The morning of the party doesn’t treat Kyungsoo very well as the first thing he comes face to face with is his best friend, the toilet bowl. Emptying out his stomach for the nth time, Kyungsoo feels his throat burn, probably beginning to take damage from all the stomach acid that it comes into contact with on a daily basis. He should probably go see the doctor to get something for that.

However, at the thought of seeing the doctor, Kyungsoo has a mini panic attack when he realizes he should’ve seen the doctor weeks ago when he first found out about his pregnancy. He’s three months along now, which is quite far for not having visited the doctor for a check-up.

He feels a cascade of emotions drench him as he realizes he could be putting the baby in danger. What if I’m not taking enough folic acid? Various questions plague him, effectively scaring him to the point of crying as Kyungsoo curls into a ball on the floor and lets his tears run. He wonders if the doctor would be able to explain his confusing mood swings too. Maybe give him some medicine for that as well because he really can’t take the sudden crying he’s been experiencing lately.

Eventually, he forces himself to clean up and get ready for the day. The party isn’t until the evening, which leaves him plenty of time to get his together.

After leaving the bathroom, he heads straight for his sister-in-law’s room. Feeling the need to tell somebody about the whole baby situation, Jongin’s sister is the best candidate—having had a child of her own. Plus, she looks like she could keep a secret.

He knocks on her bedroom door, bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet as he hears footsteps on the other side. She opens the door, surprised to see Kyungsoo standing there so early in the morning.

“Good morning, Kyungsoo,” she greets, leaning in to give the prince a warm hug. “What brings you here?”

Kyungsoo doesn’t waste a moment grabbing onto her arm, tears welling up in his eyes again as he gives her the most pitiful look.

“Noona,” he says in a strained voice. “Please help me.”

That’s how Kyungsoo finds himself sitting on the chair at the doctor’s office, legs dangling back and forth as he waits. He glances around at the posters, pictures of various human anatomy lining the walls. There’s even a pregnancy growth chart for each week of the nine months, and Kyungsoo finds that his baby’s the size of a lime at twelve weeks. His eyes land on Princess Jang-ah, who gives him a reassuring smile that calms his nerves down just a little.

The door opens and the doctor walks in, chart in hand and ready to go.

“Prince Kyungsoo,” she greets with a bow. “My name is Jung Soojung, and I own this clinic. Rest assured, we take patient confidentiality extremely seriously. Whatever we discuss in here today will not be discussed externally, so no worries about any leaks to the media,” she finishes with a gentle smile and Kyungsoo nods in response. “So, what can we do for you today?”

Kyungsoo glances at Princess Jang-ah for a moment, turning back to the young doctor once he receives an encouraging nod.

“I’m pregnant,” he tells her, and Dr. Jung’s eyes widen in surprise.

“Oh, congratulations! An heir for the kingdom, how exciting,” she says. “This is brilliant. We handled Princess Jang-ah’s pregnancy so you are in capable hands, Kyungsoo-ssi.”

After that, the ball just sort of rolls as Dr. Jung has him pee in a cup just to confirm the pregnancy for their records. He answers a few questions about his symptoms, nutritional intake, and other details that Kyungsoo’s mind sort of glosses over. He isn’t convinced yet that he’s actually in the doctor’s office, going from keeping this secret for so long to telling two people about it. It’s exhausting.

When he finally lays back in the chair and Dr. Jung squirts some cold gel over his slightly raised abdomen, the monitor whizzes to life with black and white images. Kyungsoo tries to make sense of the weird splotches as the transducer passes over his midsection.

“Ok, here we are,” says Dr. Jung, settling on a good view. She points at the white blob sitting there all lonely in the darkness of his womb, and Kyungsoo squints to make sense of it. Is it upside down? Which side is the head? “This is your baby!”

And then it hits Kyungsoo. He’s looking at the little creature that’s been making him throw up and cry for the past few weeks. It kind of shakes him to the core because even though he’s known he’s pregnant, it still felt like a myth. But now actually seeing the alien-looking, rounded head with a tiny curved body, it’s real. It’s ing real.

He feels someone squeezing his hand, and he looks over at Princess Jang-ah looking at him with happy tears in her eyes. “Are you okay?” she asks, clearly noticing how overwhelmed Kyungsoo looks right now.

Kyungsoo can’t find it in himself to answer.

Is he okay? He doesn’t know. All he knows right now is that he’s more scared than he thought he would be. Seeing the actual life growing inside his body makes Kyungsoo kind of just want to cry at the realness of it all.

