His staying with Sehun had always meant to be temporary. Rather, it hadn’t meant to be happening at all, but Sehun who thought he was so bad at reading people, had instinctively known that they’d needed each other for that first night. Luhan had been too shaken from their harrowing escape, and he was certain that Sehun was too afraid he’d disappear into thin air.

That had been the confession from Sehun, and the moment in Luhan’s life when he imagined he’d tell his grandkids if they ever inquired how he and Sehun had finally gotten together.

Luhan was in love. He’d known he was in love with Sehun for a while now, but to hear it back, and to reach a mutual understanding between them was euphoric. Luhan wanted to pretend he was fourteen all over again and make out with Sehun every moment of the day, ignore the world around him and just be with the one he loved.

That first day Luhan hadn’t so much as left Sehun’s side, not even when Suho had appeared, food and warm greetings in hand, and then certainly not into the night when Sehun had stood shoulder to shoulder with him and helped prepare dinner.

Sehun had laughed as they carefully cut the tofu, saying, “Suho totally knows we’re together. I could tell.”

“Knows? About us?”

“Of course.”

Luhan wasn’t so sure. He and Sehun seemed to have reached a silent understanding in Suho’s presence that whatever they had was so new and delicate that airing it like indecent laundry wasn’t their top priority. They certainly hadn’t gone out of their way to avoid contact with each other, or act like strangers, but they hadn’t kissed in front of Suho, or done anything to out their relationship.

“He didn’t say anything,” Luhan commented. “I think as your brother-in-law, he would have said something.”

Sehun had only smiled then, in an almost smug, secretive kind of way, and said simply, “Suho’s always been leagues ahead of us, Luhan. I kind of spilled the beans about loving you earlier, but I suspect he already knew that much. Anyway, I could tell, he knows I finally told you. He just wasn’t trying to be overt about it.”

So did that mean Suho was accepting of their relationship moving from a friends only zone to something more? Luhan hoped so. In the beginning, when Sehun had been incapable of stepping up, it had been Suho to commandeer the responsibility. The more Luhan thought about it, the more important Suho was to him. Suho was a great ally and friend.

After dinner, Luhan had said a bit morosely, “I guess I’ll need you to drive me back to my apartment.”

Throughout dinner Sehun had held his hand, maybe more for reassurance than anything else, and at Luhan’s suggestion he’d reached for it again. “I guess so.”

Then had come the awkward moment when they’d sat out in front of Luhan’s apartment. Luhan was determined to get his legs working eventually, his hand already resting on the door handle. But it had been so difficult to find the motivation to leave Sehun. Sehun was new and exciting and the feelings they were sharing were exciting. Even being parted for a few hours seemed too much, which in hindsight was a bit ridiculous, but not untruthful.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Luhan had asked. It was the last thing he could say before he was forced to climb out of the car and crawl into his own, lonely bed.

Of course it wasn’t as if he and Sehun had shared a bed the night before. Luhan had slept in the guest room and Sehun had … Luhan was certain he’d slept on the sofa in the living room. But the point was they’d been in close proximity to each other, and Luhan had felt safe.

It was a hard thing to admit now that he didn’t feel completely safe. He’d been ered all too easily by his parents, held captive in a house where everyone had known what was happening and no one had dared to help, and had needed to flee his motherland to escape what was essentially attempted coercion.

“Do your parents have passports?” Sehun had asked abruptly, catching Luhan off guard.

“Of course,” he’d returned, and then only understood what Sehun was implying a second later. “Sehun, it’s okay. They’d never try something so obvious. And I have a taser. Lay got it for me for my birthday last year. I’ll be fine.”

“Just … go pack a bag.”

Luhan had asked, “You want me to pack a bag.”

Hand out, Sehun had justified, “Just until … just until we’re sure that your parents aren’t going to be poking around, or sending anyone else to poke around. You should stay with me for a few days. If you want to.”

If he wanted to?

Luhan hadn’t hesitated to say, “I’ll be back in five minutes.”

So one night had turned to five and counting.

Sehun had gone back to work, spending his days at his office and his nights with Luhan, cooking, watching movies, making out like teenagers and working more on their ever evolving boundaries. In return Luhan had split his time between his friends, who were utterly babying him upon learning the details of his time in China, and Kai’s gym which Luhan had finally committed to.

