“Holy …” Sehun tipped his head back slightly as he took in the transformed spare bedroom in Luhan’s apartment. The last time he’d been in the room it had been to receive the painting Luhan had made for him, and the contents had looked so different.

Now the walls were painted varying shades of blue, with constellations, stars and other astrological features spread about them. Gone were the paintings, and in their place was a crib, a changing table, small dresser, and other essential pieces of furniture. Everything fit in perfectly, the room was cheery without being overly bright, and it was downright gorgeous how the room had been styled.

“You did all this?” Sehun asked, spinning a bit. “How?”

Luhan crossed his arms and looked at least a litte smug. “I didn’t paint the walls myself, if that’s’ what you’re getting at.”

Sehun gave him a flat look. He knew Luhan wouldn’t have compromised their baby in that way. “I assume you had someone else do the painting.”

With a pleased smile, Luhan said, “I supervised, from the doorway, without breathing in any fumes, thank you very much. But I did design the nursery. I wanted to stay away from an overly girly room, since we won’t know what kind of personality Youri has until much later.”

Nodding, Sehun said, “Good call. This is amazing.”

He knew that before entering his third trimester, Luhan had been making decent money designing and painting nurseries for other people. Sehun had assumed he was good at it, from the amount of demand Luhan seemed to be in for those months, but if this room now was any indication …

“I really like it,” Sehun remarked a bit goofily. “I’m thinking Chanyeol got our crib mobiles mixed up after all. You should have the rocket ships and I should have the race cars.”

Shrugging, Luhan said, “We can trade if you want. Now, can you move this furniture? I want to put the crib adjacent to the window and move the dresser to the side.”

His toes sinking into the soft carpet, Sehun said, “No problem. Just direct me. But hey, where did all the paintings go? I liked them.”

Luhan pointed down. “They’re all hanging in the coffee shop right now. At least for the moment. Kris said I’ve got free reign of the walls, but with any hope, I’ll sell some.”

“Not too attached to your art?” Sehun asked curiously. “Isn’t it supposed to be a series?”

“I’ve got new inspiration now,” Luhan said, fondly rubbing his stomach in a way that made Sehun want to join him in the act. “What I’ve got planned for when I can paint again, is going to blow that series out of the water and make it look like armature hour.”

Strangely enough, it was these moments with Luhan, hanging around and chatting easily with him, that Sehun liked the best.

“I’m not sure this is going to fit,” Sehun said after most of the furniture had been placed and only the rocking chair and footstool were left. The room was small to begin with, much smaller than the room Sehun was sure was going to be his daughter’s at the new house. And Luhan, thanks to Suho and the others, had a lot of things to fit in it. Sehun wasn’t optimistic.

“Maybe we should measure it,” Luhan, hands on his hips as he surveyed the room. “I have a tape measure.” He laughed. “Somewhere.”

Taking a moment to breathe, Sehun sat cross legged on the carpet. “I’m not sure a tape measure is going to help. You need more space, honestly.” He was already more than a little uncomfortable with how small the room was. His baby deserved something bigger, but the last thing he wanted to do was insult Luhan or his ability to provide for their daughter.

With a frown, Luhan asked, “Have you talked to Suho lately?”

Head cocking, Sehun shook his head. “He said he wanted to talk, but we haven’t been able to get our schedules to match up. I think we’re getting lunch tomorrow, though. Why?”

There was something secretive going on with Luhan, and if Sehun hadn’t been so enamored with him, and so easily placated, he might have pulled at what it made him feel. But instead he merely accepted Luhan saying, “We’ll get back to the size of this room after you talk to him.”

“Okay,” Sehun groaned out, then he climbed to his feet. “Until then, let me get the tape measure. Maybe we can move some stuff around to get it all in for now. It’s not like we’ll have to worry about Youri crawling around for a while. Do you remember where the measurer is?”

Sehun watched Luhan run his hand across the railing to the crib. He looked fascinated by it, or maybe just caught in thought. Sehun was all kinds of apprehension about the baby, no matter how welcomed she was. It had to be worse for Luhan. He was the one carrying her around. Sehun wondered if thoughts of her kept him up at night too, and worries about doing the right thing, being enough, and living up to expectations.

