There was nothing, Sehun knew emphatically, he wouldn’t do for Luhan. He had, after all, flown all the way to China as if he were James Bond, executed a daring rescue that shouldn’t have worked in the slightest, and risked the friendships he’d had for years on a feeling in his heart that was steadily building.

As terrible as it was to imagine a future without Jae, the sorrow and the reluctance was fading. More than once in a while he’d have thoughts of Luhan in his future, raising their daughter together, going to his mom’s home for Sunday dinner, and simply being a family—without shame.

Sometimes it made him ache with guilt that he was accepting his new situations so easily. And it didn’t matter how many times he told himself that Jae would have wanted this for me, it still made him feel like a traitor and an adulterer. But less and less every day.

Days after taking Luhan to see his family Sehun had spoken to his mother on the phone and confessed to her, “I’m falling in love with him. I’m already in love with him, truthfully.”

“He’s very nice and very charming,” she’d told him back, then said more seriously, “and I think that you should not feel the guilt that I know you do.”

She wasn’t his mother for nothing. He’d already expected her to know why he was so nervous all the time when he thought about how he felt about Luhan.

“You really like him?” he’d asked in return. “You’re not just pretending to? For my sake?”

With a chuckle, she’d said honestly, “You are my son, Sehun. I want only greatness for you and happiness. But if I didn’t like him, or didn’t think he was good for you, I would say something. I would still respect him for carrying my grandchild, but I wouldn’t accept him if I didn’t want to.”

And oddly enough, when Sehun broached the subject with his closest friends, they all had roughly the same answers. Chen had been the most open about it and the most positive. Chanyeol got along easily with Luhan, and like Suho had a friendly relationship with him. Neither one of them thought there was anything wrong with Sehun falling in love with Luhan. Kai had only rolled his eyes and told Sehun that he was the last to know he was the one in love with Luhan. Sehun phoned D.O., who’d been out of the country on business for several months now, and received a shocked but supportive response.

The only wild card was Baekhyun.

“He doesn’t like me,” Sehun recalled hearing Luhan say. “I don’t think he dislikes me for malicious reasons, he just doesn’t like what I represent in your life. He doesn’t like me in a general way, and it has nothing to do with who I am as a person. I understand that.”

Maybe Luhan was okay with that, but Sehun wasn’t.

Baekhyun was always going to be Sehun’s friend.  And Sehun both respected and valued him as a friend. But Luhan was Sehun’s future. Luhan was the person that Sehun was having a child with. They were falling in love with each other. And Sehun wasn’t going to let Baekhyun make Luhan feel as if he wasn’t liked, for whatever reason. It wasn’t going to happen.

Sehun was parked outside of the elementary school waiting for Baekhyun after he made his decision. All around him children swarmed, chattering loudly, reminding Sehun that he and Luhan were only five or six years away from buying their first school uniform, and weaning their daughter away from the comforts of home.

It was another half hour before Sehun saw Baekhyun come out of the school himself, shouldering his bag easily, not yet having seen Sehun just yet.

“Baekhyun!” Sehun raised a hand and leaned off his car. He hoped this wasn’t the day he lost one of his best friends.

Making a quick jog to Sehun’s side, Baekhyun frowned. “What are you doing here? Don’t tell me we agreed to meet up and I forgot.”

The end of the semester for summer was coming up, and Sehun knew that Baekhyun had been overloaded with preparation for the new batch of fall students that would arrive just after. Baekhyun was the type to grow attached to his kids, and he was always a little touchy when he had to pass them along to new teachers, and start all over.

“No,” Sehun shook his head. “But I think we should talk about a few things. If you’ve got the time. I’ll buy us some food. Want to go with me?”

Baekhyun’s eyes narrowed a little. “That sounds like a suggestion, but I’m guessing it really isn’t.”

Sehun reached back for the passenger side door and held it open for Baekhyun. “That’s why you’re the smart one.”