Luhan, who was utterly independent and slowly weaning himself off the fear he’d felt from narrowly escaping from China, had already committed himself to one more night, just until the weekend, and then talked himself into bravely heading back to his own apartment.

That was when Sehun had dropped the bombshell on him, winding his arms around Luhan almost effortlessly, like he’d been doing it for years, and mumbled into his ear, “My mom is having a family get together this weekend. She politely asked me to invite you to attend, which means if I show up without you, she may refuse to feed me.”

Patting Sehun on the arm, Luhan laughed, “That would be utterly tragic, yes?”

Sehun told him with fake seriousness, “It would die. My mom is the best cook in all of Korea. So take pity on me?”

Distracted by Sehun’s devastatingly handsome smile, Luhan had easily agreed.

And now he was panicking.

“Sehun!” he shouted, peeking his head out from the bathroom on the first floor that he’d completely taken over that morning. Scattered across the countertop were all of his essentials, from his shaving kit to his toiletries. “Sehun!”

From further down in the house Sehun shouted back, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” There was the sudden thudding of feet and then Sehun was coming around the corner, his hair wet from his recent shower and his chest bare. Luhan had clearly caught him in the middle of changing.

Hoisting up an empty bottle of hairspray, Luhan demanded, “Do you have any hairspray.”

Sehun gave him a blank stare.

“Hairspray.” Luhan shook the can at him. He couldn’t do his hair properly if he couldn’t style it. Most of the time he was more than happy to run a quick brush through his hair and let nature take its course. But this was different. Luhan was going to meet Sehun’s mother and other family members. He had to look his best. He had to look perfect.

“You …” Sehun eased out. “You yelled. I thought …”

“Hairspray?”

Sehun seemed to deflate a little. “You scared the crap out of me.”

Luhan glanced down at his stomach. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

Offering Luhan a tiny smile, Sehun said, “You’re in your third trimester now. How about we avoid panicked shouts that might make me think anything terrible.”

“This is terrible,” Luhan insisted. “I need more hairspray.”

“Why,” Sehun asked, taking the empty can from him and tossing it into the nearby garbage can.  “Your hair looks fine to me.”

Luhan risked a glance into the bathroom mirror. “Are you kidding me?”

“I mean you look gorgeous,” Sehun corrected, and Luhan was caught completely off guard as Sehun pressed a quick kiss to his forehead. “You’re freaking out. Stop freaking out.”

“Of course I’m freaking out,” Luhan said, peering at Sehun like he was crazy. “I’m meeting your mother for the first time. I want to look my best. I don’t want her to think I’m just this slacker who’s with her son because of circumstance.” He poked his stomach for emphasis.

“She won’t think that,” Sehun promised, and this time it was his mouth descending on Luhan’s lips. “She’s excited to meet you. She’s been bugging me forever to bring you around. She’s … probably going to hug you like the family you are, and try to force feed you a pound of food, and hover around you like a helicopter.  Because you’re important to her. You’re giving her a grandchild, and you gave me back my heart. So believe me when I say you could roll up to the party looking like a hobo and she’d fiercely guard and protect you from anyone even mentioning it.”

It was hard trying to imagine what Sehun’s mother was like. And it was harder picturing a family of sisters and cousins and aunts and uncles who were all welcoming and loving and were more than happy to accept Luhan simply because he made Sehun happy.

But it was nice thing to try and picture, at least before getting the real deal.

Settling into the idea that he’d be going hairspray free, Luhan leaned towards the mirror in the bathroom and asked, “What’s your father going to be like?”

There was something raw in Sehun’s voice as he replied, “He won’t be there. My parents are separated. Divorced.”

With a wince, Luhan asked, “Do you have a good relationship with him?”

Sehun shrugged. “We love each other. We see each other once in a while. And it isn’t like he ever neglected me as a kid. My parents got divorced when I was twelve, but he still made time for me. I didn’t feel like he divorced me along with my mom. But he’s not like her, either. My mom is really welcoming and open. She’ll treat you like another son, Luhan, until you give her a reason not to. With my dad … he’s the kind of person that makes you earn his trust, and he’s not always easy to get along with.”

“Still better than mine,” Luhan offered, reaching out to run his fingers across Sehun’s toned chest. “And you’ll be the best of them all.”

“I hope so,” Sehun said, his gazed locked to Luhan’s midsection. “I want to be the best father ever for her, but I’ll settle for not permanently screwing her up.”

