Joonmyun had only been on maternity leave for a week and he was already bored out of his mind. That was the reason he’d invited Yixing over for lunch, he needed someone to talk to before he went insane. And Yixing had been happy to accept the invitation on the condition that he brought the food with him so Joonmyun didn’t have to cook. He seemed to be under the impression that since Joonmyun was currently under orders from his doctor to take things easy that meant he wasn’t supposed to be doing anything at all. Not that Joonmyun had it in him to argue, as much as he kept telling everyone he felt fine and the whole high blood pressure thing had just been a fluke being on his feet for more than ten minutes at a time was enough to tire him out just lately. It wasn’t that surprising, he was eight months pregnant after all and the baby he was carrying definitely wasn’t on the small side but that didn’t make the fact he could no longer walk the length of the kitchen without getting out of breath any less annoying.

So that’s how he’d ended up sitting cross-legged on the floor beside Yixing, eating chicken while they flicked through the baby and toddler catalogue Sehun had picked up for him the other day. It was only a month until the baby arrived, maybe less and they still needed to get so many things, a pram being one of them so he’d decided to take advantage of his friend's presence and ask him to help narrow down the list he’d made.

“I really like this one,” he said jabbing a finger at the green and white model on the page they were looking at, “green works for both genders so that’s a plus,” their baby had been extremely uncooperative at his last scan, refusing to budge no matter how many times the technician poked and prodded his bump meaning they were getting a surprise whether they liked it or not, “and the colour’s unique without being too gaudy.”

“Joonmyun, it costs more than your rent for the month.” Yixing pointed out. “The apple print inside the hood is pretty nice though.”

Yes it was pretty nice, that was part of the reason he liked it. Yixing was right about the price though, that could be an issue. “Well…” he said after thinking about it for a minute or two, “… that’s what it costs with everything included. Without the car seat it’d be less.”

“Without a car seat how are you going to get the baby back from the hospital?”

It was a fair enough question. While neither he nor Sehun drove they’d still be taking the baby home by car, he’d already talked to Kris about it and he’d agreed to play chauffeur. “We could borrow one?”

Yixing just shook his head and turned the page.

Joonmyun continued trying to justify his decision regardless. “Sehun seems to like it that’s all. He’s not shown much of an interest in choosing things for the baby but he actually pointed this one out. And he’s been struggling a little lately, I know he has so it’d be nice to get something that’s kind of for him, even if technically we had to buy it anyway.” His pregnancy hadn’t been planned so it was no wonder really that the younger man was having a hard time adjusting to all the changes they were having to make. And while at twenty years old he was technically an adult Joonmyun was painfully aware of the fact that he’d still been a teenager up until four months ago. He was being forced to grow up and grow up fast and it hadn’t been easy for him. But all things considered he’d coped pretty well so far, he’d done his best to support him and Joonmyun couldn’t help being proud of him for that. “He’s been great, he really has…” he started to say and then the door was opening and the subject of their conversation was backing his way into the room, a grocery bag clutched to his chest.

“Hey, have you had lunch yet?” he called, a smile on his face. And then he looked up and spotted the food on the table, his gaze then flicking to Yixing and the smile faded.

“I didn’t think you’d be home until dinner.” Joonmyun explained, not sure why Sehun looked so annoyed or why he felt so guilty about it. He hadn’t been expecting him home so he’d sat down to lunch without him. There was nothing wrong with that.

“I worked some overtime last week, my boss let me claim the hours back.” Sehun told him still clearly displeased. Then he was stalking into the kitchen and slamming the door behind him. The sound of cupboard doors banging followed and Joonmyun winced.

And Yixing was on his feet and shrugging his jacket on. “I think I should probably go…”

Joonmyun opened his mouth to argue and then snapped it shut again as another loud bang came from the kitchen. “Maybe you should.” He said instead.

Yixing was already at the front door. “I’ll call you later.” He called back over his shoulder.

Joonmyun just nodded as the door closed behind him, embarrassment washing over him. He’d been about to sing Sehun’s praises to Yixing two minutes ago and now he was acting like a spoiled child and throwing a tantrum. They’d have a child of their own soon, he didn’t have time to be dealing with his melodramatics. He should probably go and talk to him though he thought with a frown, ask for an explanation before he started lecturing him. Maybe this wasn't about him, he didn't want to jump down his throat if there was legitimate reason for him to be angry. So he set about getting to his feet. He didn’t get very far. He managed to get to his knees before realising he needed something to hold onto if he wanted to get to standing without toppling over and that both the coffee table and the couch were too low to the floor to be of much help. Shouting for Sehun was an option he supposed but that would mean admitting he was stuck which would be humiliating to say the least. He sat back down. He’d just wait until Sehun came back into the room, hopefully he’d offer to help him up without being asked.