With a sigh, Baekhyun slid in.

They weren’t even halfway to the loud, bustling restaurant that Sehun planned to take them to, the one with the best hope for some privacy while limiting how out of control their conversation could get, when Baekhyun said tersely, “I guess this is where you tell me to stop being mean to your boyfriend.”

Sehun snapped, “It’s ty that you already know what we have to talk about.”

Cocking an eyebrow, Baekhyun asked, “Did Luhan tell you I’m being mean to him?”

It was rush hour in Seoul, so even though they weren’t on the highway, within minutes they were stuck in the thick of traffic. It gave Sehun enough time to catch his breath before stating, “He’s not some villain, Baekhyun. In fact, if you weren’t so busying being an to him, you’d be able to see that he’s a really nice person, genuine and pretty damn selfless.  But no, for your information, he didn’t tell me you’re being an . He didn’t complain about you once. In fact, I had to ask to even find out.”

Looking a little startled, Baekhyun asked, “Then what did he say?’

“That you don’t like him,” Sehun responded, keeping his eyes locked on the road in front of him. “Luhan knows more than you think, Baekhyun, about Jae. In the beginning Suho was pretty open with him about it, and people have told him things over time. He knows that Jae was your best friend, more like your brother, and he understands why you’re having a hard time with him. Luhan told me he knows you don’t like him, but that he’s okay with it.”

“He’s okay with it?” Baekhyun asked flatly.

“That’s the kind of person he is,” Sehun responded. “Luhan doesn’t like to force people to do or be anything they’re not. If you don’t want to like him, for reasons he understands, then he’ll let it be.  He told me that he knows that because his baby is part me, you’ll never be mean to her, and you’ll care for her like a proper uncle, and that’s all he cares about.”

With a huff, Baekhyun remarked, “You didn’t tell me you were dating Jesus, Sehun.”

Sehun gave him a rude gesture with his middle finger, then drove on.

They didn’t speak again until they were at the restaurant, sitting down at their table, and food had been ordered. At that point Sehun put his elbows up on the table and told Baekhyun bluntly, “I want you to look me in the eyes here and tell me that you don’t doubt for one second that I loved Jae--that I still love him now.”

“If this is going to be some huge excuse for you to yell at me and tell me I should be a better person,” Baekhyun said, “then you’d better be buying me some beef. Good beef, too.”

“Baekhyun.”

“All right,” Baekhyun snapped, “I know you loved him, Sehun. That’s never been in question.”

“It seems like it has,” Sehun challenged.

Baekhyun replied, “No, what’s in question is how you could have gone off and filled that void in your life so easily. You want to not spend the rest of your life alone? I get that, Sehun, and I don’t want you to become that old cat lady who has a million strays living in your house and makes twitter updates with the hash tag forever alone. That’s not what I want for you. But there was no hesitation on your part to stick Luhan in the place that Jae was. That’s what pisses me off, Sehun.”

“Is that what you think?” Sehun asked incredulously. That wasn’t it at all. In the beginning he’d struggled so badly. Even a month ago, he’d been torn up by how Luhan was seeping into his life like he’d always belonged there. “Just because you didn’t see me agonize over this, Baekhyun, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

Baekhyun leaned forward. “Jaehyuk has been dead seven months. That’s a little over half a year. And you’re already in love with someone else.”

Sehun let out a long breath and slumped in his chair. “I know that.”

“You’re okay with that,” Baehkyun stated.

Bluntly, Sehun said, “I’m absolutely in love with Luhan. He’s very easy to love. That’s not going away anytime soon, Baekhyun. I’m in love with him today, and I’ll be in love with him tomorrow. I will always remember Jae. I will always think of my time with him as something precious. But I love Luhan. I love him. Do you get that? Do you really get it?”

Baekhyun inferred, “He’s not going anywhere.”