. He’s going to be responsible for a living, breathing human being soon.

After receiving some prescriptions for vitamins and supplements, and information about the upcoming month and what sort of things to expect, Kyungsoo is sent on his way with a clean bill of health for the baby.

He’s extremely quiet in the car ride home, long drowned in his thoughts that are so scattered that they seem to make no sense. On top of that, he still doesn’t know quite how to feel.

“Kyungsoo?” Princess Jang-ah says, barely loud enough for him to hear.

He turns to look at her, wanting to verbally acknowledge her but all the words seem to die out before they can be formed.

“I know it’s scary,” she starts, deciding to address Kyungsoo’s fears rather than waiting for the male to voice them out loud. She’s familiar with the situation, having gone through it herself with Rahee. “Finding out you’re responsible for someone so vulnerable, it’s really scary.”

Kyungsoo feels his eyes beginning to gloss over with tears once more.

“Your body changes, your mood changes, some days you don’t feel like yourself and it can get overwhelming.” She leans over to wrap an arm around the shaking boy’s shoulders, pulling him close. “I felt the same way with Rahee, so I can tell you that I understand. But it’s okay to feel like that. It’s a new experience, so it’s normal to feel scared. I can’t tell you how many times I broke down crying for no reason,” she says with a smile as Kyungsoo sniffles, wide eyes red and watery.

“It’s okay to be scared, but you have to know that you’re not alone. Your brother-in-law has the patience of a saint. He put up with all my yelling, my ridiculous cravings, and even threats,” she says with a laugh. “I once threatened to leave him because he used up all the hot water in the shower.”

At that, Kyungsoo cracks a smile.

“So chin up, okay?” she says, pressing a kiss in Kyungsoo’s hair like a mother would to her crying child. “You have me, mom, dad, Jongin, even Rahee to take care of you so don’t think you’ll be alone in all of this.”

“He doesn’t know,’ Kyungsoo finally speaks up in a small voice.

“Are you going to tell him anytime soon?”

“Eventually.”

“I don’t want to rush you, Kyungsoo, but tell him as soon as you can. You’re going to need his moral support if you want to come out sane at the end of this. It’s his baby too, he needs to know.”

“What if…” Kyungsoo trails off, not knowing how to voice out his biggest fear in comprehensible words.

“What if, what?”

What if he doesn’t want it?

Jang-ah, ever the perceptive princess, senses the impending question. “My brother…his face is just like that,” she begins. “He brooded in our mother’s womb—if you think I’m lying we still have the sonograms. He was born brooding, not crying until the doctor slapped him on the . He brooded growing up, face as cold as ice. Jongin’s a natural brooder, Kyungsoo. He looks like he’ll murder anyone who comes near him, but really, he’s a big softie once you get to know him. So don’t fill your head with questions of ‘what if’s’, you won’t know anything until you tell him.”

Kyungsoo thinks over the words in his head for a moment, the turmoil in his heart somewhat subsided as he processes whatever the princess has just said.

He really won’t know until he tells Jongin.

Kyungsoo can agree with that logic. He knows he sometimes takes it too far by assuming things when he could just get the answer from the source itself. Looks like Kyungsoo is going to have to face this situation the same way, if he wants to stay sane like Jang-ah has mentioned.

“Thank you, Noona,” he says, flashing the princess a shy smile as he moves out of her embrace. He definitely feels better than before, that’s for sure.

However, now there’s a question stabbing at the back of his mind.

“Noona?” he calls her again, “Do you think our baby will be born brooding too?”

“Dear God, I hope not,” she replies, sending the two into a fit of snickers at Jongin’s expense.

***

Kyungsoo is exhausted.

He lays his bag with his prenatal vitamins and supplements on the bedside table before plopping down on his mattress, face pressed against his pillow, and eyes shut as he takes in several deep breaths.

He didn’t think going to see the doctor would tire him out as much as it did, and he just wants to sleep it all off for the next two days. The rhythmic pounding against his skull isn’t helping things along either. He wonders if Tylenol would be safe to take—he decides he’ll just Google it later.

However, as much as he just wants to slip into a short nap, his mind continues to roll. He thinks about what the doctor told him about his second trimester—about how the royal family should prepare to make an announcement soon since he’s going to start showing even more. The thought stresses him out, not knowing where to even begin going about this.

Kyungsoo groans. He really dislikes the situation he’s put himself into. He knows he needs to tell the Kim family, especially Jongin. But he can’t.

