha’s arms firm around him and kept him close to his chest, while Jeongguk’s lips are parted, eyes shut tight. He can almost hear his own snores reveberating in this very space.

He laughs again.

Jimin always complained about his snoring, even way back when they became official. But despite his endless “stop or I will leave you!” threats, he clings as much (or even harder) as Jeongguk when they sleep. 

He places it next to the seventh one.

The ninth one—which Jeongguk knows is the last one—is on…

It’s on…

…what the fuck?

It’s been exactly a week since the last polaroid and there has been nothing else. Each day featured one polaroid and even when Jeongguk wasn’t looking for them, somehow, they always fell on his lap. And supposedly, because his omega somehow is fixated on the number fucking nine, the ninth polaroid was already seven days late.

Jeongguk watches the eight pictures on his bedside.

Then at Jimin who quickly shifts his head to the side and pretends to watch a TikTok video.

What the fuck?

***

JEONGGUK DOESN’T ask Jimin. Of course not. His omega will only make-up an excuse.

He plans to casually bring up the Tokyo polaroid, not the picture itself but rather the memory, one night but Jimin seemed exhausted from class. Jeongguk forgets about it and cuddles his omega in his sleep. 

Even in exhaustion, Jimin is still wearing one of Jeongguk’s hoodies and hugs a duck plushie that Jeongguk got for him two years ago. The damned duck was demoted to the couch when they became official, but lately, Jimin has taken back to their nest and hugging it to sleep, so when Jeongguk hugs him to sleep, he’s also touching the fucking thing. He doesn’t complain of course because whatever makes his omega happy. 

When he wakes the morning after, he hears Jimin singing in the bathroom. The alpha wipes the sleep off his eyes and leans on the headboard. He reaches for his phone in the bedside table, then stops.

Right below the first polaroid is a yellow sticky note. 

Jeongguk is certain that wasn’t there last night.

He picks it up.

Written in what is definitely Jimin’s neat and cute handwriting is: I was so nervous to meet you then. And hoenstly, I didn’t expect it to go well because well, you’re an alpha, so… But then you were so kind, and well-spoken, and respectful, and annoyingly attractive. Even when we both know you can crush me in an instant. I couldn’t imagine anyone else :(

Jeongguk stares at it for a minute longer.

The bathroom door opens.

Jimin comes out wearing another one of his hoodies, his blonde strands wet.

His omega can see him holding the note that they both know Jimin wrote, but his dear, lovely Jimin only asked, “you want coffee or banana milk?”

Jeongguk takes another minute to reply.

“Alpha?”

“Banana milk,” he finds himself saying.

“Okay!”

As Jeongguk listens to Jimin walk to the kitchen, he stares at the note again. Reads each word again.

Then Jeongguk laughs. He laughs quietly, almost like he doesn’t want Jimin to hear. But it isn’t his intention. Each heaved breathe comes from something he cannot quite name yet.

He sticks the pad right back where he finds it, washes his face, brushes his teeth. And when he gets into the kitchen, he lifts Jimin up in the counter and doesn’t wait either for them to breathe, and smashes their lips together.

The next day, Jeongguk’s second instinct after seeking for Jimin is to read the note, because there has to be a next fucking note or he will lose his mind. 

Jimin is now in the kitchen, and there is a new note right below the second Malta polaroid.

It says: I wished you held me a tiny bit tighter and pulled me a tiny bit closer to you that day :( but I was just shy to ask :(

Jeongguk smiles and traces each ink that his omega might’ve written during class hours, inserted in his study sessions in the library, or during the dead of the night surrounded by Jeongguk’s snores. And of the fact that each ink tells Jeongguk that Jimin wanted him to do the exact thing he himself wanted to do.

When they watched Netflix that morning, he doesn’t bring up the note, doesn’t bring up the fact that Jeongguk wanted to do it too. He just holds his omega a little bit tighter.

The next day, Jeongguk almost doesn’t reach for Jimin this time as he instinctively reaches for the note. Goddamn. He does still grab for his omega but the space beside him is cold and the water is running in the bathroom, as always, because Jimin somehow always never wants to be there when Jeongguk reads his notes that both of them know he puts.

The note says: I know you think of me as someone outgoing, and while I do love to go out and have fun, I cherish these quiet moments with you the most. It’s the time that I have the most fun. With you. In our home. Living with you is always the best part of my day :) (PS. I’m very glad you never brought anyone home ever since you moved in, I wouldn’t have known what to do.)

Jeongguk tries to stop his smile, but he fails, because of course he does.