“My bedroom,” Luhan said a bit absently. “Top drawer on the side table next to the bed. I think. I hope.”

Sehun let his hand brush across Luhan’s stomach as he passed, then made the quick trek to Luhan’s bedroom.

Sehun had never, even seen inside the room. All the times he’d come to visit, the door had been firmly shut, as if it were hiding some great secret. But now, pushing it open, Sehun could see that it was merely a case of his imagination getting the best of him. The bedroom was absolutely normal, almost plain in design, and decorated sparingly. It was obviously that Luhan spent very little time in his bedroom, and used it for nothing more than sleeping.

He frowned however at the sight of two bedside tables, both on either side of the bed. “Luhan!” he called out, not sure which one to search. “Is it the left one or the right one?”

“The right!” Luhan called back almost immediately.

That actually wasn’t very helpful, Sehun contemplated. Was that the right side facing the bed, or the right side as if he were laying in it?

With a sigh he went for the drawer closest to him. Luhan didn’t seem the type to keep anything embarrassing locked away. He was an open person, not at all ashamed of things, and there wasn’t much that Sehun thought that he was going to find anyway, which might be in the slightest bit embarrassing.

Sehun pulled open the drawer and tried not make a face. Unlike Luhan, and the rest of his apartment, the drawer was not in the least bit organized. It seemed there were a million stray papers stuffed into it, congregating into a huge stack and there was no way he was getting to the bottom of the drawer unless he moved some of them.

After a quick glance to the door to make sure Luhan wasn’t able to see him, Sehun began pulling the papers out, setting them on the nearby bed, searching for the tape measure.

It wasn’t until his fingers nicked across a thick paper clip that Sehun paused for the first time. The papers attached to the clip were of sturdier than normal card stock, and the official stamp at the top caught his eye.

Common sense told him not to pry, and his manners reaffirmed that Luhan’s business was not Sehun’s business.

But his eyes were skimming the paper before he could stop himself.

He knees gave out unexpectedly, and griping the papers with fingers so tightly they were white with the pressure, Sehun gasped for air.

These papers, these official documents clipped together, were about his baby. They were stamped with Luhan’s name and Sehun’s name and the content was about their baby.

“Sehun? You find it?”

Sehun’s eyes searched the top paper frantically, panic and fury growing as he realized precisely what information he was taking in.

Betrayed. He was betrayed.

How could he have been betrayed like this, and by Luhan? Luhan was the man that Sehun loved. He was the father of his child and the partner he wanted to have for decades and decades more. It didn’t make sense. It didn’t seem right. And Sehun felt his heart break.

“Sehun?”

Like a lightening strike Sehun was surging to his feet and sprinting the distance back to Luhan. He came upon the nursery so fast he slammed into the open door, bounced off it and struggled to air in between his clenched teeth.

Absolutely startled Luhan’s eyes widened a he asked, “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” Sehun ground out.

The papers were clenched in his hand, crumpled now, as Luhan said, “You’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”

“You are a liar,” Sehun said, not sure whether he wanted to yell or cry. He brought up the papers and said, “You are a liar and a thief and a goddamn con artist.”

Luhan looked furious in a second as he asked, “Is that … Sehun! Did you go through my things?”

“I was looking for the tape measure!” Sehun snapped viciously. “And this is what I find? This ?”

“Don’t you dare yell at me!” Luhan threw back at him, and Sehun only now realized that his body had made the decision for him. There were no tears in his eyes, but there was rage in his voice.

Sehun all but roared back, “Don’t yell at you? Don’t yell at you! Then tell me to my face that I’m not holding in my hands what I think I am. Is this or is this not paperwork for sole custody of Youri?”

“It’s not like that,” Luhan said, and his panic was clearly starting to set in. It was as much an omnission of guilt as Sehun needed. “You don’t understand.”

“I understand more than enough,” Sehun shouted, feeling like he was shaking the walls with his voice alone. “This is the paperwork that gives you complete custody of our daughter, leaving me without any parental rights. Were you going to slip this to me when I wasn’t looking? Were you even going to tell me what I was singing, or was I going to have no clue that you’d stolen my daughter from me?”

“Sehun!”

“I trusted you!” Sehun slammed his fist into the wall. It hurt terribly and he felt the plaster crack under the force of his fist, but he barely registered it. “I trusted you with everything. I … Christ, I told you things that I never thought I’d be able to say to anyone!”

