The pain was nearly unbearable as the nurse wheeled Minseok into the hospital room.

There was nothing but worry, stress, and pain coursing through Minseok’s body as he caressed his small baby bump, rubbing the area and hoping to alleviate the pain even slightly.

As the doctor came in and immediately began the tests, Minseok couldn’t help but worry about Lana. Please be okay. I’m such a dumb. Why did I do that? What if I lose Lana? I will die.

“Well, looking at the results, Lana is completely fine. She’s not in danger,” said the doctor with a reassuring smile.

“Then what happened to him?” asked Luhan, the concerned look taking over his pretty face.

“You must’ve have strained yourself greatly, Minseok,” replied the doctor. “You pulled an abdominal muscle and the pain is usually tremendous, especially seeing how you’re five months into your pregnancy.”

Minseok felt guilt as he continued rubbing his stomach, apologizing internally to his daughter over and over.

“Is she really okay? No damage at all?” asked Minseok, tears beginning to form as he cursed himself out once more. I’m such a ing idiot.

“Yes, please rest assured. The only thing we have to worry about now is getting you back to perfect health. We need you to be healthy if you want to carry the baby to full-term,” said the doctor once more before she left the room.

***

“Yes, mom. I’m okay. Yes, Luhan is here. No, Sehun is at a filming,” said Minseok monotonously, hurrying up the conversation and hanging up so he could get some rest.

“Hyung, I picked up some soy chicken and garlic bread for you!” said Luhan happily, bouncing in with the food and plopping down on the chair beside the hospital bed.

“You went outside? What if someone saw you?” stressed Minseok, not wanting to deal with yet another problem right now. He had already managed to land himself in the hospital, he definitely didn’t want to deal with a scandal at this moment.

“Relax hyung, I took care of it,” replied Luhan, unwrapping the food and handing it over to Minseok. “I asked one of the company trainees to bring it to me. Luckily the company is like a block away from here.”

“Funny isn’t it? They strategically built the company building so close to the hospital. That way, whenever you guys black out or have some other life threatening illness, they rush you all here without anyone noticing,” said Minseok smugly, graciously accepting the Heaven in the form of chicken in front of him.

“Yeah, just two weeks ago Taemin passed out from a headache….or so that’s what they told us. Jongin told me he’s been battling exhaustion and headaches for weeks, but the company told him he could relax after his solo album comes out. We all know what a load of crap that is. Between all the solo tours, live performances, and concerts coming up, he’ll only get to relax when he’s dead,” replied Luhan bitterly, thinking about the topic a little bit more before he shook his head and brought back his smile. “Anyways hyung, how are you feeling now?”

“As long as Lana is okay, I’m good,” said Minseok, guilt beginning to take over his mind again. “Luhan…I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done what I did. At least then I would be okay and Lana wouldn’t be in danger. I’m a colossal idiot.”

“Hyung, the only idiot was that pathetic excuse for a donor, who which by the way was crying like a little when you went all Muhammad Ali on his . It was hilarious and I didn’t even try to stop you…. well until you pulled your muscle of course.”

“I doubt he was actually crying, but still, he deserved it. How did he ever think he could call our daughter a little and get away with it?”

“The important part here is that you and Lana are okay. I don’t care about getting blackmailed by my own father or the fact that he might just be telling a reporter everything right now. The only thing I care about is you two being healthy.”

“How did everything turn out like this? It’s all because of your idiot bird brain and thirsty . But then I’m also really glad because now we have Lana.”

“Geez, your mood swings are scary, hyung.”

“I AM scary, aren’t I? Please tell Sehun that! He thinks I’m a ing fairy princess or something.”

***

“Hyuuuuuuuung!” cried Sehun as he flew into the house and ran to his brother’s side, hugging the daylights out of his brother.

“Ahhh, Sehun! Get off, I’m still not fully recovered,” said Minseok, wincing as he peeled his sticky brother off of him and laid back down on the couch.

“Sorry sorry, I just got a little scared after Luhan hyung filled me in. How are you feeling now?”

“Seen better days.”

“What the actual happened? We leave you guys alone for one day and you managed to land in the hospital!”

“ Sehun, watch your language. Plus, it’s not like I planned on going to the hospital, it just happened.”

The last thing Minseok wanted was to make the mess even messier, so he kept his mouth shut about what happened earlier.

“Well, please take care of yourself, hyung. I don’t want my niece suffering for any reason.”

“Hey! You should be worried about me too!”

Sehun joined in the laughter with Minseok as Luhan walked in the living with the dinner.

“Sorry for making you run around all day, Luhan,” apologized Minseok, feeling bad for being a dead weight.