“Even if I didn’t love him,” Sehun said, reaching for his nearby drink, “he wouldn’t be going anywhere. He’s pregnant with my baby.” Frowning for a second, Sehun asked, “Is that more what bothers you? That he’s pregnant?”

Steel in his gaze, Baekhyun said, “I thought you were better than this, Sehun.”

“Better than what?”

“A better person than someone who just replaces one child with another.”

Anger jabbed into Sehn’s heart like a hot poker and he stood up so abruptly he knocked is chair over. With a fierce look of anger, Sehun seethed out, “I need to get some air.”

He all but ran his way to the exit, brushing past people as quickly as he could, bumping some of them, being an absolute nuisance to the packed area. But he needed fresh air. He needed to get away from Baekhyun’s words and his looks and the accusations.

Sehun burst out onto the street with a huge gasp of air, bracing his hands on his knees and trying to steady himself.

How could Baekhyun have said something so hurtful? Did it really appear to him that Sehun had merely substituted one baby for another?

There was an ache in Sehun that stretched into his bones and lingered like an infestation when he thought of Jae. But it was nothing, utterly nothing compared to when Sehun allowed himself to think about Seoyoung.

As unexpected as her conception had been, from almost the very beginning Sehun had believed her to be the greatest thing he’d ever done. He’d been nervous and frightful that he and Jae would do something wrong while she grew, but never for one second had Sehun felt anything but love for her, and maybe excitement.

The same couldn’t be said for the baby he’d made with Luhan.

In what felt like an eternity ago, Sehun had believed Seoyoung to be his life’s fruit. It had been his favorite thing in the world to lay next to Jae and feel her between them, and they’d tracked her progress almost obsessively. Every kick had been recorded, every response to music or voices. And through all of it Sehun had felt so utterly protective and proud.

When she’d died, before she’d even had a chance to live, Sehun had wanted to burn the world to the ground. He’d wanted everyone to feel the deadness that was inside him.

Luhan was a second chance at fatherhood. Luhan and their baby were a second chance at feeling unadulterated devotion to a child of his own blood.

But Sehun was not replacing Seoyoung with Luhan’s baby.

They weren’t even close to the same, save for how Sehun loved the both of them.

Once, and only once, Luhan had said, “We’ll make sure she knows about Seoyoung.”

For the most part, Luhan respected Sehun’s wish to not discuss or even reference Jae and Seoyoung.  But there were brief moments when it happened, and Sehun’s stomach knotted up.

Luhan added, “When our daughter is old enough, she’ll go to Seoyoung’s memorial and pay her respects. She’ll know that Seoyoun is her sister. You’ll take her, Sehun. You’ll take our daughter to visit Seoyoung and it’s something the two of you will share. You won’t be the only one keeping Seoyoung’s memory alive.”

Luhan didn’t known it at the time, but Sehun had gone to the bathroom afterwards, put the toilet seat down, sat on it, then covered his face with his hands and tried unsuccessfully for several minutes not to cry.

For Sehun, Luhan was a beacon of light in his life now.

“Luhan should have said I was being an to him.”

Sehun didn’t turn at the sound of Baekhyun behind him.

Baekhyun added, “I should have been being an to you instead … or maybe not at all.”

“Before I started falling in love with Luhan,” Sehun said, not even sure if Baekhyun could hear him over the business of the street around then, “I was a person full of cracks. I was just waiting for one more thing come along and shatter me. I’m still cracked now. But Luhan is like glue. He’s reliable and dependable. He treats me gently, but as if those cracks are healing. He supports me and helps me. He’s not Jae, Baekhyun, I know that, and I’m not trying to replace Jae with Luhan. But Luhan makes me feel like I can survive what I’ve lost, and I can get better, and I can get back to where I was before.”

“I shouldn’t have said what I did earlier,” Baekhyun spoke up. “I should have said it different, I guess.”

“Seoyoung was my baby. She was my little girl and I wanted to walk off the edge of the earth when she died.”