“I’ve got confidence in you,” Luhan said, and he was seeing more and more of it every day from Sehun.

The next time they kissed it was sweeter than before, with wandering hands and the promise of something even more with time.

“I have to finish getting ready,” Sehun said, his mouth at Luhan’s neck.

“Then stop kissing me,” Luhan laughed, tilting his head further as he tried to wrestle his hands away from Sehun’s shoulders.

“You make it so hard,” Sehun said with a groan, then straightened up. “We’ll be late if we don’t hurry.”

Giving Sehun a playful shove, Luhan said, “Some things are worth being late for. But okay. Let me try and do something with my hair, and you go put a shirt on before my willpower completely disappears.”

Sehun gave a flirtatious wink and disappeared to finish getting ready.

“You can do this,” he told his reflection in the mirror. “You will do this.”

Twenty minutes later they were in the car and driving out into the country side

“My mom is a retired nurse,” Sehun said, answering all of Luhan’s questions promptly and honestly. “When she married my father, she quit her job to raise us kids, but after the divorce, she went right back to it. A few years ago she had a back injury and had to retire.  She gardens like crazy now.”

Luhan inquired, “How many members of your extended family will be here?”

Both hands on the wheel, Sehun guessed, “If it had just been me coming, maybe a dozen. I’ve got three sisters Luhan, but none of them are as close to my mom as I am, and they tend to avoid family gatherings.”

“But I am coming.”

A smirk pulled at Sehun’s mouth. “My mom has a fairly big home. But it’s about to feel very small.

“Great,” Luhan sighed. Because he wasn’t already nervous enough.

“Don’t worry so much,” Sehun said, one hand lifting off the wheel to reach for Luhan’s nearest. “You’ll have me there the entire time. I won’t leave your side, I won’t let my mom suffocate you too much, and you’ll have other backup too.”

“Like what?” Luhan asked skeptically. “Your daughter who is consistently kicking my bladder around giving me a legitimate excuse to dash off to the bathroom every forty-five minutes?”

“No,” Sehun said easily, “some familiar faces are going to be there. Suho is going to be there for one.”

That was certainly unexpected. Suho, from the very start, had always declared that he and Luhan and the baby were family. Luhan hadn’t doubted the sincerity of that before, but it was even more evident now.

“Your mom considers him family?”

“Forever,” Sehun confirmed, then returned both his hands to the wheel, the tall buildings of Seoul fading behind them. “Suho will always be family to my mother, regardless of what’s happened. So he’ll be there, though I think my mom mainly invites him because she’s been trying to set him up with my cousin forever. And she’s actually making progress it looks like.”

“Suho deserves someone nice,” Luhan said with a firm nod. “He deserves someone who’ll be there for him, the way he’s there for other people.”

“He needs someone patient,” Sehun decided. “Suho works a lot of hours and has a lot of people that are important to him. He needs someone who can deal with that, and it wouldn’t be as easy as it sounds.”

Luhan leaned against the window as the scenery passed. It was hard for him to believe that this was his life now. He wasn’t trapped in a loveless marriage, confined to China. He wasn’t alone in his apartment, trying to successfully single parent his daughter.  Instead he was in a car with a person who loved him, driving to meet people who were now his family, and he was happy.

“And,” Sehun continued on, “if my mom happens to corner Suho with my cousin who she is convinced can be the person he needs in his life, you’ll have Chen to back you up.”

Luhan lifted an eyebrow. “Chen is family too?”

“Practically since we were still getting naps in school,” Sehun replied easily. “Of course Chen probably isn’t coming for the people; he’s coming for my mom’s cooking. That’s not the important part, though. What you should see as the silver lining is that he finally agreed to bring his girl with him. He kind of had to. My mom won’t give her blessing to the wedding until she meets her.”

Luhan wasn’t’ sure what to make of any of that. Knowing that Chen, who was a friend, was going to be there, was helpful. And him bringing his fiancée took a lot of the pressure off Luhan. But … “What about a blessing?”

In a kind way, Sehun promised, “It’s not a formal kind of blessing or anything. Chen’s parents died a while ago. It was a boating accident. Since then, my mom has been like his mom in a lot of ways, and my mom all but adopted him. Her opinion means everything to him, and he would never disrespect her or this family by not introducing his fiancée before he married her. I’m looking forward to finally meeting her.”

Laughing, Luhan pointed out, “Chen is your best friend. You’ve never met the girl he’s supposed to marry?”