His hands up defensively, and eyes shinning with unshed tears, Luhan begged, “Please let me explain.”

“I told you about Jae,” Sehun said, voice shaking now with sadness. “I told you about Seoyoung. I told you about the worst moment in my life that I wanted to die from. I trusted you when you said this baby was ours to raise, and I belived you when you fed me lie after lie about taking responsibility and facing up to reality and being a good father.”

“That paperwork was precautionary!” Luhan said, leaning back against the crib almost unevenly on his feet. “Look at the date. That paperwork was done before I knew who you were. It was drawn up before I knew what kind of a father you were going to be, and before I loved you.”

“Don’t you dare bring love into this,” Sehun cut him off ruthlessly. “I love Youri. I love her with every bit of my heart that is still capable of loving. And you … you were just going to try and snatch her out from under me.”

“That is not true!” Luhan shouted back right away. “Don’t you put words in my mouth!”

Sehun threw the paperwork down on the ground. “Were you going to just up and disappear on me one day? Take her back to China with you and leave me with absolutely no claim to her?”

Luhan insisted, “I wasn’t even sure you wanted to be a father to Youri when I saw the lawyer. I wanted to give you an out, not trap you.”

Incredulously, Sehun laughed harshly, “A lawyer. You went to see a lawyer. Of course you did.”

“I couldn’t have made you sign that paper,” Luhan countered. “I wasn’t suing you for custody.”

It was as if Sehun didn’t even know who Luhan was. This wasn’t the man that had badgered Sehun gently until he’d given their baby a fair shot. This wasn’t the Luhan who’d claimed to have feelings for him but wanted to work on their friendship before anything else. This certainly wasn’t the kind hearted, generous, selfless person that Sehun had thought he’d fallen in love with--that he’d risked everything to fly after to China when he’d been in a bad situation.

No, this was someone else entirely. This was a …

“Monster,” Sehun cut out. “You’re a monster. I lost one daughter, and you want to take the other one, too?”

“You’re not listening!” Luhan shouted, sounding even more frantic. “Will you just listen to me? Just let me explain!”

Sehun put his foot down deliberately on the paperwork. “I don’t need you to explain anything. I just need you to listen. I think you’re a liar and a coward. I think you’re despicable. I think you really thought you were going to get away with taking my baby from me and you’re wrong if you think that’s what’s going to happen.”

Luhan’s chest was heaving, and his stomach looked so pronounced. Sehun wanted to reach in and save his baby. He wanted to tear Youri out of Luhan and protect her from him.

“You will never,” Sehun vowed, “never take away my parental rights. That is my daughter and I’ll die before I let you have her.”

Luhan’s shoulders hitched once, twice, and then he was openly crying, declaring, “Stop saying these hurtful things. I don’t want to take the baby from you. You don’t understand.”

Sehun continued, “I am not going to roll over and let you get your way. You have picked the wrong person to screw with, Luhan.”

“Please,” Luhan choked out, sliding down a bit with his grip on the crib wavering.

“That’s my daughter and you can’t have her.” Sehun took a step back, feeling light headed from how little air he’d been managing to take in. “I won’t be deceived by you again. I’ll never let you lie to me again, or manipulate me. You can bet on that.”

“You’re making a mistake,” Luhan insisted.

“The only mistake I made,” Sehun decided, “was being taken for a fool by you for so long.” He jabbed a finger at Luhan’s stomach and declared, “I can’t do anything with her still in there. She doesn’t have a choice, she has to be with a person like you until she’s born. But when she is, I’ll get full custody. I will take her from you, Luhan, like you tried to take her from me, and then maybe, just maybe, I’ll let you beg me to be able to see her.”

He heel before he could stop him and was running towards his shoes near the front door just after that. He ignored the anguished way Luhna called after him, and the pain that sounded in his voice.

There was more than enough proof now that Luhan was a liar and a cheat. He was also an impossibly good actor. There was no way Sehu could ever trust anything he said, otherwise.

More than that, gone was all the love he had felt. Gone was the swelling of affection in his heart, and the repairs done from when Jae had died. Everything was gone, almost like it had never existed in the first place.