“Sehun.”

Sehun turned back to Baekhyun finally. “I got Luhan pregnant because I was hurting and I wasn’t thinking or feeling, and I was drunk. But why should a precious life that I can’t help but love have to suffer because of something that has nothing to do with her? Luhan and I can carry the burden of our actions, my daughter doesn’t have to. I’m her father and I’m going to love her, and that doesn’t mean for a second that I love Seoyoung any less.”

“I would never be an to Luhan’s kid,” Baekhyun said, and for the first time he sounded remorseful.

“Don’t be an to Luhan!” Sehun shouted, rounding on him fully. “He didn’t know anything about me when we slept together that night. He had no idea the kind of baggage that came with me, and my issues aren’t his fault. Step acting like they are.”

“I know,” Baekhyun said, head hanging.

Sehun added, “Luhan has done everything right. He’s respected Jae and Seoyoung from the start. He held off on how he was feeling about me because he was afraid to hurt me or ruin or friendship. He’s gone above and beyond to try and be friends with the people who matter to me, and he’s shown you an abundance of respect when you don’t deserve it from how you’ve been treating him.”

“Sehun, I’m sorry.”

They were probably making a spectacle of themselves on the street, but Sehun couldn’t bring himself to care.

 “Luhan is a good person,” Sehun said with finality. “And whatever you think of me for going and falling in love with him, I need you to respect him. Our friendship depends on it. If you don’t want to be his friend, or even spend time around him, he accepts that so I will too. But don’t give him dirty looks or disrespectful comments. Don’t make him feel like he has something to be ashamed of. I have plenty to be ashamed of, he doesn’t.”

Mouth pressed into a strict line, Baekhyun gave a sharp nod. “I understand.”

“You’re my friend,” Sehun said, taking a step towards him. “When I look at you, I’m reminded of Jae, because I hardly ever saw you two separate. I see you and I remember all the good memories with him. That’s priceless, Baekhyun. But Luhan and that baby are my future, and I’ll do anything to protect them, even cut you out of my life.”

It wasn’t something he did lightly or easily, but in a choice between Baekhyun and Luhan, there was a clear and obvious winner.

“He’s it then?” Baekhyun asked, sounding curious. “The one for you?”

“I knew Jae was the second I met him,” Sehun said with a dry laugh. “I saw him and I knew that was the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with, and have a family with, no doubt about it. Things are different with Luhan, I think you know. But I want to try with him. I’m going to try with him. And I really hope that the world isn’t planning on screwing me over twice, because honestly, Baekhyun, Luhan may have saved my life. There’s no coming back for me if I lose him and the baby.”

Baekhyun hand reached a hand out for Sehun and beckoned, “Come back inside. They’re going to think that we left and give our table away. Plus, you still have that meat to pay for.”

Sehun let himself be led back into the restaurant, but he was far from hungry.

“I guess I’ll have to be nicer to Luhan now,” Baekhyun remarked casually as they settled back down. “Not much of a choice.”

“Because I’ll beat you up if you make him cry?” Sehun asked, feeling as if they’d come to an understanding. Baekhyun absolutely didn’t have to like Luhan, but accepting him was completely different.

Baekhyun shook his head. “Because I need his advice.”

It seemed they’d arrived back to the table just in time, because their food was there a second later, and while Sehun’s stomach was still unsettled, the beef did smell very good.

“Advice for what?” Sehun asked, picking up a strip of beef and dunking it in nearby sauce.

Baekhyun made a face at Sehun. “About how to be a good father. I mean, I guess I could ask you, but honestly, of the two of you, Luhan seems the competent one.”

Frowning, Sehun posed, “You want to ask him how to be a good father? Why?”

From his pocket Baekhyun withdrew his wallet and pulled from it a very distinct ultrasound photograph. “Taeyeon’s pregnant.”

“Are you serious?” Sehun asked, all but diving for the photo.