“No,” Sehun said with a mock glare. “She’s been in and out of the country for a while now, studding abroad, getting some work experience in, honing her techniques. She spent a whole two years in New York a while back, specializing in her field. Chen said she’s never been one to stay in one spot for long, and neither is he, so I guess that’s why they work well. But I trust Chen’s judgment, and if he’s happy with her, then I’m happy for him.”

Giving a firm nod, Luhan said, “You’re a good friend, Sehun.”

“Well so are you,” Sehun replied. “So we’re a good fit.”

The had to stop a couple more times before they reached their destination, once for Luhan’s bladder, and then once more when he began feeling sick and stopped to take his blood sugar level, finding it lower than expected.

“It’s because of that quick breakfast,” Luhan said, accepting the sugary drink that Sehun had seemingly sprinted into the convenience store for as if he were in a marathon. For almost the past week Luhan and Sehun had made a tradition of their breakfast meal. Neither of them were overly good cooks, but they managed the meal easily enough, and it was always full and completely. This morning, however, Luhan had settled for a banana and a slice of toast. It hadn’t been enough, but he’d been distracted.

“Do you want to turn back?” Sehun asked, a guiding arm at Luhan’s elbow as things went dizzy for a moment.

“I’m fine,” Luhan insisted, then finished the drink and handed the empty bottle back to Sehun for the trash. “You know how finicky my blood sugar can be. Stop looking so frazzled.”

“Can you blame me?” Sehun asked, his hand settling almost protectively on the side of Luhan’s stomach. “You two are the most important people in my life.”

Luhan let his hand cover Sehun’s. “And we are perfectly fine. That drink will balance out my levels for right now, when we get to your mom’s house I’ll take my blood sugar again, and we’ll go from there. I’m not worried, so you shouldn’t be.” He absolutely took his condition seriously, but Sehun had such a calming effect on him it was easy for him not to panic.

“You want anything else?” Sehun asked, thumbing to the small convenience store.

“Nope.” Putting a hand on his aching back, Luhan suggested instead they make a straight shot for Sehun’s mother’s house. Once they got there he could level out his blood sugar more accurately, and maybe even take a mild painkiller for his back. As his stomach had gathered more and more weight on his thin frame, his back had certainly suffered for it. With several more months in his pregnancy to go, he wasn’t sure how much more pressure he could take on his back or hips.

Forty minutes later Luhan saw the sprawling estate that Sehun’s mother lived at for the first time. Nestled between huge, beautiful trees, and looking absolutely traditional, it was a home that seemed the picture of serenity and privacy. It certainly looked expensive, too.

“My mom got a lot in the divorce,” Sehun chuckled a bit nervously. “She wanted a place where she could hear herself think, or that’s what she claimed. My sisters and I are completely convinced that she bought a place this size to try and lure her children into living with her again, or maybe even her future grandchildren.”

Luhan pointed to his stomach. “This is her first?”

“Unfortunately for you,” Sehun said, mouth tense. “At least now.”

Luhan felt a ticker of nervousness at the promise of that conversation.

“It means she’s going to baby you so hard,” Sehun said. “She won’t say anything about … the last time she thought she was going to be a grandmother, but she’ll worry extra. I mean it when I say she’ll do her best to embody a helicopter.”

Fighting past the lump in his throat, Luhan said, “I’ll do my best to assure her that I’m taking amazing care of this baby, and that I won’t let anything happen to her.”

A smile edged its way onto Sehun’s face and Luhan was sure he’d saved the situation.

The front of the house was cluttered with cars as Sehun parked them, and Luhan was busy staring at the architecture by the time Sehun reached his side to help him out of the car.

“Brace yourself,” Sehun muttered, keeping Luhan behind him as the front door opened and an older looking but still attractive woman came rushing out.

Sehun’s mother was … probably the epitome of what Luhan considered affectionate mothers to be. She’d all but shoved Sehun to the side to get to him, taken one look at his stomach, given something that sounded suspiciously like a squeal, and then hugged him tightly.

“Welcome,” she said in his ear, enfolding him in what had to be love. “I’m so happy to finally meet you.”

Luhan hugged her back awkwardly at first, but then more securely.

“Look at you,” she breathed out when she finally let go of him. “Sehun, you said he was attractive. You didn’t say he was this gorgeous.”