When Jimin exits the bathroom, Jeongguk immediately grabs him and pulls him to his chest. His omega looks up, startled, his cheeks a healthy flush from what Jeongguk knows is an inhumane, unreasonably, Satan-inviting hot shower.

“I wouldn’t have brought anyone home, you know that,” Jeongguk whispers in his ear.

Jimin blinks a couple of times up at him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jeonggukie.”

Jeongguk chuckles, “why would I need to when the person I want is already in my home?”

The blush deepens, strawberries finally leaking past the heavy petrichor that seems to be now permanently etched on Jimin’s skin.

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Jeongguk brings him closer and whispers against his lips,  “of course you don’t, baby.”

The fourth one reveals: Taehyung once told me who’d I call if I’d ever killed someone, and you know what I told him? I’d call you. I feel the safest whenever I’m in your arms, no matter the context. That night at the beach was so special to me :(

Why does every note start to tell Jeongguk something? Almost like—

“JEONGGUK-AH—!”

The alpha immediately sprints outside their bedroom, ears alert for any noise, eyes scanning for his omega. He finds Jimin skipping in the kitchen, one foot after the other, one hand in his belly, the other holding whatever he can for support. 

When he spots Jeongguk, he immediately rushes to him. Jeongguk, almost by default, catches him in his arms and holds him close, scanning his face, his body for anything that could have caused that god-awful, heart-wrenching sound.

“Are you—”

“There’s a fucking spider! Jeongguk-ah! Take it away! Kill it! Kill it!”

Jeonnguk stares at him for a full minute.

“Gguk-ah! Why are you not moving! Kill it! Kill it!”

Jeongguk heaves a deep breath. Fuck. Jimin truly knows how to effectively kill him. The alpha slowly puts his omega down but Jimin wails again, hands winding around Jeongguk’s neck tightly.

“Don’t put me down, don’t put me down, please, please, please.”

Jeongguk shakes his head. “How am I gonna kill it, baby?”

“Me in your arms!”

“You want to get closer to it?” Jeongguk cocks a brow, but Jimin only tucks his nose in the alpha’s scent gland.

“I’m always safe with you.”

Warmth blooms in the alpha’s chest.

And as he walks to the goddamn spider to “kill it”, Jeongguk holds Jimin’s head and whispers to his hair, “yes, you are.”

Jeongguk is proud to say that he (finally) finds Jimin in the act. The alpha has cracks one eye open, discomforted by the sun’s glare filtering in the slight gap in the curtain, when he catches Jimin pasting the yellow note beneath the fifth frame.

When his omega moves, Jeongguk instantly closes his eyes and evens out his breathing. He feels Jimin coming closer, and the alpha waits with a bated breath. Then a small hand runs through his locks, before it cups his cheeks, and finally, soft lips gently touch his forehead. 

As sudden as the warmth came, it is gone, and Jeongguk instantly misses it.

When the bathroom door is shut close, Jeongguk springs up and takes the paper.

It says: I was really guilty that night. But also very happy because I could actually see them performing, but your shoulders… :( I know I wasn’t very light and you carried me for the whole night :( but you never once complained and it was the best concert experience ever. (PS. as sweet as the gesture, you were very hot for that).

Jeongguk laughs out loud, enough for Jimin to know.

Of course his omega will say that. Him and his shameless strength kink.

Jeongguk stands and shrugs his boxers off, leaving him naked as he heads toward their ensuite bathroom. He turns the knob, unlocked, because of course it is. 

The shower glass fogs and obscures Jimin’s body from view but Jeongguk can still see it, map everything out like a skilled navigator would—from the slender column of his neck, down to his lithe waist, the dip of his hips, to a pair of legs that every alpha will kill for.

But no, no other alpha. Just Jeongguk.

Jeongguk slides the door open.

His omega gasps, though his eyes glimmer in delight. Of course, it does because Jimin knew he was watching. He knows what power he wields over Jeongguk, and he knows how exactly to execute it to bring the alpha down to his knees.

Jeongguk crowds him to the wall, the scalding water hitting his back. He pays it no mind as he peers down at his omega.

“You insult me by saying I can’t carry you forever, omega,” Jeongguk leans further down so their eyes will meet. He revels in the soft pink that adorns his omega’s cheeks, at the way those mesmerizing eyes start to dilate. For him. 

“I-I don’t—”

“I’ll prove it to you, in case you needed some reminding,” then Jeongguk lifts Jimin up, those sinful legs wrapping around his waist deliciously, as he crashes his lips against his omega’s.