Sehun threw open Luhan’s door, blocked out his voice completely, and then practically tumbled his way down the stairs.

By the time he broke out onto the streets his strength was all but gone. His anger was fading fast and in its place finally came the tears.

His vision was blurry and tear ruined by the time he got his car started, and he was having trouble seeing the painted lines on the road as he jerked into traffic.

Luhan. How could Luhan have done this?

How could Sehun have fallen so easily for him?

And god, what if he had never seen the paperwork? It was a pure fluke that he’d gone through the wrong table drawer. If he’d never seen the paperwork he could have accidentally signed it at any time, and effectively lost a second daughter.

Slamming on his breaks to avoid rear ending another car, Sehun choked out a sob. How was he going to explain what Luhan had attempted to do to him? How could he tell Suho, who held Luhan in such regard? Or his mother, who already thought of him as a second son. Telling them the truth was going to hurt them so badly. So now it wasn’t only Sehun that Luhan had hurt.

He wasn’t sure how he made it to Chen’s apartment. He wasn’t even certain the man would be there, but he’d seemingly driven on autopilot and stumbled his way to the front door not long after that.

He could feel his phone vibrating madly in his pocket as he pounded on the door. It had to be Luhan. Sehun was not going to pick up. He didn’t want to hear any more lies. He didn’t want to hear Luhan say anything ever again. There was nothing he could say that would make this right, and nothing that Sehun could hear that would make him forgive Luhan.

“Sehun?”

Sehun tumbled his way into Chen’s arms when the door opened, sobbing openly, an incoherent mess. He shook wildly, almost like he was falling apart, and for a moment, desperately wished he as.

“What the hell is going on?” Chen demanded, holding him tightly. His arms were fitted around Sehun as he bore most of his weight. “Sehun? What’s wrong? What happened?”

Ignoring the world around him, Sehun just let himself take comfort in his best friend. Chen couldn’t make things better, but he, even if only for a bit, could be the kind of strength Sehun needed.

“He did what!” Chen demanded no less than an hour later. Sehun had long since calmed down, slumped lethargically on Chen’s sofa with an untouched glass of water in front of him. “No, Sehun, Luhan wouldn’t.”

“I saw the paperwork,” Sehun said, feeling mostly numb now. “I saw it plain as day, written up by some lawyer Luhan went to see. It said that if I was stupid enough to sign the paper, and god knows Luhan was going to try and get me to do it, I was giving up all of my rights to Youri. It said I couldn’t make medical decisions, see her whenever I wanted, or even legally acknowledge her. Luhan tried to do that to me, Chen. He tried to take my baby.”

There was such disbelief on Chen’s face, and horror. Sehun understood. Luhan had come off as so unassuming most of the time. He’d always been a calming influence, patient and understanding. There’d never been so much as a hint that he was capable of doing something so horrible.

“I just can’t … Chen trailed off. “This doesn’t seem like Luhan. It just doesn’t.”

Sehun shook his head. “I’m such an idiot. Chen, I’m such an idiot for falling for his lies.”

“No,” Chen denied kindly. “You’re just human. And Luhan is apparently a very good liar.”

“The best,” Sehun grumbled out.

“What kind of defense did he offer?” Chen asked, running his fingers through his hair. “He did deny it, right? Or did he admit it, with the proof right there?”

The fight was already getting blurry, and exhaustion was creeping up on Sehun so quickly. It was getting harder and harder to think. “He said it was his. He admitted going to the lawyer. But he said I didn’t understand. Chen, what’s there to understand?”

Chen shrugged. “I don’t know.” He moved to sit next to Sehun, and put a comforting hand on his knee. “I’m sorry.”

With a shudder, Sehun admitted, “I just keep thinking of Youri. She’s trapped, Chen. She’s stuck with him and it’s not like she can go anywhere. And I can’t save her. I can’t take her from him yet.”

“Yet?” Chen asked, eyebrows pulling together suddenly.

“Of course yet,” Sehun said, and he couldn’t fathom why Chen was looking at him so oddly. “I’m not leaving my daughter with someone like him, Chen. I’m getting her out of there as soon as possible. I can’t do that for a few more months, but the second I can, I’m doing it.”

Reeling back a little Chen asked, “You’re going to do to Luhan what he was going to do to you?”