“I believe I told you he’s incredibly attractive,” Sehun said, and Luhan supposed they weren’t going to be hiding anything from Sehun’s mother, because that was when Sehun bent to give him a decidedly unchaste kiss.

Her eyes widened almost comically at the kiss, and Luhan could feel his face flushing.

“Don’t make a big deal of it, mom,” Sehun said, some kind of request in his tone. “Luhan and I are working at our own pace, but it’s going good.”

Having been distracted for only a moment, she reached for Luhan’s stomach, remarking, “You’re so big.”

“Thanks,” Luhan said, even if he felt a sudden spike of insecurity at his size. He wasn’t bigger than average, his doctor had been certain of that. He was just showing it more prominently due to his stature.

“Healthy,” she corrected, a softness in her gaze. “You look very healthy, Luhan.” Her attention jerked to Sehun. “You’d better make sure he stays that way, son.”

Sehun gave a severe nod and it was almost funny to Luhan the dynamic between mother and son.

“Sehun is doing everything right,” Luhan assured her. “You raised him into a very good man.”

Once more Luhan was crushed into a hug by Sehun’s mother, but it was somehow kinder this time, and felt more genuine. Luhan was able to return it easily, and thought for more than a second that he could get used to her hugs. They made him realized how little his own mother had hugged him.

“Sehun is very capable boy,” she said, and that seemed to be that. At least until she added, “But not so good on time management.”

Sehun rolled his eyes as Luhan said, “That’s my fault. On the way here my blood sugar was low and we had to stop to pick something up for me.” Luhan paused. Over Sehun’s mother’s shoulder he could see Sehun, eyes large with warning and his head shaking slowly.

Sehun’s mother asked him evenly, “You felt ill?”

“I’ve got gestational diabetes,” Luhan replied.

Sehun palmed his face.

It was nothing Luhan had ever experienced after that. Within seconds he was being dragged through to the house, Sehun trailing after almost like a small puppy, people practically being tossed out of the way like a tsunami by the petite woman. Luhan fought to keep his balance as Sehun’s mother cleared a room for them with an authoritative voice, then all but tossed him down on a push sofa where a blanket was thrown over his legs. Then came the food, mountains of food, and the absolute urging to not move by Sehun’s mother until she returned with the doctor.

“She does realize that gestational diabetes is completely manageable, right?” Luhan asked, reaching for his nearby bag. He retrieved his glucose meter easily.

Sehun collapsed into the seat next to him, but Luhan could feel his eyes on him as he pricked his finger.

“This is …” Sehun broke off dryly, then looked serious enough make Luhan pause. “This baby is beyond important to her, Luhan. “My eldest little sister has had three miscarriages in five years. My baby sister is infertile. Coupled with me already losing a baby, people have been giving her , saying this family is cursed. And a part of her heart breaks every time there’s the hope for a baby, and then it vanishes. She wants a grandbaby so badly.”

Luhan’s gaze softened. “So let her worry over me?”

“Please,” Sehun requested, leaning his shoulder against Luhan’s and kissing the corner of his mouth. “She’ll let up as soon as our girl is born and she’s distracted by buying out each and every baby store from Seoul to Busan.”

Luhan leaned over to return a much deeper kiss to Sehun. “Could you possibly let her know that Suho has that covered? I nearly took a nose dive the last time I was at my place. Lay’s been signing for my packages and a mountain of them have been building in my foyer. Most of them are from Suho, and all of them are baby items. I appreciate the thought, but I think we’re covered for the next five babies.”

Sehun’s face twisted oddly. “You want more kids?”

That was something to consider. “I wasn’t even sure I wanted this one until it was too late to turn back. Eventually, is suppose I might want more. Years from now, of course. I guess the more sensitive question is if you do.” Was this it for Sehun? Luhan wouldn’t have been surprised. There was so much trauma for Sehun associated with children.

“I don’t know,” Sehun said, and sounded completely honest. “But for right now, this one is more than enough. I want to concentrate on her, and getting it right with her, before I risk my untested parental skills on anyone else.”

How was it that Sehun was so good at saying all the right things lately? Luhan was suspicious that the words seem to come so easy to Sehun, considering he’d struggled so much in the beginning.

But ultimately Luhan was just thankful.

“How’s it look?” Sehun asked, leaning over to look at the display readout of the device. His hand settled once more on Luhan’s stomach and it was just enough pressure to get the baby kicking.

“I think I’ll be the judge of that.”