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

It was another ten minutes before Sehun emerged from the kitchen and when he did he didn’t look any happier. Joonmyun, who hated it when people were rude for no reason, didn’t care. “Did you have to embarrass me in front of Yixing like that?” he asked.

The displeased expression Sehun was wearing hardened. “I don’t see how going into the kitchen to put the food shopping away can be classified as embarrassing behaviour.”

Joonmyun fought the urge to role his eyes. No matter the argument Sehun always had a comeback and it could be incredibly frustrating. “You know that’s not what I meant. And I know I didn’t imagine all the stomping around and door slamming. You’re obviously pissed off about something and that’s okay, I just wish you hadn’t decided to broadcast the fact in front of company.”

“Nothing’s pissed me off. I’m fine.”

The statement would have been more convincing if he’d bothered to wipe the scowl from his face. “Don’t lie to me.” Joonmyun exclaimed. He was usually a pretty patient person but it seemed the more heavily pregnant he became the less patience he possessed and the little he did possess at the moment was rapidly running out. “You’re clearly mad about something. And like I said, that’s fine. What’s not fine is you choosing to act like a sulky pre-schooler when you could just talk to me about it.”

Sehun’s jaw clenched, his eyes narrowing. Apparently ‘sulky pre-schooler’ had hit a nerve. “You want me to talk about it?” he bit out.

“Yes.” Joonmyun didn’t know why he was asking, he’d thought he’d made that obvious.

“Okay, fine.” Sehun said, sitting on the edge of the armchair opposite. “Do you know why I went food shopping on the way home?”

“No” Joonmyun answered, not sure where Sehun going with the question.

“I did it because you’ve been saying for days that you really want vegetable curry and I know the only reason you haven’t given in and made enough to fill the freezer already is because you don’t feel up to it. So when my boss said I could have this afternoon off I thought I could get home in time for lunch and make you some. I got you some grapes too, I saw we didn’t have many left this morning and I know how much you’re liking them right now.”

Okay so he’d been right, about both the grapes and the curry. They’d run out of grapes this morning which had indeed saddened him and he’d been watching a cooking show the other day (never a good idea now he was pregnant because everything he saw he suddenly wanted) and hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the vegetable curry they’d been making since. And yes the only reason he hadn’t attempted to make one himself was because the thought of spending more than ten minutes cooking something sounded like a lot of hard work. The fact Sehun had picked up on that was kind of sweet. It didn’t excuse him throwing a tantrum like a toddler when things hadn’t gone to plan though. “I don’t get why you’re so annoyed. There was always a chance I might have started lunch already, you know I’m not exactly keeping to a schedule when it comes to eating right now.” Yesterday he’d had no appetite at all until it hit two pm and then he’d suddenly found he was starving and worked his way through two bowls of cereal and four slices of toast. He’d then spent the rest of the afternoon feeling uncomfortably full and had made a note to listen to his head over his stomach in the future. “And we can always have the curry for dinner.”

“It’s not the curry I’m annoyed about.” Sehun said, shaking his head as if he was the one that was being ridiculous.

If it wasn’t the curry then Joonmyun didn’t see why he would bring it up in the first place but then Sehun could be incredibly hard to figure out at times. “Then what are you annoyed about?” he asked, not bothering to hide how frustrated he was by the exchange so far.

“It wasn't the fact you were having lunch without me that I couldn't take, it was who you were having lunch with.”

That definitely hadn’t been the answer Joonmyun had been expecting. “What do you mean it was who I was having lunch with?” He didn’t know why deciding to have lunch with Yixing of all people was such a big deal, not when they’d had lunch together countless times before.

But now that he’d admitted what it was that had set him off Sehun wasn’t shy about letting him know exactly why he was so annoyed. “If I’d come home and you were having lunch by yourself then that would have been fine. You were hungry, you needed to eat. But when you decided you didn’t want to eat alone you called him. If you wanted company so badly then you could have called me, you could have asked me when my lunch break was and if I’d come home but no Yixing was your first choice. It’s like ever since you got pregnant he’s your first choice for everything. Or maybe he always has been and I’m only just noticing it now, I don’t know.”