His and not one else’s. 

Jeongguk (unfortunately) doesn’t find Jimin doing the same on the sixth note. His omega is already well into whatever season of whatever show he’s currently fixating on in their living room when Jeongguk wakes up.

He reaches for the note with one eye open, careful not to crumple it accidentally as he moves it closer to his face.

It says: Tokyo has a special place in my heart. It was the country I wanted to visit the most, and I’m glad I did it first with you. Kissing you on the cheek was very bold of me, and impulsive too. But I couldn’t help myself. I can blame the city, or the wine we had, but really, it was just you. You. I didn’t regret it, even when I saw how shocked you were. Exactly what I was afraid of. Because I didn’t want you to realize the secret I’ve been keeping since we met, so I tried to play it cool… hehe :)

What the fuck. 

Jeongguk jolts up from the mattress, his eyes scanning every single word again, just in case he misread or imagined something else.

What do you mean since they met?

Jeongguk scrambles out of their room.

Jimin is munching on strawberries dipped in pickles and nutella, and the strange fucking combination flies right out of Jeongguk’s mind as he towers over him and grabs his chin with his fingers.

“Alpha?” Jimin asks.

“What do you mean we could have been together all these years?”

A healthy scarlet dusts across Jimin’s cheeks.

“I don’t—”

“Don’t give me the you-don’t-know script right now, omega.”

“Well…” his omega bites his lips, “it turned out okay, anyway?”

Jeongguk groans. Looks up at their ceiling. Then down at Jimin’s smiling face. Then groans again. Then, because he is a weak man whose knees easily bend in front of his mate, Jeongguk does exactly that and kisses Jimin until they both can no longer breathe.

When they pull apart, Jeongguk drinks Jimin in, his words breathy when he says, “all those years, we could’ve been together.”

Jimin smiles. “We were together.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Well, we have the rest of forever now, do we, alpha?”

Jeongguk closes his eyes and nods. Forever. He likes the sound of that. 

Then he searches for Jimin’s lips again, tongues dancing in a way that is already familiar but still equally exhilarating. Jimin tastes sweet and delicious, because he always is, but there’s something that doesn’t sit quite right—

Jeongguk carefully pulls away.

“Baby, you know that I love you, right?”

Jimin enthusiastically nods at him, “yes, alpha.”

“But what the ever loving fuck are you eating right now?”

The seventh note says: We were both stupid. I’m kinda thankful I didn’t wear blockers in the time when you didn’t too, and that happened. Besides the fact that you fucked me eleven ways into Sunday, I never felt more loved than ever before. Thank you for always cooking for me, for always taking care of me, alpha.

When Jeongguk cooks for breakfast that morning, he hauls Jimin right on his back as his omega yells and pretends he is Batman (or Iron Man as Jimin insists). 

The eighth note says: There is nothing I can ever wish but to spend forever with you, wrapped in the warm glow of strawberries and petrichor. 

Jeongguk scents Jimin an extra fifteen minutes before they leave for class that day.

The next morning, he stares at the bedside drawer. Eight polaroids. Eight notes. 

Where the fuck is the ninth?

Jeongguk has been watching his omega move around in their apartment like a silent hawk. And Jimin allows him to watch, pretends he doesn’t notice him when both of them know how large the elephant is in the room.

When they go to sleep, Jeongguk cannot help himself as he pulls Jimin close to him and that damned fucking duck plushie.

“Where’s my ninth note, baby?” the alpha softly whispers. “They’re the best part of my day.”

Jimin chuckles and fits his tiny fingers between the gaps of Jeongguk’s considerably larger ones.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, alpha.” His omega giggles like the sly minx that he is. “Let’s go to sleep.”

Fuck me. 

***

WHEN JEONGGUK wakes up that morning, the space beside him is already cold. The water in the bathroom is not running. The TV in the living room is doesn’t make noises. The kitchen is equally as silent. Yet his Jimin always makes his presence known, he is never silent.

The alpha pushes all the covers away, foregoes a shirt and just grabs the nearest shorts he finds.

He passes by the living room and was about to go to the spare room they’ve redesigned into a small gym when something catches the corner of his eyes.

Jeongguk pads toward the kitchen counter where a small weaved basket is placed, a white ribbon at the very top of its handle. Inside it is a white linen where an envelope is placed at the top that that says: Open Me. 

Jeongguk pausses.

He looks around, ears attuned for his omega. He finds none.

He looks down at the envelope again.

Jeongguk grabs it gently.

He might not see him, but the alpha knows Jimin is watching. He must be, from wherever hiding place he’s cornered himself in. 