Luhan’s head jerked up at the familiar voice and was stunned as Sehun’s mother brought an actual group of people towards him. And Eunji was in the lead.

“Mom,” Sehun said at a deadpan, “When you said you were going to get a doctor, you weren’t kidding.”

Luhan nodded a little numbly. “And I have no idea how you managed to get mine.”

Xiumin’s sister, the only doctor Luhan had ever trusted, knelt down next to him, gently took the blood glucose reader from his hand and said, “Imagine my surprise when my future sort of mother-in-law said my services were desperately needed.”

Behind Eunji was Chen, eyebrows up high, and Luhan was struck at how the situation now made sense.

“Oh!” Sehun shot up to his feet suddenly, and Luhan watched him point between Eunji and then Chen. “This is your … she’s Luhan’s … I can’t believe …”

Chen rolled his eyes at Sehun and asked Luhan, “How are you feeling? You’re sick?”

“How did I not realize this?” Sehun asked, still sounding shocked.

Luhan asked Eunji cautiously, “You’re Chen’s fiancée?”

Sehun all but flopped down next to Luhan. “This isn’t my fault. I saw pictures of her before, Luhan, but she looks completely different when she’s at work.”

At least that much was true. Whenever Luhan visited her at the hospital her appearance was severe in its professionalism.  But now she almost seemed a different person in her regular clothing, hair down and brushing at her shoulders, facial features accented with makeup.

“I wasn’t certain myself,” she told Luhan in return, “if your Sehun was Jongdae’s best friend. When I discovered it was, Jongdae and I decided to see how long it would take Sehun to realize it.”

Chen crossed his arms. “You cost me almost a hundred, Sehun.”

Sehun’s mother shifted nervously from foot to foot. “Is he alright? Is he okay?”

“I’m fine,” Luhan told her tersely. Then he looked back to Eunji. “I felt sick on the way here, my blood sugar level was too low so I drank something sugary, adjusted my medication, and that’s it. I did everything right.”

“Here!” a young voice called out, and an unfamiliar woman was jogging into the room, a doctor’s travel bag in hand. “I got it from the car. No one is bleeding, right?”

Luhan paled as Sehun snapped out, “That’s my idiotic sister, Luhan. The least favorite, can’t you tell?”

Eunji, who was Luhan’s favorite person ever in that moment, announced loudly, “I need some space to look Luhan over. If you aren’t biologically the father of this baby, please clear out now.” And it wasn’t until Chen was all but pulling Sehun’s mother out of the space, that Luhan could breathe easier.

He found himself repeating, “I did everything I was supposed to when my levels dropped unexpectedly.”

“You did,” she told him easily. “Now let me check you over quickly anyway, so that everyone can calm down and stop treating you like the delicate flower you aren’t.”

Luhan grinned at her. She was most definitely his favorite.

When she declared him perfectly fine ten minutes later, Luhan was finally allowed up onto his feet. There were family members to meet, special treats to eat, and a sense of family that Luhan wanted to be a part of badly.

“Ready?” Sehun asked, guiding Luhan down a short set of steps and then out into the courtyard where everyone was mingling together on the warm late summer day.

“Born ready,” Luhan eased out.

Sehun’s family, from the aunts who hugged him, uncles who were confident his daughter was a boy, cousins who couldn’t stop hugging him, and sisters that were already treating him like an older brother, were incredibly wonderful. They flocked around him curiously, absolutely no one said a mean thing to him, and most of them seemed genuinely pleased that he was pregnant.

They treated him like family. They said he was family. And for Luhan, who’d had so little of that outside of his friends, coming with Sehun to visit his mom was the best thing he’d agreed to in years.

When the sun dipped in the distance the smaller children set off manageable but loud firecrackers, and the stars looked even brighter in the clearer country night sky. It all made Luhan tired but not yet willing to leave.

“We’ll come back,” Sehun promised with a grin and a kiss when Luhan told him as much. “But most of my uncles are starting to pass out now, my aunts won’t be far behind, and trust me, it’s a miracle my sisters have gotten along this long tonight. The peace won’t last, not now that they’ve accepted you into their fold.”

“I’m accepted into the fold?” Luhan asked, maybe a bit too quickly.

Sehun nodded. “You’re definitely a big brother to them now. That means they’ll be nice to you while mom is looking, but it’ll be prank warfare when she isn’t. I’ll do my best to defend your honor, of course, but it’s been a long time since I launched a water balloon and scored a direct hit.”