“Don’t worry about it hyung, I like doing things for you!” smiled Luhan as he set down the food.

“Gag….” whispered Sehun as he avoided the smack from Minseok and took off towards his room some of the food.

“So, what do we do now?” asked Minseok, slurping down his soup because damn, he was terribly hungry.

“I have an idea,” grinned Luhan slyly toward Minseok, who only rolled his eyes and went back to his food.

“I meant about your father, idiot. Plus, I pulled a damn stomach muscle punching the out of him so keep your thoughts away from me.”

“Oh, him. Honestly hyung, let him tell. I have no s left to give about this matter anymore. He’s bothered my mom and I too much, and now he’s doing the same to you and Lana. He’s not going to stop even if he gets what he wants. If the news is going to come out anyways, then so be it.”

“Aren’t you scared?”

“About what, hyung?”

“About everything. Manager hyung is planning on announcing your inactivity soon, and along with the dating scandal, fans will go crazy. On top of that, if your father tells them the whole truth, what’s going to happen?”

Minseok was lost deep in the depressing thoughts until Luhan’s soft kiss pulled him out, causing him to embarrassingly let out a low moan.

“Stop worrying about that so much. We’ve talked about it so many times and we always end up at the same conclusion. No matter what happens, I will protect you guys,” reassured Luhan, as he went back to the kiss, raising Minseok’s jaw and deepening it.

The continued the kiss until they parted, both panting for breaths and staring at each other with need.

“…..we’re still not having !”

***

The past week had been damn near nerve wracking as Minseok entered his 21^st week of pregnancy. He was feeling even more tired, especially with the full-fledged kicks that Lana would start up in the middle of the night.

But the most stressful part was not worrying about being outed by Luhan’s father. No, what had been giving Minseok the hardest time was deciding what color paint to paint the baby room, and which brand of furniture to buy.

Ah, parenthood was hard.

With all the mess going on around them regarding Luhan’s undetermined dismissal from EXO, the fans going absolutely bat insane over the news, and Luhan’s father remaining undercover for the most part, save for the subtle threats here and there, Minseok realized the most important issue at hand.

Lana had absolutely no baby clothes or baby stuff to her name except for Mr. Whiskers and a car seat gifted to her by her EXO uncles.

So Minseok made it his mission to find the cutest baby girl clothes he possibly could by the end of the day. Except, Minseok had no clue where to begin finding anything. He was waiting for his mom to come home from the market so they could go shopping.

“Sorry Lana, I’m so incompetent,” said Minseok, slowly rubbing circles on his expanding stomach. “You haven’t even been born yet and I already fail as a daddy. But you can’t really blame me. If anyone, blame Uncle Sehun. It’s his fault for being born a boy instead of a girl! Because of him, I have no idea how to take care of a girl.”

Minseok grinned as he felt Lana respond to him with a strong kick.

“You can hear me, right baby? Just know that whatever happens, I will always protect you first.”

Minseok knew he would do anything to protect his kid. He was like a wolf that would rip anyone apart who even thought of threatening his child. Despite the growing concern over what could happen in the future, at that moment, Minseok felt beyond confident that he would never let anything happen to his daughter.

Minseok also thought of Luhan. Yes, his insecure side still left him a little unsure of the clumsy boy. However, he knew Luhan had done more than enough to prove to Minseok that he was serious about everything. He knew how careful and kind Luhan was toward both of them, and Minseok felt elated at the thought of Lana always being surrounded by her parents. And loving grandparents. And an idiotic but caring uncle.

And maybe, just maybe Minseok felt determined enough to deal with whatever was coming their way.

Bring it on, es.

***

“Onesies are the cutest things in the world!” exclaimed his mother as she clutched the little wolf onesie to her chest.

“Mom, don’t be so loud. I don’t want people finding out I’m pregnant while I’m holding a onesie,” reasoned Minseok, flushing red under his face mask and sunglasses.

Minseok knew he looked idiotic, walking around the huge mall with a disguise. But he really couldn’t afford to be caught.

“Sorry, Minnie! I just love little girl clothes. I wanted to have a girl so badly that I actually bought some girl clothes and dressed you in them for the first couple of months,” chirped his mom happily while sifting through the baby clothes rack.

Minseok was glad his mask covered most of his face because he was probably sporting the ugliest look of shock in history.

“What the hell, mom!” whined Minseok, a little creeped out by the new revelation.

“Hush baby. Now find some cute clothes for my granddaughter,” said his mom as she completely ignored her son’s complaining. “To make it up to you, I’ll buy you a nice green tea shake. How does that sound?”

“My love can’t be bought with a green tea shake,” sighed Minseok, eyes glazing over the rack until one dress in particular caught his attention.