Joonmyun was so stunned by the admission that he was surprised his jaw hadn’t just hit the floor. Sehun was jealous. Sehun was jealous of Yixing. It made no sense to him at all. “He’s my friend…” he said once he’d gotten over the surprise, “… one of my best friends. And he’s not my first choice for everything. The only reason I didn’t call you was because I didn’t want you to waste half of your lunch break travelling over here. You only get an hour.”

Sehun was not appeased. “Joonmyun, you told him you were pregnant before you told me. If that doesn’t make him your first choice for everything I don’t know what does.”

“I didn’t tell him!” Joonmyun protested. Things were getting drastically off topic and he didn’t like it one bit. “He guessed. And it wasn’t like I could lie to him and tell him I wasn’t, he’d have found out soon enough that I was and he’d have been devastated when he found out I’d kept it from him.”

“You kept it from me.” Sehun pointed out. “You kept it from me for a whole fortnight after you told Yixing.”

“Because I didn’t know how to tell you.” He didn’t know why he was explaining himself, not when Sehun knew all of this already. What he’d planned to be a calm confession followed by a rational conversation had ended up as a blurted ‘I’m pregnant’ followed by a complete emotional breakdown. There’d been stuttered apologies, an outpouring of all of his fears and worries no matter how absurd and a whole lot of tears. It hadn’t been his finest hour but Sehun had coped admirably well. He’d brushed the apologies aside, including the one about telling Yixing first. Then he’d listened to all of his crazy ramblings without interrupting before pulling him into a hug and telling him not to be so stupid. Why couldn’t he be that mature all the time?

“It’s not just that.” Sehun continued, not taking that as an excuse. “You’re always talking about Yixing when he’s not here. ‘Yixing said this…. Yixing would love that….’ I’m sick of hearing about him.”

Joonmyun was having a hard time thinking up something to say to that, partly because it was true (Yixing had always been easy to talk to and when he’d first found himself pregnant he’d really needed someone to talk to, it wasn’t surprising that they’d grown closer after that), but mostly because he couldn’t get his head around the fact Sehun was jealous. He’d always been a little possessive, a touch demanding when it came to wanting his time but a truly jealous Sehun wasn’t something he’d had to handle yet and it was throwing him off-balance.

“What were you doing with him today?” Sehun asked when he failed to respond.

“We were eating lunch, you know that.” Joonmyun answered, confused by the question.

“So you weren’t looking through that catalogue then? The one on the table with the baby stuff in it. The one you said we were going to go through together later tonight.”

Ah, so he’d noticed that. “Maybe I was.” He said, seeing no point in lying. “I just wanted another opinion. And before you say anything I’d just like to point out that whenever we do look at or talk about baby stuff you don’t seem to have an opinion, in fact you usually seem completely uninterested.”

“I might not have a lot to say but I am interested!” Sehun objected. “I just don’t know what I’m supposed to be looking for half the time. How do I know if we’d be better with a cold water steriliser or a microwave steriliser?”

Okay, so maybe he was being a bit unfair Joonmyun thought. Sehun looked more than a little hurt by the implication that he didn’t care. And while ‘I don’t know anything about baby stuff’ wasn’t a great excuse it didn’t sound as if he was lying, that really was why he’d zoned out every other time Joonmyun had brought up the subject. “You know I have no idea what I’m supposed to be looking for either.” Joonmyun reminded him. “In case you haven’t noticed I’ve never had a baby before.”

“Well neither has Yixing so I don’t get why you’d be asking him.”

And there he went again. He sounded like a broken record, “Well maybe it’s because when I ask him things I actually get an answer.”

Sehun snorted. “Of course you do. He’s always trying to get on your good side that’s why. He’s practically obsessed with you.”

Joonmyun shook his head in disbelief. The conversation was getting more ridiculous by second. “He is not obsessed with me. I don’t know why you would even say that.”

“I’m saying it because it’s true. He’s always calling you or texting you. Oh and buying you things, why would he buy you things if he wasn’t trying to impress you?”

“Sehun, buying someone bread when you’re buying it for yourself anyway doesn’t mean you’re trying to impress them. It’s called being thoughtful. And calling your friends is what you do if want to stay friends. And anyway he’s got Kyungsoo, in case you’ve forgotten.” He’d had Kyungsoo long before Sehun had come into the picture and they made such a sickeningly sweet couple that Joonmyun could only handle them in small doses.

“So what?” Sehun said, eternally stubborn. “That doesn’t mean he can’t like you.”

“They’re trying for a baby!” Joonmyun exclaimed. Sehun had clearly gone insane.