“It’s like you’re twelve,” Luhan said, but he didn’t mean it in an insulting way. If anything it was pleasing to see how Sehun interacted with his sisters. When Luhan had been small and growing up, he’d have given anything for siblings. If he’d had one, even one he barely got along with, it might have been a little less lonely.

Sehun cupped the side of his face and was leaning in for a kiss when Chen’s voice said from behind them, “This is a new development.”

Sehun paused and Luhan charged ahead, stating, “Did you have a bet on this, too?”

Chen shrugged. “Looks like Xiumin wins the pot. I guessed you two would drag out your awkward until the eighth or ninth month. Suho put money down that it wouldn’t happen until after the birth. Only Xiumin thought you guys would get your stuff together this soon.”

“Wait,” Luhan said unsure. “What?”

“You actually had a bet going?” Sehun shook his head. “Wait! You’re not surprised Luhand and I are … working on things? Romantically?”

Chen, hands deep in his pockets, gave them a comforting grin. “Pleasantly surprised, actually. But for clarification, no, Sehun, this wasn’t unexpected. I’m happy for you guys … just be careful. The both of you have a lot of baggage.”

Chen certainly wasn’t Baekhyun, who’d be the hardest sell with their new budding relationship, but Chen was Sehun’s best friend, so winning his approval was major in Luhan’s book.

With a laugh, Luhan asked, “No shovel talk?”

“Unlikely,” Chen said friendly. “Considering your brand new boyfriend might try to use that shovel to burry me six feet under if I tried it. And I’m okay with that.”

“I’m lost,” Sehun said, and Luhan thought his face was absolutely adorable. “What shovel talk are you guys going on about?”

“Shovel talk,” Luhan told him patiently, pulling at his hand towards the car and using his free one to wave goodbye to Chen. “It’s what you’ll be giving the first person who wants to take our daughter out on a date.”

Earlier in the night Luhan had needed to give Sehun’s mother half a dozen hugs and twice as many promises to return soon, before she was willing to let them consider leaving. Now as Luhan raised his hand in parting to her as they passed by the front of the house and to the driveway, she only waved back. It was a far cry from what Sehun had guessed would happen, which involved something along the lines of her running after their car for at least half a mile.

“I still don’t understand,” Sehun said once they reached the car. He popped open Luhan’s door and helped guide him down onto the low seat. “Date … our daughter … the words sound familiar, but they don’t make any sense when you put them together like that.”

Luhan laughed loudly. Sehun was going to be the scariest father ever, once their girl was old enough to start noticing people in romantic ways.

“You’re going to be insufferable in that regard, aren’t you?” Luhan said, stretching the seatbelt around his frame when Sehun started the car.

Sehun looked downright gleeful. “Oh, she’s going to hate me so much when she’s a teenager. I’m kind of looking forward to it.”

The drive back to Seoul was a quiet one, the soft rumble of the car luring Luhan into a light slumber while low jazz played on the car stereo. For all the apprehension and anxiety Luhan had had for the visit, it had turned out utterly perfect. Closing his eyes and napping lightly, the calmness settling over him was a refreshing one.

“Luhan,” Sehun said some time later, nudging him gently. “We’re here.”

It was some work to get his legs to cooperate after sleeping for a bit, and even harder to get up the stairs to the guest room he’d spent the night in one more time. But when he finally got to the soft bed that he sank into blissfully, it was worth the struggle. Especially as he pulled Sehun’s comforting weight down almost on top of him.

“Woah,” Sehun chuckled out, bracing himself next to Luhan. “I should probably try not to fall on you two.”

“Stay,” Luhan mumbled, feeling that just for one night, he wanted to have Sehun with him. For one night he didn’t want walls and space between them. It didn’t matter if they were clothed or merely just sleeping. For his last night with Sehun, he needed the intimacy that they’d been skirting around for days.

After being quiet for a few seconds, Sehun asked, “With you? Tonight?”

Luhan only managed a sleepy nod. He kicked his way under the blankets and made sure to leave enough space for Sehun.

“Okay,” Sehun said, and Luhan felt the bed dip even further. Then Sehun’s arm was around his stomach and his front was pressed to Luhan’s back. “Is this okay?”

Luhan let his feet twine with Sehun’s, tucked an arm underneath his pillow and remarked, “Perfect.”