Hell, he can’t even bring himself to tell his own fathers because for some reason, he’s scared.

Being the second child of a king, Kyungsoo’s grown up in a type of luxury even his older brother can’t relate to. Without the pressure of the crown, he grew up pursuing interests unrelated to politics and running a kingdom. His fathers showered him with unconditional love, his tutors were very lenient, and he wasn’t expected to carry himself in a way that always showed his position—that was reserved for Seungsoo. Sometimes seeing the way his brother often struggled with the pressure of one day taking over their father’s position, Kyungsoo couldn’t be more grateful with the way he was raised.

He’s never experienced struggles—perhaps the occasional heartbreak by a secret crush or losing their family pet—but nothing heavy has ever been on his shoulders.

Until the time his fathers sat him down one day and discussed a mutual alliance between the Do’s and the Kim’s in the form of an arranged marriage. Before he could even congratulate Seungsoo on the marriage, he heard his own name being dropped—and along with it, his heart.

It was the first time anything pertaining to his status as a royal was expected of him. He was set to marry a future king, and Kyungsoo didn’t have the slightest idea of what that entailed. All he knew was that he couldn’t disappoint his parents, not when such a huge responsibility was upon him.

And so Kyungsoo married the prince without protest, knowing he was in over his head, but it was the least he could do. His parents never asked anything of him, his brother never once complained of his own situation despite knowing how overwhelming it was, and so he pulled his own weight even if it was scary.

And it was.

He has never come across someone who didn’t like him before. As childish as it sounds, Kyungsoo has never dealt with anyone who didn’t want to talk to him, or be around him. But there was Jongin on their wedding day, looking straight at him and not even cracking a friendly smile. It unnerved him to say the least.

But now it’s become even scarier. Before, Kyungsoo only had to worry about a cold, broody old prince who wouldn’t look his way for more than a second. Now, he’s carrying the heir to the Kim kingdom and Kyungsoo feels his shoulders heavy with the burden.

Not only does he have to try and make things work with Jongin, he has to tell him he’s going to be a dad in six months’ time.

It’s incredibly intimidating.

Kyungsoo sniffles into his pillow, finally allowing the exhaustion to overtake his body and pull him into a deep sleep.

***

Jongin stands before the large, wooden door, hand poised in a fist ready to knock when he frowns, lowering it and simply standing there contemplating whether to barge right in or make himself known first.

It’s weird, knocking on his own bedroom door that he’s had for the past twenty-six years.

He raises his fist up again and—

“What’re you doing?”

Jongin turns to look down the hallway, his sister walking towards him with an impeccably dressed two year old in her arms. She comes to a stop right beside him, looking inquisitively at his fist that’s stopped just before it hit the door.

Jongin sends her a confused look.

“Just walk in,” she says, “it’s your room, isn’t it?”

At that, Jongin lowers his hand and scowls. “It’s called having manners.”

“It’s called being scared of your husband,” she giggles behind her palm, and Rahee, hearing her mom, joins in too.

Jongin pouts at the two princesses snickering at him, crossing his arms and taking a defensive position. “I’m not scared of him,” he declares, because he’s not.

“It’s okay, Nini. Kyungsoo doesn’t bite—or does he?” she teases, a mischievous glint in her eyes that makes Jongin’s cheeks bloom a deep scarlet.

“I’m—He—Don’t call me that,” he splutters out instead, despising the stupid nickname that he’s never managed to get rid of.

“Nini,” Rahee calls out and Jongin sincerely hopes his niece doesn’t start calling him that either. Anything but that. “Uncle Nini?”

His hopes crash and burn.

Jongin rubs his face with his hands, feeling like he aged ten years in the span of two minutes. He opens his eyes and glares at Jang-ah, who only sends him a sweet smile.

“Don’t give me that look. I’m not the one who’s been standing in front of my room for five minutes like an idiot.”

“Noona, stop,” he says in a voice that almost sounds like a whine. Almost. Future kings don’t whine.

“Well, then stop giving me reasons to tease you, baby brother,” she chuckles as Rahee claps her hands.

“Idiot!” the two year old says excitedly, not sure of what’s going on but taking part in it no less.

That only makes Jang-ah laugh harder as Jongin gives up, lightly smacking his forehead against the door as he sighs.

“You can do it.” She pats Jongin on the shoulder encouragingly. “Be strong. If you want, I can walk you through it. First, you grip the handle. Then, you slowly turn and push, and it opens the doo—”

“Just go get ready for the party,” he groans, shaking off her hand as he stands upright once more.