“Six weeks,” Baekhy clarified. “And that means we’re still in the high risk first trimester, so keep your mouth shut about it until she feels comfortable telling other people.”

A smile broke on Sehun’s face. “You’re going to be a father.”

“I am,” Baekhyun said, and this time there was a not so subtlety hidden smile on his face.  “Taeyeon and I are going to elope. Next week, actually.”

“Wait, what?” Sehun’s eye darted from the ultrasound picture to Baekhyun’s face. “You can’t get married without the rest of us there.”

Gingerly Baekhyun took the picture back from Sehun and told him, “We have to, and it has to be secretive. If Taeyeon’s parents find out she’s pregnant now they’ll take her away to somewhere like America or Canada. We have to get married before they can do that.”

Sehun jammed is finger down on the table and said, “You aren’t getting married without me being there. Jae wouldn’t let us get married without you there so you’re going to extend the same courteously. Got it? You tell me the date and I’ll be there, even if you can’t make a big deal of it.”

Uncertainly, Baekhyun asked, “Why do you want to be so supportive and such a good friend to me? I’ve been a jerk to the person you love. I’ve been hard to deal with and judgmental and it’s not even like I can blame it on losing Jae. He was only my best friend. He was your husband.”

“Because we’re family,” Sehun said softly. “Isn’t that what Suho is always saying? It doesn’t make what kind of blood we have. If we love each other, if we’re important to each other, that makes us family. I don’t think you have the right to use Jae as an excuse, but he was your special person. He was your best friend and that’s sacred considering how you were brothers more than anything else. Baekhyun, you deserve extra leeway, or at least more than you think you deserve.”

Gnawing on his bottom lip for a second, Baekhyun admitted, “I told Jae not to marry you. I said he was too good for you and that you’d end up hurting him.”

Sehun whispered, “Didn’t I? Wasn’t it my fault?”

Roughly and in a low tone, Baekhyun said, “No, it wasn’t, and at least part of you knows that. Hopefully it’s the important part.”

“I have always blamed myself.”

“My point is,” Baekhyun continued, “that I never thought you were in Jae’s league. I thought you were always a bit of an , selfish and needy.  Now I really feel like an that it took Jae dying for me to see how wrong I was.”

The piece of beef that Sehun put in his mouth felt bland and almost like paper. It was all in his mind but it was hard to swallow it down. “Isn’t life about misjudging people?”

“It shouldn’t be,” Baekhyun sighed out.  Then he said, “Taeyeon and I are getting married Saturday morning, down at the local courthouse. We’ll do something better when we have the money and the time, but for right now, that’s our plan. If you want to be there, I’d be happy to have you serve as a witness. And hey, bring Luhan with you. Maybe we can make it a double event.”

Shock flushed through Sehun’s body. “Luhan and I aren’t … we’re not …”

“You’re not going to marry him?” Baekhyun asked, eyes narrowing. “That was the one thing I was sure about.”

“I don’t think so,” Sehun said, words shaking with his uncertainty. “Baekhyun, we just admitted that we have feelings for each other. We’re still getting to know each other. Why would we get married?”

Baekhyun looked at him as if he were an idiot. “Because you got him pregnant. Look, god knows Korea has come a long way to joining the rest of the progressive world, but if you don’t marry Luhan before that baby is born, you know what people are going to call your daughter, and it’ll only get worse when she starts school.”

Sehun was horrified that Baekhyun was broaching a subject he’d never stopped to think about.

“And look, I know some went down with Luhan in China recently,” Baekhyun said, breaking through Sehun’s frantic worry. “But no matter what you did to get him back in the country, he’s not a Korean citizen. Your kid might be, but Luhan isn’t. He can’t stay here indefinitely on that work visa. What are you going to do when that happens? You can’t just share custody across an ocean.”