“That’s poetic justice,” Sehun said snappishly.

Chen snorted, “That’s not being any better than he is.”

Sehun gave Chen a dark look. “You want me to leave my baby with a person who would lie and steal and deceive?”

If Chen didn’t support him … if Chen didn’t help him …

“We won’t let that happen,” Chen said finally, and Sehun was almost disturbed to find how relieved he was. “Like you said, there’s nothing you can do right now, but when Luhan gives birth, we’ll make sure Youri is safe.”

Still, there was something on Chen’s face that said he wasn’t completely a believer.

“I need a lawyer,” Sehun realized, chilled at the thought. “Luhan will fight me on this, I know it. I have to get custody before he does.” It felt like the worst kind of race against time.

“You need to calm down,” Chen said, and put a cool hand at the back of his neck. “Sehun, you’re all flushed in the face, but you’re cold to the touch. I think you should rest, maybe take a nap. I’m working from home today. Stay here, okay? Let me take care of you.”

Chen was probably the best best friend ever, and Sehun wasn’t sure what he’d be doing without him.

Tilting sideway to lay down on the sofa, Sehun whispered, “I told him everything, Chen. I let him into my heart, and I believed him and I was such an idiot.”

“You loved him,” Chen corrected, squeezing his hand. “It’s not your fault you fell in love with him. It’s not your fault you didn’t know he would try to cut you out of Youri’s life.”

“I thought we were going to be a team,” Sehun said, closing his eyes as he tried to get comfortable. “He wanted to share everything with me, and got me involved even when I didn’t want to. We picked her name together, and were thinking about having a future together. Chen, if all that was a lie, was it also a lie when he said he loved me?”

Chen’s voice was so unsure as he said, “Only Luhan knows that, Sehun. But rest. Please, rest, and know that when you wake up, I’ll help you deal with this. I was there for you with Jae, and I’ll be here for you with Luhan. No matter what, you won’t have to deal with this alone, and I won’t let him take your daughter from you.”

A quick nap, Sehun told himself, his heart aching with every beat.  Because if he slept, he wouldn’t have to think about Luhan who’d been nothing like he seemed.

How could he have picked the worst person in the world to try and start over with.

“Suho,” Sehun heard Chen say, and it took a moment more before he realized that Chen wasn’t speaking to him at all. “Sehun just showed up at my place in tears, hardly making sense. He said something about Luhan lying to him, trying to take the baby from him, and I think it’s very serious. Call me back when you get this. Come over if you can. We have to deal with this. Sehun isn’t … he isn’t good.”

Sehun, almost blissfully, didn’t register any words after that.

He didn’t dream at all.

When he snapped back into awareness he was confronted by darkness. It was enough to make him panic initially, and then eventually calm himself when he recognized the glow from the clock across the room. Chen. He was with Chen. Only Chen had the eerily luminescent clock which had been purchased in America at some point and served almost like a nightlight.

All at once the earlier day came rushing back to Sehun. Luhan’s betrayal came back too easily as well.

He wished that he could say that he’d never met Luhan. His heart wanted him to, as it was currently cracked into a million tiny pieces, the likes of which weren’t going to be put back together if Sehun had anything to say about it. He wanted to haven ever met Luhan, never have trusted or believed him, and therefore never have loved him.

But what would mean never having made Youri. She wasn’t in his life yet, but he loved her more than that life itself. Never meeting Luhan would mean never creating her.

In the darkness of the room Sehun curled into himself a bit more. His anger was completely gone now. Only sadness was left.

Something in the shadows moved.

“Sehun.”

Was it terrible that Sehun was unsure who’s side Suho would be on? Suho claimed constantly that they were family, and Sehun usually felt that way as well. But Suho also had a strong, oddly unwavering friendship with Luhan. Suho and Luhan had bonded long before Sehun had tried to take responsibility for his one night stand with Luhan.

“Did Chen tell you?”

A weight settled next to Sehun. “He did.”

“Okay.” What more could he say? What more was there to say?

Suho’s heavy hand settled on his back. “I called Luhan.”

Sehun wanted to roll his eyes. “Of course you did. To listen to his excuses. To forgive him.”