“Okay fine, you big baby,” Jang-ah says, readjusting Rahee in her hold as she gets ready to leave, but not before dropping some words of wisdom. “Take good care of Kyungsoo today.”

The sudden change in tone has Jongin scrunching his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“I mean—take care of him every day. Just, he’s not feeling very well today so be nice.”

And with that, Jang-ah leaves before Jongin can dig deeper into the meaning behind her words. It’s not hers to reveal. She just hopes her idiot brother can catch onto it quick, and soon.

Meanwhile, Jongin grumbles under his breath as he finally turns the handle and opens the door, stepping inside slowly, carefully, as if he is scared.

Which he’s not.

But seeing a certain prince wrapped tightly in a burrito blanket on their bed has him feeling relieved that he didn’t end up knocking. The brunet looks so serene, unusually wide eyes closed as he softly snores away in dreamland—

Jongin catches himself staring a beat too long, and he looks away, eyes in search for what he actually came to look for. He treads lightly over to their closet, careful not to wake the sleeping prince with the clacking of his shoes as he picks up his attire for the evening. He s the garment bag and peeks inside to make sure all the pieces to his tuxedo are there, and does the same to Kyungsoo’s lying right beside it.

Once he deems the stitching work flawless and the ironed creases crisp, he turns to head back out. He wonders if he should bother waking up the prince or let the butler take care of that since there’s still some time left before guests start arriving, but he finds he doesn’t have to decide because Kyungsoo is sitting up, eyes still closed in a sleepy haze as his hair sticks up in different directions.

Jongin finds himself unable to move as he watches Kyungsoo fumble around for his phone and shut off his alarm blindly, tossing it aside before slumping back down on the pillow. The shorter prince lets out a loud yawn before snuggling tighter into his cocoon, letting out soft mewls until he slips back into sleep.

.

Jongin looks away, taking large, pronounced strides towards the door. He doesn’t waste time in closing it behind himself, heading towards his office where he can be alone with the silly thoughts now running through his mind.

***

When Kyungsoo awakens again, his old friend nausea hits him in the gut and he scrambles towards the bathroom, mentally cursing the morning sickness—because for some reason, it doesn’t only happen in the mornings.

When he does nothing but dry heave, he realizes he hasn’t eaten anything all day. His panic meter goes up a couple of notches, and an overwhelming feeling begins to consume him—very reminiscent of this morning.

He whimpers as he washes his face, eyes rimmed red as he tries not to let his tears flow.

If Jongin knew, he’d make sure I eat.

 At that, more guilt drenches him and he ends up crying into a hand towel.

Eventually, he makes it out of the bathroom, having cried at his haggard appearance—his skin a sickly pale tone and eye bags prominently larger—but then calming down after realizing his lime baby was visible when he lifted his shirt.

ing hell, his hormones are wreaking havoc on his sanity.

Kyungsoo smooths his palm over the small bump, taking assurance in its presence as he decides he’ll eat two servings of everything they serve at dinner tonight.

***

It’s when he joins the Kim family downstairs, ready to greet the guests at the door, that he receives the news.

Apparently, both of his fathers have come down with the flu, and Seungsoo—on his way to the event tonight—ended up having to turn back when he couldn’t stop throwing up himself.

In other words, his family won’t be coming tonight and Kyungsoo is not happy.

Of course, he can’t blame them for getting sick—and he is concerned for their well-being—but he also blames them for getting sick. Couldn’t they take an extra dose of the antiviral medication and make the journey? Of all the times they could choose to get sick, they would when Kyungsoo needs them the most.

He manages to make it through the greetings without moping too much. He needs to be the perfect son-in-law tonight, no matter how much he wants to whine at the unfairness of it all.

His stomach flips uneasily with each bow, feeling faint as the blood rushes to his head every time he leans down. He rubs at his stomach, hoping he doesn’t look too miserable in front of the guests. He honestly just wants to make it through this night as quick as possible.

He chances a glance at Jongin, who’s standing beside him making small talk with one of the members of his father’s council. He looks so serious, full business mode and professional—looking every bit the part a king should.

Too bad Jongin hasn’t even looked his way since the time he joined them. He figured they must be on some kind of good terms after their late night chat over a bloody finger a few days ago, but the taller prince has barely acknowledged him tonight.

He pouts.

It also doesn’t help how incredibly dashing the tuxedo looks on Jongin, with his hair swooped away from his forehead, showing off the entirety of his better than average face.