Jeongguk shakes his head as his pulse starts to quiet down. God, Jimin should start warning Jeongguk whenever he wants to play and not pull him in various directions of alarm.

Jeongguk flips the envelope open.

See, he thinks, there is a ninth polaroid and a ninth note. 

He pulls out the film inside.

He first finds the yellow stick note attached to what he recognizes as the familiar film texture of a polaroid.

Jeongguk reads it once.

Then twice.

Then thrice.

Then the fourth fucking time.

It still says the same thing: I can’t wait to meet you in nine months, papa. 

What.

What. 

Jeongguk’s heartbeat picks up in rhythm until it hammers against his ribs, loud enough for him to hear it across the kitchen. His fingers tremble, the words not yet fully registering what it means, what it implies, what it tells him. 

Then slowly, he flips it upside down to look at the polaroid.

A strangled sob breaks out of his chest.

It’s an ultrasound picture.

Oh fuck. Goddamn fuck—

They all come into him in a rush—the nine bananas, nine banana milks, all those damn fucking nine items Jimin was giving him incessantly. He remembers the nights Jimin goes to the bathroom and says he was just peeing, the excessive perfume and scenting, the times he was eating all those strange culinary disasters, the times he subtly tried to back away whenever Jeongguk cooks certain meals, all the afternoon naps he didn’t have before.

Why did Jeongguk never think—How come I never knew?

Jeongguk stares at photo again, enraptured.

He admittedly doesn’t know what he’s actually looking at, as it is only a combination of blacks and whites that somehow tells him that there is a pup, his pup, their pup living inside Jimin’s body.

Suddenly, a hand slithers across his torso until a body plasters itself against Jeongguk’s back.

There is no thick hoodie this time. Jimin’s arms are bare, and whatever he is wearing is thin enough for Jeongguk to feel it. That small, noticeable, and undeniable bump resting against his back that wasn’t used to be there before. And when he takes a shaky inhale, he finally gets a lungful of strawberries. It is laced with petrichor, as always now, but there’s something different, almost a milky tone beneath the combination of sweetness and musk.

Jeongguk’s knees weaken.

“I’m sorry for making it so long,” Jimin whispers against his back, “I just wanted the perfect reveal for you.”

Jeongguk looks at the ultrasound again.

Then he finally turns around. 

His omega is looking up to him expectantly, eyes glimmering with unshed tears as he tries to gauge Jeongguk’s reaction.

The alpha allows the silent tears to roll down his cheeks, before his eyes go further down, to Jimin’s belly, to the life that’s slowly growing—that has been growing—inside him all these time. All the time that—

“God, Jimin—” 

Jeongguk pulls Jimin against him and embraces him with everything he has to offer.

He shakes his head, tries to wrap his mind around it, and fails because how come he hasn’t noticed? How come he kept on concluding the wrong thing? The number fucking nine was screaming at him all these time and how come it didn’t click for him?

“I’m sorry, I should’ve known. I don’t know how I didn’t notice—”

“Well, you technically did,” Jimin gently interrupts him, “but I just kinda… steered you into the wrong… conclusion?”

Jeongguk stares at him, remembers all the excuses Jimin used on him. And while he knows Jimin was hiding something, he never thought it would be this. 

“Since when did you—Have you visited a doctor, already? We should book an appointment now.” Jeongguk grabs for his phone but his omega guides it back to his waist.

“I already did.”

Jeongguk looks back at him, nods, still dazed. “You already went there.”

“Yes.”

“Without me.”

“Yes, alpha.”

“When I could have been there. For you. When I should have been there.”

Jimin’s eyes softens, “alpha—”

“At night, sometimes I hear you in the bathroom. And you keep on saying you were just peeing. Was that—Did that—?”

“Sometimes, I get sick.” Jeongguk’s face blanches. “A bit! Not very much. Just… it comes and goes. And… yes.”

“That’s why you hate some of my meals.”

“Not all of them. Just that some of them smell like shit now.”

Jeongguk barely hears the insult from the influx of thoughts running a hundred miles per hour as he desperately tries to catch at least one of them.

“And the naps. You’ve been napping because—”

“Pregnancy is a very a nappy experience, as it seems.”

“And you did all of that.” Jeongguk whispers. “Alone.”

“Alpha—”

“Jimin-ah.”

Jimin promptly presses his lips together as he listens.

“You know how much I love you, right? How much I love it when you are playful, when you make me question why I am willingly on my knees for you. And you know that I will back you up in whatever you want to do.”