“No,” Suho said roughly, startling Sehun. “That’s not it at all. Sehun … don’t for a second think that Luhan is more important to you to me. Sehun, have you been thinking that?”

Sehun couldn’t bring himself to answer that. “Why did you call him?”

With a loud sigh, Suho said, “I only asked him one thing. I asked him if it was true what you were claiming. I asked him if there was paperwork in his possession that would take away your rights to the baby, and if he ever planned on using it.”

“Since you haven’t tried to pull me towards the door, and you haven’t been harping on me to listen to Luhan, you must have gotten the same answer I did when I called him on it.”

Suho said, his face still masked in the darkness of the room, “He said yes. That was all I needed to know.” Then more of Suho’s weight was falling on top of Sehun and he said, “I’m so sorry I pushed you towards him. I didn’t know he was this kind of person. I didn’t know he would try to hurt you like this.”

“You weren’t pushing me towards him. You were pushing me towards that baby, and that’s the only good thing that came out of this. Because of you, Suho, I was able to love Youri.” He squeezed his eyes shut.  “I’m so scared I’m going to lose her.”

Suho’s hand rubbed soothingly across Sehun’s back. “Sehun, how well do you know me? I am not going to let anyone take your baby from you, not if it’s within my humanly power. I already scheduled a meeting with a friend of mine who’s a lawyer. We’ll go tomorrow and figure out what our options are.”

“Sehun?” This time it was Chen’s voice, but from across the room. “It’s getting late. It’s almost midnight. Do you want to stay here with me for the night? Or do you want to go with Suho?”

All of the sudden Sehun thought of how awkward things were about to become for Chen. Chen and Luhan were friends, but Chen was also getting married next year to Luhan’s doctor. Luhan’s doctor was Xiumin’s sister, and Xiumin was Luhan’s best friend. Everyone was twisted up in everyone. Sides were going to be taken no matter what. Would the woman Chen wanted to marry be caught in the middle? Would she take Luhan’s side? Something told Sehun she would. And then where would that leave Eunji and Chen? And by default, Chen and Sehun?

“I’m going home,” Sehun announced.

Chen scoffed, “To sit in your empty house and let your thoughts consume you?”

Sehun sat up, ignoring Chen’s words. “I need to get my presentation ready for work tomorrow, and there are still boxes to unpack. I need to … guys, I appreciate you. I know what you’re doing for me here, supporting me and trying to make me feel better. But I want to be alone right now. It had nothing to do with feeling sorry for myself. I just want some time.”

With Suho’s hand at Sehun’s elbow, the man said slowly, “Okay. I understand.”

Sehun must have driven around for at least an hour after leaving Chen’s place. He drove aimlessly, trying to distract himself with the colors of the nightlife around him. But eventually he had to go home. Eventually he had to face reality.

He tossed his keys into the basket by the door the moment he entered, then stretched to pop his muscles. Chen’s sofa had been soft, but it hadn’t been the most comfortable ever. Sehun was a little achy, if not so tired anymore.

Side stepping a series of boxes of the floor, Sehun padded deeper into the house, flipping on lights and heading towards the living room.

Luhan’s painting.

That was all Sehun could see.

Standing in the center of the living room, Sehun’s eyes were full of the painting that Luhan had made for him. The stretched canvass that Sehun had found so beautiful weeks ago was now such an ugly reminder now. Was this how indepth Luhan had been willing to take his lies? He’d painted for Sehun to win him over, and now the painting represented everything that was wrong at the moment.

With anger and aggression creeping under his skin, Sehun reached for the painting hanging on the wall over the fireplace. He ripped it down and pressed his fingers down onto the edges, warping the canvas.

He hated it. He hated how beautiful he still found it. He hated how it reminded him of the person he’d thought Luhan was. He hated everything about it.

He put his foot through it. His fingers pulled at the edges as his foot dug through the canvas, and in a matter of seconds he’d demolished it. When only the frame was left he tossed it to the side, watching it clatter into pieces and become nothing but trash.

It didn’t make him feel any better, not like he’d thought it would.

He found himself making his way to Youri’s nursery. He burst through the door and looked at the still packaged furniture littering it, the room utterly unfinished.

If Luhan had had his way, Youri would’ve never seen the inside of this nursery.