Kyungsoo tries not to side eye him for too long to make it less obvious that he’s looking. He really tries not to, but every so often he finds his eyes trailing the same invisible path that ends right on Jongin.

Damn it. He is ing gorgeous.

Kyungsoo feels his cheeks heat up as he tries to think of something else, but his thoughts betray him as his mind conjures up images of Jongin holding his hand as he treats his cut, smiling at him, laughing at his joke—but as his eyes land on the male once again, his little expanding balloon deflates because Jongin is so engrossed in acknowledging and speaking to everyone but him tonight.

He pouts again.

He sits beside Jongin at the front table, listening to King and Queen Kim make small speeches thanking everyone for coming out to celebrate them. He’s truly enjoying the small jokes they throw in, internally grateful for having in-laws that aren’t so uptight and sullen all the time like the horror stories he’s heard.

And despite feeling like total crap, his mood being offset by his parents’ nonattendance, and Jongin ignoring him, Kyungsoo feels rather proud of keeping himself together tonight. It’s quite an accomplishment judging from the way he’s been so on edge lately that he breaks down in his bathroom every other day.

To keep himself composed, he tries not to dwell on all the stress he’s facing. Instead, he decides to push his luck to turn his mood around. Suddenly fueled by a fleeting upstroke in self-confidence, he turns to Jongin and decides, to hell with it.

“Hi.”

Apparently, Jongin hasn’t heard.

“Hi,” he says louder, this time gaining the other’s attention.

Jongin turns his head to look at him with the same cold , brooding face—

Keep your composure, Kyungsoo chants in his head.

“Your parents are funny,” he says with a smile, even though he wants to smack himself. Jongin doesn’t look amused, and he’s slowly losing his resolve. “Princess Jang-ah is funny too,” he continues.

Again, no reaction from Jongin.

Kyungsoo wants to melt into the soft, velvet cushion of his chair.

“Rahee is funny?” His attempt is so pathetic. This is sad. A burning ship. Kyungsoo should jump off and swim away while he can. “Did you know she can do push-ups? Isn’t that so funny? A two year old doing push-ups!”

His attempt at a laugh withers away when Jongin simply stares at him, unmoving, unwilling to engage him in this useless conversation.

Kyungsoo suddenly feels something bubbling up inside of him. He can’t quite name it, but it sears a hot red on every nerve end. It unsettles him, and he wants Jongin to do something. Say something.

There’s one thing he can say that would surely drive a reaction out of him. Kyungsoo feels delirious enough to spill it, wanting to satisfy the craving inside.

“Hey," he says, smiling although he can no longer feel his own face. He should stop and recollect himself. He doesn’t feel good for some reason, but the hazy darkness surrounding his thoughts prompt him to expel what he’s been keeping inside. His heart is racing uncontrollably, he can feel his dress shirt cling to his back from the sweat, and he leans in closer to whisper his best kept secret.

“I’m going to…have…your...ba…”

Kyungsoo doesn’t stay conscious long enough to register calls of his name.

***

Jongin barely acknowledges his sister’s panic over his own as he carries Kyungsoo to their bedroom. He vaguely recalls Jang-ah mentioning that Kyungsoo wasn’t feeling good today, and for reasons unknown, he’s angry. 

While she goes to call their royal physician, Jongin lays him down on the bed. He moves to smooth away the sweat-matted bangs only to realize Kyungsoo’s burning up underneath. Somehow, this infuriates him further.

He can’t tell who he’s mad at more, Kyungsoo for blatantly ignoring his health like this or himself for not noticing.

He moves to search for a thermometer, rummaging through various drawers but coming up short. He goes to the bedside table, not finding any success there either. Opening the bag resting on top, he doesn’t pay much attention to the pamphlets and pill bottles inside because he’s too busy chastising Kyungsoo in his head.

You clumsy, sick idiot.

Out of frustration, he flings the bag down, not registering the words on the bottle that falls by his feet until he’s done mentally scolding the unconscious prince.

Jongin bends down to pick it up, carefully reading the label.

Once he’s done, he puts it back inside the bag and closes it, glancing one last time at Kyungsoo before he’s turning around and walking out the door.

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a/n - remember that slight angst warning? yea, me neither >.>    it's the prenatal vitamins bottle oooh, but y'all prolly saw that coming from a mile away lol thank you to my main hoe kwangri for doing the things you do ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)  this chapter wouldn't be possible otherwise. anyway, i hope you guys enjoyed this ridiculously cliche'd word vomit, i appreciate all the love!! :] 
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