Jimin nods at him, his eyes blinking unshed tears. Jeongguk gently wipes them as he holds him a little bit tighter, but not tight enough because their pup.

“I’m not mad at you. Why will I be—How can I ever—I will never be mad at you. And as ridiculous and frustrating this whole thing has been, I love it. Fuck, you know that, hyung. I love you. And I can’t believe this is happening, that this is true. In fact a part of me is still convinced that is some brutal prank you’re playing on me and if that is the case, I swear to fucking god—”

“Alpha—” Jimin cuts him off with a smile, “this is real. I promise. This is… We’re having a pup.”

Jeongguk heaves a deep breath.

“I already love them.”

Jimin’s lips quivers. “I know. I do too.”

“I simply wish I was there with you. That I was there to rub your back when you’re throwing up. That I was there to hold your hand when you went to the doctor. That I was there to hold you when you nap. That I will stop making whatever dish it is that’s making you unwell. I just wish…”

Jimin cups his cheeks, strawberries surrounding them in haywires, “you’ve always been here for me, alpha.”

“Not in that way, omega.”

Jimin nods. “I’m sorry.”

Jeongguk nods back, closing his eyes as Jimin reaches for his hands. The alpha snaps them open when Jimin guides it to the small swell on his belly, arguably not so much noticeable, something Jeongguk would probably just put into weight gain if it weren’t for the ultrasound or the scent change.

“You will always be here for us now,” Jimin tells him.

And Jeongguk nods. Because that’s the truth. That’s a fact. Without reasonable doubt.

“I am. I will. I swear that, Jimin-ah. I swear that with my life. I will provide for the both of you. I will protect you both.” Jeongguk cradles Jimin’s cheek as his face hardens into a firm resolve. 

“I’m graduating this semester. I have job prospects standby. I have investments on the side. I can pick up another skill, another job if it isn’t enough, but I have savings—”

“Hey, hey, alpha,” Jimin smiles up at him. “I know you will. In fact, I am very certain that you will and that you can. That makes everything less scarier. Well, still, scary I guess. But not scary-scary.”

They both laugh.

“I’m doing it with you. We’re on this together.”

Jeongguk allows that to sink into his bones.

“Yes,” he agrees, “together.”

“Like it’s always been—together, remember?”

Jeongguk smiles down at his omega. The smile Jimin gives him is as sweet as the strawberries wafting around them, and as gentle as its milky undertones that signify of what their future holds.

“Of course, I remember, omega.”

Jeongguk leans down almost at the same time Jimin rises on his toes. When they kiss, it feels both home and foreign. It is as lush, as sweet, as remarkably Jimin and Jeongguk, but it also feels new. Like an uncharted territory; the kiss welcoming them into the new chapter of their lives.

When they pull away, Jeongguk presses his lips against Jimin’s forehead.

Then he mutters, “my swimmers swim very fucking well, huh?”

Jimin smacks his arm, the impact reverbearating across their apartment.

“Jeongguk-ah!”

The alpha laughs and settles against the counter, bringing Jimin closer to him.

He smiles at the frown marring his omega’s face. He thumbs the wrinkled skin gently until Jimin releases them and beams up at Jeongguk again like it never even existed. 

Must be the mood swings. Jeongguk has a lot of reading and research to do tonight.

“I love you,” Jeongguk says.

“I love you too, you stupid alpha.”

They stay in each other’s embrace for a while, enjoying the warmth of strawberries, petrichor, and milk that cocoons them into a lovely bubble that Jeongguk will not allow any man or wolf to pop. He will die protecting it, if he must.

Jimin yawns.

“I wanna sleep again.”

Jeongguk chuckles and carries him, his omega not batting an eye and wraps his hand around Jeongguk’s neck. They pass by the living room where the alpha notices the damned duck plushie. He pauses by it.

“Want your plushie?”

Jimin sleepily shakes his head, “no, not really.”

“But it’s been in our nest since—”

“Well, it’s useless now.”

“Huh?”

“You know now.”

“I know now?”

“Yeah.”

“But—What—The damned fucking duck wasn’t my replacement?”

Jimin frowns. “You think you can be replaced by a plushie? Alpha?”

“I don’t know, you’ve been using it since. It isn’t a pregnancy thing?”

“Yeah, just to—A pregnancy thing? Why will I need that stupid duck when I have you?”

“So, I’ve been cuddling it not because you’re more comfortable with it, but because you’re protecting your elaborate plan?!”

“Well…” Jimin grins up at him, “... I guess?”

Fin.