And how stupid had he been, playing right into Luhan’s hands, suggesting that the baby stay with him exclusively for the first six months? Maybe Luhan couldn’t go back to China just yet, but there were a million other places he could disappear to in six months.

Sehun just didn’t understand why. He’d done right by Luhan. He’d gotten involved, and then gone even further by transforming himself once more into a man who could be a father. He’d taken care of Luhan when he needed it, flown to China for him, worked hard to introduce all their friends, and been willing to essentially hand over their baby for six months for her sake. He didn’t deserve to be hurt so badly now. Was this his reward for trying once more?

Eventually he left the nursery for his bedroom and sunk onto his bed. He’d slept for a good four or five hours at Chen’s. He wasn’t that tired at all. He was only weary, and suddenly it didn’t matter that he wasn’t sleepy. He laid down anyway, closed his eyes and forced himself to relax. Sleep came eventually.

In the morning, the smell of eggs and rice work him.

“What the hell is going on?” Sehun asked when he maneuvered himself downstairs, only to find his kitchen completely full of people.

Chanyeol was at the stove, which accounted for the wonderful smell in his brand new kitchen, but everything else was a mess. There were empty packing boxes everywhere, which made sense because he now had a full set of dishes on the table. The countertop was covered in cooking ingredients, and even if Sehun was already looking forward to eating whatever Chanyeol was cooking, the number of dirty pans that were going to be left over in the sink, he wasn’t touching no matter what.

At the nearby dinning table, each with different portions of the morning paper, Kai and D.O. gave him matching waves for greetings.

Chanyeol, with an apron tied around his waist, said, “Breakfast is almost ready.”

“What’s going on?” Sehun asked as Suho drifted past, in a full suit, a mug of coffee in hand.

It was Baekhyun, looking stone-faced and even a little hurt himself, who said, “Isn’t this what friends do when someone they care about is screwed over royally?”

Sehun crossed his arms. “Invade said friend’s kitchen and make a mess?” He was too groggy still to admit that he was a little ashamed everyone already knew what a fool he’d been. They weren’t the type to judge him for it, but it was hard to handle all the same. He didn’t need looks of pity or even sympathy.

“Don’t be an ungrateful jerk,” Chen said from where he was seated at the barstool. He reached over and pinched Sehun’s arm.

“Eat up,” Suho said, moving to sit next to Kai at the table. “And deal with the fact that your friends are going to make sure you’re okay. Be thankful.”

Quietly, Sehun said, “It’s not the same.”

With a frown, Chanyeol turned from the stove and asked, “What isn’t?”

“Luhan hurting me like this,” Sehun said. He took a seat at the table where the side dishes were mostly already laid out, the sheer number of them blanketing the table. Chanyeol was certainly a comfort cooker. “It’s not the same as when Jae died. I still hurt. A lot. But it’s not the same kind of hurt.”

Darkly, Suho said, “You shouldn’t have to hurt at all.”

Sehun cleared is throat. “My point is, I understand why you guys essentially put me on suicide watch after Jae and Seoyoung died. It’s not the same now.  I’m not going anywhere, and I’m sure as hell not leaving my daughter in the hands of someone like Luhan.”

Baekhyun looked only angrier as he snapped, “This isn’t that.”

“We’re not here to babysit you,” Chen agreed. “We’d do this for any one of us who needed it. And something tells me, you need us.”

He needed the company, Sehun was willing to admit. Even a few months ago he’d been happy enough to sit alone in his home, with only the silence for company. Now things were different. He was coming alive again, and the silence was suffocating.

“Food’s ready!” Chanyeol announced, and then he was delivering a series of huge pots of delicious smelling and looking food for their consumption.

Before Sehun could utter another word, there was a bowl of rice in front of him and D.O. was portioning strips of kimchi on top.

“Eat,” Suho urged, concern so easy to see on his face. “You have to go to work soon, and I’m taking you to see the lawyer afterwards.”

Next to Sehun, Kai froze. “Lawyer?’

In a decidedly unarguable way, Chen said, “Luhan planned to take Youri from Sehun. Sehun is going to return the favor.”

Sehun gave them all a fierce look. “I lost one daughter, I’m not going to lose a second.”

Youri would stay with Luhan over his dead body, and there was nothing Sehun wouldn’t do to take her from him when she was born. Nothing.