“Oh, ,” Sehun gasped out. “Oh, , Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun shrugged, “I don’t think you should just go run off and get married to Luhan if it won’t mean something. You married Jae because you loved him and because you were ready to devote yourself wholly to him. That’s the right thing. But if you don’t get something worked out with Luhan you could end up only seeing your daughter during the summer months and having to pick her up at the airport on top of that.”

As the meal progressed Baekhyun tried to move the conversation along, but Sehun couldn’t focus on anything but the idea of Luhan’s work visa expiring. It probably wouldn’t happen for years, but it would happen, and who knew if he’d be granted an extension or a replacement visa. What if Luhan had to go back to China? He’d take their daughter with him and Sehun would what? He’d have to follow after? Or do what Baekhyun said and settle for seeing her a few months out of the year during the summer.

But if they got married, if Luhan married Sehun and became a naturalized citizen through their marriage …

Sehun had taken his marriage vows to Jae with absolute sincerity. He’d meant every word he’d sworn and as far as he’d been concerned at the time, it had to matter because it was going to be his only wedding.

But faced with the idea of losing Luhan? Of losing his daughter? To something stupid like a visa?

Sehun would marry Luhan in an instant to prevent it from happening. They already loved each other, and maybe they weren’t necessarily ready for marriage, but if it meant Luhan got to stay in Korea, it was worth doing. It could be something official for the sake of protection, and they could keep on with their relationship as it was. Nothing had to change, Sehun reasoned. Nothing had to be different except for in the eyes of the law.

Only Luhan wasn’t that kind of person. Luhan wasn’t about using means to justify a desired end. Luhan was honest to a fault and likely wouldn’t go through with it. Not if he didn’t want to marry Sehun or think they were headed in that direction.

It was something Sehun was going to have to talk to Luhan about, and sooner, rather than later.

“So,” Baekhyun said once they’d finished eating and Sehun was dropping him back at the school’s parking lot for his car. “Does this mean that you’re going to cancel that hit on me?”

Sehun tried to sound noncommittal as he said, “I’ll have to talk it over with Luhan.”

“It’s off then,” Baekhyun said confidently. “That guy is way too forgiving.”

“Tell me about it,” Sehun mumbled, then he raised his arm to wave at Baekhyun. “I’ll see you Saturday.”

Baekhyun returned the wave and Sehun, despite his panic about Luhan’s visa, felt much better about his situation with Baekhyun.

The feeling was only solidified when Luhan called him late the next day and said, “I think something is wrong with Baekhyun.”

Sehun had been working late at the office. The sun had already gone down and he was trying to cram as much work in as possible. Getting Saturday off for Baekhyun’s wedding hadn’t been a problem. But his home had finally sold, and with his securing of the new house, it was now a mad rush to get as much packed up before moving day.  He had to get ahead on his current projects so he could dedicate as much time to packing as possible.

“What kind of problem?” Sehun felt his heart thud harder. He’d been so sure that he’d gotten through to Baekhyun and reached some kind of understanding. “What did he say to you? Was he mean to you? I swear I’ll--”

“He showed up at the coffee shop,” Luhan interrupted, sounding just as shocked at Sehun was. “He just showed up while I was hanging out with Tao, and insisted on buying the both of us something new to drink. He ordered for me, made sure to get something without caffeine, nailed my order perfectly, then sat down and said he hadn’t been giving me a fair chance, which he was there to fix. Sehun, I think your friend is on drugs.”

Sehun laughed with relief. “Oh, Luhan. Baekhyun’s not on drugs.”

“Are you sure,” Luhan questioned. “He was very nice, very attentive, and before he left he asked to touch my stomach. I’m actually freaking out a little.”

Leaning back in his chair, Sehun said, “Just indulge him, will you? Baekhyun and I had a heart to heart yesterday and cleared some things up. He’s going to be making an effort to not be an to you, and I’m going to try and be a little clearer to my friends that me loving you doesn’t mean I stop loving Jae.” Startling a little, Sehun asked in a quiet voice, “Are you okay with that?”