The dress was a plain cream colored frock, but what caught Minseok’s eye was the picture on it. It was a cute little cartoon deer with huge eyes that eerily resembled Luhan. Minseok began to laugh as he pulled it out for his mom to see.

The two laughed at Luhan’s expense until they were wiping tears out of their eyes.

“You guys are mean,” said a pouty voice.

Minseok whipped around and groaned at the sight of said deer boy who was standing there in his ridiculous disguise. At least Minseok didn’t go as far as wearing a wig, much less a terrible curly blonde one at that.

“Luhan,” gasped his mom as she hurried over to where the boy was. “Sweetie, you can’t be caught out in public!”

“It’s okay, mom. I bet you barely recognized me, huh?” grinned the idiot. “Plus, I wanted to join you guys and shop for Lana.”

Minseok only shook his head at the boy as he realized Luhan was like a magnet to Lana. The boy just couldn’t stay away despite him warning the younger specifically to stay home today.

“Mom, can we grab that shake now?”

***

After a long, tiring day, the three finally made their way home.

Minseok blew out a breath of satisfaction as he felt some of the burden lift off of him. They had managed to put in an order for the crib, dresser, and rocking chair as well as stock up on baby clothes that would last Lana up until the age of three.

There was a lot of other stuff left to buy but for now, Minseok felt happy getting the main necessities.

Minseok and Luhan carried the shopping bags to the new room that was set to be Lana’s room.

“You must be really tired, hyung,” said Luhan, as he began to take the clothes out one by one and start folding them neatly.

“I’m exhausted,” agreed Minseok, but he was feeling good nonetheless. “What color do you think the room should be?”

“Well, as much as pink is a pretty color for girls, I don’t want that. It’s too cliché and repetitive. If you noticed, all of the clothes we bought today barely have any pink or purple in them.”

Minseok chuckled as he realized Luhan was right. No wonder it took us so long to find clothes. Too much pink, not enough normal colors.

“Also hyung, I really like Superman…just throwing that idea out there…”

“We’re not painting the room with a Superman theme….no Batman either,” giggled Minseok as Luhan opened his mouth to suggest another brilliant idea. “What’s a good color scheme?”

“What about black and white? It could be like Chanel themed or something. G-Dragon would be proud!”

“Luhan, what have you been smoking lately? This is a little girl, not a lemur. I was thinking light grey walls. And maybe we can get Kris to paint the walls with a white tree with yellow leaves.”

Minseok and Luhan looked at each other for a second before bursting out with laughter.

“Kris….painting?” howled Luhan, “The cat he drew looked like a cow! It was bigger than the person standing next to it!”

“I know…what was I thinking?” laughed Minseok, bursting out with laughter at the thought of Kris painting the walls with a serious face. The poor boy didn’t know just how much he wasn’t Picasso.

“Okay, all jokes aside,” said Luhan, getting up and going over to the elder, who was relaxing in a small chair. “I, um, bought this for Lana as a small gift from me.”

Minseok watched as Luhan reached in his pocket and brought out a small jewelry box. His heart lurched as he anticipated the next minute. Omg….is that a ring? A proposal? , I’m not ready!

Minseok felt his hands sweat as Luhan handed him the small box. His hands trembled as popped the box open, a smile crossing his face as he stared at the sparkling beauties in front of him.

What the hell was I thinking? Of course, Luhan just said this was for Lana. Dodged that bullet….

“I thought Lana would look amazing in these once she got her ears pierced,” said Luhan, watching as Minseok looked carefully at the glistening diamond earrings.

“Luhan these are so pretty,” gasped Minseok as he stood up and planted a slow kiss on his boyfriend’s lips. “But, are you sure you can afford these?”

“Shhh, not to worry hyung,” shushed Luhan, planting kisses between each word as he pulled Minseok closer, hugging him tightly. “The last thing I have to worry about is finances. Plus, if this was too much, then I’m a little scared to see your reaction when you see what I ordered her from online…”

At this point, Minseok couldn’t even get angry. He felt like the luckiest person in the world. Rather than being showered by gifts himself, he was extremely happy to see his daughter being spoiled so much by her dad.

Minseok planted another kiss before leading Luhan out of the baby’s room and into his.

“You know, Luhan, the doctor said my pulled muscle is healed…,” said Minseok, pulling the boy in for another kiss as the two hit the bed lightly. 

******************

a/n-: it's so flufffyyyyy. I know you guys were expecting more to go down....but oh trust me, it will. I figured you guys deserve a nice little filler chapter before every ounce of happiness is into the dark vortex that is my heart. 

Enjoy ^.^