“You don’t have to be in love with someone to have a baby with them.” Sehun reasoned.

And Joonmyun’s patience snapped. “You know what? You’re right. You don’t have to be. I mean look at you and me. We’re having a baby together and I don’t care about you at all. I'm just with you because staying together is easier than breaking up. I’d much rather be with Yixing to be honest, you’re right he’s totally obsessed with me and I can see that now. I don’t know how I never noticed before but now that I have I’m incredibly flattered. Maybe I should just ask him to leave Kyungsoo and move in here with me.”

“That isn’t funny.” Sehun told him, his face paling.

“No, no it is funny.” Joonmyun insisted. “It’s funny because what I just said was completely ludicrous. Yixing doesn’t like me that way and even if he did there’s no way I would act on it. As crazy as it sounds I really do love you. I couldn’t imagine being without you and I know this pregnancy came as a shock to both of us but there’s no one else I’d rather start a family with.”

“Even if I sometimes act like a pre-schooler?” Sehun asked not looking entirely convinced.

“Even if you sometimes act like a pre-schooler.” Joonmyun assured him. And apparently that was all he was after, a little reassurance because the scowl he’d been sporting since he walked in the door had vanished.

“Okay.” Sehun said, a little begrudgingly. “I believe you, you wouldn’t choose him over me. I still think he has a bit of a thing for you though.”

“Oh for crying out loud…” Joonmyun groaned, prepared for another argument but Sehun cut him off.

“I don’t blame him.” He said, smiling now. “You’re far too attractive for your own good, it's a major problem.”

“Yeah, I really don’t think it is.” Joonmyun said fighting hard not to smile himself. That might have been one of the cheesiest things he’d ever heard. “And even if it was a problem before, which it wasn’t I don’t think you need to worry about it right now.” he added, a hand going to rub at his stomach as a well-placed kick to the ribs courtesy of Baby Oh reminded him just how enormous he currently was. “I look like I’m smuggling a basketball under my shirt, it’s not a good look.”

“Now you’re the one being stupid.” Sehun said. “You're perfect.”

Joonmyun just shook his head. He looked like a whale, there was no point trying to deny it. “You can stop saying nice things about me now, I’ve already forgiven you.”

“You’re not going to make me apologise to Yixing?” Sehun asked, genuinely surprised by the fact Joonmyun was willing to let it drop so quickly.

“No, because that would mean explaining to him why you’re apologising and that would be far too embarrassing.” Joonmyun told him. “I think we should just pretend this conversation never happened.”

“Well if you’re sure…” Sehun said slowly.

“I’m sure. Now about that vegetable curry…”

“You want me to start on it now?” Sehun asked, looking far too amused by the abrupt switch of topic for Joonmyun’s liking.

“I’m starving.” He admitted, “And the chicken’s gone cold so if you still want to make me lunch I’m not going to say no.”

“Then vegetable curry it is.” Sehun said and he hopped up from his chair and headed for the kitchen. He got as far as the door before realising Joonmyun wasn’t following. “Aren’t you coming?” he asked.

“Uh… no…” Joonmyun could feel his cheeks heating up as he remembered the reason he was still on the floor in the first place. He just hoped Sehun was too far away to notice, “… I think I’ll just wait here until you’re finished.”

Unsurprisingly Sehun wasn't fooled. “You’re stuck down there, aren’t you?” he guessed.

Well so much for not making a fool of himself Joonmyun thought with a sigh. “Maybe.” He mumbled and he stuck out an arm. “Pull me up?”

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

AN: Seriously, I'm so glad people are liking these. I'm really enjoying writing them so thanks again for all the support. Also I know this was two chapters back but it's nice to hear so many of you liked Nayeon. I love writing little kids and she was particularly fun to do.

Anywho yus, this was Seho for painkillerxxx. It probably could have been more angsty but I'm a er for cute.

And here's how my to do list is shaping up:

Krishun for mitsuka501
Baekyeol for parkbyun
Krisoo for horadoribabe
Xiuyeol for MidnightMaurader
Kaisoo for xNurulx
Hunhan for anncherry
Sekai for xhigoodbye
Suchan for kookiehs
Krisyeol for Alluma
Suchen for Justanotherfic
Taohun for ILuvSkyDragon
Krishan for Doyoureallynotseeme
Chankai for VanillaHeaven
Chanxing for soft-kitty
Krisbaek for Rosasaur
Baekchen for kitten83
Krisho for suddon
Xiuhun for XxAngieexX
ing for jang-yehheung