“Sehun,” Luhan said patiently and in an understanding tone. “I’d be worried if you didn’t still love him. You seem to be forgetting that the human heart has an amazing capacity for love. You loving him doesn’t make me think that it detracts from how you feel about me in the least bit. I’m okay with it. I think it’s more than okay.”

Releasing a breath of air, Sehun said, “I don’t want to cling to my past, but I can’t just turn off things like loving Jae, even if he’s not here anymore. If that ever starts to bother you, you have to promise to tell me. I don’t want to lose my memories of him or why I loved him so much, but I don’t want to lose you, either.”

“You won’t,” Luhan said firmly. “Now, what’s this about a wedding Saturday morning?”

“Baekhyun told you?”

Luhan replied, “Just that he’d tell me the details later and that he’d appreciate it if I could make sure you were there on time. Baekhyun has someone special? Someone he wants to marry?”

“Taeyeon,” Sehun offered up. “And if you agree to be my date for the small event, I’ll explain everything.”

“Saturday morning?”

“Pick you up at eight?”

Sehun could almost feel Luhan’s smile through the phone when he replied, “Sounds good. And Sehun? I think I could get used to Baekhyun being nice to me. He’s a pretty great person when he’s not acting all constipated. I’m starting to understand why you’re friends.”

“I kind of get the feeling he’ll be your friend eventually too,” Sehun said.

“Don’t be late tomorrow,” Luhan warned, and when the call ended, Sehun was able to get almost all of his work finished.

He dressed in his best slacks and dress shirt for Baekhyun’s impromptu wedding. A full suit seemed too much for a courthouse wedding, but he knotted a nice tie around his neck and put on his nice shoes.

When Luhan opened the door for him just before eight, Sehun was stunned by him. It was of Sehun’s continuous opinion that Luhan was only getting more beautiful as his pregnancy progressed, but now he looked down right gorgeous with a fitted shirt smoothed down around his stomach and tucked into black, perfectly creased pants. The cream color of the shirt was perfect against Luhan’s completion and Sehun couldn’t help pressing into his personal space for a heavy and hot kiss.

“Enough of that,” Luhan said, pushing at Sehun when there was the barest hint of tongue. “We’ve got a couple of extra seconds and I want to show you something. I haven’t had the time to do it yet but now is good.”

Sehun followed him down the short hallway in the small apartment, and towards not the first door that Sehun knew was Luhan’s bedroom, but the second door that had never been open before.

“The nursery?” Sehun asked before Luhan reached for the handle.

“It will be,” Luhan nodded. “I haven’t even started on it yet, though. Mostly I’ve been waiting for Kris to free up some time so he can put together the crib for me and a few other things that Suho insisted on buying. I’d do it myself, but I’m at a disadvantage with my stomach and mobility at the moment.”

“Kris?” Sehun hated how easily his face twisted into a frown. “Why would you need to wait for him? I can do it for you. You should have said something.”

Luhan paused. “You have enough on your plate right now, especially with the move and you work and it’s not that big of a deal. Kris offered.”

Kris shouldn’t have had to offer. Sehun was disappointed in himself for not beating the man to the punch. That was his baby Luhan was pregnant with. Sehun should have been the one helping.

“Anyway,” Luhan said, fingers at the door knob. “Until it’s the nursery, it’s my paint studio.”

“You’re not supposed to be painting,” Sehun said, pressing a kiss to the back of Luhan’s head.

“And I’m not.” Luhan pushed open the door. “I did all these before the cutoff.”

Sehun’s eyes widened at the sight of the room’s contents. “Luhan,” he breathed out, so amazed and astounded. “This is …”

There were dozens of canvas paintings, all in different sizes, cluttered around the modest but bright room. It was a collection, Sehun realized, a collection of paintings all intended to be one series, the paints all looking fluid from one sheet of canvas to another, almost as if they were small pieces of a much bigger puzzle.

“These are gorgeous,” Sehun said, trying to get a better look at some of the paintings. “Luhan, I knew you were talented, but this is … incredible. How can you just be hiding them here? You should be having gallery showings and be in art books. You’re …”

“I’m not that good,” Luhan said with a chuckle, “but I have been working on these for a long time, and I want to show them eventually. But they’re not why I brought you back here.”

Luhan moved to the corner of the room where there was a painting with a sheet over it. Luhan removed the sheet carefully and then held up a long canvases board for Sehun to see.

It was obviously the crown jewel of the collection. Sehun could see that, even with his untrained eye. Exquisite and provoking, it was something that should have been framed and having in an art museum as far as Sehun was concerned.  But there was something off about it.

“It doesn’t fit in with the others,” Sehun felt confident in saying.

“I like that you can tell that,” Luhan said, appreciation flecked in his eyes. “And you’re right, it’s not part of this collection. I did this, and one other, right before I hit my third trimester.” He held the canvas out to Sehun. “This is your commission.”

“Mine?” Sehun asked with pleasure. “You remembered.”

Luhan nodded. “I can only paint when I feel inspired. Sometimes I don’t paint for months. But when I did this, I’ve never had the inspiration come to me so quickly or feel so … overwhelming.  I don’t even remember painting most of it, I just remember the feelings attached. That’s why it came out so good. My best work is always done by the creative part of me, not the thinking part.”

“It’s truly beautiful,” Sehun said, daring to run his fingers across the splotches of paint. “Luhan, thank you.” He tried to picture the layout of his new house, and knew exactly where he was going to put it.

Luhan leaned over, only a little unsteady with his balance, and pressed cool lips against Sehun’s cheek. “It’s how I feel about you. I know, it may not make much sense to you just looking at it, but it does to me.”

Sehun’s hand brushed along Luhan’s jaw for a second kiss. “I don’t need to understand it to know it’s beautiful.”

“We should go,” Luhan said. “I don’t want to be late for Baekhyun’s wedding. If we are, he might not like me anymore.”

Sehun put the painting down gently and promised to come back for it after he dropped Luhan off later that day. Then after only a slight holdup, they were on their way to the courthouse.

And hour later, while Taeyeon and Baekhyun repeated their vows to each other, with Luhan and Sehun seated towards the back of the room for the illusion of privacy, Sehun whispered to Luhan, “It’s not very romantic, right?”

Luhan’s fingers were held tight in Sehun’s, cradled almost reverently when Luhan responded, “You had a big church wedding, didn’t you?”

Sehun cracked a smile. “It wasn’t my choice. Jae’s family is pretty devout. I just did whatever he wanted to make him happy.”

Sehun could see Luhan’s eyes as they traced over Baekhyun and Taeyeon, to where their hands were clasped, how their bodies were angled, and the way they were pressed in together intimately.

“They love each other,” Luhan concluded, sounding absolutely sure. “A church and a hundred witnesses and a catering service afterwards isn’t what makes a wedding romantic. The fact that I barely know Baekhyun, and I don’t know Taeyoen at all, but I can see how in love they are, that’s what’s romantic. That’s what matters when it comes to a wedding.”

Sehun knew in that moment how absolutely right he’d been a day ago when he’d thought that Luhan wouldn’t be willing to marry him merely for citizenship.

Tentatively, Sehun asked, “What about you? What would it take to get you up there?”

Looking pensive, Luhan ultimately shrugged. “I’d just need someone to stand beside me that I loved and that I trusted. Someone I wanted to build a future with who was going to be in it for the long haul, especially with my extra passenger.”

When Luhan gave him a small but candid grin, Sehun squeezed his hand while Baekhyun and Taeyeon kissed.

For citizenship Luhan wouldn’t marry him, but maybe for love.

And love was a good bet to hedge.